Chapter 15: 15

The lull continued with a heavy silence. Although Kang Hyung-woo aggressively narrowed the distance a moment earlier, he found that he couldn’t easily take a swing as easily as before as he stood in front of Yoon-seok. He couldn’t admit it to himself, but he felt overwhelmed.

‘This kid…did you get taller?’

That wasn’t the case. Yoon-seok’s height remained at 174 cm, although his muscles were now developed. Kang Hyung-woo, who stood at 190 cm, had a solid 20 cm advantage in height. Also, since he exercised regularly, he had an advantage in terms of muscle mass.

However….

‘Those eyes.’

Kang Hyung-woo, recalling his third year of elementary school, clenched his teeth. Yoon-seok wasn’t a bad kid. He was rather popular. Unlike him, who had a gloomy personality, Yoon-seok was cheerful, and their classmates thought he was handsome. Yoon-seok was liked by everyone, and Kang Hyung-woo was envious of him.

That envy exploded when a girl Kang Hyung-woo admired confessed her feelings to Yoon-seok. Since that day, he had been gently scratching at Yoon-seok. Perhaps because he was too young to notice the malice, Yoon-seok continued to be kind to him. However, as Kang Hyung-woo’s words eventually crossed the line, their relationship broke down and escalated into a fistfight.

Back then, Kang Hyung-woo was quite confident. He learned Taekwondo and felt good about his athleticism. No one could match him in sparring or competition. But as if he were born for fighting, Yoon-seok had been able to avoid all his attacks like a professional. Then, when he began his counter-attack, he beat down Kang Hyung-woo without any mercy.

Yoon-seok was like a machine whose control was broken, and Kang Hyung-woo felt fear.

‘I think he’s going to kill me.’

He found himself begging to be spared. It was the most humiliating memory of Kang Hyung-woo’s life, one he desperately wanted to forget. But he couldn’t. Even now, he found himself coming to with a shudder after dreaming about Yoon-seok’s eyes that day.

“I…how dare you…look at me like that again?!”

Fear overcame fear. A contradiction, but only these words could explain how Hyung-woo felt.

Swish-!

A fist sharp enough for a professional boxer flew towards Yoon-seok. However, Yoon-seok’s agility was at F+ rank. It was a level that surpassed that of ordinary people. He had also been through four battles with his life on the line. This experience was far beyond any competitive fighting matches that Hyung-woo had been through.

Yoon-seok avoided Hyung-woo’s fist quite easily. He did it several times over, proving that it wasn’t just a coincidence.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck you!”

Hyung-woo cursed every time he swung his fist. The fact that he couldn’t hit Yoon-seok drove him crazy.

“You bastard! What are you?!”

Ten years ago, their fight ended when a teacher stopped them. Both their parents were summoned to the school, and Hyung-woo learned about the relationship between their parents. From that day on, he began to torture Yoon-seok, hoping that the sense of defeat imprinted on his soul would disappear. For Kang Hyung-woo, the days that followed were perfect.

With Yoon-seok losing his cheerfulness, his popularity was gone, and all their classmates began admiring Hyung-woo instead. Furthermore, he had Yoon-seok in his hands. But at the same time, he was worried. The Yoon-seok he saw that day was an untamable beast. What if the day arrived that the reins that he had on him came loose? His anxiety grew as their bodies began to change in middle school.

He made Yoon-seok skip lunch every day, and late at night, he forced him to level up game characters. He didn’t know if that worked, but Yoon-seok’s height stopped at 174 cm. Meanwhile, Hyung-woo started boxing. He worked frantically to get rid of his anxiety. Surprisingly, he was talented. Combined with his hard work, he was unmatched.

However, as they went to high school, the Yoon-seok he thought he had tamed first rebelled. He firmly expressed his will and begged to move away from him. It was very scary for Hyung-woo. He was afraid that their relationship would turn around, and Yoon-seok would take revenge on him. So, to be able to put a collar around Yoon-seok’s neck once more, he set his father’s factory on fire. This time, Yoon-seok would be at his feet forever.

But now…

“How dare you stand up against me again?! You bastard!”

Kang Hyung-woo, with evil in his heart, once again extended his fist. Yoon-seok had been avoiding his attacks with the slightest gestures. This time, however, he caught Hyung-woo’s fist.

Tuk-!

Hyung-woo panicked as he realized he couldn’t pull his fist back. Yoon-seok’s grip was strong.

“Let it go! Aren’t you going to let it go, huh?”

“Did you set my father’s factory on fire?”

“Let go!”

Yoon-seok let go of Hyung-woo’s fist in one swift and smooth motion and grabbed him by the collar instead.

“Was it you who set fire to my father’s factory?”

“Haha! So what? Are you going to kill me?”

Yoon-seok smiled bitterly.

“Why would I kill you? You have to vomit the money we paid back. With interest.”

“Do you have any evidence? You bastard.”

Yoon-seok prepared a recorder in advance, but he knew Hyung-woo’s statement probably wouldn’t be accepted as evidence. He was knowledgeable enough to know that there was room for interpretation in those words. It wasn’t an admission yet.

So he would need to push more.

Tuk-!

He didn’t even swing his fist. Instead, he grabbed Kang Hyung-woo’s neck.

