….
"Wait! Please wait!" The man's voice was breathless, urgent. "This is a misunderstanding! My brother didn't mean any disrespect!"
Jin-Ho's eyes widened in genuine shock.
"Jinsung?" His voice came out flat with disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
Yoo Jinsung - his older brother from the Yoo family, the responsible one who had taken over parts of the family business, the one who had probably spent the last few months dealing with the fallout of Jin-Ho's repeated disappearances - was standing between him and an S-Rank hunter, trying to prevent what he clearly thought was about to become a very one-sided beatdown.
Jinsung didn't turn around, kept his eyes fixed on Dongsoo, but his voice dropped to a harsh whisper clearly meant for Jin-Ho: "What am I doing here? What are you doing picking fights with Hwang Dongsoo at the airport?!"
The reporters were eating this up, cameras flashing even faster now.
This had gone from 'S-Rank hunter leaves country' to 'S-Rank hunter threatens civilians' to 'dramatic family intervention' in the span of thirty seconds.
Hwang Dongsoo looked at Jinsung with renewed irritation, as if this interruption was somehow more offensive than Jin-Ho's staring. "Move. This doesn't concern you."
"With all due respect, Mr. Hwang." Jinsung said, his voice surprisingly steady despite the visible tremor in his hands. "My brother is young and doesn't understand hunter politics. He didn't mean to offend you. We apologize for any disrespect and we will leave immediately."
He was saying all the right things - deferential, apologetic, acknowledging the hierarchy between civilians and high-rank hunters. Everything Jin-Ho hadn't been saying.
Hwang Dongsuk, still standing off to the side, seemed to relax slightly.
This he understood - normal people showing proper respect, trying to de-escalate. "Dongsoo, accept the apology and let's go."
But Dongsoo's eyes were still fixed on Jin-Ho, who was standing behind his brother with an expression that suggested he found this entire situation more irritating than frightening.
"Your brother." Dongsoo said slowly, addressing Jinsung but looking at Jin-Ho, "Doesn't look sorry."
"He will be." Jinsung said quickly. "Jin-Ho, apologize. Now."
As prideful as Jinsung was, he knew better than to get on the bad side of an S-Rank hunter.
A long, uneasy silence settled between them.
Jin-Ho looked at his brother's back, at the tension in his shoulders, the way he was positioned to try to shield Jin-Ho despite having no actual ability to stop an S-Rank hunter from doing anything. Jinsung was terrified.
Jin-Ho could see it in every line of his body.
But he had come anyway. Had rushed into a confrontation with one of Korea's strongest hunters because he had seen his younger brother about to get hurt.
Jinsung had come to the airport under the pretext of picking up Jin-Ho, but in truth, he wanted to confront him - for vanishing for months without a word, for acting like nothing had happened when he returned.
He had planned to tell him to stop being reckless, to stay humble, and follow orders.
Especially now, when the Yoo family was about to launch their new guild, the Yoojin Guild, fulfilling their father's long-held dream.
But instead of a quiet reunion, he found his infuriating brother stirring up trouble with a ranked hunter.
And of course, Jin-Ho had no intention of apologizing.
"Wait... I think I have seen you before." Dongsoo said slowly, a nasty smile spreading across his face. "You're that guy - the one who kept hanging around me like a dog, begging me to join your guild."
Jinsung froze. A flicker of embarrassment crossed his face before he could mask it.
Jin-Ho knew his brother's story. Yoo Jinsung was known in hunter circles for his seriousness and dedication.
Jinsung had worked tirelessly to carry out their father's vision of forming a family guild - the Yoo Guild, meant to consolidate their family's resources and influence in the hunter economy.
He had personally approached several top hunters, offering generous contracts, benefits, and positions of authority.
Including Hwang Dongsoo himself.
But Dongsoo had rejected the offer without hesitation. Had laughed it off, actually, dismissing the Yoo family as 'corporate suits playing at hunter politics'.
Now fate had brought them face-to-face again, except this time, Jinsung wasn't a recruiter trying to negotiate. He was the brother of the man who had just provoked that same S-Rank hunter.
And Dongsoo had just called him a dog.
Something shifted in Jinsung's expression. The fear was still there, but it was being overridden by something else - wounded pride, anger at being humiliated in front of his younger brother and dozens of cameras.
"Mr. Dongsoo." Jinsung's voice came out sharp, restrained cracking. "Watch your mouth. You're talking to the Yoo fami—"
He didn't finish.
Something happened in the space between heartbeats.
No one saw it clearly - the movement was too fast, and sudden.
There was only a sharp gust of air that swept through the terminal, powerful enough to make bags rustle and papers lift off nearby surfaces. For a split second, everyone's vision blurred from the sheer speed of the motion.
When their eyes refocused, the scene before them made no sense.
Hwang Dongsoo's arm was extended mid-swing, his fist frozen inches from Jinsung's head. The trajectory was perfect - aimed directly at his temple, the kind of blow that would have shattered bone and possibly killed on impact.
