Alex, still pinned under Julian's boot, groaned in pain and reluctantly reached up to remove his cracked, half-melted mask.
"This is me," he muttered, bitterness thick in his voice. "I'm someone you fought back then."
Julian raised a brow, clearly unimpressed.
"I don't remember," he said flatly.
Alex clenched his teeth, silently cursing.
'Damn it... the boss said he had analyzed all of Julian's skills. Every detail, every possibility. But none of it was right. The ambush failed. My last resort failed. All of it was a disaster.'
He swallowed hard. "Don't you remember? We fought before the world fell apart. I'm the one who beat your friend to a pulp."
Julian's expression didn't change. But then he blinked, as if something clicked in his mind.
"Oh… the cockroach who ran back to his boss, begging for protection?" he said with venom-laced sarcasm.
Alex's face twitched with humiliation.
"…Yeah. That was me," he said through gritted teeth, barely hiding the shame.
