I Don’t Want to Play Villains Anymore - Chapter 42
Generation 0
– S#1
What does being the strongest mean?
Some might say it’s about never losing, but that’s incorrect.
Even the strongest can d*e when swarmed by many.
As the saying goes, there’s no match in a group fight; it’s a straightforward logic.
However, if we define the strongest as “a Buram with no rival in a one-on-one fight,” then Baek Cheong-ha was the person who best fit this school.
“Look at that. It’s Baek Cheong-ha…”
“Wow, look at those eyes. It feels like she could k*ll a Buram.”
“Didn’t she already? That group of hers took over Seoul…”
Baek Cheong-ha.
A name that no one dared to meet eye-to-eye.
From the moment that name was placed on the pedestal of Han Dae High School, this place transformed from a school into a jungle.
Neat uniform. Hair tied neatly. Quiet footsteps.
Flowing beautiful silver hair and striking blue eyes that seemed to pull you in.
Truly, the ideal type for everyone.
While it conjured up words like princess or lady—
Her gaze entirely denied that notion.
Her eyes appeared vacant, as if unaware of emotions.
Contrasting with that, her arrogant strides filled the space.
Someone murmured.
“That’s a monster…”
Baek Cheong-ha walked.
Even in the short distance across the playground to the stairway leading to the classroom building.
All the surrounding students held their breath and pulled back.
It was fear—close to awe.
Baek Cheong-ha doesn’t fight.
‘The Silent King.’
She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to.
There was no fighting, no reputation, not even a trace of violence.
Just her silhouette gracing the third hallway of Han Dae High School.
This school was under Baek Cheong-ha’s rule.
And now, she was entering through the main gate.
If it weren’t for the filming, if there weren’t a camera.
Ji-woo wanted to keep this scene as an eternal memory for herself.
‘What exactly is this Buram called Haneul…?’
There was light even without any.
She wasn’t acting; she was the scene itself.
Her very appearance felt like a movie, every movement a masterpiece.
Ji-woo, with a dumbfounded expression, muttered while unable to close her mouth in front of the camera.
“I can’t even understand… she’s just too cool…”
Once again, Ji-woo found herself captivated by the moment.
From the other end of the hallway, another shadow walked in.
Without bending at the waist, without a sound. Just the soft sound of sneakers hitting the floor broke the tension.
That presence.
The second most quietly mentioned name after Baek Cheong-ha in Han Dae High School.
Lee Joon-seong.
His agile, sharp-featured handsome face was contrasted by a judo base. Like a machine, he would throw opponents without a word.
And currently, he was ranked second in Han Dae High School’s unofficial fist hierarchy.
He was the one who reappeared to face none other than Baek Cheong-ha.
Ji-woo suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
She was prepared for the confrontation, but this was…
This was the ‘scene’ itself.
Not acting, but the very air was heralding a fight.
‘… This really feels like the age of wild men, doesn’t it?’
No. It could be [friends].
Baek Cheong-ha stopped in her tracks.
Her gaze slowly turned towards Lee Joon-seong.
Lee Joon-seong remained silent.
Instead, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his tracksuit, he walked toward the center of the hallway.
Ah. Ah. Ah.
As if aligning for a fight, they approached each other closely.
And just as the distance between the two Burams shrank to about five meters.
Baek Cheong-ha spoke.
“I told you that I would define the rules of this school.”
As soon as those words finished, the entire hallway fell silent as if frozen.
It was not merely pressure; it was a presence.
What Baek Cheong-ha emanated was not a fight; it was a law.
With those few words, everyone held their breath, and the air slowed to the point where one could almost see distant dust settling.
However.
Lee Joon-seong was different.
In the middle of that quiet hallway, he let out a short laugh as if he’d just sniffed something.
And he spoke a single sentence.
“…I came here today to change that.”
He said he would ‘fix’ things.
Not to destroy nor to break.
It was a structure where, once he won, the rules would naturally change.
He saw himself as the creator of a new order.
Lee Joon-seong.
His gaze was surprisingly calm and extremely clear.
Baek Cheong-ha listened intently to his words.
Within that calmness, there were no emotions.
And when emotions rose, Baek Cheong-ha became a fighter.
Not, ‘That’s it,’ but a type where the thought of losing doesn’t even surface.
‘Ugh… I hope I can sh**t this well… Haneul is perfect…’
Ji-woo muttered as she checked the angle from afar.
An overwhelming feeling of tightness.
And in the next moment—
Baek Cheong-ha moved.
Step.
Her toes pressed into the ground and advanced.
She wasn’t even fast.
But what was terrifying was that pace.
A terrifyingly ‘calculated slowness.’
One can anticipate the fast ones.
But those who are slow allow for no prediction.
“Is that a distraction kick?”
Moktaekwondo. A taekwondo style focused on practicality.
A deadly martial art that retains beauty while honing itself to lethal precision.
‘This is dangerous.’
Lee Joon-seong raised his eyebrows slightly.
Instinctively, he lowered his stance.
With a boxer’s twist in his upper body, he lowered his center of gravity.
And then.
The first collision.
Whack!!
Her foot, which seemed about to crush the ground, struck.
With the edge of her hand.
Baek Cheong-ha’s fingertips swung precisely aimed at Lee Joon-seong’s chest.
Short, slender, quick.
And above all, accurate.
Lee Joon-seong raised his arm instinctively to block.
Smash!!!
A direct impact hit his arm.
But that was just part of it.
Baek Cheong-ha’s most dangerous weapon, her foot.
Baek Cheong-ha pivoted.
At that moment, she focused her weight forward.
Step!
Her leg spun.
Not a circle, but a short turn.
A downward strike.
