One-on-Four

Mr. Yang and I are now outside the restaurant and he's still shouting.

"Mr. Lee! Ya!"

I don't look back at him and persistently chase the men.

At a sidewalk, I attempt to run faster than them and stop the chase by getting in position between them and the old couple.

As I get between them, the men stop and the couple also stops but with delay.

I confront the men, "Ya, what are you doing?"

One of them replies back, "Right back at you! What are you doing?"

"Stopping you. Isn't that obvious?!"

I look to the couple and ask, "Are you okay?" The couple both nod.

I look back at the men and ask the couple once more, "What happened?" The man cries, "They were destroying our business!"

"What business are you running?"

The woman also cries, "A chicken restaurant!"

One of the gangsters get annoyed, points at me and shouts, "Move out of the-"

I point at him back and shout, "Shut up!"

But a chicken restaurant, huh?

One of my advisees, Jung Hanchul, mentioned earlier that his family runs a chicken restaurant.

"By any chance, do you have a son studying in Apgujeong High School?"

The couple are surprised and quickly answer, "Yes, yes! Our Hanchul studies there!"

So they're Hanchul's parents.

"Hmm. I see."

I finally go to confront the men. One of them shouts, "Ya! Are you done talking?!"

"You know, you don't have to shout because I can clearly hear you two meters away from you.

But yeah, sure we're done.

Now tell me. Why are you harming them and their business?"

Another one of them shouts, "It's none of your business!"

Oh my goodness. He, too, doesn't need to shout. Do they always communicate with others by shouting?

"Actually, it is. You are harming my student's parents' business."

"Who cares?! I mean that's their problem, not yours!"

*sigh*

Damn. I really wanna help Hanchul and his parents. Hanchul wants to be a businessman. That'll be a huge boost for his family and their business.

"Get out of the way!"

Mrs. Jung suddenly holds my right hand. I look back to her and she starts to cry again, "Mister, you don't have to do this for us!"

Despite her request, I put on a smile and reply, "It's okay. Your son will be sad to see your business destroyed, just like that."

She listens to my reply and lets go of my hand. Mr. Jung comes near her wife and calls me, "Mister..."

I look at the guys and tell them, "Ya! I don't want my student to be more anxious now."

One of them pulls out a pistol, aims it at me and shouts, "I don't care!"

The three of them are surprised by his action, "No, don't!" They don't want to harm civilians.

He doesn't listen to them and pulls the trigger.

*bang*

I went through vigorous training with my master years thirteen years ago, so this should be easy.

I'd dodge it if it was an option, but in this situation, it's not. If I do the bullet, it will hit Mrs. Jung, who is at my back. That is a stupid decision.

I have no choice... but to do it.

At the speed of light, I extend my left arm, reach the bullet and then surround it with my whole hand to catch it.

The gangsters have their jaws dropped as they saw what I just did. Even the gunman has himself shaking while holding the gun.

I caught the bullet with ease!

I give them a smile with the bullet still in my hands while releasing smoke. Then I drop the bullet on the ground.

One gangster reacts, "Omo! (Oh my god!)"

Even though the gunman just got fazed, he still persists. He speaks, "You may have caught the bullet, but you think you can catch multiple bullets?!"

He's going to pull the trigger again so I have to make a move before he does it again.

I dash on a straight line towards him, grip the front part of the pistol with my right hand and change the aim to the sky at 90 degrees. And from there he pulls the trigger.

I pull down the piston again but at 45 degrees and manage to remove the magazine. Then I pulled out an elbow with my left right on his right cheek as the magazine dropped to the ground. I remove the pistol from his hands as he falls down.

I throw the gun and kick the magazine away to the side.

The three other gangsters, of course, decide to help their friend so they make their moves.

First gangster: He charges and uses his right punch but no avail as I parry it with my left forearm and use a right punch on his face. I use my roundhouse kick right in his head. That puts him down. Ouch.

One down.

