Trust Me and Go Wild (2)
“I’m really going to kill you.”
Sihyun’s voice, cold and sunken, rang through the narrow alley.
Having just watched one of their own go flying like a scrap of paper and slam into the wall, Taesu and his underlings involuntarily shrank back.
Shit, fuck…!
Taesu simply could not wrap his head around it. This scrawny little bastard who looked like a frail girl—where the hell was that absurd strength coming from?
You son of a bitch! You’ve gotten even stronger!
He’d dropped out of school and been grinding through part-time jobs ever since; he should have quit training ages ago. Yet Sihyun’s movements had only grown sharper.
The underlings shared the same thought. The pressure radiating from Sihyun—stronger than it had ever been in high school—had them thoroughly rattled.
Realizing in an instant that the tide had turned against them, Taesu shouted in desperation.
“Fuck! Don’t flinch! He’s alone! Stomp him together! We’re Daeho Clan now!”
The cheap pride of having joined an organization was just enough to let him choke down his fear. Right—no matter how high this bastard flew, he was still only one guy. And how long had Taesu waited for this day? The perfect chance to reclaim the pride that had been shattered back in their delinquent days. This time he would not go down the way he had before.
Just as Taesu steeled himself—
Fwaat—!
Sihyun’s figure vanished from their vision. More precisely, their dynamic vision simply could not keep up.
Puh-uhk—!
“Gyaaaaah!!!”
The closest underling screamed as he soared high into the air. Sihyun had appeared in front of him in a blink and driven a rising kick straight into his jaw.
“Uwaaaaah—!!!”
One of them, seized by panic, shrieked and swung a fist at Sihyun.
But—
Hwooooosh—!
The punch only sliced empty air. Sihyun had already slipped inside the man’s guard.
Teok—!
His elbow drove sharply into the tip of the man’s solar plexus.
“Kehuk!”
As the man crumpled forward, coughing up his breath, Sihyun used his back as a springboard and leapt lightly upward. Then, spinning his body in midair, he smashed both heels into the temples of the two underlings who had been charging in from either side.
Puh-buh-buk—!
“Kraaak!”
“Keuk!”
In the blink of an eye, five men were down—toppling as emptily as bowling pins.
“Y-you crazy bastard!”
More than half were already out, yet four still remained. Taesu and the surviving underlings tried to surround Sihyun and pin down his movement. Fists and kicks came at him from every direction at once.
Whiiiish—!
Hwooooosh—!
One of them even had brass knuckles on, swinging with murderous intent. A single clean hit would have meant a pile-on and certain doom—yet Sihyun let every strike slip past him by a hair’s breadth, light as a leaf drifting on water.
Such agility in that slender frame… and then—
Puh-uhk—!
“Gyaaaaah!!”
—the explosive power to launch a grown man into the air. Faced with that sheer, unreasonable unfairness—
“Uwaaaaah! Shit—!”
—one underling finally yanked a knife from his jacket and lunged, screaming. Instantly—
Puh-uhk—!
“Gurrrk…”
Sihyun’s outstretched foot caught him square on the jaw; the man toppled backward, foaming at the mouth.
“Hiiiek—!”
“Th-this bastard really is a monster!”
Judging the fight hopeless, the rest spun around to flee—only for—
Puh-buh-buhk—!
“Guek!”
“Keuuk!”
—precise blows to the ribs and the back of the skull to drop them flat on the ground.
Nine men down, and Sihyun’s breathing had not roughened in the slightest.
Light.
It was strange. He had barely slept the night before and had already been through one ordeal after another; his body should have been heavy with exhaustion. Yet that single line—
You can run wild as much as you want.
—felt as if it had unlocked every chain that had bound him. His body floated, weightless as a feather.
The underlings were all finished. Only Baek Taesu remained.
Sihyun walked toward him with murder in his eyes.
“Sh-shit! Stay back!”
Taesu scrambled backward in an ugly scramble and crashed onto his rear.
“D-don’t come closer!”
Even as he begged, Sihyun never slowed; he simply stopped in front of him and looked down with eyes of ice.
“I told you. I’m really going to kill you.”
Those eyes held no bluff. He slowly raised his foot high. Taesu felt death itself settle over him—then a last, desperate idea flashed through his mind.
“Sh-shit! Kim Sihyun, you’d better stop right now if you know what’s good for you!”
