Chae Da-Seon recognized Yu-Han's face the moment she saw him. She'd already done her background check on the Cheong-Am Center.
"Are you that Yu-Han guy who's been stirring up shit lately? Don't tell me you're playing some cheesy white knight?"
"Do I look that sweet to you? I just came to pick up a stray. I'm a 1st-Grade Tamer, after all."
"...You really are as fucking annoying as she said!"
Chae Da-Seon hated people who didn't know their place. She instantly generated a barrage of high-temperature water vapor and launched it at him. But Yu-Han shot down every single mass with ridiculous precision.
"Not bad. So you've got some skill to back up that big mouth?"
"Mind if I check too? See if you're even worth letting live to keep blabbering."
"What...!?"
Yu-Han closed the distance in a flash and slashed straight for her vitals. She barely deflected the first strike, but he used the recoil to flow straight into a second slash like water. The relaxed smirk vanished from Chae Da-Seon's face as she twisted her body to dodge. However, a new carbon-coated sword was already in Yu-Han's other hand. In a dual-wield stance, he attacked her upper and lower body at the same time...!
"!!"
At the last possible second, a massive greatsword materialized in Chae Da-Seon's hands, blocking both strikes simultaneously. Yu-Han's eyebrows twitched.
"Pulling out a Relic already? You trying to level the whole damn area?"
"You fucking brat...!"
The moment she drew the greatsword, Yu-Han immediately created distance and switched to a wait-and-see stance. Both of them realized that continuing the fight would only result in mutual loss.
Chae Da-Seon was the first to speak.
"Look… I wanted to end this cleanly. Do you really think you can go to war with the entire Red Chasers?"
"I don't see why not. But I'm a pacifist at heart. How about we settle this peacefully?"
"Peacefully…? What the hell are you—"
"Let's do a friendly sparring match, broadcast live. No Relics, no weapons. Under those conditions, if I train our employee Yi Rang for just one week, she should be able to wipe the floor with someone of your level."
For a split second, killing intent flashed in Chae Da-Seon's eyes. The territorial instinct and competitiveness typical of bear beastkin had kicked in hard.
"Huh… If you want to embarrass yourself in front of the whole country, I guess I can't stop you. Keep dreaming those pathetic dreams until then."
Chae Da-Seon leaped away at high speed and vanished from sight. All that remained was Yi Rang, beaten unconscious on the ground, one of her broken fangs rolling pathetically across the floor.
"..."
Without a word, Yu-Han used magic to reattach her fang. Then he slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed back to the center.
***
"This doesn't make any sense… Why the hell did it turn out like this? Were we really that out of line…!"
"We were a bit much, yeah. But normal people don't try to straight-up erase someone over that. Turns out they're bigger psychos than we thought."
By the time Yi Rang regained consciousness, Alice and Yu-Han were in the middle of that conversation.
"Ugh… What the fuck happened?"
"Yi Rang C! You're awake!"
Kim Ga-Eun was looking at her with teary eyes. Yi Rang, who thought Ga-Eun only cared about Yu-Han, felt strangely touched.
"More importantly… why the hell did that bitch jump me out of nowhere…"
"The one who attacked you is Chae Da-Seon from the Red Chasers. Sounds like you two already know each other pretty well."
Yu-Han calmly relayed his conversation with Chae Da-Seon. Yi Rang's face filled with disbelief.
"Why would she… target me…"
"Probably because you're the easiest target in this center."
"Right… 'Cause I'm weak and stupid, so even she doesn't wanna be friends with me anymore…?"
As Yi Rang started blaming herself, Alice quickly tried to comfort her.
"No! You have tons of good points!"
"…Like what?"
"Uh… you're… nice?"
Yi Rang's expression grew even more miserable. Without saying anything, she got out of bed and started walking.
"Y-Yi Rang? You're still injured, you shouldn't push yourself!"
"…Ya said there's some friendly sparrin' match. Then I can't just lie here like a damn invalid."
With unsteady steps, Yi Rang headed toward the underground training room. Yu-Han and Kim Ga-Eun both shot Alice judgemental looks.
"Was that seriously the best compliment you could come up with?"
"Wow… Alice C. You really are a cold-blooded machine. Literally."
