.
Paying attention to the other side of the door, Ban Yeo Ryung whispered, ‘It is Yoon Jung In though…’
Well, his way of speaking was so unique that we could choose him right away among a hundred other kids.
Then who else was he talking to? As soon as the question popped in my head, the intercom bell rang noisily. Even that sound seemed to buzz loudly than usual.
Rubbing my stinging ear, I stepped close to the intercom and pressed the call button. Two people’s faces appeared fully on the screen. It was good to put themselves that close in front of the camera lens as if they had nothing to hide; however, they stood too close that their faces looked distorted to recognize them.
I furrowed my brows, thinking, ‘Let’s see. I know that one of them is Yoon Jung In, then who’s the other one…?’
Although the mysterious person had his or her face looking contorted on the screen, as soon as the gorgeous facial features and flame-like red hair came into my sight, I burst into exclamation.
“Eh???”
And at the same time, she yelled, “Hey! Ban Hwee Hyul! Get your fat as* out there ASAP!!”
Listening to her words, we all turned around at once. Ban Hwee Hyul, standing blankly in front of my room, just tilted his head.
Banging on the door again, the girl shouted, “I heard that you’re here!”
“Ah, if you do that, it seems like I sold information to you!” said Yoon Jung In, almost crying.
“Do you know how serious things are right now? Do you even know what’s going on?!”
“Dae Lisa?”
“Eh? Lisa noona is San hyeong’s friend…” Jooin, beside me, murmured, cocking his head.
I gestured with my eyes to open the door.
Once the door finally opened, Dae Lisa and Yoon Jung In almost rolled into my house like snowballs. Sitting near the shoe rack, they spat their breaths roughly that I showed a look of bewilderment on my face. ‘What made them dash to my house like that?’ I wondered.
Shortly after, Yoon Jung In quickly lifted his head and spoke as if he was making an excuse.
“I met her on my way to this place. Coming across the fact that she was also searching for Ban Hwee Hyul, I told her he’s here, then she dragged me all the way to this place and…”
Amid the situation, Dae Lisa shouted, “Hey!” as she found Ban Hwee Hyul. Striding toward him, she grabbed Ban Hwee Hyul abruptly by the collar.
“You have no idea what happened in the preliminary round, huh? That’s why I called you so many times, but you never picked up the phone, right? Where have you been wandering around? Hey, do you know who’s the pre-race favorite right now?” shouted Dae Lisa.
After listening to her words, I recalled Jung Yohan’s true goal, the reason why he hired people to get rid of his fellow competitors.
At that moment, a sharp voice came over from behind Dae Lisa’s back.
“Isn’t it Jung Yohan?”
Dae Lisa switched her gaze in the direction. With eyes widened, she stammered, “… Aren’t you San’s… dearest adorable cute little cousin…?”
‘Whoa, it’s a been while to hear that nickname… Anyway, if it just pops out from someone automatically that way, how often has Woo San been calling out that name?’ While my face turned dark with that thought in mind, Jooin asked her repeatedly.
“It is Jung Yohan, right?”
“How did you know that?”
Once Dae Lisa tossed the question in surprise, I realized, at last, that something else should come first before paying back the incidents that occurred to Woo San or Ban Hwee Hyul.
As of now, we had to stop Jung Yohan from becoming the nationwide Number one.
With his stunning information power and abilities, Jung Yohan managed to use Ban Hwee Hyul and other people as much as he wanted. So, if he turned out to own the Number one position, other ranked fighters would also become a set of cards in his grip. And if that took place, Ban Hwee Hyul and Jooin wouldn’t be able to pay him back for what he did, forever…
As if he also thought the same, Jooin shot an icy glare at Dae Lisa. Taking a step forward, he uttered, “Please explain what’s going on.”
“Ah, um… so…” Stammering for a second, Dae Lisa then continued to explain the overall situation.
After the preliminary round, all of the forty qualified people including Jung Yohan were newbies in which even Dae Lisa, who has been growing up around this battle, had never seen them until that time.
Although the previously ranked fighters assumed that perhaps a lot of freshmen fighters had passed this year’s pre-race, there seemed to be too many rookies. Thus, they started digging into an investigation.
As a result, twenty of the new forty qualifiers were attending the same gym, which turned out to be owned by Jung Yohan’s father.
Speaking to that extent, Dae Lisa exploded in anger all of a sudden.
“Maybe that’s why those bastards fought gently only against Jung Yohan. They should have become less obvious…”
Jooin, listening quietly to her explanation until that moment, dropped a question calmly.
“If Jung Yohan passed all the preliminary rounds, not by his fighting skills, but from his henchmen conniving in letting him win, can’t we just drop him at the actual tournament?”
Dae Lisa denied his words by shaking her head. With a bitter look on her face, she explained, “It isn’t that simple. First of all, Jung Yohan’s fighting skill isn’t that bad. Even I, who’s one of the top-ranked fighters, can’t guarantee whether I could win him over or not during a one-on-one fight. Most of them considered as potential winners against him have retired or not in their places from being surprise attacked.”
“Geez, why now…”
“Besides, we have to think about the physical strength too. Every time Jung Yohan has a match with his henchman, he can save his energy and strength while spending time pretending to fight, but we have to do our best in every round. Twenty qualifiers, five out of one, are under Jung Yohan, so you get how serious the situation is, right?”
“Hmm…”
While Jooin took a deep breath, Dae Lisa continued speaking.
“Do you know what’s worse? Once they become the new ranked fighters! Usually, we move individually. Only Gang Han and I belong to a special case since we are blood ties. Even Woo San will never stretch the rule if he gets to fight with his fighter friends. Suh Doh Gyum… let’s just put Suh Doh Gyum and Kim Pyung Bum aside.”
Showing a bizarre expression on her face, she quickly added, “But Jung Yohan and his boys aren’t like us.”
“What do you mean?”
“If about twenty ranked fighters team up, will you be able to imagine how horrible their destructive powers can be? Though we go through a discussion and decide by the majority voting, everything will come up alongside their rules, eventually.”
Besides, regarding the fact that all the pre-eliminated candidates had opposed Jung Yohan and his henchmen disturbing regular students, it was obvious in which direction the new power would lean afterward… The last words that came out of Dae Lisa’s mouth darkened our faces.
A heavy silence prevailed in the living room. In that situation, I fell into thought with a stiffened face.
The future where the ranked fighters collect money from regular students and punish them in groups… What if it becomes a part of my real life and doesn’t exist only in novels?
Besides, those new ranked fighters will never just leave alone the students who rebel against them. The Four Heavenly Kings, who always have had conflicts with them, and my classmates, who’ve denied the kids in the ranking and kept getting along with Ban Hwee Hyul because of me, will also become these victims.
However, there was a severe problem to flip over the situation. Once I finished rambling those thoughts, I browsed the wall calendar then opened my mouth.
“But the preliminary round is already over. Today is Thursday, and tomorrow is Friday. We only have two days left until the actual tournament, but none of us are qualified to join the game. In that case, how can we reverse the situation?”
Instead of Dae Lisa, Jooin responded, diverting his gaze back onto Dae Lisa.
“We can make one of us meet qualification then.”
“What?”
“I guess it’s possible to switch the ranks between the ranked fighters at any time. Thus, if we take the positions of those who’re in the Top 100, we become qualified to join the actual match, right?”
“Ah, hold on… wait…”
Why was he talking like fighting to snatch their qualification for participation in the main tournament was the same as reserving a train ticket? Having that thought in mind, I turned my head when Dae Lisa’s stiffened voice reached my ears.
“It’s, of course, possible.”
“WHAT? What did you say…?”
