NOVEL WEB Chapter 20: Equals Through Blows
Change of scene: Second floor, Gangbuk East School.
Jaeha took the first step toward Hajun. His right leg rose quickly, and his heel came down like an axe toward Hajun's skull.
But Hajun ducked at the last second, feeling the air cut inches from his hair. The kick hit a metal locker behind him.
Crash!
The metal buckled with a crunch, leaving a dent; the door flew off.
Hajun didn't wait. With a quick side step, he slipped inside Jaeha's guard and met him with a brutal uppercut to the chin that sent his head flying back. A stream of blood shot out of his mouth.
But Jaeha didn't fall. He gritted his teeth. He spun around, kicking Hajun in the stomach with his heel.
The blow sent him reeling back several steps, crashing into one of the hallway windows. The glass cracked like a violent spider web.
Without wasting any time, they both ran toward each other.
Boom!
They collided in the middle of the hallway like two goats without brakes. Fist against shin. Bone against bone crunching.
Jaeha struck like a whip, with spinning kicks, front kicks, and quick knees. His Taekwondo was agile, lethal, and had greater reach. Each movement seemed choreographed, fluid as water.
Hajun, on the other hand, was a concrete wall. His boxing was closed, direct, and short-range. He didn't bother to dodge every attack; he absorbed some with his forearms just to get closer and destroy the cocky bastard.
One of his combinations—jab, left hook, straight to the chest—pushed him against a column that cracked from the impact.
"Bastard...!" Jaeha spat, and with a spinning leap, he drove his right heel into his temple.
Crash!
Both were thrown out together, shattering the second-floor window and falling outside the building. The sound of the glass shattering was like an explosion.
KRAAAASH!!
They fell onto a concrete table in the courtyard. It broke into a thousand pieces.
Hajun landed on top of Jaeha and, without wasting a second, began to beat him relentlessly.
Pah! Pah! Pah!
Fists like stones rained down on Jaeha's face. The sound was both wet and dry, a mixture of blood, saliva, and bones as if they were about to break.
Jaeha raised his arms, defending himself with difficulty. He rolled over and they both ended up on the floor, exchanging blows like animals, panting, their faces disfigured and their knuckles split open.
There was blood on the floor, on their clothes, on the walls of the building they had just broken through.
The fight was more than savage. Without pause... just pure determination and hatred.
The students watching them from the windows couldn't believe it. A fight that didn't seem human was taking place, and they were witnessing it.
Both were bleeding from the nose. Both were limping. Both were covered in wounds... but neither gave in.
Until, at the same time, they both landed a cross hook to the face.
THUD!
And they fell to the ground together. One on top of the other. Breathing like wounded beasts.
Total silence ensued.
Only the wind rustling the leaves, the distant murmur of the trembling students, and the blood dripping onto the pavement.
This fight... was not over yet.
First a hand, then a growl.
Jaeha got up with a trembling arm, blood on his eyebrow, but a crooked smile on his lips.
Hajun also got up, breathing through his mouth, his knuckles still red, his jaw tense... but with a dry laugh escaping from his chest.
"Heh..." Jaeha gasped, spitting to the side. "You're fucking tough."
Hajun wiped the blood from his nose. "So are you, bastard."
They looked at each other. And smiled... not in truce, but in something wilder.
Perhaps in respect.
A spark ran through his body... a tremor that came not from physical pain, but from joy.
The joy of finding someone equal.
Someone capable of breaking you and pushing you to give your all.
That kind of emotion that arises in the midst of a real fight. Raw. Bloody. Very beautiful, in its own way.
For a moment, neither school nor side mattered. It was just them. And they wanted more.
The air between them seemed about to explode. Not a single spectator dared to intervene.
Hajun moved first. A quick, direct step, and he threw a punch at Jaeha's face.
Jaeha dodged it by twisting his torso and counterattacked with an elbow to the neck.
Hajun ducked his head just in time, rolled on the ground, and jumped up with a low kick.
Thump!
Jaeha jumped back; the foot grazed his heel. But he didn't have time to breathe. Hajun was already on top of him.
Hajun's fist flew toward his face, but Jaeha blocked it and then drove his knee into his side.
Hajun doubled over for a second, but Jaeha grabbed him by the shirt, dragged him to the ground, and they both rolled across the concrete of the courtyard, hitting the metal walls of the enclosure.
Clang!
They separated abruptly, breathing heavily.
"Is that all you've got, Hajun?" Jaeha said, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
Hajun smiled. "You're getting tired... I can tell by your breathing."
"You're projecting, bastard."
Then Jaeha spun around and kicked Hajun's thigh with his right leg.
Hajun couldn't dodge it completely; his leg gave way slightly, and he stumbled.
But he took advantage of the fall to propel himself forward, ramming Jaeha with his shoulder.
They collided, body against body. They fell. They hit the hard ground.
Jaeha tried to get up first, but Hajun grabbed his ankle and dragged him, making him slide through the dust.
Jaeha spun on the floor and kicked him in the jaw with his free leg.
Crack!
Hajun let out a groan, but smiled with his bloody mouth.
"That was good."
Jaeha jumped up, panting. His hair was tangled, one eye already half closed. "What? Are you going to thank me for the beating?"
"Maybe... chicken head."
He said it with a crooked smile, looking at his rival's yellow hair, stained with blood.
They lunged at each other again, one after the other.
Fists, elbows, kicks, hooks, blocks, grunts of pain. The floor was marked with the traces of their battle.
And when they finally collided fists at the same time, they both fell to their knees in front of each other.
Without saying a word, their faces battered... they laughed.
For that damn vivid emotion that only arises when two people break down trying to understand each other.
[System]
Jaeha Han's potential is reaching its peak.
[Jaeha Han]
Height: 181 centimeters.
Weight: 83 kilograms.
Strength: S+
Speed: S+
Potential: A
Intelligence: A+
Stamina: S
[System]
Hajun Gu's potential is reaching its peak.
[Hajun Gu]
Height: 186 centimeters.
Weight: 83 kilograms.
Strength: S+
Speed: S+
Potential: A
Intelligence: C
Stamina: SS