“Sorry.” Ponzu returned to the porch, massaging her shoulder with a dissatisfied scowl. “Armwrestling isn’t my strongest suit.”

HyunJin hummed understandingly, nodding. After all, it wasn’t like something one could excel without physical strength. 

In the arena, as the whistling winner carried the table away, the opponent Ponzu chose had his low bright purple eyes already trained on her.

This was the one that was taunting her earlier.

The prisoner ran a hand through his light grey hair, which was not enough to cover up scars running all over his head and face. They made it look like he was frowning, but in truth, there was eagerness reflecting in his eyes. He seemed older than her previous opponent.

Less openly brazen, now that he was chosen, too.

“Hand to hand fight,” stated the man when the bridges retreated and she stopped in front of him, “loss counts if one of us admits defeat. Or falls unconscious... Or in the pit.” An ugly smirk flashed over his face for just a moment. “Do not expect the same easy win.” 

“Sure.” HyunJin waited for a signal and immediately advanced.

“Aww, but what about talk?” cooed the man, dodging her kick and swiping her pivoting leg from under her. “Such a fine tradition!”

“Not interested,” gritted out HyunJin, letting her body fall backwards and catching herself on her arms. She pushed off of her handstand, landing two and a half meters away from her opponent. To her surprise, the distance wasn’t immediately closed. 

The prisoner began leisurely circling her.

HyunJin watched him with keen interest. He was faster than the previous man. And stronger, if her leg had anything to say. And also seemed to have a martial arts background, unlike her - his moves were way too flowing and structured.

Heh. She already preferred this to the first round.

The man covered the distance between them in a heartbeat. 

The prisoner's attack was wide and clearly projected, his right fist hurling at her. HyunJin dodged it, jumping around the man for a better angle, as he straightened and made a sudden kick with his leg, with much less projected movement than his punch. 

HyunJin dove down, as her momentum carried her forward, and spun on her right leg in a squat, now being the one kicking a pivot leg. He jumped, avoiding it, and twisted around as he put some distance between them. 

So did she. 

They stood still for a second, mirroring each other with an appraising gaze.

“You are quicker than you look,” he said, an easy smirk growing on his face. HyunJin could say that about him as well, but kept silent.

There was rarely a person that could match her speed. She expected that from some of the examinees, of course. 

But not from prisoners. Which led to question-

“What are you sentenced for?” HyunJin asked, starting to circle him as he previously did.

He dashed at her, a cocky smile stretching his lips.

She dodged, dropping the conversation attempt and contattcking. 

Huffs and hits were the only thing heard from them, as he proved again and again to be a better fighter than the first opponent.

Subconsciously, HyunJin began increazing force behind her punches, kicks and dashes.

They both did.

And it felt so right .

At one of the exchanges, she made a powerful punch at the risk of creating an opening, and in her recklessness, HyunJin let out a surprising - even to herself - wheeze of joy. Yes! This was it !

Until, in that window of opportunity, her legs got kicked from behind, and the joyful noise choked itself down in .

She began twisting, intent on landing in a crouch.

Unfortunately, the prisoner was both still too close and out of her field of vision.

His fist connected with her stomach in a flash of surprise and pain.

HyunJin’s mind rushed to the spot, inflating the shock all over her, and this time, she had no plan on the far, but fast approaching floor.

She attempted to land on her opponent, dragging him down with her, but her body was still reeling from that attack and that urge began and ended in a twitch.

Unfortunately for her, she once again failed to land.

The prisoner, grinnin madly, got all the time he needed for his own attack. And, unlike her, he was patient enough to do it safely.

HyunJin was halfway to the curling position, desperate to reduce possible damage, but he wasn’t interested in that. While the blow was a necessary part, any harm dealt was not the goal. He had another plan in mind, she found out.

She was still airborne. 

And was kicked in the direction of the closest edge.

“Huh. They were already playing with so much force? Cool!” flashed in HyunJin’s head at her as her body whistled past the concrete tiles. 

Her mind roared in panic, shaking off the shock and pain, putting her back into control of her body.

She will lose !

A panicked yelp rang in the background, as HyunJin twisted, outstretching arms to the floor. Come on, come on, get closer!

With wide eyes she watched the line marking the last two feet to the edge pass under her, missing it by a mere millimeter.

It was so painfully close, come on !

At the last moment, her fingers finally grazed the concrete, so close to the edge, it was almost too late, she almost fell to her death and lost the fight!..

