Episode 10
Episode 4: Awakening (2)
Byeonggyu was terrified when he saw Yeonghun's gleaming knife-hand. He wasn't the only chosen one.
He even thought about fleeing just like this, but when he looked at Yeonghun's hand again, he changed his mind.
The light emanating from Yeonghun's hand was only gathered at the blade of his hand. Unlike himself, whose entire fist was enveloped, the light merely lingered at the blade of Yeonghun's hand.
He was clearly an Awakened far inferior to himself.
And his opponent had been taking a beating from him until now. If he had been stronger, there was no way he would have been on the losing end.
Unaware that Yeonghun had just awakened his dimensional power, Byeonggyu recovered his confidence. He straightened his cowered body and shouted loudly.
"So what, you thought bluffing would work with a mere rat's tail of a superpower? It's all the same anyway!"
Byeonggyu steadied his stance once more.
Yeonghun felt bitter as he watched the delinquent before him. It was the same thing that had happened countless times in the other world ten years ago. Even back then, countless people who gained power had caused incidents.
Dimensional power itself didn't discriminate between people, so all sorts of people became Awakened. And they beat and killed ordinary people, and just like now, they fought and killed each other too.
When monsters appeared and the Awakened fought them, some people had actually felt relieved.
And early Awakened didn't know their abilities accurately, so they often misjudged their own and their opponents' abilities and picked fights.
It was exactly like the current situation.
Seeing his opponent cowering before him with killing intent, Yeonghun began to move his body again. He started footwork with a strange rhythm.
Yeonghun's movement speed gradually increased. The unbalanced appearance from before he became an Awakened had completely disappeared.
The footwork created for Awakened began to create afterimages on Yeonghun's body.
Byeonggyu struggled not to lose track of Yeonghun's body swaying left and right before his eyes.
But the increasingly faster Yeonghun was impossible to follow even with his enhanced eyes.
Yeonghun disappeared from Byeonggyu's sight.
Awakened who obtained dimensional power manifested their abilities in various ways.
Defensive Awakened like Byeonggyu who strengthened their power and used dimensional power to raise their defense.
And combat-type Awakened like Yeonghun who strengthened their reflexes and utilized dimensional power to enhance their cutting power.
There were also various types of Awakened such as assassin-type Awakened.
When fighting monsters that had crossed over from dimensions, each type of Awakened had different utility, but that wasn't important in fights between Awakened.
In the end, basically, defensive Awakened had a hard time winning in one-on-one fights against combat-type Awakened.
Because defensive-type Awakened had no way of keeping up with the speed of combat-type Awakened.
Byeonggyu, who had lost sight of Yeonghun, spread the overflowing energy in his body throughout his whole body.
Anyway, his opponent's attacks wouldn't work on him. He just had to block the meaningless attacks with his body and land one hit.
Perhaps his mental strength had increased as well, as Byeonggyu responded logically in a short time, unlike himself.
But Byeonggyu's thoughts were wrong.
The opponent he had faced moments ago had been an ordinary person, but now he was an Awakened specialized in attack. And he wasn't someone who had just become an Awakened like Byeonggyu.
Yeonghun lowered his body, which had been swaying greatly to one side, down low and dashed forward.
As if defying gravity, Yeonghun sprang forward almost scraping the ground and slammed his shoulder into his opponent's knee before him.
Thud!
While it wasn't easy to injure a defensive Awakened's strengthened body with bare hands, becoming an Awakened didn't increase one's weight.
If he could use dimensional power to fix his body to the ground, it would be a different story, but there was no way Byeonggyu could know that method.
Byeonggyu's leg snapped back from Yeonghun's attack, and he toppled forward.
On top of that, Yeonghun passed under the falling Byeonggyu and snatched Byeonggyu's leg with his arm as he tumbled.
Crash!
Scraaape!
Byeonggyu's face was planted into the ground, and dragged by Yeonghun running behind him, his face was scraped against the asphalt.
He wasn't injured, but the dazed Byeonggyu flailed his arms in all directions. However, his meaningless movements did nothing to change the situation.
Yeonghun dragged Byeonggyu a bit further before letting go. Then he turned and launched himself at the prone Byeonggyu.
The target was Byeonggyu's head.
Due to the defense unique to defensive Awakened, he would need a prolonged grappling match, so he intended to attack the opponent's head to knock him out.
