His whole body trembled.
“Uuuugh... Uuuuuugh!!!”
What was this feeling?
A sensation he had never experienced in his entire life.
No matter the situation, he had always solved everything with brute strength.
Even when facing difficulties, a little ti was all he needed to break through.
But this—
This was impossible to accept.
“AAAAAAGH!!!”
Mid-June.
The day Evelyn’s talk show aired across the United States.
Edward Maxwell had watched the broadcast live.
The WBC heavyweight champion, stripped of all his dignity, sat there, eyes wide, watching every second of it.
“Grhkkkk...!”
And at that mont, he felt the greatest pain of his life.
He had already known that Kim Donghu had saved Evelyn.
Sure, he could accept that much.
In fact, he had even been relieved.
Because Evelyn had gotten out of it unhard.
But.
No. No, this can’t be happening!
The mont he saw Evelyn’s face, his heart collapsed.
Even the dullest, most oblivious idiot would recognize that expression.
The look of a girl utterly in love.
Thud.
Edward sank to the floor.
But the worst part—
Was yet to co.
—“No one else can call Jane but him. It’s like a pet na.”
For Edward, who had genuinely liked Evelyn—not just as a fan, but as a man—
this was the single most devastating thing she could have said.
It was practically a public declaration of their relationship.
Her face had been so openly affectionate that even the talk show host had montarily frozen in shock.
“...Why is ti moving so slowly?”
Edward stared at her happy expression and fell into despair once more.
He had always believed that he would be the one to bring her happiness.
And now, his heart was being torn apart.
But from that mont on, ti no longer moved slowly for Edward.
Before, he had trained simply to crush his opponents.
But now, he had a specific goal.
He decided to accept it all.
I’ll use all this rage as fuel.
Click.
He turned on the TV.
Vowing never to turn it off again.
July passed, empty and aningless.
Then August arrived, bringing the official broadcast of Will It Work on the Mainland? on Netflix.
Before, he wouldn’t have even considered watching it.
But now, he had completely changed his mind.
The subtitles are in English anyway.
If that was the case, he might as well analyze every last detail.
With that thought, he pressed play.
“...That scene hasn’t aired yet.”
He realized he had to wait for all twelve episodes.
Annoyed but determined, he resud training.
Then, about three weeks later—
The scene played on the giant screen.
Bang!
—“Everyone, lower your hands. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Everyone, lower your hands. I don’t want to hurt you...”
Edward muttered Kim Donghu’s words under his breath.
Repeating them over and over as he continued his training.
By late September—
The main trailer for Tarzan was released.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
As expected from a musical film, it showcased dramatic dance and song sequences.
And then, the final scene—
—“...I’ll kill you and wear your hide, Sabo.”
Kim Donghu’s eyes burned with murderous intent.
With that, the two-minute trailer ended.
“Hah.”
Edward let out a breath and simply tweeted—
【 Fake Tarzan, you are unworthy of the na. You should be ashad of your disgusting luck for standing beside Jane. 】
It was the lightest wording he could manage.
And with that, he shut his phone.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
He poured all his fury into his training.
Turning every ounce of this tornt into the fuel for his victory.
And, of course—
The internet went absolutely insane.
The public had always been starving for drama.
A direct call-out like this was exactly what they wanted.
To make things even better, Kim Donghu’s response ca swiftly.
ㄴ A scared dog barks the loudest.
A provocation t with an even stronger provocation.
At first, Donghu had assud this was just theatrics—
a bit of staged trash talk to build hype for the fight.
Until—
【 You being by her side is unacceptable. You need to be punished. 】
ㄴ ...Huh?
ㄴ Uh??
ㄴ Wait, what???
ㄴ ????!
ㄴ What??????
Originally, boxing rivalries followed a simple formula.
Two fighters [N O V E L I G H T] would trash-talk, exchange so insults,
then step into the ring, fight, determine the winner, and move on.
It was a predictable, one-dinsional structure.
After all, how could two fighters possibly build up a full-blown dramatic rivalry like sothing out of a movie?
That’s why most of the story revolved around how evenly matched they were.
The focus was on their rankings, their positions, what was at stake in the fight.
But the sudden ntion of her changed everything.
[Breaking Theory... Edward was secretly in love with Evelyn??]
— But it looks like Kim Donghu stole her from him...
— If you break down his tweet, the only “she” he could be talking about is Evelyn.
ㄴ So it was a love triangle? Edward → Evelyn → Kim Donghu?
ㄴ Kim Donghu, you insane bastard... actually putting that face of yours to work.
ㄴ Honestly, even as a fan, I’d be pissed.
ㄴ If you were in love with her? You’d be furious, lmao.
[If this theory is true, then Edward just witnessed:]
— His crush starring in a music video with another man... which hit Billboard #1. For 23 straight weeks.
— His crush filming a movie with that sa man... which included a romantic storyline and multiple kiss scenes.
— The rescue scene in Netflix’s Will It Work on the Mainland? going viral and hitting #1 worldwide.
