Kangjun's knuckles ached.
His fists were raw, skin split from the sheer force of throwing punches, but he didn't stop swinging.
He couldn't.
The street outside the karaoke bar had turned into a battlefield, a mess of bodies and blood, but they were still standing.
The twenty men of Anyang, the last line between Ansan and their city, were holding on… but barely.
He sidestepped a wild hook, ramming his elbow into a man's temple, sending him crashing into the pavement. Another came at him from behind, but Kangjun felt it before he saw it.
He twisted, catching the bastard with a brutal right to the jaw. The man staggered, then dropped.
But for every one that fell, more came.
Sixty men. Sixty.
He had known the numbers weren't in their favor, but knowing it and fighting through it were two different things. The Ansan men fought with reckless aggression, swarming them like vultures, using sheer numbers to press forward.
A scream rang out behind him. Kangjun turned just in time to see one of his men go down, a boot crashing into his ribs.
Kangjun moved before he could think, grabbing the nearest enemy by the back of the neck and slamming his knee into his stomach. The man folded, and Kangjun threw him into the others, buying Jinho a second to scramble away.
His chest heaved. His muscles burned.
They weren't winning.
But they weren't losing, either.
Not yet.
"Don't stop!" Kangjun shouted over the chaos. "Hold the damn line!"
The men of Anyang roared in response. They pushed back, fists swinging, legs kicking, bodies crashing into their enemies with everything they had left.
And for a moment, just a moment, it felt like they might hold.
Then Giseok moved.
Kangjun didn't even see it happen. One second, Giseok was behind his men, and the next, he was in the middle of them, like a wrecking ball crashing through a building.
One punch. A body flew back.
Another. A man crumpled like a broken doll.
Someone tried to grab him from behind—Giseok didn't even turn, just drove an elbow back so fast and hard that bones shattered on impact.
It was a massacre.
Kangjun surged forward, shoving past his own men as he charged straight for Giseok. He couldn't let this continue. If they lost their momentum here—
A fist came out of nowhere.
Kangjun barely dodged, the wind from the blow cutting past his cheek like a knife.
Then a hand grabbed his collar.
Kangjun's eyes widened—
*BANG*
A knee slammed into his stomach, pain detonating through his ribs like an explosion. His feet nearly left the ground, but Giseok wasn't done. The moment Kangjun doubled over, another fist crashed down onto his back like a hammer.
His legs buckled. His knees hit the pavement.
He tried to breathe. He couldn't.
Giseok stood over him, his shadow a mountain of muscle and fury.
The sounds of fighting around them faded. Everything narrowed down to this moment.
Kangjun lifted his head, teeth clenched, trying to push himself up…
Giseok pulled back his fist.
A monster's punch.
One that had broken men before.
One that would break him now.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Kangjun tried to shift, tried to dodge, but his body was sluggish, too slow.
The fist was coming down.
And then…
*BOOM*
The impact came, but it wasn't what he expected.
Instead of Giseok's fist crashing into his skull, a body flew past him.
A blur of movement, too fast, too sharp, too sudden. Giseok was there one moment, his stance unshakable—
And then he was gone.
*CRASH*
Something exploded nearby. A wall? The pavement? Kangjun's head was spinning too much to tell, but he knew one thing.
He was still alive.
And when he finally looked up, blinking through the haze of pain…
He saw him.
Taeyang.
Standing in the middle of the battlefield, his stance loose, his breathing steady.
His clothes were torn, his body littered with old wounds and fresh bruises, but none of it seemed to matter.
Because his eyes… those wild, untamed eyes were locked onto Giseok.
.
***
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Daehyun moved fast.
The moment Taeyang sent Giseok flying, he was already running, pushing past the bodies, stepping over the ones that weren't getting back up.
The karaoke bar loomed ahead, its once-bright neon lights flickering from the damage the fight had already caused.
He shoved the doors open. Smoke. Blood.
Bodies were strewn across the floor. Some groaning, others unmoving. The furniture was in ruins… tables flipped, chairs shattered. Even more damage than last time.
The bar counter had deep cracks where someone had been slammed into it.
But they were alive.
Kangjun's men had fought like hell to hold the line.
Daehyun exhaled, his gaze scanning the room. The ones still standing turned to him, their expressions shifting… not relief, not yet, but something close.
"Where's Kangjun?" he asked.
