Episode 9
Chapter 4: Awakening (1)
Byeonggyu gritted his teeth as he left the hospital after being hospitalized for a week.
A week ago, he had been hospitalized after taking a hard hit to the groin from some weird guy. The doctor told him that if it had struck even slightly wrong, he wouldn’t have been able to function as a man. Furious, he asked around if he could get a settlement, but hearing that it was no use since the opponent was also badly injured only fueled his anger. Thanks to the hospital bills, he had to ask his parents for money, got an earful from his old-fashioned father, and even heard talk of being disowned, leaving Byeonggyu filled with nothing but thoughts of revenge.
The moment he was discharged, he called one of his crew. He intended to gather all his guys and beat Yeonghun to the brink of death. But over the phone, he heard something absurd.
The leader had disbanded the entire crew and entered a martial arts gym himself.
Byeonggyu couldn’t even think of lowering the phone in his hand, completely dumbfounded.
It was an organization he had built.
Though small in number, it was an organization he had created by gathering neighborhood delinquents and recruiting a leader who was good with his fists. Weak as it still was, the organization containing his dreams had collapsed in an instant.
In a daze, he walked until the sun set and darkness fell around him. He stopped by a convenience store, bought some soju, and went to the Han River.
People enjoying the night view along the riverbank all cleared away at the sight of his twisted expression.
“Fuck, I was trying to make something of myself. Who’s screwing me over like this!”
Sitting on the riverside stairs, drinking and growling, passerby murmured among themselves, but he couldn’t pay attention to his surroundings. He was merely looking for a place to vent his rage.
He thought about tracking down the leader who had entered a martial arts gym and cracking his head open with a bat. He also thought about finding the guy who put him in the hospital and smashing him to pieces. But it was obvious that with only a bit of agility, he stood no chance against either of them. Hearing over the phone that the leader had later gotten beaten by that same guy again only left him without an answer.
As time passed and his alcohol ran out, Byeonggyu stared blankly at the river. The dark water only sank his heart further.
That was when it happened.
The river water began to turn greenish. It was as if a green curtain were swaying upon the surface.
Byeonggyu was blankly watching the brightening water when people around him started shouting.
“Look at the sky! It’s the aurora!”
“Wow, it’s so pretty.”
Couples around him were holding hands and looking up, talking among themselves, while people who came alone hurriedly raised their phones to call someone.
“Oppa! Hurry outside and look at the sky from the balcony! It’s incredible!”
“Wake the kids up! It’s amazing here!”
Byeonggyu, who had been frowning at the noisy surroundings, raised his head. He was bewildered by the sight of green light filling every direction.
He looked around and saw that everyone was gazing at the sky.
Byeonggyu looked up too.
Massive green curtains stretching across the entire sky unfolded in dozens of layers, shifting and moving. It was the aurora he had only ever heard about. He stared at the sky, spellbound.
The aurora filling the sky glowed for nearly ten minutes before slowly fading away.
The people who had been staring blankly at the sky all headed home once it disappeared. They seemed eager to talk to their families about this wondrous phenomenon.
Eventually, a short while later, no one remained around Byeonggyu.
Byeonggyu rose from his spot and dusted off his pants.
The little drunkenness he had left had completely vanished while watching the sky. He was thinking it was about time to head back to his studio apartment.
But after taking only a few steps, he suddenly dropped to his knees as he felt something moving inside his body.
It felt like something continuously entered inward through his skin, and that energy began traveling throughout his entire body.
From the energy coursing through him, his whole body felt like it was burning. As time passed, he felt that energy permeating every last corner of his body.
A short while later, Byeonggyu, who had been kneeling, stood up. He raised his hand and clenched his fist tightly.
Power overflowed in his body. He looked down at the ground. It was cement.
As instructed by the energy inside him, he gathered power into his hand. His hand began to emit a faint light.
Byeonggyu looked at his dimly glowing hand in wonder, then without a moment’s hesitation, slammed it powerfully into the ground.
Boom!
He struck the cement floor with his fist, and an explosive sound rang out.
The ground where Byeonggyu struck was dented in the shape of his fist, with cracks spreading in all directions.
Byeonggyu raised his fist and examined it. There wasn’t a single wound.
Seeing this, Byeonggyu began to laugh.
“Hahaha! I’ve been chosen!”
He had half-doubted the information conveyed by the energy that entered his body, but after gathering power as it instructed and striking the ground, he decided to believe what it said upon witnessing the tremendous shock.
In the end, he was the chosen one.
He thought he had fallen into hell, but it was as if a lifeline had descended straight from heaven. Byeonggyu looked into the distance and smiled.
Now it was time for revenge.
First, he would smash the bastard who tried to emasculate him, then smash the leader too, and gather people around himself again. After that, he would conquer Seoul and devour all of Korea. But to do that, he had to take revenge first.
“Hahaha, stick your neck out and wait. I’ll definitely make you a eunuch.”
With a vigorous stride completely unlike when he had come to the Han River, Byeonggyu headed toward his studio apartment. Only the dark river flowed behind him.
***
Yeonghun, who had woken up at his usual time, washed up briefly, put on workout clothes, and went outside.
It was a morning thick with the scent of spring.
He blankly gazed at the quiet alley for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses. He mustn’t let his guard down.
Until recently, he had been in a hellish war for ten years. If he let his guard down, the chances of causing an accident were high. Or else an accident might befall him.
Yeonghun started running. His injuries had fully healed now, so there was no problem moving.
