Seth Lee's fist flew toward Vin Jin's face.
Vin Jin caught Seth's wrist with his left hand. His right palm shot upward, slamming into Seth's chin. Before Seth could react, another palm strike connected. Seth stumbled backward.
Vin Jin slid forward and kicked upward. His foot caught Seth under the jaw, launching him into the air. Seth crashed onto his back.
"Next," Vin Jin said.
---
Three K House members rushed him.
Vin Jin's palm drove into the first guy's stomach. He kicked low, yanking the guy closer. His knee smashed into the guy's face. Down.
The second guy swung. Vin Jin ducked and kicked upward in an arc. His heel connected with the guy's head. Then his leg came straight down like an axe, driving the guy's face into the ground.
The third guy hesitated. Vin Jin closed the distance. Both palms struck the guy's stomach—once, twice. The second hit pulled him forward into Vin Jin's rising knee. The guy dropped.
"Three down," Vin Jin said.
---
Seth Lee struggled to his feet, blood trickling from his mouth. "You bastard!"
He charged forward, throwing a combination—jab, cross, hook. Fast strikes. The hook connected with Vin Jin's guard, forcing him back a step.
"Not bad," Vin Jin said.
Seth kicked. Vin Jin caught his ankle, raised his own leg, and spun. His palm slammed into Seth's stomach with all his rotational power. Seth flew backward and rolled across the ground, coughing.
---
Five more K House members attacked together.
Vin Jin launched into a forward spin, executing a split kick mid-air. Both legs extended in opposite directions. He struck two guys simultaneously—one in the face, one in the chest. They dropped.
Three remained, circling him.
One punched. Vin Jin grabbed his wrist, hooked his leg between the guy's legs, and threw him over his back. The guy hit the ground hard.
Another tried to grab him from behind. Vin Jin locked the wrist, swept his feet, and threw him over his back as well. But this time he held on, slamming him down harder.
The third guy rushed in. Vin Jin kicked straight up from a crouched position. His foot caught the guy under the jaw, sending him airborne.
"He's a monster," someone whispered.
---
"ENOUGH!" Jin Jang yelled. "Seth, fall back! Everyone, attack together!"
The remaining K House members—about eight including Seth—regrouped around Jin Jang. Sweat dripped down his face.
"Vin Jin," Jin Jang said. "You're a monster. But K House has survived for years. We survived Johan Seong, we survived the crew wars. What makes you think—"
"Talk, talk, talk," Vin Jin cut him off, cracking his knuckles. "I don't give two fucks about you guys. I just don't like manipulative bastards who think they've got everything under control."
"What?" Jin Jang asked.
"You could've revived your crew quietly," Vin Jin said with a smile. "But why did you have to drag us into your mess? You find it funny to manipulate others? Guess what? I find it amusing to beat up fuckers like you."
Seth and four guys rushed him together.
Vin Jin spun toward them. His palm struck the first guy in the throat mid-spin. He grabbed the guy's wrist, pivoted behind him, and swept his feet. The guy fell.
Vin Jin held the guy's wrist and swung him in a circle like a weapon. The spinning body collided with two other guys rushing in. All three crashed in a pile.
Seth slipped past and threw a punch at Vin Jin's back.
Vin Jin shoved the guy down, then pivoted. His leg came up vertically, blocking Seth's punch. Then his heel came down on Seth's shoulder.
Seth collapsed, screaming. His shoulder was probably broken.
---
Three guys and Jin Jang remained standing.
"Backstabbing," Vin Jin said. "Did you think you'd walk away unscathed after backstabbing Goddog, Hostel, and Big Deal?"
One guy charged with a yell.
Vin Jin stood on one leg, the other extended behind him. He slid forward with explosive speed. His shoulder rammed into the guy's chest. The guy flew back twenty feet and didn't get up.
The other two ran.
---
Only Jin Jang remained. His girlfriend had already fled.
"You... how?" Jin Jang's voice shook.
Vin Jin walked toward him slowly. "I don't care about your story. I don't want to know it either. But you shouldn't have made things unnecessarily complicated. Whenever I see fuckers like you, I feel like crushing them."
He stopped in front of Jin Jang.
"Three years ago, Johan Seong destroyed K House in Gangbuk. You thought you could come back. But tonight, I'm doing exactly what Johan did."
Jin Jang stumbled backward over Seth. He looked up at Vin Jin, terrified.
"Please," Jin Jang said. "I'll leave Gangdong. I'll disappear—"
"Too late."
Vin Jin grabbed Jin Jang's collar and lifted him. He swept Jin Jang's feet while spinning. Jin Jang flew up, spinning and disoriented.
As Jin Jang fell, Vin Jin jumped, caught him by the collar, and drove him face-first into the ground. Jin Jang's body crumpled under Vin Jin's weight.
