[The Sports Club – 8:00 PM]
The indoor gymnasium was alive with the chaotic symphony of organized sports. The sharp squeak-squeak of rubber soles gripping the polished wooden floor echoed off the high metal ceiling, mixing with the rhythmic thuds of bouncing balls and the shouts of players.
The air smelled of sweat, floor wax, and icy-hot muscle spray. We were in the middle of a friendly volleyball match—me and Jin paired with two other guys from the neighborhood against a local team. It was a good game. The kind that makes you forget your troubles.
"Set it up! Ray, set it up!" Jin screamed, jumping like a kangaroo near the net. "Pass it to me! I'm going to unleash the Hurricane Smash!"
I laughed, wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my arm. "Here it comes!" I tossed the ball perfectly in an arc. Jin leaped, swinging his arm with more enthusiasm than skill. He missed the sweet spot, and the ball wobbled over the net, landing awkwardly for a point.
"Did you see that spin?" Jin bragged, landing clumsily. "Totally calculated physics."
For a fleeting moment, I felt light. I forgot about the countdown timer in my head. I forgot about the sea of blood I had seen at the cliff. I forgot about the glitch. I was just Ray. Just a high school student playing ball on a Tuesday night.
But in my life, peace is just the intermission before the horror movie resumes.
[The Intrusion]
The double doors of the gym slammed open with a violence that made the glass rattle. The noise cut through the atmosphere like a knife. The squeaking shoes stopped. The balls stopped bouncing. All eyes turned to the entrance.
Kang walked in. He wasn't alone. He was flanked by three of his usual lackeys—hulking seniors who looked more like bouncers than students. They weren't wearing school uniforms; they were decked out in expensive, branded designer sportswear that probably cost more than my father's car. They chewed gum with open mouths, scanning the room with looks of utter boredom and disdain.
They walked right into the middle of our court, ignoring the boundaries. Kang stopped at the net. He looked at the volleyball lying at his feet. With a lazy, arrogant motion, he kicked it. The ball flew across the gym and smashed into the far wall.
"What a boring game..." Kang said loudly, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "You guys play like old women at a nursing home."
The coach, an older man named Mr. Lee, stepped forward, blowing his whistle. "Hey! You can't just walk in here and disrupt the—" Kang turned his head slowly, fixing the coach with a cold, dead stare. "Sit down, old man. We're just students looking for some exercise. Unless you want my father to reconsider his donation to this crumbling facility?"
Mr. Lee froze. He knew who Kang was. Everyone knew. He lowered his whistle, defeated, and stepped back.
Kang turned back to me. A slow, malicious grin spread across his face. "Ray," he purred. "How about we add some excitement to this pathetic display? A match. My team against yours."
"We're tired," I said calmly, trying to de-escalate. "Maybe another ti—"
"I insist," Kang interrupted, stepping over the net to invade my personal space. He leaned in, whispering so only I could hear. "If you refuse, I'll wait for Jin outside. And accidents happen in the dark, don't they?"
I clenched my jaw. "What are the stakes?" I asked.
Kang laughed, clapping his hands. "Simple. The losers... have to lick the sweat off the court floor. From baseline to baseline."
Jin stepped up beside me, his face red with anger. "Are we seriously going to let them do this?" I looked at Kang's smug face. I looked at his friends cracking their knuckles. I bent down and tightened my shoelaces. "Just a game?" I said, standing up straight. "Fine. Let's play."
[The Unfair Game]
It wasn't a match. It was a slaughter. From the first serve, it was clear they didn't come to play volleyball. They came to hunt.
They played dirty. Blatantly, shamelessly dirty. When we jumped to block, they elbowed us in the ribs. When they spiked, they didn't aim for the open court; they aimed for our faces and chests. "Oops! Slippery fingers!" Kang's friend laughed after "accidentally" stepping on Jin's foot, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Score: 15 – 2," Kang announced, twirling the ball on his finger. "What's wrong, Ray? Are you scared of the ball? Or are you just remembering your place?"
Jin limped back to position, dusting off his knees. "Ray... they're cheating. The ref isn't calling anything." I looked at the scoreboard. We were being humiliated. I felt a heat rising in my chest. It wasn't the warmth of exercise. It was the scorching heat of rage. And beneath the rage, something else was stirring. A mechanical hum in the back of my skull.
(Crush him...) The voice whispered. (He is mocking the Host. Elimination protocols recommended.)
