Baki lay on the ground covered in blood, thoughts screaming in his mind.
"Is this how it ends? I chose this path... How can I be defeated...? This pain... It doesn't matter anymore. What is this feeling...?Something else is rising inside me. Something violent is boiling up."
Baki moved slowly. His body felt weak. Blood covered his eyes. He couldn't see clearly—everything was blurry. He saw the blurred shapes of King and Hansu Seong fighting.
He walked with his limp body. He stumbled over something and fell. It was Kim Hyoseung's body from Blue Dragon.
"Is he dead? He looks pitiful. Do I look like that too? I don't, right?" He glanced at the battlefield. Bodies were scattered everywhere. A foreigner walked toward him. It was Titan, King's subordinate.
Baki tried to focus on the man's face, but it was blurry. Titan came up to Baki and put a gun to his forehead.
"Tch! Still alive? I'll end your pitiful life." He fired the gun at point-blank range.
Instead of worrying about the bullet, one thought echoed in his mind.
"Am I pitiful? Do I look pitiful? How could that be? It can't be true, right?"
The bullet was about to hit him, but his body vanished. Titan looked around, scared. "What the fuck?! I fired point-blank! How did he just vanish?!"
He didn't have to look long. Baki appeared in front of him. His face had a demonic smile. "I'm not pitiful. I'm not, right? So why are you saying I'm pitiful? Why are you lying?"
Titan was horrified. Baki's blood-covered body and demonic smile gave him a terrifying vibe.
"AaaAAAAAHHHH!!"
Titan screamed and started shooting at Baki. Baki watched the bullets coming. They looked incredibly slow. He moved slightly and the bullets missed.
Death concentration—that moment only comes when you're about to die. But if you can control every moment, you can control death. That's where true strength hides. Baki achieved it. Not because he was facing death, but because he despised losing so much that he'd choose death over defeat.
Titan emptied all his bullets. But Baki dodged everything without even moving from his spot.
"Ghhrrhh… khhh—HAAHAHAHAHAA! I AM BAKI HANMA! I CAN'T BE DEFEATED!"
If you're born male, at least once in life, you dream of becoming the strongest man alive. Currently, Baki has that thought too. Baki wanted to become the strongest so he'd never taste defeat again.
Titan started to reload his gun. Before he could, a punch connected to his stomach and tore through his body, coming out the other side. Titan looked down at his stomach in horror. One thought echoed in his mind in his last moments. "H-He's a d-demon! An ogre!"
Baki threw the guy aside and shook the blood off his hand.
---
King sat over the defeated Hansoo Seong. Suddenly he felt immense bloodlust aimed at him.
The birds and animals in the forest were crying out as if afraid. Birds flew everywhere, screeching.
King looked back. He saw Baki, covered in blood, walking toward him slowly. Baki looked massive to him. He felt like he was looking at a mountain. He felt small in front of Baki. He could instinctively feel he was in a life-or-death situation.
Baki pointed at Hansu. "...You're disrespecting him. He's my teacher... You can't disrespect him."
Before King could react, he was sent flying into a tree. The whole tree was destroyed by the impact.
King felt his ribs crack. He looked up to see Baki, but no one was there. Baki appeared in front of him. He performed a dashing kick, then stood on one leg and fired rapid side kicks with his other leg extended, finishing with a reverse thrust kick.
The speed was so fast, King didn't even have a chance to block. Every kick found its target, and with the last kick, King was smashed into the already destroyed tree. The tree finally fell over. Debris flew everywhere.
King dashed out from the debris with a punch. But Baki easily blocked it. After blocking, Baki delivered multiple spin kicks in a tornado-like pattern, then knocked King back. Just as King barely got up, Baki crouched and quickly dashed past King, then delivered a huge roundhouse kick that sent King spinning toward the ground, creating a crater.
King got up again. His whole body was battered and bruised. Unfortunately, before he could do anything, Baki delivered a barrage of vertical spinning kicks while rising into the air. At the peak, Baki performed an axe kick that knocked King down. Baki landed before King and followed with a spinning back kick to King's exposed back. With King still jammed on his foot, he finished by slamming King head-first onto the ground, creating a huge crater.
A massive wind blew over Baki. He looked up to see a helicopter coming. It had a machine gun mounted on it. A man targeted Baki with the machine gun. A barrage of bullets came at Baki. Baki dodged them immediately. But the bullets didn't stop. They kept coming. He ran toward a boulder and took cover. The bullets fired nonstop at the boulder, giving Baki no opening.
Finally, when the gunfire stopped, he slowly peeked out from the boulder. He noticed that King, Hansu Seong, and Manager Kim were gone. The helicopter flew away.
Baki rushed after it, but it was impossible to catch up. He sat down on the ground. His adrenaline rush ended. Immense pain hit him and he lost consciousness.
