CHAMPION | NCT

o22

C H A P T E R
T W E N T Y - T W O

If the box weren't addressed by the city, I would immediately assume it's filled with things nice and pretty. Perhaps some delivery that's intended for their  Champion. Maybe a letter of congratulations, banners, gifts, and things alike.

But when I opened the box and started taking out the stuffs one by one - there weren't such things as gifts of gratitude.

Weapons. Lots and lots of them. They were nothing like I had ever seen before. One was as small as a pistol, with a curving arc on its head connected with jaws of tubelike metals. It was light and handy, the type you can hide in your pocket without getting bothered by the weight.

"That's my father's model," Yuta blurted out. I looked at him and I saw surprise on his face. "I-I didn't know he'll show it to someone. I helped him make it at his lab. It's . . . " he trailed off and gathered his focus on another material. He was eyeing a round material in the box this time. Yuta grabbed it impatiently and started examining the object instantly. There's something wild in his eyes.

"This is 2XC-Sphere. I made it with Father too. Once thrown on the floor, it produces invisible rays that scatter around the area. Those rays can electrify enemies."

Then he started playing with a weapon he just claimed as capable of electrocuting, throwing it in the air and catching it with his hand as if it were a ball.

"And what is this?" I held up another foreign device. It's shaped like a cylinder, about the size of my thumb.

"Oh, that," Yuta's eyes glimmered. "It's one of my creation, too. I started making it when I was 16. Look," he held my hand, the one that was holding the device.

I winced.

Yuta's focus was entirely on his creation. "If disturbed by an outside force," he stirred the object by shaking his hand along with mine. The slight movement caused the cylindrical object to glow in neon light. "It glows. It comes in pairs, actually. It's used as a tracker. Where's the other one?"

"This one?" I showed him an identical pair. I didn't stir it yet, but it was already glowing like a firefly.

"Yeah," his eyes twinkled. "Usually, two different people should possess this thing separately. So when one gets lost, the other could find the troubled. It's like the witchlight in the story Mother used to read to me. An alarm, if put in this modern society."

"Good heavens. That's useful."

"Indeed." Yuta smiled beautifully. He looked unbelievably pleased. A thought barged in my head that when you want Yuta to show him to you this beautiful smile that only he could muster, you only need to talk about his family and, well, his innovations.

"Sooji," he muttered, grabbing my attention. "I take this." He fisted one of the mini-cylinders and added, "And you," he gestured at its pair, "you take that."

"Thanks," I accepted. "This could come in handy. Do I only need to shake it?"

He nodded. "Just like what I did in my demonstration."

"Hmmm, nice," I said before pocketing the thing.

Kun suddenly entered the conversation. "Your father himself sent them."