ㄴ And not just #1. GLOBAL #1.
ㄴ Yeah, I’d lose my mind too. The whole world just watched Kim Donghu rescue Evelyn.
ㄴ And that’s not even the worst part. Let’s add Evelyn’s talk show statent:
ㄴ ??? : “Only he can call Jane. He is my Tarzan.”
[So we’re really about to see a heavyweight title match over a woman in the 21st century???]
— I can’t believe this is real.
— Suddenly, I really want to watch this fight.
ㄴ Apparently, ringside seats are already going for $10,000.
ㄴ Even the cheapest seats are at $500.
ㄴ Boxing was never this expensive, but Edward’s tweet ntioning “her” just made it a worldwide spectacle.
[Evelyn better bow to Edward. She just beca the Helen of Troy.]
— She’s about to beco more valuable than Bitcoin.
— Even ET is trending again. We’re back on Billboard, boys!
ㄴ Reality is seriously broken right now.
ㄴ Is this a joke?
The fire wasn’t just burning—it was an inferno.
At this point, calling it a “hot topic” felt like an understatent.
Because now—
The entire world knew about it.
And at that very mont, Kim Donghu—
“You really are sothing else. How do you keep seducing won like this? I’m actually jealous.”
“...It’s been a while, Yerim.”
“You just smile, speak gently, and suddenly, they’re all head over heels?”
“It’s really been too long. I missed you.”
“I swear, I was so pissed... but the mont I saw your face, it all lted away. And then, when I don’t see you, I get mad again.”
How could a person make soone feel this way?
At this rate, she’d never be able to focus on her career.
Laughing, Kim Donghu spent the evening catching up with Yerim.
***
September 24.
The Spring/Sumr Won’s Collection debuted at Paris Fashion Week.
Of course, Louis Vuitton was among the participants.
The n’s collection had been in June,
but due to conflicting schedules, there hadn’t been ti to et back then.
Now, in September, they finally had the chance.
Unfortunately—
This just so happened to be right after Edward’s tweet had set the internet on fire.
“You really just go around seducing the entire world, don’t you?”
Yerim playfully jabbed my side with her elbow.
“I haven’t seen you in so long. I was this close to just jumping into your arms the mont I saw you. Seriously, you have no idea.”
Maybe it was because she had been a model for so long.
Every word she spoke carried an air of elegance.
Almost like nobility.
Didn’t she say she was learning ballet, too?
Even her casual movents had a certain grace to them.
“There were circumstances. I swear.”
“Circumstances, my ass. We all know. We all know exactly what’s going on.”
Muttering sothing I couldn’t quite catch,
Yerim suddenly threw her arms around .
“Ugh, life overseas is so dry... I swear, I only survive because of this big, warm chest.”
“But it’s a won’s collection. It’s surprising that I’m walking in the show too.”
“Surprising? Of course you are. You’re Louis Vuitton’s muse.”
“What about you?”
“? Chanel.”
She grinned as she said it.
Rumor had it that she was on the verge of conquering all four Vogue covers.
That’s sothing only a handful of models in history have ever done.
And she was already aiming for it at such a young age.
Her talent was simply on another level.
After wrapping up the exhausting days of Fashion Week,
it felt like the universe was granting a small mont of rest before the chaos began again.
“I didn’t book a hotel.”
“So I booked a slightly bigger room.”
“Oh? Then I guess I have no choice but to stay there.”
After enjoying a brief getaway in Paris with Yerim,
I finally regained my focus—just in ti for the trash-talk phase to begin.
It’s about ti.
Up until now, everything had been done remotely.
But now, we really needed to see each other face to face.
Of course, there were still tickets to sell and other logistics to sort out.
But one thing was clear—the tiline had been drastically moved up.
By the end of October, ticket sales had officially begun.
Now that I think about it, I’ve only been responding to him this whole ti.
For once, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be the one to make the first move.
“Evelyn, would you be mad if I used you for so trash talk on social dia?”
“Right now?”
I decided to ask her directly.
“Yes. I was thinking we could take a photo together.”
“And that photo... it would spread worldwide, right? A picture of the two of us together?”
“Uh... yeah?”
“Great. Let’s do it right now.”
Just like that, I posted sothing fun.
***
Crack.
For the second ti this year—
a phone screen shattered into tiny pieces.
“...I-I’ll kill him the mont I see him!”
Exactly two months before the face-to-face trash talk,
a single tweet—accompanied by an extrely suggestive photo—landed right in front of Edward’s eyes.
【 Do you know the sound Tarzan makes when he takes Jane? @Edward 】
He had been tagged directly.
“...Uuuuuugh.”
His eyes turned bloodshot.
The photo’s composition was outrageous.
Evelyn, turned away, clinging tightly to Kim Donghu.
Donghu, gripping the back of her neck and waist.
Evelyn’s face was buried in his chest.
Donghu was pulling her in aggressively—his lips teasing against her ear.
A picture straight out of a private, intimate mont between Tarzan and Jane.
“I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
Edward felt like he was about to lose his mind.
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