The force behind it had been enough to create that gust of wind, enough to send a car flying.
But the blow had stopped, completely blocked.
By a single hand.
Jin-Ho's hand.
The younger brother stood in front of Jinsung now, though no one had seen him move.
His palm was raised, positioned between Dongsoo's fist and his brother's skull.
But the strangest part, the part that made several onlookers blink and question what they were seeing - was that Jin-Ho's hand wasn't even touching Dongsoo's knuckles.
There was a gap, maybe an inch.
The S-Rank's fist was suspended in mid-air, stopped by nothing visible. By empty space that somehow felt solid as steel.
Telekinesis.
Jin-Ho's voice broke the shocked silence. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, dumbass?"
The cameras went wild.
Flashes erupted like strobe lights. Reporters who had been about to leave now surged forward again, sensing that this story had just become something far bigger than an S-Rank leaving the country.
Hwang Dongsoo's eyes widened.
Not with fear, not yet at least, but with genuine surprise. He tried to pull his arm back, an instinctive reaction.
It didn't budge.
His fist was locked in place, held by that invisible force with the grip strength of a hydraulic press. He pulled harder, muscle and mana straining against the telekinetic hold.
Still nothing.
For the first time since arriving at the airport, Hwang Dongsoo's confidence flickered.
He hadn't gone all out with that punch, true. It had been a disciplinary strike, meant to teach the civilian a lesson about respect without actually killing him.
Maybe break some bones, put him in a hospital for a few weeks. Not full power - maybe thirty percent, forty at most.
But still.
No B-Rank hunter could have stopped it cleanly.
Most A-Ranks would have struggled.
The speed alone should have made blocking it nearly impossible for anyone below S-Rank level.
Yet this random kid who had been staring at him - had moved faster than Dongsoo's punch, positioned himself as a shield, and stopped the strike without even making physical contact.
Dongsoo's mind raced through the implications. Could he be an S-Rank?
The thought popped into his head, but he immediately dismissed it.
Impossible.
Dongsoo knew every S-Rank hunter in Korea. There weren't that many, maybe a dozen total, and he had met or at least heard of all of them.
This kid wasn't on that list. And if he were S-Rank, Dongsoo would have heard his name, would have known his face.
He didn't care enough to remember the names or faces of A-Ranks or B-Ranks.
To Dongsoo's worldview, anything below S-Rank was trash - interchangeable, forgettable, not worth his time or mental energy.
So this had to be... what?
A high-level A-Rank he had somehow missed? A foreign hunter visiting Korea? Some kind of specialized support-type with abnormally powerful telekinesis?
While Dongsoo's mind worked through these calculations, Jin-Ho's telekinetic grip slowly began to tighten.
Dongsoo felt it immediately - pressure building around his fist, invisible force compressing from all sides.
Not enough to break bones yet, but enough to hurt but make his knuckles ache and joints protest.
And that sparked something far more dangerous than surprise.
Anger.
How dare this nobody, who should be nothing compared to an S-Rank, hurt him?
How dare he make Dongsoo look weak in front of cameras, in front of reporters, in front of his brother and the crowd?
"Let. Go." Dongsoo's voice was low, dangerous.
Mana began to crackle around his body - visible energy that made the air shimmer and distort.
The temperature rose as his quirk activated, flames beginning to dance across his shoulders and arms.
Jin-Ho's expression didn't change. His hand remained steady, palm still raised, telekinetic grip unwavering.
Behind Jin-Ho, Jinsung was still processing what had just happened.
"Jin-Ho." Jinsung's voice came out shaky. "What are you-"
"Stay back, hyung." Jin-Ho said without turning around. His eyes never left Dongsoo's face. "This doesn't concern you anymore."
Hwang Dongsuk, who had been frozen in shock like everyone else, finally found his voice. "Dongsoo, stop this!" He looked at Jin-Ho with something between awe and fear. "Let him go before this gets worse."
"Who the hell are you?" Dongsoo questioned through gritted teeth, pouring more power into his arm with each passing second, trying desperately to wrench his fist free.
"Doesn't matter." Jin-Ho said flatly, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. "How dare you try to attack someone from the Yoo family right in front of me? You want a deathbed as a parting gift?"
The fury in his voice was genuine.
Not just anger at Dongsoo's arrogance, but rage at seeing his brother - who had rushed here to protect him, who'd stood between him and danger despite having no power to back it up - nearly killed for finishing a sentence.
Something shifted inside Jin-Ho.
First, his Telekinesis - Level 7, wrapped around Dongsoo's fist like invisible chains, the grip tightening with crushing force.
Yes it was enough to stop a S-Rank.
But, Jin-Ho wants to do more than that… he wants to crush him.
So he used his Eight Inner Gates technique.
Not gradually, in the usual manner one by one building up power - he went straight to the Fourth Gate.
Fourth Gate: The Gate of Pain.
….
.
[To be continued…]
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