Chapter 9

Meanwhile, after the match, Seungho just arrived home and he stood in front of a man, sitting on his chair.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing? I've seen the video online."

"I know that already." Seungho sat in one of the chairs as he took his bag and blazer off.

"15-2? You were considered a prodigy since you were 12. You're disgracing the family name!" The man slammed his hands on the table.

"I can't do anything about it. That was Sam Hyun-woo! He has the upper hand with his height!"

"That doesn't matter. You're just four inches shorter, you can still play against him on a same level."

"Fix this problem of yours or I won't send you overseas to play."

Seungho walked out of the room and closed the door by slamming it angrily. Seungho walked outside of his house and students wearing the same uniform as him arrived.

"You've seen the video surely. Find that bastard and beat him up until he can't play anymore!" Seungho shouted at them.

The students separate and Seungho entered back in his house.

"Tsk. Sam Hyun-woo... I'm about to end your whole career." Seungho grinned as he punched the wall.

Elsewhere, Hyunwoo just changed from his work uniform to his school uniform after his shift had ended.

"Good work today!" The new cashier that replaces Hyunwoo after his shift ends, Jahyun said.

"I'll be leaving this in your care." Hyunwoo waved his hand before walking outside.

Hyunwoo opens his phone and he was met with a lot of notifications. He checked the group chat for him and his classmates only and they were tagging him in some kind of video.

"This was... from the park. I knew there were a lot of people who was going to watch, but I never expected this many."

"Hey, you're Sam Hyun-woo?" A deep voice from the dark corner of the streets was heard. Out of the shadows, a tall man and two averagely built men approaches him.

"Yes. Why?"

"We found him. We're at the convenience star near the PC Cafe."

"Take care of him." A delinquent ran at Hyunwoo with his fists balled up to punch him.

"It won't be bad... if I used these fists of mine against people who started the fight." Hyunwoo blocks the first punch, surprising the three men.

Curling his hands into a fist, Hyunwoo aimed for the bridge of the man's nose and punched it, causing blood from his nose to splatter on the ground.

The second delinquent quickly ran at Hyunwoo to help the first one by sending a swift punch towards Hyunwoo's face.

Hyunwoo evades the punch and grabbed the delinquent's arm. He continued twisting it as the man screams in agony and kneels to the ground before getting directly kicked in his face to knock him out the instant.

"You aren't that bad." The tall buff delinquent approached Hyunwoo while he takes off his jacket.

"But I've trained martial arts since elementary."

"Don't care. Didn't ask. Plus, I'm having a bad day."

"Punk, you think you're all that?"

The delinquent balled up his fist and sent a punch towards Hyunwoo's face which he barely blocked.

"H-He's strong!" Hyunwoo thought to himself and he evades another punch.

The delinquent sends a kick at Hyunwoo's stomach, sending Hyunwoo crashing to a concrete wall.

"I'm gonna have some fun." The delinquent laughed as he grabbed Hyunwoo by his hair.

Hyunwoo tried to free himself from the grip of the delinquent, but to no avail, the delinquent was above his level. Before Hyunwoo could finally get free, his face was slammed onto the delinquent's knee twice, he heard a loud pop sound, but he couldn't react quickly because he got punched in the face.

His face was about to get slammed onto the concrete wall, but the delinquent felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you doing to one of my co-workers?" The two looks behind and saw Heesok standing there with an ominous aura.

"Hey, get your hand—" Before the delinquent could continue his sentence, Heesok punched him and knocked him out within the blink of an eye.

"W-What are you doing here? I thought you were busy studying?" Hyunwoo asked as he was helped by Heesok to stand up.

"You have difficulty speaking. Your jaw must be dislocated. Go to the hospital."

"He didn't even bother answering my question..." Hyunwoo just stared at Heesok with a deadpanned face.

Hyunwoo grabs his jaw and while Heesok walked away, Heesok heard a loud pop. Turning around to Hyunwoo, Heesok grabbed Hyunwoo's collar and bit his lip angrily.

"You..."

"It's alright. I've experienced this a couple of times before that my mother needed to teach me how to pop my jaw back in place. I can pop any dislocated joint back in place, you know."

"This brat..." Heesok slapped his face in disbelief.

"I'm going home now. See you, hyung." Hyunwoo waved his hand while walking away.

"Yeah, sure. I'll take care of these punks right here." Heesok glared at the three delinquents who were trying to stand up.

"Who sent you three here?"

"N-No one! We just tried to rob the store!" The two remaining conscious delinquents answered with fear in their voice.

"I see. You tried to rob my store?"

The deafening silence of the night was then filled with screams of pain and fear coming from the convenience store parking lot as the new cashier watched in horror.

Hyunwoo later arrived home and his sister was sitting at the dining table, seemingly waiting for him.

"Hyunwoo! What happened to your face?" Jeongsoo worriedly ran to him and began checking on his face.

"It's nothing. I just tripped on my way back, hehe." Hyunwoo ginned to assure his worried sister.

"Are the two sleeping now?"

"Yes. Have you eaten dinner?"

"Yeah, I ate some at the convenience store. I felt like eating noodles for once today. I'm going to sleep early today. Good night~" Hyunwoo said as he entered his room.

"I see. Good night, Hyunwoo."

The next day, Hyunwoo heads to school a bit too early, but just in time to come across Hyejin and her friends on their way to school as well.

"Hyejin!"

Hyunwoo called Hyejin from behind as he approached her and her friends.

"Hm? Good morning. Hyunwoo, you're early today. Has Eunjae and Jiseok gone to kindergarten yet?"

"Not yet. My sister wanted to bring be the one to bring them to kindergarten today."

"What happened to your face?" Jiyoon asked with a very obvious hint of worry in her voice.

"I just slipped yesterday. No big deal."

"You can't get a black eye by just slipping. Someone punched you, didn't they?" Hyejin's cold voice in the morning sent shivers down their spines.

"Yes..."

"Tell me who they are. I'll send someone to beat them up."

"N-No, no. There's no need to. Heesok hyung already took care of them. No need to get more violent." Hyunwoo nervously laughed as he tried to calm down Hyejin who looked like a small and angry cat.

"Jeez, girls nowadays are getting more and more violent when angry..."

They turn around and saw Jinho and Sungmin walking together.

"Was it you two that's why you didn't go to school together?" Hyejin curled her fists as she approached the two poor boys who could only shiver in fear.

"No, no! It wasn't them!" Hyunwoo shielded Jinho and Sungmin while closing his eyes and the two hid behind him.

"Let's just head to school... It's around that time of the school year again. I can't wait if today's the announcement, haha..." Aerin nervously laughed from behind with Jiyoon.

"What time of the school year?"

"You know. School trips."