Chae Da-Seon recognized Yu-Han immediately.
She had already done her research on the Cheong-Am Center.
"So you're Yu-Han, the guy who's been making a name for himself lately?
What, playing some corny prince on a white horse?"
"Do I look that sweet to you?
I'm just here to pick up a lost animal.
I'm a top-tier tamer, you know."
"...You're every bit as irritating as I heard!!"
Chae Da-Seon had little patience for people who didn't know their place.
She immediately formed masses of superheated steam and fired them at him.
The attacks were barely visible, but Yu-Han knocked every one of them aside.
"Not bad. Guess you've got enough skill to back up all that bullshit."
"Then mind if I check whether you've got enough skill to back up yours?"
"What...!?"
Yu-Han closed the distance in an instant and slashed at Chae Da-Seon's vitals.
She deflected the first strike.
Yu-Han used the recoil to flow straight into a second.
The ease vanished from Chae Da-Seon's face. The moment she twisted aside to avoid the blade, another carbon-coated blade appeared in Yu-Han's empty hand.
The two blades came at her simultaneously—one high, one low...!
"!!"
At the last possible moment, a greatsword appeared in Chae Da-Seon's hands and stopped both attacks at once.
Yu-Han's eyebrow twitched.
"Pulling out a relic already? Planning to wreck the whole neighborhood?"
"You little fucking runt...!"
The moment the greatsword appeared, Yu-Han backed off as well.
Both knew that continuing the fight would cost more than it was worth.
Chae Da-Seon was the first to try talking.
"Look... I was only trying to settle this cleanly.
Do you really think you can afford an all-out war with the Red Chasers?"
"It's not impossible. But I'm a pacifist.
How about we settle this peacefully instead?"
"Settle it how...?"
"A friendly match, streamed live.
No relics, no weapons.
Under those conditions, give me a week to train our employee Yi Rang and I think she'd be more than enough to beat you."
For an instant, murderous intent flashed through Chae Da-Seon's eyes.
Her bear-beastkin territorial instinct—and her competitive streak—had clearly been triggered.
"Hah... If you're determined to humiliate yourself in front of the entire country, who am I to stop you?
Go ahead and enjoy your little fantasy until then."
Chae Da-Seon launched herself away at high speed and vanished from Yu-Han's sight.
Only Yu-Han and the unconscious, bloodied Yi Rang remained.
One of her broken fangs lay pathetically on the ground.
"..."
Without a word, Yu-Han used magic to reattach it.
Then he slung Yi Rang over his back like a sack of luggage and headed back to the Center...
---
"This makes no sense... How did things get this bad?
Were we really that rude...?"
"A little. But people usually don't try to erase someone over that.
They were just bigger idiots than we expected."
By the time Yi Rang regained consciousness, Alice and Yu-Han were in the middle of that conversation.
"Ugh... Guys, what the hell happened?"
"Yi Rang C! You're awake!"
Kim Ga-Eun was looking at her with tears welling in her eyes.
Yi Rang had always assumed Ga-Eun cared about no one but Yu-Han.
Seeing her like this was unexpectedly touching.
"More importantly, why the hell did I suddenly get beaten half to death...?"
"The one who attacked you was Chae Da-Seon of the Red Chasers.
Sounds like you two already knew each other pretty well."
Yu-Han told Yi Rang what he and Chae Da-Seon had discussed.
Yi Rang looked like she couldn't believe it.
"Why would she... do that to me...?"
"Because you're probably the easiest target at this Center."
"Right... I'm weak and stupid, so she doesn't even want to be friends with me anymore...?"
As Yi Rang blamed herself, Alice hurried to console her.
"No! You have tons of good qualities!"
"...Like what?"
"What do you mean, like what...? Um... You're nice?"
Alice's answer only made Yi Rang look even more miserable.
Without another word, Yi Rang got out of bed and started walking.
"Y-Yi Rang? You're hurt! You shouldn't push yourself yet!"
"...You said we're doing some kind of friendly match, right? Then I can't just lie around."
Yi Rang trudged toward the basement training room.
Yu-Han and Kim Ga-Eun stared at Alice as if accusing her of a crime.
"That was seriously the best quality you could come up with?"
"Wow... Alice C. You really are a cold-blooded machine. Literally."
"Boo~ psycho robot~"
Unable to take the jeers and criticism any longer, Alice shouted back.
"Fine! I'm sorry! But I don't want to hear that from you two of all people!!"
