Knock! Knock! Knock!
Baki knocked at the door several times, but there was no answer. On his shoulder, Eli lay unconscious.
Baki sighed and tried the door handle. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked. "Huh?"
He walked inside. The hallway was dark, with curtains drawn and lights off. His muscle memory guided him to the light switch without needing to look.
When the lights flickered on, he froze at the scene before him.
Gone was the apartment he'd bought with the earnings from his highest-paying mission. What stood before him was a climbing gym! Various colored holds were embedded into the towering wall.
"Wait a moment! When did the walls get so tall?!"
Baki was so shocked he nearly dropped Eli's unconscious form.
From deeper inside, Baki could hear faint music playing.
As he walked through his house—well, not his house anymore—he tried to understand how this place had transformed from a simple, cozy home into a climbing gym.
Finally, he reached the section where their rooms had been located. They were gone! Instead, all the rooms had been combined into one large gym!
The music he'd heard in the hallway was coming from here. His eyes scanned every corner of the gym, finally settling on two figures.
A small child, not even the length of his arm, stood on two wobbly feet, clutching a milk bottle in her hands and cheering like a hype man as she watched a large man doing pull-ups!
"Go! Go! Go! Yoo so stwong! Like a shooper-hewo! One mo! No, two mo! Yoo can do it! Yaaay! Mushels!"
Baki's jaw dropped in surprise.
Thud!
Eli's figure, which he'd been supporting, slid off and fell to the floor.
Yenna and Seongji Yuk both turned at the noise.
Looking at her father sprawled on the ground, she tilted her head. "Dada?"
Then her eyes trailed toward Baki. Seongji also looked at Baki in surprise. Both Yenna and Seongji called out at the same moment.
"Baka?"
"Baki?!"
Baki stared at Yenna and Seongji, who were both wearing identical outfits—black shirts with a big fluffy bear paw drawn on the chest.
"What the heck is happening here?!" Baki couldn't help but mutter.
Seongji scratched the back of his head and laughed.
"Nothing much. I was just doing some pull-ups. Yenna was cheering me on."
Baki glanced at Yenna. Just a month ago, she couldn't even form basic sentences, and now she was cheering on Seongji during his training.
Yenna slowly walked toward Baki on wobbly feet.
Tears of joy appeared in Baki's eyes. "She's coming to hug me, right? My goodness! Yenna has grown up!"
But sadly for him, Yenna walked right past him and approached her father instead. She tilted her head as she called out to Eli.
"Dada?"
But Eli was unconscious.
Yenna slowly climbed onto Eli's back and started pulling his head up by his hair.
"Dada! Dada! Wakey, wakey! Too sweep, no goody!"
Thud!
When she finally released Eli's head, it thumped against the ground. Eli stirred awake.
"Huh?!"
---
After a while, Eli was playing with Yenna off to the side.
Baki sat on a bench while Seongji performed cable pulls at another bench.
Baki coughed. "Ahem! Would you like to inform me of something?"
Seongji nodded as he continued his reps. "Yeah. What do you think of the house now? Good, isn't it?"
Baki's eyes widened. "House?! Where's our house?! This is a freaking gym! Where are the rooms? There's a freaking climbing wall behind this gym! So where's the house?!"
Seongji released the cable and coughed. "Ahem! Don't worry, we still have some rooms left. I renovated the building."
Baki sighed. "As long as I can sleep at night... Wait! Where did you get the money?!"
Sweat began to form on Seongji's face. He nervously scratched his cheek. "I was just cleaning the house and found some money lying around in your closet. We don't usually spend much, so I decided to use the money for something good. Don't worry, I just combined the 3rd and 4th floors, turning them into a gym."
Baki's eyes bulged with surprise. He smiled nervously. "You're kidding...right? This building is four stories. Surely you didn't buy the whole building?"
Seongji smiled and nodded. "Yup. I did. Since I was spending all that money anyway, I decided to buy the whole building and rent out the 1st and 2nd floors. It's a good strategy. I tried to contact you before buying it, though. But you never answered."
Baki's soul left his body. "Seongji... I... quit my job. That money was the last bit I had left!!!"
Seongji nodded, taking the matter lightly. "It's okay. The rent from the 1st and 2nd floors is good. I'm turning this gym into a public gym too."
Baki shook his head weakly. "You really thought this through... I should start searching for work too. I have a place in mind. Let's see how that old man is doing. That dojo should have room for an instructor."
Seongji asked as he glanced at Baki's left hand. "Looks like you've had some work done."
Baki looked down at his left hand. "This? Uh, well, you should've seen the other guy."
Seongji smiled. "That guy must have been crazy strong to leave you like this."
Baki nodded. "Yeah. But I was still stronger, though. By the way, what made you decide to do all these heavy changes?"
Seongji's smile turned grim. "I... just found that my strength isn't enough if I want to protect everyone. So I decided to grow stronger. This is just a byproduct of that."
Baki chuckled and got up. "Is that so? I'm curious to see how strong you've gotten. But I should probably take a break for now."
---
Abandoned Building
Eugene was tied upside down from the building.
Charles Choi stood near the edge, the wind blowing through the sleeve of his missing arm.
"I let your guys go. So now you tell me... Where's the red paper?"
Eugene chuckled. "Can you retrieve it even if you know where it is~?"
Charles squinted. He slashed the rope holding Eugene with his bare hand.
Eugene started to plummet rapidly downward. Charles grabbed the rope's end in the nick of time and pulled upward. Eugene's body flew up and slammed onto the ground. Charles glanced down at him. "What do you think?"
Eugene coughed and took in deep breaths. After calming down, Eugene's smile returned. "I had forgotten. You were the Elite of the Fist Gang. But are you sure you haven't lost your edge?"
Charles turned his back to Eugene. "Do you think a snake could slay a tiger?"
Eugene chuckled. "Generation Zero, Legend of South Korean Sserium, the rival of the Legendary Gapryong Kim, Jin Mujin's one and only disciple—Seongji Yuk."
Charles was mildly surprised. "Hoho~ That man's disciple? I also know someone. Someone who belongs to the bloodline of a legend. He is a being who cannot be measured. What do you think? Who will come out on top? The disciple of a legend, or the son of a legend?"