At that moment, Juwon, standing in the middle of the sparring hall, looked up and met Yihyun’s eyes through the second-floor window. Instead of greeting him with a nod, Yihyun lightly raised the cup of Juwon’s vanilla latte in his hand and pointed at Lee Changhun with his chin.
‘Earn your coffee. Start.’
Real murderous intent entered Juwon’s eyes as he received his superior’s silent command. He tilted his head to the side toward Lee Changhun, his joints cracking loudly.
“Mr. Lee Changhun. I hear you’ve been getting pretty full of yourself lately? This is your first time sparring with me, right? Better to get the beating over with sooner rather than later, so come at me.”
“E-Esper Lee Juwon…… Did I perhaps do something wrong……?”
“Ah, shut up. If you stepped into the sparring hall, you should talk with your fists, shouldn’t you?”
The magnificent waves of mana that had been boiling around Juwon vanished without a trace in an instant. He lightly clenched and unclenched his solid fist, grinning.
“Oh, right. Let’s not use abilities in today’s spar. If I start summoning swords, I might slice through all the pillars in this building and bring the whole place down, so I’ll be considerate this time. Let’s fight purely with our bodies.”
No abilities.
The moment that shocking declaration fell upon the sparring hall, a commotion began to spread throughout the training building. The Espers who had gradually gathered around to watch this unexpected challenge from an S-Rank began murmuring among themselves.
“Hey, what the hell’s going on? Why did that Tosa fighting dog suddenly show up at the training building?”
“That’s Lee Changhun from Search Team 1. Did that bastard seriously get on Lee Juwon’s bad side? What the hell did he do to piss him off badly enough for that lazy monster to come beat him up personally?”
“But he says he won’t use his ability? That means he’s not drawing his swords.”
Lee Changhun’s eyes shook violently as he listened to the spectators whispering around him.
‘……He’s not using his swords?’
His opponent was a metal-type Esper, a monster who could spread thousands of diamond-hard swords behind his back and slaughter his way across a battlefield. When he deployed a vicious sword formation that filled the air, his silhouette resembled an enraged Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, gripping a weapon in each of a thousand hands.
If that monster deployed his sword formation as usual, Lee Changhun would be turned into minced meat before he could even send out a single spark. But if they excluded their abilities and fought hand-to-hand without weapons, that was a different story.
‘Lee Juwon is a ranged attacker who fights while standing still in one place. And with that huge, lumbering body, there’s no way he can keep up with the speed of my martial arts. He might be an S-Rank, but if we’re fighting barehanded without weapons, I can at least preserve my pride.’
The surrounding Espers were puzzled by Juwon’s declaration that he wouldn’t use his ability, but Lee Changhun’s eyes sharpened as he rapidly calculated his odds. He was still an A-Rank Esper who had been through hell and back inside brutal Gates. As though declaring that he would gladly accept the challenge, he settled into an offensive stance, his gaze turning razor-sharp.
“……It’s an honor that you’re being so considerate, Esper Lee Juwon. I didn’t win my A-Rank title in a card game either, so I won’t hold back!”
Watching that ridiculous bravado through the observation room window on the second floor, Yihyun let out a quiet scoff. Cold Americano leisurely traveled up his straw.
‘Stupid bastard. He has no idea why Juwon was called a Tosa fighting dog.’
The physical durability of a metal-type Esper was beyond imagination. Even without summoning his swords, Lee Juwon’s body, with that power compressed into his fists and bones, was itself no different from a diamond-hard blunt weapon.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t using his ability.
He was merely pretending not to use it, and Lee Changhun had swallowed the bait whole.
Beep-!
The sharp electronic tone signaling the start of the spar rang throughout the hall, and at the exact same moment, Lee Changhun’s fist shot toward Juwon’s jaw.
Crack-!
“Argh!”
Lee Changhun’s fist slammed squarely into Lee Juwon’s thick forearm guard. He screamed from the impact, as though he had punched a solid wall of iron rather than human flesh.
Juwon, who had raised his guard, didn’t so much as budge. He stared incredulously at Lee Changhun, who staggered backward while shaking his trembling hand.
Juwon’s lips slowly parted.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The cold, mocking words had barely fallen before the massive Lee Juwon shot forward at terrifying speed.
Thud-!
Lee Changhun blocked the incoming fist with both arms and was violently shoved backward.
“Ghk, ugh……!”
He tumbled gracelessly across the floor and tried to push himself back up, but all strength left his numb arms and he collapsed again.
“Hey. You’ve only taken one punch. Why the hell are you already making such a fuss? At this rate, it’ll just look like I’m bullying you.”
Along with that merciless voice, a shadow fell over Lee Changhun once again.
Juwon grabbed him by the collar with one hand.
With Lee Juwon’s monstrous strength, Lee Changhun’s entire body was effortlessly lifted into the air.
Thud! Thud!
“Ghk! Ugh, Lee Ju…… won, urgh!”
“Hey, you’re gonna lose your teeth, so keep your mouth shut.”
