Takes place during chapter 11.

She has no idea how powerful her ability is. Of course she doesn't, she has no comparison for it. She doesn't know that she's already reached a level that apprentices take at least several months to achieve.

Jee-han isn't an apprentice. She's a novice. She is literally the most novice a novice can be.

She's already capable of defending herself against the average user in the city.

"That's really the squirt?" The shocked and disbelieving ki accompanying Wind's soft question perfectly illustrates just how off the scale Jee-han's ability is.

"Yep," Sae-young answers without taking her eyes off the spar, more interested in what's happening below than in Wind's reaction. She's already gotten over most of her own surprise about Jee-han's ability, and as always she isn't worrying about what this new thing will mean for the future.

Sun-il wishes that he could do the same.

He watches as Jee-han smoothly catches the bicycle thrown at her with enough force to shatter normal bones, her stance balanced so she use the bicycle's momentum to spin around and throw it back at Grandfather more force than she can currently generate on her own. Her throw lacks the perfect aim of her auto-targeting, but it's still far better than a normal could ever achieve without years of extensive training.

Even ignoring the force with which Grandfather threw the bicycle, she would've fallen flat on her face if she'd tried to do that this morning.

Wind shakes his head incredulously when Jee-han easily dodges the car Grandfather throws as a simultaneous counter and retaliation for the bicycle, her every movement graceful in a way Sun-il never thought she could be before today. "And here I thought you were overreacting."

Sun-il wishes that he was overreacting. Before this morning, he'd been convinced that, aside from her encounter with the Black Demon, he was. Which hadn't helped lessen his reaction, but at least he'd been aware of it.

Now he knows that he hadn't been overreacting. If anything, he'd been underreacting.

"You should see her when she uses her techniques, she's easily twice as good with them," Sae-young says, and while her ki is as relaxed as her words, Sun-il knows that she truly does understand the kind of danger Jee-han is in now.

All of them do.

Wind lets out an impressed whistle. Part of it is in reaction to Sae-young's words, but mostly it's because Jee-han, who'd realized too late that Grandfather had thrown the trash lid with a curving spin, shakes off a blow that should've snapped her neck like it's nothing more than a light smack. Two hundred and twenty health left.

"Inventory," she rushes open and pulls out an energy bar out of seemingly thin air while saying "Close inventory" in the same breath to get rid of the blind spot it creates, before she starts eating the energy bar as fast she can while jumping over another car thrown at her as though she's always been capable of it.

She's been capable of it for mere hours.

He can't believe he managed to miss just how mind boggling her ability is yesterday. Her inventory alone should've made him realize. He had realized that her ability is exceptional of course, but he hadn't grasped the full scope of it. Even though he really should have.

Jee-han's ability, without any conscious effort on her part, has created a permanent pocket dimension. A pocket dimension that doesn't just manipulate space, it manipulates time.

It manipulates time while anchored to her and nothing else.

He's blaming the fact that he was overwhelmed by his best friend suddenly being a natural for failing to think through what that means yesterday. Which doesn't excuse his blindness in the slightest, because there are so many other things that should've made him realize.

Like the fact that space-time manipulation isn't her core ability, it's a minor skill.

"Doesn't she ever get hurt? Or tired for that matter?" Wind asks, the question pointing out yet another way in which Jee-han's ability is ridiculously overpowered.

"Nope. It's the weirdest thing, she never gets fatigued, and hitting her doesn't affect her health in any way," Sae-young replies.

"It does affect her health," Rain counters without halting his close examination of Jee-han's energy, even more fascinated by it than he was this morning. He's even taken off his glasses. "It merely lacks any kind of bodily consequence."

Merely lacks. As though a skill like that is a dime in a dozen.

"She also does experience a form of fatigue. When pushed beyond her physical limits, she collapses and can barely move for ten minutes, before her rate of recovery starts improving exponentially. She requires exactly fifteen minutes to recover fully from her exhaustion."

