Chapter 21
Park Jinwoo’s expression hardened.
He was caught off guard.
He’d assumed Kim Hyunsung was afraid of him, so he hadn’t imagined this situation at all.
‘Was he not scared after all?’
Either way.
The die was cast.
Park Jinwoo threw Kim Siwoo aside and stood up, his massive frame looming.
“What, got a problem?”
The atmosphere was menacing.
As he glared fiercely down, Kim Hyunsung glanced around.
‘Kim Siwoo.’
He looked terrible.
His pretty face was smeared with blood, and the friend who insisted on staying by his side now looked dazed and unfocused. He was a truly brave friend. Just like in his previous life, where he’d made the mistake of standing up to Park Mincheol’s gang, he’d approached Park Jinwoo even knowing he’d be targeted.
After that.
Kim Siwoo had fallen into ruin.
He hoped this life wouldn’t repeat that same result.
‘There’s only one way to protect Kim Siwoo—a reputation so solid no one would dare touch him.’
In a way, this was for the best.
Ever since hearing the rumors about himself, he’d been considering how to deal with Park Jinwoo.
Kim Hyunsung spoke.
“Of course I have a problem. I heard what people are saying. Supposedly, I looked like a wreck last week because you beat me up. You know that’s not true, so why haven’t you said anything until now?”
“Th-that’s…”
He was flustered.
He never expected to be confronted so openly, so Park Jinwoo blurted out the best excuse he could manage for his friends.
“I just didn’t care. I can crush you anytime, Kim Hyunsung, so why would I waste my breath explaining rumors about someone like you? What, you want me to crush you right now? I’m ready whenever.”
Inside the bathroom.
Park Jinwoo’s gang filled the space.
It was intimidating.
Their stares pressed in from all sides, enough to make onlookers shrink back, but Kim Hyunsung only grew fiercer.
“Good. I was pissed off anyway after you messed with my friend.”
He spat the words out.
Before anyone could react, Kim Hyunsung smashed his fist right into Park Jinwoo’s face.
—
Wham!
Crash!
Park Jinwoo went sprawling across the floor.
As his friends moved to rush in, Park Jinwoo shouted with a furious face,
“Stop! I’ll kill Kim Hyunsung myself.”
He leapt to his feet.
With rage in his eyes, Park Jinwoo charged straight at Kim Hyunsung.
Thud!
“…!”
The impact was massive.
Park Jinwoo weighed 100kg.
He’d charged in, intent on knocking Kim Hyunsung over, and the blow felt like being hit by a bull. But he didn’t fall. If he went down on the hard bathroom floor, he’d never withstand Park Jinwoo’s attacks, so he couldn’t let himself be dragged down no matter what.
It wasn’t easy.
Most people couldn’t handle Park Jinwoo’s charge, but Kim Hyunsung had trained for this.
‘Take-down defense training.’
Mixed martial arts.
It wasn’t just about trading punches and kicks; since MMA includes ground fighting, defending against a tackle was essential. Drawing on his training, Kim Hyunsung braced against Park Jinwoo’s rush, holding his ground and hammering his back repeatedly.
Wham!
Whack, whack!
“You little punk.”
Park Jinwoo let go.
Seeing he couldn’t push Kim Hyunsung down, he swung a fist at his face.
It was clumsy.
Just one week.
Kim Hyunsung hadn’t trained long.
But having trained with Jung Doo-chul, the experience was a world apart from before, and after facing a UFC champion’s punches, he could see right through Park Jinwoo’s attacks. Park Jinwoo specialized in grappling, not punching. Before his fist could land, Kim Hyunsung struck him first.
Smack!
His head snapped to the side.
Then Kim Hyunsung struck the other side of his face, grabbed his pain-twisted head, and kneed him in the gut.
Crack!
“Ugh.”
Park Jinwoo’s eyes went wide.
He hadn’t seen this coming.
Usually, in high school fights, raw strength alone could get you far. With wrestling moves, you could pin down even the best fighters, but Kim Hyunsung wasn’t going down and was even winning the exchanges. Kim Hyunsung thought the training with Jung Doo-chul was paying off, but the truth was, it wasn’t just about training.
After his regression.
He’d already taken down Park Mincheol’s gang.
Is it really possible just by using any means necessary?
No.
The difference from his previous life was mental strength.
His body was the same, but his will had been tempered by pain, and in this new life, he retained the mental fortitude from his last. He never got scared, no matter what. Even when Park Mincheol’s crew threw punches, or when Park Jinwoo charged to slam him down. No matter how much it hurt, he watched his opponent to the very end.
Now was no different.
He dodged all of Park Jinwoo’s punches and landed his own on his face.
Smack!
Whack!
Blood spattered.
Park Jinwoo staggered.
Only then did he realize something was wrong.
Kim Hyunsung hadn’t been scared—he just hadn’t cared enough to pay attention.
‘I can’t lose like this.’
Park Jinwoo gritted his teeth.
At that point, it was all or nothing.
He kept shoving Kim Hyunsung with all his strength, ignoring the pain.
Blood quickly smeared his own face, but he never stopped pressing the attack.
Then—
Park Jinwoo twitched.
“This ends now.”
Just like with Kim Siwoo.
It was a cramped bathroom.
With Kim Hyunsung cornered, Park Jinwoo charged in with all his weight.
—
A few days ago.
