Gangdong, Seoul
A bus stopped at the bus stop, and Vin Jin stepped off. His eyes locked on two people waiting at the stop. The man had black hair and wore a white collared shirt, a black puffer vest, black pants, and boots, while the woman had light-colored hair with pink ends and wore a light-colored top, a green jacket, black ripped pants, and boots. Both had the letter 'H' tattooed on their necks. They were the Big Mom and Uncle of the Hostel—Sally Park and Warren Chae.
Seeing Vin Jin, they waved at him. Vin Jin walked over and hugged Warren, who hugged him back. "It's good to see you."
Vin Jin smiled. "It's good to see you guys too. It seems things have been going well on your end."
Warren smiled, "Yeah."
Sally asked. "Good to see you, Vin. Where's Sujin? She didn't come?"
Vin Jin scratched the back of his head. "No. I came alone. She doesn't know I'm here."
Sally was a little surprised. Normally, Vin Jin never left Sujin's side.
"Why didn't you tell her?" Warren asked.
Vin Jin's face turned serious. "This time, I'm here for something dangerous. It also involves you guys."
Warren raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
Sally added, "Let's talk on our way."
As they started walking, Vin Jin began to explain. "There's a group using your name to do some bad business. I don't know exactly what they do, but I came across them from a post. They sell worn items from girls—stockings, even hair, spit, and urine. They use fake accounts with fake photos for their sales. One of the accounts is using Sujin's photo. Not only her—many girls from my school are also victims of this."
Veins popped on Warren's face. Having to disband Hostel again because of someone else's wrongdoing was the last thing he wanted. "Do you have any information on them?"
Vin Jin shook his head. "I don't. My friends are searching for them. They mostly target runaways."
Suddenly Sally interrupted. "Guys, two girls want to join us. They're close by. Should we pick them up on our way?"
Warren nodded. "Okay. Let's do that."
---
Meanwhile, Vasco beat up a few goons who had stolen a girl's purse. He turned to return the purse to the girls. They seemed to be runaways.
"Thank you, mister!"
Vasco nodded. Behind him were Burn Knuckles members who had decided to follow him on this mission. They shouted:
"He did it again!"
"Yeah!!"
"That's our boss for ya!"
"If we can't protect, we aren't Homeless Fam!!"
"Wait! Wasn't it Burn Knuckles?"
"What's the Burn Knuckles? It sounds oddly familiar~"
Vasco asked the girls, "Are you runaways? Where do you live? This place is dangerous. My 'Homeless Fam' will take you in."
The girls shook their heads. "We found someone to take us in. They'll be picking us up from here."
Suddenly, two boys and a girl walked in. One of the boys said, "Is it you two? You look like you'll be good for business. We need more young girls."
The way the boy spoke made it sound like they'd come to kidnap the girls. Vasco appeared in front of them protectively.
"Don't go." Then he looked at the group. "Are you from... Hostel?"
No one knew why, but one moment the boy was standing with his group, and the next moment he was wrestling with Vasco. The Burn Knuckles members were shocked to see Vasco being matched by a random guy.
"Huh? He's holding up against the General?!"
"Impossible..."
Vasco was also shocked by the boy's strength. Suddenly, laughter echoed.
"Pft... Hahahaha!!! I was wondering why you felt familiar, but is that you, Vasco? What's up with all the fake beard? Are you pretending to be homeless or something?" Vin Jin laughed.
Vasco was surprised to see Vin Jin there. "Vin Jin! You joined the bad guys?! How could you?!" he shouted.
Vin Jin laughed louder. "Hahahaha!!! They're not bad guys. They're my friends."
"What do you mean?" Vasco asked, confused.
Vin Jin tapped his shoulder. "I'd really like to explain, but I know you're not gonna understand. So long story short: they're the good guys that the bad guys are impersonating."
---
Vin Jin, Vasco, Sally, and Warren were at Awful Tteokbokki, a food van. Max and Derrick were cooking inside. The two runaway girls were working as waitresses.
Vasco scratched his head. "So this is what he meant by 'good for business'?"
Sally nodded from the side. "Yeah. He's not good with words."
Nearby, Vin Jin ate some tteokbokki and pointed at two goons held by Vasco and Warren. "By the way, it's good that you captured them, but can you ask them why they're here?"
Vasco looked down at the guy kneeling under his grasp. "What are you doing here? Aren't you from God Dog?"
Warren asked, confused, "God Dog? A new religion?"
Vasco shook his head. "They're bad guys."
