Word was spreading.
There was a new player in town.
Whispers of a faction led by a kid no older than an elementary schooler, going by middle school by middle school and beating terror into each of them, one by one, without so much of a sweat.
Changyeon took it as another load of shit.
A kid who barely stopped sucking on his mother's saggy tits, beating up people years older than him without a scratch on him? What was this, a fucking fanfiction?
These dumbfucks really must've been beaten by their parents a bit too hard when they were younger, if they really believe shit like that.
There's some truths to ever fairy tale, though. There's a gang going around, growing and meddling in his turf. Ever since he became the head of Yeongdeungpo, there were always fuckers popping up left and right trying to test the waters of his new reign. More and more insects to crush under his foot.
This group of ragtag nobodies were no different.
Nobody fucked with Manwol and got away with it.
.
.
.
Progress was happening at a barely acceptable rate.
I didn't slack a single moment off in my journey of getting stronger. Day after day, I was both relentless and consistent in my studies and physical training.
After a week of catching up, I no longer needed Donald to be my tutor. I self-studied everything else I needed to know, getting the resources either pirated from the web or a visit to the nearest library.
My frame was already much fuller and more muscular compared to before. The difference was drastic but not by too much compared to athletes my age, since it had only been a month so far since I arrived at Yeongdeungpo, but it was enough.
Where there was a skinny, scrawny boy that stood at a slightly higher height than his peers, was a kid that finally looked like he ate something. The most important thing, however, wasn't my new look, but my strength.
Before, I could barely finish a proper workout without using all of my willpower to power through a set of a hundred pushups. Now, it was getting easier. Much, much easier. My body was slowly but steadily catching up to my mind, in terms of strength.
I sparred with Donald every single day, and gave no hesitation in throwing myself into fights with people years older than me. I haven't lost a single one yet, but it came the closest when I was ambushed with 11 middle schoolers aiming for revenge.
Even then, they only left bruises due to how many there were. I couldn't dodge them all, yet. And in the end, I still stood over their broken bodies laying in agonizing pain. Yet, it was close. Too close.
I noticed my weakness. I was too brittle. I tired too easily. And so, I worked on removing those weaknesses. I used Muay Thai bone conditioning, and applied it to my training. I conditioned my hands, my shins, my arms. Every bone that would be used in combat.
I ran miles every single day, relentlessly. I ran until my lungs were burning, and then ran miles after.
I ate, and ate, and ate. I ate until my belly was stuffed, planning and prepping and cooking six meals a day, all weighed and calculated with the necessary amounts of calories and protein that matched and coincided with the goals that I had for my weight and muscle gain.
It hurt.
My body was in constant agony, on the inside, and the outside. From my stomach getting used to eating so much, to my bones that I smashed against trees to condition them, to my muscles that I relentlessly destroyed in exercise, to my lungs that burned through miles of running.
Yet I persisted. Like a man on death row, in his final days of life.
I endured.
I got used to the pain.
I got used to the sleepless nights, unable to do anything but lie there, wide awake, staring at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes as my body writhed in agony, waking up the next morning not remembering when I passed out with my eyes still open.
And I did it again.
And again.
Without fail — until the pain was my new normal. Until I could sleep again, even as my body was in agony. Until the injuries healed, and my mind and body were slowly beginning to become in sync.
And so, after a month of torment, I was barely passable in my eyes.
But it wasn't enough. Not even close.
The main thing that changed after a month, however, wasn't just my body.
I had expanded my influence from just Yeowon Elementary, to the neighboring middle schools in the area.
I didn't even bother with the other Elementary's. There was nothing there that would ever catch my eye. I had settled on the bigger fish, first. Because even though they thought of themselves as the hunter, they were nothing more than bigger prey.
It started, with Naemun Middle School. After I taught the worms their lesson, I turned them into my hounds. And I told them to scout out the school and to come back with the information I wanted within 3 days.
They delivered, and with the information that my hounds had sniffed out, I knew who their head was. Where they hung out. How many of them there were.
They didn't stand a chance.
Honestly, it was disappointing. I had expected better of people that were supposed to be my seniors. I could have sent Donald by himself, and he would've destroyed all of them. I would've second guessed his capabilities against an entire force of Middle Schoolers, but he had changed. He was more ruthless, stronger, and he no longer flinched when I broke somebody's fingers.
It all changed, after he heard his mother had passed away.
The look in his eye changed from a slight hesitance, to a cold and calculating fury. He challenged me that same day, attacking with twice the ferocity and power from our first battle.