Recovered aside from some lingering pain, at least. Rain is right though, for all intents and purposes, it only takes her fifteen minutes to recover from absolute exhaustion. Even more astonishing, she can be pushed to the same heights immediately afterwards. Can be pushed to even greater heights if her stats improve before she reaches her previous limit.

The depth of how much her body has changed is truly disturbing when he thinks about it too deeply. That's without getting into the mental aspect of it.

She needs a medical.

"Wow, you really weren't overreacting," Wind feels the need to repeat, and while Sun-il knows the words are inspired by simple shock at Jee-han's ability, he still has to ruthlessly suppress the urge to start freaking out again. He's saving it for later, when he can go hit something. A lot.

"Really don't need to be reminded of that," he tells his brother in a flat voice without taking his eyes off Jee-han, who finally manages to close the distance between herself and Grandfather. While Grandfather is standing next to low fence surrounding the small garden of a two story house. Very bad move on her part.

Grandfather leaps on the fence and onto the roof.

"Oh you absolute ba–" Sun-il has to grin as she barely manages to avoid the roof tile shot at her ribs with relatively exceptional speed. She really should've known better than to use that word in Grandfather's presence. He's more lenient on her because she doesn't live here, but that doesn't mean he'll let her curse as she pleases.

Rain's ki flickers with amusement, while Wind and Sae-young snicker, all of them finding the humor in this as well. They've all been victims of Grandfather's strict No Vulgarity policy, after all.

He watches as Grandfather starts to rapidly pelt her with more roof tiles. Jee-han runs away while avoiding most of them with supernatural grace, and manages to block the ones she can't dodge. Two hundred and thirty-five health left.

She doesn't manage is to shake Grandfather off her tail. He follows along the roofs and fences, never letting up his assault on her. One hundred and ninety-five health left.

"Inventory." She pulls out two energy bars and rushes out "Close inventory," before Grandfather can take any real advantage of her blindspot.

Grandfather prevents her from recovering her health by targeting the hand holding the energy bars, forcing her to keep moving in a way that doesn't allow her to take even a single bite. One hundred and seventy-five health left.

Sun-il sees the exact moment that Jee-han realizes just how disadvantaged she is now that Grandfather has the high ground. Took her long enough. While she's gotten a lot better at analyzing combat situations, she keeps making a lot of rookie mistakes as well. Like letting an opponent gain the high ground. Especially when that opponent specializes in mid-range projectiles.

Most of her mistakes are caused by the simple fact that it's difficult to think things through when in the middle of combat, no matter how much you train at it. She might be absurdly good at it now, yet another ridiculously overpowered minor skill her ability grants her, but even that has its limits. Only training and experience can make her become better at it.

Grandfather is taking advantage of that minor skill by changing environments every round and changing tactics every two. He's teaching her how to adapt quickly to new situations, the most valuable skill there is when it comes to combat.

The other main cause for her mistakes is that most of her goals require her to go against everything Sun-il has taught her about combat. For years he's trained her to create a single opening so she can escape, but that tactic simply doesn't work against users.

Not with her current proficiency at escaping barriers. Or rather, her current lack of it. It doesn't matter if she runs away, as long as the creator is conscious, the barrier will keep her trapped.

He's convinced that if she trains her barriers outside of their compound, they will improve at the same ridiculous rate all her other major skills do. Given that she'd also be glaringly obvious to anyone watching the city if she does, it's not like she can do that. Yet.

He knows he can't keep her hidden forever. He doesn't want to, either. Doesn't want to trap her.

He just wants her to stand at least a chance at defending herself before she gets discovered.

In some ways, the sheer power of her ability helps with that. In most, it really doesn't.

It would be one thing if she was "merely" a newly awakened natural. Yes, people would come after her, but it wouldn't attract danger beyond what they could handle. Would only attract the kind of people his Clan has had to deal with since forever. A little more powerful than usual, but nothing truly exceptional. Nothing beyond the sort of people they rarely fails to catch before they can escape with one of their people. The sort of people he would've been overreacting about.

