CHAPTER 7: BATTLE ON THE TRAIN

Clack, clack...

On a night where clouds covered the moon, tension filled the air on the train as the wind blew fiercely.

No, it was probably just some unlucky guy dealing with his own situation alone. As a Roamer, how could Gilbert, who was strong and sturdy, let someone like that take him down?

Gilbert truly believed that he had the upper hand. Besides, with his newly acquired subordinate blocking the way behind the other, there was no way for the other guy to escape.

However, contrary to his expectations, the man facing him did not show any signs of fear or confusion.

“How long are you going to keep staring?”

Startled by the chillingly calm voice, Gilbert shouted in frustration.

“Get him!”

In response to his sudden shout, Lee Jin-woo’s senior jumped forward. If he caught Lee Jin-woo, it would be difficult for him to dodge Gilbert’s swinging sword.

However, Lee Jin-woo remained calm and waited for the right moment before swiftly dodging the attack by lowering his body at an angle.

Swish!

“Uh...”

“Oof!”

The red blood spattered along the path of the knife.

The senior who had his chest deeply pierced instead of Lee Jin-woo stumbled with his eyes wide open, but Gilbert immediately turned his head without hesitation.

It was because the priority was to block Lee Jin-woo’s attack.

Thunk!

“Argh!”

In fact, Lee Jin-woo immediately moved behind Gilbert and, while rotating his body with his feet on the ground, kicked him in the abdomen.

Gilbert, who was almost thrown forward by the unexpected strength, instinctively pushed the man in front of him to regain his balance. The senior who was pushed staggered back and finally fell off the roof.

“Aah!”

“Tsk...”

The terrified scream quickly faded away, but neither of the two remaining on the train could see his final moments.

Gilbert briefly licked his tongue and rushed towards Lee Jin-woo, fiercely swinging his knife.

Although it was a one-on-one situation, as he believed that he was at an advantage with a weapon, his attacks were relentless.

Swish, swish! Clank, clank!

No matter how hard Gilbert swung, he never managed to hit Jin-woo properly. It wasn’t just because he lacked skill in hand-to-hand combat.

Unlike Gilbert, who was facing a vague figure in the darkness, Jin-woo could feel the opponent’s movements without relying on sight and react quickly.

Even though he had only recently awakened his abilities, he could easily read Gilbert’s movements at close range.

In fact, he had always been agile when it came to physical activity.

“You bastard!”

As time went on and he watched Jin-woo dodge more effectively, Gilbert grew increasingly frustrated and eventually resorted to dirty tactics, trying to charge into him.

His plan was to knock the other to the ground and then attack him, but Jin-woo waited for him and used his momentum to slam him into the ground instead.

“Oof!”

And as Gilbert tried to quickly get back up by grabbing onto the ground with both hands...

Crackle, crackle!

A blue spark crackled and then a strong current surged up onto the roof of the train.

“Ah...!”

Gilbert, struck by the lightning-like surge, could not even scream and shook uncontrollably as his entire body was hit.

Thump!

As the last spark disappeared, he collapsed in a heap.

“Hack, hack!”

Lee Jin-woo sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

Suddenly, everything felt unreal and his mind became dizzy.

But when the sharp smell of burning protein touched his nose, he lifted his head and looked at the lifeless body without any movement.

Then, he found his own hand trembling and clenched it into a fist.

Was it the aftereffect of using his power too strongly or a psychological problem?

If it was the latter, he told himself that he had no reason to feel guilty. No matter what anyone said, it was a legitimate defense in a situation where his life was at stake.

The problem was whether other people would recognize his innocence.

No, the fact that Gilbert had been electrocuted was difficult in itself.

Feeling his senses return rapidly, like turning over cold water, Lee Jin-woo stood up from where he was sitting.

I need to deal with this...

There was only one way to remove the corpse from the running train, so he reluctantly approached Gilbert’s body.

At that moment, the clouds parted, and the moon rose, and something on the ground reflected by the light caught his eye.

“Hmm?”

It was undoubtedly the expensive knife that Gilbert had bragged about, the one he had taken after dealing with someone.

Then, a part of the conversation he had heard during the day passed through his mind.

“Isn’t that a point card? How do you have ten or more...”

“I picked it up in the field. I got lucky.”

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Jin-woo began to search Gilbert’s pockets.

After a while, he found ten point cards, some cash, and a small leather pouch laid out on the ground.

There were several valuable items in the pouch, but the most eye-catching was a necklace with an energy stone pendant.

For reasons, it was literally glowing.

“......?”

Jin-woo examined the iridescent necklace, feeling bewildered, but it was just a simple necklace with an energy stone attached to a metal chain.

The word ‘Providence’ engraved on one side also looked like just a brand name.

“.......”

Jin-woo took out his own energy stone from his pocket and compared it to the pendant.

