Chapter 3: 3

「Welcome to the Duel Arena.」

When the message popped up in front of Yoon-seok, his mind slowly cleared of its confusion.

「For balance, the challengers’ stats will be adjusted to F-rank.」

Yoon-seok stared blankly at the blue sky. His eyes felt the dazzling glare from the sun; his lungs felt the cold air pouring into him.

「Get ready for the duel.」

It was too realistic to be a dream.

‘What the hell is this place? And… what is this creature that just appeared in front of me?’

Yoon-seok rubbed his eyes, terrified.

“Chwiik, Chwiik!”

The creature squealed. When Yoon-seok opened his eyes again, he confirmed that it was still standing about twenty meters away. It was a green-skinned monster, snorting and grunting through a pig-like snout. It looked like an orc, a creature that often appeared in movies and games.

“…”

The monster itself looked confused. It sniffed around at the unfamiliar surroundings until it finally found Yoon-seok watching it.

“Human, chwiik! These people have trapped me!” the creature growled.

Somehow, Yoon-seok understood what the creature said despite being in a language he had never heard before. He suddenly felt short of breath as he noticed the predatory glint in the creature’s eyes. His human instincts were screaming a single command at him.

RUN.

But.

“W-what the hell…?”

Yoon-seok stepped back, but his legs didn’t do as he commanded.

“Huh?”

It was then Yoon-seok realized that his whole body had gone stiff and numb. All he was able to do was breathe and observe his surroundings. He looked around, noticing for the first time that he was standing in the middle of a circular stadium reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum.

However, the huge space was empty, except for him and the monster. He felt goosebumps rise all over as he realized the situation he was in.

‘Am I supposed to fight this beast?!’

This place was not somewhere one would come to make new friends. Still, Yoon-seok couldn’t help but remain in denial. The monster before him had to be at least two meters tall, with muscles that looked like they would burst at any moment.

‘This must be a dream…?’

However, his chest tightened as another message popped up.

「The countdown starts now.」

‘It must be a dream.’

It must be. It had to be. Yoon-seok desperately repeated it over and over, like a fervent prayer.

「3.」

But on the other hand, Yoon-seok felt adrenaline rush through his whole body. He knew that the danger was real.

This was reality.

「2.」

His reasoning and his instincts were in contrast. While he kept telling himself that it was a dream, his body’s reaction was contrary.

「1.」

Just like in the Colosseum of old, two warriors stood in the middle of the arena. It was too obvious what would happen once the countdown ended.

「START!」

And as soon as the message appeared, the duel began. The invisible restraints that were holding both competitors disappeared, letting them regain their senses.

“Kill, kill!”

The green monster rushed at Yoon-seok as if it had been waiting for this moment. Yoon-seok often wondered when watching dramas why characters froze stiff even as a truck was charging toward them. Now, he found himself in the same situation.

‘Huh, uh…?’

By the time he came back to his senses, the green monster had already narrowed the distance between them. Then, something unusual happened.

‘Are these the superhuman abilities people unlock during times of crisis?’ he wondered.

Yoon-seok felt extremely sensitive to his surroundings; every action happening around him seemed to occur slowly. Thanks to this, he was able to anticipate the monster’s fist flying toward him.

Still, he didn’t know what to do. All he could think about was how he would be crushed to pieces if that massive fist hit him, but it seemed that his physical instincts knew better.

Woosh!

His body reflexively ducked and rolled to the floor. The moment his shoulder hit the hard ground, he confirmed that this nightmare was reality. There was no doubt left to him that this monster standing right in front of him was real.

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‘I wish it were just a dream….’

Yoon-seok was almost in tears. If this weren’t a dream, it could only mean one thing: he had to win and survive. But what was the chance that he could beat this monster? One could easily tell the answer just by looking at its physique. Yoon-seok had an average body, about 174 cm tall and 68 kilograms in weight. His opponent, on the other hand, had muscles that not even professional bodybuilders could match.

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It was an entirely different species.

Kwang-!

He rolled to the side to avoid the monster’s feet crushing his head. As soon as Yoon-seok stood up off the ground, the monster’s fist flew toward him as if it had predicted what he was about to do.

Woosh!

