“You little brat… How dare you talk back to me like that! Do you really want to die?!”
Hunter Myung Donghun’s face flushed in anger.
He was completely looking down on Sang-woong, trusting only in Sang-woong’s Hunter rank.
“The proposal I made earlier today. It’s still valid. Should we settle this in a Dungeon? No evidence, clean and easy.”
But as Sang-woong responded so confidently, Myung Donghun felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of unease.
He had thought that in the Principal’s Office earlier, Sang-woong could show off because of the presence of the Taeseong Group’s lawyer.
But to suggest a Dungeon duel in a situation like this, just the two of them?
That would be impossible unless he was truly out of his mind.
Myung Donghun suddenly sobered up.
He had to make a choice here—fight, or endure the humiliation and back down.
But as a Hunter, it was nearly impossible to walk away quietly from a provocation.
Rage, humiliation, and a bit of drunkenness clouded his reason.
Myung Donghun panted heavily and stomped his foot, and the air around them seemed to tremble ever so slightly, affected by his unstable Mana.
His eyes, mixed with anger and shame, looked ready to pounce like a wild beast at any moment.
In the end, he answered with his clenched fist.
“You bastard… I’ll kill you!”
Myung Donghun’s solid fist, powered by brute strength, shot toward Sang-woong’s face with ferocity.
A Hunter’s strength—such an attack could knock even a wild animal unconscious.
But Sang-woong, seasoned by decades of Hunter life, was carefully tracking Myung Donghun’s movements with honed instincts.
Like the wind, he swiftly ducked his head to dodge the punch.
As the fist grazed past, he could feel Myung Donghun’s rage in the air.
Unable to control the force in his own punch, Myung Donghun’s body lurched forward.
Not missing the opening in that brief instant, Sang-woong’s right arm flashed out like a snake and struck Myung Donghun squarely in the eyes.
Smack!
With a heavy impact, sparks seemed to fly from Myung Donghun’s eyes as his body staggered backward.
His pupils momentarily lost focus before regaining it.
Myung Donghun’s face flushed crimson with rage.
Although Sang-woong’s blow was a light punch, it dealt a severe blow to his pride as a veteran Hunter, even if the physical pain was slight.
“So much for being a top-ranked Hunter. Not that impressive. Did you bribe the Hunter Association to fake your rank or something?”
Sang-woong’s words further provoked Myung Donghun, whose pride was already wounded by his own carelessness and Sang-woong’s taunts.
To accuse a Hunter of falsifying his rank was a grave insult.
“You, you crazy bastard! What did you just say?!”
There was no way a Hunter could receive a higher rank than his real abilities.
Entering a higher-ranked Dungeon than one’s capability meant certain death.
He had already allowed an attack due to carelessness and his pride was stung. Now, to be subjected to such mocking ridicule, Myung Donghun’s anger grew uncontrollably.
He now charged at Sang-woong like a raging bull, swinging his fists.
His attacks were heavy and destructive, befitting his size, but to the seasoned eyes of Sang-woong, they were full of openings.
Sang-woong moved with the agility of a dancer, stepping nimbly left and right, easily dodging Myung Donghun’s assaults.
His movements flowed as naturally as water, forming a sharp contrast to Myung Donghun’s heavy and brute-force attacks.
And Sang-woong didn’t just defend.
Each time Myung Donghun revealed an opening, Sang-woong responded with short, concise, but effective counterattacks.
He struck Myung Donghun’s side with the edge of his hand, jabbed at vital points with his fingertips.
“Ugh! K-Khak!”
Myung Donghun’s groans echoed through the night street.
He began to feel dull aches all over his body.
The more he attacked, the more it felt like only his own body was being broken down, and this unpleasant sensation made Myung Donghun even more furious.
“You bastard! Did you just learn some cheap tricks? Let’s see if that works in a real fight!”
Myung Donghun shouted in a frenzied voice.
He realized he had no chance of winning with bare fists anymore.
Myung Donghun felt the cold touch of metal at his waist.
It was his Dagger, the auxiliary weapon that had cut down countless Monsters in Dungeons.
Cold blue Mana shimmered along the sharp blade.
The moment a Hunter’s true weapon appeared, the surrounding air seemed to instantly chill.
Sang-woong’s eyes flashed sharply, like drawn blades.
He could no longer take his opponent lightly.
When a weapon is drawn, it means the opponent intends to kill.
“You… think carefully. Drawing a weapon means you’re betting your life on this… You know that, don’t you?”
Sang-woong’s voice was low, but laced with deadly warning.
“Shut up, you bastard! Let’s see if you can still run your mouth after you’re stabbed with this Dagger!”
Myung Donghun had lost all reason.
He exploded his Mana into the Dagger and charged at Sang-woong with ferocious intensity.
A flash of blue Mana split the night air as the razor-sharp blade came down.
This was no ordinary punch—his attack was a refined, deadly threat, the attack of a Hunter intent on killing.
Sang-woong focused to the extreme, watching Myung Donghun’s movements closely.
His years of Hunter instincts were screaming warnings.
He did not miss even the tiniest gap in Myung Donghun’s attack patterns.
The moment Myung Donghun’s Dagger shot toward his throat, Sang-woong arched his body backward with incredible agility.
The blade barely grazed beneath his chin.
In that instant, Sang-woong’s eyes flashed coldly.
He now had an opportunity to counterattack while evading.
As Sang-woong spun his body, he struck out with his right fist, targeting Myung Donghun’s wrist holding the Dagger.
