Chapter 24 : Blond tanned Holligan (4)

“Arghhhh… Aaaaghhhh…!”

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Jinsook, furious at the sight of Sunhee clutching her broken shin and writhing on the floor, clenched her fist and yelled at Yang Woobin.

He had done this to her best friend and soul partner—no matter what excuse he gave, Jinsook swore she would never forgive him.

“What am I doing? Isn’t it what you guys always preach—‘order’? I just kicked some trash like your precious order commands.”

“I’ll never forgive you!!!”

And then, when those infuriatingly twisted words came out of Yang Woobin’s mouth, Jinsook didn’t hesitate.

Staying true to her vow, she straightened her bent leg and launched herself at him like a rocket.

Her fist, packed with the full weight and force of her charge and intent on smashing his face in, flew straight at Yang Woobin’s handsome face.

But her tightly clenched punch didn’t land—it stopped just short of his nose.

He had taken a single step back with his right foot, retreating just barely enough to be out of reach—as if there was a single sheet of paper between her fist and his face.

‘W-What the hell? What is this guy…?’

Dodging a punch by ducking or turning your head was normal.

But taking just enough of a step back to be exactly out of range?

That was something Jinsook believed to be impossible in her world.

To pull that off, you’d need dynamic vision sharp enough to read every move and combat intelligence to calculate it all on the fly.

That level of combat ability didn’t belong in an average school fight.

Realizing something was wrong, Jinsook froze mid-punch, thrown off by the absurdity.

“Hm, yeah. Shouting out the move name definitely makes it sound more like a thug’s cheap move.”

“H-Huh? What did you just say?”

And that split-second hesitation made her an irresistible target for Yang Woobin.

“Here it comes! Wasabari!”

Thunk! Clatter—!

“Gyaaah!?”

No matter how fast you are, once you stop moving, you’re just an easy target.

With a clean, well-executed low kick, Yang Woobin swept Jinsook’s leg out from under her, sending her tumbling like a log.

In a street fight between punks, being knocked to the ground meant you were seconds from getting mounted and beaten—so Jinsook quickly pushed herself up off the ground.

And that was her fatal mistake.

“You soccer-kicking bastard!”

CRACK—!

From the grounded foot, to the rotation of the hips, the shift in center of gravity, and finally, the kick unleashed with all that energy concentrated at the tip of the foot—

It was a perfect soccer kick, like watching a professional striker take a penalty shot, and it struck Jinsook’s face along with Yang Woobin’s trashy move-name shout.

“…!?”

Jinsook’s face caved in.

Her front teeth went flying, and she couldn’t even scream before she hit the ground and became one with it.

“Tch. Worthless bitches acting all tough. You trying to die or something?”

Just like that, the suddenly erupted fight ended in an instant.

A man—who, by the laws of physical strength, should’ve been weaker than the girls—took down both Sunhee and Jinsook, the class’s top delinquents, all by himself.

The sight shattered everyone’s understanding of reality.

“…Oh my god.”

Of them all, the one most shaken was Fuyuno Tsubaki, who had witnessed it up close from where she sat, collapsed on the floor.

To her, Sunhee and Jinsook were like natural disasters—beings so powerful she couldn’t even imagine resisting.

If they hit her because they were in a bad mood, she had to laugh it off.

If they hit her because they were in a good mood, she had to laugh it off all the same.

They were calamities with fists and no mercy.

And yet, the one who took down those two without so much as breaking a sweat—Yang Woobin—felt to Fuyuno Tsubaki like something beyond human.

No, beyond a disaster.

‘He’s saved me twice now… Every time I thought there was no escape, he just casually turns everything around like it’s nothing…’

To her eyes, Yang Woobin almost seemed to be glowing.

Not because his hair was a shimmering blonde.

To her, he radiated a dazzling light that colored her dull, colorless world with his own vivid hues.

Even though they had only met twice, the impact of those meetings was so intense that Yang Woobin had already become that significant to her.

‘Who… who is he really? What’s his name?’

The more she looked at him, the more curiosity bubbled up in Fuyuno Tsubaki’s heart—

A natural curiosity toward someone who had saved her not once, but twice.

But even so, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Because Fuyuno Tsubaki was far too timid, too fragile.

‘Ugh, I want to ask… I want to say hello… but… What if he hates me…? Ugh, what’s wrong with me…?’

Her curiosity always ended the same way—spiraling into self-loathing because she couldn’t even act on it.

This time was no different.

She was about to hate herself for not saying a single word to the person who’d saved her twice.

But—this time, something was different.

“I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yang Woobin. The only direct heir of the Great Yang Clan. Basically the successor in all but name.”

It was because Yang Woobin had introduced himself—

Even though no one had asked.

When he revealed his identity, a wave of murmurs spread among the cadets seated in the circular lecture hall.

“A man is the heir? What kind of backwater family does that?”

“A total thug like that is an heir…? The Yang family or whatever must be in serious trouble.”

