.

Meanwhile, someone being aside from the fuss came into my sight. She was a small girl wearing a hoodie, who looked like a middle school student. Even in this situation, she didn’t get up but just sat still on her seat.

Well, hanging on the balustrade and acting like a fanatic was, of course, dangerous. However, I wondered why she came here to watch the Ranking Battle with no interest. Having such thoughts, I looked around her, but no one seemed to look like her friends.

Suddenly, she looked kind of familiar, but I couldn’t see her face under the hoodie. ‘Maybe I’m getting her wrong,’ I thought and turned my head.

The kids holding the balustrade all the way in the front obstructed my view of the first floor. As I stepped up onto my seat, Yeo Ryung followed after me.

Just in time, the person sitting on the top of the highly-stacked mattresses, Jung Yohan, was coming down to the floor. Though he wasn’t that tall, his slim, fit, and well-balanced body, elegant-looking appearance, and gray-brown hair over his forehead shone like a crown in the light. Even the mattresses he was descending looked like a marble stairway.

A heavy silence prevailed in the space as if we’re having a coronation. Jung Yohan stepped on the floor, at last, then showed a crooked smile toward Ban Hwee Hyul. Leaning his head to the side, Jung Yohan asked softly, “You disappeared for a year when everyone needed you, but since you’re here now, perhaps the Number one position has lingered in your mind, huh?”

Clenching his fist quietly, Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t respond.

Jung Yohan continued speaking sarcastically, “Dude, you came a long way here, but I’m afraid you can’t defend your title…”

Watching Ban Hwee Hyul, I widened my eyes all of a sudden. Since he was here to fight, his glasses were kept inside my bag. In other words, Ban Hwee Hyul was now barefaced in which he could lose his temper and throw a fist at any time.

However, Ban Hwee Hyul stayed calm against Jung Yohan’s provocative remarks. ‘How could that happen?’ I wondered but soon realized something.

Right, Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t run away from his responsibility, but his guilty feelings toward his little brother urged him to disappear from everyone. The reason why he came back here wasn’t to defend his Number one title but to accept his responsibility for the mistakes he had done. Thus, Ban Hwee Hyul had no reason to get stirred up over Jung Yohan’s words only dripping with sarcasm.

While Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t let his emotions dictate his behavior, Jung Yohan looked a little disappointed. Clicking his tongue loudly, Jung Yohan then raised his voice. As if he became a host on a TV show, Jung Yohan looked around and spoke in delight.

“Other kids don’t know that you weren’t actually missing, huh? They’d just think you left Seoul a long time ago, but they have no idea that you did go to school with such a miserable appearance and behavior.”

Just as Jung Yohan wished, there was soon a fuss among the crowds.

“What does that mean?”

“I thought Ban Hwee Hyul went abroad…?”

“Yeah, me too. Didn’t he leave Korea to go play with the big boys?”

Listening to those words, Jung Yohan babbled in joy.

“Geez, I guess they really had no idea that you even got beaten by that weak Hwang Siwoo right beside you and have acted like a total loser, huh?”

Everyone in the gym was appalled by his surprise remark.

“WHAT? No way!!”

“But Hwang Siwoo doesn’t say anything too. Then, is that real?”

Just as they said, Hwang Siwoo just stood slightly behind Ban Hwee Hyul in silence while sinking his head on his chest. I just bit my lips wondering what Jung Yohan was gonna do by digging up Ban Hwee Hyul’s past.

Revealing a bitter smile, Jung Yohan continued, “How is it to feel like a weak person, Ban Hwee Hyul?”

Fixing his threatening red eyes toward the front, Ban Hwee Hyul just remained wordless.

“You would never know how much I wanted to drag you out from the top of the pyramid, where you were born to always stand like the highest predator and belittled the weak as ‘Weak is a sin.’ It’s finally the moment I looked so forward to. After today, you’re gonna stand at the loser’s position, which you’ve never experienced before, and that will last forever.”

With malicious glare in his eyes, Jung Yohan added, “The only thing left for you is the life of the loser.”