HyunJin clusped the edge at a sharp angle between her fingers and palms, digging in, face contorted in extreme concentration and determination. In places, concrete cracked under her grip. 

Momentum swung her body at the wall supporting the arena. She absorbed it with her bent legs, instantly pushing off of it and pulling herself up by the tips of her fingers.

Swinging herself back on the arena, HyunJin felt a wild grin splitting her face in half as she locked eyes with the shocked prisoner.

“Try that again.”

HyunJin rushed at the man, not letting him utter a single word, going low to the ground. He tensed his legs - always legs, he just kept aiming at them! - and prepared to side-step to his right. HyunJin felt that as soon as the man found his footing, he would follow this with a kick under her.

She let him. She watched the approaching left leg and, the moment it was close enough, latched to it. 

HyunJin was used to his speed now. It was no longer a step too fast for her to gain an advantage. 

He did not expect her to catch his knee instead of blocking, staggering in the motion. HyunJin used the last of his momentum to help her get her feet under her.

She threw his leg to her other side, now having it in front of her while leaving the area directly in front of him. Forcefully stooding up, HyunJin almost shot out from her position, keeping the leg in her hold and straightening it. Gripping his ankle, she twisted it hard enough to disbalance, and closed in, pushing the man in the back with an open palm.

He fell and twisted out of the way of her fierce stomp, rolling to half-raised position on one knee. 

He must stay down. He must stay down!

HyunJin dashed at him, throwing herself down on her own knee with the motion, boldly invading his private space. At her sudden motion, the man moved arms in front of him, ready to block the punch she would’ve been throwing, if she wasn't determined to end this fight now .

She grabbed his forearms with perhaps more force than necessary and jerked them out of the way.

Meeting his gaze in a split-second of unobscured vision, HyunJin stared him down her nose and raised chin.

A resounding crack rolled over the room, followed by another, as the prisoner's head met the floor from the force behind her hit.

His eyes rolled back and closed. He laid there, motionless and blissfully unconscious, as HyunJin rose next to him, smiling in satisfaction.

She looked down at his slowly rising and falling chest as for a couple satisfying seconds, everything was silent, still and amazing.

---

For two trials in a row, Ponzu stayed at the arena. Beating a man at rapid mathematical questions that made HyunJin’s head hurt (how in the world can you “solve” a matrix? Wasn’t that a film? Or an electronic term? How do you do that in your head?) led to her second challenge.

The opponent Ponzu chose next was a woman of short square stature. Throwing away overgrown fringe from her eyes, she took out a still sealed deck of cards.

“Care for a round of mate?” She waved it in the air, addressing the teal haired woman with a lighthearted tone.

Ponzu, as HyunJin found out after almost forty minutes, was also quite good at cards.

---

The next woman took off her hood, letting a sphere of greyish-dark blue hair out, and leveled HyunJin with a long look.

She half-expected another Ponzu challenge - the woman was slender and beautiful even with the baggy prisoner attire. “What’s your trial?”

A couple of seconds passed before the woman opened . “Battle to death.”

HyunJin froze. Absolutely not.

“Absolutely not,” she repeated out loud.

The woman crossed her arms. “Do contestants now get to choose conditions  for individual fights too?” The prisoner snorted derisively. “In the arena, our rules are the law. If you have any complaints, sure, you can always decline - by forfeiting, that is.”

HyunJin winced. 

She glanced back at Ponzu. The other seemed also off-put by the conditions at first, but quickly regained her bearings, returning to her excited supporting expression.

It didn’t seem like Ponzu had any problem with the method. Unlike HyunJin.

She turned back to the confident woman.

A short beep aired, signaling the beginning of the fight.

The woman kept standing there, motionless, watching her with a lofty expression.

She slowly exhaled, closing her eyes. God dammit.

“I forfeit,” declared HyunJin.

“What?!” Hissed behind her Ponzu, clutching her hat.

“I'm not fighting on those terms!” faced her HyunJin, pointing at the woman. She was not going to bulge on this. She never killed anyone and she never will. No way in hell.

HyunJin did not train with her mom to control her strength to start punching people to death left and right.

“Why n?!... ugh!” Ponzu threw up her hands with a groan. “She can’t be that strong!” She also pointed at the victoriously grinning woman. “She can't harm you!”

“I don’t care. I already forfeited.” HyunJin looked up at the rupor. She crossed her arms. “It’s my final decision.”

