Rebirth – 2

The opponent didn’t move even as Kang In-ho descended the stairs.

They merely watched Inho laboriously using his crutches.

After descending the stairs, Inho caught his breath.

He took a deep breath and looked at the opponent with a dumbfounded expression.

“I’m just wondering what kind of guts you have to be here?”

After a moment of catching his breath, Inho was the first to speak.

“…….”

The man who received his question, Kim Jin-tae, remained silent.

He just glared at him.

Kang In-ho didn’t particularly like the look, but he wasn’t hot-blooded enough to overturn the situation from the start.

Considering the opponent was half his age, he was willing to give him some more time.

Kim Jin-tae carefully examined Inho’s arms and legs with his sharp eyes, and Kang In-ho chuckled at the sight.

It reminded him of the bandits he had faced in the mountains, who had scrutinized him, trying to find his weaknesses.

“Arms, legs… does it look doable?”

He raised one corner of his mouth crookedly, provoking him.

Kim Jin-tae weighed the odds of winning, just like he did in the cafeteria the other day.

‘If I do well, I might be able to take him down.’

Such thoughts suddenly crossed his mind, but Kim Jin-tae decided to observe the situation further.

Growing slightly annoyed at the opponent’s continued silence, Kang In-ho sat down in front of Kim Jin-tae.

It was a place where benches were arranged in a ‘M’ shape.

“I was originally going to give you a chance to speak first, but since you’re keeping your mouth shut, I’ll ask you first.”

There are so many things I’m curious about.

Kang In-ho added.

“Why the hell did you do that? What did the teacher have to do with you to make you do such a thing?”

He swallowed briefly and asked.

It was a question sent as gently as possible, without any hostility.

But all that came back was more silence. Kang In-ho scratched his head roughly with his good hand.

“Ha… I hate repeating myself.”

Kim Jin-tae’s body instinctively flinched at Inho’s low murmur.

He felt like his cheek, which had been badly hit the other day, was tingling again.

“If you’re going to keep acting like a mute who swallowed honey, why are you hanging around here? We’re just wasting each other’s time. You must have something to say to me, right?”

As Kang In-ho thumped his chest as if frustrated, Kim Jin-tae, who had been as still as a wooden statue, stood up.

Inho looked up at the opponent with fierce eyes.

“Hey, let’s fight.”

Kim Jin-tae said, taking off his jacket despite the chilly weather.

“…Yeah, whatever.”

He just does whatever he wants.

Kang In-ho muttered discontentedly.

Knowing that boys of that age were full of bravado and recklessness, he held back once more.

With a sullen expression, he stood up, placed his crutches to one side, and awkwardly assumed a stance.

Although his stance was clumsy, he was confident that he could subdue his opponent with his memories of training.

He looked at Kim Jin-tae’s face.

“…?”

Then he craned his neck forward and examined his opponent again.

He could see an undeniable fear in Kim Jin-tae’s eyes, who had taken off his jacket and looked ready to fight.

Inho was certain that the emotion in his eyes was not something that had unconsciously manifested.

Inho slowly examined his opponent.

He could see the tightly clenched fists and the arms connected to them, and the legs planted on the ground were trembling slightly.

The color had already drained from his face, and the marks of his teeth were clearly visible on his lips.

“You….”

Just as he was about to ask, “What’s wrong with you?” Kim Jin-tae lunged forward.

A light hook came in as he lowered his center of gravity.

Easily dodging the attack that came in slow motion, he struck the opponent’s Adam’s apple with a knifehand strike.

“Gah!”

Kim Jin-tae staggered, making a sound as if he was about to suffocate.

Inho considered whether to deliver an additional blow, seeing the empty torso without any guard, but then lowered his hand.

Kim Jin-tae glared and rushed at him again.

Was it because he thought that if he rammed into him with his body, he would fall over since his legs were not in good condition?

Inho completely avoided it by moving his legs a few times.

Kim Jin-tae rolled on the park floor from the charge that no one was there to receive.

His pants were torn as he was dragged across the stone floor, and blood flowed through the gap.

“You son of a bitch!!!”

Kim Jin-tae cursed and rushed at him.

[If fear is present in an attack, you won’t be able to cut even a piece of paper, no matter how sharp a sword you hold.]

Inho remembered what Soyou had once said.

There was still fear in Kim Jin-tae’s eyes.

Hoo….

Kang In-ho took a deep breath.

Then, he raised his arm in a cast high and brought it down on the top of the opponent’s head.

With a dull thud, Kim Jin-tae crashed to the ground.

He twitched on the floor for a while like a frog hit by a stone, and Inho spoke to him, who couldn’t lift his head.

“Let’s stop now.”

Kim Jin-tae hated Kang In-ho. Everything from his appearance to his actions.

At first, he thought he had met a like-minded friend.

He believed he had created a group that would make boring school life fun.

If someone asked him if drinking, smoking, and extortion were fun school activities, he could confidently nod his head.

It was because their ways of thinking were different from the start.

But even Kim Jin-tae thought that Kang In-ho was a different kind of guy.

Kang In-ho was more vicious and more of a scumbag.

It was the day he took money from a middle school student he had lured into an alleyway.

As was the case with most students, they didn’t have much money on them.

Just as he was about to leave after taking less than 5,000 won, Kang In-ho slapped the middle school student across the cheek.

With a crisp sound, the middle school student fell to the ground.

[What are you doing?]

When Kim Jin-tae questioned him with wide eyes, Kang In-ho shrugged.

[You were just wasting my time.]

There was also an incident like this one day.

After it became known that Kang In-ho’s family was quite well-off, Kim Jin-tae, who was smoking behind the school, asked him.

He asked why he bothered taking money when he had so much.

[Just because? It’s fun.]

In response to his question, Kang In-ho took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaled it slowly, and answered.

If it was just that, he could have gotten along well with him.

Yes, if it had just been that, he could have gotten along well with him.

If only Kang In-ho hadn’t brought that woman he had started seeing one day.

[Me? I’m… Shin Jeonga.]

“Why did you do that?”

Kim Jin-tae cried out, half sobbing, as he lay face down on the ground.

Blood flowed from his face, which had been scraped against the hard floor.

Even though it was difficult to open his eyes because of the blood flowing down from his forehead, he lifted his head and looked at Kang In-ho.

“But why the hell… why are you suddenly doing this to us?”

“No….”

Kim Jin-tae sobbed with unstable breathing due to being overturned.

“At least… you should have treated… Jeonga well… you son of a bitch….”

Kim Jin-tae hated Kang In-ho.

Everything from his appearance to his actions.