Ability Wielders

"What the f.u.c.k am I supposed to do in this situation? I mean, I haven"t even f.u.c.king recovered yet, what the f.u.c.k?" Hayden couldn"t stop cursing in his head.

He hasn"t recovered from the previous encounter, yet, here was Kim Eun-ha, wearing a simple jacket, bare-faced, staring and standing in front of him. He was stunned due to her flawless looks.

"Holy s.h.i.t! Seriously, what a beauty!" Memories still couldn"t be on par with seeing things in real life, even when Hayden"s Divine Perception allowed him to see his memories with life-like vividness. It was like how watching a fight on a computer screen was not as exhilarating as watching it in real life. "What kind of luck do I have? No, there is something wrong with this world, this kind of coincidence just can"t happen in a short few days!"

Hayden was in denial, suspicious if it was really Kim Eun-ha. Sizing her up again without his eyes moving, there was no doubt that it was Kim Eun-ha!

"What the f.u.c.k am I supposed to do? Break the eye contact? Approach her? Think Hayden, think!" Hayden"s thoughts were in a state of utter chaos. Despite that, he smiled towards Kim Eun-ha without a hint of this disorder. "Play it cool, Hayden, play it cool, she"s simply a pretty girl, you"ve seen a bunch of pretty girls, not just as pretty as her. Calm down, calm down you little son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

Hayden resorted to cursing himself as a form of pep talk. Surprisingly, it worked. At this moment, Hayden opted to approach her, thinking that this chance wouldn"t present itself so easily ever again!

"This is a once in a lifetime encounter, if I don"t grasp it, I"ll never be able to live as Hayden Emperador anymore!" Hayden breathed in deeply, albeit, discreetly. "I mean, bro, it"s literally in your name, you"re an emperor, you"re the man, you can do this!"

Steadily, Hayden approached Kim Eun-ha, who also started to move towards him. On the way, the two didn"t break their gazes at all, as if they were in a staring contest. Hayden was put on the verge of breaking down due to this.

When the two was finally in close proximity, Hayden"s perception of time stopped, literally. His breathing, his heartbeat, the flow of air around him, time actually halted in his eyes, all he could see was Kim Eun-ha"s eyes, lips, cheeks, everything.

Abruptly, he snapped out of it. "Playing it cool, playing it cool, you can do this… You can do this!"

"h.e.l.lo, um, my name is Hayden Emperador," Nodding his head, Hayden introduced himself in Korean prior to extending his hand for a handshake. Meanwhile, in his mind, "What the f.u.c.k kind of wuss are you? "h.e.l.lo, um?" Good going Hayden!"

"Kim Eun-ha, nice to meet you," Eun-ha similarly was removed in her daze, smiled at last, and shook Hayden"s hands politely. The second Kim Eun-ha"s hand touched Hayden"s hand, it was as if his Divine Perception stepped up another notch, her heartbeat, the flow of her blood in her blood vessels, the dilation of her pupils, the smoothness of her hand, so much information flooded Hayden"s brain and processed much faster than it should have.

That was when his Heavenly Sense suddenly activated, a gray aura, though much whiter than Hayden"s, engulfed Kim Eun-ha.

"Umm…" Hayden let go of her hand and was paralyzed once more. What the h.e.l.l was he supposed to do now? Go away? "No, no, no, ask to establish a communication link, you dumb idiot!"

"I"m a big fan of CHORUS," Hayden smiled. Internally, he was scolding himself. "I said communication link, what the h.e.l.l are you doing? Establish a communication link, or you wouldn"t get this kind of luck anymore!"

"I"m flattered," Eun-ha responded with a smile. "Do you want to take a picture? Or maybe you want a signature?"

"Is it okay to take a picture with you?" Hayden beamed and unwittingly asked. "Bro, seriously, act better, put up a false front if you have to!"

"Sure!" Eun-ha continued to smile. Without delaying, Hayden "calmly" took out his phone, walked to Kim Eun-ha"s side, and took a selfie. Checking the picture, Hayden was astonished once more. "Oh, yes, um… Can I establish a communication link with you?"

"Er…" With the rise of this abrupt question, Eun-ha was a little dumbfounded. Before she could say yes, the fellow in front of her interrupted her.