Except Jee-han's ability means that those aren't the only people who will come after her. The enticement of an ability like hers, the enticement of possessing it, will attract people so powerful that it's near certain one of them will eventually manage to capture her.

Even in the absolute best case scenario, she'll be a prisoner for the rest of her life. A well treated prisoner, but a prisoner nonetheless.

He doesn't dare to think of anything else that could happen to her.

Wind's ki is a warm brush of sympathy as his brother squeezes his shoulder. "She'll be fine," he says gently. While Sun-il won't deny that the assurance is nice to hear, it doesn't lessen his urge to freak out in the slightest.

"For how long?" he counters while watching Jee-han take shelter behind a car and finally manage to recover her health. Even in his current mood, he has to smile when he sees her scarf down two energy bars as fast she can. She looks like a frantic hamster.

She's still chewing when Grandfather enters her range again and starts pelting her with roof tiles once more. She dodges with supernatural grace while swallowing down the last of the energy bars. Three hundred health left. Two-eighty as she blocks another hit.

"The longer she's fine, the higher the odds of her staying that way," Wind replies.

Sun-il knows that, of course. The longer she trains, the better she'll be able to defend herself against the people that will come after her.

The reassurance would be a lot more comforting if the people coming after her weren't more powerful than Grandfather.

"You need to stop worrying," Sae-young declares like it's just that easy.

"Thank you for that true pearl of wisdom," he retorts in the most insulting way he can without taking his eyes off Jee-han.

"My pleasure," Sae-young returns cheerfully, not bothered by his mood in the slightest.

Jee-han attempts to get to higher grounds herself but is forced back down the street by an entire chimney being brought down on her, debris flying everywhere as it crashes. She manages to avoid it all aside from one piece, which she blocks. Two hundred and sixty health left.

"Seriously though, you need to stop worrying," Sae-young repeats while her ki pointedly nudges his.

"Say that again after your best friend turns into an infant demigod," he snaps without bothering to contain the aggravated flare of his own. The force with which he pushes her ki away makes Sae-young roll her eyes, but she thankfully does drop the topic.

"You said that eating instantly heals her?" Wind asks, partly as a distraction, partly because he genuinely wants to know.

"Yes, it does," he answers, gladly taking hold of the distraction.

Her instant healing is one of the most overpowered things about her ability, and that's really saying something. It's unbelievably absurd that it is yet another minor skill.

Wind lets out a pensive hum. "Question, has she left the garden at all today?"

"No, she didn't. We even had lunch here." Truth is, it wouldn't be that big a deal if his Clan discovered Jee-han's new status. Well, it wouldn't be a big deal if it becomes known to the adults. It's the constant stream of visitors to their compound they have to worry about the most. Which is why they had lunch in the garden instead of the mess hall.

"Huh," Wind says but doesn't share whatever realization he just had. Which means it's something that will make him want to freak out even more. Great. Wonderful distraction his brother offered there.

Sun-il knows that it's pointless to panic, he really does. Panicking won't solve anything. The only thing that will is what they're doing right now, namely, training Jee-han.

If this had happened to anyone else, he wouldn't be reacting like this. He would've been able to deal with it.

It didn't happen to anyone else. It happened to Jee-han. His best friend.

It happened to the person who made him understand just how fragile normal people are.

He still remembers when she fell out of that tree. He won't ever be able to forget it because if he hadn't been there, if he hadn't caught her, she would've snapped her neck.

She would've died.

He was nine when that happened. When he truly grasped just how great the difference between his family and normals is. A fall like that, even if he hadn't tried to catch his balance or consciously enhanced himself, wouldn't have really hurt him. It would've been painful and left a spectacular bump to the head, but nothing more than that.

She would've died.

The physical gap between his family and others isn't limited to normals of course, but most users would've at least been able to soften the impact in some way, enough for it to become non-lethal. Normals can't do that.

Not without being trained to.

