Baki leaned against his bike and watched the sunrise bleed across the horizon. The aggressive coastal wind ruffled his hair while his face remained completely relaxed. He focused on the rhythm of the waves hitting the jagged rocks below.
"Are you leaving?"
The voice drifted from behind him. Baki did not turn around because he knew the speaker instantly. He kept his eyes on the water.
"I am."
Choi Bongpal walked up beside him and pulled a cigarette from her pocket. She brought it to her lips and reached for a lighter. Baki moved his hand like a flash and snatched the cigarette away.
"Don't do that here. Feel the wind instead. You will find more peace in the air than in this garbage."
Baki dropped the cigarette and crushed it into the dirt with his heavy boot. Bongpal opened her mouth to retort but stopped when she saw his steady expression. She looked out at the ocean for a long moment.
"Where are you headed?"
"I do not know. Maybe I will go back to Seoul. I came here for Kitae Kim but I lost his trail."
Baki turned his gaze toward her. A small smirk played on the corner of his mouth.
"Are you sad that I am leaving?"
Bongpal let her guard slip in the quiet gravity of the morning. She looked at the ground and spoke softly.
"Yeah."
The mischievous glint in his eyes told her that she had been baited. Her face flushed a deep red instantly. She stepped back and waved her arms frantically.
"I... I just meant it is a waste of a good fighter!"
Baki reached out and gave her a playful flick on the forehead.
"Silly..."
He swung a leg over his bike and kicked the engine to life.
VROOM!
The roar of the exhaust echoed against the high cliffs. He gripped the handlebars and looked at her one last time.
"Let us meet again. Try not to be so stubborn next time."
Baki twisted the throttle and sped away. He left nothing but a trail of dust and the fading hum of the engine. Bongpal stood there for a long time while she touched the spot on her forehead.
"You could have been a little more proactive... you fool."
She muttered the words to the empty air. The silhouette of the bike vanished into the bright morning light.
---
A black sedan cruised slowly through the streets of Chinatown in Incheon. The entire district looked like a war zone. Broken buildings lined the road and deep potholes forced the car to weave back and forth.
The sedan stopped in front of a large structure that looked like a stone castle. Dozens of men stood guard around the perimeter. They tightened their grip on their weapons and surrounded the vehicle.
Isu Jo stepped out from the driver seat. Tattoos covered his dark skin and peeked out from under his sleeves. He walked to the back door and opened it with a deep bow.
"We are here."
Kitae Kim stepped out of the car and towered over his subordinate. He wore a red shirt with white stripes that strained against his massive muscles. He puffed on a brown pipe and let the thick tobacco smoke drift into the air.
Kitae looked at the small army with weary eyes. He seemed bored by the sight of the weapons pointed at his chest.
"Who is your leader?"
One muscular man stepped forward from the group and sneered. He wore a yellow t-shirt with a blue dragon print on it.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Kitae stared at the man with a deadpan expression. He did not move a muscle as the guards closed the circle around him.
"Are you the leader?"
The man smirked and stepped into Kitae's personal space. He tapped the metal pipe against his own palm.
"What if I am? What will you do about it?"
Kitae moved faster than the eye could track. He gripped the man's face with one hand and slammed him into the concrete.
CRACK!
The pavement shattered into a dozen pieces from the impact. The man's body went limp instantly as his head sank into the new crater.
"Kill him!"
The other guards screamed and rushed forward at once. They swung pipes and machetes from every direction. Kitae grabbed the nearest attacker by the throat and used him as a human club.
WHAM!
He swung the body in a wide arc and sent five men flying into a brick wall. The wall crumbled under the force of the human projectiles. Kitae stepped into the center of the crowd and began to move his arms like he was scrubbing laundry.
He caught two blades between his palms and snapped the steel like it was glass. He then drove his elbows into the chests of the men behind him.
BOOM!
His attacks created literal craters on the ground.
Men fell to the ground with their ribs caved in while Kitae continued to puff on his pipe. He cleared the entire square in seconds and left a pile of broken bodies in the dust.
A fresh crowd of fighters poured out of the stone castle and formed a semi-circle. A bald man with sharp Chinese features walked to the front of the pack. He was shirtless and wore faded blue jeans with a thick necklace of gold beads.
Mugak Wang looked down at the man in the yellow shirt with a dragon print who lay crumpled in a crater. He stepped over the unconscious body and folded his arms over his chest.
