A New Connection
That afternoon. Jaehyuk and Jeonghan were heading home after classes ended. Jaehyuk had already considered what he should do now that he had regressed. Hit the first-prize lottery numbers? Date a girl he never got to be with in his past life? Buy up massive amounts of stocks that would skyrocket in about ten years? He planned to do everything that came to mind.
But what mattered far more to him was dismantling the cartel centered on Gangryonghoe, the syndicate that had killed his uncle and his former self.
When he was seventeen, the uncle who had raised him in place of the father he had never once met was murdered—disguised as a suicide caused by depression. 'If only I had regressed to when I was seventeen… Then before Uncle died… Maybe I could have seen him at least one more time.'
Jaehyuk's chest grew heavy with sorrow as those thoughts filled his mind. It was right then, as the two of them walked together, that Jeonghan suddenly turned his head toward the inside of an alley and called out to him.
"Hey, dude. Those kids are fighting over there."
"Where?"
Jaehyuk turned his head in the direction Jeonghan was looking. In that spot, a male student was locked in a many-versus-one brawl against roughly ten delinquents who looked like they ran the school.
Jeonghan watched the lone student fighting off multiple delinquents and muttered in admiration.
"Whoa… He's actually really good."
'Huh? Wait… That guy looks really familiar.'
Jaehyuk felt like the face of the student fighting the delinquents alone was somehow not new to him. 'Where have I seen him before?' After combing through every memory—including those from his past life—Jaehyuk finally remembered who the male student was.
'Ah, it's Kang Jihun. Kang Jiyong's son.'
That male student was Kang Jihun, the only son of Kang Jiyong, the boss of Gangryonghoe.
In the original timeline, the two of them had never shared any significant connection even after Jaehyuk infiltrated Gangryonghoe. Back then, Park Jaehyuk and Kang Jihun were nothing more than passing faces with no real relationship. Jihun also hadn't gotten along well with his father, Jiyong. And in a way, he too was a victim of Gangryonghoe, so Jaehyuk held no particular negative feelings toward him.
Interested in the way Jihun fought, Jaehyuk told Jeonghan, "Let's watch for a little bit."
"What if we get dragged into it?"
"Who cares? We'll just join the winning side and fight together."
"Dude, we're high school seniors, you crazy bastard. You wanna get screwed over by getting into a street fight right before the college entrance exams?"
'That's rich coming from the guy who ended up in juvenile detention for serial murder right before the college entrance exams.'
With that thought, Jaehyuk stared at Jeonghan with a complicated expression for a moment before turning his head again to watch Jihun's fight closely.
"Ah, whatever."
In the end, Jeonghan spat out a whatever-happens-happens remark and joined Jaehyuk in watching Jihun's brawl.
Jihun slipped past the attacks of the charging delinquents, slamming them into walls or smashing their chins and faces with elbows and fists. Occasionally he would dodge an attack, grab their collars, and take them down with a throw.
'Hmm… Now that I think about it, Kang Jihun's hobby was MMA.'
From the information Jaehyuk had encountered in his past life, Jihun's hobby had been training in MMA. That showed now—Jihun was fluidly mixing techniques from judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and Muay Thai as he fought the delinquents.
When another delinquent rushed in for a tackle, Jihun spread his legs wide and braced. He then locked a rear-naked choke around the delinquent grabbing his waist, squeezing the boy's neck. The delinquent flailed in agony, unable to breathe. Moments later, Jihun released the choke, gripped the boy's back with both hands, and drove a knee strike into his solar plexus, dropping him and neutralizing the threat.
"Whew… Guys who only have big mouths are always the ones who cause the most trouble."
Muttering to himself, Jihun finally noticed Jeonghan and Jaehyuk watching him.
"Who the hell are you two? How long have you been standing there?"
At 187 centimeters tall with broad, powerful shoulders, Kang Jihun gave off an overwhelming aura that made it hard to believe he was just a high school student.
Jihun approached the flustered Jeonghan and the relatively calm Jaehyuk. He scanned their school uniforms and said, "Hmm… Cheongang High? That's near our school, right?"
Right then, one of the delinquents Jihun had knocked down staggered to his feet. Still furious about his defeat, he pulled a jackknife from his pocket.
Jaehyuk saw it and shouted urgently at Jihun.
"Hey!! Behind you!!"
At Jaehyuk's cry, Jihun whipped his head around. But the delinquent with the knife had already closed the distance—it was too late to dodge.
In that instant, Jaehyuk grabbed a wooden chair abandoned on the ground, charged the knife-wielding delinquent, and shoved him over with the chair. They both crashed to the floor.
Though they fell together, Jaehyuk recovered first. He slammed the chair down on the still-dazed delinquent's face, knocking him out while the boy still clutched the knife. Then Jaehyuk stomped on the bleeding delinquent's wrist, twisting it with his foot until the knife clattered to the ground.
"Man… That scared the hell out of me."
Jihun wore a genuinely surprised expression at the unexpected ambush. He stared at the delinquent who had taken a direct hit from the chair Jaehyuk swung and lost consciousness.
"Should we report all of them?"
When Jeonghan pulled out his phone to call the police, Jihun stopped him.
"Leave it. Even if we report them, they're minors. They'll be out in no time."
Then Jihun asked the pair, "By the way, how old are you guys?"
"Us? We're seniors."
"Ah, same age then."
At Jaehyuk's answer, Jihun nodded, then smiled brightly and thanked him.