It also had the characteristic energy of an energy stone. However, when he focused, he could feel that the energy from the pendant was much more dynamic.

Is this... possible?

As Jin-woo watched the fading light of the pendant, he realized what the sudden cause of this piercing light was.

And to confirm his guess, he gathered the surrounding electricity in his hand and directed it towards the pendant.

Woong···!

Then, as if waiting for it, the pendant absorbed the electricity and started to glow again.

As expected. Then it must have been charged when Gilbert was electrocuted.

They said it was like a battery, and it was true. It was even rechargeable...

Momentarily overwhelmed by the newfound information, Lee Jin-woo reminded himself that now was not the time to dwell on it and decided to put the thought aside.

…I need to deal with this first.

***

Lee Jin-woo woke up quietly in the early dawn.

Rubbing his stiff neck, he looked around to see that most people were still sleeping, probably due to their hangovers.

Hearing the occasional sound of snoring, he went outside the train compartment to get some fresh air.

…Is it a rainy season?

A light drizzle was falling from the dark blue dawn sky, just like on his first day on this train.

While most people would have gone back inside to avoid the rain, Lee Jin-woo hesitated for a moment before climbing up to the roof of the train without a second thought.

Sitting down with a thump and looking around, he saw that the train he was on was passing through a dense forest covered in thick fog.

After staring absent-mindedly at the passing scenery for a while, he confirmed that no one was around and tried creating a small spark in his palm.

Crackle!

He opened his eyes to this world and awakened his supernatural powers three days ago. As each day passed, he became more accustomed to his new abilities and senses.

“...”

He stared at the electric spark with a blue light, then turned it off, and tried to create another spark about 1 meter away from him.

Crackle! Crackling, buzzing!

After trying it little by little, he confirmed that he could use his power without any constraints within the range of his sight.

Of course, he would need practice to gain more accurate distance and fine control.

And...

Lee Jin-woo looked at the cloudy sky filled with rain clouds.

Then, he fixed his gaze on the clouds on the far horizon, imagining lightning connecting them, using his maximum output.

And after a while, a bright white flash crossed the horizon,

Kururung!

Thunder was heard, like waves coming from afar.

“Haah...”

Jin-woo held onto his gasping breath and dazed mind, realizing that he was capable of power that far surpassed that of a human, at least on rainy days.

***

Thump, thump...

Jin-woo returned to the train and ordered a cup of coffee from the convenience store. He felt a craving for caffeine, perhaps due to the mental strain.

Sipping the surprisingly decent coffee slowly, he immersed himself in thought.

As expected, I need more practice.

He had solved his curiosity about his maximum output capacity. It was a rather satisfying, even frightening ability in terms of power.

However, he wasn’t going to imitate the lightning god, and how often in his life would he have to summon lightning strikes all over the place?

It would be a big problem if an unintentional lightning bolt hit someone, or suffered property damage.

Jin-woo wanted to be able to freely control electricity in a more appropriate form and power for his own situation, rather than risking such incidents.

Although electricity was unpredictable when unleashed, he believed it had the ability to obey commands when the path was well paved.

Actually, things are somehow working out...

It may only be three days, but Jin-woo thought his control was not bad for a first-timer.

Of course, the problem was that he couldn’t judge whether he was talented or not, as he didn’t know the comparison group or precedent for himself.

The superpower mentioned in the guidebook was a pretty small ability... But there may be people who can exert great power like me.

Even if people with superpowers are rare, there’s no way there was no one else among billions of people who had this power except Jin-woo.

Then why wasn’t there any talk about such a great ability in the guidebook? It meant that either the superhuman or the agency that manages them decided to hide them.

As he thought about it, Jin-woo felt a sense of vigilance rather than pride or pleasure in his ability.

People who awakened their ability long before me and have been training for a long time... If I have to confront them...

It was a terrifying and dangerous thing to imagine. Having found a new reason to hide his superpower, Jin-woo sipped his coffee quietly, promising to live without drawing attention to himself.

Rather... I heard that we’re staying in the city for a day today.

Jin-woo, who decided to focus on the current reality that he faced, sorted out the things he needed to do in his head after arriving in the city.

There were a total of four other people’s point cards in his pocket.

Although he remembered the description of the “money exchange operated by gangsters” that Gilbert mentioned, he hesitated to go there right away.

As someone who had lived as an upright citizen all his life, he felt uneasy about actively engaging in illegal activities.

Isn’t it too late to say that now...

It wasn’t just a psychological issue.

He wasn’t sure if it was true that they didn’t ask or investigate the origin of the card, but only charged a high commission.

If Gilbert had lied, it could have led to him being reported for theft on the spot, so he had to be careful.

As he pondered over all these issues, an unfamiliar voice called out to him.

“Hey, you, the new guy.”