Cutting through the morning air, Yeonghun dashed forward.
While running past the playground, he saw a man standing ahead.
With a cap pulled low and his jacket collar raised, the man’s entire body screamed that he was out to cause trouble.
Yeonghun slowed his pace.
Seeing him standing in the middle, it seemed to be for the same reason as that big guy from before. But Yeonghun found it odd, since there was no reason for someone other than that big guy to block him like this.
The man raised one hand toward Yeonghun, and Yeonghun stopped in front of him. Seeing Yeonghun look at him calmly, the man gritted his teeth and lifted the cap he had pressed down low.
“You recognize me now, right? Everything went wrong because of you. Now I’ll start by trampling you and put everything back to normal.”
It was Byeonggyu.
He had hardly slept even after going back to his studio, and eventually went outside at dawn to confirm his abilities again. And he had come straight to the playground where he fought Yeonghun to wait for him.
“Who?”
Yeonghun had no choice but to ask that face he didn’t recognize. At those words, Byeonggyu’s face turned bright red.
“You bastard! A week ago, you stomped on my groin right here! I just got out of the hospital! Still don’t remember?”
Yeonghun’s expression turned thoughtful.
He was probably a delinquent he had fought after fighting that big guy, but Yeonghun couldn’t remember his face at all. The injury must have been worse than expected, so he had fought reflexively.
Seeing Yeonghun lost in thought, Byeonggyu grew even angrier. This couldn’t be happening. In the end, he couldn’t hold it in.
“I’ll make you remember. When you’re hauled off to the hospital, you’ll remember!”
Saying that, Byeonggyu took a stance.
To Yeonghun, it was a sloppy stance. And because of that stance, Yeonghun remembered Byeonggyu’s appearance.
He had no skill, so Yeonghun couldn’t understand what he was thinking, coming back. But since he was blocking the path, Yeonghun just had to break through.
Yeonghun stepped forward and rushed at Byeonggyu.
Yeonghun’s swaying charge was enough to frighten Byeonggyu.
“Damn it! I’m the chosen one!”
Byeonggyu shouted at the sky and tensed his whole body. Power boiled up from deep within. Confidence returned to Byeonggyu’s face.
Thwack!
Yeonghun’s fist exploded against Byeonggyu’s face, which had let its guard down for a moment. And the one who bounced backward was Yeonghun.
He gripped the fist that had collided with Byeonggyu’s face with his other hand. It felt like hitting a stone wall. No matter how trained a person was, you could never get this feeling from hitting a human being.
Yeonghun’s face hardened.
As far as he knew, there was only one way to make a human body this hard. Yeonghun opened his mouth and asked Byeonggyu a question.
“Did an aurora appear in the sky yesterday?”
“Yeah! I received power from the aurora and became an Awakener!”
Relieved that Yeonghun’s attack hadn’t worked, Byeonggyu proudly raised his fist. A faint light could be seen on it.
Yeonghun’s expression grew even harder, and Byeonggyu—thinking that look was born of fear toward him—grew even more arrogant.
“Hahaha, I won’t kill you, so don’t worry. But you’d best give up on holding a spoon properly!”
Saying that, Byeonggyu lowered both hands and approached Yeonghun. It was the confidence of someone who needed no defense.
He walked up to Yeonghun and swung his fist. It wasn’t good form, but the speed itself was faster than a pro athlete’s punch.
Yeonghun, who had been lost in other thoughts, was startled by Byeonggyu’s attack.
Barely leaning back to dodge the fist, Yeonghun rolled backward to create distance.
This was no time to be distracted. It was difficult for an ordinary person to face an Awakener’s physical abilities.
Yeonghun focused all his efforts on dodging. Fortunately, the preliminary movements were large, so stepping back allowed him to escape the attack range.
Byeonggyu didn’t care that Yeonghun kept dodging his attacks.
His stamina had grown tremendously too, so he didn’t tire. At this rate, he could fight for a good while.
Eventually, Yeonghun allowed Byeonggyu to land a hit.
Seeing Yeonghun sent flying by the fist and rolling on the ground, Byeonggyu trembled in ecstasy. So this was what being strong felt like! The corners of Byeonggyu’s mouth rose on their own.
Then he saw the fallen Yeonghun rise to his feet.
Byeonggyu tilted his head. He had definitely felt sensation in his fist.
For someone to have been sent flying that far, getting up should have been impossible, yet Yeonghun’s movement looked as if he had simply tripped and stood back up.
At Byeonggyu’s bewildered expression, Yeonghun let out a bitter smile. He felt sorry for the fledgling Awakener standing before him.
Thinking back to when he had awakened, this guy must be feeling incredible right about now, but it looked like he was about to ruin that feeling.
Yeonghun, rising from his spot, trembled at the energy spreading throughout his entire body. Now was the moment he too became an Awakener.
Originally, in his world, Awakeners had appeared worldwide after the first aurora, and he had become an Awakener quite a while afterward. But there was no way he couldn’t draw out the dimensional power he had utilized for nine years after awakening once, simply because he hadn’t awakened yet.
Yeonghun forcibly drew up the dimensional power inside his body and awakened.
Byeonggyu suddenly found Yeonghun frightening again.
He didn’t know why, but when Yeonghun, who had been trembling, raised his head, the fear he had shaken off wrapped around his body once more.
And when Yeonghun raised both hands, Byeonggyu’s face turned pale.
The blades of Yeonghun’s hands glowed white.