Kim Byeong-ju, the Golden Wheel's chief enforcer, couldn't believe his eyes.
'What... the hell?'
Thick smoke filled the narrow alley.
Through the haze came the groans of his subordinates crawling across the ground.
All of this had happened in less than ten minutes.
'And this was supposed to be a job to capture one high school student?'
Kim Byeong-ju recalled the arrogant voice of Jang Gi-han, the VIP who'd commissioned the job.
—All you need to do is bring me one high school student. A Tin Can who can't use magic. Think of it as a chance to get some fresh air.
'Fresh air? This is a goddamn typhoon.'
Cheon Do-hyeon emerged leisurely from the thick smoke, undoing the top button of his school uniform shirt.
He was perfectly fine, without a single injury.
The sight made anger surge uncontrollably within Kim Byeong-ju.
"...You bastard."
"See? That's why I told you whoever wanted to see me should come here himself."
"...."
His casual retort left Kim Byeong-ju momentarily speechless.
He'd single-handedly taken down seven men, yet he still had this much composure.
Cheon Do-hyeon glanced around and asked.
"No one else, right?"
He was asking whether there were any more subordinates waiting to attack him.
Of course there weren't.
They'd come to capture a single No-Ma high school student.
Even the forces they'd brought were excessive for such a task.
"Then next time, tell whoever wants to see me to come personally. I'll be leaving now. My stomach's feeling a little upset."
Cheon Do-hyeon rubbed his stomach, speaking with exaggerated nonchalance.
To Kim Byeong-ju, it sounded like a provocation.
As though Do-hyeon were saying that he'd dealt with them effortlessly despite feeling unwell.
But his words were meant quite literally.
'Damn it. My dantian feels like it's about to explode.'
Right now, the scraps of Mana from the First- and Second-Circle mages he'd hastily devoured were tangled together inside his abdomen, causing complete chaos.
He was forcibly suppressing them with the Great Void Primordial Unity Heart Art, but he was reaching his limit.
At this rate, even spending the entire day practicing Qi Circulation and Breath Regulation once he got home might not be enough.
"Where do you think you're going?"
However, Kim Byeong-ju firmly blocked his path.
"If you'd all attacked together, you might've had a chance. Think you can handle me alone?"
Kim Byeong-ju let out a disbelieving laugh at Cheon Do-hyeon's provocation.
"Do not misunderstand. I am the Golden Wheel's chief enforcer."
He shrugged off his jacket and raised his guard tightly.
His stance was well trained.
Judging by the way his left foot pointed forward, it was a kickboxing-based fighting stance.
"I shall show you just how different our levels are."
Seeing this, Cheon Do-hyeon sighed inwardly.
Frankly, he wanted to avoid the fight.
"Huu. Well, what's the difference between seven bastards and eight?"
Cheon Do-hyeon responded by adopting the same stance.
The two looked almost identical, like a pair reflected in a mirror.
But that similarity lasted only until the fighting began.
The moment the battle started in earnest, completely different waves of energy erupted from them.
BOOOOOOM—!
Silver-white magical power exploded from Kim Byeong-ju's entire body.
Unlike the enemies Cheon Do-hyeon had encountered so far, Kim Byeong-ju's Mana possessed its own distinctive color.
"They say a mage only becomes a true mage upon reaching the Third Circle. That is when one trains a single attribute to its absolute limit and finally develops a color of one's own."
For that reason, the Third-Circle stage was known as Ignition.
Parts of Kim Byeong-ju's skin began taking on a metallic sheen, hardening into a solid surface.
This was Steel Hardening, the specialized magic that had earned Kim Byeong-ju his position as the Golden Wheel's chief enforcer.
"My attribute is 'Steel.' Against someone like you, who has to fight at close range, it is the worst possible matchup."
BANG—!
Kim Byeong-ju kicked off the ground and charged.
Because his body's hardness had increased to that of steel, his speed wasn't particularly impressive.
However, every step he took left a deep depression in the ground.
Even a glancing blow would be enough to break bones.
'I'll fight while keeping my distance.'
In that brief instant, Cheon Do-hyeon had already worked out his strategy.
And he immediately put it into action.
Cheon Do-hyeon launched a front kick toward the charging Kim Byeong-ju.
The kick, also known as a pressing kick, slammed into Kim Byeong-ju's abdomen.
THOOM—!
A heavy impact rang out.
But Kim Byeong-ju didn't budge an inch.
Instead, the sole of Cheon Do-hyeon's foot went numb.
It felt like he'd kicked a steel pillar.
"Did you think that would work?!"
Kim Byeong-ju's hand shot forward like lightning, attempting to seize Cheon Do-hyeon's leg.
However, Cheon Do-hyeon retracted it a fraction of a second faster.
Kim Byeong-ju's hand narrowly swept through empty air.
'Phew.'
His running speed was slow, but the speed at which he could move his arms and legs was another matter entirely.
Kim Byeong-ju gave him no opening.
Before Cheon Do-hyeon could recover his stance, he unleashed his next attack.
One-two.
Fists like solid lumps of steel swept past Do-hyeon's face.
'If I block those, my arms will break.'
Cheon Do-hyeon chose to evade rather than guard.
Then, spotting an opening, he launched a calf kick.
His leg whipped around like a lash, striking the fibula of Kim Byeong-ju's left leg.
In truth, he regretted the decision even as he threw the kick.
If he struck a steel-hardened leg incorrectly, he could end up breaking the bones in his own foot.
But this time, the sound was different.
CRACK—!
The blow landed cleanly, and Kim Byeong-ju recoiled in surprise, retreating backward.
