CH 45

“Alice? Alice Labyrinth?” 

Myungshin asked the giant as if to confirm, then looked back at me. When the giant next to him corroborated, he twisted his lips as soon as he remembered something.

“Oh, right. I heard reports that Lee Taemin frequented Alice’s Labyrinth. And there is even a sponsor who saved you in a moment of crisis?”

He seemed to have just remembered what he heard from the yellow haired back when he didn’t know who I was. Maybe it didn’t match right away. No, he still can’t believe it. That I came into Dream to become a celebrity.

“I really don’t understand.” 

The narrow eyes looked at me, judging.

“You mean one of the people going to Alice’s Labyrinth is your sponsor?”

“…”

“A sponsor powerful enough to attend Alice, huh. Do you know what I’m curious about more than his true identity?”

The comfortable flowing voice is rather interesting. Myungshin came one step closer to me.

“The life of a celebrity with only pretense and showy appearances, who have to wrinkle their pride and roll bodies with sponsors, and who pretended to be colleagues but cheat in all sorts of ways and suffer, and eventually, at some point, just do it casually. Do you mean you do these sorts of things? Lee Yoohan?”

When he took another step, he asked.

“Why?” 

A question of pure curiosity followed.

“Are you sure you’re Lee Yoohan?”

Instead of answering, I stared without saying a word. Knowing that I wasn’t going to open my mouth, he retreated back to his original position. He ordered the giant without taking his eyes off me.

“Start. Then he’ll wake up and open his mouth. That idiot doesn’t even know that his place has changed from five years ago.” 

Swish, the giant came to me with a ridiculing smile.

“Didn’t you seem great five years ago? Did you even kill someone?”

Unlike his mouth, his eyes gleamed as if he had been given drugs. I’ve met a couple of these kinds of guys a few times when I had been fighting around. Guys who enjoy hitting others. They don’t care if they bleed horribly and scream in their ears. Even if the opposing party becomes a half-bodied, in the joy of simply suppressing those who are weaker than themselves, they do not feel sympathy or guilt. On the contrary, the greater the damage the opponent takes, the more triumphant it is to win. There is an exact word for such bastards. Mad dog.

“Maybe.” 

At the answer that came out muttering, the guy’s eyes shone even more with madness.

“Keke, is that exciting?”

Whip-!

In the blink of an eye, the guy 2 meters away swung his fist in front of him. The terrifying sound of the wind continued, as if a heavy piece of iron cut through the air. 

Swish, swish!

Shifting my upper body and retreating frantically, I felt his fists pounding near my face. The mad dog ​​broke the truth that big guys are dull, second only to others. He caught up with my speed with astonishing agility. When I could no longer avoid it, I raised my arms to cover my face.

Whish! Slam!

The moment I blocked, the shock spread throughout my body. It looked like I had been hit with a sledgehammer. The pain was so intense that my entire arm was numb. Of course, there was no time to feel the pain. I took a step back, bouncing thanks to the force blocking his power. Then he stretched out his hand as if waiting with a disorganized upper body. In order not to be caught by the hook-like hand, I forced my upper body to twist and pulled my leg back again. 

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Pa-.

He pushed my upper body with his hand with incredible force. As I took a few steps back, I heard a swear word.

“Fuck, you rat.” 

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of his footsteps, like the sound of drums, hit my ears as I bowed my head as I tried to control my body. It’s already too late to avoid. For the past five years, my boxing habits allowed me to raise my arms to protect my face. The moment I bent my upper body as far as I could, a stone-like fist hit me.

Pa!

I clenched my fists and endured the shock that almost crushed my shoulder blades. Anyway, I was determined to get one. So I’ll hit one too. 

Slam!

I thrust my fist into his empty side with all my might. For a moment, the opponent’s movement stopped for a moment, and without missing the gap, he retreated to the side.

Ha, ha…

Thump, Thump, Thump… 

The breath I had held in came up from within, and only then took notice of my heart beating like crazy. The mixture of the two made my ears noisy, and even one of my shoulders was throbbing so badly that I couldn’t relax. The mad dog was slowly approaching, twisting his lips and smiling as if tickled.

