The fight between Gun-seok and Tae-min didn't slow down. It didn't weaken. It only grew wilder, becoming more savage and more animalistic as time went on, as if both men were being pulled deeper into the darkest parts of themselves.
Blood covered the pavement. A faint drizzle had begun to fall, mixing with the smoke rising from the wrecked cars around them. Every breath they took came out as a ragged, trembling growl.
Gun-seok swung first.
His steel rod cut through the air with a howl, heavy enough to shatter bones. Tae-min managed to dodge it, barely, feeling the wind of the swing graze his cheek. He countered immediately, thrusting his knife forward, in a sharp, precise arc aimed at his ribs.
The blade sliced across Gun-seok's side, leaving a thin but deep cut.
Gun-seok didn't flinch.
Instead, he smiled, a terrifying, blood-soaked grin.
"You're learning," he growled. "But not fast enough."
The man charged forward.
Tae-min met him head-on, ducking under the rod and slashing upward. Metal clashed against the blade. Sparks flew. Both men twisted, elbows striking ribs, knees slamming into thighs. Every moment was survival of the fittest. Every strike was meant to end the other man where he stood.
Tae-min moved with sharper precision now, his training, discipline, and instincts syncing in perfect rhythm. His knife flashed through the air in clean lines, each swing calculated with deadly intent.
And for the first time...
Gun-seok began to stagger.
A cut across the chest.
Another across the forearm.
A stab nearly hitting the shoulder.
The steel rod slipped from his hands after a particularly sharp parry. It clattered across the street, spinning to a stop near a body. Tae-min seized the moment, stepping forward with a burst of momentum.
He ducked, rolled, and struck upward, his knife carving a short but viscous line across Gun-seok's torso.
Gun-seok stumbled back, growling, while pressing a hand to his bleeding side.
"Good," he snarled. "Very good."
Tae-min didn't speak. He just raised the knife again
Tae-min became the storm.
He pressed forward, delivering mercilessly strikes, using his fists, elbows, knees, and calculated slashes. Gun-seok reeled, caught off guard by the sudden shift in dominance.
For a moment, only a moment, Tae-min looked like he could win.
But Gun-seok was a beast who refused to die cleanly...
With a sudden burst of movement, he spat a thick spray of blood directly into Tae-min's eyes.
The world blurred red.
Tae-min staggered backwards, trying to regain his vision, wiping frantically. That single second was all Gun-seok needed to regain dominance. With a vicious lunge, he dug his thumb into an open wound on Tae-min's arm. Pain exploded down the younger man's nerves.
Tae-min cried out, losing his footing. Gun-seok rammed his shoulder into Tae-min's chest, sending him crashing onto the pavement.
The impact knocked the knife from Tae-min's hand. It skittered away across teh asphalt, disappearing beneath a smoking car.
Gun-seok wiped blood from his mouth amd laughed, breathing heavily.
"I told you," the man said, grabbing Tae-min's collar and yanking him up. "Techniques won't work to save you."
He slammed Tae-min to a car door, hard enough to dent it. Tae-min gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs. Another blow, another slam, Gun-seok didn't stop until Tae-min collapsed to the ground, dazed and trembling.
The victor was clear.
Gun-seok towered over him, breathing like a bull ready to gore his prey. He scanned the ground, stepping over bodies, until he found a knife. Half-buried under a fallen man's leg.
He lifted it slowly.
"End of the line, kid."
Meanwhile, at Chairman Seo's Office
Chairman Seo stood at the edge of the long table, his expression cold, calculated, already envisioning the blood that was about to be spilled.
"All of you," he said, sweeping a gaze across his gathered men. "We move on Gwon Tae-sik tonight."
A murmur ran across the room.
Seo continued, "Our moles confirmed it. Tae-sik has maybe six men left. The rest are dead or hiding. He's cornered. This is the time."
Someone stepped forward.
"Chairman… are we certain this is not a trap?"
Seo shook his head, slow, confident.
"No. Tae-sik is finished. He's exactly where I want him."
His men bowed slightly, acknowledging the order. Weapons were checked. Jackets thrown on. Radios tested. The room buzzed with grim anticipation.
Back at the Warehouse
The fight had shifted.
Tae-min was now struggling. Gun-seok towered over him, breath ragged, skin soaked in sweat and blood, but he was smiling, an awful, crooked smile that promised only death.
Tae-min collapsed onto his back, panting, weakened.
Just as Gun-seok raised the blade...
A gun clicked behind his head.
Gun-seok froze, expression twisting with annoyance.
He turned his head slightly.
Sang-ho stood there, gun raised, eyes steady with a frightening calm.
Gun-seok grinned.
"So the little soldier finally shows himself."
He spread his arms slightly, almost inviting the shot.
"Come on. Be a man. Put the gun away and fight me like one."
Sang-ho stared at him… expression unreadable.
A long pause stretched between them.
Then Sang-ho lowered the gun a fraction, just enough to make Gun-seok smirk triumphantly.
"You see?" Gun-seok muttered. "You're just like the rest of them..."
Three deafening shots cracked through the road.
Gun-seok dropped instantly.
Sang-ho exhaled through his teeth.
"You're not man enough to fight with me."
Soo-jin, shaken but focused, ran to Vlad's limp body and lifted him with effort. Sang-ho hoisted Tae-min over his shoulder, the younger man still fading in and out of consciousness.
The three of them staggered toward the car, the cold night air rushing in as they went.
The car engine roared to life.
They didn't look back.
Not at Gun-seok's body.
Not at the chaos still unfolding behind them.
As the headlights cut through the darkness, Soo-jin glanced at the rearview mirror.
"Is… is it really over?" He asked quietly.
Sang-ho didn't answer right away.
His knuckles tightened around the steering wheel.
"No," he finally said.
"I don't think so."