“Uck!”

Despite their physical differences, Kang Hyung-woo couldn’t resist Yoon-seok’s strength.

“Say it. Did you set fire to my father’s factory?”

“Khehe! Kek!”

Air could barely escape from Hyung-woo’s throat, and his face was distorted with pain. The average person could survive for about five minutes if their throat were blocked. However, in less than ten seconds, Kang Hyung-woo almost lost consciousness.

Yoon-seok wasn’t just choking him. He was steadily pressing on his aorta. When Yoon-seok finally relaxed his grip, Kang Hyung-woo crumpled to the ground.

“Ouch! Ugh! Huh…huh…”

As if he was just letting him take a break, Yoon-seok stretched out his arms once more. Kang Hyung-woo crawled away in fear. He couldn’t even think about how pathetic he looked as he slithered away on the playground soil. But Yoon-seok continued to approach him.

“Hey, don’t! Stop! That’s it, please, stop!” Kang Hyung-woo pleaded.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

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After that, Yoon-seok silently reached out for his neck once more. As he watched the slowly approaching hands, Hyung-woo realized that this wasn’t just a fistfight.

He was going to be strangled to death. It was excessive violence, far more than he was prepared for. However, Yoon-seok’s eyes were so calm.

Goosebumps formed on Hyung-woo’s skin as he thought he might die.

“I did it; I did it! I did it! I set fire to your factory! Sorry! Please forgive me!”

Only then did Yoon-seok’s hand stopped moving. He looked down on Kang Hyung-woo for a while. He wasn’t surprised to hear the truth. Perhaps, it was because he knew it in his heart all along and had just been ignoring it all this time. Yoon-seok pulled the recorder from his pocket and pressed the button to end the recording in front of Hyung-woo.

Then, he expressed his regrets.

“I wanted to kill you. Not just once or twice, but thousands of times.”

“…”

Kang Hyung-woo held his breath and looked at Yoon-seok silently. He felt that if he opened his mouth, even a little, Yoon-seok would try to kill him this time.

“But I won’t. To me, you’re not worth it.”

It wasn’t intentional, but to Hyung-woo, those words hurt more than getting killed. The relationship between the two had been separated between a winner and a loser. He was completely defeated by Choi Yoon-seok.

“…”

Yoon-seok turned back without any regrets. However, Hyung-woo wasn’t done.

“Do you think evidence obtained through threats will be effective?”

Yoon-seok shook his head as he walked away. He knew that no judge would make a decision based on this alone. However…

“Not in court. But for your father…this should suffice.”

Even without looking back, he could tell what Hyung-woo’s expression was.

* * *

Yoon-seok’s smartphone vibrated.

The caller ID displayed was Kang Hye-in, Hyung-woo’s younger sister.

-Oh, Oppa! How are you doing?

“Huh? Long time no see. What’s going on?”

-Earlier today, my brother mentioned you, and I remembered I hadn’t seen you in a while. Would you like to have dinner?

After thinking for a moment, Yoon-seok answered yes, and the time and place for the appointment were quickly set. As Yoon-seok sat on a bus, he thought about what just happened at the elementary school.

‘Is it almost over? It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.’

It wasn’t grand enough to be called revenge. All he did was properly untangle the twisted knot, and it was still a work in progress.

‘His father must be busy…I could tell Hye-in instead.’

When he arrived at their meeting place, Kang Hye-in was already waiting for him.

“Oppa! Here!”

Yoon-seok was a little surprised at her appearance. He usually saw her in her school uniform. Now, she was about twenty years old and dressed in plain clothes.

“How long has it been? You seem to have gotten more beautiful, Hye-in.”

“Oppa! Did you dress up like that just to meet me?”

They only agreed to meet less than an hour before. It wasn’t realistically possible for Yoon-seok to dress up like that at that time, but when he said yes, Hye-in laughed happily.

“Oppa, you have changed a lot.”

“Me? I don’t think so.”

“No, not just looks…there’s something else. You wouldn’t have been able to say things like ‘you’re getting more beautiful’ before, right?”

“You think so?”

Yoon-seok tilted his head, but he realized she was right.

“Maybe you’re right. All the things that bothered me are gone today.”

“Wow? Good for you! But how hard it must have been for you to change this much?”

Soon, the menu Hye-in ordered in advance arrived. It wasn’t something to talk about during dinner, but…

“Let’s eat before it gets cold. I will speak slowly.”

Yoon-seok put the food in his mouth first and calmly told Hye-in about everything that had happened. Naturally, as his story progressed, Hye-in’s face turned white, and she couldn’t even lift a spoonful. By the time Yoon-seok was done, Hye-in couldn’t bear it and smashed her fist on the table.

“Kang Hyung-woo, that fucking bastard!”

Her rage shocked Yoon-seok. He didn’t realize Hye-in would speak this harshly.

He tried to calm her down.

“Hy-Hye-in?”

“He must die. Yeah, I’ll rip his limbs off and kill him….”

It seemed that Kang Hye-in couldn’t hear Yoon-seok. As he watched her with worry, Yoon-seok realized something he hadn’t considered before.

‘Perhaps telling Hye-in was the best revenge.’

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