"Booo~ Psychopath robot~"
Unable to take the criticism, Alice finally shouted.
"Fine! I'm sorry! But I don't wanna hear that shit from you two either!"
***
Down in the underground training room, Yi Rang was pounding the punching bag like a maniac. Still not satisfied, she swung her carbon-coated sword and fired off every spell she knew. But the moment Chae Da-Seon's face flashed in her mind, all her strength left her.
"You're gonna wreck your body going at it like that."
"…I need to get stronger right now."
"Hmph. Then maybe you should've practiced instead of goofing off all the time."
"Dammit…"
Completely exhausted, Yi Rang sprawled out on the floor. Yu-Han asked her casually,
"By the way, how do you know Chae Da-Seon?"
"We been tight since elementary school… She was always the smart one. Even studied abroad. Meanwhile, I dropped out of high school and ran away from home."
Yi Rang reminisced about her high school days…
///
Naturally, she got a zero on that math test. The mockery from her classmates poured in immediately.
While they were talking, Chae Da-Seon herself appeared.
As Chae Da-Seon's grip tightened, the bullies tucked their tails and ran.
Yi Rang walked out of the school without looking back. Chae Da-Seon desperately tried to stop her.
///
"Actin' all tough and stormin' out like that… and look at me now. Da-Seon must be completely sick of me too… Sob…!"
Yi Rang buried her face in the floor and cried for nearly ten minutes straight. After letting out all her tears and snot, she finally muttered,
"Dammit… Cryin' like a damn baby. How embarrassin'."
She wiped her face roughly and looked at Yu-Han. She didn't care about the others, but she really didn't want this annoying bastard to see her crying face.
…But Yu-Han was wearing noise-canceling earphones, completely focused on a game on his hologram device.
"Damn it! All the power cards are at the bottom of the deck again!"
"Hey! What the hell are ya doin' right now?!"
Only then did Yu-Han take out one earphone.
"You were talking about stuff I have zero interest in, so I played a game. Did you say anything important? These earphones are pretty good—I literally can't hear anything from outside."
Yi Rang was so dumbfounded she let out a dry laugh. Then she shouted, full of energy again,
"If ya didn't hear it, then forget it! I ain't sayin' it twice!"
"Then just answer me. Do you want to beat Chae Da-Seon or not?"
"Of course I wanna beat her! But getting stronger than her in just one week… How the hell am I supposed to do that?!"
Yu-Han sighed.
"Your mindset is already trash. Thinking you can win just by working hard? That kind of attitude won't beat anyone. What matters are the win conditions and the strategy to achieve them."
"…So can I win?"
"Hey, I only fight battles I know I'll win."
"Sure ya do."
Yi Rang reached out her hand from where she sat, as if to offer a handshake. Yu-Han just looked at her coldly.
"You want me to pull you up? Get up yourself."
"…Ya damn bastard."
Yi Rang grumbled as she stood up. Alice and Kim Ga-Eun, secretly watching from the basement stairs, smiled in relief.
***
Meanwhile, the communication channel of the three women of the Red Chasers.
[So, you ended up dragging us into this too? How annoying...]
[Didn't you say you'd handle it alone?]
At the reprimands from the two women, Chae Da-Seon grabbed her head and protested.
"Hmph! You were just going to sit back and do nothing, and the second I fail, you bite my head off... You think negotiating is easy?"
[So, why did that negotiation fail.]
[That guy named Yu-Han, he was stronger than expected... To think I actually had to pull out my Relic right away.]
Chae Da-Seon uploaded the combat footage with Yu-Han taken from her bodycam to the channel. Upon seeing that combat footage, the two women went quiet.
[I don't get it. Why is there no info on a combatant of this level?]
[It's a rare, solid combat style... He's definitely going to be tough to fight.]
"Glad you appreciate it."
Chae Da-Seon was also curious about Yu-Han's true identity. And in her mind, a grim rumor, almost like a ghost story, surfaced. A grim reaper-like existence who eliminates the requested target, whether it be a politician, a corporate executive, or even a innocent child. Because that person leaves no evidence or trace, there's no way to even verify if the rumor is true...
"No way."
Chae Da-Seon decided not to let herself get spooked by such baseless rumors.