"It"s fine if you don"t want to, I mean, it was kind of rude of me, right?" Hayden waved his hands awkwardly as he nearly panicked when he saw her reaction to the question. Meanwhile, his heart shattered, "Oh no, she found that creepy, didn"t she? s.h.i.t, you blew it!"

"No, no." Contrary to his expectations, Kim Eun-ha chuckled as she took out her phone. "Here, scan this…"

Hayden"s broken heart was instantly rebuilt the second he saw this. "She"s letting me establish a communication link with her!? This G.o.ddess? No f.u.c.king way!"

Still, Hayden acted as if nothing was wrong at all. Calmly, he tapped a few b.u.t.tons and scanned the QR code on Kim Eun-ha"s phone, who then verified it with her fingerprint.

This was the standard of establishing a communication link between two people, a QR code and a fingerprint as a confirmation so that no one could easily establish a communication link with anyone even if the Ident.i.ty Number was leaked.

Of course, this was simply one of the few ways one can create a communication link, there were other ways as well, such as entering your Ident.i.ty Number in someone"s phone then verifying it, which is not safe as you would be exposing your Ident.i.ty Number to the other person, making you susceptible for attacks, especially if you input it on a stranger"s phone.

"So…" Eun-ha sweetly smiled at him, putting Hayden"s heartbeat erratic, his mind blank. Noticing the chocolates on his basket, she chuckled. "You must really like chocolates to buy that many, huh?"

"Oh, yes," Hayden turned to the basket full of chocolate before replying. Similarly, he lightly chuckled. "These are not all mine though, my mom likes strawberry-flavored chocolate, you see?"

Taking a strawberry-flavored chocolate from his basket, he shook it. "How about you? Do you like chocolate?"

"I love chocolate," Eun-ha broke her eye contact with Hayden and started to walk. Hayden followed, putting the strawberry-flavored chocolate back in the basket. "Especially these ones."

Turning to Hayden, she was waving a box of choco pies around. "I see… By the way, are you free later?"

Hayden blurted out. Kim Eun-ha rotated her head swiftly, while even he, himself, was shocked of what he said. "Did I… Did I just ask her out…?"

"I am free," Eun-ha nodded her head, recovering from her shock. Her playful personality that he sees on shows came to life, "Are you free?"

"What? Me? Let me check my schedule," jokingly, Hayden played along. Kim Eun-ha let out a cute chuckle at the sight of Hayden acting as if he was browsing on his phone. "Let me see, there"s nothing on my 4:00 PM, are you free to have coffee?"

"Yeah, sure," Eun-ha agreed, causing Hayden to feel a little light-headed. "Are you okay with that though? I"m five years older than you…"

Hayden was confused as to how Kim Eun-ha knew of his age. Remembering that he had a Streamlink account where he revealed his age, he didn"t think of the matter too deeply.

"I"m the one who should be asking you that question, right?" Hayden asked with slight apprehension, which he managed to control. "Also, I should ask if you"re okay with hanging out with me? Wouldn"t hanging out with me cause you any problems?"

It was a genuine concern. A world-famous superstar such as Kim Eun-ha going out with an insignificant n.o.body such as Hayden? No matter what angle you look at it, it would make the headlines! Plus, Hayden was also worried of his own well-being, wouldn"t fans start to bash him once he dates Kim Eun-ha? At the thought of this, he involuntarily shuddered.

"Well, it"s okay with me," Eun-ha turned to Hayden once more. Cutely, she said, "Well, if you"re really worried about it, let me decide the place, okay? I"ll text you. See you later!"

With that, Kim Eun-ha left a wide-eyed Hayden behind. Gulping, he thought, "What the h.e.l.l was that? My heart nearly f.u.c.king stopped!"

Regaining his sanity, Hayden walked to the payment counter and paid, during of which he was eyeing his surroundings. Spotting Eun-ha, he saw her with her family.

Once he was out of the grocery store, the withheld pressure he had was released in the form of a sigh. He was put in another round of mental fatigue, one worse than when he encountered Kim Eun-ha at Nanlo.

