"Yah! Jisung. Give me your tag already. I’m getting impatient." Daniel held out his hand. "I’m not going to ask again. You’ve been playing deaf and dumb all morning. Give me the fucking tag, Jisung."
"No."
Daniel blinked. "What?"
"I said," Jisung looked up, straight into Daniel’s eyes for the first time in his life. "...No."
Daniel couldn’t believe it. He laughed and stared. Then he stood up and let out a loud laugh as though Jisung said the funniest joke he had ever heard.
He looked down at Jisung and squat gently.
"Are you crazy?!"
He swung his right arm at Jisung’s face.
As it came at him, Jisung could see the hand headed for his face in slow motion.
’This is what the new ability is like huh?’ he smirked. ’Kinda dope.’
****
A few minutes earlier, after the second message appeared, Jisung felt it first as a pressure behind his eyes.
He blinked, and the world stuttered. For a fraction of a second, sounds fell out of sync with sight as a blur of images tore past. All too fast to hold onto.
Not all of them were his. But somehow, they felt like they were.
’...Muscle memory?’ he thought. It now made sense.
Every late night he’d spent replaying old sparring clips and fight scenes he barely remembered watching, his ability had swallowed all of it. Adrenaline surged through him and for one dizzying second, he felt unstoppable.
Then it was gone. Just like that. Ripped away mid-breath.
He was back to Daniel’s voice grating in his ears, the friends behind him snickering like nothing had happened.
’Huh?’
A message rang out almost instantly.
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Deactivated]
[Your Stats Are Too Weak To Sustain This Ability]
Jisung mentally slammed his forehead and hissed.
Of course. All that knowledge and a body too weak to use it. He lay his head down gently. ’Just when I thought...’
Ding!
[SPEND COINS TO LEVEL UP YOUR STATS]
’Level... up?’ he thought for a second. ’Aha! That was it.’
Just thinking about what he wanted to level up was enough.
[You Have Spent 3600 Coins]
[Strength / Speed / Agility / Stamina: Lv.0 → Lv.3]
A beat later, another message rang out.
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Activated]
All he had to do was think about it.
Jisung felt it settle back in, quiet and steady this time, like something clicking into place instead of overwhelming him.
’Now it’s time for revenge!’ he smirked.
****
He dodged the arm coming at him, rolled over and pushed himself to his feet.
Everyone gasped and the murmuring in the crowd grew.
Daniel watched in disbelief as he stared up at Jisung. He looked at his arm hanging in the air and chuckled. His eyes were not smiling though.
Slowly he got up. Looked over at Jisung.
"Yaaa! What do you think you’re doing, you bastard!"
He threw another punch. But Jisung dodged again. Daniel’s eyes were wild open in disbelief.
He swung again and this time, Jisung caught Daniel’s wrist mid air. The grab was clean, both hands locking around Daniel’s forearm, and then he twisted, leveraging the joint with absolute precision.
Daniel’s knees buckled as he let out a cry of pain.
"Yah! Let me go. Now!"
"Kim Daniel." Jisung said firmly.
Daniel had never heard him speak like this before. "What?! Let me go asshole!"
"Enough."
Jisung drove his knee upward, landing a kick to Daniel’s face that snapped his head back and sat him down hard on the ground.
The friends of Daniel surrounding him were taken aback. They looked at each other, seeming to take it all in for a minute.
Then they nodded once and charged towards Jisung. All at the same time.
There were six of them. And one of him.
The first one came fast and Jisung panicked, sidestepping purely on instinct. The guy blew past him, stumbled against Jisung’s shoulder and landed on his knees.
Jisung blinked. ’Did I just do that?’
The second one swung wide. Jisung leaned back and the fist missed his nose by a finger’s width. His heart was going insane inside his chest but his body was already moving, stepping into the guy’s space, and somehow his elbow connected with the back of the guy’s neck on the way down.
The guy dropped.
Jisung beamed with excited confusion. He looked up at the remaining guys. "Did you see that? I... "
But they didn’t care. They launched at him.
The third came from behind him, arms going for a bear hug. Jisung felt it coming before he heard it and dropped his weight without thinking. He slipped down out of the grip and came up hard. His elbow landing on the guy’s jaw and there was a small crack sound, followed with a cry of pain.
He spun around. "Uh... So sorry man. I... but it’s your fault y’know." He moved closer to check if he was okay when the fourth and fifth came at the same time from opposite sides, which was genuinely terrifying.
Jisung did the only thing that made any sense to his spinning brain which was to step between them at the last second and close his eyes.
There was a loud collision behind him.
When he opened his eyes, they were on the ground, having run directly into each other.
He flinched. Staring at them for a second he thought.