One of them said, "Jin Jang sent us here. You shouldn't treat us like this. We have valuable information."
Sally asked, "Jin Jang who? What valuable information?"
One of them answered, "We know where Eli is."
Suddenly, everyone fell silent before bursting into laughter. Vin Jin slapped his thigh and laughed. "No shit! We also know where he is."
The goons cried out, "We really know where he is!"
Vin Jin laughed even louder. "Yeah, we also know. He's at J High, so what?"
The goons were shocked. "H-How did you know?!"
Vin Jin gave a self-appreciative smile. "That'd be me, the one and only Vin Jin, who found him."
Vasco asked from the side, "Are you guys talking about Eli Jang from the hairstyle department?"
Vin Jin nodded. "Yeah."
Warren suddenly asked, "If these guys are useless now, can I beat them up?"
Sally shouted, "No! If you do that here, you'll scare away the customers."
Warren slumped his shoulders. "Okay..."
---
Gangbuk, Seoul
Gu Hajun was a student at Gangbuk-Seo. He had been the undisputed leader of the school since he transferred. But not long ago, he was defeated. The one who defeated him wasn't necessarily stronger than him, but Gu Hajun wouldn't deny he'd been defeated. He had stopped going to school ever since. Today he came out for a jog, but he wasn't ready for what he was seeing now.
Under the mist of the early morning, a red-haired guy wearing a tank top, soaked in sweat, was doing shadow boxing. He was so fast that his movements were all blurry afterimages to Gu Hajun. Slowly, the morning mist seemed to gather in front of the guy. Gu Hajun couldn't explain how, but he seemed to picture a vague figure emerging from the mist.
The figure was tall and lean. His earlobes seemed unusually long. His hair was braided. The figure slowly took an upright boxing stance.
The red-haired guy took a semi-crouch stance.
They moved. The red-haired guy delivered a quick punch. The phantom dodged and countered with a low punch to the redhead's midsection. The red-haired guy stepped aside for a moment and delivered a powerful straight punch. The phantom leaned back and countered with a low punch with his right fist. The red-haired guy parried low and countered with an overhead punch.
The phantom pulled away and countered with an uppercut. The red-haired guy used his open palm to intercept the incoming uppercut. Then he pulled away and rapidly hit the phantom with a series of punches. The phantom used his footwork to dodge the punches.
The phantom suddenly drew back and stepped forward again with an abdomen-aimed uppercut. It struck the red-haired guy, but he suddenly slid forward with a fast straight punch. The phantom was struck.
They reset. The phantom threw a combo consisting of two right hooks, followed by a low punch and an uppercut. The red-haired guy used his footwork to easily dodge and countered with a combination of three blows: a jab, a hook, and an overhead punch.
The phantom pulled back and came in with a quick high hook. The red-haired guy bobbed and countered with a rising uppercut while jumping high into the air. The phantom's head exploded, but it mended slowly.
A grin appeared on the red-haired guy's face. The phantom rushed in again with an overhead punch, but the red-haired guy used his forearm to block. He then delivered a stunning hook, rushed past the phantom, and followed with two more hooks.
The phantom seemed to be on the verge of dispersing. The red-haired guy threw a straight punch. The phantom lunged back and then delivered a gut punch. The red-haired guy was struck.
They reset. The red-haired guy delivered a quick jab to the phantom's body. Once the attack connected, he threw a cross punch. He finished the combination with a strong, downward hook punch that sent the airborne phantom spinning to the ground.
The phantom rolled back and rushed again. The red-haired guy hit the phantom with a body punch, followed by an uppercut. After the second hit, he spun his body toward the phantom, ending the combo with a hook punch.
The phantom dispersed slowly.
Throughout the entire spar, Gu Hajun seemed to have lost his breath. As soon as the fight was over, he fell to the ground on his back. He started taking in deep breaths of air. His back was completely soaked. He felt as if he had just fought dozens of men. There were ranks in this world, and Gu Hajun had always thought he was at the top. But now he knew—there were monsters in this world who couldn't be ranked.
Baki grasped a towel and began wiping off the sweat. Then he threw a bottle of water to the boy who was gasping for air on the ground.
"Kid, how was it? Impressive?"
Gu Hajun was so speechless that he had forgotten how to speak. He grabbed the bottle of water and started gulping it down. Baki walked toward him and crouched down. "Hmm... I didn't think you'd be this shocked. What's your name, kid?"
Gu Hajun finished the whole bottle of water. "I'm Gu Hajun."
Baki extended his hand and pulled him upward. "I'm Baki. Baki Hanma."