That incident was the reason he started teaching her. At first it hadn't been about combat, he just taught her how to recover her balance as best she can when falling. Teaching her combat came later, when he realized that falling wasn't the only danger she faced by far. Yes, it's the same kind of danger every normal in the city faces, but those normals aren't his best friend.

The fact is, part of him always worries about Jee-han. He simply can't help it. Most of the time it doesn't bother him though, it's just there in the background, easily ignored as he goes about his day. It only flares up when something dangerous happens to her.

Her becoming an infant demigod is literally the most dangerous thing that could ever happen to her.

He watches as Jee-han grabs the lid of a trash can to use as a shield, something she really should've done a lot sooner. Better late than never, he supposes.

"Finally," Sae-young says, more to herself than anyone else.

"She should've taken two instead of one," Rain adds, which is true. Jee-han's ability has made her ambidextrous, but she doesn't take enough advantage of that. While she uses her left side to its full potential when attacking physically, she doesn't when it comes to wielding items. She needs to work on that.

She also needs to work on using her surroundings to her advantage. She does it a little, but she doesn't do it enough by far. Jee-han has a tendency to rely completely on her ability. Which isn't that bad when she can use her Skills, but when she can't, she doesn't compensate enough for their lack.

It really is fascinating to see her fight as a user. In some ways she's incredibly observant, such as only needing to see Grandfather jump thrice in order to figure out the current limit he's imposed upon himself. In other ways she's completely oblivious, because she still hasn't realized that there's a glaring flaw in Grandfather's stance every time he throws something with his left hand.

So basically she fights like she does everything else. Observant in the strangest of ways and unbelievably oblivious in even stranger ones. Like how she easily figured out how to get more Skills, yet failed to realize that she hasn't needed to eat in days.

There's a reason he calls her a moron.

Jee-han finally manages to get on the same roof as Grandfather, courtesy of her shield, and has the good sense to position herself between Grandfather and the only house he can reach in a single jump. As she works to close the distance between them, Grandfather increases his throwing speed a fraction, simulating one of the possibilities that can happen when an opponent feels driven in a corner.

Jee-han isn't truly caught off guard by the increase in speed, but it does make her block a hit with a glaring flaw in her stance. Grandfather wastes no time in forcing her to drop her shield and making it fall to the street, before he increases the speed of his assault a fraction more.

The second increase in speed does take Jee-han by surprise and she doesn't manage to avoid the first faster tile, though she manages to twist out of the way enough for it to hit her arm instead of her ribs. Two hundred and ten health left.

She doesn't make the mistake of continuing her attempt to close the distance between her and Grandfather. Given the number of ammo Grandfather has at his disposal on a roof, that would lead to guaranteed failure. Instead, she tries to get off it.

Grandfather isn't letting her.

If she can hold out long enough for Grandfather to use up most of his ammo, she'll be able to escape and recover her health.

One hundred and fifty health left.

She's not going to hold out long enough.

"Won't be long now," Sae-young states the obvious.

Jee-han, in a decision fuelled by desperation, tries to dive off the roof in one leap. Failure is now guaranteed. Impressively, she does manage to block the tile aimed at her stomach. One hundred and thirty health left.

She doesn't manage to block the one to her leg.

"Damn it!" she yells with flickering eyes as soon as the tile hits, her power informing her that she's failed her "quest" and her previously focused ki turning into a wild mess of pure aggravation. Sun-il grins, the urge to freak out receding almost completely.

Now this is a fantastic distraction.

He quickly makes his way towards her and lands on a streetlight out of her sight, waiting for the perfect moment to make his entrance. He ignores the flare of amusement his behavior inspires in both his brothers and Grandfather, as well as fond exasperation from Sae-young. This is going to be fun.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn," Jee-han continues to curse as she lands down the street, before she kicks a car hard enough to dent the metal and make it skid a bit. Time to make his entrance.

"That could've gone better," he says with an innocent smile as he lands besides her.

"Go suck on a rotten egg!" she snaps while attempting to light him on fire with the force of her glare, creatively circumventing the No Vulgarity rule without even thinking about it.

