The Bald Bear and the Fighting Dog
Even if that half-moon baldness detail made him a total pathetic piece of shit, the Murim Alliance was still the Murim Alliance. Regular security guards could be kicked into submission with raw strength, but this guy probably wouldn't go down so easily. No matter how much my title screamed Fighting Dog, the best outcome would be ending this peacefully without a fight.
“You’re from the Murim Alliance? It’s truly an honor to meet you. I’m Woo Hyun-woo, the Fighting Dog of Fantasia.”
I bowed while performing the Murim Alliance’s formal fist-and-palm salute. Bandalgom’s eyes widened for a moment before he returned the gesture, bowing as well.
“A pleasure. I am Bandalgom of Gangnam Temple, a secular branch of Shaolin under the Murim Alliance.”
His name was seriously Bandalgom? No way. Why the hell would he introduce himself like that? There must be some kind of internal rule in the Murim Alliance, but I didn’t get it. Still, Bandalgom looked genuinely pleased—his mouth kept twitching upward even while he bowed. I could see it clearly. As expected from a detailed piece of shit like him, he probably never received proper polite greetings before. Maybe this could actually end peacefully?
“By the way, Young Master Woo, how did you end up becoming a Fighting Dog?”
“I’m just a dog that fights for the organization, so they call me the Fighting Dog. Does it really need deeper meaning?”
“Ah… Fantasia has fallen so far that it makes sense you don’t have any proper fighters to send to the Fighting Dog Tournament.”
“Fighting Dog Tournament? What the hell is that?”
“They select one sinner from within the organization to serve as a fighter and send them to the monthly tournament. If they win, the fighter’s crimes are pardoned, and the organization gains the right to create or abolish one policy.”
Hmm. So that’s what it was. I’d wondered why out of all the possible titles they picked Fighting Dog. Turns out the system made it specifically to work me to the bone while considering the tournament too. Fucking system bastard. Thanks a lot!
“I had no idea about any of this. Thank you so much for explaining it to me. As expected of Bandalgom from the Gangnam Sam-ung. You’re not only kind but also intelligent—I truly want to learn from you.”
“Haha, it’s nothing. By the way, what were you doing here, Young Master Woo? I’d rather avoid fighting if possible.”
This bald bastard. He clearly never received any compliments before. The moment I buttered him up a little, he immediately started saying he didn’t want to fight.
“Ah, our Fantasia lent twenty million won to Geumtaeyang Textiles. I came to collect, but President Geum Tae-yang refused to pay. So I had to flex a little.”
“I see. That’s truly unfortunate.”
Unfortunate? What the hell is unfortunate about it?
“I really didn’t want to fight you, Young Master Woo… but it seems I have no choice…”
“Wait, you just said you didn’t want to fight. Why are you trying to start one now? If I just get my twenty million won, I’ll leave quietly. Can’t you convince the president instead of fighting me?”
“As I mentioned earlier, this is truly regrettable. The protection service provided by the Murim Alliance prioritizes the client’s safety above all. If we fail to uphold that, we lose the most important thing in this industry—trust.”
With those words, Bandalgom began swinging his arms in a bizarre, swirling motion before dropping into a horse stance. Wasn’t that the posture people took before firing some kind of palm blast in martial arts novels? I regretted not knowing anything about wuxia.
“I am Bandalgom, one of the Three Heroes of Gangnam Temple under Shaolin of the Murim Alliance! I shall now subdue the Fighting Dog of Fantasia!”
This bald fuck. I gave him compliments and he still insisted on breaking the peace? And he even used that pathetic self-proclaimed title while doing it? I really only wanted my twenty million won. This was so unfair. But there was nothing I could do. If I had to fight, then I’d fight.
“If you want to fight that badly, I guess I have no choice. I won’t show you any more respect.”
“What…?”