Tap, tap.

Turning his head left and right, he made a bone-cracking sound and spoke to Myungshin standing behind him.

“Why did you introduce this cute little guy now?” 

“Don’t be careless. I’ve seen that cute little guy take down a few monsters like you.”

When Myungshin turned his back on the crazy dog, the explanation continued indifferently.

“How tough of a guy he is. Even when I thought he was going to die because he was covered in blood, he attacked to death and eventually made his opponent fall out of exhaustion. Don’t forget what I said so you don’t suffer the same. The way to defeat that punk is…”

Myungshin stared straight at me in the dark. 

“Killing him so he can’t get up again.”

“Hmm, it’s a waste to kill him now.”

The mad dog looked at me and bit his lips as if it were a pity.

“A guy like that needs to be leashed and turned to dozens of people and pierced through the back. 

I thought that bubbles would flow from that mouth like an actual crazy dog, but Myungshin soothed his disappointment.

“So, you don’t have to kill him today. There’s a lot to be said. Why did you appear in front of me after 5 years?”

He turned his gaze to me for a moment.

“I mean, five years ago, after milking you dry and running away, I spent almost half a year in hiding? I thought you would appear right in front of me and trample me with your feet. Besides, you’re tenacious, so once you have a grudge, you would have managed to find out and take revenge. Without looking at anything else, and only roared all over the place like a madman, growling to get revenge for a few days.” 

Listening to Myungshin’s words was like hearing someone else’s past. Maybe it’s because the memories of the past don’t come to mind as much as the unfamiliar story.

“After only half a year, I was suspicious that you weren’t looking for me, so I contacted a guy near you. Then apparently you never looked for me? On the contrary, everyone knows where you are. Haha, when I think about that time, it really felt like I was given a second life. Because of your personality, I know that once you lose interest, you never look back, so now I thought I would be free. But still, when I first appeared on TV in a small commercial, I was terrified. I wondered if you would come to me. Of course you didn’t come. Still, I was trembling. Have you ever wondered why I used the name Yoohan as a stage name?”

After a moment’s pause, he raised his head. The eyes that were obscured by his hat stared straight at me.

“To overcome.” 

“…”

“To overcome the dreadful fear of the name ‘Yoohan’. Because beyond you, I have nothing to fear. So I took your name and wrote it down. So to make me feel like you really are nothing. Now the world knows the person called ‘Yoohan’ is me. Now… I am really Yoohan.”

The name ‘Yoohan’ was emphasized in his own voice as if was deliberately mocking it. Then, after watching me who had no reaction, he returned to his puzzled expression again.

“In the last five years, there has been no one who doesn’t know my face. In the meantime, of course, I forgot about you. But… It’s not enough to suddenly appear in front of me, but you’re even trying to become a celebrity with the person I’m most annoyed about as the manager? Even if the reason has nothing to do with me, I can’t stand you anymore.” 

The guy who muttered to himself took a step back, saying one last thing to the mad dog.

“Get it over with.”

“Okay”, the crazy dog ​​moved with the answer. I looked at the guy approaching slowly as he raised his clenched hand. My head was chaotic because I had already experienced how fast he could move. It may have been like in the past, but now I can’t rush in, to the point of bleeding. There is a photo shoot the day after tomorrow, so my face shouldn’t get hurt in any way.

Should I run and grab him by the waist and knock him down? Or, even if it takes time, how many times should I hit the same place? What’s important is that he gets worked up. Everyone gets distracted when they get agitated. However, there will be only one chance to use the agitation. The place to aim for was… Just when I was taking a step towards the approaching mad dog. Suddenly, I heard a scream behind my back. 

“Ahhhhhh!!! No!!! Don’t touch Taemin hyung!!!!!!!!!!”

Then the sound of footsteps hit me. No, actually someone hit me.

Thud!

