.  Perhaps, he took a shortcut to the stairway to hell…


  Before Hwang Siwoo tried to say something, Eun Hyung stepped closer to him with a smile.

  He said, “Siwoo sunbae, twenty-three people are waiting for you.”


  “You… you bastard! You always try to gang up on someone, so this time you brought Sun Jin High School kids!”


  “Aren’t you going to take them?” Lifting his eyes frigidly, Kwon Eun Hyung interrupted Hwang Siwoo’s words. Hwang Siwoo gasped while biting his lips then finally decided to head to the vacant lot quietly. Ban Yeo Ryung followed the boys with a stiffened face.

  Hwang Siwoo thought, ‘Instead of here, it would be better to do something where there are twenty-three of my guys.’ Until now, he denied the fact that the chance for him winning a 1:1 battle with Kwon Eun Hyung was likely to be zero. He now knew that it was true.

  * * *

  The board president’s office fell into silence after school. The person leaning comfortably on the president’s leather chair was not a middle-aged bald man.

  He was even a young boy in a school uniform, probably around twenty at best.

  It wasn’t hard to guess his name, Eun Kyum, the cousin of the board president and the captain of So Hyun High School.

  He liked to contemplate alone after school. To be precise, he was continuously thinking about some trivial things inside his head.

  The happening during the last winter break came across his mind. It made Eun Kyum furrow his brows. Recalling that time was still a pain in his ass.

  She was such a beauty, hardly seen in TV shows or movies and even throughout his entire life. Unless the girl, who was along with her like a maid, didn’t interrupt him, he could have gotten the beauty’s phone number and maybe they could have made a good relationship.

  ‘No… If that red-haired boy didn’t show up and beat us to death…’ It was when Eun Kyum gnashed his teeth in a rage. Someone dashed into the board president’s office out of the blue.

  Eun Kyum lifted his head in a flash. The office was dark with the lights turned off, which made it hard for him to see the stranger’s appearance.

  Through the dim light from the window, there stood a person with a narrow jawline along with slender arms and shoulders. The brown hair on the person’s head and the school uniform the person wore looked messy as if the person rushed to this place in a hurry. He could barely see the stranger’s name tag but a person who could intrude this office would likely be a member of the school gang.

  The stranger’s face looked quite familiar that Eun Kyum considered if the person was a freshman. As soon as he had that thought in mind, the stranger called his name.

  “Eun Kyum sunbae!”


  The stranger, who called his name with a gaze, had adorable golden eyes. ‘It would have been better if he was a girl…’ Eun Kyum thought while heaving a sigh.

  He asked, “What’s up?”


  “Sun Jin High School kids and the sophomores in our school picked a fight!!! They are having a brawl at the vacant lot!”


  “I know that,” Eun Kyum replied apathetically.

  ‘Who does he think I am? Is he considering that I don’t have that much information as a school captain?’ His continued words, however, surprised Eun Kyum.

  “They already lost.”


  “What? I heard that they began to fight at 6 pm.”


  Eun Kyum saw the clock in surprise, which turned out to be only 10 minutes past 6 pm. As if he found it difficult to breathe, the boy gasped harshly and kept on his remark.

  “Sun Jin High School bastards got big-headed after defeating us and bluffed that our school captain is also a piece of cake to them…”


  “Huh??”


  “They said that it’s just a matter of time for them to take over the rank of 72nd place. Hwang Siwoo sunbae blamed himself for staining your reputation. He wants revenge, but he doesn’t think he’s strong enough now…”


  Eun Kyum grimaced this time. What they spoke about, which was taking over the 72nd place, directed at Eun Kyum himself. ‘They are exactly aiming at me. What the fu*k!?’ Eun Kyum scratched his hair then suddenly raised his head.

  He said to the boy, “Are they still with those bastards in Sun Jin High School?”


  “Yes, yes!”


  “Geez…” Eun Kyum fetched a short sigh then took out his phone to press some buttons.

  He put the jet-black uniform jacket placed on the sofa on his shoulders and strode out the office at a fast pace.

  “Oh, shoot! My motorcycle key!”


  That was the last words the boy heard from Eun Kyum. He lifted his cold eyes to stare at the door where Eun Kyum left in a hurry. He then slowly dropped his gaze and adjusted his uniform.

  Shoving his hand into the tangled hair, he swept them back neatly and took out the phone right after. When a familiar voice came over from the other side of the phone, he then let out his bright smile at last.

  “How are you Jooin?”