His unstable stance took some power off the blow, but as someone tempered by real combat, Sang-woong’s deliberate strike was by no means weak.
Crack!
A sickening sound of bone breaking rang out, followed by a short scream from Myung Donghun.
In excruciating pain, as if his wrist had been twisted off, he nearly dropped the Dagger.
But with a broken wrist, all he could do was barely cling to his weapon.
He no longer had the strength to counterattack.
Sang-woong did not miss his chance.
With lightning speed, he grabbed Myung Donghun’s fractured wrist.
Crunch!
Applying merciless pressure to the broken bone, Sang-woong finally forced Myung Donghun to lose his grip, and the Dagger clattered to the ground.
The searing pain, as if his wrist bones were being crushed, made it impossible for Myung Donghun to regain his senses.
“I told you. Drawing a weapon… means you’re staking your life.”
Sang-woong’s voice was icy.
With his other hand, he struck Myung Donghun hard in the lower abdomen, shattering his Mana Circuit.
Thud!
With a dull sound, Myung Donghun’s very core as a Hunter, his Mana Circuit, was utterly destroyed.
“ARGHHHH!”
Myung Donghun’s desperate screams tore through the night.
Not just the agony of physical injury, but the mental torment of losing his abilities and identity as a Hunter all at once, left him collapsed on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
He could never again use Mana or fight in a Dungeon. He had become nothing but an ordinary person.
Myung Donghun’s downfall was that he trusted faulty information rather than his instincts.
Though Sang-woong’s registered rank was 6th grade, in reality he far surpassed Myung Donghun’s 8th grade, and now had reached a level far beyond even that.
Even if he had known, Sang-woong would not have let him off.
Sang-woong, panting, gazed down coldly at Myung Donghun writhing on the ground.
No trace of mercy or pity could be seen in his eyes.
Only the resolve to make him pay what he deserved.
Without hesitation, Sang-woong turned away and vanished into the darkness.
Behind him, only the ruined Myung Donghun, unable even to moan properly with his destroyed Mana Circuit, was left in misery.
On that night street, only his long, agonizing groans echoed bleakly.
***
They called him the best lawyer, and sure enough, Taeseong Group’s Legal Team Leader Na Hyunseok handled matters with remarkable speed.
A Disciplinary Committee was immediately convened at the School, and the students who bullied Kim Junsu were unanimously expelled.
But this was only the beginning.
Director Na Hyunseok formally reported the case to the Police, and the Criminal Punishment Procedure against the students began.
Their parents also paid a steep price.
As the Media reported the full story, the students’ school violence and the attempted cover-up were exposed by Reporters.
City Councilman Nam Hoseok, battered by public opinion, was forced to resign his seat in disgrace.
Dr. Jang Seunghyun, unable to withstand the hospital’s pressure and the harsh stares around him, had to submit his resignation at the Dungeon Disease Specialty Hospital.
Their social status and financial backing vanished overnight.
With their once-powerful parents’ support gone, even the previously fearless students finally realized the terror of reality.
Expelled from School, interrogated by the Police, and now fearing they might really be sent to the Juvenile Detention Center, they were frozen with fear.
Only then did they truly feel the gravity of their actions.
Terrified, the students went to seek out Kim Junsu first.
Something they never could have imagined in the past—now they came in abject humiliation to beg him for forgiveness.
Kim Junsu saw Nam Sungmin, Myung Wonwoo, and Jang Taegun nervously gathered in the alley in front of the School.
Unlike in the past, when his heart froze just at the sight of them, he now felt nothing at all.
As soon as they spotted Kim Junsu, they rushed over in a panic.
Their faces were drawn tight with fear and anxiety.
“Junsu… we really messed up. Please, just this once, forgive us.”
Nam Sungmin said, almost in tears. Next to him, Myung Wonwoo pleaded urgently.
“That’s right… It was all Jang Taegun’s idea! We kept saying we didn’t want to, but… Taegun threatened us, so we had no choice…”
As if prearranged, they all tried to shift the blame to Jang Taegun, hoping to save themselves.
At that moment, Jang Taegun, who arrived late, was red with rage.
“You bastards! You were all fine with it when we were together! Now that things are going badly, you’re all just trying to save yourselves!”
Jang Taegun tried to lash out at the two, but his threats no longer worked.
In the past, Nam Sungmin and Myung Wonwoo would have trembled at his every word, but now there was no fear in their eyes.
Only desperate struggle for survival remained.
“You were the one who started it, and you know it.”
Nam Sungmin protested with a trembling voice.
Looking at them shifting blame and fighting even as they came to apologize, Kim Junsu didn’t feel the least bit satisfied—instead, he felt a deep, bitter emptiness.
Because of kids like them, he had suffered so terribly and even lost hope.
Everything now felt so pointless.
Kim Junsu looked them straight in the eye and, with a firm voice that his old, frightened self could never have imagined, said,
“I’ll say this clearly… I will never forgive you. So… you don’t need to apologize to me.”
The boys were stunned by his unexpected firmness.
The boy who used to tremble, unable to meet their eyes, now completely changed just because the situation had turned—it left them dumbfounded.
Especially Jang Taegun, who glared at Kim Junsu, trembling with rage and shame.
“Hey, Kim Junsu. Who do you think you are to forgive or not?! Sure, we did wrong, but that doesn’t give you the right to ruin our lives!”
Jang Taegun gritted his teeth and shouted.
In his eyes there was not a hint of remorse—only anger and resentment.