Daniel couldn't sleep.
The sheets tangled around his legs like chains, his body jerking awake every time his eyes slipped shut. Each time, it was the same: the tunnel, the reek of rust and piss, the sickly light flickering overhead.
And the sound.
That sound of bone giving way under fists. Of a man choking on his own blood.
Daniel sat up, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. His room was quiet — too quiet — but the echoes still clung to his ears. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't scrub the memory away.
Seong Min had stood calm in that chaos. Not wild, not laughing, not grinning with bloodlust like Zack sometimes did when a fight excited him. Calm. Detached. As if every strike, every shattered rib and broken tooth, was just another line in a notebook.
Daniel shuddered. He had thought Gun was terrifying — the way people spoke his name with awe and fear. But even Gun fought like a man, sharp and precise, like someone who had honed his skill into a blade.
Seong Min was something else.
Daniel's chest tightened until he could barely breathe. What is he?
The next morning, J High didn't sound like a school. It sounded like a market of rumors.
Students clustered in corners, in stairwells, around lockers, their voices buzzing over each other. Daniel caught words no matter where he went.
"Dog Pound's gone. Totally gone.""No, no — that's old news. Didn't you hear about last night? Someone went after one of the real guys. Like, First Gen.""Bullshit. First Gen doesn't exist. They're just urban legends.""Then why's everyone so quiet about it? Even the teachers aren't saying anything."
Daniel's stomach lurched. He sped up, hugging his books tight to his chest. His legs felt heavy, like they were dragging through water.
You don't know what you're talking about. He wanted to scream it at them. I saw it. I was there.
But his voice stayed buried in his throat.
He slipped into class, sliding into his seat. The teacher's voice blurred into static almost immediately. Every time Daniel's gaze wavered, it found Seong Min — sitting calm at the back, eyes half-lidded like he was barely listening, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
But Daniel saw more. He saw how those eyes flickered, sharp and deliberate, catching every whisper, every movement. He wasn't zoning out. He was watching. Cataloguing.
Daniel turned away so fast his pen clattered to the floor. His heart slammed against his ribs, breath hitching.
He tried to steady his hands. To focus on the board. But every time he blinked, he saw violet light burning behind his eyelids.
At lunch, the courtyard seethed with gossip.
Zack leaned against a wall, arms crossed, his crew eating up every word he threw out. "Dog Pound was weak anyway. Whoever crushed them just saved me the trouble."
One of his lackeys laughed. "Yeah, but man, the way people are talking? Like it was one guy against all of them. That's insane."
Zack's grin widened, sharp. "So what? That just means there's someone stronger out there. Makes things more fun."
But Mira, sitting a few feet away, wasn't smiling. Her gaze was steady, sharp. "Don't you think this is dangerous? Dog Pound wasn't just a group of thugs. They had ties. If someone's attacking groups with connections, they aren't just picking fights — they're declaring war."
Zack scoffed, but Daniel caught the flicker of unease in his eyes.
Daniel sat alone at the edge of the yard, untouched tray of food before him. He couldn't eat. His stomach was twisted too tightly.
From where he sat, he could see Jay — quiet, expression unreadable as always, but his gaze lingered a little too long in Daniel's direction. It made Daniel's throat dry.
All around him, voices swirled:
"…some say the guy's not even human…""…what if it's someone from another school?""…nah, it's someone here. It has to be."
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, gripping the bench so hard his knuckles ached.
If they found out. If they knew it was Seong Min. If anyone even whispered his name in connection to what happened last night…
He couldn't imagine the fallout.
But what twisted his chest most wasn't fear for Seong Min. It was fear of him.
That night, Daniel lay in bed staring at the ceiling, his body trembling with exhaustion. His mind wouldn't stop replaying it all: the envoy's fist cracking into concrete like paper, the way Seong Min barely flinched when blows landed, the way he dismantled someone who should've been untouchable.
He thought of Zack. Of Vasco. Of Jay. Even Mira.
Could any of them have done what Seong Min did?
The answer clawed at him: No.
Not like that. Not so effortlessly. Not with that calm.
And if Seong Min ever turned his eyes on them…
Daniel's breath hitched, tears pricking hot at the corners of his eyes. He curled his hands into fists.
I can't let it happen. I can't let him hurt anyone else.
But he knew he couldn't face Seong Min alone. He wasn't strong enough — not even close.
If there was any chance, he needed the others. Zack, Vasco, Jay… maybe Mira too. People with power, with conviction. Together, maybe they could stand against him.
The thought didn't comfort him. It only made his chest feel heavier, because even imagining them all together, Daniel couldn't shake the truth pressing down like a weight:
I don't know if even all of us could stop him.
But he had to try.
He had to.
Because if Seong Min wasn't stopped, if no one stood up — then J High, maybe even the whole city, would fall into his shadow.
Daniel Park, who once just wanted to survive, now found himself staring into the dark ceiling with one terrifying decision forming in his mind:
To gather allies. To stand.
Even if it meant standing against the monster who walked the same halls as him.
End of Chapter 17