Chapter 5: As much as it hurts

Chapter 5: As much as it hurts

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Before he could even read the letters-

"Yoo, Yoo Dohyuk?"

"..."

His name popped out of the man's mouth.

Dohyuk looked at the man, surprised, but he could understand the situation better. Dohyuk thought to himself if he should reveal his identity to the man, but he decided it was no use thinking about it. He took his mask off and showed him the lower half of his face. A groan came out of the man's mouth.

"Nonsense, no..." Dohyuk's decision was right. "This bastard..."

Dohyuk's revelation petrified the man. It was as Jimin said. Dohyuk was the man who kicked major ass before the regression.

"Casita... Casita said... you... the Phenomenal Nine will not remember..."

"But I do." Dohyuk bluffed without knowing what the man was saying, "I also remember what you were saying just a minute ago. Did you say you'd tear my limbs, or how I won't be able to die in peace?"

Dohyuk might seem cold from the perspective of the observer, but it was a hundred percent pure bluff. At least, Dohyuk knew one fact: bluffing could be valuable too in a fight if it worked on this guy.

"You're the one who will die. Now take responsibility for what you said."

"Uh... ah, ah, ah!" the man mumbled with a frightened expression.

The man rushed to Dohyuk. "He's... not running away..."

He hadn't expected this situation. Dohyuk lifted his arms and balled up his body. The man's fist landed onto his ribcage.

"...! "

Barely.

He held his scream. The man's fist was sharp, too sharp for a man far in a calm state.

"I-I'm not dying!!!" The man blinded by his fear threw his fist mercilessly.

Realizing the opponent he confronted was 'that' Yoo Dohyuk was that much of a shock to him. However, as Dohyuk had experienced firsthand, the magnitude of the strikes this man was throwing half-consciously was far above the level of the average guy. It was as if his skills had been cultivated after surviving for many years.

"Die, die, DIE!!!" The man's scream and the sound of a fist pounding Dohyuk filled the stairway.

Dohyuk was silent as he took the blows. He heard it somewhere. Even in martial arts, as long as one protected the pressure points, it would be the offender who would lose their strength first.

"I can stand it." He didn't know of it at first, but the 'consuming' the knife from his thigh affected him more than just curing his wound.

His stomach wasn't full, but he felt like he had just eaten a full-course meal, filling him with vitality. "There shouldn't be much difference in our abilities, anyway. Then he will be the one to drop first." He couldn't be sure though.

It was a speech to make him feel better. Dohyuk reassured himself to endure the pain. He recalled his cut was gone, and...

"...Haa...Haa... "

The time had come, the point at which a man's physical strength bottomed out. The fatigue awakened the man. He turned his head, seeing the fire extinguisher and spears laying on the floor. As soon as his eyes and body retreated to pick them up, Dohyuk made his move.

He planted a devastating blow on the man's face.

"Ugh-!" Before the first moan was out of his mouth, Dohyuk threw the second and third punches.

His punches seemed amateur compared to the man's punches, but they were blows which carried all of Dohyuk's physical strength. The man threw his body to the wall, raised his hands, and buried his head in them. He took the same pose as Dohyuk did before, but Dohyuk did not throw more punches right on the man.

Instead, he gave a much heavier blow.

Bash!

He struck both of the man's arms.

"Aaaauugh!!"

Dohyuk picked up the fire extinguisher. He had enough practice with wielding a fire extinguisher during the last few hours so his blows all landed successfully.

Smash!!

The third blow broke the man's right arm. The man attempted to kick Dohyuk, but because the gap between them was too narrow, the first kick missed. He tried a second time, but it collided with the fire extinguisher that Dohyuk struck reflexively. The man broke his knee after receiving that blow. When the fire extinguisher landed on his broken torso, the man fell toward the lower stairs.

Dohyuk did not bother helping the man. When the body stopped rolling to the bottom of the stairs, the neck of the stranger was bent over strangely.

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What was that? There was a reason for not killing a human, but still, '17' was such an ambiguous number. Did the coin amount change depending on the condition?

His trail of thoughts stopped here.

Dohyuk was appalled with himself. He realized the coin was the first thing that came to his mind after he killed a person. His head was calmer than expected. To be honest, if this was the guilt of killing a person, it wasn't as bad as he thought. Then, he noticed his body trembling after five seconds or so,

Slap!!

He slapped both sides of his cheeks with his palms.

"Let's move..." It was natural for the mind to be unstable, but he was a modern man who lived a normal life for twenty-something years and had just killed a man. That was that, and this was this. "You have to move. Otherwise, you'll die." He'd either forget about the whole thing like a psychopath or regret it for the rest of his life.

Whatever happened had happened already, and he had to continue moving on towards newer goals. Whatever the f*ck happened in the mind, the body had to do things properly. Dohyuk looked at the fire extinguisher. The paint was peeled off and its bottom part was dented, but it seemed to have been able to play its role well.

"Good" With that murmur, he put the mask back on and went down the stairs.

Slowly and discreetly, with prudence in all senses, he decided to head out and get more coins. He had no plans, and the best he could do was to survive.

...

The streets were calm. There were more dead bodies than living ones, and they were all spread all over the place. Corpses either from Goblets or humans layed around the bloodied streets. There were no angels in sight, and maybe that affected the pheromones to fade.

