149 A Night of Sorrow

Alday stared directly at Jun's eyes not blinking even once. Mirachu stood frozen beside him not knowing what to do. She was planning to slowly influence the people to think that Jun was an evil person. At that time, she could easily sway the populace to help her impeach Jun from his position.

But now that Alday decided to confront Jun directly, she has no control to whatever the outcome would be. She anxiously looked around and even saw some of the people frowning at the situation.

Though Jun wasn't actively helping the people become stronger, his actions of clearing medium to large groups of carriers was actually benefitting weaker individuals to safely level up. Though he wasn't active with the community, his overall actions helped the people and they were appreciative of it.

Seeing that their benefactor was being asked to come down from his position, this group of people were unhappy and voiced their complaints. Unfortunately, no one besides them rose up to live the moment. And it was for a simple reason.

Most of the people here in the plaza were members of the Frontier. Since Marichu planned to expose Jun after receiving the tip from Henry, she organized most of the available members to come and help her execute her plan. The guards that were blocking the path was only a fraction of the Frontier's  member gathered here. It could even be said that besides the weak group of supporter, Jun only had his group while being surrounded by a potential enemy. If things really went awry, a lot of casualties would occur.

Upon hearing Alday's request, Jun smiled and said. "Okay. Is that all? I'm in a hurry, so if there's nothing else I'm leaving."

"That's all, thank you." Alday replied and slightly bowed.

Jun looked at him, then nodded his head. He turned around and started walking. Those Frontier guards hesitated whether to let him go, but Jun just brushed past them. He only exerted enough force to push them aside, then ignored them.

Seeing that Jun's attitude about the matter calmed Adrian and Nik. They both started walking followed by their group members.

"Are we letting them go?" Marichu whispered to Alday, which made the man glare at her.

Alday furiously said, "Let them go? You! Do you even know you're dealing with! We're the one let off easily. Do you believe that he could have killed all of you?" Alday calmed himself since they were still in public. He glared once more and said softly, "This is not the end of this. We'll talk about this at the meeting later."

Marichu lowered her head and knew that she messed up. The next time she would do it flawlessly and would try her best not to be caught. She stared at Jun's back on the distance and cursed him a few times in her head. To be honest, she doesn't even understand what Alday meant when he said that they were let off easily. She doesn't believe that Jun could have killed them all since there's so many of them.

There's many reasons why Alday was respectful and fearful of Jun. Alday and his group were rescued and brought to safety. He felt eternally gratitude towards Jun for having a second chance for him and his wife. On the course of bringing them back were they encountered evolved carriers, that's the only time when he saw how strong Jun was and where he learned how to fight evolved carriers. He wasn't scared because Jun was strong. He was troubled because Jun was fearless in the face of danger. As if... as if he was born for this world.

—

"Marianne, can you hear me? Are you lost? That's impossible right? You've already lived here for a few years, so that's impossible to happen. Can you say something? Atleast a clue? Are you angry? I promise I'll spend more time with you... so, can you speak to me please?"

Jun stopped running as he catch his breath. He had already ran four times around the western and eastern residential area. If she were hold hostage, they would have to be somewhere around, since they would be out of the cleared zones if they went out further.

Jun's chest heaved up and down while he held his knees. This is the only time he took a break after running around causing the accumulated fatigue to force him down. He exhaled and inhaled a few more times before talking on the wireless earphone.

"Can you hear me now? I think the receptions good here." Jun stepped a few times to the side, thinking that a few steps might make him lucky, but to his disappointment, no reply came.

"Come back, its already dark and its dangerous to be outside."

When Jun heard a female voice come from the wireless earphone, he became excited only to be dismayed. It was Sheila who asked him to go back.

"That's why I need to find her."

Jun crumpled the piece of paper he was holding and threw it to the side. It fell somewhere on the road side and rolled a few times.

On the mall's living room gathered all of the member of the group. Nik and his squad stayed on the first floor to stand guard while Evo was drinking liquor alone in his office.

Everyone could hear Jun's yell through their wireless earphones and couldn't help but feel pity for him. Sheila was about to reply but Adrian shook his head.

When Jun came back, he immediately called Tatang Robin to ask whether he saw Marianne on the security camera. After a while, Tatang Robin said that the last time she saw Marianne was when she went to their room and left the mall. When Jun ran to his room, he found a note placed on top of the bed.

Don't look for me. it said. Marianne wasn't missing like what Evo said. She left.

Jun didn't believe it even though he knew and recognized that it was Marianne's handwriting. He felt sullen and empty all of a sudden. When he lost his family and became alone, he thought that it would be the last time that his heart would ache. But apparently, it wasn't.

Though he doesn't know why she suddenly left, he knew for a fact that there was a reason behind it. But still, he grieved. His heart ached and couldn't accept it. He gained something and lost it once again. And like the other times, he wasn't able to do anything.

The people at the living room didn't know what to do. Jun shared the letter with them and, just like him, couldn't believe it. They helped him for a few hours until it became really dark that the stars aren't enough as a source of light. Though Marianne only joined them for a short time, everyone already became family with her. And for whatever reason she left, she would still be their family.

Sheila was troubled for not being able to do anything when someone suddenly spoke. It was Adrian. He stood up and looked at everyone. "Should we look for a few more hours? We probably can't sleep anyways. Let's bring some flashlights and snacks."

Everyone voiced their agreements and headed out together.

—

Jun arrived back near the plaza. It was already his 6th time running around, and he himself knew that she's not here. It's just that he's scared of stopping, even though it was the thing she wanted.

At this moment, he felt his legs go soft and he stumbled down. He was running at full speed and went almost everywhere, on every corner of the residential areas. Although the western and eastern residential areas were small and is only 1km from end to end, that was measured when measuring a straight line. But the residential areas weren't straight lines! Jun took turns, climbed slopes and even ran full speed down hill. He circled the whole town six times at full speed while talking incessantly on the wireless earphone! It;s no wonder he flopped down.

As he lay on the road, he saw the clouds drifting in the sky, slowly blocking the starry sky. Jun chuckled softly. He felt like even the heavens was denying him vision of something beautiful.

The cold feeling of the asphalt road seeped to his back. He could also feel his sweat mixing itself with the dust accumulated by the road. He wanted to stand up and continue running but his legs weren't cooperating.

With no other choice, he forced himself to take a seat. "One, two, three! Huupp. Ah~"

"Are you okay?"

Jun became startled and quickly looked around. A scantilly dressed woman was worriedly looking at him from the sidewalk.

"I'm fine." Jun curtly replied.

Since Jun was lying down earlier, the woman didn't see his face when she approached him. Now that she saw his face clearly, thanks to the numerous sources of light over at the plaza, she immediately backed off not wanting to have anything to do with Jun.

Although Jun only briefly saw her face, he was immediately reminded of that weird lady who sneaked behind him last time. Jun felt worried for himself.

Is she a stalker?