Vin Jin stood. K House members lay everywhere—knocked out, groaning, or gone. Seth clutched his shoulder, crying. Jin Jang lay unconscious.
"K House is finished," Vin Jin said. He grabbed Seth by his hair. "Call an ambulance."
He walked back toward the others, hands in his pockets.
"Guess I should check on Warren," he said.
Behind him, K House was done.
---
Several Hostel A members approached Hostel B's base.
"This is the building they went into, right?"
"Our Big Daddy, as well as Hostel B's Big Daddy."
"If we help him take down Hostel B's Big Daddy..."
"He might promote us to Uncles."
"Let's get to work already. Haha!"
"Hey, but... it looks like someone beat us to it."
Warren sat on a scrapped car, blocking the entrance. The Hostel boys attacked him. He sent them flying back with punches.
Warren stood up. "This is our story, our business. So get lost. Until the two of them are done with their chapters... no one can pass through."
---
Olly smashed Eli in the head, his face smothered in blood, snot, and tears. "WHY?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!"
Pure, raw anger consumed Olly. Eli thrust a baton into Olly's face, then smashed it across Olly's nose. Blood splattered. Olly grabbed Eli by his hair and shoved his head against a door and door frame. Then he slammed the door. Eli wedged the baton between the door and frame to stop its advance.
He grabbed a burning tape recorder and shoved it into Olly's mouth, smacking it. Olly did the same to Eli with a canned drink, then kicked it deeper.
Both flew back. Eli pulled out the can and started drinking from it. Olly extinguished the fire on his hair with another drink. "Why didn't you ever let me in? I was there too. I was part of the family too. I was a runaway too, just like you guys. But how come I was never accepted? Why?"
Eli looked down. "Because... you had a family to go back to." He looked up, but found Olly missing.
Suddenly a kick connected with the side of his head. Olly said, "Count to ten! Olly's gonna find you!" Then he smashed Eli's face with his heel. "Count to ten! Olly's gonna find you!"
He sat on top of Eli and unleashed a flurry of punches. Then he pulled Eli up by his hair. "Hide and seek. I've always wanted to play with you too."
Olly looked at the battered and broken Eli. His chest began to ache. He understood that the Eli he was beating wasn't the one he knew. He felt hollow inside. "...You're not Eli Jang," he murmured.
Eli suddenly stood and grabbed Olly's mouth, slamming him headfirst into a wall. He slashed across Olly's body with his claw. Blood splattered. Then he bit Olly's shoulder like an animal. He flipped Olly upside down and kicked him in the back. Just as Olly was about to drop off the terrace, Eli grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into the ground.
Eli pulled him up by his hair. But Olly didn't feel the emotion he was searching for—the fear he'd felt before from Eli. In his life, he'd never felt any emotion except fear. So he'd sought after Eli all this time, to experience that emotion just once more. But it wasn't there. It was hollow. He couldn't fear Eli. He kneed Eli in the face.
"There's no fear. Is this what it is? Have I grown stronger than you... that I can't feel fear anymore? THEN WHAT WAS IT? THE FEELING I FELT TOWARDS YOU... THAT WAS FEAR, WASN'T IT?!"
Warren, Max, and Derrick rushed in to save Eli. But they were all battered from their fights. Olly easily defeated Max and Derrick. He used aikido to throw Warren aside. He stopped in front of Sally.
"SALLY! TELL ME THE ANSWER TO THIS PROBLEM! THERE'S THIS EMOTION I FELT THREE YEARS AGO! AND IT'S TOO HARD, I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT! I WAS CERTAIN... THAT THE EMOTION I FELT BACK THEN... WAS FEAR. BUT THAT WAS... NOT FEAR? SO YOU TELL ME THE ANSWER! SALLY, YOU... YOU SHOULD BE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THIS, YOU BITCH!"
With that, he threw a punch at Sally. Warren covered Sally's eyes and took the punch to his face.
"Sally Park, close your eyes."
Sally cried out, "Hey, Warren...!"
At that moment, Sally gave him the answer. When Olly saw how Sally looked at Warren, he got the answer he'd been searching for. Tears began to fall down his cheeks. He'd been wrong. He'd been wrong all along. It wasn't fear he'd felt toward Eli. That day... he'd felt guilt. He'd felt guilty that he might have been the reason for Heather's situation. Back then, he shouldn't have sent that abortion message to Heather.
Olly knelt down and started smashing his head against the ground. Blood splashed.
"I... I killed her. So... this is called guilt...? Someone freed me from being tied up... wasn't Eli... but Heather."
He glanced at everyone through his tears. "You saw that, right? I'm not a psycho. I feel all that too."
Saying this, he jumped from the terrace. His body began to fall. "Now that I've figured out the answer to the problem I had three years ago, I guess I should mark the answer myself. Heather... I'm sorry..."
But at that moment, a shout came: "Fool! You can say this to me now! Why are you thinking of leaving us?!"