Storm

Sehun and I arrived at the construction site just before midnight. The streets were empty, the air crisp with the lingering cold of early spring. Overhead, the half-built skeleton of an unfinished apartment loomed against the night sky, its metal framework jutting out like the ribs of some dead, forgotten beast.

Floodlights buzzed, casting sharp, unnatural shadows across the dirt and gravel. The scent of dust, rusted metal, and damp concrete filled the air, thick enough to taste.

I stopped walking.

Something was wrong.

Sehun must have felt it too. His easy, slouched posture straightened, shoulders tensing as his eyes swept across the site. His hand flexed at his side, a subtle movement… one that told me he was already prepared to fight.

"The hell is this?" he muttered.

We weren't alone.

At first, they were just dark figures scattered across the site, silhouettes standing near stacks of concrete slabs and steel beams. But as my eyes adjusted, the details became clearer.

There were a lot of them.

More than I expected.

Some stood in small groups, their postures casual yet deliberate. Others leaned against unfinished scaffolding, arms crossed, watching. There was no idle chatter, no nervous shuffling. Just quiet, waiting bodies, dozens of them.

And then I started recognizing faces.

Bongcheon fighters. Seokyoung's people. Some I knew, others I didn't. A mix of the good, the bad, and the disposable.

My eyes flicked through the crowd.

Even Seong-u was here.

Seokyoung had brought a force.

I clenched my jaw.

That calm tone he had on the phone… This was why.

Sehun let out a low exhale, cracking his neck. "I knew that bastard was shady, but this? What the hell is he playing at?"

I didn't answer right away. My eyes flicked around, taking in the positioning of everyone. There was a pattern to it. A structure. They weren't just standing around, this was intentional. A formation.

A fucking ambush.

New Main Quest!

Get to floor 3 and speak to Jeong Seokyoung [0/1]

Hidden objective [0/1]

1 Platinum card, 2 Gold cards

My fists curled.

Still, no one spoke.

No greetings. No taunts. No warnings.

Just silence.

And then, as if a switch had been flipped–

They moved.

The first guy lunged forward, his foot slamming into the ground as he swung straight for my ribs. I twisted, sidestepping the attack as another came at me from behind.

Sehun met them head-on.

A sickening crack echoed through the site as his fist buried into someone's jaw, sending them sprawling onto the dirt. He didn't hesitate. Didn't stop to see if they'd get up. His elbow shot back, catching another in the gut before his knee came up, smashing into their face.

I wasn't far behind.

My body moved on instinct, weeks of training snapping into place as I weaved through the first few strikes. A kick aimed at my head. A fist trying to catch my side. Too slow. Too obvious. My speed carried me past them before they could react.

I grabbed one by the collar, yanking him forward as I ducked beneath his wild punch. My fist slammed into his stomach, and I felt the air leave his lungs before I shoved him aside.

More of them were closing in.

I exhaled through my nose.

We'd have to fight our way up.

The fight exploded all at once.

Sehun and I didn't have time to think. The moment they moved, we moved too.

The moment the fight started, I was already moving.

A pipe came swinging for my head, I leaned back just enough for it to pass by, the wind from the strike tickling my nose. My foot shot out, sweeping the attacker's legs from under him. He barely had time to gasp before I drove my knee into his chest, sending him sprawling across the dirt.

To my right, Sehun was an unstoppable force.

He didn't dodge. He didn't need to.

A punch landed square on his jaw, he didn't even flinch. Another slammed into his ribs, he just grunted and kept walking. The guy who threw the punches hesitated for a second, confused. That was his mistake.

Sehun grabbed him by the collar, lifted him clean off the ground, and slammed him through a wooden workbench, leaving him groaning in the splinters.

Hits were exchanged, but the result was the same every time, whoever stood against Sehun ended up flat on the ground, done.

But as durable as he was, I was something else entirely.

There was no contest. No challenge.

The difference between us and them was massive.

I stepped forward, slipping between attacks like water. A punch whizzed past my ear. I tilted my head. A kick came for my ribs. I twisted just enough to let it graze me, already countering before the guy even realized he'd missed.

My knuckles met his jaw. His body lifted off the ground.

He hit the dirt with a thud and didn't get up.

Another guy lunged from behind, I spun, catching his wrist mid-swing, and yanked. His body lurched forward uncontrollably, right into my rising knee. His breath left him in a wheeze before he collapsed at my feet.

Too slow. Too weak.

Some of them were trained. Some of them had power.

But none of them had trained like me.

None of them had bled on the pavement, had torn their muscles apart and rebuilt them stronger, had spent night after night turning their bodies into weapons.

None of them could stop me.

I exploded forward, launching myself over a group, planting my foot on someone's shoulder and using the momentum to flip mid-air. Before they could react, I landed twisting low, sweeping their legs out with a spinning kick that sent them crashing to the ground.

Two more rushed in, one with a knife.

