The morning air buzzed louder than usual.When Daniel Park walked through the gates of J High, he could feel it instantly—an invisible current rushing through the halls, swelling louder with every step. Students weren't talking about homework, or teachers, or even Zack's latest spar.
They were talking about Dog Pound.
"Did you hear?""Someone wiped them out.""No, not just wiped out—flattened. Like they weren't even a gang.""My cousin said half of them are still in the hospital. Broken bones. Teeth missing.""Who the hell could do that to them?"
Daniel froze mid-step. His bag strap dug into his shoulder as his grip tightened. Dog Pound…
They were the first to make his life miserable here. Shoving him, cornering him, treating him like dirt just because he was new and weak. He could still feel the sting of those kicks, the laughter in his ears.
Now they were gone.
He should've felt relief. Justice. But instead his stomach churned. Whoever erased Dog Pound like that—what kind of monster could do it so easily?
Daniel kept his head down as he made his way inside. The laughter and whispers followed him anyway.
By the lockers, Zack Lee leaned against the wall, arms folded, watching the chaos with his usual half-grin.
"Dog Pound's finished, huh," he muttered, loud enough for his crew to hear. "Guess even trash gets taken out eventually."
One of his friends snickered. "Scary though, right? I mean, they weren't weak. Whoever did that must be…"
"Strong," Zack cut in, his grin widening. "That's all I need to know. Stronger than them. Good. Makes things fun."
But his eyes flickered briefly toward Mira Kim, who stood just a few feet away, her books clutched neatly to her chest. She wasn't smiling.
"You don't find this strange?" she asked calmly.
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Strange? What, that some idiots got what was coming?"
Mira's gaze sharpened. "Dog Pound wasn't just a random group of bullies. They had connections. They made money for someone bigger. Whoever crushed them didn't just pick a fight with a gang—they picked a fight with whoever owns them."
The grin on Zack's face faltered, just slightly. His pride wouldn't let him admit she had a point, so he scoffed and looked away. "Tch. Whatever. If someone's got the balls to do that, let 'em. Doesn't mean anything to me."
Mira studied him for a moment longer, then shifted her gaze down the hall—catching sight of Daniel fumbling with his books. Her expression softened for a second, before she turned back, quiet again.
Daniel sat through class unable to focus. Every word the teacher said blurred into background noise. His mind kept circling back to the same thought.
Dog Pound is gone. Someone did that. But who?
His eyes drifted once, almost against his will, toward the quiet figure near the back of the room.
Seong Min.
He sat as if the chaos outside the classroom didn't exist. Calm. Smirking faintly. His gaze wandered lazily, but Daniel noticed the way it lingered—how sharp it actually was, like he was cataloguing every detail, every whisper, every shift in the air.
Daniel's throat went dry. Could it have been him?
He remembered that first time, when Seong Min had intervened against Zack—not with fists, but with words. The calm, steady tone. The way he'd turned the crowd against Zack in seconds.
That kind of presence… maybe it didn't even need fists to break Dog Pound.
Daniel quickly looked away. His chest tightened. If it was Seong Min, then he wasn't just another strong kid. He was something else entirely. Something Daniel didn't understand.
When the lunch bell rang, the courtyard erupted with gossip. The "Dog Pound Massacre" was the only thing on anyone's lips. Half the stories were exaggerations—twenty guys knocked out in one punch, bones crushed with a stare—but the effect was the same. Fear. Excitement.
At one table, Zack bragged he could've taken them too. His friends laughed, Mira stayed silent.
At another, Jay sat alone, listening without reacting. His eyes occasionally drifted toward Daniel, who sat by himself under the shade of a tree, untouched tray in front of him.
Daniel sighed and pulled out his phone, pretending to scroll. Anything to drown out the noise. But the whispers kept finding him.
"…what if that new kid's connected?""Nah, no way. He's too soft.""Still, he did show up around the same time…"
His pulse spiked. He shoved the phone back into his pocket, staring down at the grass.
Elsewhere, in the quiet of her car, Crystal Choi sat with her arms folded, her posture perfectly composed.
"Miss," her driver said carefully, "should I report what you saw last night to Chairman Choi?"
Her eyes flickered. Images from last night flashed in her head—Seong Min's violet glare, the raw violence, the words still ringing: I'll live true to myself. To my desires.
"…No," she said after a pause, her tone like ice. "There's nothing to report."
The driver hesitated, confused, but nodded. The car rolled forward.
Crystal's expression didn't change, but beneath it, her thoughts churned. Why hadn't she told her father? Why protect him?
Her pulse betrayed her with a subtle quickening she forced herself to ignore.
That night, Seong Min sat in his room with his battered notebook open. The violet glow in his eye flickered faintly as he scribbled.
Dog Pound: eliminated. Fear spreading faster than fists. Rumors turning me into a ghost story. Good.Daniel: protected again—Mira Kim's influence confirmed. Zack agitated. Jay… watching.Crystal: warned me, but lied to her father. Interesting.
He tapped the pen against the paper, smirk tugging at his lips. Every move made the board more crowded. Every rumor gave him more shadows to move within.
And yet, he could feel it—the shift. His rampage hadn't gone unnoticed. Bigger eyes were watching now.
Far across the city, in a smoke-filled room that reeked of age and violence, a figure sat surrounded by men who kept their heads bowed.
An underling whispered the report: "Dog Pound has been… taken. Someone new holds them now."
The figure didn't move at first. Just the scrape of his lighter as he lit a cigarette. Smoke curled upward, hiding most of his face.
Finally, he spoke. His voice was low, gravelly, carrying the weight of a name that once shook Korea.
"…Interesting."
He exhaled, smoke filling the room.
"The young think the board belongs to them. Let's see how long they last when the kings decide to move."
The underlings shivered, but no one dared reply.
In the silence, the First Generation King leaned back in his chair, a faint, dangerous smile forming.
End of Chapter 14