Do you know what’s most important in a fight? It’s not getting angry myself—it’s making the opponent furious. Picking a real fight with someone insanely strong could be dangerous, but against a weakling it was fine. The moment a weakling lost his mind to rage, even if his power increased, he wouldn’t be able to make normal judgments anymore.
“What do you mean ‘what’? You bald bastard, with your shiny fucking scalp wide open for the world to see but your brain completely blocked up. This is exactly why you should never associate with bald guys.”
“B-Bald? Baldy? You bastard, watch your mouth! I simply shaved my head according to Shaolin’s rules!”
“Oh really? Then is the head monk of Shaolin bald too?”
“N-No, the Abbot has hair, but…”
Yeah, there was no way the boss of one of the Five Great Sects would have a girl’s body. It would’ve been weird if he shaved his head after specifically taking a girl’s body. So it wasn’t actually a rule.
“Then it’s not a rule at all. You just have half-moon pattern baldness and that’s why you’re called Bandalgom, right?”
“U-Uwooo! I can no longer tolerate these insults!”
After taking that brutal dose of facts, Bandalgom lost his composure. His stance crumbled as he wildly swung his fists in wide, sloppy arcs. What the hell was this? He wasn’t even joking around. There was no reason to take hits from punches like these.
I dodged every single one of those rootless, flashy swings and slipped to the side. If I just closed in and planted a fist in his ribs, it would be over. His guard was completely open from swinging like that, making it ridiculously easy to land hits. For an organization called the Murim Alliance, they sure didn’t teach basic fundamentals. Maybe they were actually a cult. They didn’t even shoot palm blasts despite being from a wuxia world. This was an easy win.
Confident in that assessment, I slammed my fist into his side. Or at least I tried to.
Why the hell did my fist hurt?
“Uwooooo!”
Bandalgom swung at me as I got close. Not wanting to get hit, I quickly retreated. Then I calmly thought it over. Why did the one who hit feel pain? Why was the other guy completely fine? There wasn’t any metallic sound, so he wasn’t hiding anything under his clothes. The conclusion came easily.
He didn’t need to guard, so he never learned how to. He must have trained in something that made his body incredibly tough. Was that why he was called Bear? A normal person’s fist wouldn’t work against a bear. But a Fighting Dog should be different. My hand hurt from that punch, but as the fight continued, my combat power would rise thanks to the title’s effect. If I endured the pain and kept hitting, I’d eventually be able to damage him.
Luckily, Bandalgom was pretty slow. Enduring the pain to land hits wasn’t that difficult. I danced around with flashy footwork, hitting and retreating repeatedly.
“So what exactly does half-moon baldness look like? Does it actually form a crescent shape on your scalp? Or can you arrange the fallen hair into a half-moon pattern?”
I didn’t forget to keep provoking him to maintain his rage.
“Baldy, baldy, baldy.”
Bald guys got pissed off just hearing the word “bald,” so provoking them was incredibly easy. Every time I said it, Bandalgom’s face grew redder and redder.
“What’s wrong with being bald, you hair-rich bastard! Must be nice having enough hair to put wax in, you fuck!”
His anger had clearly reached its limit. Bandalgom spread his hands open and desperately tried to grab me. He probably planned to crush me the moment he caught hold. I had no intention of letting him.
But something felt off. My fists were swollen and throbbing from the pain, yet I didn’t feel like my combat power was increasing at all. Instead, my stamina was draining and my movements were getting slower. Why?
Wasn’t the Fighting Dog title supposed to make me stronger in real time during battle?
“…Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, the message saying I’d gotten stronger only appeared after fights ended. It was true that I grew stronger just from experiencing battles regardless of winning or losing, but it seemed the growth only registered once the fight was officially over. I’d gotten confused because of Mohanya. It probably meant that every time I fell over while fighting her, the title registered it as a fight ending. Let’s just say I was the idiot for misunderstanding.
But if that was the case, beating the bald guy with bare hands was impossible. What should I do? As I pondered, I spotted a steel chair. Perfect. That would hit way harder than my fists.
