The words hung in the air.
And then Giseok stomped forward.
*BOOM*
The ground shattered, pavement splitting apart, dust and rain launching into the air. The shockwave ripped through the air, sending raindrops scattering.
Taeyang moved on instinct.
His body lunged left, barely dodging the strike—his vision blurred as he skidded across the pavement, boots grinding against concrete. The force of the near-miss alone ripped through his skin, his ribs aching from the sheer pressure.
He had no time to think.
Giseok was already on him.
His right arm swung down, the distortion around his fist howling like something alive—
Taeyang's body reacted first.
He pivoted, lowered his center of gravity, then kicked off the ground—
Too slow.
The point of impact missed his head by a fraction, but the graze that followed sent him flying, his body slamming into the side of a truck.
Metal crumpled on impact.
Taeyang coughed, forcing himself forward… his arm nearly gave out, the shard was still there.
Giseok was still walking forward, his expression dark, voice cold.
"You don't even care, do you?"
Taeyang gritted his teeth. "Care about what?"
"My BROTHER!"
Something shifted in the air.
Taeyang's breath slowed.
Giseok's hands were shaking, his body trembling... not from exhaustion. Not from pain.
From something deeper.
"My brother was ten years old," Giseok said, voice cracking. "Ten. And Minho had him KILLED."
The rain dripped between them.
Cold. Slow.
Taeyang's fingers twitched against the ground.
"...What?"
Giseok moved.
Faster. Stronger.
His foot slammed into the ground and suddenly he was on Taeyang, swinging at his ribs—
Taeyang barely got his arm up.
*CRACK*
"HE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING!"
Giseok's voice tore through the rain, raw, cracked, filled with something deeper than rage—something fractured, bleeding, irreparable.
His fist slammed into Taeyang's ribs like a sledgehammer.
The shockwave rattled his bones, sent tremors through his body.
Taeyang's knees nearly buckled. His lungs screamed for air. But he didn't have time to process it.
Giseok was already moving.
His other hand shot toward Taeyang's throat, a strike straight for the windpipe.
Move.
Taeyang's body reacted before his mind.
He twisted. Fast. His shin snapped up in a brutal low kick, one meant to shatter Giseok's balance—
But Giseok had already learned.
He adapted.
He didn't resist the kick. He used it.
The moment Taeyang's shin cracked against his leg, Giseok let it take him off balance.
He didn't fight the force as much as he twisted with it.
Midair. Redirecting.
His arm swung out, not for a punch, but to grip the broken pavement.
A chunk of concrete, already loose from the destruction, tore free beneath his fingers.
A weapon.
Giseok gripped it tight and swung while still airborne.
Taeyang's eyes widened.
He barely had time to react before—
*SMASH*
The concrete slammed into his temple, sending his vision into static.
His body rocked sideways, head snapping back. He barely stayed upright.
Giseok landed but he didn't stop.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't even slow.
The second he hit the ground, he grabbed another chunk of broken asphalt, his bleeding fingers digging in like he didn't even notice the pain—
And he hurled it.
Taeyang dodged. Barely.
The chunk of street grazed his shoulder, slicing through fabric, tearing flesh.
Giseok's breathing was heavy, erratic, almost inhuman. His face was a mess of blood and rain.
But his eyes—
His eyes burned with something deeper than fury.
Something desperate.
Something that wanted to break the world apart just to make it understand.
He lurched forward.
"HE WAS JUST A KID!"
His foot slammed down. The pavement shattered beneath his step, sending out a pulse of destruction.
"HE DIDN'T KNOW!"
Another step—faster. The ground behind him splintered apart.
"AND YOU KILLED HIM ANYWAY!"
He lunged.
Taeyang barely twisted out of the way, but Giseok was already adapting. Already adjusting.
The moment Taeyang dodged, Giseok pivoted on his heel… his entire body spinning with the motion.
And then his elbow came down.
A full-force, gravity-assisted strike. Straight onto Taeyang's spine.
*CRACK*
Taeyang's vision exploded in white.
His body hit the ground. Hard.
The concrete beneath him fractured outward from the impact.
His fingers twitched against the pavement. His breath rattled. His mind blurred.
But he could feel it.
That edge.
That raw, untapped thing deep inside him.
Clawing to be set free.
It was there. Right there.
His mind screamed for it.
It wasn't enough.
Above him, Giseok exhaled.
The temperature around them dropped.
Taeyang's pulse hammered against his skull.
Move. Get up. Fight.
But his body... his body wasn't listening anymore.