The front of Yeonghun's fist plunging down toward the face-down Byeonggyu glowed white along a silver line. It was as if he were wearing shining brass knuckles.
Thud!
A sound that reverberated throughout the street and the surrounding playground spread far. The road beneath Byeonggyu's face cracked.
It was an attack that would have left an ordinary person's head crushed.
Even Byeonggyu, a defensive Awakened, couldn't remain intact; his twitching body stopped completely. He had been knocked out.
Yeonghun calmed his dimensional power and rose to his feet.
Having just awakened and become an F-grade Awakened, abusing dimensional power now was quite dangerous.
Just as countless Awakened in the other world had lost their dimensional power by abusing their abilities early on, he had to be careful.
Yeonghun looked down at the unconscious Byeonggyu.
It was troublesome.
With the opponent unconscious and unable to raise his dimensional power, the easiest method was to just kill him right there and dust off his hands.
But this place wasn't yet a lawless mess like the world he had lived in.
Though monsters would appear now that Awakened had emerged, this was still a place where the law was alive.
Yeonghun looked around. It was a secluded place as expected. No one was in sight.
However, he could see a part-timer at a convenience store in the distance staring with wide eyes and an open mouth.
The noise must have been too loud.
Yeonghun smacked his lips. He had intended to break the arms and legs and be done with it, but with someone watching, even that seemed difficult.
Once bad blood was formed like this, people who gained power couldn't stay still.
Feeling like he would have a hard time in the future as well, Yeonghun turned toward home and frowned.
As Yeonghun walked home like that, Byeonggyu, who had been collapsed behind him, began to rise.
A strange heat surged upward from Byeonggyu's body.
"Stop!"
Byeonggyu, having risen, shouted toward Yeonghun. Byeonggyu's eyes had turned red, and muscles were bulging all over his body.
Byeonggyu was intoxicated by the power surging from his entire body.
He, who had just barely managed to pull up a bit of energy to protect his head moments ago, was able to regain consciousness quickly.
He came to from unconsciousness, and seeing the opponent walking away before him, rage exploded to the tips of his hair.
In the end, he wanted even more power and ignored all obstructing sensations, pulling power up from deep within his body.
Byeonggyu smiled at the feeling of fullness throughout his body. It felt like he had become twice as strong as before. As expected, he was a chosen human.
Boom!
He stomped his leg. With a loud sound, his body leaped about 10 meters in one step. Yeonghun was before his eyes.
Byeonggyu swung his fist flowing with bright white light toward Yeonghun. The fist shot toward Yeonghun at lightning speed.
Yeonghun barely dodged the fist swinging before his eyes. The opponent's speed was similar to his own as an F-grade combat-type Awakened.
At this level, he was an E-grade defensive Awakened.
Yeonghun hurriedly backed away while checking Byeonggyu's appearance.
Red-glowing eyes.
Veins popping out across his entire body.
It was Overheat.
It was a method of forcibly raising dimensional power to temporarily upgrade one's grade.
A dangerous technique that many early Awakened had used unknowingly after obtaining their abilities, causing countless Awakened to lose their powers.
A smile appeared on Yeonghun's face. He had been troubled because he couldn't do anything about the opponent, but now a solution had appeared.
Byeonggyu wildly unleashed the overflowing power from his body in all directions. He felt like he just needed to land one hit.
He completely gave up on defense. He became confident that now that his power itself had grown much stronger, no attack would faze him.
He attacked Yeonghun recklessly.
Yeonghun tried to shake his body again and enter a blind spot, but he couldn't escape Byeonggyu's gaze. A smile bloomed across Byeonggyu's entire face. He felt like he could catch his opponent now.
"Puhahaha! Now you're a cornered rat! No matter what you do, it won't matter!"
Yeonghun frowned at Byeonggyu's words. Just dragging out time like this would be enough. The opponent was in an Overheat state. It was clear that time alone would make him collapse.
But the situation wasn't good for continuing the fight like this. If many people gathered, it wouldn't be good for Yeonghun either.
Yeonghun shot toward Byeonggyu.
Byeonggyu didn't miss Yeonghun rushing at him. He felt like he could catch him this time.
Byeonggyu intended to shatter Yeonghun the moment he stopped moving to attack. Byeonggyu lowered his stance, and his eyes followed Yeonghun to the end.
