I watched several fights. The violence was raw, but there was a logic to it. It was a test of will as much as strength. The one who hesitated, the one who showed fear, lost.
My gaze t the bet organizer’s. He was an older student, with a scar cutting through his eyebrow. He gave a nod. "Next?"
I nodded back.
My heart started to pound. Not with fear. With excitent.
I thought about it all one last ti. Yoo-Na’s kindness. Min-Soo’s warnings.
Maybe Min-Soo was right. Maybe Yoo-Na was manipulating . Maybe I was a pawn in a ga I didn’t understand.
But looking at the fighting circle, I realized none of it mattered.
Ally or enemy, Yoo-Na had shown the door. Min-Soo, with his caution, never would have. He would have kept in the hallway, safe, analyzing the lock.
I might have called Min-Soo jealous, and maybe it was true, maybe not. But the truth was, I was the one who had changed. I didn’t want his safety anymore. I didn’t want his analysis.
I wanted this. The heat. The risk. The fight.
The organizer shouted my na. Or rather, the nickna they had already given .
"Next up! A new guy! The Last Draft Pick!"
Laughter erupted from the crowd.
I stepped into the circle. The spotlights were harsh. The dirt on the floor clung to my shoes.
I finally felt like I belonged.
The laughter continued as I took my place in the center of the concrete circle. I paid it no mind. Their doubts were fuel.
My opponent stepped in across from . A colossus, even taller and broader than the bulky guy from my room. He had a stupid grin and arms as thick as tree trunks.
"One hundred points on the new guy!" the organizer shouted. "Who’s betting against him?"
Several hands went up in the crowd. Another student noted the bets on his terminal. The odds were clearly against .
The organizer didn’t give a starting signal. The fight began when the colossus decided it began.
His body began to glow with a faint brown light. Body Reinforcent. A classic in the Pit. He charged at , a human bull, his fist raised, ready to crush .
I didn’t see him as an enemy. I saw him as a problem.
Min-Soo would have told to dodge, to analyze his movents, to find a weakness. But my duel with Park had taught one thing: I wasn’t fast enough to dodge a stronger opponent. I couldn’t play their ga. I had to play mine.
The colossus’s fist, hard as stone, ca straight for my face.
I didn’t move an inch.
And at the last mont, I did what I ca here to do.
I summoned my dagger.
But I didn’t try to block his fist. I aid for his arm, just below the shoulder, and I struck.
The tip of my dagger touched the colossus’s arm. His reinforcent aura flickered at the point of contact, like a sputtering lightbulb. A part of his power was erased.
But the punch still landed.
He hit square in the chest. The pain was like an explosion. I was thrown backward, rolling across the dirty concrete floor, the wind completely knocked out of .
I coughed, trying to catch my breath, the taste of blood in my mouth.
"HEY!"
The organizer’s voice bood, louder than the crowd’s murmurs.
He stepped into the circle and pointed at . "No weapons. Ever. That’s the first and only rule of the Pit. You fight with your fists and your Aura. Not with knives."
He turned to the colossus. "You’re lucky, the new guy doesn’t know the rules. Continue. But if he pulls out his toy again, the fight’s over and all bets go to you."
He left the circle.
I understood. My best weapon, the only thing that gave an edge, was forbidden. They wanted a brute force fight.
The colossus grinned, a wide, cruel smile. He saw I had nothing left.
I got back up, my ribs on fire.
He didn’t even use his Aura this ti. He just ran at , grabbed by the waist as if I were a rag doll, lifted off the ground, and slamd down with a brutal wrestling hold.
My back hit the ground with a dull thud. Stars danced in front of my eyes.
He didn’t give ti to breathe. He grabbed by the ankle, spun around, and threw against the other side of the circle. My body slamd into the wall of spectators.
He was slaughtering . And I could do nothing. He was toying with , stomping on , throwing around like an object. The crowd was laughing.
This was worse than the duel with Park. This was pure, total humiliation.
I was on all fours, trying to get up. The world was spinning. Every part of my body scread in pain.
The colossus got a running start. He charged and hit with a powerful lariat, his outstretched arm hitting my throat and head with the force of a battering ram.
Darkness closed in. I collapsed, face down. Unconscious.
The fight was over.
I don’t know how long I lay there. When I ca to, the next fight had already started. I was off to the side, abandoned.
I managed to push myself into a sitting position. My body was one giant ache.
I looked at the crowd. And that’s when I saw her.
Yoo-Na.
She was there, in the shadows, away from the main circle. She wasn’t alone. She was with Park, the guy who’d beaten in class, and a few other students with arrogant faces. The Ivory Circle.
She was laughing. A light, crystalline laugh. She was holding a terminal in her hand, and I saw her receive a point transfer from the organizer.
She had bet. Against .
The kindness. The encouragent. The ssages. "You have sothing others don’t." It was all fake.
It was a ga to her. I was her toy. She sent here to laugh at , to bet on my failure.
A cold rage, far more intense than anything I had ever felt before, washed over the pain.
I got to my feet, staggering. I ignored the fights. I pushed through the crowd, shoving people out of my way.
I stopped right in front of her. Her group fell silent.
"Why?" I asked, my voice hoarse and broken.
Yoo-Na looked at , her smile vanishing, replaced by a look of amused surprise. Then, she raised an eyebrow, and her face turned cold, contemptuous. The real her.
"Why?" she repeated, as if the question was stupid. "Because it was funny. Watching the hopeful little rookie get crushed."
She took a step toward , her gaze piercing . "Did you really think soone like would be interested in soone like you?"
"Know your place, you piece of trash."
Those words, cold and sharp as her ice, shattered the last thing I had left: the shred of respect I still had for her.
The rage exploded. All the pain, all the humiliation, all the betrayal transford into a single word.
"Bitch," I spat, the word full of venom.
Silence fell over their group. Yoo-Na’s face froze. Surprise gave way to a glacial fury.
Park, the guy who’d beaten in class, stepped forward. His expression was dark.
"No one talks to Yoo-Na like that," he said, his voice low and threatening.
Before I could react, two other mbers of the circle grabbed by the arms. They were strong, much stronger than . They dragged out of the Pit without a word, pulling through the dark basent corridors.
Yoo-Na and the others followed, their footsteps echoing in the silence.
They took to an old, abandoned boiler room, far from everything. They threw into the middle of the room, onto the dusty concrete floor.
I landed heavily on my injuries. The pain was blinding.
They ford a circle around .
"You think you can insult anyone you want, F-rank?" Park said as he approached.
He kicked hard in the ribs. I cried out in pain.
"You’re nothing. You’re a glitch in the system. An insect." Another kick.
"You should be grateful we let you breathe the sa air as us." A kick to the stomach.
They continued, one by one. Punches, kicks. Each blow ca with an insult. "Trash.""Poor." "Useless." "Mistake."
Yoo-Na watched, arms crossed, her face a canvas of cold contempt. She didn’t say a thing. She didn’t need to. The others were doing it for her.
They beat until I couldn’t move anymore, until my consciousness started to fade. The last thing I saw before sinking into darkness was her face, perfect and cruel, looking down on as if I were less than nothing.
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