  “Yeah, he’s gonna go there by his motorcycle. You have 5 more minutes left to wait, hyeong.”


  Looking up in the air, Woo Jooin reminisced the fact that he knew about Eun Kyum.

  Eun Kyum usually hung around with a group of seven boys, including himself, so those who spoke through the phone just now would be those six boys. Jooin expected that he would never be there alone, anyway.

  Woo Jooin fetched a low sigh and smiled. The key to this plan was Kwon Eun Hyung’s fighting skills.

  Yesterday, Woo Jooin asked Kwon Eun Hyung, “Eun Hyung, can you beat everyone in Eun Kyum’s gang? It’s 1 vs 7, so if you can’t really make it, I’ll try to make them come over one by one.”


  “No, you don’t have to.”


  “Don’t push yourself too much.”


  Yoo Chun Young replied with a concerned look, but Kwon Eun Hyung smiled shortly instead of addressing what they said. He fixed his gaze at Eun Kyum’s photos that they spread on Woo Jooin’s desk.

  Eun Hyung’s smile looked strange somehow, which made Jooin ask in wonder, “Why?”


  “Oh, Jooin. Please don’t worry,” with that said, Eun Hyung grinned softly yet firmly while gently bending his greenish eyes. He then continued, “Because I’ve already fought and won before.”


  * * *

  When it became dark in the evening, a chilly wind blew around the vacant lot. The dry breeze that accompanied the sand dust of the schoolyard made a few guys furrow their brows.

  Exactly, only three boys frowned their eyes. Those, who stood confidently like a king in the middle of the twenty-three knocked down boys, were no one else but Woo San, Hwang Hae, and Suh Jin Woon.

  “…” Hwang Siwoo drew in his breath.

  He had already heard that they defeated his boys, but he never expected that his group would lose against them this much horribly. All he could think of was that once he was here, he could help others to proceed with the second round.

  ‘How could only three people completely defeat all of my twenty-three boys?’ Hwang Siwoo had this thought in mind, which hardly made him imagine that the trio of Sun Jin High School was that much monstrous.

  “Hey, you guys…”


  Barely holding their consciousness, those who scattered on the ground moaned in pain.

  “Sorry…”


  “They are so strong…”


  Hwang Siwoo, whose jaw dropped in perplexity, heard Kwon Eun Hyung’s refreshing voice from behind.

  “Then choose one from them.”


  “Wh… wha…. What???” Being so dumbstruck, Hwang Siwoo could hardly respond. It made Woo San, Hwang Hae, and Suh Jin Woon giggle one after another.

  “Wow, oppa also has a speech disorder. You’re truly my type~!”


  “Would you stop that oppa sh*t?”


  “He’s bad at fighting, talking… what are you even good at?”


  ‘Those fu*king bastards!’ Hwang Siwoo couldn’t control his rage but soon realized he should first ingratiate them. While Hwang Siwoo bit his lips at a loss of words, Kwon Eun Hyung said to him again.

  “I said choose one, come on.”


  His voice turned colder than before. Hwang Siwoo quickly raised his head in surprise. Kwon Eun Hyung’s half-opened green eyes, which was glaring like a beast inside the dim dark, were on Hwang Siwoo himself. He felt his legs trembling.

  ‘Gosh, this bastard…’ Hwang Siwoo murmured to himself, ‘What the heck is he…?’


  When he encountered him yesterday at the school entrance, he handled a group of seventeen boys alone. Now he was with Sun Jin High School kids, who looked like they were at Kwon Eun Hyung’s service.

  Hwang Siwoo never saw Kwon Eun Hyung at the ranking battle. How could he remain as a normal student with that insane fighting skills?

  It was unbelievable. Before Hwang Siwoo tried to say something while looking at his defeated boys, Kwon Eun Hyung pressured him with a gentle voice.

  “I’ve tolerated you long enough.”


  “Wh… what?”


  “I’m restraining my impatience to punch you, but now I’m reaching my limits. You should have been careful about whom you offend,” Kwon Eun Hyung said with a warm smile which made Hwang Siwoo swallow his breath in fear.

  He responded, “Wh… at do you want? Who do you want me to pick?!”


  Hwang Siwoo’s voice sounded like a scolding as he tried to conceal his fear. Still grinning, Kwon Eun Hyung pointed the group of twenty-three boys with his chin.

  “The one who attacked me at the Sung Sam apartment intersection.”


  “What?”


  “The one who pushed the girl to the road. Pick him from them.”


  “…!”