GDDHM 7

7
Kim Byung-ju, the action commander of the Golden Wheel, couldn’t believe his own eyes.
‘What is this…’
Smoke filled the narrow Alley. Through it came the groans of his subordinates crawling across the pavement. All of it had happened in less than ten minutes.
‘Is this really all it takes to capture one high school student?’
Kim Byung-ju recalled the arrogant voice of the VIP who’d given the order—Jang Ki-han.
—Just snag one useless high school kid who can’t use magic. Think of it as a light breeze and come back.
A light breeze? This was a typhoon.
Through the thick smoke, Cheon Do-hyun emerged, casually unbuttoning the top of his school uniform shirt. Not a single wound on him. The sight made anger rise in Kim Byung-ju’s throat unbidden.
“…this bastard.”
“Which is why I said anyone who wants something should come themselves.”
“.…”
His casual retort left Kim Byung-ju momentarily speechless.
Seven men, handled alone, and he still had this much composure.
Cheon Do-hyun swept his gaze around and asked.
“That all of you?”
Meaning, were there no more subordinates to attack him. There couldn’t be. This was supposed to be a job to capture one powerless high school student. Even the current force was excessive.
“Then next time, have whoever wants to see me come in person. I’m heading out. Not feeling well.”
Cheon Do-hyun rubbed his stomach and spoke with feigned nonchalance. From Kim Byung-ju’s perspective, it sounded like a taunt—that he was weak enough to be handled casually even while unwell. But it was literally true.
‘Damn it, my Dantian feels like it’s about to burst.’
Do-hyun had hastily swallowed Mana scraps from the first and second Circles, and now the energies were tangled up inside his stomach, causing chaos.
He was forcibly suppressing them with the Tai Xu Hun Yuan Xin Gong, but he was reaching his limit. Even a full day of Qi Regulation and Rest once he got home wouldn’t be enough.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
But Kim Byung-ju blocked his path firmly.
“If we’d all rushed you together, wouldn’t we have had a chance? You think you can handle all of us alone?”
At Cheon Do-hyun’s provocation, Kim Byung-ju let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t mistake me. I’m the action commander of the Golden Wheel.”
He shrugged off his jacket and raised his guard tight. It was a well-trained stance. Seeing his left foot facing straight ahead, it was clearly a kickboxing-based posture.
“I’ll show you the difference in our class.”
Seeing this, Cheon Do-hyun sighed inwardly. Honestly, he wanted to avoid fighting.
“Phew, so seven or eight, what’s the difference.”
Cheon Do-hyun responded in the same stance. The two looked like a pair reflected in a mirror—identical.
But that was only until the ready position. Once real combat began, their energies erupted in complete opposition.
Crash—!
From Kim Byung-ju’s entire body exploded silver-white Mana. Unlike his opponents so far, his Mana bore a unique color.
“They say that from the third Circle onward, a mage becomes true. You push a single Attribute to its limit, and finally, you gain your own distinct color.”
Thus the third Circle realm came to be called Ignition.
Part of Kim Byung-ju’s skin took on a metallic sheen, hardening steadily. This was Steel Hardening—the specialized magic that had made Kim Byung-ju the action commander of the Golden Wheel.
“My Attribute is ‘steel.’ For you, who must fight in close quarters, it’s the worst matchup.”
Bang!
Kim Byung-ju kicked off the ground and charged. With his body’s hardness raised to steel levels, his speed was not particularly fast.
But with each step he took, the pavement caved inward. Even a graze would cause a fracture.
‘Keep distance while fighting.’
In that brief moment, Cheon Do-hyun finished formulating his strategy.
And immediately put it into action.
Cheon Do-hyun threw a front kick toward the charging Kim Byung-ju. The thrust kick—commonly called a “push kick”—landed square on Kim Byung-ju’s abdomen.
Thud—
A heavy impact sound. But Kim Byung-ju didn’t budge an inch. Rather, the soles of Cheon Do-hyun’s feet stung. It felt like kicking a steel pillar.
“You think that’ll work!”
Kim Byung-ju’s hand shot out like lightning, reaching to seize Cheon Do-hyun’s leg.
But Cheon Do-hyun’s leg retraction was fractionally faster.
Kim Byung-ju’s hand cut through empty air by the narrowest margin.
‘Phew.’
His footwork was sluggish, but the speed of his arms and legs was different.
Kim Byung-ju gave no opening. Before Cheon Do-hyun could recover his stance, he unleashed a rapid flurry of attacks.
One-two.
A chunk of metal whistled past his face.
‘If I block, my arm breaks.’
Cheon Do-hyun chose evasion over defense.
And seizing the gap, he threw a calf kick. His leg whipped like a whip, striking Kim Byung-ju’s left fibula.
Even as he kicked, Cheon Do-hyun felt a flash of worry—striking hardened steel with a bare foot risked breaking his own instep.
But this time, the sound was different.
