The night after the auditorium meeting, Daniel sat in his office inside the Cheongryong safehouse.
The room was dim, lit only by a lamp on his desk. Behind him, the golden dragon emblem glimmered against the wall—a reminder of the empire he was shaping.
His lieutenants stood around him. Kang Do-jun, now a humbled but loyal captain. The Red Claws' leader, seated nervously. The Razorbacks' leader, head lowered. Each of them had bent the knee in the meeting.
Now, they awaited his orders.
Daniel leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, his gaze sharp and cold.
> Daniel: "Tonight, you swore loyalty. Good. But loyalty without vision is nothing. What we have now is a foothold. One school. One territory. I didn't build Cheongryong to rule scraps. I built it to rule everything."
The lieutenants exchanged uneasy glances.
> Daniel: "Our goal isn't this campus. It's the entire province. Every middle school. Every faction. Every coin that moves through their hands will move because I allow it."
---
He stood, pacing slowly, his voice steady—every word laced with authority.
> Daniel: "Here's how it begins. Inside the school, you maintain order. No brawls unless I allow them. If anyone breaks discipline, they're punished. If anyone questions us, we silence them."
He pointed to Kang Do-jun.
> Daniel: "Do-jun, you'll restructure the Steel Fangs. Your boys will be the enforcers. No one fights without your signal."
Then his eyes shifted to the Red Claws' leader.
> Daniel: "Your crew will handle information. Eyes and ears in every hallway, every corner shop, every internet café. If someone spits Daniel Park's name, I'll know about it before they finish the sentence."
Finally, he turned to the Razorbacks.
> Daniel: "You control numbers. You'll be the storm when I need it. Headcount is power, and I want every fight we step into to look like an army's marching."
---
The lieutenants nodded, absorbing his words.
But Daniel wasn't finished.
> Daniel: "Outside this school, we expand. City by city. District by district. We'll swallow them one at a time. First, the schools closest to us—build alliances or crush resistance. Then the neighboring districts. Eventually, the whole province will bow."
A map spread across his desk, dotted with pins marking nearby schools.
> Daniel: "Each of these schools has a gang. Each gang has a leader. And every leader has weaknesses—greed, fear, pride. We exploit those, and the dragon's wings spread further."
His eyes gleamed with ruthless calm.
> Daniel: "When the province kneels, then… we look at the country."
---
The room went silent. Even hardened captains shifted uneasily, realizing they weren't following just a fighter—they were following a conqueror.
Kang Do-jun finally broke the silence.
> Do-jun: "If we move on other schools… the regional kings might notice."
Daniel smiled faintly.
> Daniel: "Good. Let them notice. A king is only a king until someone hungrier takes his crown."
His lieutenants shivered.
---
The meeting ended with orders dispatched, and the lieutenants marched out to ready their crews.
Daniel remained in the office, staring at the map.
His reflection in the glass of the window looked older, harder than his eleven years. A boy by age, a sovereign by will.
> Daniel (to himself): "One school isn't enough. This whole province will carry the mark of the dragon… or burn fighting it."
The conquest had begun.