Encounter Under the Inverted Waterfall! (Seeking Reads!!)

One punch.

One punch.

Another punch.

Standing beneath the waterfall, Hawk endured the torrent of water with his bare body, his fists striking out resolutely against the resistance.

Each time he threw a punch, the cross-section of water his fist met would momentarily pause, for less than an instant.

But…

It wasn't enough!

He didn't want the waterfall's water to merely pause for his fist.

He wanted the water of this waterfall to tremble beneath his fists, even, to flow backward.

Hawk felt his demands weren't unreasonable.

After all, this waterfall before him wasn't the Lushan Waterfall. If you compared it to the Lushan Waterfall, it probably wasn't even a tenth as majestic.

So, was that too much to ask?

Not at all.

But clearly, his idea had angered the waterfall before him.

What makes you think you can make me flow backward?

Do you think you're Aquaman Poseidon?

And even if you were Aquaman Poseidon, it wouldn't matter. He's the king of the sea, how could he control my freshwater waterfall?

So…

The waterfall was enraged. Under Hawk's relentless punches, the water's speed intensified at an almost visible rate.

Hawk felt the now-enraged waterfall, his expression unreadable.

But within his Cosmo, the fully illuminated Phoenix constellation, a fiery phoenix was slowly revealing its form.

He had made up his mind.

He would leave only when this waterfall flowed backward.

Even though there were only a few days left until school started.

But it didn't matter.

As he'd said before.

He was an orphan. He figured even if he didn't show up for school, no one would care.

But that was fine too.

No one cared about him, and he had no one he needed to care about.

So…

A fierce fighting spirit blazed in Hawk's eyes.

"Bring it on!"

The waterfall was completely enraged. At Hawk's provocation, the water flow became even more rapid and violent.

"Rumble!"

"...Is that thunder?"

At the very edge of Cunningham Falls Nature Reserve Park, north of Hawk's location, Gwen, who had just entered the nature reserve forest, looked up subconsciously at the rumbling sound coming from the distance.

But the towering primeval trees obscured the sky. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, but the dappled light points added a touch of eeriness to the already quiet forest.

Unable to see the sky, Gwen withdrew her gaze.

Wearing a conspicuous white windbreaker and outdoor sports shoes, Gwen took out her phone, lit up the screen, and looked at the map displaying a location.

On the screen.

Two light spots, though far apart, were faintly visible on the same screen.

One indicated Gwen's current location.

The other…

Gwen took a deep breath, gripped the hiking pole she had bought after arriving in Thurmont yesterday afternoon, gave herself a pep talk, and then continued walking towards the direction of the other light spot.

At first, Gwen thought Hawk's phone had just been stolen and didn't pay it much mind.

After all, she was busy with her summer job.

But the next day, when Dr. Connors suddenly asked if she had given the gift to Hawk, Gwen felt a bit strange. So, after work, she went to Hawk's new apartment again.

The result…

The envelope she had left on the sofa was still lying there quietly, untouched.

For some reason, at that moment, Gwen felt her heart suddenly lurch with panic.

She immediately called her dad, George, hoping he could help find Hawk through the NYPD.

George didn't take it too seriously at first, but seeing Gwen's worried expression, he thought about it and still put in a word with his colleagues at the Queens precinct.

His jurisdiction was in Manhattan, so while it was possible to investigate a missing person through the Queens precinct, he still had to inform his colleagues there.

The result was that Hawk couldn't be found.

Hawk seemed to have vanished into thin air.

What's more, Hawk didn't have a credit card, nor a driver's license. On top of that, his phone was either stolen or out of battery and turned off, making him even harder to locate.

To put it bluntly, Hawk was like a modern-day invisible man.

No family.

No social life.

Not even a single friend. Even after filing a report, Hawk's colleagues at the Queens precinct didn't know where to begin their investigation.

Because no one could provide Hawk's last known location. Even when they questioned a few of Hawk's classmates, no one seemed concerned about what happened to him.

Uh...

Except for Gwen.

It wasn't until the day before yesterday that George, upon returning home, saw his daughter, who had been coming home later than him every day and searching for Hawk's whereabouts, finally couldn't help but ask the question he'd been wanting to ask: "Gwen, have you fallen for this Hawk?"

Gwen, who had just returned from a cemetery in Queens, was taken aback by George's question. Then, she gave an answer.

"Dad, Hawk and I are just friends."

"..."

By the time George snapped back to reality, Gwen had already run upstairs.

George blinked and couldn't help but look at his wife, Helen, who had been standing by his side silently.

"Friends? Do you believe that?"

"Whether I believe it or not doesn't matter."

Helen, who had always been a devoted wife and mother, smiled as she watched Gwen's retreating back upstairs and said to George, "But I know you won't be able to keep your daughter."

George was stunned.

Back in her room, Gwen threw herself onto the bed. Thinking about Hawk, who had been missing for over ten days, she felt a strange sensation. Suddenly, her phone rang.

Gwen casually lit up the screen and glanced at it.

The next second.

She shot up from the bed.

This wasn't a spam message, but a notification from her phone account about a login from a remote location.

Gwen quickly tapped on the text message link.

This time, the signal wasn't a general area but a precise location.

Cunningham Falls Nature Reserve Park in Maryland, specifically below a waterfall.

This was why Gwen was here.

Soon.

As the sound of rushing water grew louder, Gwen, though covered in sweat, felt her mind become clearer, and she even quickened her pace.

And beneath the waterfall.

After throwing his 9,999th punch, Hawk retracted his fist and threw the final one. At that moment, the phantom Phoenix behind him became as solid as reality.

The next second.

Hawk unleashed his ten-thousandth punch, and the fiery phoenix phantom behind him spread its wings and soared!

"Chirp!"

"Go against the current!"

"Boom!"

The waterfall before him was no longer a stream falling three thousand feet, but a raging dragon rising, reversing the flow of the heavenly river!

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

But a crystal-clear voice cut through the frozen time and reached Hawk's ears.

The voice.

Clear.

Trembling.

"Hawk!!"

"..."