Butterfly Effect

"A guest shows up and you won't even offer a cup of coffee?"

"......"

Jang Seung-tae, with his rough, unkempt beard, twisted a bitter smile at the blank stare Jeon Jong-ho fixed on him.

"Don't look at me like that. I came to offer my condolences."

"Condolences...?"

"I'm just as sorry about what happened to Dong-woong."

Jang Seung-tae pulled out a pack of cigarettes, stuck one between his lips, and held out his hand. The man standing at attention behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him passed over a Zippo lighter.

Click-click.

"Hooo..."

He took a light drag, then spoke again.

"Dong-woong's situation has me rattled too."

"It's so absurd I don't even know what to say..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're asking like you don't know?"

"I came here in genuine good faith — to offer some comfort, and while I was at it, to talk over how we handle things from here."

"......"

"I'm every bit as broken up about what happened to Gangrim Guild. They were the ones who formed a guild and grew their power the fastest, weren't they? Fast enough that the police and the prosecutors were watching them. Fast enough that even the Baekho-pa boys Dong-woong came out of were getting nervous. And then Kim Dong-woong, riding that high, ends up like this — you think I'm not shaken? That's why I came to see you, to talk about Dong-woong..."

"You're a real piece of work."

"What?"

"I already knew you weren't ordinary. I just never expected you'd go this far."

Jang Seung-tae's expression hardened in an instant.

"Those words just now... what exactly do you mean by them?"

"I mean drop the cheap act and the mockery."

The men standing behind him flared with killing intent at once — and the men behind Jeon Jong-ho answered in kind, murderous aura rolling off them.

Jang Seung-tae raised a hand and held them back.

"Just so we're clear... you're not actually thinking I was the one who hit Kim Dong-woong and Gangrim Guild, are you?"

"There it is. Finally coming clean."

"You realize how completely ridiculous that sounds?"

"Of course it has to sound ridiculous. You've got to deny it to the end. But think it through carefully — who would pull a surprise attack like that and wipe out a guild? The answer practically writes itself. And more than that, who stands to gain the most if our guild goes under? Same answer."

"......"

Jang Seung-tae was genuinely speechless.

He had come here for exactly the reason he said — to offer condolences. They kept each other in check, that much was true, but what had befallen Gangrim Guild was every bit as alarming to him.

Among the Awakener guilds forming and expanding across Seoul, Gangrim Guild had been growing the fastest. Their membership alone topped a hundred and fifty. His own Jang Seung Guild trailed right behind at a hundred and thirty-one.

If Gangrim Guild weakened and vanished, it would be a golden chance to expand — but more important to Jang Seung-tae was what the attack itself meant. If a guild that strong could be hit this hard, there was no guarantee his own people wouldn't be next.

He had looked into the attackers on his own and come up empty. The bastards had left no traces at all. That was why he had come in person.

With Kim Dong-woong gone, the second-in-command Jeon Jong-ho was the one holding Gangrim Guild together, and Jang Seung-tae had come to take the matter seriously and work out a response with him.

And now he was being named the culprit.

"Even if we were rivals, pointing the finger at us out of nowhere is going a little far, don't you think?"

"I thought the same thing at first. Then you showed up here at exactly the right moment, and that sealed it for me."

"If we'd been the ones who attacked, there would have been traces. There aren't any."

"You know that — which is why you came. If there had been traces, would you have set foot in this place? Your big brother used to say Jang Seung-tae was a man of real nerve. From where I'm standing, you're nothing of the sort. You're... a petty, filthy piece of scum."

"You're out of line...!"

"Enough."

Jang Seung-tae raised a hand and stopped the subordinate shouting behind him.

"Jong-ho. Do you really believe that?"

"What? Hit a nerve because I said the quiet part out loud?"

"......"

"Gangrim Guild will never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bow to you. And... we won't just sit here and take it, either...!"

"This is absurd."

"The one who should be calling it absurd is me, not you."

"......"

Jang Seung-tae looked into Jeon Jong-ho's eyes. The man wasn't even trying to hide it — hostility and killing intent laid bare. That alone told him how deep the rage ran. And it told him something else: talking any further was pointless.

He ground out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"You're too worked up. Calm down and think. I'll say it again... I was not the one who attacked your guild."

Jang Seung-tae rose from his seat and left with his men.

It was them. It had to be them!

