Questism and Lookism: Am I Suhyeon Kim?

The afternoon sun slanted down on the buildings of Gangbuk, painting the streets with an orange hue that seemed to melt onto the hot asphalt.

The three of us walked side by side.

I was in the middle.

To my left, Gukja, in his sweaty uniform and a makeshift bandage on his arm. To my right, Hyeondong, with that mixture of clumsiness and pride that made him stand out without meaning to.

We didn't talk.

And yet, my head was filled with noise.

A week had passed.

Exactly one week since I defeated Hajun Gu.

And since then... I hadn't missed a single day.

I remembered everything clearly.

First, I organized a meeting with Hyeondong and the first-years. It wasn't to talk about respect or loyalty. I already had their respect. I needed information.

Hyeondong, to my surprise, already had names, faces, and descriptions of the other Gangbuk leaders. The north, south, and east already had emperors... I had just taken the throne of the west.

We weren't unique. Just one more on the board.

Then came the training.

Every morning, before dawn, I would drag Gukja out of his bed and take him to the park. Cardio, punches, defense. His body hated every session, but his will didn't break. And that was what mattered.

At night, I went out alone.

I looked for fights.

Not for glory, not for rage.

For the system.

For rewards.

But all I got were bronze cards.

Fifteen, to be exact.

Useless cards. Basic techniques. Repetitive. Because for me... those guys were no longer a threat.

And the system knew it.

Maybe that was what frustrated me the most.

Now I was the leader of Gangbukseo.

But to keep growing...

I had to look higher.

I had to look the other leaders in the eye.

The time had come.

The time to meet those who rule the rest of the map.

But there was something else.

Another name that had been floating around in my head for a week.

Hajun Gu.

Since I defeated him... he hasn't been back to class.

And no one has seen him since.

I only heard a couple of rumors.

That he was training.

That he had disappeared of his own accord.

That he didn't accept what had happened.

But I wasn't worried.

I knew he would come back.

And when he did... I would wait for him.

Not as an enemy.

Not as an obstacle.

But as an ally.

Hajun Gu is a key piece.

Mastery. Experience. Fear.

That guy didn't follow rules. But he knew how to enforce them.

With a guy like that on my team, I wouldn't just reinforce my authority... I'd consolidate an empire.

The problem is that he can't be convinced with pretty words.

Hajun Gu has to be won over with actions. With conviction.

And I will.

"..."

The abandoned building was already in sight.

Tall, gray, like a concrete skeleton forgotten among the streets of Gangbuk. The broken windows looked like empty eyes. Its walls, peeling with age, still bore old graffiti from gangs that no longer existed. No one approached. It was neutral territory... for now.

As we walked toward the entrance, the system activated with a slight buzzing in my head.

As if it knew the moment was approaching.

[System]

Displaying statistics...

Suhyeon Kim:

Strength: C

Speed: C+

Endurance: B

Intelligence: A+

Potential: B

Not bad.

My body was solid. My reflexes had sharpened. My endurance was improving every day. And my intelligence... well, that no longer surprised me.

But I could still improve.

Gukja Yang:

Strength: C+

Speed: E+

Stamina: B

Intelligence: D+

Potential: S

I smiled slightly when I saw her stats.

Gukja was a walking paradox. Strong, resilient... but slow as a snail on crutches. Even so, his potential was ridiculously high.

He just needed to be molded.

Hyundong Lee:

Strength: C

Speed: C

Stamina: B

Intelligence: B

Potential: F

Hyundong wasn't brilliant. He wasn't a prodigy either.

But he had something else that was harder to find.

Loyalty.

And sometimes, that was worth more than broken potential.

I stopped right in front of the white cloth.

It didn't move. But it felt like something on the other side was... watching.

"It's time," I said.

Hyundong swallowed hard. Gukja took a deep breath.

I didn't hesitate.

With one hand, I pulled back the cloth.

The large hall was dimly lit, with spotlights focused on the center of the stage.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, my eyes immediately fell on a tall boy with dark hair and closed eyes.

Seok Kang.

The leader of South Gangbuk High School.

Even though his eyelids were closed, I knew he was watching me. His calm smile, his relaxed posture... it was all part of a facade. I knew it the moment our eyes—or what should have been eye contact—met.