"My serve," I said. I took the ball. The leather felt rough against my palms. I walked to the baseline. The gym was quiet. Everyone was watching the execution. I looked at the net. Kang was standing in the front row, chatting with his friend, laughing. He wasn't even looking at me. He was completely confident in my weakness. To him, I was an insect.
I tossed the ball into the air. Time seemed to suspend. The ball hung at the apex of its arc, spinning slowly against the glare of the gym lights. I took a step. I jumped. In mid-air, a surge of unnatural energy flooded my veins. It felt like liquid lightning traveling from my spine to my right shoulder. My muscles didn't just contract; they overclocked.
[Skill Activated: Kinetic Boost (Minor)]
"BOOOM!"
My hand connected with the ball. It didn't sound like a slap. It sounded like a gunshot. The ball didn't fly; it vanished. It transformed into a blurred white streak, tearing through the air faster than the human eye could track.
"CRACK!"
The sound of impact was sickeningly wet. The ball bypassed the net and collided directly with Kang's face. He didn't even have time to blink, let alone raise his hands. The force of the impact lifted his 80kg body off the ground. He was thrown backward two full meters, crashing onto his back with a heavy thud.
Silence. Absolute, terrified silence. The ball rolled away harmlessly into the corner. There was a small smear of red on its white surface.
Kang lay on the floor for a second, stunned. Then he sat up slowly, clutching his face. Blood was gushing from his nose in a dark torrent, dripping onto his expensive jersey. His eyes were watering uncontrollably. "You..." he choked out, his voice nasal and thick with blood. "You broke my nose!"
[The Trajectory]
The shock on Kang's face turned into pure, unadulterated fury. He forgot the game. He forgot the crowd. The predator had been wounded by the prey. "I'll kill you!" he screamed, scrambling to his feet.
He charged at me like a raging bull, abandoning all technique. His fist was cocked back, aimed to shatter my jaw. The students in the gym gasped and backed away. "Ray! Watch out!" Jin shouted.
Kang closed the distance. Three meters. Two meters. I stood still. I expected to be afraid. I expected to flinch. But instead... the world turned gray.
[BZZZT!] A static noise exploded in my ears. Time dilated. I saw Kang running in slow motion. I saw the droplets of blood flying from his nose, suspended in the air like rubies. I saw the individual fibers of his muscles tensing in his shoulder.
And then, it appeared. A bright, glowing Red Line materialized in the air. It started from Kang's fist and ended at my left cheek. It was a perfect prediction of his attack path.
[Trajectory Analysis: Complete][Evasion Probability: 99%][Counter-Attack Window: OPEN]
I didn't think. I didn't plan. I simply obeyed the data. I tilted my head to the left. A simple, minimal movement. Whoosh. Kang's heavy fist sailed past my ear, hitting nothing but empty air. The force of his own swing threw him off balance. His chest was wide open. Defenseless.
A glowing red dot appeared on his solar plexus. (Strike here.) The System commanded.
I tightened my left fist. With a movement that was instinctive, fast, and brutal, I drove a rising uppercut deep into his stomach.
"THWACK!"
My fist sank into his soft flesh. Kang's forward momentum stopped instantly. His eyes bulged out of their sockets. His mouth opened in a silent scream as the air was forcibly expelled from his lungs. He hovered for a split second on the tip of my fist, then collapsed. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, unable to breathe, unable to speak, making horrific wheezing sounds as he gasped for air.
"You bastard!" Kang's largest friend, a giant guy named Chul, roared. Seeing his leader fall, he charged at me to retaliate. I was still staring at my hand, stunned by the mechanical precision of my own movement. I wasn't ready for a second attacker.
But before Chul could reach me... a blur of movement intercepted him. Jin.
"Don't you touch him!" Jin screamed, throwing his entire body weight into a tackle. He slammed into Chul. Jin wasn't a fighter, but he was desperate. They crashed to the floor, rolling in a tangle of limbs, throwing messy, chaotic punches at each other.
"Stop! Stop it!" The coach was blowing his whistle frantically, running toward the pile-up. The gym erupted into chaos. Students were shouting, some filming with their phones.
I stood in the center of the storm. I looked at Kang, crawling on the floor, bleeding and gasping. I looked at Jin, fighting a guy twice his size to protect me. And I looked at my hand. It was vibrating. Not with fear this time. But with Power.
"What did I just do?" I whispered. I didn't know it yet... but that serve didn't just break a nose. It broke the status quo. I had just declared war. And the System was smiling.