The Goblets were diurnal creatures, they returned to their timid personality and hid somewhere to pass the night. Only the stragglers that woke up too late from the pheromones occasionally roamed the streets at night.

There was a hunter who was looking for such stragglers.

Struck!

It was Dohyuk.

"Easy."

Dohyuk could certainly feel it. He felt that the goblets were much weaker than when they were attacking like they lost their minds. Dohyuk inspected the areas between the buildings and corners of the alleys to hunt the Goblets one by one. Even though the Goblets were weaker now, moving around in a much wider space while watching his back drained his mind and body.

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- Current Amount: 377 coins

Dohyuk ground his teeth to last longer.

"A Little bit more."

Dohyuk couldn't see anyone else hunting for Goblets. He took this opportunity to earn as much coins as possible. Besides, the 'bone knife' the man had before gave him so much power. If he could find items like that by killing the Goblets, it was all the more reason to hunt.

"I can still kill two or three more. More..."

Dohyuk clenched his teeth and swung the fire extinguisher.

"What the hell is he doing?" There were countless people watching Dohyuk with this question in their minds. Most of them were experts, AND among the people in this quarantine zone, these were the guys who had the skills to reach the top before the regression.

The reason why they were able to see Dohyuk was because they were sheltering at the high points of buildings, rocks, or trees. There, they were watching the whole street while taking a break.

"Can he even move tomorrow?"

Before the regression, there was one rule to follow to the T without exception. If it was not necessary to do so, one must not overwork their musles to a certain degree. When the black tower, Casita's needle, rotated for the first time, the whole human race underwent a forced development and awakening. That strength was not a superpower that cames out indefinitely without a source. It consumed oxygen and calories, and it needed a breather and rest.

They were only stronger, but the body was still judged by its limitations. This was why so many people in the world before the regression failed. They did not think of how much activity was appropriate for the reformed bodies and moved recklessly. It was no wonder then why their muscles ached. Of course, muscle pain was not a simple discomfort. It was a sign of overworked muscles recovering and regaining its strength. This was a phenomenon called supercompensation.

However, that was only the case before the awakening. From the moment the world changed, humanity had exhausted the possibility of natural growth. There was no longer a supercompensation. The means of raising abilities could only be taken from the devices god and angels had arranged, such as 'achievements' or 'coins'. Therefore, one must not overwork their body. They must always leave an adequate room to prepare for this new world where one had no way of knowing when things would happen.

Now, when the sun came up, the angels would present a new event.

"With that pace...well, even if he stops for a while, his body will scream in pain."

Like others, Cho Changhoon looked down at Dohyuk with no emotion. "He will be naturally thinned out since he can't move." Or he'd die before then.

"But his ambition is impressive."

If they were able to see Dohyuk, or if it wasn't for the mask he was wearing, they would realize the man behind this ridiculous sight was Dohyuk. Only then would everyone, including Cho Changhoon, have different thoughts. They would probably view his action as something that carried some kind of greater meaning, or they would've taken the risk to get down and cut off the buds of the big tree. However, the mask covered Dohyuk's face and ensured his security.

So, the gazes of everyone held either ridicule or sympathy. With all of their eyes watching his every move, Dohyuk was able to hold onto his strength until he reached his breaking point.

...

When he opened his eyes, there were two things he realized. First, it was daytime, and...

"Uhh ...!!" He was experiencing an unbelievable anguish.

He was inside a warehouse. When he felt he had drained every drop of his strength last night, Dohyuk walked to the nearby commercial building. Maybe it was nothing, but he could feel eyes on him he couldn't see. Therefore, he paid more attention before he called it a night and entered a small restaurant in the back of the building. The freezer that stored the food was turned off, so after closing the door and stacking boxes to block the entrance, he could close his eyes and relax.

Everything seemed safe, but the problem was the muscle pain.

"Uh... ah..." It was much more intense yesterday when he collapsed with Jimin after the first rotation of the black tower. In addition, his body was not healing itself.

Dohyuk couldn't lift his upper body and moaned on the ground. It was so painful it felt like he was losing consciousness every time he closed his eyes.

Splat!

After falling on his head multiple times, Dohyuk barely held up his arms to lift his upper body.

'I have to eat.' Of course, he had no appetite in this situation, but his body, or his instinct, was telling him to consume something.

He was empty now. He was exhausted. If he did not eat, he would experience far more terrible things.

His trembling arms patted the stacked boxes, then spilled everything from inside because he couldn't lift anything out of them. Thanks to that, he was able to eat what spilled out.

Soggy half-rotten raw meat.

Unwashed vegetables.

Freezer-dried rice and various noodles.

There were even sauces.

'I...' Using his hands and his mouth, Dohyuk chewed all that fell on the floor at random. When he became weak, he would rest and be completely still like a corpse, then he woke up once again to eat more. 'I... I...' Like a worm that wriggled on the floor.

He was refueling the price of the action he consumed the night before through calories and relaxation.

'I want to live.' The light coming in through the vents was cut off. A full day had passed, and now it was night time again. Something must have happened outside. However, Dohyuk was inside the whole time, just like how the experts thought while making fun of him.

Finally, the pain began to fade to such an extent that he could feel that his stomach was satisfied. Dohyuk closed his eyes.

"...Whew." Not to 'faint', but to 'sleep'.

Then...

<> [Over the Horizon]

Body...

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And mind...

Finally able to fully rest

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He started to grow.