Don't Chicken Out
"You bastard...!"
"You're not getting away with this!"
"Enough."
Jin-su held back the guild members who were about to charge at Min-hyeok.
"Boss! We gotta break that guy's neck right here!"
"We can't just let this slide!"
"Even if Seok-yong went down, if we all jump in—"
"A promise is a promise. If we jump him as a group right here, we'll just end up looking pathetic."
"Grr...!"
The condition had been clear: the side that lost the one-on-one would back off without a fuss. Seok-yong had stepped up and lost. If they tried to settle the score as a pack now, they'd be the ones breaking their word.
"I don't like this."
Even Mi-ju, still chewing her gum, made her displeasure plain — but she didn't push any farther forward either.
"Seok-yong lost, so we're leaving. But... don't get too comfortable."
"Whether I get comfortable or not is my business."
"You son of a—!"
Jin-su glared at Min-hyeok, then turned his head to look at Seong-min standing behind him.
That guy...
They'd said he was an ordinary person, not an Awakener. But something about him didn't sit right. How could a regular civilian carry himself like that?
Just then their eyes met, and Seong-min lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile. It looked for all the world like he was laughing at him.
Crunch...
Jin-su clenched his teeth hard and turned away.
"Let's go."
He started walking, the girl called Mi-ju falling in beside him.
"What do we do about this guy?"
"We move him, what else..."
Two of them hauled the fallen Seok-yong up between them and followed after.
Watching them go, Min-hyeok let out a long breath.
"Ah... it's over."
"You did good."
Seong-min came up from behind and clapped him on the shoulder.
"It's thanks to you, hyung."
"Thanks to me? You fought well on your own."
"No, honestly — I was completely rattled. I was scared stiff. If you hadn't told me not to dodge, I would've dodged."
The sheer size of the guy and the pressure rolling off him had been no joke. Years of reading people as a club tout had taught Min-hyeok a thing or two about spotting trouble, and Seok-yong had reeked of the same energy as the gangsters who ran nightclubs. It had weighed on him hard. Seong-min was the one who'd steadied that shrinking feeling — and that was why Min-hyeok was grateful.
"But hyung, how did you know I'd be stronger than that guy?"
Even Min-hyeok, an Awakener himself, hadn't been able to gauge how strong Seok-yong really was. How Seong-min had known was a genuine mystery.
"Call it a good eye."
"A good eye?"
"I used to throw hands a bit myself, you know."
"Yeah... you did save me that time."
Min-hyeok already knew Seong-min could handle himself in a fight, so the "good eye" explanation made sense to him. What he didn't know was that reading an Awakener's power on eye alone was nowhere near as easy as it sounded. Truth be told, even Seong-min wouldn't have been this sure if it hadn't been for the Gangrim Guild incident.
"This is ridiculous!"
Down a deserted alley, the Phoenix Guild members were still seething.
"Seok-yong lost to some guy rolling around on a construction site — how the hell are we supposed to swallow that?!"
"Boss, I'm so pissed I can't stand it!"
It was humiliation, pure and complete.
"You're just gonna let that guy walk?"
"It was a promise. If we move on him as a guild, we're throwing our own honor in the dirt. What happens to our reputation then?"
"Damn it!"
"No, seriously — how did Seok-yong lose?"
"That that kind of guy could be that strong...!"
"......"
Seok-yong was the second strongest after Jin-su. That he'd lost to some day laborer pulling wages on a construction site was almost impossible to believe.
"You guys take Seok-yong to the hospital and head back."
"What are you gonna do?"
"What about you, Boss?"
"I've got something to take care of."
He started out of the alley, and Mi-ju followed right behind him.
"Where's the boss going?"
"How would I know?"
"That guy... we should get him to a hospital, right?"
"Yeah, looks like it..."
Seok-yong still hadn't come to, slumped against the wall.
"Well then... shall we get moving..."
After splitting off from Seong-min, Min-hyeok hit a nearby restroom, took care of business, and headed for his parked car. He was just opening the driver's side door when a voice came from behind him.
"Wait."
He turned — and flinched.
Why the hell is this guy back?
Standing there was Jin-su, the leader of the Phoenix Guild.
"What? Why are you here?"
Min-hyeok asked warily. Jin-su opened his mouth.
"I came because there's one thing I want to ask."
"Something you want to ask?"
"Where is he?"
"Who? Seong-min hyung?"
