Myeonghoo Jin froze, the cigarette dangling from his lip. He slowly turned his head, his eyes widening as they landed on me. For a second, he looked like he'd seen a ghost. Considering he'd watched me die, he wasn't far off.
"You..." Myeonghoo rasped, his voice cracking. "You're alive? Because of you... because of your damn family, I lost everything! My house, my father's business... it's all gone!"
I stepped into the dim light of the alleyway, my hands loose at my sides. I didn't feel fear. I felt a cold, simmering satisfaction.
"Oh? You deserve it," I said, my tone as sharp as a razor.
"I'll kill you for real this time!" Myeonghoo roared,
throwing his cigarette aside and lunging forward. His two friends followed suit, pulling out brass knuckles and short wooden batons.
But I wasn't that Choyun anymore. I was Arya, and I didn't spent my life learning Kalaripayattu because it looked cool.
I learned it because I didn't want to lose.
When you grow up as an orphan, you understand something very early—no one is coming to save you. There's no one to step in when things go wrong. No one to stand between you and danger.
And the law?
It doesn't look too closely at people like us.
So I learned to protect myself.
Not for pride or fame.
But because in this world, if you can't defend yourself, you're nothing more than prey.
Before Myeonghoo could even close the distance, I moved.
[MAIN QUEST: FIRST FIGHT]
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT MYEONGHOO JIN]
[REWARD: SILVER CARD X2, BRONZE CARD X1]
The purple screen flickered for a microsecond before I ignored it. I didn't need the system to tell me how to fight. I stepped into Myeonghoo's space, my body low, moving with a fluid grace that caught him completely off guard. He swung a heavy, telegraphed right hook.
I didn't block it. I parried, my palm striking his wrist and redirecting the force upward. In the same motion, I drove my elbow into his solar plexus. The air left his lungs in a violent wheeze. This was the Vital point striking of Kalaripayattu—targeting the vital points to shut down the nervous system.
"Myeonghoo!" one of his thugs shouted, swinging a baton at my head.
I didn't look back. I felt the air shift. I dropped into a deep crouch, my leg sweeping out in a wide, powerful arc. My foot caught the thug's ankles, sending him crashing onto the concrete. As he fell, I pivoted on my left heel, my right leg snapping upward with the mechanical precision of the system's Taekwondo.
A Reverse Roundhouse Kick.
My heel connected squarely with the second thug's temple. There was a sickening thud, and the boy went limp before he even hit the ground. He spun in mid-air from the sheer momentum, landing in a heap of trash bags.
Myeonghoo had recovered enough to stagger back, his face pale. "What... what the hell are you? You didn't fight like this before !"
"Choyun is dead," I said, my voice echoing in the narrow alley. "I'm just the one who inherited the debt."
I moved again. Myeonghoo tried to tackle me, desperation in his eyes. I met him head-on, my hands gripping his shoulders. I used his own weight against him, spinning and slamming him into the brick wall.
Before he could slide down, I unleashed a barrage of palm strikes to his chest and shoulders, each one aimed at a specific Vital point. I could feel the vibrations traveling through my arms as his muscles began to seize.
Myeonghoo tried to spit at me, but I caught his jaw in my hand. I pulled my leg back, the muscle memory of the Taekwondo card merging perfectly with my Kalaripayattu balance. I launched a high roundhouse kick, my shin slamming into his neck.
Myeonghoo's head bounced off the brick wall. He slumped to the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head. He was done.
The alley went silent. The first thug I'd swept was groaning on the floor, clutching his broken ankle, while the other was completely out cold. I stood in the center of the carnage, my breathing steady, my heart rate barely elevated. I looked down at Myeonghoo, the boy who had ended one life and started another.
[MAIN QUEST COMPLETED!]
[REWARD: SILVER CARD X2, BRONZE CARD X1 RECEIVED]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN THE CARDS?]
I closed the window. Not yet.
I looked at my hands. They were trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the adrenaline. This body was still weak, still untrained compared to my old self, but the System's shortcuts were making up the difference. I felt a strange sense of loss. I had won, but I hadn't earned it through years of sweat.
I turned and walked out of the alley, leaving the three of them in the dirt. As I stepped back onto the main road, the neon lights of Gangbuk felt brighter. I checked my phone. It was late. Mom and Alfred would be worried.
I started the walk home, my mind already calculating the next move. If Myeonghoo was this easy, what about the others? What about the real monsters of the North?
"I'm coming for all of you," I muttered to the empty street.
When I finally reached the estate, Alfred was waiting by the gate, his umbrella tucked under his arm. He didn't say a word about my disheveled uniform or the scuffs on my shoes.
He simply opened the gate and bowed."Welcome home, Master Choyun.
The Madam has kept dinner warm for you."
I walked past him, my head held high. I went into the house, greeted Mom with a tired smile, and headed up to my room. I needed to open those cards. I needed to see what the System had in store for me next.
I sat on my bed and tapped the air.
[SILVER CARD X2 OPENING...]
[BRONZE CARD X1 OPENING...]
The room was filled with a soft, purple glow as the digital cards shattered into light. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I knew one thing for sure.
The game had officially begun.