Seeing that reaction, Cheon Do-hyeon's eyes gleamed.
'His entire body isn't hardened. He's only hardening the parts he's consciously focusing on.'
Through a single exchange, Cheon Do-hyeon had immediately identified the weakness in Kim Byeong-ju's Steel Hardening.
But Kim Byeong-ju was a veteran himself.
He gave Cheon Do-hyeon no opportunity to exploit the opening.
Planting his left foot firmly as a pivot, he retaliated with a middle kick.
WHOOOOOSH—!
A heavy sound rang out, as though someone were swinging a steel club.
TAP, TAP—!
Cheon Do-hyeon retreated, letting the attack pass by him.
"You cannot win by doing nothing but dodging!"
Kim Byeong-ju shouted.
SPIN—!
He skillfully turned his body through a full rotation, quickly regained his stance, and unleashed another middle kick.
A double middle kick.
Had Cheon Do-hyeon not anticipated it, his ribs would've been shattered as he rushed in to exploit the timing of the first kick's retraction.
But Cheon Do-hyeon had already analyzed all of Kim Byeong-ju's attack patterns and prepared his response.
He'd predicted the trajectory of the attack.
One man had learned martial arts to supplement his magic.
The other had spent his entire life training in nothing but martial arts to survive.
The difference between their levels was overwhelming.
"The worst possible matchup, you say? Yeah, that's right. I'm the worst possible matchup for you."
Taking a step back, Cheon Do-hyeon redirected Kim Byeong-ju's leg by applying force in the opposite direction.
The weight of the steel-hardened leg, combined with Cheon Do-hyeon's strength, delayed Kim Byeong-ju's ability to retract it.
Seizing that opening, Cheon Do-hyeon grabbed the now-defenseless Kim Byeong-ju by the head.
[Great Art of Star Absorption]
Checkmate.
That was how he intended to end the fight.
However, the moment Kim Byeong-ju's Mana began flowing into him, an unexpected complication arose.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Do-hyeon screamed and immediately withdrew his hand.
The specialized Mana of a Third-Circle mage was fundamentally different from everything he'd absorbed until now.
Every meridian through which Kim Byeong-ju's Mana passed burned as though it had been scorched by fire.
His Mana was too hot, too sharp, and too heavy.
With his dantian already saturated with Mana, Do-hyeon couldn't swallow the high-density Steel Mana.
Cheon Do-hyeon retreated in agony.
Kim Byeong-ju didn't miss the opportunity.
He drew his Mana to its maximum output and unleashed the strongest finishing technique in his arsenal.
"I do not know what happened to you, but you have only yourself to blame for wasting that opportunity."
[Iron Fist]
A fist of solid steel hurtled toward Cheon Do-hyeon's head with enough force to smash it apart.
At that moment of mortal danger, Cheon Do-hyeon had to make a decision.
'If I can't swallow it, I'll spit it back out.'
He drew Kim Byeong-ju's magical power, which had been boiling inside him without being digested, up into his palm.
Kim Byeong-ju was charging at him with murderous intent, throwing everything he had into a single, decisive blow.
Excessive force committed to the strike.
A center of gravity leaning too far forward.
A lowered left hand.
Every detail entered Cheon Do-hyeon's vision in an instant.
He tilted his head aside, avoiding the blow by a margin no thicker than a perilla leaf.
SWISH—!
It was a head slip.
Kim Byeong-ju's fist grazed past Do-hyeon's ear and tore through empty air.
Had he turned his head even 0.1 seconds later, his skull would've burst apart.
But Cheon Do-hyeon had succeeded.
And now, Kim Byeong-ju's completely defenseless face appeared before him.
Eyes widened in disbelief, as though he'd never imagined his attack could miss.
Mouth hanging open.
Cheon Do-hyeon whispered quietly to him.
"Goodbye."
A perfect left hook, with his weight driven through his lead foot.
And at the end of that fist was Kim Byeong-ju's own Steel Mana.
[Great Art of Star Absorption - Reflection]
KABOOOOOM—!
The impact produced a sound that no ordinary human fist should've been capable of making.
Kim Byeong-ju's head snapped ninety degrees to the side.
His eyes immediately lost focus.
THUD.
His massive body collapsed to the ground.
A brief silence followed.
"WHOOOOO!"
Then Cheon Do-hyeon unleashed a victorious roar.
At that moment, a black haze began rising from his body.
The remnants of energy that had been rampaging inside him disappeared, while impurities were expelled from his body.
The excruciating abdominal pain that had tormented him vanished, replaced by a thrilling sensation coursing through his entire body.
[Achievement: Great Art of Star Absorption - Fourth Star]
He'd surpassed his limits once again during this battle.
Cheon Do-hyeon quietly examined the changes in his body.
The energies inside his dantian had completely merged into one.
His stabilized internal energy had now grown to a mass roughly the size of an adult's fist.
And that wasn't all.
As his proficiency in the Great Art of Star Absorption had increased, he should now be capable of absorbing energy with even greater force.
And as luck would have it, an appetizing piece of prey was lying right before him, perfect for testing his newfound strength.
Cheon Do-hyeon looked down at the unconscious chief enforcer of the Golden Wheel sprawled across the ground and smiled.
"Well then, thanks for the meal."
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the alley.
Kim Seung-yeon, whom everyone had assumed had fled, stood there with her hand clamped over her mouth.
"This can't be happening..."
Her eyes trembled violently, as though an earthquake were shaking them.
The outcast boy who couldn't use magic had just beaten the members of the Golden Wheel into submission with his bare hands.
It was terrifying.
And at the same time, exhilarating.