"Welcome," he said in a friendly voice, almost too friendly. "Are you Suhyeon Kim from West Gangbuk?"

I nodded calmly, not breaking eye contact. "That's right. And you must be Seok Kang, from South."

I stepped forward and held out my hand.

He shook it slowly, his smile still in place. But the tension in the air grew thicker.

From his point of view...

"So this is Suhyeon Kim..."

Seok Kang thought as he held his hand.

"Younger than I expected. And confident."

His closed eyes did not prevent him from reading the scene.

"He only brought two people... self-confidence or ignorance?"

"Who is the chubby one with the bandage? And that other one with the puppy face?"

"Tell me something, Suhyeon," he said without letting go of his hand. "I heard you defeated Hajun Gu. I never got along with him very well. How about we join forces from now on?"

It was an offer thrown out as bait.

False cordiality wrapped in silk.

But I didn't take it.

I smiled calmly.

"Your proposal is tempting, Seok... but..."

I let go of her hand and ran my fingers through my hair, ruffling it casually.

"Wouldn't that be unfair to Jaeha Han?"

Just then, I heard loud, heavy footsteps.

I turned around and saw him.

A blond-haired boy with an arrogant expression and an aggressive presence that seemed to want to set the air itself on fire.

"Damn it..." he muttered, dragging out his words. "I'm only a few seconds late and they're already forming alliances."

Seok Kang turned his attention to the newcomer.

And he smiled even more.

Jaeha Han.

The leader of East High School.

And probably the hungriest wolf in the room.

Seok Kang kept smiling as he turned his head toward the entrance, where Jaeha Han was making his entrance surrounded by several subordinates. His energy was different, aggressive. It was noticeable from the way he walked to the way his eyes scanned the place as if it were already his.

But Seok didn't lose his friendly tone. If anything, he made it even sweeter.

"Oh, look who's here... What a surprise, I didn't know you were coming, my friend."

His voice dripped with sarcasm, delivered with an almost elegant softness. A provocation disguised as courtesy.

"I thought you'd still be busy conquering the eastern corridors."

Jaeha frowned slightly. Not because of the mockery... but because of the audacity.

"Are you really pretending you didn't know I was coming?"

Seok shrugged, as if accused of forgetting the weather.

"Me? Never. Although I must say... I was just offering Suhyeon an alliance. What a coincidence, don't you think?"

The atmosphere tensed instantly.

"Better that than offering your hand to anyone just so you don't have to be alone," Jaeha said, narrowing his eyes with that crooked smile that always spelled trouble.

Seok just laughed softly.

"Always so direct, Jaeha... I missed that."

I watched from the center of the room.

They played their game with smiles and daggers on their tongues.

But they knew... both of them.

I was the new variable.

Then Jaeha turned his head slightly toward me, his expression twisting his lips, no longer with curiosity... but with annoyance.

"Are you Suhyeon Kim?" he asked in a voice heavy with sarcasm. "The new leader of Gangbuk West High School?"

It wasn't a real question.

Everyone here already knew.

He was just playing... and making it clear that the game bored him.

"Yes," I replied calmly. "That's me."

Jaeha sighed exaggeratedly, craning his neck as if trying to loosen the accumulated tension.

"So, this is why we were called here today?" he said disdainfully. "To confirm what we already knew?"

He crossed his arms, glancing sideways at Seok Kang.

"Did you really make me come all the way here just to see the new guy's face? Couldn't you have sent me a photo, or something more useful?"

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

I said nothing.

There was no need.

The more they talked, the more they revealed how they thought. How they operated.

And that was more valuable than any letter.

But Jaeha wasn't finished.

"Here I am, with all my subordinates, wasting my time while you play at introductions."

He gave Suhyeon a direct look. Not one of respect. Not one of threat either.

It was the look of someone who hadn't yet decided whether you were worth crushing... or ignoring.

"I hope you're at least worth the trouble."

Behind me, I could hear Gukja and Hyeondong whispering. Their voices were low, but the nervousness in them was as obvious as the sweat on their foreheads.

"Why is everyone staring at us like that...?" Gukja muttered, swallowing hard. "I feel like they're going to stab me with their eyes..."

Hyeondong, though equally tense, replied in a somewhat serious tone.

