Levels (Hiatus)

Chapter 7 - A Foreseen Compromise

"..."

"..."

'What is going on...?' I think as a man who I think goes by the name Kang-dae stares at me for what seemed to be ages of my life span.

'I must be untrustworthy to him. It is best not to smile. It would not be convincing to someone like that'

Why? Well it is easy to make that assumption because of the look of his face and demeanor. I can just look at him and know that this man does not play around.

I slightly smile and reach my hand out.

'This is a man who wants something- And from my field of expertise- that is a fact.'

-"'White Lotus', be careful with this man. This type of man is a Valuable but dangerous asset to have. Only saying~"- said my system with a bit of tension.

I look at Ari who looks at me with concern.

"Hey! Kang-dae! Don't you see that she is hurt?! I and the rest of us don't have time for you to have a staring contest with my un- I mean Cynthia!" Says Ari who had bursted out in her short frustration.

I pull back my hands and looked at Ari to say, "Ari don't be like that. I know I am a new person- unknown and a stranger at that. If he must look at me to see see if I am trustworthy, then so be it."

I look at the man once more and wait for him to make a move.

'The words I have said just now were unnecessary but if I can persuade him into liking or accepting me- then I have succeeded.'

The room gets tense.

As I start to get extremely anxious under the man's gaze, I move myself into a more comfortable position. This makes me move my legs to the floor as I sit with better posture on the bed.

—heuuk!

A sudden string of pain was accompanied with my leg as I was trying to move to a more comfortable position.

I guess it wasn't that much more comfortable.

So with the pain, my hands grip tightly on the sheets and my face appeared to have scrunched up in pain.

By the ugly looks on the faces of the people in the room- well except the man named king-dae who remained stoic- I could tell my wound that was now covered in blood by my movement and the bandages that were barely on, it looked gruesome.

Balam quickly came to my side and said, "Oh girl don't move so fast like that. You will open the wound more then it has from your running."

As I was about to respond, the man started moving and said, "move."

Balam did as she was instructed.

I was quite surprised, but I guess he is the leader of this group.

As he passes Balam, he looks into my eyes once more and finally crouches down to see the injured leg. He then reaches out his hand to hold the heel of my foot.

As he is holding my foot I think, 'For the fact that he was wielding a sword when he came through the door, his hands sure don't have any calluses... Does that have something to do with his power or skill? Maybe it is a skill regarding wielding swords....'

With his one hand gently holding my calf, he takes the other hand and takes off my high heel.

He observes my foot and then suddenly asks "Were you running."

I say, "I was."

'I could say I was barely running. Has anyone seen my legs. I can barely consider myself an athlete- I just took track for high school- and that was ages ago.'