"Yeah. That guy."
"He left."
"......"
"I'll say it again — don't pull some cheap move and come after us as a guild just because that Seok-yong guy lost. I won't sit still for it either...!"
Suspecting Jin-su might be here to settle a score, Min-hyeok laid down a warning.
"Hmph. Won't sit still? You think beating Seok-yong means you can take all of us?"
Mi-ju, who'd come along with him, snorted.
"Guess we'll find out if it comes to that."
"Unbelievable."
"I'm the one who can't believe this."
"Why you?"
"You think it's normal to show up at a construction site and start spouting crap about 'disgrace to the Awakener world' and whatever else? You think that's a normal attitude?"
"You're an Awakener and you're not embarrassed working a place like that?"
"What's your name?"
"Kim Mi-ju."
"Get that kind of thinking out of your head. And while I'm at it — I don't know how big the Phoenix Guild is supposed to be, but I'd bet money I make more than you people do."
Min-hyeok had no idea how well the Phoenix Guild was doing, but in four days of work he'd already pulled in six million won.
"Hmph. Who's gonna believe that?"
"Don't believe it if you don't want to."
"Mi-ju, that's enough."
Jin-su cut off Mi-ju's snorting and spoke again.
"That guy who was with you — his name is Seong-min?"
"Yeah, why?"
"That man... he's not an Awakener?"
"Hyung said so himself. He's not an Awakener."
"So... that wasn't a lie?"
"Why would hyung lie to you people?"
"......"
"Is that all you came to ask?"
Min-hyeok looked at him like he couldn't believe it.
"Hey. Don't get the wrong idea."
Min-hyeok glanced at Mi-ju standing beside Jin-su.
"About what?"
"Just because you beat Seok-yong doesn't mean you get to walk around all full of yourself. You don't even know what you're talking about."
"I heard that guy was number two in your guild. So what — you're saying the one next to you is even stronger, so I shouldn't look down on you?"
"No. Jin-su doesn't even need to step in."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"I could take Seok-yong down just as easily as you did."
"So you were lying, then?"
If they'd called Seok-yong number two and this girl could beat him too, then he wasn't actually number two in the guild.
"I'm not the type to go around showing off out in the open like Jin-su."
Which, to Min-hyeok's ears, roughly meant she'd been operating without putting her full strength and abilities on display.
"The way you're talking, it sounds like you'd win if you fought me."
"It doesn't just sound like it. It's a fact. Don't get cocky just because you barely beat Seok-yong."
"Barely?"
Min-hyeok stared at her, dumbfounded. He'd beaten the guy who was supposedly number two in the guild, and she was calling it barely.
"Is he really just an ordinary person?"
"I already told you he is. Why are you so suspicious?"
"......"
Jin-su watched him for a moment, then turned around.
"Mi-ju, let's go."
"Hmph."
She was turning away, clearly still annoyed, when—
"Kim Mi-ju."
Min-hyeok called her name from behind. She looked back, and he went on.
"I didn't go all-out against that guy either. If anyone's being arrogant and full of themselves here, it's you. Keep acting like that and you're gonna get your nose broken — so remember what I said."
"What did you just say?!"
Mi-ju's eyes flared wide at Min-hyeok's words.
"I've said what I needed to say. Go."
He waved her off, opened the driver's door, and climbed in. Then he started the engine, rolled past Mi-ju's glare, and drove off without a care.
"What a rude little brat."
As he pulled onto the road, Min-hyeok clicked his tongue. The ones strutting around just because they were Awakeners were those people — not him. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous they were.
"Keep acting like that and you're the ones who'll get hurt."
She was decent-looking enough, but her personality was a complete disaster.
"Better hurry. Noona's waiting."
Min-hyeok floored it toward the center where his sister would be waiting.
"What is it...?"
Ever since the Monster Hole had appeared on Yongdusan, barricades had gone up to keep ordinary people out and security personnel had been posted around the perimeter. Jeon Dok-jin was in a camping trailer set up as a temporary outpost on a nearby empty lot, drinking coffee and reviewing case reports that had come in from overseas about Monster Holes, when the head of the 15th Combat Unit — the man responsible for the perimeter — stepped inside. Dok-jin looked up, puzzled.
"Vice Leader, I think you need to come outside."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"Well..."
The rough-bearded man in his early thirties, head of the 15th Combat Unit, spoke carefully.
"It looks like something's come up."