’But I didn’t do anything.’
He looked up at the sixth guy who had watched all of this happen in real time.
He took one long look at Jisung in confusion, then he bowed stiffly, turned around and ran back to the line at a brisk pace.
Jisung stood there breathing hard, hands shaking slightly, adrenaline crawling up his arms and neck.
’This energy.’
He couldn’t explain it. He almost laughed. Almost.
Then Daniel’s voice came from behind him.
"You... You son of a bitch! You think this changes anything? Jisung-ah! You are nothing. Nothing! And I will show you that you can never mess with me and go away with it."
Jisung turned around slowly.
Daniel was back on his feet, lip split, jacket torn at the shoulder, fury pouring off him like heat. He charged at Jisung.
Jisung just looked at him for a long moment. For the first time, the sight of Daniel looked less scarier than usual.
He moved.
The distance closed faster than he ever thought it could. Daniel barely having any time to widen his eyes before Jisung’s palm drove into his sternum with everything he had. The impact traveled up Jisung’s arm like a shockwave and Daniel left the ground completely, hanging in the air for one ridiculous moment before Jisung’s left leg came up and finished the job, landing a kick that sent Daniel flying and landing four meters away.
He did not get up.
The crowd went completely silent.
Jisung stood in the middle of it, chest heaving, hands still trembling slightly at his sides. He could feel his pulse rising.
’I did it.’ He sighed. ’I won.’
The crowd erupted suddenly.
Someone grabbed his shoulders from behind, shaking him like a trophy. Another person was patting his back hard enough that it hurt. A new circle was beginning to form.
"Did you see that?" Someone asked in amusement.
"He beat all seven of them."
"No. One coward ran away."
The crowd erupted in laughter. Even Jisung chuckled.
"Daniel deserves this big time. He’s been like that since middle school. Serves him right. He’s such an asshole."
"Me too honestly. He took my lunch money for three years."
"Someone should have done that ages ago."
"Is he okay though..."
"Who cares."
From a distance near the registration desk, one of the guards nudged the other with his elbow.
"That’s the same kid from earlier." He said quietly.
The other guard watched Jisung for a moment, surrounded by people clapping his shoulders, standing in the middle of it all looking mildly bewildered.
"Hmm..." He removed his cap, ran a hand through his hair, put it back on with a smile. "He’s not so weird after all."
Standing in the middle of it all, Jisung was only half listening to the noise around him. His heart was still beating like it would fall out from his chest and his hands were still shaking. But he was smiling.
A message rang out in his ear.
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0: Deactivated.
➛ Goal Cleared: Tag Exchange Prevented.
➛ Goal Cleared: Kim Daniel Defeated]
[A New Story Has Been Recorded]
[Don’t Mess With My Fist]
[5000 Coins Have Been Rewarded]
Jisung let out a small chuckle.
"Don’t Mess With My Fist." He repeated it quietly to himself, shaking his head with a grin. Of all the names it could have picked.
He stared at the notification for a moment before walking back to his spot on the line. He straightened his tag and stood up straight for the first time in a very long time.
He could hear the crowd murmuring as everyone walked back to their spots on the line.
"Wait, isn’t that the same Jisung from high school?"
"When did he learn karate?"
"Maybe he trained for the Trials."
"Ah! No wonder. Should we go talk to him?"
"No way. He might kick our asses too."
Jisung chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
He wasn’t used to this kind of attention. People talking about him like he’d done something worth talking about, instead of lowering their voices or making fun of him the second he walked past.
He glanced around at the small clusters still whispering and pointing in his direction, and quickly looked away, unsure where else to put his eyes.
’This is new. It feels good but it’s scary.’
He cleared his throat, shoved his hands in his pockets, and thought of his new Ability instead, if only to give himself something else to focus on.
He brought up his profile window.
[PARTICIPANT PROFILE]
[NAME: Yu Jisung
AGE: 22
CLASSIFICATION: Participant
STATS: Strength Lv.3, Speed Lv.3, Agility Lv.3, Stamina Lv.3, Mana Lv.0
UNIQUE ABILITY: Regression Lv.1, Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0, ???, ???
ACTIVE STORY: None
RECORDED STORIES: The Sole Regressor, I Am God Class, Don’t Mess With My Fist
YOU ARE BEING NOTICED]
"Number 31 to 34." One of the registration officials called.
He looked up. He knew why he was being called. But unlike the first time, he was no longer scared.
He wasn’t the same Jisung who had frozen up and died in the Trials.
That Jisung was gone. He smiled calmly and responded.
"Yes?"
The official looked at him and back to his clipboard.
"Proceed for your Awakening Trial."
’’’
Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to add it to your library and show some support. It really helps!
’’’