Chapter 4. The Sparring Match
A strange rumor had begun circulating through Cheonseong lately.
"Exercise? That good-for-nothing?"
"I'm telling you, it's true. Heard it from the B-team security guys — he's holed up in the gym these days and won't come out."
"What the hell is he plotting this time... Ugh, my head hurts."
The rumor was that Lee Tae-hyun had recently thrown himself into training.
He'd quit drinking and partying cold turkey, and now he was bulking up day and night like a hermit sealed away for closed-door cultivation.
Tae-hyun had always had a sly, scheming streak. Convinced some kind of trick was afoot, people went to Chairman Lee Jin-sung himself —
"Leave him be for now."
— and that was all they got.
This was the same Lee Jin-sung who used to clutch the back of his neck at the mere mention of his eldest son's name. So people drew the obvious conclusion.
Ah, he's finally given up on Lee Tae-hyun for good.
Just as talk was surfacing that Lee Tae-hyun might as well become Kim Tae-hyun or Park Tae-hyun at this rate...
"...That's the report, sir."
A man seated on the sofa listened to his secretary's briefing.
"Is that actually true?"
"Yes. The young master intends to challenge a C-rank gate alone, one month from now."
"Ha! The idiot's finally lost his mind."
Lee Si-hyun's eyes went round and his mouth twisted.
His head already ached from cleaning up the messes that man kept making — and now he was going to come out of a gate as a corpse.
A man who contributes nothing to my life.
He was a walking hallucination. A disgraced F-rank nobody who couldn't even manage to ruin himself properly. The fact that this creature was his older brother — that Si-hyun had once genuinely looked up to him — made it worse.
"I feel sick to my stomach."
Si-hyun stuck out his tongue and made a show of gagging.
Even this little stunt was so transparently calculated that it turned his own face red on the man's behalf.
Cheonseong.
Inside the company and out, everyone had already settled on Si-hyun as the next Chairman of Cheonseong. Watching Tae-hyun's trajectory, it was a miracle he was still clinging to a position at all, let alone a seat at the top. Si-hyun had assumed even that much would be snuffed out completely by the B-rank gate incident.
"So he's determined... absolutely determined to stir up trouble, isn't he?"
Now the man wanted to solo a C-rank gate.
An irredeemable piece of trash stamped F-rank, coveting a name like Cheonseong that he could never contain. The sight of it nauseated Si-hyun.
And what if he died in there?
Si-hyun's name — and by extension Lee Jin-sung's and Cheonseong's — would be dragged into it. Half-disowned or not, the man was still a son of Cheonseong.
"......"
Si-hyun's gaze dropped to his phone screen.
A single text from someone. He turned the words over in his mind, his eyebrows twitching, and rose from his seat.
"Sang-ho, get the car ready."
"Where to, sir?"
I have to stop him.
"The gym where Brother is."
Even if I have to beat him half to death.
Crack!
"Ah."
Another training dummy bit the dust.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue and scratched my head a few times.
I'd ordered ones that were supposed to be reasonably durable, but every time they shattered before lasting a hundred exchanges. Especially Zha (Thrust) — ten strikes of it and the dummy was hanging in ribbons.
I'd like to test Lan (Block) and Na (Seize) too.
But unless the dummy attacked me, those two were a lost cause.
Hunter-exclusive gyms offered all kinds of state-of-the-art simulation training, but access required a minimum of C-rank clearance. And my standing with the Hunter Bureau was... awkward at the moment, to put it mildly.
"Would it kill them to give me at least one sparring partner?"
I was still chewing on the regret, moving toward the next dummy, when —
"So you really are here."
A familiar voice came from the gym entrance.
A face that looked a lot like mine, dressed in a sharply tailored suit.
"Si-hyun!"
Before I knew it, I was running over, washed with genuine gladness.
Si-hyun's eyes narrowed to slits and he thrust out a hand.
"Don't come any closer. You reek of sweat."
Well. Fair enough.
Hours of training had pickled me head to toe in sweat.
I took an awkward half-step back, wearing a sheepish smile, and Si-hyun's eyes began sweeping over me and the gym as a whole. Then he asked, in a tone of genuine astonishment:
"You own clothes like that? The way you used to go on about luxury brands, luxury brands, I assumed you had some disease where you'd die without designer wear."
