Chapter 259 - Chapter 259 (2/2)

'Perhaps, just like what Madam has said, that man really.....'

The director rested his chin on his hand and began pondering something else before raising his head.

"No, I trust you, Madam."

He only knew her for around three years, but for some reason, he'd sometimes get this feeling that he'd known her for a far longer time than that. That was perhaps the reason why he felt this sense of trust in her. One based on absolutely nothing but his gut feeling, really.

The Madam nodded her head in reply. The director cautiously asked her another question.

"That man from the footage…. Can you assure me that he's not a dangerous individual?"

She answered him without a moment of hesitation.

"Yes, I can."

He nodded his head again, alone this time, and as if he finally came to a conclusion, raised his head.

"In that case, I understand. I shall pretend that I never heard you talking about that man."

The director rose up from his spot while forming a rueful but relieved face.

"Well, then."

He bade her a short goodbye and turned around to leave, but her warm voice stopped his feet from taking another step.

"Dave, I've baked some cookies. Would you like some?"

"Oh...."

He spotted a bag of cookies in her hand, but could only decline the offer with a smile of his own.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you for your offer."

Now that his official visit was over, his expression reverted to that of a regular, normal uncle. The Madam bade him goodbye with a gentle smile and called for her grandson to guide him to the car.

The child really liked this 'bearded uncle' for some reason, so he quickly rushed to the bearded David Brennan and hung on to the older man's hand.

"I shall come again sometime later, Madam."

"Be careful on your way, Dave."

The director, his hand still being held tightly by her grandchild, finally left the residence, prompting the other guest hiding on the other side of the sitting room to emerge into the open.

"Huh. I don't like that old man. Hey, grandma, should I go teach him a lesson for you?"

He was a giant of a man with slicked-back blonde hair. He took a handful of cookies out from the bag in Madam's hand and shoved them inside his mouth.

"Thomas, I thought your competition licence will be revoked if you caused another incident outside the ring?"

Thomas grinned sheepishly and chewed on the cookies that filled up his mouth.

Crunch, crunch….

"Well, that is..."

This man was none other than Thomas Andre.

Not many people knew that the current Heavyweight champion of the UFC was one of her very few friends that she chose to keep. If the reporters learned of this fact, they would jump up and down in sheer madness while clicking the shutters of their cameras non-stop.

He emptied out the bag of cookies in the blink but that didn't seem to fill him up at all, so he took the bag itself and tossed the cookie crumbs down his gullet next. When he was finally done, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey, grandma. Can I ask you a question?"

She grinned refreshingly and nodded her head. Thomas rolled the empty bag into a ball as he spoke.

"I'm sure lots of people die through accidents, not just someone like me."

Especially with car crashes, where innumerable people would die almost every single day. However, almost none of them would receive a phone call from the Madam before that happened.

On that much-awaited off day, Thomas was climbing inside his treasured sports car so he could go for a crazy-fast drive through the back roads. And then, he became one of the very lucky few that did get that fateful phone call.

After answering her call, he hurriedly checked out the tyres of his beloved ride only to find a small nail stuck in one. Thankfully, he avoided getting into an accident, but if he started the car and drove away, then he'd have lost his life, just as how Madam had warned him.

Which meant that Madam Norma Selner was the saviour of his life.

Afterwards, Thomas grew close enough to her to share meals like this, yet what happened on that day still remained a mystery to him.

"Why did you save me on that day?"

Well, she couldn't possibly have been a fan of the UFC and that prompted her to quickly pick up the phone, so….

Thomas Andre always felt curious about why she went out of her way to help him.

"....."

Madam Selner looked at him without saying anything after hearing his rather sudden question, before providing a belated answer to her friend, one of the top sports stars in the country.

"Because... you did many good things in your past life."

".....I did?"

Thomas Andre, known as the 'Bad Boy' of the UFC, no, Devil of the Octagon, did what now?

He briefly wondered if this grandma ate something she shouldn't have, but then, he decided not to say what popped up in his head after remembering that he owed her big time.

"Hohoh."

Madam chuckled softly and shifted her gaze outside the sitting room window to stare at the black saloon driving away with the CIA's director inside. Her grandson was waving his hand at the 'bearded uncle' until the car couldn't be seen anymore.

The 'relationships'.

Seeing that relationships of the past were being formed anew either consciously or subconsciously by the parties involved, perhaps this 'fate' was a real thing after all.

That's how she felt right now.

After confirming that the director was gone for sure, Thomas plopped down on the very spot on the couch where the leader of the CIA once sat.

"Alright, then. Just what did the man in the video do that an uncle like him came to see you?"

Madam replied in a tone of voice belonging to someone busy putting up still-wet clothes on the washing line.

"He saved the world."

"....."

Sometimes, it was hard to tell whether this old lady was joking or was being dead serious.

'Well, that's why it's so fun being around her, anyway.'

Thomas put on the pair of sunglasses he liked to wear all the time, and shifted his now-darkened gaze towards Madam Selner.

"In that case…. What would Mister Hero who saved the world be doing right about now?"

Madam kept her gaze on her grandchild walking back inside the house, a quiet smile forming on her lips.

"Hmm, I wonder…. Maybe he's enjoying his youth to the fullest somewhere?"

***

Waaahhh-!!

In the location of the qualifying rounds of the track and field competition filled with the heated cheerings of the spectators, featuring schools from all over South Korea.

When the captains of the two rival high school track teams came together on the field, perhaps unsurprisingly, proverbial flames began erupting from the eyes of both men.

"Oiii, Choi Tae-Woong! Looks like you've lost your way, doesn't it!! You even let a freshman enter every type of competition, didn't you!"

Jin-Woo's school track team was now facing off against the pointed ridicule belonging to the captain of their long-time rival from Hwaseong Tech High, Joh Gi-Seok.

"I heard that your former ace, Woo Sahng-In, got injured and took a break for a few months. Did that result in your prowess falling so much that you don't have a choice but to make a freshman your new ace??"

Joh Gi-Seok continued on with his provocation, but Choi Tae-Woong simply smirked brightly and grasped Jin-Woo's shoulder.

"Soon enough, you lot won't be able to close your mouths at the talents of this first year."

"Heee~yah, rather than you guys breaking more records, you got better at cracking jokes, instead!"

Figurative sparks flew in all directions after these two's war of nerves grew to an intense level. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was scratching the side of his head with his index finger.

'With things like this, it's going to be difficult to stick to my plan of holding back so that I won't get noticed....'

While Jin-Woo stood there showing just a tiny hint of how troubled he was, Joh Gi-Seok scanned him from top to bottom and received a great boost of confidence from his expression. The corners of the Hwaseong Tech High Captain's lips curled upwards.

"Here's the thing, though. What a funny coincidence this is, you know?"

Joh Gi-Seok turned around and gestured towards his team members; when he did, a big dude standing behind them strode forward with an expression filled pure, unbridled confidence.

"You see, we also got ourselves a freaky freshman, too."

It was at that point that Jin-Woo ended up blurting out a surprised cry after seeing the face of this so-called freaky freshman.

"Uh?"

"Looks like your own freshman can sense it already, no?"

Joh Gi-Seok increased the volume of his voice while placing his hand on the shoulder of the newbie team member who possessed a physique that far surpassed the level of a regular high schooler.

"This kid here, he's Hwaseong Tech High's secret weapon, Kim Cheol from the first year."

< Chapter 259 > Fin.