Seeing HyunJin’s unyielding stance, Ponzu sighed, marching on the extending bridge and jumping the rest of the way. She strode closer, for a moment staring in her eyes with an annoyed and serious face, before gripping HyunJin’s shoulders. “You are costing us another twelve hours,” she said in a tense quiet voice, hushed enough that only HyunJin could hear. “You realise that, right?”

“I do.” She did. The last prisoner only had to declare the same rules to win. Ponzu can’t fight due to self-imposed rules, HyunJin would forfeit.

She held Ponzu’s stare. “I am not . Killing anyone.”

For a second, Ponzu’s grip turned almost desperate. 

She released her shoulders and let her arms fall limply to her sides. Head hanging low, messy fringe covered her face for several long moments.

“I understand.” Ponzu mechanically pat HyunJin’s shoulders with more force than necessary, her voice dejected. “I understand… Even if I don’t agree with this.” She took her hands away and looked to the side. “Hopefully we are close to the finish now.”

Ponzu’s fists were white-knuckled on her way back to the bridge.

Her opponent’s laughter rang behind her, prompting HyunJin to look back. “Now, that went pretty well, didn’t it? Originally I planned to have some dice to test our luck.” HyunJin followed two die playfully thrown in the air before landing back in the woman's hand. “But this was much more efficient, don’t you think?”

She hung her head down as the prisoner's laughing form returned to the respective porch.

HyunJin kept silent until the last prisoner gave his rules.

She opened .

“I forfeit.”

---

After eighteen hours spent in the small guest-furnished confinement room, both of them rushed their way down the Tower. They ran between challenge rooms and hurried through puzzles and traps.

They barely talked, speaking up only about the task at hand.

HyunJin kept mulling over the situation, repeating both her actions and Ponzu’s words in her head, trying to push away a gnawing guilt.

“Your high moral stance over human life is… admirable,” said Ponzu while they were lazing around in their timeout. “If it weren’t affecting me, it would’ve gotten me to trust you and respect you personally… But there are times and places for that.” She glanced away for a moment. “And also people. This one wasn’t it. Look.” Ponzu rolled over from her position on the floor, sitting and staring HyunJin in the eyes. “In many places and situations the option to not kill someone carries either a lot of privilege or a ton of arrogance.” Ponzu pointed at her, finger almost touching HyunJin’s forehead. “But you aren’t yet strong enough to carry out the first case. You only have arrogance. If you want to be a Hunter, a pacifistic one at that, you will have to do much, much better.”

They haven’t spoken much after that.

It wasn’t personal. There was simply nothing left to be said.

But the air of quiet displeasure kept suffocating HyunJin on their entire way down.

---

“Contestant 391 finished nineteenth! Time elapsed...” caused them both to exhale in relief. In the end, they managed to finish with a whole eight hours to spare.

Looking around the room, HyunJin spotted familiar silhouettes. Chuu jumped to her feet, opposed to Choerry, who, with her back to their entrance, looked up and up until she plopped on her back, still in crosslegged position. Purplehead grinned, stretching hands out to her, beckoning.

“Contestant 246...” with a curt nod, Ponzu turned away.

“Congratulations!” hopped Chuu towards her, throwing arms in the air and then around her, tugging HyunJin’s attention away from the distancing pastel figure and the knot in her lungs. “You made it!”

She smiled at Chuu, who took her hand in both of hers and led her to Choerry. 

Right. That was only temporal. They weren’t friends and their cooperation was a limited agreement with no lasting feelings. Nothing more than an ally by chance.

HyunJin would like to feel that way too.

Fortunately for her, she now was in the company of her real friends.

There was something on the floor near them, drawn with what seemed to be a small piece of coal. HyunJin cranked her head this and that way, but wriggly shapes looked like nothing to her. Some seemed like rough schematics, diagrams and family trees. And also quite a lot of circles.

“I did, barely,” HyunJin looked away, glancing around and frowning. No familiar backpack. “HeeJin isn’t here yet?”

Choerry sighed, crossing arms without rising from her lying position. “Nopes. She isn’t here yet. Somehow .”

Chuu nodded. “Even she,” the girl dismissively waved at Choerry, “came here like forty and some hours ago.”

Choerry sticked out her tongue at Chuu, who sat back where she was before. To HyunJin she explained, “I was done in twenty, Chuu in ten. We’ve been here way too long.”

HyunJin “ooh”ed, looking at both of them, also lowering herself to the floor. “Were your routes that easy?”

“Mmmmm no?” Sat straight Choerry. “Just fit us well. But what about your’s? How come you ended up with her?”