"Relax, Sunbae. If you falter, the whole West will falter with you."

Gukja glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, surprised by the tone. Hyeondong continued to scan the rest of the room surreptitiously, but his voice sounded firm.

"We're here for Suhyeon. So we have to rise to the occasion."

Gukja nodded slowly, swallowing again. The respect Hyeondong showed him was not flattery: it was recognition. And that was enough for him to try not to shake so much.

I heard everything, of course. But I didn't turn around.

I just smiled slightly.

Because unlike them...

I was excited.

The moment I crossed the white cloth at the entrance, the system flashed before my eyes like a divine sign.

[System]

Mission complete: "Queen of West Gangbuk High School"

Reward obtained:

Bronze cards x10

Gold card x1

Seok Kang took a couple of steps forward, still wearing that smile on his face. He didn't seem affected by the tense atmosphere in the room or by Jaeha's presence, who continued to shoot me piercing glances.

"Well, that's the end of the meeting," he announced in a soft voice, but with a clear note of superiority in his tone. "We're already familiar with your face, Suhyeon Kim."

Then he narrowed his eyes—although technically they were already closed—maintaining that friendly expression that already seemed more like a mask than a genuine attitude to me.

"Furthermore, North Gangbuk High School has not deigned to show up. I guess it wasn't that urgent for everyone."

He turned around with his hands in his pockets, as if his statement were the natural and unquestionable conclusion of the meeting.

Jaeha let out an annoyed snort.

"Tsk. What a waste of time..." he muttered, turning away without adding anything else.

Night had already fallen over Gangbuk, but my room was shrouded in thick darkness, broken only by the faint glow of the cards floating in front of me.

I was sitting on my bed, my back against the wall, my legs stretched out, my eyes fixed on what I had managed to accumulate.

Twenty-five bronze cards.

Ten of them were from the main mission: "Queen of Gangbuk West High School." The other fifteen were the result of a whole week of going out to fight every night, trying to provoke the system, squeeze something more out of it than basic moves and mediocre bonuses.

But it didn't.

Not a single card offered me anything new. Anything worthwhile.

I sighed with a frown. They all spun slowly in the air, as if mocking me. Low-level techniques, minor enhancements... something useful for a beginner. Not for me.

Not now.

But in the center of them all... floated the only one that didn't move.

The golden card.

The real reward.

The only reason I wasn't upset with the system.

It didn't spin, it didn't flash, it didn't react to anything. It just shone subtly, as if it knew that its existence was enough to impose itself on the others.

That card... also came from the main mission.

The jewel of the loot.

My body was still, but my mind was not.

I knew that card could be a turning point. It wasn't something to use on impulse. Not when everything in this game... cost.

"With this... I could close the gap. I could catch up to them... or surpass them."

I thought of Seok Kang and his friendly facade.

Of Jaeha Han and his blatant arrogance.

Of the void that was the northern high school.

And then, I thought of myself.

Of what I had built.

Of what was still missing.

Then the golden card moved.

It floated gently toward me, separating itself from the bronze circle that surrounded it, as if it didn't want to share space with the others.

And then it began to shine.

Not with violent intensity, but with a soft light, as if whispering to me that the time had come.

Slowly, letters began to appear on its surface.

First blurry.

Then clear.

As if the system were speaking directly to me:

[Gold Card]:

[Regular Card]

> (The Master of Cards)

You can combine or break down cards to obtain cards of higher or lower rank.

I remained silent.

The golden glow continued to pulsate in front of me, slowly... almost like a breath.

I knew exactly what it was.

"The Master of Cards..."

I remembered it from my previous life.

A rare card.

Special.

"Perfect..." I murmured to myself.

A smile spread across my face. Not an arrogant one. Not a confident one.

It was a smile of satisfaction.

I had played well.

And now I had in my hands a tool that could change everything.

"With this... I can create something truly worthwhile."

My eyes sparkled.

Because at that moment, sitting in the dim light of my room, surrounded by floating cards, I knew that my progress had just jumped to another level.

Thirty minutes later...

Suhyeon was still sitting on his bed, leaning forward, breathing heavily. His T-shirt was completely soaked with sweat, and in front of him, the cards floated as if they were part of a board that only he could read.