This wasn’t rotation; it was closer to ‘breaking.’
Her shin struck his abdomen.
Hiss!!!
A sound of something bursting came from his insides.
It was an overwhelming pressure, even without the sound.
“Urgh…”
Lee Joon-seong… no, Na Jae-hyeon let out a sound for the first time.
“This is a bit too much…!”
Na Jae-hyeon initially approached it lightly, thinking “she’s a girl~”.
But Haneul was far stronger than he anticipated.
Haneul’s basic physique is on the weaker side.
Baek Haneul is skinny and soft except for ‘specific areas.’
But using her limited muscle, she turned and spun, channeling kinetic energy to deliver strikes.
The counterattack, loaded with rotational speed, was swift.
“But…!”
Tak.
Lee Joon-seong grabbed Baek Cheong-ha’s foot.
While planting his foot at the center, he twisted.
Using a judo-style rotation.
Not receiving the opponent’s force but ‘flowing’ it away.
Whip!!
Lee Joon-seong turned Baek Cheong-ha towards the wall.
Bang!!
A dull thud echoed as her body collided with the wall.
But.
“That’s slow.”
“…You crazy b*stard.”
The counter.
As Baek Cheong-ha was about to fall, she extended her leg and pushed off the wall.
In mid-air, she reached back with her left arm and spun.
Back to the foot.
A tornado kick.
Not a spin but a press down.
Whack!!
This time, her foot landed on Lee Joon-seong’s shoulder.
The sound of his shoulder blade cracking echoed painfully.
“Ugh…!”
He dropped to one knee.
But he did not fall.
Lee Joon-seong used that knee as a pivot and turned.
Not like a boxer, not like judo.
He charged like a beast.
Crash!!
His body slid on the hallway floor.
Bodies collided, and sweat flew.
This was no longer a fight; it was a slaughter.
It was a matter of who would k*ll first.
But.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Baek Cheong-ha laughed softly.
And with an elbow strike.
Vertically aimed at his chin from close range.
Critical hit.
Whack!!
Lee Joon-seong’s head jerked violently.
And as his balance broke—
Baek Cheong-ha grabbed the back of Lee Joon-seong’s neck.
“If you had your mouth open, your brain would have spilled out.”
And then.
She threw him.
With the pure power of technique, not physical strength.
‘…Huh?’
Lee Joon-seong’s body sliced through the air, crashing against the wall.
Bang!!
The sudden impact fluttered the posters in the hallway.
Breaking the silence was once more Baek Cheong-ha’s footsteps.
Step.
Step.
Approaching Lee Joon-seong, Baek Cheong-ha said.
“You’re strong.”
Lee Joon-seong slowly rose.
A trickle of bl**d flowed from his lips.
“Of course.”
“Really, you’re incredibly strong.”
Baek Cheong-ha lowered her head.
“I told you I’d define things here, not because you’re weak.”
“….”
“There’s no Buram stronger than me in this school.”
A youth movie unfolds.
[The Age of Fighting]. Episode 1
<The Strongest>
…
…
…
“Huff…”
I slowly exhaled.
The residual heat of the battle still lingered in my chest, coursing through my veins.
“…d*mn, it’s been a while since I exercised, and now my whole body aches.”
I turned my shoulders slowly to cool down.
It felt familiar, yet even more familiar if that makes sense.
Not fatigue but a release.
A feeling of the energy that had been dormant within me flooding out.
If I had left something from my past life, it would have been the martial arts to use at times like this.
“Wow!!”
A shout erupted in the scene that felt more welcome than anything else.
“Whoa, Haneul!! You were so amazing!!”
It was Ji-woo.
Her face was filled with sincerity, unlike anything I’d seen before.
Throwing her arms up in excitement, she rushed down the hallway cheering.
“Wow, seriously… No, this doesn’t make sense. The timing when you turned and pushed off the wall… How did you even…?”
I just smiled, slightly patting her back.
“First, can you worry about me?”
“Oh.”
Ji-woo paused, caught off guard.
“Sorry. Haneul… you must be really tired, right? Are you okay? Does your shoulder hurt?”
“No, my shoulder’s fine, but my heart kind of aches.”
“Wait?! What?!”
Ji-woo approached as if she might pull out a first aid kit at any moment, raising one eyebrow.
“…The fact that I believed in the foolish Director who fought without stretching before filming.”
“…….”
“Isn’t it infuriating? Me.”
Ji-woo was momentarily at a loss for words, before bursting into laughter.
“Ha, are you seriously teasing me right now?”
“No. This is affection.”
I said lightly, stretching my hand.
My joints were starting to crack, and it was about time to take a break to catch my breath.
“But it really was fun.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. I’ve been a bit bored lately.”
To be precise, my body was busy, but my heart felt empty.
With each moment after the camera turned off, as costumes were peeled away, and applause faded, emptiness would come.
But now?
It’s a bit funny, but today feels quite fulfilling.
“By the way…”
I glanced around.
Jae-hyeon, playing the role of Lee Joon-seong, was glaring at me with a water bottle to his mouth.
“…Huh?”
“Is something about to happen?”
“I think he’s going to say something to me.”
His eyes looked angrier than usual.
“Really? No, Jae-hyeon is usually quiet—”
“Right now, his silence is terrifying. He would usually crack jokes by now.”
I subtly turned my head to avoid his gaze.
Jae-hyeon’s eyes gave off the feeling of ‘he’s going to d*e for real in the next scene.’
And indeed.
“Jae-hyeon, you lost again, huh? I guess you’ll have to lose a title next time?”
“Urgh…”
Of course, it was about winning through acting.
But right now, that seemed less important.
Because he lost.
Heh.