I was wearing a simple set of training clothes. Black, with three stripes down the side.
"This is a solid brand too. Look."
The breathability, the fabric quality — a hundred times better than the rags I'd worn in my past life.
"Ah... yes... I... suppose so."
Si-hyun's eyebrows twitched with undisguised discomfort.
"I'm serious. Washes well, doesn't stain—"
"Brother. What are you up to this time?"
"...What?"
Si-hyun tilted his head and smirked.
"Did you actually think playing athlete would make Father look at you again?"
"......"
"There's a limit to how stupid a person can be. You're shoving your head right back into the place that nearly killed you — and not once do you consider what it's like for the rest of us, having to stand by and watch."
Brother. The rest of us.
Me on one side, the family on the other. Si-hyun drew the line with surgical precision, even in a single sentence.
"It's not too late even now. Cancel the gate, the whole plan, and go quietly live shut in at home. At least then you won't be in the way."
"No thanks."
"Of course. Coming from a coward of a brother, that's only natural to— ...I'm sorry, what?"
"I said no. I'm going into the gate."
The flustered look on his face curdled, degree by degree, into pure exasperation.
"Have some sense of proportion! You know perfectly well that going in there is just dying like a dog!"
Si-hyun's reaction was understandable.
As far as the world knew, my potential was F. I couldn't solo a D-rank or an E-rank gate, never mind a C-rank one.
Actually, I might not even have gotten clearance without Father's help.
Which meant, literally, that I was walking to my death. No awakened person in recorded history had ever soloed a C-rank gate as an F-rank.
But.
"Si-hyun. I'm not going to die."
Nobody knew better than I did how obscenely long my lifeline was.
Si-hyun huffed and puffed, face flushed, for a good long while. Then he said, quietly:
"...Then how about this."
The gym, rented out in full, stood empty at both ends. I loosened up lightly and looked across at the man waiting for me.
His name was Kim Sang-ho. One of Si-hyun's personal security detail — and a D-rank awakened.
'If Brother wins his spar against Sang-ho, I'll stop bothering him about this matter for good.'
'And if Brother loses, he returns the gate clearance without a word of complaint.'
I accepted the duel without hesitation. And a window bloomed in the air before me.
▷ Defeat D-rank Awakened Kim Sang-ho in a sparring match.
🎁 Reward ①: 5 EXP upon victory
🎁 Reward ②: +3 EXP for winning without taking a single hit
🎁 Reward ③: a Low-Grade Random Box for winning within 1 minute
Well, hello there, free lunch.
Getting a sparring partner at all was a win, and now they were stacking rewards on top.
Win, and I'd bag a whole 8 EXP!
Though what's a Random Box?
Either way, they were giving it as a reward, so it couldn't be bad. The gist was: win within one minute without taking a single hit.
"Isn't that a bit too easy?"
"...What did you just say?"
Oops. My muttering slipped out loud.
"Go easy on me, Sang-ho. It'd be a problem in all sorts of ways if my brother ends up hospitalized."
"Understood, sir."
Kim Sang-ho bowed his head, winding bandages around both hands.
If your opponent holds back or throws the match on purpose, you will be unable to receive the rewards.
Ah. That's a problem.
My brain kicked into high gear. As things stood, the spar would fall flat and I'd lose the rewards.
Think! How do I drag out his killer instinct?
"Scared?"
"I'm sorry — what?"
"You're sandbagging because you'd be humiliated if you went all-out and got shredded by an F-rank. That's what this is, right?"
Crack.
Tendons stood out on Kim Sang-ho's forehead.
That's it.
"You know, I've wondered this for a while... Are you really a D-rank, Sang-ho? Not an F-rank — like me, I mean?"
"...That's quite enough."
"It's just, your guard work looks so sloppy it doesn't sit right with me as his older brother. Honestly, I'm a little worried about this spar. If I win, how is Sang-ho supposed to show his face around the office?"
"......"
Kim Sang-ho didn't answer.
He just ground his teeth, cracking them against nothing at all.
Good.
At this point he'd come at me with genuine killing intent.
Watching the endless string of provocations, Lee Si-hyun was inwardly aghast.