Jeon Jong-ho clenched his fists, trembling. He had wondered. The moment they walked through that door, wonder had hardened into certainty. They had come because they were more sure than anyone that no traces had been left. And if Gangrim Guild disappeared, the ones cheering the loudest behind closed doors would be those Jang Seung Guild bastards.

"Let's go."

At Jang Seung-tae's word from the back seat, the car eased out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"Boss, something about this feels off."

The man in the passenger seat spoke, but Jang Seung-tae sat in silence, face set hard.

I misread this.

The whole thing had hit him just as hard — sudden, jarring. Gangrim Guild reduced to that state overnight was not something you could look at lightly. He had gone over there with real nerve, ready to offer condolences ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and even cooperate on this one problem.

My showing up just fed the misunderstanding.

Those people had been struck by lightning out of a clear sky. Of course the rivals they had been competing with would be the first ones under suspicion. Nothing strange about that at all.

"Just head back. We'll think it through once we're there."

He had tried to play it big, and now everything was tangled.

A few days later, Jang Seung Guild's base in Geumcheon-gu erupted into chaos.

It happened in an instant. Men poured out of vans and stormed the building that housed Jang Seung Guild's headquarters, and within seconds a full-blown brawl had turned the place into a war zone.

"Avenge the Guild Master!"

"Wipe out these Jang Seung Guild bastards!"

"We're not just taking it anymore, you sons of bitches!!!"

This was no ordinary gang street fight.

Shupak! Paaak! Puhk! Paaaaaang!!!

It was a blood-soaked free-for-all between Awakeners.

"What the hell is going on?"

Jang Seung-tae stepped into the corridor at the sudden uproar and shouted.

"A-an attack!"

"An attack?"

"Gangrim Guild is hitting us!"

"?!"

Jang Seung-tae's eyes flew wide.

Status Window.

After finishing his workout, Seong-min opened his Status Window and allocated every Stat Point he had earned.

His Martial Power had climbed to 453. The Stat Points he had earned recently had all gone into building charges of the Escape Skill, but he had still broken into the 450s. At this rate, Seong-min intended to push Martial Power all the way to 500.

Even against that Kim Dong-woong, I never went all out.

He had a feeling he would have beaten Kim Dong-woong even if his Martial Power had still been in the 300s instead of the 400s.

That alone tells me how strong I've become.

It was like getting a firsthand taste of why a man like Kang Jung-gil had earned the title of Jeoldaeja — The Absolute.

"Is that for real?"

"I'm telling you. So the Gangrim Guild guys straight-up stormed in and started a war. Cops showed up and everything — total chaos!"

The conversation drifting into Seong-min's ears pulled his gaze around.

Gangrim Guild stormed in?

"Why'd they hit Jang Seung Guild?"

"Apparently they think Jang Seung Guild is the one who did that to Kim Dong-woong."

"Jang Seung Guild? So the bastards who came to the gym throwing their weight around, and the ones who tore Gangrim Guild apart — those were Jang Seung Guild?"

"Hell if I know. But Gangrim Guild was sure enough about it that they went in for revenge, right?"

Listening to the members talk, Seong-min almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of it.

Those idiots went and took their revenge on the wrong people.

They must have been hunting for whoever hit their guild with blood in their eyes, and somehow landed on Jang Seung Guild. It was ridiculous — but from Seong-min's point of view, it wasn't his problem. Bastards were bastards either way.

Seong-min didn't head straight home.

"Thanks, Ji-ah."

He stopped by the studio apartment where Ji-ah lived, and the two of them headed for the department store together.

"Don't mention it... More importantly, do you already have something in mind?"

"I do, sort of... but I'd rather pick it out with you than go it alone."

"What is it...?"

"Cosmetics."

"Cosmetics? Easy. I'll look around and recommend the good stuff."

He was a complete novice when it came to women's cosmetics, which was why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had asked Yoo Ji-ah.

"And... there's one more thing I want to buy."

"What?"

"...Rings."

"Rings...?"

"Yeah. It's her birthday soon, so I figured this might be a good time for couple rings."

"You idiot."

"What?"

"You should have taken care of that ages ago. Unnie was probably hoping for it, deep down."

"Really? I never got that feeling."

"That's because you're dense. A woman's heart doesn't work like that."

"Is that so...? It's not too late, is it?"

"It's not too late... A-reum unnie... she'll definitely love it."

Yoo Ji-ah smiled.

"That's... what I think."