---
Down in the basement training room, Yi Rang pounded a punching bag like a maniac.
That wasn't enough, so she practiced a few strikes with a carbon-coated blade and tried the handful of spells she knew.
But the moment Chae Da-Seon's face came to mind, all the strength drained out of her.
"Keep that up and you're going to hurt yourself."
"...I need to get stronger right now."
"Hmph! Then maybe you should've trained instead of screwing around all this time."
"Damn it..."
Exhausted, Yi Rang collapsed flat on her back with her arms and legs spread wide.
Yu-Han looked down at her and asked,
"So how do you know Chae Da-Seon?"
"We've been friends since elementary school...
But she's always been crazy smart. Smart enough to go study abroad...
While I was dropping out of high school and running away from home."
Yi Rang remembered her high school days...
///
Naturally, she got a zero on the math test that day.
Naturally, the people around her laughed.
Hard to believe you're both beastkin...>
While they were talking, Chae Da-Seon herself appeared in front of them.
She gently placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
As Chae Da-Seon's grip steadily tightened, the boys immediately backed down and fled.
Screw all of this! I'm dropping out of this stupid school! I'm running away from home!>
Yi Rang stormed out of the school without looking back, while Chae Da-Seon desperately tried to stop her.
Do you have any plan for your future? What about your father?
How are you even going to feed yourself once you leave home?!>
///
"I stormed out so confidently, and what the hell am I even doing now...?
Is Da-Seon completely sick of me too?
I... hic...!"
Yi Rang buried her face and began to sob.
Her crying went on for nearly ten minutes.
Only after she had cried out every last tear and sniffle did she finally calm down enough to speak.
"Damn it... Crying my eyes out like this. Pathetic. Seriously."
Yi Rang wiped her face and looked over at Yu-Han.
Anyone else would've been bad enough.
But this irritating bastard?
Absolutely not.
She really hadn't wanted him to see her cry.
But something was off about Yu-Han.
He was wearing noise-canceling earbuds and playing a game on his holographic device.
"Ah, damn it! Every Power Card is at the bottom of the deck!"
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Only after Yi Rang snapped at him did Yu-Han remove one earbud and look over.
"You started rambling about something I didn't care about, so I played a game.
Was there anything important? With these earbuds in, I can't hear anything, you know."
Yi Rang was so dumbfounded that she let out a hollow laugh.
Then, strangely enough, some of her energy returned, and she shouted at him.
"Good! If you didn't hear it, then forget it! I'm not saying it twice!"
"Then answer my question. Do you want to beat Chae Da-Seon or not?"
"Of course I want to beat her! But if I'm supposed to get stronger than her in one week... how much am I supposed to train?!"
Yu-Han sighed before answering.
"You're already thinking about this the wrong way.
You'll never beat anyone if you think sheer effort is enough.
What matters is identifying the win condition—and figuring out how to reach it!"
"...So can I beat her or not?"
"Hey. I only fight battles I can win."
"Of course you do."
Still sitting on the floor, Yi Rang held out a hand to him.
Yu-Han remained cold.
"What, you want me to help you up? Get up yourself."
"...You bastard."
Grumbling, Yi Rang got back to her feet on her own.
Alice and Kim Ga-Eun, who had been secretly watching from the basement stairs, smiled in relief...
---
Meanwhile, in a group call between the three women of the Red Chasers.
[So you ended up dragging us into this after all? What a pain...]
[Weren't you going to handle it by yourself?]
Chae Da-Seon clutched her head as the other two immediately tore into her.
"Hmph! You were going to sit around doing nothing, and now the second I fail you're already tearing into me...
You think negotiation is easy?"
[So why did the negotiation fail?]
"Yu-Han was stronger than I expected...
Enough that I had to pull out a relic almost immediately."
Chae Da-Seon uploaded the bodycam footage of her fight with Yu-Han to the channel.
After watching it, the other two women went quiet.
[I don't understand. Why is there no information at all on a combatant at this level?]
[That's an unusually solid combat style... He'd be difficult to break down.]
"Glad you understand."
Chae Da-Seon was curious about Yu-Han's identity herself.
Then one sinister rumor, almost like an urban legend, surfaced in her mind.
A reaper-like killer who took any target he was hired to eliminate—politicians, businessmen, even children.
Someone who left behind neither evidence nor trace, making it impossible to verify whether the rumor was even true...
"No way..."
Chae Da-Seon wasn't about to let some unverified rumor rattle her.