Has Lee Tae-hyun actually lost what few brains he had?
Kim Sang-ho was upper-tier even among D-rank hunters. He'd abandoned hunting because he'd hit his growth ceiling, but in pure strength he ranked high even within the A-team security detail. Si-hyun had sent him out precisely so Tae-hyun would feel the wall separating him from real hunters.
This won't wrap up in a few weeks, will it.
Kim Sang-ho's lips pressed into a thin line. That was the signal of a man truly furious. And just as Si-hyun expected, curses were boiling up inside Sang-ho's head.
An F-rank — an F-rank dares—!
Sang-ho clenched his bandaged fists hard and glared at Tae-hyun. He wanted to grind that smirking face — resting a wooden spear on its shoulder — into paste right now.
Naturally, he hadn't planned to take this seriously. His opponent was nothing but an F-rank, a castoff of an awakened. If he truly committed, he could kill the man in seconds.
But the other side had crossed the line first.
Call me F-rank? Say you'd beat me?
The young master told me to rough him up just enough and call it done — but.
No one would mourn a creature like that, whether his bones shattered or his organs pulped. If people cheered, so much the better.
I'll kill him about halfway.
"Ready — begin!"
Si-hyun's voice rang out, and the spar began.
Strength Increase (C)
Fierce Charge (D)
Kim Sang-ho's muscles churned violently, swelling into something monstrous. In the same breath he charged like an enraged bull.
BOOOOOM—!
The floor shook and the ceiling lights rattled.
I'll teach you the gap between D-rank and F-rank!
The instant he drove his fist toward Tae-hyun's midsection —
Tae-hyun took the spear down off his shoulder.
"I'd love to draw this out a bit longer myself... but I've got to finish it inside a minute."
Heh.
That infuriating corner of his mouth curled upward. Only now did the two hands gripping the spear move.
Na — Seize!
The shaft whipped inward, coiling down over Kim Sang-ho's fist. A heavy, coercive force pressed through the wood, wrenching the punch off its line and dragging it far wide of Tae-hyun's body.
"...!"
Sang-ho's eyes went wide.
Did my strike miss?
No!
He was far too good a bodyguard to miss something that hadn't even moved. This was defense with unmistakable intent behind it. An F-rank's spear had deflected a D-rank's attack.
"Your flank's wide open, sir."
Thud-thud-thud!
The spear, retracted at blistering speed, hammered into Sang-ho's right side — five strikes in a breath.
"Ugh!"
Even through a reinforced body, searing pain flashed through him. Tae-hyun had struck the exact spot where the liver sat. Against anyone but Kim Sang-ho, the agony alone might have brought a blackout.
Which meant, seen the other way —
only Kim Sang-ho could have withstood it.
Into the brief gap where pain had frozen his body, Tae-hyun's spear forced its way in.
Zha — Thrust!
The blunt wooden tip slammed dead center into Sang-ho's sternum.
WHAMMMMM!
"GRRAAAAGH!"
A second critical hit in a row. Obsession began to seep into Kim Sang-ho's eyes.
That thing is F-rank?
Impossible. In the exchanges they'd traded, Sang-ho hadn't been able to read a single opening. For all that Tae-hyun looked down on him from above, he showed not a shred of carelessness. He was the very ideal of what a strong fighter should be.
Then I'll come at him with everything I have!
Iron Fist (C)
Sang-ho's right fist gleamed silver. One blow with this and it would be over, guaranteed.
If it was a shield no one could break — then you simply smashed the shield along with everything behind it.
"HYAAAAAH!"
The fist streaked forward in a dead-straight line. And still Tae-hyun's easy smile didn't waver. He simply held the spear.
Not yet.
The distance wasn't quite right. A little more. Just a little more.
"Good."
The spearhead flicked.
Lan — Block!
KUUUUNG!
Fist met spear, and the dull concussion shook the entire gym. The force of the deflected punch rebounded straight back into Kim Sang-ho.
"...Kh."
His massive frame crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut. In the eyes of the man sprawled across the floor, there was no black of a pupil to be found.
"Ghhh..."
Total match time: thirty-eight seconds.
The winner: F-rank Lee Tae-hyun.
"Th- that's... impossible..."
Lee Si-hyun's pupils trembled violently.