I swayed back, dodging the first stab, then grabbed his wrist and twisted. The blade clattered to the ground, and I drove my elbow into his face.

The second guy hesitated.

That was all I needed.

A step forward. A jab to the throat. A kick to the chest.

Down.

The ones who were still standing were starting to back away, their confidence shaking. The pile of unconscious bodies was growing.

But the fight wasn't over.

Sehun was still tearing through them, a beast in human form.

A guy twice my size charged him, roaring.

Sehun didn't even blink.

He let the man crash into him… absorbing the impact, feet digging into the ground. For a second, it looked like the guy had actually overpowered him.

Then Sehun exhaled, planted his foot, and lifted.

The man's body left the ground.

What looked like a full-grown man, picked up and slammed into the dirt with enough force to shake the floor beneath us.

Another tried to hit him from behind, he turned at the last second, took the punch straight to the cheek, and grinned.

Then he decked the guy so hard he spun mid-air before landing face-first.

I didn't stop moving.

Dodging. Weaving. Striking.

I was untouchable, flowing through them like wind and steel.

Sehun was an avalanche, unstoppable, tanking everything thrown at him and returning it tenfold.

The remaining fighters hesitated, then stepped back.

The fear was setting in.

It took less than a minute for us to finish the rest.

I straightened, rolling my shoulders, surveying the battlefield. The ground was littered with groaning bodies, Seong-u somewhere in the pile. I couldn't tell whether Sehun or I had finished him off.

Not like it mattered.

I nodded at Sehun and we both moved towards the stairs, walking up the concrete path. The apartment's construction was still clearly being undergone. I wondered why Seokyoung had chosen this place.

I wondered why Seokyoung had chosen to attack me, when we'd had a deal.

It didn't make sense, he knew I wanted the video, so why even call me here if I was going to be attacked. Surely he didn't underestimate me that much…

And then there was the matter of the video being found much later than it should have been. Or maybe it was that he'd done something with the video. I couldn't be sure but there was no way of finding out without talking to him.

Sehun's heavy footsteps echoed besides mine as we eventually arrived at the next floor. 

The space was wide open, filled with stacks of metal pipes, loose wiring, and unfinished walls. The only exit, the next set of stairs, was on the opposite side of the room.

Two people stood in front of it.

The first wore his green school uniform, though he'd discarded the shirt, leaving just the blazer over his bare torso. His dark, slicked-back hair shone under the dim construction lights. Something about his confidence, his smugness, made my fingers twitch.

The other was simpler… dressed in a plain black turtleneck and matching trousers. No flair, no attitude. Just standing there. Watching.

Peek at you.

[Name: Baekchang Ji]

[Height: 183 cm]

[Weight: 79 kg]

[Strength: SS+]

[Speed: SS+]

[Potential: B]

[Intelligence: A]

[Endurance: S+]

[Name: Cho Ilseok]

[Height: 180 cm]

[Weight: 77 kg]

[Strength: A+]

[Speed: A-]

[Potential: C]

[Intelligence: B]

[Endurance: SSS+]

That was a ridiculous overspecialisation. Ilseok? Was he just super tough with no strength or speed? He looked just like a normal person…

My arms flexed as I rolled up my sleeves, preparing myself, but before I could step forward, Sehun's arm shot out in front of me.

Baekchang snickered. "Protecting your weak little rep?" His voice was laced with mockery. "Didn't know you'd gone soft, Sehun." 

Sehun's response was immediate. He spat onto the floor. "Shut the fuck up, Baekchang."

Then, he turned to me, eyes serious. "Look, I don't know what Seokyoung has for you, but… you need to get to him quickly right?"

I firmly nodded.

He clenched his fist. "Then go."

I frowned. "And you're going to take on both of them?"

He met my gaze, and I saw it in his eyes… fire.

He wasn't questioning it. He wasn't wondering if he could win.

He was just going to do it.

I exhaled through my nose, nodding. "Beat them both."

A sharp grin stretched across his face. "Tch. Of course."

Baekchang wasted no time, surging forward with a powerful kick aimed right for my ribs. "You think we're just going to let you go?"

Too slow.

I launched myself up and over, planting my hands on his head and using it as a springboard, flipping over him and landing lightly on my feet. The moment my shoes touched the ground, I was already moving toward the stairs

I turned my head slightly whilst moving. "Yes. Yes, I do."

Behind me, Sehun cracked his knuckles. "Come on then, assholes."

I didn't look back.

I didn't need to.

The sounds of fists meeting flesh roared behind me as I sprinted up the stairs, heading for Seokyoung.

.

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Also something I'd like to say is that even though this uses the stat rating system from Questism, the levels are not the same. That is to say that SS rank strength from Questism is weaker than SS rank strength here, quite a bit weaker.

I made it this way so that I didn't have to bother inventing too many new letters or new rankings. Why are reality quest characters literally on steroids 😭.