"d.a.m.n, not even Divine Perception could hold back the attraction I had for her…" Shaking his head, Hayden was dismayed at the performance of his Divine Perception. Ultimately, he dropped this and focused on Kim Eun-ha. He almost lost control of himself in elation due to recalling her cute personality. "Jeez, control, Hayden, control. Don"t act akin to an idiot in front of the general public, it"s just coffee to get to know her, it"s not a date… Oh, f.u.c.k, she said yes when I asked her out…"

Squinting his eyes, he talked to himself in a quiet disbelieving voice. "No, she probably thinks that it"s merely a friendly meet-up… Well, I did ask her… Oh, G.o.d…"

This time, Hayden really broke down. As he was preoccupied of keeping his calm earlier, and that Kim Eun-ha agreed with him, attempting not to blank out, he overlooked the fact that he unwittingly asked her on a date. "Holy s.h.i.t…"

Hayden felt as if he won the lottery with this interaction with Kim Eun-ha. "Don"t try to overthink, don"t let this get over your head, play it slow, play it cool…"

Taking a deep breath, he walked to his house, busying himself with removing this matter inside his head. Inside his house, Hayden gave his parents some of the chocolate he bought, stored the rest in the fridge, and took some to his room.

He couldn"t help but keep wondering whether he should text Kim Eun-ha already. This went on for an hour. At 12:00, Hayden couldn"t hold it in any longer and sent a text.

"h.e.l.lo," switching his phone"s keyboard to Korean, Hayden texted. Next, he typed, "How are you?"

Ultimately, he deleted this and simply waited for Kim Eun-ha"s reply instead. He couldn"t afford to add on to the conversation if she doesn"t reply.

"Hey," About 11 minutes later, Kim Eun-ha, at long last, replied to Hayden. "I"m sorry for the late reply, we ate. How are you?"

"f.u.c.k, she actually replied!" Hayden was above cloud nine as of this moment. Typing, "I"m doing fine, how about you?"

"I"m good as well." A smiley emoticon was beside the text. "Oh, yeah, let me send you the location we"re going to have coffee later."

A few seconds later, a map location with coordinates pinned on it was sent. Opening the link, it was on a coffee shop named "Executive Hangout," in Seoul. It was located in Mapo-gu, one of the districts in Seoul.

"Are you certain of this coffee shop?" Hayden asked with doubt. It was not that he trusted Kim Eun-ha, it was just that it was too risky.

When he checked the coffee shop online, it was one of the highest-rated coffee shops in Seoul and was one of the most popular one as well. Basing from this alone, wouldn"t the coffee shop be riddled with people then?

"Don"t worry, I told you I"d pick the coffee shop," Eun-ha replied with a mischievous smile emoticon. Seeing this, Hayden squinted his eyes.

"Oh yeah, let me ask," Hayden changed the topic as there was no other good responses here that would not make him look socially awkward. He decided to ask the question that was bugging him for the past hour, "This is a date, right?"

"What do you think?" Eun-ha sent a text with a winking emoticon. This text made Hayden"s heart spiral into oblivion. What the h.e.l.l? Is she flirting with me!?

"Breathe, breathe," Hayden had no choice but to turn Divine Perception on. He typed frankly, "I don"t know, that"s why I"m asking you!"

In response, Eun-ha sent Hayden emojis that were laughing out loud. "It"s a date, dummy. You were the one who asked me out and you"re asking me if this is a date?"

"I don"t want to a.s.sume anything!" Hayden was really direct as he seriously had no idea how else to approach this. He had no experience in girls whatsoever! "Again, let me ask, is it okay for you to go out with someone who"s younger than you by five years?"

Thinking up to here, before he could press send, Hayden deleted the question he was imposing. It was too stupid! Why wouldn"t she be okay if she agreed to go out with him?

"My, my, you don"t have any experience with women, don"t you?" Reading this text, Hayden awkwardly smiled due to being exposed.

"Well, I never set my eyes on anyone until I met you!" Although Hayden was thinking that he was simply being truthful, the second he sent this, he had the sensation that something was wrong.

"No, why the h.e.l.l did I sent that!?" Reading the text he sent over and over again, Hayden nearly cried out. That was such a standard pick-up line! "Well, it"s too late to back down already, let"s just see how she will respond…"

On the other hand, Kim Eun-ha, who was in her room, was surprised. A little fl.u.s.tered, she muttered, "This kid actually knows how to flirt…"

"What a glib mouth!" Eun-ha sent another laughing out loud emoji. With a clapping emoji, she sent, "Outstanding comeback."