Yoon-seok instinctively brought his arms around his face to defend himself. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. Without the daily routine of being beaten by Kang Hyung-woo, he couldn’t have done that.

Thwack!

Yoon-seok was pushed back by the impact; his brain went blank even though he’d used his arms to block it. The muscles in his arms were throbbing from the force of the blow.

But it was strange.

He thought it would have hurt more.

‘Somehow… he’s weaker than he looks.’

He’d thought he would at least fly off the ground from the impact or end up with a broken arm. Instead, the result was rather different. Aside from the throbbing in his arms, he was perfectly fine. Suddenly, Yoon-seok remembered the message he saw before.

「For balance, the challengers’ stats will be adjusted to F-rank.」

Perhaps… maybe, in that case, he and the green, orc-like monster had equal strength regardless of their physique. And if he was right…

‘If I fight back….’

He might have a chance to live. Of course, fighting wouldn’t guarantee that he won. There was a higher possibility that he would lose. Since he was ten years old, Yoon-seok had never fought back at Kang Hyung-woo, not even once. Because after that day, rather than living as a human, he’d lived his life as a servant.

Their fights were always one-sided. He’d thought he couldn’t win.

But now, it was different. In this situation, he had to fight, even if he lost.

‘Okay, let’s do this.’

Yoon-seok was filled with resolve. He didn’t wrap his head with his arms like before. This time, he clenched his fists and raised his arms just enough to protect his face without covering his vision. This stance wasn’t something he had learned. But in this situation, it was better to do something, anything, even if it was nothing but an imitation.

As he prepared to fight, he could feel a lot of information rushing into his head, like something trapped in his unconscious mind had suddenly been unlocked.

‘Keeping my fists clenched too tightly will make me feel tired. I should use as much force as when I grab an egg… am I doing it right?’

He didn’t even know if this was the right method to make a fist.

‘Don’t ever close your eyes.’

The most basic yet important thing in a fight. Suddenly, Yoon-seok found himself in a fighting stance in front of the monster. If an expert had seen Yoon-seok in this posture, they would have been surprised to hear that he had never done it before.

‘Will my body move in time if I stay still just like this?’

However, Yoon-seok wasn’t completely still; his whole body was running in complete sync. His breaths were short yet deep and in sync with his rhythm…

“Chiinkk! Chiinkk!”

The monster advancing towards Yoon-seok suddenly stopped. He could sense that Yoon-seok, whom it had thought to be easy prey, had made a complete 180-degree turn in his attitude. However, after a few seconds of hesitation, the orc marched forward with its fist clenched.

On the other hand, Yoon-seok looked at his fist and thought, ‘The range of the monster’s arm is unnecessarily long. Perhaps, if I bend down a little, I can easily avoid it.’

He didn’t know how he thought of this even though he had never fought properly. But Yoon-seok followed his gut.

Woosh!

A fist passed over his head, exactly how he’d thought it would. Yoon-seok looked up at the monster, his eyes fixating on the orc’s jaw. It might have been an illusion, but that part looked shiny and defenseless. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice.

—Yoon-seok! It’s an uppercut. Do you hear me? Huh?

It was what Kang Hyung-woo used to say in middle school while using Yoon-seok as his sandbag.

—You don’t do it with just your arm’s strength.

Ten years had passed, but the memory of that conversation was still vivid. His face, his friends’ faces laughing at him, they were all blurred, but…

The trajectory of that arm, the movement of muscles that he could see clearly, it was all imprinted in his head.

Hyung-woo had learned boxing. He’d studied it to harass Yoon-seok effectively, but he went to the nationals in just a few months and had won a prize. Funnily enough, Hyung-woo had discovered he had a talent for it. If he hadn’t been the son of a chaebol, he would have seriously considered fighting professionally.

—Now, use the power of your waist and your back for the rebound….

Kang Hyung-woo…

No, Yoon-seok slightly turned his back sideways. He felt his muscles compress with that slight turn, but that wasn’t all. His neck, legs, thighs…

All his muscles moved together just for this action in perfect sync, making him feel as if he were stretching like elastic. He felt like a compressed spring.

Then.

—Like this!

Thwack-!

A perfect counter-uppercut smashed against the orc’s jaw.

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