Sun-il manages to give her a wounded look instead of grinning with glee. "What did I do to deserve such hostility?"

Jee-han's answering glare is pure venom. You know exactly what you did, you complete and utter asshole.

Sun-il drops the act and chuckles. She's hilarious when she's like this.

His laughter makes Jee-han punch his arm as hard she can, which is both a lot harder and faster than she could this morning. Still doesn't hurt in the slightest, but it won't be long before he'll have to start enhancing himself if she hits him when pissed off.

"If you hadn't jumped, you might've made it," he tells her in the kindest way there is.

"I will stuff tofu down your throat until you choke on it," she hisses back, practically breathing fire, and Sun-il can't help but snort with laughter.

It's difficult to get Jee-han worked up about something. Easy to annoy her, yes, easy to work her up, no. But when she does get worked up about something, she releases fire and brimstone on anyone unfortunate enough to be near her.

It's always so much fun when that happens. And it's been happening a lot today.

Losing at videogames always pushes her buttons, but failing this many "quests" has riled her up to heights he's only witnessed a handful of times.

His laughter once more makes Jee-han hit his arm as hard as she can, before her eyes flicker over thin air. Her punch must've increased her strength.

In the name of good research, he needs to confirm whether his theory is correct or not. "There are a lot of other things you could've done to beat your quest."

Jee-han lets out a strangled sound of pure rage and starts to say "Power Strike." Oh dear, seems he underestimated the intensity of the reaction that would inspire.

He enhances himself a little to catch the blow. Unlike her regular punches, Power Strike has already reached a level where it disrupts his balance if he doesn't. Not significantly, but it's better to develop the reflex of enhancing himself against her Skills on him as soon as possible.

Alas, given that Power Strike has risen a level since she last hit him with it, the blow doesn't let him determine whether her raw strength has increased or not. He'll have to provoke her again in order to find out. What a shame.

"Don't listen to him, you were great," Wind says as he, Rain and Sae-young join them. Really, his brother should know better than to try to comfort Jee-han when she's like this.

"Get hit by a moving truck!" she snaps with all the fire and brimstone she possess, changing targets to vent her frustration in her current mood, this is downright polite for her.

Hilariously, even though Wind knew it was coming, his ki still startles like Grandfather just raised his voice at him.

Sun-il, being the kind brother he is, directs her vitriol away from Wind. "I suppose you did a decent job," he says with the silent addition of for a moron.

Jee-han immediately punches his arm again. He was right, her strength has increased.

"Your greatest mistake was wielding one shield at a time instead of two," Rain informs her, ki tinted with amusement. Amusement that only grows when Jee-han turns fire spitting eyes towards him. His brother enjoys needling her when she's like this as well.

"Drown in a sea of sh–" Sun-il almost intercepts the orb Grandfather flicks at her shoulder, catching the reflex just in time. Jee-han cuts herself off with a pained yelp, her eyes flickering over thin air as one hand comes up to cradle the spot hit. Her Physical Resistance rose again? That was unusually fast.

"There will be no vulgarity spoken within this home," Grandfather reminds her with a look as stern as his ki, though neither are without amusement.

Jee-han replies with a glare so venomous that Sun-il can't help but chuckle. She's actually baring her teeth like a wild animal.

Naturally, his reaction makes her turn poisonous eyes towards him. "I hope you fall into a pool of boiling acid after being stung by a thousand bees," she hisses, making laugh. She comes up with the most creative insults when she's like this.

His reaction causes her to let out a sound of pure aggravation, before she turns around and kicks a streetlight hard enough to dent the pole. Then she keeps kicking it until it comes crashing down.

Sun-il watches her vent with a grin, the casual display of power easing something inside him in a way it didn't before. He knows the relief is temporary, the moment she and Grandfather resume their sparring, the insidious urge to panic will start to return. But right now it's completely absent.

Just by being herself, his best friend comforts him in a way no one else can.