One of them, still catching his breath, pointed toward the doors leading outside. "Out there… Giseok had him cornered."
So Taeyang got there just in time.
Good.
Daehyun took another step forwards and then paused.
He knew this feeling, that eerie unmistakable feeling, like someone had just set their sights on him.
He turned, and ran upstairs and at the centre of the lobby he saw it.
A man holding Jinhwan's limp body by the collar.
The man's grip was firm, but not tense. Like he wasn't even putting in any effort.
Jinhwan's body dangled slightly, his arms hanging loose, head slumped forward. His expensive suit was ruined… creased, bloodied, torn in some places, but it was the marks on his body that stood out the most.
Fist imprints.
No weapons. No cuts. No messy bruises.
Just clean, solid, perfectly-formed strikes.
Daehyun's gaze flickered up to the man holding him.
Tall. Bare-chested beneath his grey blazer. Broad-shouldered but loose in posture, like nothing could weigh him down. His right hand, still coated in blood, was what held Jinhwan's body.
His left hand just lazily rested in his pocket.
His face was blank. Not angry. Not smug.
Just calm.
He barely even looked at Jinhwan. Like he wasn't holding a man… just an object.
Daehyun exhaled slowly.
"…Who the fuck are you."
The man didn't react right away. His grip on Jinhwan's collar remained firm, fingers pressing into the fabric like he hadn't even heard the words.
Then, just as slowly as he had lifted him… he let go.
Jinhwan crumpled to the ground, his body folding in on itself, motionless except for the shallow rise and fall of his chest.
The man finally turned his gaze toward Daehyun. A slow, measured look.
"So," he said, voice as steady as ever. "You're the one he wanted me to fight."
Daehyun's eyes flickered between Jinhwan's unconscious form and the man standing over him.
"…You're Ansan?"
He scoffed. "I don't follow anyone." He flexed his right hand absently, the dried blood on his knuckles cracking. "I only follow my fist."
Daehyun exhaled sharply, his patience already wearing thin.
"Are you fucking stupid?"
The man tilted his head slightly. "No." He took a step forward, shoulders loose, posture relaxed… but everything about him was solid, ready
"I'm a fucking man."
Daehyun barely had time to shift his stance before his right fist came flying toward his face.
*CRACK*
His head snapped to the side, pain exploding across his jaw, but his feet stayed planted. He exhaled sharply, rolling his jaw as he straightened.
Before he could react, Daehyun surged forward in an instant, his left elbow slamming straight into his face like a battering ram.
*SMASH*
The impact echoed through the ruined karaoke bar.
The man's head jerked slightly, but he didn't step back. Didn't stumble.
Instead, he straightened his blazer, rolling his shoulders with a slight nod.
"…You're good."
Daehyun wiped the blood from his lip with his thumb, clicking his tongue. "Didn't even move."
"Neither did you." He flexed his fingers, his right hand still smeared with old blood. "Good."
Daehyun exhaled through his nose. "Tch. At least you hit harder than that fucker." He tilted his chin toward Jinhwan's unconscious form.
The man followed his gaze before looking back at him.
"…What's your name?"
Daehyun narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"I like to know the names of the men I fight."
Daehyun let out a short laugh, shaking out his wrist. "Yeah? I just want something to call you when I'm kicking your ass."
The man's eyes narrowed.
They stared at each other for a moment.
Silence.
"Baek Daehyun."
"Taesoo Ma."
A name Daehyun didn't recognize.
A name Taesoo didn't care to explain.
Daehyun's fingers curled into a fist as he slipped into his stance, his legs coiling into the floor as he braced his core. Bajiquan. Every movement a trigger, every step forward an impact.
Taesoo kept his left hand tucked in his pocket. His right fist held out to the side.
An open challenge.
"Good," Taesoo said, louder than anything he'd said before. "Come at me with sincerity. I'll be sincere too."
Daehyun stepped in, his fists blurring forwards to destroy.
And for the first time… Taesoo smiled.
His eyes widened in anticipation as he stepped forward to match, his fist rearing back.
"Let's have fun!"
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If you were on my Patreon you might know that I'd originally planned to have Taesoo fight Daehyun earlier, back when he fought Jinhwan but then I changed that because I didn't like how random it was.
But anyways, I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this.
Hope y'all enjoy.
And remember, 200 stones and every 50 stones after that means an extra chap.