Second gangster: He has a baton carrying the whole time. He finally uses it to smack it with a right swing. I squat my legs and bend my upper body to duck it. Using my low left kick on his right leg, I manage to put him down to the ground with his head first. That results in his concussion. He then drops his baton.

Two down.

Third gangster: He also carries a baton with him the whole time. I pick up the baton the second gangster dropped and immediately parry his attack. He persistently uses his swings and I counter them everytime. He's so fed up that he raises his baton to attack once more. That creates an opening for me to kick his chest that's gonna make him fly.

Three down.

It was a one-on-four fight. One unarmed, but three had weapons; one had equipped with a Glock 47 handgun and two with metal batons. Yet with all of that, they were still downed.

They lack physical skills for gangsters. They aren't ready for primetime.

Phew. I'm glad my skills aren't that rusty yet. Well, I'm 25 so I can do it.

I see Mr. Yang standing like a bystander and I wave at him while smiling.

Mr. and Mrs. Jung approaches me. I put my sight on them and hear their gratefulness.

Mr. Jung cries, "Thank you so much, Mister!" Mrs. Jung sobs.

I smile as a reply.

Mr. Yang calls me while approaching, "Mr. Lee."

"Mr. Yang, you should've helped me."

"But you pulled it off so don't kid.

That was some show you put out."

"Oh, right. Mr. Yang, these are one of my advisees' parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jung."

Mr. Yang bows to the couple as a greeting and they also bow back.

"I see. So these punks tried to destroy your business, eh?"

The five of us look at the gangsters who are slowly getting up from their absolute defeat.

The gunman holds his head due to the concussion I gave him. The unarmed one picks up the gun and magazine and clips the magazine back. They are really struggling.

One of the baton guys shouts, "We'll get you back, punk!" And then they walk away almost crippled.

Mr. Yang speaks, "Well, you've done it, Mr. Lee."

I bluntly reply, "Honestly, I don't care. As long as they don't harm my students, or their family. Or anyone else.

If they're gonna get back at me, go ahead. They'll meet the same fate."

"As long as the school won't be at risk. My fantasy might be at risk also."

"Heh. I know that.

We should probably report this."

.

.

.

Day two at Apgujeong High School. I get out of the faculty room to conduct my first class.

I reach the classroom, then, I suddenly decide to go through the backdoor.

��Oh, it's Mr. Lee." one of my students shouts to alert the class. They immediately return to their respective seats while I walk towards the table.

I reach the table, put my stuff down and sit down on the table, again.

"Mr. Lee, you're sitting on the table again!"

"It's okay, Chaeyoon. I told you, this table is sturdy. And I'm not that heavy so it's fine."

Minyoung, whom I selected as the class monitor of Freshmen Class A yesterday, raises her hand. I point at her and she stands.

"Mr. Lee, we've heard that you saved Hanchul's parents from gangsters."

"From whom?"

"From Hanchul, of course."

"So all of you talked about it before I came in?"

"Yes."

Hanchul immediately stands up while I hear the sound of his chair. He quickly bows down 90 degrees and shouts, "Thank you very much, Mr. Lee."

I humbly reply, "It's all good, Hanchul. Keep your chin up."

Hanchul again gratefully thanks me and proceeds to sit down.

"Can you do me a favor, class?"

"Yes?"

"For now, please don't mention what happened to anyone else. What you've heard from Hanchul should stay within this room. For now."

Chaeyoon asks, "Why, Mr. Lee? It's not like you did something bad, right?"

"Yeah but I don't want it to turn into a gossip thing. And also I don't want other classes to get distracted by that fact now that you're already distracted by it already."

"Well, we already are distracted from your looks."

Actually, Chaeyoon's right. Their eyes are already shining on my looks. What more if they find out what happened last night?

"Yeah, but aside from that, there's no guarantee that the other teachers will be happy or scared for what I've done for one of my students. It was a physical fight, after all."

Minyoung raises her hand. "Will do."

Then everyone slowly does the same thing.

*sigh*

Now that I think about it, does Hanchul actually know Mr. Yang was there?