Races: Online

"Han Jing," the older man shook his son's shoulder and watched the light return to the younger man's face. "Are you okay?"

"Haah… I thought I was going to die."

His father scowled. "Even if you push me away from that incoming vehicle, you could easily move yourself back. I don't understand why you assumed that you'd have to get run over in exchange."

"Well, some things are almost cliche at this point."

"If you can still blabber about things I don't actually try to understand and comprehend, then it means that you can still get back home in one piece."

Han Jing gave a shaken grin but nodded. "Yeah, sure. Jinjing's probably starving and rabid at this point with hunger."

Contrary to what he assumed was about to happen, Han Jing survived the ordeal and went back to the old apartment and spent lunch with his family.

Han Jing thought that the dreaded 'truck' was out to get him and bring him into another world and with no return ticket back to his own. The idea of that happening to him was a mix of both grief and yet relief.

It was hard juggling two worlds, but now he was actually putting effort into doing it.

"Thank you so much for bringing us lunch," His mother smiled at her husband and son. She was probably pleased that the two men in her family didn't come home  with an icy silence between them.

"It's not a problem, we only do this rarely," Han Shirong said as he ate quietly afterwards.

"But who knows? Maybe we can just order some more food next time," Han Jing offered with a grin. He now had money, so even if he needed to save some, there wasn't anything wrong with using it for his family either.

"So you won't actually walk yourself into an accident prone area next time."

"What did you say, Shirong?" Han Wenling looked at her husband with a frown.

"Nothing, dear."

"Yeah, it wasn't anything big," Han Jing said. "Nearly just jaywalked into the afterlife."

"Don't say those words around your sister," his mother's brows knitted again. 

Han Jing nodded and just stuffed his mouth with some food. Even though his home was usually quiet with his father always not around, it could get quickly loud with just his mother talking up a storm.

—-

"If there is only one single loaf of bread and there are two hungry kids, what do you do?" Doug asked the rest of the kids in the streets. 

There were no Teachers, Lecturers or Professors for street urchin, so the young lad made do with a stick and drawing on the dirt. He might have tried to do it inside of their apartment, but Hailey was cleaning with others and the girl didn't want their grubby feet on the floor.

"Um, do you break it in half and share it with another one?" One of them spoke up. A boy about the age of Doug answered.

Laughter sounded amongst the kids and they looked at the newcomer that answered Doug's question. Were they a new orphan? Was it their first time joining the gang and getting into this 'wrong' crowd?

Nobody knew.

Most of the time, there wasn't even time for names. 

Actually letting your name be known was a wrong decision on a lot of occasions. It was best to simply nickname them as the 'New guy' or 'the one with the pant hole on his butt' or something else more specific yet mundane. Maybe something more shorter than the latter, but everybody got it.

An alias.

Names also meant a certain amount of popularity and it meant that it was repeated by others. This time, Doug stared at the kid and pointed his stick at the boy. "What if the two of you are going to die if you share the bread?"

"Huhhh…"

"Do you still live with your parents?" Another one of the kids teased.

Some of the children actually still had parents who they stayed with, but a number of them grew up on their own with other children. Whether it was because their parents were gone, grandparents died or simply the fact that their guardians were unreliable, they came together.

"Hey, it's not his fault if he still has a mother and father," Doug broke up the chatter amongst the kids. "But yeah, you gotta learn that when the time gets tough and circumstances dictate it, you get what you need."

"What about the other kid though?" the newcomer frowned. "He's going to die if he doesn't eat the bread… so that means he's probably going to fight me if I try to take it for myself. If I try to reason with him. Maybe we'd find more food if we work together?"

"And who's to say that he won't try to take the bread for himself?" Doug asked.

"Well, that's…"

"It's not wrong for him to take it, is it? You can't help it if you're hungry," Doug said. "Well, it won't be wrong for you to try and take it either. So it's up to you to come up on top and defeat your opponent."

Nods of approval came from the children who all agreed with the statement. But the new kid still didn't like it and raised his hand. "My mommy said that there were some strong grown ups taking care of you. What about that?"

"Oh." Doug blinked and held onto the stick.

He exchanged some looks with the kids who were actually there at that time. It was supposed to be a secret thing, but it wasn't a surprise that word spread amongst the residents of the city.

Doug pointed at another kid to make a response. A young girl stood up and compared to even some of the older children, she looked even more intimidating with how she stood and presented herself.

Possibly a trait she picked up from hanging out with either Tierra or Bleu.

Doug cleared his throat and looked seriously at the boy. "About them, well they can only afford to do that because it doesn't cost them anything. It's not a burden for them to help out other people… but you? Us? If we can't even help ourselves, how can we think about other people?"

It was these words of the girl that made the boy quiet down to think.

"And if you think about it, there are people who have it in their capacity to help us but they don't. What do we do with those people then?" Doug asked again.

"Do we leave them alone?"

Doug narrowed his eyes at the boy and approached him. He pointed a stick and jabbed it in his chest. "Who are you?"

—-

Once Han was left alone by Professor Owen and they all had an hour or so to spend it doing whatever they liked before evening came around, he wasn't so sure of what he was going to do.

He looked a little lost and the others like Sir Leon de Harrington also made their way out of the classroom to their own agendas. It left Han to realize that there were a lot of things coming to place.

Things he didn't remember and almost felt like he was watching events unfold in his life while he was on the backseat. His body moved even without him remembering that it actually happened.

Han was only supposed to be focused on studying and making a better life for himself. For someone who had nothing, even obtaining something was enough for him to grow happier.

But now there were so many questions in his head that were seeking answers.

"Maybe I should just go back to my room and study," Han muttered to himself. At least when he did those things, he felt like he was in control of his actions.

The Mage Kai practically jumped on him this time before he could actually do just that. Kai was aware that Theodore was probably going to attempt to reconcile Han with Sybeth and that Ellynn was probably just around the corner, but he got there first.

"What?" Han looked at the face of the guy he had never seen before.

Kai looked at him impatiently and despite Han freaking out for a good ol minute, he grabbed the young man's hand and disappeared with him at that moment. There was only so much that Kai could do in the short span he had without any interruption.

"Where are you taking me?" Han asked.

"Well, I'm just about to change your life," Kai said and then blinked. "I mean, you're about to change my life—argh, just shut up and follow me."

Even though Kai was doing his best to erase magical traces and signatures from the two of them, there was only one place close enough that wouldn't alert the higher ups of his organization that he was leaving  the academy without permission.

The two of them descended back down the familiar hidden library and arrived at the area where the Spectre lived beneath them through the secret passageway now blocked by gravel and stones. 

"What are we doing here?" Han asked and nervously looked down at the pit.

"I want to be frank with you. Are you from another world?" Kai asked.

"I'm… what?" 

"Another world?" Kai frowned. "Beyond the stars? Are you some shapeshifter that absorbed the original Han? Was there ever an original you in the first place? What exactly is your purpose for being here?"

"I… don't get it," Han looked at the Mage worriedly.

"Don't play dumb with me, I saw it!" Kai frowned at him.