Chapter 32
I slowly flexed my gloved hand, the stiff material biting into my skin and cutting off my circulation. Even though this was just a practice match, the air crackled with tension. Kim Guhyeon stood at the center of the arena, watching Yu Hyunjae and me with a measured gaze. Hyunjae stared blankly ahead, but not at me. I wondered if meeting his eyes might have given me a little more strength for the fight. At Kim Guhyeon’s signal, Hyunjae and I stepped forward.
To outsiders, this match—arranged with Kim Guhyeon’s help—would likely be interpreted in two ways. First, that Yu Chanhee now saw Yu Hyunjae as a rival. Second, that the supposedly powerless Yu Hyunjae possessed some hidden ability. For someone as proud as me to acknowledge a rival in someone I’d always ignored, it couldn’t be ordinary. And if Kim Guhyeon still harbored the same intense interest in Hyunjae as he had in my past life, he wouldn’t want to miss this revelation.
But that wasn’t the only reason. Through this fight, I intended to deceive four people—Yu Hyunjae included. For that, the battle had to be intense. Convincing.
I planned to hide and ambush Hyunjae from behind the building. Since he hadn’t awakened his powers yet, no matter how skilled he was in martial arts, he couldn’t beat me. Just as I pressed myself against the wall, a light breeze brushed past. Wind? I turned my head sharply. Hyunjae appeared from the direction of the breeze, moving swiftly. Surprised, I barely managed to dive deeper into the abandoned building.
Hyunjae seemed to sense my location unnervingly well and attacked without hesitation. The advantage of martial arts lay in its fluidity, allowing strikes from multiple angles—and Hyunjae exploited that perfectly. I barely blocked his attacks with my blunt sword, retreating into the innermost part of the building, a dusty study. The quiet room soon filled with the clashing sounds of flesh and metal.
Books scattered everywhere, littering the floor. I dodged the falling volumes, biting my lip. I couldn’t afford to lose to Hyunjae here. I had to land a decisive blow. I lured him outside, and as soon as we entered Kim Guhyeon’s line of sight, I infused my sword with a dangerous level of mana—clearly against the rules. Hyunjae noticed, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. I swung the mana-charged sword, driving him back, and glanced at Kim Guhyeon. He stood still, watching us intently.
I raised my sword to strike Hyunjae’s shoulder. He evaded gracefully and twisted my arm. Seizing the moment, I clung to him and swung my sword at his back. The blade grazed the air harmlessly.
“Why don’t you stab me properly?”
Hyunjae smirked. Before I could retort, I crashed to the ground. The sword slipped from my hand, clattering across the floor. The impact left me too pained to move. Hyunjae straddled me, pinning my arms down.
“Stop.”
I gasped for breath, calling for a halt. Hyunjae hesitated, his raised fist freezing mid-air. I didn’t waste the opening.
“You’ve gotten stronger.”
“Thanks to whom?”
“Who do you think?”
“Don’t play with words.”
“Don’t you want to get even stronger?”
Hyunjae glared at me, his grip unyielding. I groaned in pain, speaking slowly—meaningless taunts to exploit his weakness.
“Try dying once.”
“What?”
“Dying isn’t so bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Advice from experience.”
Hyunjae’s grip loosened for a split second. I seized the chance, kicking his legs out from under him. Rolling free, I snatched up my sword from the ground.
“Want me to stab you?”
Hyunjae regained his stance.
“I’ll make it painless.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“How did you know?”
I laughed aloud, and Hyunjae’s expression shifted subtly. I adjusted my grip on the sword and charged at him, managing to graze his arm. Hyunjae hissed, clutching his bleeding arm as he stumbled back. I ignored the red droplets on the ground and sneered.
“How’s the taste of a madman’s blade?”
“Stop.”
“No.”
“…”
“If I could stop, I would have.”
Only then did the belated whistle blow.
“Let’s stop here.”
Hyunjae glanced toward Kim Guhyeon, who was approaching. This was my last chance. Gritting my teeth, I poured all my mana into the sword and lunged for Hyunjae’s chest. He barely had time to react, his eyes widening in shock. I had replayed this moment in my mind countless times, but I couldn’t imagine my own expression. I hoped I looked ruthless as I locked eyes with him. Just as the blade was about to pierce his heart, my hand was violently repelled, as if two magnets of the same pole had clashed. The force sent me crashing into the wall. Pain exploded in my back, and a groan escaped my lips.