HyunJin glanced at Ponzu, looking for something in her backpack quite a distance away, almost on the opposite side of the room.

“I just had an amazing route,” said HyunJin with the barest of hints of a rueful smirk.

---

“It’s not much,” said HyunJin with a shrug, craning her head this and that way, leisurely trying to guess what the lines on concrete meant. By warningly bulging eyes from Chuu, they should be better kept a mystery. By Choerry’s expecting smile, she was eager to be asked. It might be awkward to return to a finished topic just for her - it seemed like lines were old and already partially smudged. Maybe it would be best to drop it. “Me, mom, a little family museum, a village, a whole lot of mountains and an unfortunate amount of tourists.” 

Who were so overconfident, they ignored both official and her handcrafted signs on the routes and dangerous zones, finished HyunJin in her head. And forecast. They seemed to ignore the rain and storm forecast like there was no tomorrow. Either that, or despised it from the bottom of their city hearts.

She thought back to her first tourist she carried down the mountain. First of many. The adult’s legs dragged through the mud while a dripping rain was slowly turning into a downpour and was soon to become a clearly prognosed storm.

It wasn’t all bad, HyunJin had to admit. They brought money to the village, some of them kept the museum running, and others helped fund Miura’s clinic.

“Museum?” Perked up Choerry. “What kind?” 

“Art and occasional photography.” HyunJin shrugged. “One-person show, made huge canvases on nature and - rarely - bits of civilization. People freeze and stare at them for hours ,” HyunJin rolled her eyes. “Nothing else except them and chairs. Since sometimes nearby city’s schools and travel agencies run busses specifically for the museum, we got almost forty folding chairs standing around.” She huffed. “We used to fold them daily, but in the last couple years we leave them standing more often than not.”

Chuu hummed thoughtfully. “What kind of person would get busses to their museum up in the mountains?”

“A Hunter,” easily confessed HyunJin. “Nature Hunter, to be exact.”

Choerry’s expression changed, mouth opening in the first wave of shock. “ Oh my god !” Choerry nearly jumped as she grabbed HyunJin’s hands, eyes blazing in glee. “Hunter that has their work in open access and collected in one place, really? I definitely haven't heard of him before… I don’t think you realise how rare it is!” Choerry laughed joyfully. “You have to invite me there someday!”

HyunJin nodded. “Sure. I'll give you the address later, you can stay in our home if you want.” She remembered their house rules and laughed. “Be warned - you’ll have to help around as a pay for your stay - my mom is rather strict on that.”

Choerry chuckled , rolling up her loose sleeve, showing off her arms. “Don’t worry! I'm a hard worker and a good cook! And a hell of a gardener!”

Chuu snorted and HyunJin gave a laugh of her own before feeling a need to clarify one moment. “Just in case, you are mistaken. It isn’t a live Hunter’s work.” She always got protective over her grandfather’s legacy and disliked any misunderstandings, even minor ones. “He opened it as a gallery during his life and left it in the hands of his daughter, willing his home village to house his material legacy after his death. Some argue that his art would have much more impact in bigger, more famous museums... but given it comes from those museum’s representatives, those arguments aren’t listened to much, and they are also wrong.” She involuntarily scowled. “His legacy isn’t only artwork. His funds and organisations he helped to build, along with funding of nature conservations was his life work that overshadows any of his paintings or photographs. The museum isn’t a showcase of his achievement. Or his projects. It is an archive of his hobby, meant for singular people, who sit there and listen and smell...”

HyunJin’s end of sentence drowned in the rumble of another door opening some distance away from them. Before it could lift completely, two kids spilled out, racing against each other. Just like in the first phase.

To her left, Choerry outstretched arms and flopped on the floor, staring at the ceiling, pouting. Chuu, on the other hand, jumped to her feet, waving at the newcomers.

HyunJin leaned back, looking them up and down. Had they stepped on the same door?

Kurapika, Leorio and some soft-bodied square man tagged 16 stepped after, animosity between the first two and an unknown man felt even at a distance.

She looked at pouting Choerry. The girl felt her gaze and met her eyes, mouthing: “Not HeeJin.”

HyunJin nodded. Not HeeJin.

Choerry lifted herself up to greet arrivals, four boys approaching them. The stranger said something to Lerio and Kurapika in mutual annoyance, before sending a dirty glare at the group and leaving.

There were still almost seven hours left. 

Hopefully, HeeJin will arrive soon.