The body that did not fall even when fighting the mad dog ​​ fell to the floor due to the force of pushing without warning. 

“Ugh…”

A moan escaped from my mouth as someone pressed down on my already sore shoulder. I barely supported myself on the floor with my hands, but the culprit that hit me made it harder for me, as I was carrying his weight who with his mouth was exclaiming,

“Whoosh! go away! Don’t hit Taemin!! What are you troubling him for?!”

Hey, you are the one who is troubling me? I had to support the body with my arms, and the pressed shoulders also hurt, so I closed my eyes for a while. While I couldn’t open my mouth to swallow the pain, Hansoo wrapped his arms around me, putting more weight on me. 

“Ahh! Don’t come near me!! I’m calling the police! No, I really called the police!”

Then he shouted loudly towards the empty alley.

“Policeman, over here!!! There is a thug here!!!”

The echo of the voices lingered through the closed buildings until late. His vocals are good. My aching shoulders interrupted my admiration. 

“Hansoo, get out of the way.”

“Way~ Way~ Go away! Don’t come near me!”

I barely muttered through my mouth, but Hansoo was too busy threatening the mad dog as if chasing away a dog.

“Go away, you crazy bear!” 

“Hansoo, move.”

“If you don’t go any further, I’ll cry!! I really will cry?!”

“Hey, get out of the way.”

“If I cry, all of my sisters will come and scold you… huh?” 

At the third line, Hansoo barely recognized me and gasped and removed his upper body.

“Ah, Taemin, are you okay? What’s wrong, where are you hurt?”

Yes, it got worse thanks to you. Instead of talking, I looked at him for a moment and stood up. Hansoo got up and spread his arms out in front of me and quickly stopped him. And he continued to threaten the mad dog, who was stunned.

“Back, go back!” 

Then he pushed me away and Hansoo stepped back.

“Yeah, keep going back!”

The mad dog did not move even 1 cm.

“If you come closer, I will call not only my sister but also my brother-in-law! In particular, my third brother-in-law is a strong man who passed the difficult civil service exam within a year!” 

At Hansoo’s unbroken cry, the sound of people gathering in the alley was heard. Myungshin called the crazy dog ​​backwards, probably because he didn’t want people’s attention.

“Come on, we have to go.”

Then, looking at me, he couldn’t help but spit it out.

“How ridiculous. Some people throw themselves out to help Lee Yoohan? Haha, it’s crazy. Have you been kowtowing and repenting at the temple for 5 years? Or does he still not know that you are a bastard?” 

Laughing at me, he called again the motionless mad dog. The mad dog ​​looked at Hansoo as if it was ridiculous, then turned his gaze to me. He grinned and his gleaming eyes lit up.

“Look forward to it. Next time, you’ll be crawling on the floor like a dog, begging.”

I heard Hansoo, who was in front of me, flinch and swallow his saliva. I pushed Hansoo aside and answered the mad dog ​​who showed his back.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.” 

I twisted my lips at the guy who turned only his face.

“You, shaking your ass trying to hit me.”

“This bastard is …”

He was about to turn around, but the murmur of people drew closer. Then Myungshin quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. 

“Hold it in. You can take care of that guy next time.”

Myungshin also turned around, putting his hat tighter along with the words. I caught him who was about to move quickly.

“Song Myungshin.”

Myungshin, still holding the crazy dog’s arm, flinched and stopped walking. Hearing his real name in my voice reminded me of the past. Or I felt like it did. The man’s face turned expressionless, but his narrowed eyes filled with anger. 

“Don’t call me that.”

“Did you say you were curious? Why did I appear in front of you after 5 years?”

“…”

“It’s as you expected.” 

“What?”

Tap, tap, tap… The sound of footsteps approaching around us echoed loudly, but Myungshin forgot about running away and asked me harshly.

“What is it that I expected?”

“What you were anxious about.” 

He confirmed by looking at his slightly widened eyes.

“I became a celebrity to take revenge on you. So you look forward to it too. I’ll bite you even as I bleed to death.”