Byeonggyu saw Yeonghun's fingertips growing larger before his eyes. Yeonghun's fingertips were stabbing toward Byeonggyu's two eyes.
"Damn it!"
Byeonggyu reflexively closed his eyes and covered his face with both hands.
No matter how strengthened his body became, without training, he couldn't stop reflexive actions.
And as Byeonggyu covered his face, Yeonghun forcibly pulled his hand downward. A sound came from the joint, but Yeonghun ignored it.
The tips of Yeonghun's outstretched fingers were aimed not at the eyes, but at the throat.
Light was gathered at his fingertips.
Clang!
A sound echoed around them as if metal had struck metal, not flesh against flesh.
Yeonghun frowned. As expected, using combat-type dimensional power with bare hands was inefficient. If he had used a sword or spear, it would have pierced right through, so it was regrettable that he could only deliver impact.
However, it was clear that impact had been delivered to a weak point. Byeonggyu clutched his throat and fell to his knees. He seemed to be suffocating.
If one were accustomed to battle, they would check their surroundings even while suffocating, but in an untrained state, it couldn't be helped.
From that moment on, attacks poured from Yeonghun's fingertips toward Byeonggyu. Yeonghun's attacks rained down on Byeonggyu like a waterfall, regardless of body part.
Thunderous sounds filled the alley, and Byeonggyu's body swayed.
But to Byeonggyu, the shock of suffocation was greater than the attacks coming from all directions. Byeonggyu curled up and endured the attacks. And after a moment, his blocked breath finally returned.
Byeonggyu endured the attacks while curled up, catching his breath.
Now it was time to counterattack. This time, he intended to kill him no matter what. As expected, the impact wasn't great, so his body didn't hurt much.
Byeonggyu raised his body.
Seeing that, Yeonghun stopped his attacks and backed away. The opponent's body was quite hard. The fingertips he had attacked with were numb.
"I'll kill you! I'll definitely kill you!"
Byeonggyu stood up straight and shouted toward Yeonghun.
Yeonghun inwardly nodded his head at that sight.
It seemed the time had come. He seemed to have become mentally unstable as well.
His attacks had been effective.
Byeonggyu's appearance was now beyond the realm of normal. His entire eyes turned red as if burning, and his tendons looked like they would burst out.
Byeonggyu let out a bizarre scream and rushed at Yeonghun.
He closed the distance Yeonghun had dodged in one step and threw a punch at Yeonghun.
And Yeonghun raised his arm to block that punch.
"Huh?"
With his face bulging with veins, Byeonggyu made a dumbfounded expression. He couldn't understand.
He swung his other fist. Yeonghun pulled back to dodge the fist, then immediately kicked his leg sideways.
Thud!
Byeonggyu flew backward from Yeonghun's kick. He lost consciousness while still bewildered.
Byeonggyu rolled on the ground while unconscious. He was scraped against the ground, and wounds formed on his face and arms.
Yeonghun slowly approached the fallen Byeonggyu. Byeonggyu's body, whose tendons had been bulging, was returning to normal. And an invisible energy was spreading in all directions from his body.
Ordinary people wouldn't feel this energy, but to Awakened like Yeonghun, it was dimensional power.
Dimensional power was leaking from the fallen Byeonggyu.
In Byeonggyu, who had risen in anger moments ago, the end of Overheat had already been visible.
Having received countless attacks from Yeonghun while in the Overheat state, his dimensional power had wavered greatly, and as he pulled out power without knowing his condition, the vessel containing his dimensional power had shattered.
Now Byeonggyu had become an ordinary person who could never use dimensional power again.
In the other world, countless people who had become Awakened ten years ago had run rampant without knowing any better and lost their dimensional power like this.
He himself had overcome dangerous crises before, so he knew well.
Now the delinquent was no longer a threat to him. It had been difficult to finish him off, so this was fortunate. Yeonghun was greatly satisfied.
But one had to pay the price for suffering.
Yeonghun looked around. The convenience store part-timer who had been peeking earlier was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have hidden somewhere. Having confirmed there were no people around, Yeonghun raised his leg and stomped down between Byeonggyu's legs.
Thud!
Byeonggyu opened his mouth wide and his eyes went wide before he foamed at the mouth and passed out again.
Yeonghun looked at the unconscious Byeonggyu and turned his steps toward home.
He had to return quickly and check the situation.
The world would now be turned upside down.