Crack—
The clean impact of solid contact sent Kim Byung-ju stumbling backward in surprise. Cheon Do-hyun’s eyes gleamed at the sight.
‘Not full-body Steel Hardening. He’s only hardening the parts he focuses on.’
In a single exchange, Cheon Do-hyun had already mapped the weakness in Kim Byung-ju’s technique.
But Kim Byung-ju was a veteran too. He gave his opponent no opening to exploit, pivoting sharply on his left foot and countering with a middle kick.
Whoosh—
The heavy impact reverberated like swinging a steel club.
Thud—
Cheon Do-hyun slipped backward, letting the strike slide past.
“You can’t win by just dodging!”
Kim Byung-ju shouted.
Spin—
He pivoted fluidly, reset his stance in a heartbeat, and launched another middle kick.
Double middle kick—
If Cheon Do-hyun hadn’t seen it coming, his ribs would have crumpled when Kim Byung-ju tried to capitalize on the recovery window.
But Cheon Do-hyun had already read all of Kim Byung-ju’s attack patterns and prepared his counters.
He’d already anticipated the trajectory of every strike.
One was a mage who learned combat to supplement his magic.
The other had trained in nothing but combat to survive.
The gulf between them was immeasurable.
“The worst matchup for me? No—I am the worst matchup for you.”
Cheon Do-hyun stepped back and this time redirected the hardened leg with force from the opposite angle.
The weight of the Steel Hardened leg combined with Cheon Do-hyun’s strength delayed the recovery, and in that instant he seized Kim Byung-ju’s defenseless head in his palm.
Absorption Technique.
Checkmate.
That’s how he meant to end it.
But the moment Kim Byung-ju’s Mana began to drain into him, a problem arose.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Do-hyun screamed and tore his hand away.
A 3-Circle mage’s specialized Mana was on an entirely different level from anything he’d absorbed before. The blood vessels Kim Byung-ju’s Mana had passed through burned as if scalded. His Mana was too hot, too sharp, too heavy.
With his Dantian already saturated, Cheon Do-hyun couldn’t stomach high-density steel Mana.
Cheon Do-hyun retreated, crying out in pain.
Kim Byung-ju seized the opportunity without hesitation.
He pulled his Mana to its maximum and drew forth the most devastating technique at his command.
“I don’t know what just happened, but curse yourself for losing this moment.”
Iron Fist.
The steel fist came screaming toward Cheon Do-hyun’s head with killing force.
In that desperate instant, Cheon Do-hyun had to make a choice.
‘If I can’t digest it, I’ll expel it.’
He wrenched Kim Byung-ju’s power—the roiling energy that wouldn’t break down—from his palms.
Kim Byung-ju was throwing a one-hit kill, aiming to end Cheon Do-hyun’s life.
Excessive force behind it. Weight shifted too far forward. Left hand hanging low. All of it crystallized in a single moment before his eyes.
Cheon Do-hyun’s head tilted aside by the thinnest margin.
Slip—
A Head Slip.
Kim Byung-ju’s fist grazed past Do-hyun’s ear and tore through empty air. Had his evasion been a tenth of a second slower, his skull would have shattered.
But Cheon Do-hyun had pulled it off.
What greeted his eyes was Kim Byung-ju’s face, now completely unguarded.
Eyes wide with shock—he’d never imagined his strike could miss.
Mouth hanging open.
Cheon Do-hyun whispered softly to him.
“Goodbye.”
A perfect left hook driven from his front foot, his full weight behind it. At the tip of that fist burned Kim Byung-ju’s own steel Mana.
Absorption Technique – Reflection.
Boom—!
It was a sound no human fist could produce. Kim Byung-ju’s head snapped back ninety degrees, and his eyes went blank.
Thud.
His massive frame crumpled to the ground.
A moment of silence.
“Haaaah!”
Then Cheon Do-hyun let out a cry of victory.
At that instant, black vapors began to rise from Cheon Do-hyun’s body.
The churning impurities vanished as his system expelled the contaminants outward.
The terrible cramps that had plagued him dissolved, and a tingling rush flooded through his entire frame.
[Achievement Level: Absorption Technique 4th Grade]
In this battle, he had broken through his limits once again.
Cheon Do-hyun observed the transformed state of his body.
The Qi within his Dantian had fused completely. His stabilized internal power now occupied a space roughly the size of an adult fist.
And that was only the beginning. With his proficiency in the Absorption Technique elevated, he could now draw in far more powerful absorption.
And as fortune would have it, there lay before his eyes the perfect subject to test this newfound strength.
Cheon Do-hyun looked down at the unconscious commander of the Golden Wheel sprawled across the floor and smiled.
“Well then, let’s begin.”
#
Meanwhile, at the mouth of the Alley, Kim Seung-yeon—whom he had thought to have fled—stood with her hand clamped over her mouth.
“This can’t be real…”
Her eyes trembled as if an earthquake had shaken them. The outcast boy who couldn’t use magic, beating members of the Golden Wheel with his bare hands—it was terror, and at the same time, awe.