“If someone like him becomes the head, that family’s going straight to ruin…”

Since the general class was made up of all the freshmen who weren’t in the top 10%, it was naturally full of supers from prestigious families too.

To them, a noble house was more important than their own life.

So the idea that a man—especially a street thug like him—could be the heir to a prestigious family wasn’t just absurd.

It was a complete rejection of everything they believed in.

Because of that, after hearing Yang Woobin’s introduction, the cadets began whispering among themselves, openly criticizing the Yang family for choosing someone like him as their successor.

“…Ugh.”

Fuyuno Tsubaki didn’t like hearing people insult the family of the person who had saved her—not one bit.

But what she hated even more was the fact that she didn’t have the courage to speak up about it.

“…Huh?”

Then she looked at Yang Woobin—whose family was being insulted—and was surprised to see him smiling, corners of his lips curled in satisfaction.

‘What the…? Why is he smiling while his family is getting dragged? Could it be… like me…?’

Just as a strange thought popped into her head—

A large, solid, dependable-looking hand reached out toward her.

“Grab it and get up.”

It was Yang Woobin’s hand.

To Fuyuno Tsubaki, who had never so much as spoken properly to a boy, let alone touched one, that outstretched hand felt far too overwhelming.

It wasn’t that she disliked it—it was just… incredibly intimidating.

“Ah? Uh… N-no, I can stand up on my own—”

She awkwardly turned away from his hand, trying to push herself off the ground instead.

“Wanna die? Just take my hand and get up.”

“S-sorry.”

As always, weak little Fuyuno Tsubaki didn’t have a choice.

“Th-then… I-I’ll take it…”

She timidly reached out and took Yang Woobin’s big hand—just barely brushing it with the tips of her fingers because she was so embarrassed by the physical contact.

“Oh, for real—!”

“Eeep?!”

Frustrated, Yang Woobin grabbed her hand firmly and yanked her to her feet, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her chest in shock.

Her heart pounded in her chest, her face flushed hot, and for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him properly anymore.

‘Aahhh, wh-what’s happening to my body? Is this what happens when someone gets really surprised? I’ve never been this shocked before—I don’t know!’

Fuyuno Tsubaki was completely flustered, panicking over the strange sensations rushing through her body.

She thought it might go away if she just let go of his hand, since that’s when it started—

But Yang Woobin didn’t look like he had any intention of letting go.

“Hoh… I figured it might be true. So it really was.”

Naturally, there was no way Fuyuno Tsubaki could be the one to ask him to let go first.

So she had no choice but to wait until Yang Woobin, who was staring off into space muttering incomprehensible things, let go of her hand on his own.

Thump thump.

Burning hot.

Dry, parched.

The sensations came in order: the sound of her heartbeat pounding, the heat rising in her face, the dryness in her mouth.

These were strange symptoms she had never experienced before in her life, but oddly enough, Fuyuno Tsubaki didn’t find them unpleasant.

If anything, she felt like she was becoming addicted to these unfamiliar sensations.

While the entire lecture hall was still buzzing, all eyes fixed on her and Yang Woobin, she found herself worrying: “What if my sweaty hand is making him uncomfortable?”

That’s when—

“What’s all this commotion?”

A sharp voice rang out from behind her, from the direction of the lecture hall’s main entrance.

It was the professor in charge of their upcoming lecture—Intro to Mana.

“Oh. Right. Class is about to start.”

Only then did Yang Woobin release her hand, and Tsubaki let out a quiet sigh—surprised at how much she already missed the warmth of his grip.

“Who caused all this noise? Explain.”

Even if the general class was subject to a laissez-faire approach, that didn’t mean it was acceptable for two students to be rolling on the floor right before class began.

So Professor Ji Gyeeun of Intro to Mana narrowed her eyes and addressed the one who looked most composed among the group—Yang Woobin.

“I-It was him, Professor! That blonde, tanned delinquent suddenly did this to me and Jinsook!”

But it wasn’t Yang Woobin who answered—it was Sunhee, who was still writhing on the floor with a broken shin.

Though her shin was broken, she hadn’t passed out like Jinsook, who had taken a soccer kick to the face.

“…Cadet Yang Woobin, is that true?”

At Sunhee’s words, Professor Ji Gyeeun’s expression sharpened as she directed the question at Yang Woobin.

He simply gave a broad grin and answered confidently:

“Yes.”

“And why would you do such a thing?”

The professor continued her questioning.

Yang Woobin didn’t answer immediately this time.

Instead, he turned his body—and, just like he had done to Jinsook earlier, delivered a clean soccer kick to Sunhee’s face.

Smack!

“…?!”

Thud.

No one had expected him to do something like that right in front of a professor.

Caught completely off guard, Sunhee had no time to react.

Her face crumpled under the blow as she hit the ground, spitting out what looked like corn kernels.

Having now dealt with every one of his enemies, Yang Woobin turned back to face the professor and finished the answer he hadn’t given before.

“They pissed me off. Weak little maggots.”

That was the moment the name Yang Woobin, the blonde, tanned delinquent, was first introduced to the world of Dapcheon.