Chapter 2 Part 6

They didn’t openly crown a leader. Perhaps their petty pride couldn’t bear it, so outwardly, there were no ranks. But if you dug deeper, there were always a head and a tail. It was like that; some people, even if they said the same thing, were readily agreed with and followed by more people, while others often just received rebukes without anyone agreeing. Perhaps it wasn’t just men, but human nature, but Jeong Tae-ui had no way of knowing what women’s society was like. He didn’t particularly want to know either.

“And you?”

Jeong Tae-ui chuckled and gestured with his chin. The man pointed to himself and shrugged.

“Me? Carlo Sagisawa. I’ll be thirty in seven months. Anything else you’re curious about?”

“Yeah. Are you loosening your knuckles and ankles because of me?”

The man named Carlo burst out laughing. As he approached Jeong Tae-ui, cracking his knuckles—whether out of habit or as a threat—he stood before him and slowly stretched his ankle and neck joints, then spread his hands, smiling brightly.

“No, no, I was just about to get some exercise. Why, are you scared? You don’t look scared at all.”

“Because I’m usually a person whose outside and inside are a bit different.”

When Jeong Tae-ui muttered that, Carlo laughed again. He seemed to take it as a joke, but to some extent, it was true. He had been called a guy whose outside and inside were different before, and now, he genuinely felt uneasy inside. His hands, which he was slowly flexing at the wrist, were, to exaggerate a little, as huge as a pot lid. The arms extending from those hands to his shoulders were also solidly muscled. His legs, stretching out from under his boxer shorts, were the same. There was no way he could feel at ease with such a massive build approaching him.

“Alright, my friend whose outside and inside are different. How about it, I’m thinking of warming up a bit, care to help me?”

Although his imposing muscles and robust physique wouldn’t tell the whole story, Jeong Tae-ui had no desire whatsoever to confront this man. One hundred out of one hundred times, he would be at a disadvantage. He had never been confident in his brute strength to begin with, nor did he want to stand above him by fighting him like animals do to determine their alpha.

But he wasn’t even given a chance to say, “I want to refuse.”

Carlo immediately pounced on Jeong Tae-ui the moment he finished speaking. He grabbed one wrist with one hand, the opposite shoulder with the other, and tripped him with his leg, pinning him down.

It happened in an instant.

His vision spun half a circle, the ceiling seemed to rush towards him then recede, and a powerful blow landed on his back. He instinctively broke his fall, but a sharp shock momentarily choked his chest before fading.

And right in front of him, above his head, Carlo was frowning exaggeratedly and laughing.

“What, you said you were a soldier, but you’re too sloppy. How can we properly use someone like this? Come on, get up.”

Boisterous laughter and jeering whistles brushed past from behind him. Jeong Tae-ui stared up at the man with the Western name, who, though far from the distinct beauty of a mixed-race person, possessed a Westernized East Asian face.

Even as he told him to get up, Carlo didn’t move away. He still had a grip on Jeong Tae-ui’s shoulder and arm, pressing down on his thigh with his knee. His center of gravity was also firmly anchored. —Not by normal means.

“Get up, you say?”

“Yes, if you can, by all means.”

“Alright. I won’t be picky about the methods.”

Jeong Tae-ui’s action was almost simultaneous with his words. He lifted his right leg, the only part of him that could move even a few spans, and drove his knee into Carlo’s groin.

“Ugh.”

The scream didn’t come only from Carlo’s mouth. The men who had been laughing, chattering, and watching also instantly fell silent with dumbfounded expressions, letting out a single gasp.

The brief silence that fell was shattered in mere seconds by shouts resembling an uproar.

“That bastard, how underhanded!!”

“Cowardly—”

While the victim lay curled up on the floor, unable to move, the men behind him jumped up and down, yelling at Jeong Tae-ui, who had quickly slipped out from under him and stood up. Jeong Tae-ui snorted.

“I have to take care of myself right now, so where’s the place for cowardice or anything like that? If we’re talking about cowardice, then the weight class difference between this guy and me is cowardly to begin with.”

He bristled at those words, and the man who had been lazily sitting next to Carlo moments before jumped down from the mattress. The man who approached, sleeves rolled up defiantly, was shorter than Jeong Tae-ui but had a very solid and heavy, rock-like physique.

It’s one mountain after another. Is this guy a direct subordinate of the leader? It seems I’ll have to be prepared for a severe hazing as an initiation today. But will there be proper medical facilities in this corner of the island?

Jeong Tae-ui inwardly sighed and put one hand in his jacket pocket. As he put his hand in his pocket, the man who had been striding towards him slowed his steps slightly, his eyes flashing with wariness.

“Since you’ve already used such a cowardly trick, are you going to use a weapon too?!”

The man roared like thunder. Regardless, Jeong Tae-ui paid no mind and casually approached the man. For a brief moment, the man flinched.

That was the only chance.

Jeong Tae-ui grabbed the man by the collar. The man instinctively slapped his hand away. Almost simultaneously with the man swinging his fist, Jeong Tae-ui, with his hand still in his jacket pocket, struck the man’s chin upwards. Then, just as Carlo had done to him moments before, he tripped him and struck his solar plexus, sending him to the ground.

When he put his knee on the man’s chest and virtually mounted him, the surroundings fell silent. He felt hostile glares, distinctly different from before, pouring down on him.

Ugh, eight or nine times out of ten, it’s going to be a severe hazing.

Whether he knew Jeong Tae-ui’s inner thoughts as he sighed inwardly or not, the man, as if he hadn’t taken any blow, glared at Jeong Tae-ui with sharp, piercing eyes.

“If you hadn’t cowardly distracted me with a weapon, making me drop my guard, it would be the opposite situation right now.”

“I know.”