Seeing this reply, Hayden turned numb. "That worked? There"s no way that this simple and clichéd pick-up line works on girls in this day and age, right?"

If anybody ever heard of this, they would have smacked the living daylights out of Hayden. Little brother, you really think that talking like this is always the way with the ladies!? Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and how much you leave the rest of us behind in the dust!?

With that, the two hit it off, texting each other about small stuff, flirting here and there. It was not like Hayden was not Hayden at all, constantly coming up with new topics whenever one reaches a dead-end, and keeping the conversation going. By the end of the conversation, he got Eun-ha to give him a personally signed picture of her!

Hours pa.s.sed, it was now 3:00. "You want me to pick you up, or let"s meet in the Executive Hangout instead?"

"Do you want to pick me up?" Eun-ha sweetly asked. Regardless of it being a text, Hayden"s heart palpitated. This girl really knew how to stimulate men! As befitting of her reputation as one of the s.e.xiest k-pop idols in the world!

"Of course I do! Would it be weird if I pick you up for our first date?" Hayden asked decisively, steeling himself to advance forward, not backing out.

"No, it"s not, do you have a house in White Canary Village, or were you only pa.s.sing?" Eun-ha replied. On that note, Hayden confirmed that he had indeed accidentally bought a house in the village that Eun-ha was living in!

Answering the question, Eun-ha gave him her address, said to pick her up at 3:30, and bade goodbye to Hayden, making the excuse that she was going to prepare stuff. Putting down his phone, Hayden contemplated of his luck again.

"Are the heavens favoring me, or are they trying to kill me off?" Muttering, Hayden felt a great pain in his heart. He would not, nor would he ever, trust his luck at all, he would definitely be suspicious if something like this was happening to him. It was like he was in a dream! "No matter what, I have to be careful for the next few days…"

Reminding himself to be alert, Hayden went to the shower, put on clothes, and watched the clock tick by slowly. Estimating the time, Hayden left his room at 3:24, informed his parents that he was going on a date, didn"t give them a chance to interrogate him, said that he would be back before ten, and boarded his car.

He drove as fast as he could out of his house, fearful of the eyes he saw on his mother when he told them that he was going on a date. Those eyes, nothing scared Hayden out of his wits unlike those eyes, it was as if a pack of a hundred wolves were staring at him!

"Jeez, why are mothers always this hard on their sons when they mention a girl?" Getting out of the house on his car, Hayden unhurriedly drove. At exactly 3:30, he reached Kim Eun-ha"s house, a pretty modest house relative to his house, yet was still amazing in its own right.

Thinking of whether he should honk his horn or text, Hayden went for the option of texting. "I"m here, I"ll wait for you…"

"Is that you in the black sports car?" Eun-ha asked in shock, peeking out of her window. At that moment, Hayden alighted his car and stared at Eun-ha"s window, waving at her with a slight smile.

"This fellow… d.a.m.n…" Eun-ha whispered to himself. Taking out her phone, she texted again, "Okay, I"ll go down."

Without telling her mom of her destination, she exited the house. Sneakily, her mom followed Kim Eun-ha in the front door and saw a man outside the house. Smiling a little, she left her daughter alone. "She"s 21 already…"

Nodding towards Kim Eun-ha, he opened the door for her. Subsequently, he entered his car and drove to the Executive Hangout.

The atmosphere was pretty awkward, both of them silent. Relaxing, Hayden put the car on automatic drive mode, retracted the center console and turned to Kim Eun-ha.

"Well, how is it being an idol?" Hayden broke the unsettling silence. He can never call himself a man if he didn"t. "I mean, I know it"s hard, but, how really is it?"

"Well, it is actually pretty fun!" Eun-ha c.o.c.ked her head towards Hayden and replied with a grin. This simple gesture of hers astounded Hayden to the point that he couldn"t activate Divine Perception in time. Continuing, she spoke, "It"s hard sometimes, exhausting, yet, the hard-work is incredibly awarding. I couldn"t ask for a better job. How about you? How is it like being a rising star?"

Hayden answered her question, imposing another one on her. All the way, making each other"s career as their main topic, the two talked until they arrived at Executive Hangout.