“…”
Sihyun paused, foot still hanging in the air, willing to hear whatever nonsense was about to spill out. Emboldened, Taesu crowed,
“This was our first job after joining the organization! The big brothers are on their way to check on us!”
“Big brothers…?”
Taesu proudly jabbed a finger at the tiger tattoo on his left arm again.
“Yeah! The big brothers! Real heavy hitters who’d make a punk like you look like nothing! They’re coming any second!”
“…”
Sihyun seemed to hesitate for a breath. Then—
Just smash them all. That woman will handle the rest anyway.
—he thought of Yuri standing behind him and prepared to drive his heel down without further delay. At that, Taesu—
“Uwaaaaah—!”
—screamed and fainted on the spot, foam flecking his lips, even though the foot had never touched him.
“Gurrrk…”
And that was not all. A yellow stain bloomed across the front of his pants and spread.
“Ugh, what a filthy bastard!”
Yuri, who had been watching from the rear, pinched her nose and twisted her face in disgust.
Meanwhile Suhyeon could only stare in stunned disbelief.
Wh-what is this…?
After she and Sihyun had drifted apart, she had naturally fallen in with delinquents like Taesu. She knew perfectly well that Sihyun had poured himself into Taekwondo afterward—obsessively, almost as if he were trying to fill the hole she had left. He had become a rising national-team prospect, the star of the school. People had flocked to him whether she was there or not. She had never been able to forgive that. So she had used Taesu’s crew to drag him into the gutter—to make sure he could never properly do anything again, least of all Taekwondo.
After that, of course he would not have been able to keep training. She had believed that even if he resisted, he would be no match for Taesu’s gang. And she had never imagined he would risk another “accident” that would force him to pull out his real strength just to cover his mother’s medical bills. She had expected Sihyun—and that damn woman in the suit behind him—to drop to their knees and beg like dogs. She had been standing there calmly planning how to torment them… and instead these idiots had gone down like trash.
“Kim Sihyun!!!”
Suhyeon screamed, eyes blazing with a toxic mix of resentment and betrayal. Sihyun answered her with a single cold warning.
“Lee Suhyeon. Don’t show your face in front of me again.”
Something in her chest lurched. She had spent every day struggling just to forget him. So how could he be living so easily, so casually, with women like that behind him? And why did he still shine so brightly?
Choking on the injustice, she almost wailed,
“How can you do this to me?!”
Sihyun merely turned his face away, as if she were no longer worth the effort. Enraged further, Suhyeon ground her teeth and strode toward him, reaching for his collar—
Taat—!
A sharp crack rang out as her hand was slapped aside.
“Hey. Don’t touch him.”
Yuri’s voice was as cold as sheet ice.
“You!!!”
Suhyeon glared at her, seething. Yuri snorted as if the sight were laughable, then turned to Sihyun.
“Looks like handling this bitch yourself would be a pain. I’ll take care of it for you.”
“Don’t you fucking dare!!!”
“You’re the one running your mouth. What exactly did he do to deserve this circus?”
Ignoring Yuri completely, Suhyeon turned back to Sihyun and screamed herself hoarse.
“Hey, Kim Sihyun! You beggar bastard! Answer me! How can you do this to me?!”
Yuri clicked her tongue, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
“Wow… this bitch is actually insane. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”
Sihyun stayed silent. When Yuri mocked her anyway, Suhyeon exploded.
“Stay out of it if you don’t know anything, you crazy bitch!”
“What? Who the hell are you calling a crazy bitch, you actual crazy bitch!”
“You gonna hit me?! Go ahead! Fucking try it!”
Suhyeon raised her hands and shouted in Yuri’s face just as the other woman stepped closer—when a new voice cut through the alley.
“Shit, damn… what the hell is this?”
A middle-aged man’s voice, lazy yet laced with an oddly unpleasant aftertaste, rolled down the narrow lane.
“!!!”
All three of them froze at once. As if on cue, they turned toward the sound.
At the mouth of the alley stood a middle-aged man with yellow sunglasses perched on the tip of his nose, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.
“Wadda… just what kind of situation is this supposed to be, huh?”
“….”
Sihyun’s instincts screamed that this man was no ordinary civilian. He looked almost too relaxed, a little loose around the edges—yet the unidentifiable aura rolling off him pressed against the throat like a hand, heavy and suffocating.
Sihyun knew then, with absolute certainty, that this godforsaken day was nowhere near over.