Owed chap 3/7
XG 114 - Don't get scared!
"Without that sword, she will have nothing on us!" The speaker charged forward with a grass cutting blade after he tried to snap others out of their delusional fear.
To Wong Xue Guo's eyes, his action was just courageous with no technique at all. Perhaps that was how Kang Xunsu viewed her when she started training? Kang Xunsu only shot barbed remarks without demonstrating his view physically. But her mother was the total opposite, where her mouth was sweet yet her demonstrations were ruthless.
However, it was thanks to her mother that she knew what to do when facing such a sloppy attack. Grabbing that man's wrist, she applied pressure until he dropped the cutting blade with a pained yelp. Then she twisted his arm to his back and stepped on his upper back until they heard a loud crack.
She flung him aside when he cried out in pain. "You just don't want to believe someone can withstand your ability. Fear would be more solid and real if there's visual accompanying the emotions."
What Wong Xue Guo was afraid of the most was her parents' indifference towards her. To avoid that, she had studied hard, kept her results among the top ten positions in the entire grade, and would never break a rule.
But none of her actions got her parents' attention.
Even so, she still continued doing so, believing that one day, her hard work would be rewarded. Her parents would then praise her, shower her with love and pay attention to her.
However, that dream was shattered by a kidnapping attempt.
They immediately called the police when the kidnappers had warned them not to if they did not want to receive their daughter's corpse. Her parent's voice over the phone was calm as if their only child's safety was not on the line, and luckily for her, the kidnappers were not goaded into beating her to near death or even worse, killing her.
At that moment, she was hit with the harsh reality that she does not matter much in her parent's hearts. They prepared her daily necessities as an act of parental obligation, not familial care for their child. Not even the kidnapper's punches and kicks delivered as much pain as that fact.
After being rescued, she acted out as a delinquent girl as a way to grab her parent's attention. It was an extreme method she could think of in her desperate moment, the last hope to get what she longed for.
But what she got instead was her school counsellor's attention, who was also her homeroom teacher. Thanks to her, she could let go of her rebellious mindset and not continue down the rabbit hole that would only harm her own future.
Sadly, even after she got over her rebellious phase, her parents did not notice her change at all. After spending more time talking to her school counsellor and accepting the hard to swallow reality, she also learned to let go of her unhealthy desire.
Woojin's ability had brought out that old fear, the emotional scar that she had trained her mind and heart to get over it. She had already accepted the fact that she would never be important in her parents' hearts and had moved on. There was still lingering fear, but they could not act as her shackle to stop her from moving forward.
"No way... did she overcome the fear? How?" A middle-aged church member asked with a horrified expression. He had, after all, experienced Woojin's ability and knew how weak he was towards it. Even when he was prepared for it, he could not defend his heart from it.
Wong Xue Guo let out a long, heavy sigh as she gazed at them as if they were idiots. "Humans could learn to get over their fear. What's so surprising about that? Just like how most of us learn not to be afraid of spiders once we grow up."
"Impossible! Nanse's ability should have trapped you in that fear, not allowing rationality to help you break free. You should not be free until Nanse allows it!" the middle-aged man yelled.
"But I did," Wong Xue Guo said with a lighter tone. Her mood was a bit better as the heavy fear in her heart was dispersing more and more.
"Even if you could overcome fear, why would you still have aggression? How could you act violently!" Woojin asked. He was confident in his ability that never failed to cripple anyone he targeted.
Fear should have snipped their claws, forcing them to remain submissive without the strength to defy or protect themselves. Even if she had broken past the fear, she should still be able to feel the lingering effects that sapped away her aggression!
"Whatever do you mean by violence? Self-defence is not violence. I'm not an aggressive person, for I'm just a person that stood by my principles," Wong Xue Guo said humbly but her scanning eyes were anything but aggressive.
Wong Xue Guo took in how many 'enemies' were here, and then at Beom Seok and Kwangsu's poor state. The worst was actually Seonmi, whose eyes became even redder and swollen from crying. She could surmise that Woojin could control his ability to affect selected people, seeing as the church members were not affected even with this close distance.
But how far was his range? What condition was needed to use his ability? Was the easiest way to help them break free was thrashing Woojin?
Woojin scorned. "Principles? Ridiculous-" His words were cut off in fright when he saw Wong Xue Guo suddenly run towards him.
"Nanse!" His second in command quickly stepped before him protectively while others blocked her to protect their leader.
To Woojin's astonishment and fear, she could hold herself well and slowly gain an upper hand, bringing down his people and slowly making her way towards him.
What kind of person is she?!
"You! You... don't come closer!" Woojin yelled and gathered all his energy to attack her with his ability until his head became dizzy from overuse.
Other than shaking her head and swaggering around like a drunk person, she was still making her way to him with a steady tempo. She was like a grim reaper with a mission to grab the soul that tried to escape from being dragged down to the underworld.
"You guys had not fought much against a horde of zombies?" Their speed was much slower than zombies and their aggression was tamer than theirs. If she could not even deal with them, she would have died many times from zombie attacks.
Living humans have the advantage of thinking and planning, but what these church members did was just flex their physical strength. Their performance became even worse than zombies because their emotions were holding them back.
"Nanse! Don't get scared!" His second in command quickly noticed Woojin's unusual state. He would suffer a backlash of his ability if he felt fear.
But his second in command's wake up call only awakened Woojin for a mere second, because what he saw next completely shook his remaining composure. A girl only a year older than him, with just a single punch, had sent his second command, a grown-up man, to greet the floor with his face!
"Oh no, don't look at me like that." Wong Xue Guo grabbed the front of Woojin's shirt and yanked him forward roughly. "You will make me feel like I'm a villain when I'm only doing this to save my teammates."
"You... You...," Woojin stuttered, his fear had him forgotten to try to break free from her hold.
"Should I apologize for getting more used to the fear?" Wong Xue Guo questioned offhandedly with a smile.
Woojin just so happened to stand near the railing, which suited her plan just fine. Dodging the church members that were still surprisingly useless in stopping her, she used all her strength to have them jump off the railing and fall down to the chapel.
"Nanse!" The church members watched in shock at her double suicidal move.
Woojin's ability had backlashed when he started feeling afraid, and so Beom Seok had been regaining clarity. Thus, he had paid attention to what Wong Xue Guo did and was shocked by how crazy, amazing, and daring the little miss was.
When he quickly felt that he had regained freedom from external influence over his emotions, he tightened his grip on his gun. "Instead of only worrying about the walkie talkie, your leader should have taken my guns away."
His bullets brought down more cult members, who do not have guns or know any means to handle a person with a gun. They have no technique in fighting and were no match to a trained guard. Beom Seok was sure that the members were just bullying the weak with their large numbers. With Nanse using his ability to suppress people, there was no urgency for them to learn or sharpen their fighting skills.
Just like Wong Xue Guo said, these bunch of people were not fighting the zombies, but killing humans and helping the zombies!