"Thanks for helping me earlier. It's not much, but…"
Jihun rummaged through his pocket, pulled something out, and stuffed it into Jaehyuk's pocket before Jaehyuk could even ask what it was. Then he hurriedly ran off toward the main street.
'Not much…? What is this?'
Jaehyuk took out what Jihun had slipped into his pocket. It was six 50,000-won bills—three hundred thousand won in total.
Jeonghan grinned when he saw the money and said to Jaehyuk, "Wow… Three hundred thousand won for one chair shot."
"Let's split it and hit the PC bang?"
"Sounds good. Let's go."
After splitting the reward money from Jihun, Jaehyuk and Jeonghan walked out of the alleyway. That was the first meeting of three friends who would become incredibly close in the days to come.
Meanwhile, at Crown Holdings headquarters. This was the legitimate business front operated by Gangryonghoe. The syndicate's primary operations involved criminal enterprises—drug and weapons smuggling, human trafficking, illegal loan sharking, and running underground gambling dens. On the surface, however, they ran legitimate companies in construction, hospitality, and finance under the name Crown Holdings.
Kang Jiyong, boss of Gangryonghoe and chairman of Crown Holdings, was drinking oolong tea while speaking with someone.
"How are things running at Crown Capital these days?"
The man sitting across from him appeared to be in his late forties. He wore a black suit, had thick hair, and sported black horn-rimmed glasses. His sharp eyes and sleek jawline gave him an extremely keen, intimidating impression.
The man set down his teacup and answered Jiyong.
"Everything is proceeding smoothly with no issues."
Choi Kyungsoo—the man who had killed him in his past life. He was the second-in-command of Gangryonghoe and the representative of Crown Capital, one of the syndicate's legitimate businesses.
Jiyong sighed with a slightly uncomfortable expression, lit a cigarette, and asked Kyungsoo, "Have you heard anything more about what happened yesterday?"
"You mean the philopon that was supposed to be delivered to Burning Island getting completely seized in Daegu?"
"That's right. It was a full ton."
"We're sending our people to track down its whereabouts for now."
Jiyong took another drag and asked, "Who the hell would dare pull something like this?"
"We don't know yet. For the time being, we'll share information with the police officers we have connections with before deploying our men."
Jiyong fell silent for a moment as if thinking it over, then shared his opinion with Kyungsoo.
"I'm not comfortable working with the cops. They aren't as quick or sharp as we'd like, are they? They just drag their feet all day, whining about proper procedures."
After taking another puff, Jiyong continued, "So contact the 'Pigeon' and have Tae-yeol gather the information."
"Understood, Chairman."
Upon hearing Kyungsoo's reply, Jiyong narrowed his eyes slightly while smoking. A murderous glint flashed in them, as if he were vowing to kill every single person who had dared touch what belonged to him.
That evening, Jaehyuk opened the door to Cheolshin Gym. Inside, unlike the day before, five or six people were sparring in MMA practice. Director Sunwoo was correcting a man's kickboxing stance.
"Hello."
When Sunwoo saw Jaehyuk, he lowered the hand target attached to his hand and returned the greeting. At that moment, the member training with Sunwoo made eye contact with Jaehyuk.
"Huh?"
"Wait…"
The member who locked eyes with Jaehyuk was none other than Kang Jihun, whom he had met that afternoon.
'What? So the place where he learned MMA was here?'
When Jihun saw Jaehyuk, he grinned and greeted him casually.
"Hey, Cheongang High. Fancy seeing you here."
Sunwoo looked puzzled and asked Jihun, "You two know each other?"
"We got acquainted a bit today."
Sunwoo nodded and raised the hand target again.
"Save the greetings for later. Again!"
He continued coaching Jihun's kickboxing form. Jaehyuk glanced at Jihun throwing repeated jabs at the hand target Sunwoo held, then headed into the changing room.
After changing clothes, Jaehyuk began stretching before his MMA training. Jihun approached him while he was stretching and spoke up.
"So… what's your name? I didn't ask earlier."
"Park Jaehyuk."
"And the guy next to you?"
"Lee Jeonghan."
Jihun smiled brightly and extended his right hand for a handshake.
"I'm Kang Jihun. I go to Taegwang High. Let's get along well from now on."
Jaehyuk stared at him blankly for a second before shaking his hand. He briefly recalled the Jihun from the past.
'Wait, was his personality always like this? I remember it being pretty bad…'
The Jihun in Jaehyuk's memory had a terrible personality. He would frequently get drunk and cause scenes, go on drug-fueled rampages, and constantly surround himself with women—a complete good-for-nothing.
'Well… I guess that was because he got addicted to philopon. In the end he overdosed and died.'
In Jaehyuk's previous life, Jihun had been dragged around by his trashy so-called friends and frequented clubs. He eventually became addicted to the drugs supplied by Gangryonghoe. In the end, he lost his mind and died from an overdose.
But the Jihun standing before him now was completely different from the degenerate he remembered.
"Have you trained in combat sports before? Or is this your first time?"
"Not my first time. I've learned a bit of kickboxing and judo."
At Jaehyuk's answer, Jihun nodded with an impressed look.
"Kickboxing and judo? Nice…"
He rolled his shoulders, stretching them out.
"Sparring starts soon. Want to go a round with me later? I'll take it easy on you."
'Oh? Look at this guy's confidence.'
To Jihun's challenge, Jaehyuk smiled and replied, "Okay."