Naturally, the brawl ended in Hyeolhyang’s victory.
If there was one difference from all the fights I’d seen before, it was that Baek Jiwoo admitted defeat cleanly and stepped back.
In every brawl I’d witnessed, it always turned into a dogfight, with people talking about revenge even after a winner was decided.
But the Legend of Gwanak-gu seemed to be something else entirely.
Of course, Baek Jiwoo’s easygoing personality played a big part in that.
‘What should I send?’
I’d only just returned home late in the evening, and I’d been clutching my phone, worrying about it the whole time.
By now, Haemalgeum had probably told Do Ihyeon that she’d met me.
Do Ihyeon would have heard that I’d saved his new number, too.
Maybe not, but I had a feeling Do Ihyeon was waiting for me to contact him.
That made it even harder to decide what to say for my first message.
‘He must be struggling with his trauma, so maybe I should try to comfort him?’
After some thought, I carefully typed each word.
Then I sent him the message.
An hour later, I read Do Ihyeon’s reply and couldn’t help but smile.
[Thanks for worrying about me. I’m fine, so take care of yourself and get better soon^^ – Do Ihyeon]
It felt strange seeing Do Ihyeon use an emoticon for the first time, but I guess he’d given it some thought and decided on the smiling eyes emoji.
Just from the message, Do Ihyeon seemed okay, so I was a little less worried.
Someday, when I meet him, I’ll make sure to show him I’m all healed up, Gips off and everything.
And I want to help him so his trauma fades, even a little.
Imagining a future where Do Ihyeon and I are just comfortable friends, without any awkward feelings, I closed my eyes.
***
Everyday life continued on as usual.
The day to remove the Gips on my arm was drawing near.
Having to wear a Gips in the summer had been tough, but now, just the thought of being free made me feel giddy even when sitting still.
At least, that was the case until Alimi came running into the classroom to deliver some completely unexpected news.
“They say the Four Heavenly Kings and Onsaemiro are sorting out their ranks right now!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
By ‘sorting out ranks,’ did they mean a brawl like the one Jijon and Hyeolhyang had before?
The Four Heavenly Kings fighting with Onsaemiro?
“Aren’t there only four members of the Four Heavenly Kings?”
“Is it just the guild leaders facing off?!”
All sorts of guesses flew around.
The Four Heavenly Kings didn’t accept new guild members, so Baneunhyeol, Eunbada, Ji Ganghan, and Han Jibin were the entire guild.
So it made sense everyone was wondering ‘how?’ when they heard the Four Heavenly Kings and Onsaemiro were having a ranking match.
I was no different.
There’s no way the four of them were fighting all of Onsaemiro’s guild members at once, right?
“They said the Four Heavenly Kings offered to take on all the Onsaemiro guild members at once! And apparently the Four Heavenly Kings are winning!”
I gave up trying to make sense of it.
Facing multiple opponents with just four people was hard enough, but they were even winning?
Sure, they’d been at the top even before the Gate appeared, but was that really possible?
Still…
“Why did they suddenly decide to settle their ranks?”
Yeon Hayeon, apparently as curious as I was, whispered so only I could hear.
Maybe she thought I’d know something, but I hadn’t heard anything either.
Baneunhyeol had never once mentioned to me that he was planning a showdown with Do Ihyeon’s guild.
“I don’t know, but I think we should go check it out.”
“To stop them?”
“They should finish the match, but if things get out of hand, we’ll need to step in.”
I jumped up and checked the clock.
There were about thirty minutes left until the end of lunch.
No wonder I hadn’t seen anyone during fourth period—they’d all gone out for the brawl.
‘Should I go now?’
I’d heard it was in a construction site in the alley between Gamseong High and Iljin Vocational.
Now that I knew the location, there was no reason not to go.
Yeon Hayeon didn’t seem all that keen, but when I said I was going, she stood up too.
She said it was to protect me from any potential dangers, just in case.
Hurrying out of school with Yeon Hayeon, we made our way to the construction site.
The closer we got, the louder the sounds of fighting grew.
I really didn’t want to think about it, but with the situation right in front of me, I couldn’t help but worry.
‘Are they fighting because of me?’
Maybe the ranking match was just an excuse.
With cautious but urgent steps, I entered the construction site.
Then I climbed the stairs and saw the brawl in full swing.
“Seriously, from one to ten, there’s nothing about you I like.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Baneunhyeol and Do Ihyeon exchanged words, watching each other’s movements warily.
Both of them looked badly hurt already.
I had no idea why the fight had started all of a sudden, but just looking at their injuries made me want to stop it right away.