Merciless punches slammed into Lee Changhun’s face one after another. Every time Juwon’s fist connected, Changhun’s head snapped sideways, sending red droplets of blood and shattered teeth flying in every direction.
Within moments, Lee Changhun was drenched in blood. He struggled weakly with unfocused eyes as though begging to be spared, but there wasn’t a trace of sympathy in the Tosa fighting dog’s eyes.
Thud-!
As though putting a period at the end of the beating, a heavy uppercut smashed straight into Lee Changhun’s jaw.
Juwon released his collar.
Lee Changhun’s body flew upward like a doll before sprawling spectacularly across the sparring hall floor.
“Ha. What a boring bastard.”
“……Ugh, cough! Bleeergh-!”
A miserable groan burst from him the moment he hit the floor. His face had been beaten into a bloody mess, and unable to withstand the shock rattling his brain, Lee Changhun dropped onto his hands and knees and vomited blood-mixed bile onto the floor.
Juwon recoiled in disgust.
“What the—hey! He’s puking!”
“Whoa, fuck…… Hurry up and call a healing-type Esper. Or somebody take him to the medical wing!”
“That bastard was made of fucking paper. How the hell did a guy like that become the leader of Search Team 1?”
Mocking laughter and jeers from the watching Espers filled the area.
And behind the second-floor observation room window, Yihyun, who had watched the disgusting spectacle unfold in real time, found himself automatically furrowing his brow.
‘I haven’t even digested my meal yet.’
He was extremely pleased that his hunting dog from his previous life had thoroughly fucked the bastard up, but having this third-rate villain make his exit by vomiting all over the training hall floor was mercilessly offending Yihyun’s aesthetic sensibilities.
Still, as payment for driving Baek Yihyun to suicide, this was only the beginning.
[Hey. Later, spread it around among the Espers that Lee Changhun got rejected by Baek Yihyun and deliberately started spreading fucked-up rumors about him.]
He sent the message to Lee Juwon, who was walking toward him.
Juwon pulled out his phone, read it, then looked up at Yihyun with a broad grin. He turned around and jerked his chin toward Lee Changhun. Deliberately raising his voice so all the nearby Espers could hear him, he shouted.
“Hey, Lee Changhun. I heard Guide Baek Yihyun rejected you, so you got all bitter and started spreading bullshit rumors about him? Act your fucking age, you pathetic bastard.”
‘Not right fucking now, you idiot.’
Lee Juwon walked through the murmuring crowd of Espers and approached with his white teeth bared in an utterly innocent grin.
Faced with that almost absurdly pure expression, Yihyun had to clutch his throbbing temple.
He had forgotten that this bastard required precise instructions.
Soon, the observation room door opened and Juwon squeezed his massive frame through it. Yihyun casually pushed one of the takeout cups sitting on the table toward him.
“Drink.”
“Boss! You…… remembered how I like my coffee…….”
Juwon took a sip and gazed at Yihyun with an overwhelmed expression.
“Boss…… You really are the only one for me.”
Lee Juwon looked up at the ceiling with moist eyes and swallowed his tears. Then he put the straw between his lips and took a long pull of his iced vanilla latte.
It was impossible to believe that this was the same man who had just beaten someone into a bloody pulp.
While Juwon dropped heavily into the seat beside Yihyun and quenched his thirst, another commotion erupted in the sparring hall below the window.
“Medical team coming through! Everyone, please move aside!”
People carrying a stretcher hurried into the sparring hall, pushing their way through the disorderly crowd of Espers. Amid the commotion as they rushed to collect the battered Lee Changhun, a familiar silhouette caught Yihyun’s eye.
“…….”
Jung Yura’s eyes met Yihyun’s across the distance.
She looked back and forth between Yihyun and Lee Juwon sitting beside him, then faintly furrowed her brows. Disbelief, displeasure, and confusion mingled on her face before her expression turned cold and she looked away.
“Did something happen between Jung Yura and Baek Yihyun?”
Baek Yihyun wasn’t the kind of person who would provoke someone into holding a grudge against him. Yihyun tilted his head and asked Lee Juwon.
“No. Nothing like that. But…….”
Juwon took another long sip of his iced vanilla latte before continuing.
“Jung Yura is insanely obsessed with her position as the Chief Guide of the Guide Wing.”
“So?”
“Well, the crybaby who used to walk around bawling all the time suddenly became an S-Rank, so she’s probably scared he’ll take her position. She worked herself half to death to climb that high, after all. On top of that, Baek Yihyun is the Director’s son, so she seems to think the higher-ups are going to favor him.”
‘The harder someone worked to earn their position, the more sensitive they are to preferential treatment.’
***
The instant he opened the front door, Yihyun made no attempt to hide the growling of his stomach as he called out loudly.
“I’m home!”
The nanny, who had been waiting anxiously the entire time, terrified that he might return after being bullied at the Ability Bureau again, came rushing out in surprise.
Only when she saw Baek Yihyun striding energetically inside did relief finally spread across her face as she welcomed him home.