But the result remained the same.
The only thing that changed, was that now, the gap between our suffering was shortened.
"You think you're special?"
I had dodged another one of his speedy jabs, the force of his punch sending a sting on the side of my cheek. I countered with a forceful uppercut aimed to knock him into unconsciousness with a single blow.
He leaned back, my fist cutting through the air and nicking his chin instead of connecting fully, his jaw and teeth still rattling but not enough to end the fight.
"You think now that your mommy died, you'll turn Super Saiyan and fuck me up?"
I blocked a high kick aimed at the right side of my face, the impact slightly stinging my hand.
"You're not Goku, and this isn't fucking Dragon Ball."
His attacks grew faster, his fury only rising as his face contorted into pure rage. I barely dodged them one after the other, blocking the ones that I couldn't.
"SHUT UP!!! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"
I ducked under a hook that he threw as fast as his jab was at the beginning of the fight. I didn't fight back, watching him as his rage grew more and more, simply dodging, blocking, and swatting away his attacks.
"Nothing changed."
"You're still my dog, and you're still the same weak fuck that couldn't do shit as your daddy beat you, and your mom spent her last days dying inside of a hospital bed."
Donald screamed in rage and frustration. His punches stung even more as I blocked them, and it was barely possible to dodge them now.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"
I leaned out the way of a spinning kick that made the air scream as it shot toward me, aiming to knock my skull clean off my spine, and closed in. He sent a side-kick my way as I got closer, and I snaked my arm around his leg and tackled him, lifting his body off the ground before slamming him to the floor.
He didn't relent even as I mounted him, crashing his fists against my face over and over and over until his knuckles started to bleed. I didn't dodge or block this time, simply retaliating by doing the same thing he did to me, sending all of my strength hurling against his face, causing the back of his head to smack over and over again against the cold floor of the rooftop.
There were no more strategies, no more tactics. Just a contest of wills.
And after I crashed my fist against his cheekbone for the countless time, my hands wet with blood running down them and my face drenched with both my own blood and the blood of the torn flesh from Donald's knuckles, he was finally knocked unconscious.
I backhanded him from his slumber, his eyes regaining focus.
"I won again."
I rolled off of him and sat up, simply analyzing the work I did to his face. His eyes were blank.
"Why."
His mouth let out one word.
"Why what."
His eyes started to glisten, before tears involuntarily streamed down his face.
"Why am I so weak.."
I remembered. Standing there, watching as the only thing I cared about in this world had her skull caved in right in front of me.
"It's not because you're weak."
His eyes turned to me.
"The world just didn't hurt you as much as me."
I looked down at my hands. The skin had torn from my knuckles, the blood just beginning to dry.
"I saw my mother get her brains splattered across the cement right in front of me."
"And I couldn't do anything, but watch."
I looked back at him.
"Remember this pain."
I stood up.
"Remember it, remember your weakness, and make a promise."
I stretched out my hand to him.
"To never be weak again."
.
.
.
The school year was already almost over, and we would be middle schoolers soon.
Donald was to go to Yeo-Il Middle School, and take over Yeongdeungpo in my stead.
It was both a test, and a calculated move on my part. I would start fresh in a new area, it was more effective and efficient to move my forces apart in order to expand more quickly. And the strongest force I had, was myself.
Yeongdeungpo would be Donald's stress relief for the moment, but I would come back every month to check in with him. Also, to remind him of where he stands between us.
Something had changed after that second fight we had on the rooftop, though. I trusted him more, to do what needed to be done. To have the will to claw his way towards the top.
When he was there, and became the head of Yeongdeungpo, I knew he would aim for me after. But by then, I would be far beyond a mere Yeongdeungpo.
Charles had clocked in with me, and I notified him of my decision to transfer to Incheon.
"Incheon? What are you planning, kid."
His voice spoke through the phone, a girl's curious voice speaking in the background.
"Dad, who are you talking to?"
So he had a daughter. She should be my 'cousin' then.
"I'm planning what every empire does, after laying down a foundation."
"Expansion."
He chuckled, his daughter's pouting growing louder in the background when she was unanswered.
"To lay a good foundation in only a month is impressive at your age, but the world is bigger than you think, kid. You're still playing in the little leagues, don't forget that."
The bus finally stopped, and I made my way off as I arrived at my new place in Incheon. Another penthouse.
"I remember everything, Charles. Don't you forget that, either."
I hung up and headed my way up the elevator after checking in and getting my keys from the manager. The first day of school would be in a week, but classes didn't need to start in order for me to make my first moves.