He looked at the place with dread. This was The Arena. This was the place the kids who were not bought after 13 years of age were sent to fight other people and earn money for the junkyard.
The people here were brutal. There were no rules against killing. This was a no bars held death match against each other.
"I am absolutely tired of having the Royal Army use this as their dumpster." One of the more muscular men spoke, cracking his knuckles.
"Do not make decisions you will come to regret." Another man spoke, stopping the other man who was just getting ready to beat the lights out of Ha-Jin.
"Get out of my way, "wise guy"! You keep getting in everyone's way, stopping them like all you do all day is worry about getting killed about the smallest of things!" The muscular man spoke, punching the wise guy in the face and sending him tumbling down the stairs of the ring.
The man almost managed to punch Ha-Jin when the manager of The Arena entered the room blowing a whistle. "What are you upto now Baek?" He calmly asked while walking towards the man "Baek" with not a single hint of fear in his eyes or movement.
"It's nothing Manager! That guy just tried to touch me so I reflexively punched him. No big deal!" Baek said, there was suddenly fear in his movements and words.
"I was going to let you off easy but you lied to me. You know how much I hate bad boys right? Now be good and accept your punishment of solitary confinement for 10 days." The manager said as he reached face to face with Baek.
As soon as Baek's muscles tensed to run, he was cleanly hit on one of his vital points, swiftly knocking him down. A portal appeared beneath his feet as he fell down.
Ha-Jin finally got up from his trance and withdrew his composure. "Who are you?" He calmly asked, looking the manager in the eyes.
"Oho! A brave one indeed! Having the will to face me after I knocked out that gorilla twice your size in one blow!" The manager said, clapping his hands together.
"How come you are so sure that that monkey was stronger than me?" Ha-Jin asked, still maintaining his composure even though there was a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Looking at you on the ground, I quite did think so.. but now that you are up on the ground and looking at me like this with those scars on your body, I am getting mixed feelings.." The manager replied with clear mockery in his voice.
"However, all your questions will soon be cleared after you spend a few days in this hellhole.~" The manager said, looking at the ring where two men were fighting for their lives in front of nobles and gamblers.
"I had been informed that you would be dropped off here soon so I booked a match for you, I hope that it isn't a problem." He said, a portal opening beside him as he grabbed a T-shirt from it and threw it to Ha-Jin.
"Oh, thank you, turns out you're not fully sadistic." Ha-Jin said but there was no kindness or thankfulness in his words at all.
"Don't sweat it, I get money from these fights as well, wouldn't want you getting sick and having yourself killed on the first day, yeah?"
He said, stepping into one of the portals as it closed.
As the fight ended and the teeth and blood were cleared off the ring, the names for the next round were announced.
"Ha-Jin vs. Jun!"
"This early? Really? And what kind of name is Jun anyway?" Ha-Jin thought while getting onto the ring.
The man "Jun" was completely different from Ha-Jin's expectations, he was muscular and towering at 6 feet.
"Now, isn't this a death sentence for a scrawny 15 year old?" Ha-Jin asked the referee but to no response.
"1!"
"2!"
"3!"
"Begin!"
The referee announced as Jun swiftly lunged onto the startled Ha-Jin, grabbing him by his waist.
"Woah! Woah! What the hell are you doing?!" Ha-Jin cried out, startled.
Before Ha-Jin could respond, the entire world flipped and then slowly turned red as a sharp pain shot through his head.
He had just been suplexed to the ground so hard to the point that his brain was shaken and his head was bleeding.
Ha-Jin tried his hardest to escape from Jun's monstrous grip but to no avail. His head met the ground in another inevitable supplex.
"If I'm hit with another one of those, I don't think I'll be strong enough to keep my eyes open!" Ha-Jin thought about giving up.
[User has low health]
[Initiating temporary strength boost]
[A hand is exte-]
[Skill [WTF Taekwondo] has been granted to user]
[Regeneration is boosted for 5 minutes]
"5 minutes, yeah, not enough but i'll have to manage to win in 5 minutes." Ha-Jin thought before activating his main skill.
[Main skill: Body Mana Manipulation has been activated]
Ha-Jin augmented his entire body and managed to loosen Jun's grip just enough to slip out.
[Taekwondo Skill: Strike has been activated]
Ha-Jin landed a swift kick on Jun's chin which made him speak for the first time.
"Oh, wonderful! You're not dead yet! I thought you were just some scrawny kid waiting for death's embrace!"
"Certainly not after all I've done to live a peaceful life, though this is so far away from that!" Ha-Jin yelled, kicking him once more.
Ha-Jin and Jun ran at each other, ready to fight it out till one of them died.
***
The man watched mysteriously from the scenes. He was in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with red trousers and sunglasses.
His blonde hair was smooth and his body was muscular. Anybody could tell he was stronger than most just by looking at him.
The manager placed a hand on the man's shoulder and the man's fist swung to right beside his face.
"Woah! I see your reflexes are still just as sharp, sir!" The manager exclaimed, brushing his hand away. "Right this way." He guided the man to the owner's office.
The man's stoic expression remained until they reached the owner's office and he went in.
"Ah, how good to see you, Jae-Woo!" The owner exclaimed, getting up from his chair and extending his arms to hug him.
"Good to see you too. However, that is not important for now... There have been some issues with.. my business as you might say since we can't take that name in public." Jae-woo said, sitting down on the chair in front of the owner's desk.
"I'll get straight to the point, I am interested in two boys that are fighting here and I would like them to accompany me, I hope that will not be too much of a nuisance for you... Right?"
The office shook slightly with the last word he said. "I'm kidding, of course, you could never see me being that serious and grumpy in my entire life!" Jae-woo said, laughing.
The owner was not surprised at all, he knew what Jae-woo was like. "No problem, you can have the two boys you'd like. You're known as the legend of Drakrath after all! However, I am curious which two boys were capable enough to peak your interest?"
"Of course, of course. These two very special boys are--
***
Ha-Jin sat on top of Jun's immobile body, his hands covered in blood. Teeth were all around the ring. Blood splattered across it. Ha-Jin didn't stop his relentless assault and kept punching Jun's face.
Ha-Jin augmented his elbow with all his mana and hit Jun's face one last time as Jun's flailing stopped, his lifeless body lay there on the floor, his face covered in blood, no teeth left in his mouth.
"Ha-Jin wins his first round in The Arena after brutally killing Jun, the supplex master of The Arena!" The referee announced, not grabbing Ha-Jin's arm.
Ha-Jin was escorted to the infirmary to treat his wounds. His head was bleeding severely as well as his nose.
However, right before they could get him off the ring, he fell right on his face, totally knocked out.
Jae-woo watching from the stands broke a sweat. "Holy shit... That can't be it, right? What some people call Auto-Battle?"