Hyunjae looked even more stunned than I did. He seemed shocked by the power that had surged from within him. Unable to stand, I curled up on the ground, coughing up blood-tinged saliva. Kim Guhyeon rushed over and helped me up. As I slowly regained my footing, Hyunjae stood frozen, staring at his hands and then at me, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Only after the situation settled did Kim Guhyeon speak slowly.
“Chanhee… What on earth…”
“…”
“This could have been disastrous.”
“…Is that all?”
I glared at Kim Guhyeon, panting.
“Is that all you have to say?”
“…”
“I just tried to kill someone.”
Kim Guhyeon’s expression hardened. Hyunjae, standing beside him, wasn’t much different. I tossed the sword aside and slumped back down.
“…Whatever. It’s fine. You went easy on me.”
“I won’t report this separately, but it was dangerous.”
“And what about you, Director Kim? Only saying that now?”
I panted, looking at Hyunjae. He still hadn’t relaxed, his eyes locked onto mine as if he couldn’t fathom the situation. I scowled at him, my face twisted in pain.
“Congratulations.”
“…”
“You got stronger without dying.”
With that, I collapsed before I could hear his reply. I hoped this act would appear to the system as nothing more than a “public” display. After all, this fight had been planned solely for that purpose.
***
When Hyunjae and I returned home, we were met with our mother’s horrified expression. She fussed over me, asking repeatedly if I needed to go to the hospital. Hyunjae’s arm injury looked worse than mine, but she was more concerned about me. My father was equally shocked. I went straight upstairs, locked my door, and slumped onto the bed. The pain in my back suggested a massive bruise was forming. After sitting motionless for several minutes, I finally mustered the strength to pull out my phone.
—Hello?
“It’s me.”
—Couldn’t kill him, huh?
Han Jaemin chuckled teasingly.
—I told you, Chanhee, you’re still a rookie.
“Hearing it from you makes it worse, even if I know it’s true.”
—Admitting you’re a rookie?
“What if I am?”
—I was going to praise you for growing up.
“What’s so great about growing up?”
—Hmm, my praise?
“…There’s something I need to tell you.”
—What is it?
“I got hurt.”
—You? Or Yu Hyunjae?
“Me.”
—You’re the one who got hurt more?
“Yeah.”
—Unexpected.
“…So I think I need to rest until the selection.”
I brought up the point I had prepared. I had informed Han Jaemin about the match with Hyunjae in advance to use it as an excuse to escape his control, even if just a little. Han Jaemin was the type to monitor and manipulate people with a smile. He was the only one who had intuitively sensed Hyunjae’s potential growing stronger. In the original story, Han Jaemin constantly pushed Yu Chanhee to restrain and test Hyunjae. I wanted to be free from that pressure, at least until the selection.
—…Really?
“If I don’t recover, I’ll end up as a low-rank in the selection without even being able to fight.”
Han Jaemin was silent on the other end of the line.
—Has Yu Hyunjae gotten that strong?
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
Han Jaemin didn’t answer. A brief silence followed. The call ended with him telling me to rest until the selection. Only then did I toss my phone aside and lie down on the bed.
At some point, I had begun to fear the quiet of my room. Silence invited thoughts, and thoughts were like a projector, endlessly replaying painful memories. I couldn’t turn them off at will. The forced replay of those memories hurt far more than the bruise on my back. The only way to escape was to lose consciousness. But when I actually slept, another kind of torment awaited—nightmares that swarmed me like demons. It was a cycle of suffering.
Just as my eyes began to sting habitually, someone knocked on my door. I dragged my heavy body up and opened it to find my father standing there. I faced him with a tired expression, unable to read his own.
“Everyone’s heard.”
“Director Kim is fast.”
“You couldn’t even beat a guy who only knows martial arts, and you came back like this?”
My father was the last reason I had gone through with the fight against Hyunjae. I was relieved that Kim Guhyeon hadn’t noticed Hyunjae’s unconscious awakening of his power. I responded to my father’s words with feigned nonchalance.
“You’re still the same, Father.”
My monotone voice made him frown.
“Encouragement, comfort—aren’t those a parent’s duty?”
In this grand charade, if there was one person who played his role perfectly, it was him. He delivered his clichéd, soap-opera lines with such conviction that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I ended up letting out a hollow laugh, only to wince as the pain in my back flared up. I wanted to slam the door shut, but there was one last line to deliver. I forced out the words.
“He’s just… a kid who knows martial arts.”
“…”
“Now I know for sure. I won’t lose to him again.”
At least, not to a Hyunjae who only knows martial arts. I swallowed the last part and closed the door. If Hyunjae was in his room, he would have heard every word. Only then did the exhaustion truly hit me. But I still couldn’t sleep. Nightmares were always worse than staying awake.