‘They went straight for each other’s faces, didn’t they?’
Do Ihyeon’s face in particular was a mess of bruises and blood.
Yeon Hayeon, who always stuck close to protect me, had her eyes lit with excitement.
It must’ve been quite a spectacle for Yeon Hayeon.
Even though Do Ihyeon had made it up to rank 2, he’d rarely fought and kept to himself, but now here he was settling ranks with Baneunhyeol.
It didn’t look like either of them had noticed us yet.
We were watching quietly from the stairs, hiding ourselves, when suddenly I heard my name come up in their argument.
“What were you planning, meeting Dana under the excuse of trauma?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Don’t try to hide it. Haemalgeum told me everything.”
Why was Haemalgeum being mentioned all of a sudden?
Listening closely, I started to understand how this fight had come about.
Apparently, Haemalgeum, worried about her friend who was struggling with trauma, had contacted Baneunhyeol.
From the way things were being said, it sounded like she’d asked Baneunhyeol to give Do Ihyeon and me just one day to spend together.
After receiving my message, Do Ihyeon had gotten a lot better, so she wanted to help him finally put his trauma to rest, if only for a day.
‘But… where’s my permission in all this?’
I didn’t know why they were deciding my day between themselves and fighting over it, but I understood Haemalgeum’s feelings.
Seeing Do Ihyeon looking happier after getting my message, she must have wanted to help him even more.
Still, I never thought she’d ask Baneunhyeol for a favor like that.
I glanced at Yeon Hayeon, exchanging looks as another dull thud echoed from inside the construction site.
Her eyes seemed to be asking if maybe now was the time to step in and stop them.
Whenever I’d seen scenes in internet novels or dramas of two guys fighting over a girl, I always wondered how the girl felt.
But now that I was in that situation myself, it really didn’t feel all that great.
I was just about to finish climbing the stairs to break up the fight when Baneunhyeol’s fist crashed into Do Ihyeon’s face with full force.
Already unsteady, Do Ihyeon toppled backward, blood flowing from his mouth.
“Baneunhyeol!”
Without thinking, I shouted Baneunhyeol’s name and ran to the two of them.
At that moment, everyone else—the Four Heavenly Kings and the Onsaemiro guild members, who’d all been fighting—froze like someone had hit the pause button.
“How could you keep hitting someone until they’re in that state?”
I rushed over to Do Ihyeon and checked his face.
Baneunhyeol was injured too, of course, but compared to Do Ihyeon’s face, he didn’t look that badly hurt.
I’d thrown a few punches in my youth, so I could tell: that was because Do Ihyeon hadn’t hit Baneunhyeol’s face as hard on purpose.
‘He probably thought I’d be upset if Baneunhyeol got hurt…’
As I worried over Do Ihyeon’s face, Baneunhyeol stood silently by, watching me, before finally speaking.
“…Don’t you see my face at all?”
His voice sounded a bit cracked, as if he’d been hurt.
I looked up at him with a troubled expression and said,
“Of course I’m worried about you too, but he’s hurt way more.”
“……Yeah, do whatever you want.”
Baneunhyeol, suddenly cold, said that in an icy tone and turned away.
“Wait, you’re just leaving like this?”
“I don’t want to see you worrying about some other guy, so yeah, I’m leaving.”
For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t let him go like this, but with Do Ihyeon lying on the ground, I couldn’t just leave him.
‘I’ll talk to Baneunhyeol later.’
Taking care of the injured came first.
So I helped Do Ihyeon up, with Kang Yedam and Haemalgeum helping as well, and took him to the hospital.
Yeon Hayeon, after hesitating over what to do, ended up following me.
“I don’t think Baneunhyeol is going to get over this easily.”
“As soon as Do Ihyeon’s treatment is done, I’ll go see him.”
I let out a deep sigh and watched Do Ihyeon as he was being treated.
Having watched him get hit by a car right before my eyes, seeing him suffer from his trauma, and then end up injured like this—I couldn’t just leave him.
‘Neither of them is usually like this.’
Neither Baneunhyeol nor Do Ihyeon were the type to get into fights, especially not ones where someone actually got hurt.
But now that they’d fought like this, my heart felt heavy.
“I’m sorry, it feels like all this happened because of me.”
“Yeah, so don’t let it happen again.”
Haemalgeum scratched her head and apologized, but she didn’t get off easy.
I calmly lectured her, accepting that she was mostly to blame for this brawl.
And, wanting to comfort Baneunhyeol who must have been upset, I stepped out for a bit and called him.