Giseok's footsteps were slow, deliberate. The storm behind him raged.
His knuckles cracked.
"Stay down, Minho's the only one I want to kill."
Taeyang coughed blood.
And he grinned.
"Go fuck yourself."
Giseok exhaled sharply.
Then he reached down, fingers closing around another chunk of concrete.
Taeyang couldn't move.
His body was locked, his muscles screamed, his instincts howled… but his limbs wouldn't listen.
Giseok's eyes were wild, burning through the rain, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His fingers dug into the chunk of concrete, already slick with his own blood, his grip tight enough that the veins in his arm bulged against his skin.
This was it.
He was ending it.
And then—
*BOOM*
A shockwave split the air.
Giseok's body lurched sideways, his entire form launched like a missile across the pavement, tumbling through the wreckage—he crashed into the side of the car, denting the metal on impact.
The concrete in his hand crumbled, his grip shattered.
Taeyang blinked, his vision swimming.
That…
Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate. Heavy.
A figure moved through the haze, stepping over the wreckage, the rain glistening off his jacket.
Daehyun.
His stance was loose, almost casual, but the ground still cracked beneath his step.
His knuckles dripped with blood—his own, someone else's, it didn't matter. His breath was slow, controlled, completely unfazed.
Taeyang let out a slow breath.
"...Took you long enough."
Daehyun tilted his head, looking down at him.
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome."
After speaking, his gaze flicked forward.
Giseok was already getting up.
Despite everything—the wounds, the blood, the exhaustion.. he forced himself upright. His body shook, but those eyes… Giseok's eyes were still burning.
But then he saw Daehyun.
He saw the bloodstains on his fists.
Giseok's breath hitched.
"...Jinhwan?"
Daehyun rolled his shoulder. A faint crack echoed in the air.
"Yeah. He's down."
Silence.
Giseok's eyes flicked toward the wreckage of the street. Toward Anyang. Toward where Minho still was.
He clenched his jaw.
He knew.
He knew he wouldn't make it like this.
Giseok's entire body tensed and…
He turned and ran.
Daehyun didn't chase. Didn't move.
Just watched.
The storm raged around them, lightning flashing in the distance. The air was thick with dust and blood and smoke.
Silence.
The fight was over.
Daehyun exhaled, rolling his neck.
"...Tch. Annoying bastard."
Then he glanced down.
Taeyang was still on the ground, glaring up at him, his entire body trembling with exhaustion, rage, something else.
Daehyun smirked.
"Need a hand?"
Taeyang gritted his teeth.
"...Shut up."
Daehyun crouched down anyway, offering him an arm.
Taeyang glared at it like it personally offended him.
But after a moment, he took it, holding onto Daehyun as his lifeline.
But after a moment, he took it.
His grip was tight, fingers curling into Daehyun's sleeve like a lifeline.
As soon as he was pulled up, his body nearly collapsed again.
The adrenaline was fading. The pain was hitting.
The concrete shard still in his shoulder burned like molten iron. His ribs… maybe cracked, maybe broken. His legs felt like they were made of cement.
Daehyun clicked his tongue. "Yeah, you're totally fine," he muttered. "Dumbass."
Taeyang wasn't in the mood.
He shoved Daehyun's arm off. Or at least, he tried.
Daehyun didn't budge. Didn't let go.
"Oi." His voice was flat, but there was something beneath it. Something heavy. "Don't be stupid."
Taeyang scowled. "Not stupid." His voice came out rough. Strained. "Just pissed."
Daehyun sighed. "Yeah? Well, you can be pissed inside. Come on."
Taeyang didn't fight him this time.
Didn't have the strength.
Together, they started back toward the karaoke bar.
***
The moment they stepped inside, all eyes turned to them.
The place was packed.
Bodies crammed into booths, lining the walls, slumped in chairs. The air was filled with sweat, with exhaustion, with blood.
So much blood.
Not enough to flood the floor, not enough to drown them, but enough to stain.
Splattered across shirts. Dripping from foreheads. Soaking into the already-dark upholstery of the booths.
Some of them were silent. Others murmured in low voices, checking wounds, whispering to the injured.
But all of them looked.
All of them stared.
At Daehyun. At Taeyang.
At the jagged shard of concrete still lodged in Taeyang's shoulder.
Then someone exhaled.
"Fuck, you're still standing?"
A laugh, hoarse, weak… but real.
Taeyang ignored them, still feeling the lingering ache of the fight, of Giseok's words rattling in his skull.
Minho.
What Minho really did.