Jung Doo-chul had said this:
“If you wanted to be a pro athlete, you’d do the same drills for a month, a year, until your basics were perfect. But what you’re aiming for is real fights. You have to learn how to adapt to countless variables, because you never know when or where a fight might break out.”
When he was young.
Street fights were an everyday occurrence.
Back then, if an argument broke out on the street, fists would start flying right away. Unlike now, where there are CCTVs everywhere, no one would even bother to report it if someone just got a bloody nose. Jung Doo-chul grew up on those streets. Since he never avoided a fight, he traded blows with so-called street fighters.
Dozens of fights.
Dozens of victories.
Realizing his own talent, Jung Doo-chul made fighting his profession and eventually achieved the title of UFC champion.
“On the street, or at school, people who haven’t properly trained for fights all act the same. They just push forward and throw punches, and the first one to go down loses—that’s all there is to it. But who do you think is the strongest in those kinds of brawls? Someone who punches well? Someone who kicks well? No. Ordinary people can’t win against someone who just bulldozes them with sheer physical power.”
Judo, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, ssireum, and so on.
Even if you hadn’t learned any of those disciplines, simply using your physique to overwhelm someone was threatening enough.
It’s the street.
It’s not the ring, where people’s safety is a priority—if you get slammed onto the hard ground, even a well-trained fighter can’t endure it. That’s why they say to avoid people with cauliflower ears in street fights. If you get caught by someone like that, surviving on the pavement is nearly impossible.
Jung Doo-chul said,
“Your reason for wanting to become stronger isn’t pure. This isn’t sports—it’s fighting, and that means you’ll inevitably find yourself in brutal, street-like situations. If you keep blaming your physique every time, you’ll never reach your goal. Remember this: there are no rules on the street.”
“So what should I do?”
He asked the real question without hesitation.
He was curious.
There would be plenty of opponents stronger than him in the future—he couldn’t keep blaming the difference in physical strength.
Jung Doo-chul grinned.
“I told you. There are no rules. If you’re losing in physical strength, use your surroundings.”
—
Park Jinwoo’s strategy was obvious.
If the opponent wouldn’t go down, just corner him and slam into him with all your weight.
A hard wall.
This was the edge of the cliff.
Repeating his old formula for victory, Park Jinwoo charged at Kim Hyunsung like a madman.
Thud, thud.
That sight.
His heart pounded.
This was the true nature of school bullies.
They had no idea what could happen if you slammed someone onto the hard floor, but because they were minors, they never really considered the consequences of their actions. After all, a seventeen-year-old could handle whatever punishment came. Staring at Park Jinwoo, face-to-face with pure malice, Kim Hyunsung’s gaze seethed with murderous intent.
The people who had driven him to death.
He hated them.
In this life, no matter who died, he would get his revenge by any means necessary.
Suddenly.
He twisted his body.
He’d expected Park Jinwoo to charge, so he moved first, dodging quickly.
In Park Jinwoo’s eyes, Kim Hyunsung seemed to vanish.
Charging at full speed, he couldn’t stop, and where Kim Hyunsung had been was now a hard wall.
In that instant.
Kim Hyunsung didn’t just dodge.
Using Park Jinwoo’s charging momentum, he grabbed his hair and smashed his head right into the bathroom wall.
Thud!
Crunch!
“Gaaah!”
It was a chilling sound.
There was the crunch of a broken nose, and with a scream, Park Jinwoo’s legs gave out.
Blood oozed thickly.
No matter how strong your body is, you can’t do anything against a hard wall—especially when your own charging speed adds to the impact. The shock was enough to make him feel like he’d black out. Park Jinwoo’s face hit the floor, blood streaming everywhere. He hadn’t lost consciousness yet, but before he could even lift his head, something suddenly filled his vision.
Smack!
“Urk.”
His face was kicked.
A soccer kick.
A move so dangerous it’s banned even in the UFC.
Without hesitation, Kim Hyunsung kicked Park Jinwoo in the face, then stomped on his head again and again, making sure he couldn’t lift it.
Thud!
Wham, wham, wham!
The atmosphere turned ice cold.
It was a level of brutality unheard of in high school, and even Park Jinwoo’s friends were frozen in place, unable to step in. The murderous rage pressed down on everyone’s chests. Kim Hyunsung didn’t allow even the slightest chance of resistance, kicking Park Jinwoo again and again until his face was drenched in blood.
“S-stop! I’m sorry!”
The desperate plea rang out.
It was unlike Park Jinwoo.
The guy who’d ruled over the entire first-year class of Cheonil High School like a king was now begging Kim Hyunsung for mercy in a truly pitiful voice.
The kicking stopped.
The bathroom floor was slick with blood.
What had started as Kim Siwoo’s blood was now all Park Jinwoo’s.
Park Jinwoo, his face ruined, looked up at Kim Hyunsung.
No—he tried to look up, but Kim Hyunsung grabbed him by the hair.
Yank.
“Say it. Out loud.”
He forced his head to turn.
He thought he was going to throw up.
Beyond the smashed bathroom door, a crowd of first-year students had gathered.
“Tell everyone again if it’s true that you beat me up.”
Slide.
Above him.
Kim Hyunsung’s devilish face glared down, demanding an answer.
* * * * * *
(T/N: Still not back to a regular upload schedule, but I’ll be uploading at least 5 chapters per series every week, in order based on the most recent series I picked up. No fixed days yet, but I’ll keep the bulk uploads coming as best as I can!)