---
After a long while, Baki's consciousness stirred. He felt someone approaching. His eyes flickered open. By now, his body had recovered somewhat.
A tall, muscular man with slicked-back blond hair and glasses approached Kim Hyoseung's body. He wore a fitted, striped golden-yellow shirt with suspenders over dark brown pants.
He checked Kim Hyoseung's breathing, then stood up. "Oh man, I really liked him. But he ended up like this. Still, since this seems to be the end, I'll do something for you."
He broke the teeth off a comb and pointed it at Baki, who had risen to his feet. "You're the one who did this, right?"
Baki's eyes locked onto the stranger. "Who are you?"
The blond man grinned, a playful yet dangerous look crossing his face. "Me? I'm Goo Kim. And you just killed someone I liked." He twirled the broken comb between his fingers. "So naturally, I'm going to have to beat the shit out of you."
Without warning, Goo lunged forward with explosive speed, the comb aimed directly at Baki's throat. Baki twisted aside—the weapon sliced through the air where his neck had been a split second before.
Goo's smile widened. "Oh? You're fast. Good. I'd hate for this to be boring."
Baki didn't respond. He stepped forward and threw a straight punch at Goo's face. Goo deflected it with his forearm and countered with a vicious slash toward Baki's eyes. Baki leaned back, the comb missing by millimeters, and swept Goo's legs.
But Goo jumped, spinning in mid-air and bringing his heel down in a devastating axe kick. Baki crossed his arms above his head—the impact drove him inches into the ground, cracks spreading beneath his feet.
"Not bad!" Goo laughed, landing gracefully. "You're reminding me of a friend!"
Baki lowered his arms and pointed at Kim Hyoseung. "That guy, he's a co-worker. The one who did this to him is already dead."
Goo paused mid-step, his grin faltering for a moment. He glanced back at Kim Hyoseung's body, then at the carnage scattered across the battlefield—the massive craters, the destroyed trees, the bodies everywhere.
"Already dead, huh?" Goo's voice lost some of its playful edge. He lowered the comb slightly, studying Baki more carefully. "So you didn't do this to Hyoseung?"
"No," Baki said flatly.
Goo looked around again, taking in the full scope of the destruction. His expression shifted from playful to genuinely curious. "Damn. What the hell happened here?"
"Does it matter?" Baki said.
Goo scratched his head, then let out a long sigh. "I guess not. If you're telling the truth—and looking at all this, I'm inclined to believe you—then I jumped the gun." He pocketed the broken comb. "My bad. I saw Hyoseung like that and assumed... well, you know."
Baki's vision blurred. His legs trembled, threatening to give out. "Are you going to help him?"
Goo's expression became more serious. He walked over to Kim Hyoseung and crouched down again, checking his condition more thoroughly. "Yeah. Can't just leave him here to die. That'd be a waste of a good fighter." He glanced at the other bodies scattered around. "Anyone else here still breathing?"
Baki tried to remember. "I don't know..."
"Alright." Goo pulled out his phone and made a call. "Yeah, it's me. I need a cleanup crew and medical transport. Forest near... hold on." He looked at Baki. "Where the hell are we?"
Baki's mind was too foggy to answer. He just shook his head.
"Whatever, I'll send coordinates," Goo continued into the phone. "Multiple casualties. Some might still be alive. Bring everything... Yeah, yeah, I know it's expensive. Just get here." He hung up and looked back at Baki. "Help's coming. You should sit down before you collapse."
Baki slowly sat down on the ground, legs crossed. The adrenaline that had kept him going was completely gone. Pain flooded every nerve in his body.
Goo walked over and squatted in front of him, studying his face. "You look like hell, man. How are you even conscious right now?"
"Who are you?" Baki asked again, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Told you already. Goo Kim." He adjusted his glasses. "I'm just a guy who likes interesting things. And you, my friend, are definitely interesting."
Within minutes, the sound of approaching vehicles echoed through the forest. Several black vans pulled up, and men in dark clothing poured out. They moved with precision, carrying medical equipment and stretchers.
Goo directed them casually. "That one—Hyoseung—check him first. Then search the area for anyone else alive. Move it, move it! Time is money, people!"
The medics worked quickly, stabilizing Kim Hyoseung and loading him onto a stretcher. They fanned out across the battlefield, checking other bodies. A few more survivors were found—Jung Taeyang and Shin Seong-Ho among them, both barely clinging to life.
A medic approached Baki with a stretcher. "Sir, we need to get you to a hospital."
Baki tried to stand, but his body wouldn't respond. The medic and another person lifted him onto the stretcher. An oxygen mask was placed over his face.
As they carried him toward one of the vans, Baki's eyes met Goo's. The blond man stood there, hands in his pockets, watching with an amused expression.