His jaw clenched. Too much shit to think about right now.
Daehyun helped him to one of the booths… one of the few that wasn't completely full.
"Sit."
Taeyang sat. Not because he was told to, but because his body couldn't stand anymore.
Daehyun exhaled through his nose. "You're not gonna bleed out if I leave you here for two minutes, right?"
Taeyang gave him a half-lidded glare. "I'll think about it."
"... sit still." His voice was flat, but there was an edge underneath it.
Taeyang let out a breath through his nose, shifting just enough to glare at him.
"You gonna take this thing out of me or what?"
Daehyun's gaze flicked to the concrete shard, still buried in his shoulder. He was silent for a second too long.
Then he breathed out.
"Tch." He crouched down next to the booth, gripping Taeyang's wrist before he could react.
"Bite down on something."
Taeyang blinked. "What—"
Pain.
Fucking pain.
Daehyun's hand locked around the shard, and in one brutal motion, he yanked it out.
Taeyang's entire body seized.
His teeth snapped together, stopping himself from letting out something worse than a grunt. His head slammed back against the seat.
Blood welled up instantly, hot and fresh, spilling over his skin.
Daehyun barely reacted. He tossed the bloodied shard onto the table with a dull clatter, then pressed a wad of torn cloth against the wound, pushing down.
Hard.
Taeyang nearly kicked him in the ribs.
"Son of a—" He sucked in a breath, his vision going blurry for a second. "You—fuck!"
Daehyun didn't even look at him. "You're not dead."
"No shit I'm not dead, but I might kill you—"
"Shut up and stay still."
The pressure didn't ease up. If anything, it got worse.
Taeyang groaned through gritted teeth, fingers digging into the seat beneath him.
He could hear the others watching. The quiet murmurs. The way the entire room had gone still when Daehyun ripped the concrete out of his skin like it was nothing.
None of them said a word.
Finally after what felt like an eternity… Daehyun let up.
The bleeding had slowed, but Taeyang still felt like his entire arm was on fire.
He didn't realize how heavy his breaths had gotten until Daehyun sat back, looking at him with something vaguely resembling approval.
"You're fine."
"Kill yourself."
Daehyun smirked, the first real expression he'd made since coming back inside.
Then he stood up, stretching his shoulders like he hadn't just ripped a chunk of street out of Taeyang's body.
"Rest." His voice dropped, something quieter. "I'll take care of the rest."
The rest.
The gang. The cleanup. The unanswered questions.
Taeyang let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling.
His fingers twitched.
The fight replayed in his head. The last few moments.
Giseok's voice, raw and broken, still rang in his ears. The desperate way he had screamed, the sheer anguish in it. The way his attacks had changed… more reckless, more violent, yet impossibly sharp.
As if every hit wasn't just aimed at Taeyang's body, but at something further ahead.
Taeyang had fought strong opponents before. He had been knocked down, bloodied, bruised to hell and back. But he had never lost, not when he'd actually fought properly.
Not like this.
Not where it wasn't just his body that took the damage… but his pride, his confidence, everything that made him who he was.
His breath came slow, sharp.
He had always fought on instinct. Never had to think too hard about it—his body knew what to do before his mind even caught up. His kicks were overwhelming. His speed was vicious. And that had always been enough.
But this time?
It wasn't.
He knew he wasn't that strong, he'd seen the level that the true monsters of this world could reach and he was nowhere near that but… but three months of constantly winning, despite the odds…
He had felt it… that moment. That burning buried inside him, clawing to be set free, something deeper than instinct, more than just reaction.
He had been so close to breaking through, to reaching a level beyond what he had ever known…
And yet, it still wasn't enough.
Giseok had learned faster. Had adapted better. Had been willing to destroy himself just to win.
And now, Taeyang was here. Wounded. Defeated. While Giseok was still out there, getting closer to Minho.
He thought back to Giseok's voice, broken, filled with that raw anguish.
"He didn't know anything!"
"He was just a kid!"
"And you killed him anyway!"
His fists clenched.
His breaths came fast, heated.
The wounds would heal. The bruises would fade.
But the loss… whatever Giseok was talking about…
That wasn't going away.
Not for a long time.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A decently long chap.
Taeyang will recover... rematch gonna go crazy
Also, upon recent advice I've started adding the sound effects in bold with stars on either side. Is this better for you guys?
And I think we've reached a point where reviews would actually be worthwhile now so if you've got a minute or two, feel free to leave one. Send all advice and feedback my way.
Anyways, stones as usual s'il vous plait.
And I shall take my leave.