The room was completely silent, except for the faint hum of the system every time a card disappeared or changed shape.

Suhyeon's hands had not stopped moving the entire time.

"Come on... this one's no good either," he muttered with a frown, discarding another card with a flick of his wrist.

He had been combining bronze cards nonstop, merging them two by two in search of something better. When he didn't like the result, he used the gold card to break it down, going back and looking for another route. It was a slow process, but necessary.

"If I combine these two... and then that one with the next silver one...? No, no. Better try another base."

He went from frustration to calculation without transition. Each attempt was a possibility. Each combination, a gamble.

"This ability... isn't enough. I need something that really makes a difference."

The gold card shone among them all, watching like a silent judge.

"Thanks to you, I can do this..." he murmured, almost in a sigh.

A new combination.

Light.

Another new card appeared in front of him.

Suhyeon looked at it for two seconds, then clicked his tongue.

"No. It's still junk."

He broke it down.

And repeated.

Because he knew that among those cards there was one that could change his rhythm, his strategy, his power.

And he wouldn't stop until he found it.

"..."

Thirty minutes later...

The room was plunged into darkness, barely lit by the faint glow of the floating letters in front of him. Suhyeon was still sitting on his bed, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, his back tense, his gaze fixed on the system.

He had been combining and decomposing nonstop for over an hour.

Looking for the best.

The optimal.

What was really worth it.

But nothing convinced him.

"Another one got the same thing..." he muttered under his breath, a hint of frustration seeping into his voice.

He took a deep breath, lowering his shoulders. He tried to cool his head. He let the cards spin in front of him like a bright, silent carousel.

Then something caught his eye.

The total number.

Thirty-two bronze cards.

Twenty-five newly acquired: fifteen from night fights, ten from completing the main mission "Queen of West Gangbuk High School."

And the other seven...

He had them from before.

Past rewards. Minor missions. Forgotten moments.

But now they were all together.

Thirty-two.

Exactly.

His gaze sharpened.

"Thirty-two bronze cards..." he whispered.

He remained silent for a few seconds, and then his mind screamed:

"What if I just go ahead and make... a master card?"

The air seemed to stand still.

A master card.

Something that couldn't be obtained by luck.

Suhyeon slowly sat up, sweat trickling down his neck.

His fingers clenched into trembling fists.

But his gaze...

Was steadier than ever.

"Now or never," he murmured.

He extended both hands toward the center of the circle.

At that moment, all the cards began to glow.

A golden glow enveloped the room for a second... and then turned purple.

The condensed energy of thirty-two cards compacted into a single point, vibrating, beating like a heart. Suhyeon took a step back, covering her face slightly due to the intensity.

And then it appeared.

The card.

Majestic. Unmistakable.

[Master Card]:

[Attack Card]

> (Mana Drain)

You are able to drain an opponent's stats and permanently increase your own.

*This card cannot be used on opponents who are too strong.

Suhyeon looked at it silently.

Its design was different. The edges were adorned with purple filigree. The center pulsed as if it contained a sealed storm. It wasn't just a card.

"This card... can change everything."

Because this was no ordinary ability.

It was a card capable of upsetting the balance.

A card that turned victory into growth.

"How lucky that I got Mana Drain... with this I'll increase my stats too much," I thought as I held the card between my fingers with contained, almost trembling excitement.

The purple frame glowed faintly under the ceiling light, as if it knew it was special. As if it also understood its power.

But just as I was about to smile for real... something pierced my chest like a dagger.

A memory.

A name.

A mental warning.

"It's true..."

My lips tightened. My gaze hardened.

"That person can see everything..."

Choyun.

The leader of Gangbuk North High School.

The one who didn't need to spy, move, or talk much. Because he had a trump card...

A card that allowed him to see everything.

My stats.

My movements.

My cards.

"If Choyun sees this..."

"If he finds out that the leader of the West is increasing his stats so brutally..."

My throat went dry.

"I won't get out alive."

I needed a solution.

A way out.

"I have to find a way to hide my stats."

"Is there such a card...? One that allows me to disguise them, seal them, or simply become invisible to his gaze?"

[System]

The main mission is being created.

"What?"

[System]

Recruit companions [0/4]

Reward: 1 gold card.