"Who are you? You are causing quite the commotion. You even defeated Cheonmu Ha."
Kitae took a final pull from his pipe and exhaled a cloud of grey smoke. He looked past the bald man and stared at the heavy iron doors of the fortress.
"I am searching for the head of the Dark Crocodile Society."
Mugak Wang let out a sharp laugh and tightened his muscles. His skin took on a dull sheen like polished stone.
"You are not worthy to see him."
Kitae reached down and hooked his pipe onto a silver chain hanging from his belt. A wide and jagged smile spread across his face as he rolled his shoulders.
"Good! I will kill you all! He will come out then, right?"
Kitae exploded forward and vanished from his spot. He reappeared in the center of the reinforcements and grabbed two men by their scalps. He slammed their heads together with the sound of a sledgehammer hitting a melon.
THWACK!
Blood sprayed across the gold beads on Mugak's neck. Kitae did not stop moving as he grabbed a third man by the leg and swung him like a flail. The human weapon shattered the ribs of every guard within reach.
Mugak Wang stepped into the chaos and threw a heavy punch at Kitae's jaw. The blow landed with a dull thud but Kitae did not even flinch. Kitae slowly turned his head back toward Mugak and showed his teeth in a terrifying grin.
Mugak felt a strange prickle on the back of his neck. He had fought monsters before and he had never felt his heart rate climb like this. He gritted his teeth and forced his legs to stay planted in the cracked pavement.
"I am the iron wall of this city!"
Mugak roared and unleashed a flurry of strikes against Kitae's ribs and chest. Each hit sounded like a hammer striking an anvil. He moved with desperate speed and poured every ounce of his willpower into his fists.
Kitae simply stood there and absorbed the punishment without moving a single inch. He did not even raise his hands to guard his face. He looked down at the punches with a look of pure, soul-crushing boredom.
Mugak watched his own knuckles split and bleed against Kitae's skin. He could not feel the pain but he could feel the solidness of the man. It was like punching a boulder.
A small seed of doubt began to sprout in Mugak's mind as he realized he was not even making the giant blink. He swung a heavy roundhouse kick aimed at Kitae's temple. It was a strike that had crushed heads in the past.
Kitae caught the leg mid-air with one hand and squeezed. The sound of grinding bone echoed through the silent square. Mugak did not feel the agony but he felt his balance vanish as he was held aloft by a single hand.
"Is this the limit of your strength?"
Kitae's voice was low and heavy like falling stones. Mugak looked into the giant's eyes and saw no anger or heat. He only saw a weary emptiness that suggested Kitae had done this a thousand times before.
The doubt in Mugak's heart turned into a cold, paralyzing dread. He realized that Kitae was not fighting him but was simply waiting for him to finish. He was being treated like a child throwing a tantrum.
Mugak planted his free foot and lunged upward with a desperate headbutt. His skull collided with Kitae's chin with the force of two boulders smashing together. Kitae's head snapped back slightly and his pipe rattled against his waist.
"There it is. That is the spirit I wanted to see."
Kitae laughed and slammed his open palm against the side of Mugak's head. The strike sent the bald man spinning through the air like a discarded toy. Mugak crashed into a stone pillar and watched the heavy structure crack from top to bottom.
Mugak scrambled to his feet while coughing up a mixture of bile and blood. He forced his shaking legs to stand tall even as his vision began to swim. He looked at Kitae and finally understood that not being able to feel pain meant nothing against someone could simply kill you.
The despair finally sank in as he saw Kitae walking toward him with slow, predatory steps. Every footfall felt like a drumbeat marking the end of his life. Mugak's hands trembled as he realized he could not win, could not run, and could not survive.
"Your wall is made of paper."
Kitae reached out and gripped Mugak by the back of the neck. He drove a knee into Mugak's chest with enough force to shatter the man's sternum and flatten his lungs.
CRACK!
The air left Mugak's body in a violent spray. He stopped resisting and let his head hang low as the last of his pride evaporated. He was completely broken before the final blow even landed.
Kitae raised a massive fist high into the air and shadowed Mugak's entire face. The wide smile on his face grew even broader.
"Go to sleep now."
Kitae drove the punch straight into the center of Mugak's forehead. The strike carried the momentum of a runaway train.
KABOOM!
The gold beads around Mugak's neck exploded and sent metallic spheres whistling through the air like shrapnel. Mugak's consciousness snapped instantly as his body was hammered into the earth.