I stared at him while being half overwhelmed and half disgusted. Didn’t he talk about the survival of the fittest before? Perhaps he did like competition so much. With that thought in mind, I turned my head back to Ban Hwee Hyul.

Indeed, he talked to me in person that there was a time when he thought that weak people were inevitable to get bullied or harassed. Jung Yohan was, eventually, sort of Ban Hwee Hyul’s residue of the time. Thus, Ban Hwee Hyul brought this entire fight upon himself. Thinking to that extent, I heaved a sigh.

No matter how many times he promised his little brother that he would never fight with other people, all he could do right now to resolve this self-made disaster was to win this battle. No one could deal with this situation on behalf of Ban Hwee Hyul. Even if it was someone very close to him…

That was when I opened my eyes and raised my head at someone shouting out of the blue.

“Ban Hwee Hyul!”

For some reason, Eun Hyung’s voice was ringing from the lower floor of the gym, not from beside me. When I looked aside, even Yeo Ryung and Jooin were dropping their gazes to the first floor. Eun Hyung’s seat had been empty before we even knew.

‘When did he go down there?’ While I became terrified, looking down, Eun Hyung’s voice struck me again.

“Ban Hwee Hyul, you attacked me before with no warnings, right?”

I blinked swiftly, wondering, ‘Why on earth is he bringing that up here?”

In fact, Eun Hyung might have pretended to act undisturbed, but he would have had a grudge against Ban Hwee Hyul for getting a surprise attack. Would that be the reason? But that was utterly different from Eun Hyung’s personality that I used to know…

Then I was startled at the following situation. With no hesitation, Eun Hyung stretched out his fist and threw it straight toward Ban Hwee Hyul. He crashed on the wall in a blink of an eye.

‘What a striking blow he has! Indeed, a world of web novel!’ Rambling the thoughts in my head, I soon put myself together and uttered, ‘Come on, what are you thinking about!’

Like the fanatic kids hanging on the balustrade a while ago, this time I leaned against it, forgetting all the concerns I had about the facility collapsing. Jooin and Ban Yeo Ryung also stuck their upper bodies out, leaning on the metal railings.

There was only silence in the gym for quite a while.

Covering his stomach struck with a blow, Ban Hwee Hyul looked up at Eun Hyung. He seemed to have let Eun Hyung punch him even though he had read Eun Hyung’s moves prior to the attack. The look in Ban Hwee Hyul’s eyes tinged with the feelings of betrayal, not bewilderment.

He, at last, opened his mouth, “If you wanted to take my position, you should have talked to me ahead…”

“No, that’s not what I wanted,” flinched Eun Hyung. He then turned his head to look at the host on the stage.

While everyone directed their eyes to the host, who almost seemed invisible until that moment, Eun Hyung declared composedly.

“Number one ranked fighter, Kwon Eun Hyung is here.”

Unlike his calm voice, feelings of disgust crossed Eun Hyung’s face.

Shortly after his unexpected declaration, the gym was enveloped by a deafening silence. Then whispers began to spread over the audience.

“Internal strife?”

“I think so.”

“What’s he gonna do to take the Number one title when he can’t even defend that?”

Their words went in at one ear and out the other. Crossing my arms, I revealed a severe look on my face.

Strangers could see and talk that way, but we knew that Eun Hyung refused to become a ranked fighter because of the astounding reason, ‘It doesn’t help me achieving good scores or credits for my college admission.’ Thus, in our point of view, he had no reason to covet the Number one position.

But suddenly why? While I wondered about the reasons, Ban Hwee Hyul spoke like a betrayed lover.

“If you told me you needed it, I would have given it to you willingly.”

“No, I said I don’t.”

‘Eun Hyung, you don’t have to say such a word with all your heart,’ I said in my thoughts. Even if he was telling the truth, the cold-hearted Ban Hwee Hyul could get his feelings hurt. Anyway, why on earth did Eun Hyung do such a thing? It was definitely a deal that no one ever expected or demanded.