DUAL

//09

From one place to another, especially in the Defense Sector, Jungkook kept hearing more and more things about him. More comments, more opinions, more insults.

He'd been hearing critics since he was little. That he was going to be a good Defender when he grew up, but that would be it. Good. Not the best, not the greatest. Just, 'good'. People said that he wouldn't go as far as being the greatest. He would only be stuck at being good at it, because they said he was always satisfied with what he could do. Never wanted to have more than what he had.

He never let them bother him, but as he spent more and more time training, he realized that he was sick of them. Sick of the harsh comments. Perhaps, people were right. That he wasn't going to improve not because he couldn't, but because he wouldn't allow himself to.

He thought of Chaeyoung and her passion to improve herself despite the harsh reality that it would be close to impossible for her to improve largely at once. Her kind of improvement was the type to go slow, but it would absolutely be possible for her to be there. Jungkook could see how she would do anything to get to where she wanted to be.

Unlike him.

Jungkook could easily get himself the biggest improvement if he wanted to, but he was all into the current satisfaction, believing that he was doing great. Perhaps, it was all in his head.

"It's as far as he can get."

"Others collect prizes, he collects wounds of all sizes."

"Perhaps, he only looks great, but he's the weakest."

Those comments didn't really affect him much, but then it was his grandfather's own words that made him rethink of his own choice to feel 'just enough'.

His grandfather requested for them to spar early in the morning, when the sun hadn't yet risen. His grandfather also requested for Jungkook to not hold himself back just because he was old. Jungkook did as requested. He showed the older man his best, the way he'd perform on the training ground, because despite his age, the old man was far better than the men in Jungkook's batch. He was an experienced Defender with loaded skills.

"The people were right, boy," the old man said after their third round of sparring. "The longer you ignore your true ability to go further, no doubt you're going to lose it forever."

He'd ignored it, casually attacking his grandfather as though what the older man had just said was unimportant.

"Your lack of will to improve when you're able to do it," his grandfather scoffed. "That is what making you too vulnerable to all attacks."

When his ring glowed, summoning him for his training session, he heard his grandfather said, "Multiple wounds wouldn't always make a Defender stronger, it would only weaken him if he's not going to open his heart to his own potential."

Jungkook's own reflection stared at him from the water of the pond. The people were right. People talked too much in the society, criticized too much, but there were truths everywhere around in every word they said. He needed to make into the cut, he wanted to serve the village in a way he'd always wanted to, he wanted to be front in line.

He wanted to fight when the battle would greet them. He wanted to be like his grandfather, not like his father.

He went through lots of denials, trying to convince himself that he wasn't full of himself. It took him so long to fully understand what it would cost him if he was really ignoring himself, his own best potential. Despite getting his health restored that he was able to fight well, Jungkook realized that he was getting more and more vulnerable to attacks. Just like what the old man told him.