I grabbed the steel chair and lifted it while saying,
“Hey, baldy. Is your body harder than a chair?”
“…Huh?”
The moment the bald guy saw me charging with a chair, he snapped back to his senses and his rage cooled instantly. Apparently the reality of losing hit him harder than being called bald.
“W-Wait! Using a weapon in a sacred duel is against the rules!”
“Fuck off. There are no rules in a fight, you bald bastard.”
It was already too late for him to react. I swung the chair and smashed it into his ribs.
“Kwaaaaaagh!”
The bald guy screamed in agony, but that wasn’t my problem. I hadn’t wanted to fight, but he was the one who insisted.
“Y-You coward! How dare you hit a bald man with a chair! Are you even human?!”
While I was beating the bald guy with all my strength using the chair, President Geum Tae-yang started pointing and criticizing me. This idiot really had no sense of the situation.
“Beating a bald guy with a chair is cowardly, but refusing to pay back money you clearly have is fair game?”
Thud!
Eventually the bald guy ran out of stamina and collapsed. Before losing consciousness, he weakly muttered,
“Don’t call me baldy… you terrible bastards…”
And that was it. Bandalgom wouldn’t be getting up again.
You have defeated an opponent that was slightly difficult to overcome.
Your combat power rises moderately.
Combat Power has surpassed 150.
From now on, you can read the combat power of yourself and others.
Oh? This was an unexpected benefit. I should use what I gained right away. First, my own combat power?
And Bandalgom’s?
I’d win easily next time we fought. As a bonus, the security guards had 80 combat power. Pathetically weak. Then what about you, President Geum Tae-yang?
What a complete idiot.
“Hey, you 20-point bastard.”
“P-Please speak more politely… I’ll pay you back…”
President Geum Tae-yang, with nowhere left to retreat, clasped both hands together politely.
“But if I pay the full twenty million won right now, it will disrupt many of my plans. I have a lot of expenses to distribute to my employees…”
“So you’re saying you can’t pay again?”
Crack…
“N-No! I’ll pay! I’ll pay! But could you possibly allow me to pay in installments? Five hundred thousand won per month for four months!”
“Installments? Installments? Instaaaaallllments?”
Crack…
“Sob sob, I was truly wrong. I’ll pay, so please forgive me. Just spare me this once…”
Geum Tae-yang cried as he grabbed onto my pants leg. Where the hell do you think you’re touching, you bastard? But after he begged like this, it felt a bit harsh to ruthlessly take everything. If Geumtaeyang Textiles went under, the Jujak Guild might hold it against me.
“Fine. Then I have a condition instead.”
“A condition? I’ll follow anything!”
“You didn’t pay for seven years, now you’re asking for installments after refusing to pay with that ‘cut my stomach open’ attitude. That pisses me off, so you’ll pay five hundred thousand won per month for eight months.”
“F-Forty million won?!”
“No good? Even paying in installments, forty million won would make Geumtaeyang Textiles shake? If you’re upset, just hand over the twenty million won right now.”
“Ah…”
This was actually a test. I wanted to see if he really couldn’t pay twenty million won because it would make the company unstable, or if he was just bluffing.
“I-I understand. I’ll pay five hundred thousand won every month for eight months…”
He chose to pay double the original amount. It seemed paying twenty million won at once really was a heavy burden. Then I guess I could trust him.
“Alright, I was just testing you. Pay five hundred thousand won per month for four months.”
“R-Really? Thank you! I’m overwhelmingly grateful…!”
Sometimes it was good to show mercy to your enemies. After all, there are no eternal enemies in this world.
“Alright then, shall we write up a payment agreement?”
And so, I received five hundred thousand won today and headed back. When I checked my account, the five hundred thousand won had really been deposited.
But there was something far more important than that five hundred thousand won.
“Boss Lady, don’t lie and tell me the truth.”
“Hm? About what?”
“Boss Lady, were you originally a man?”
Whether Eris was the one who committed murder and stole that body… or not.