> **"You can't tame something that never wanted to be human."**
> — Unknown, Circulating Forum Thread on Jungho
---
### **\[1] — Broken Routines**
Jungho didn't return to school for two days.
No one called him. No one checked in. The school administration logged it as "sick leave."
Only Suhyeon knew better.
He sat alone at a café, eyes locked on his phone as he replayed the security footage—again and again. A man. A pipe. A girl. A shadow moving faster than the eye could register. Screams. Silence.
Then Jungho, walking away, blood dripping from his knuckles like it was rainwater.
Suhyeon muttered, "He broke his collarbone with one slap..."
Jay looked uncomfortable across the table. "He didn't kill him."
"That's what scares me," Suhyeon said.
---
### **\[2] — Baekho's Reflection**
Baekho leaned against a mirror in his bedroom, bruises forming where Jungho's retaliation had reverberated through his pawns.
His reflection showed someone smiling—barely.
"So he has boundaries after all."
He traced a finger over Jiwoo's photo.
"Now, how do I make him move when there's *no* one left to hurt?"
Behind him, a man in black stood silent.
"Target his *peace*," Baekho said. "Not his people. His *stillness* is the last thing he values. Let's take that."
---
### **\[3] — Trash Fires and Warnings**
On Wednesday, Jungho came back to school.
His uniform was clean. His hair freshly cut. But something in his expression had changed—like the world looked smaller now.
During lunch, he passed by a trash bin behind the gym.
It was on fire.
Inside it? A few burned pages from Jiwoo's manga, a cracked CD from his favorite indie band.
Nothing lethal. Nothing dramatic.
Just... *personal.*
He stood there, watching it burn.
"You're being watched," came a voice.
Jungho turned.
Suhyeon stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets. "And whoever it is? They want you to *lose it.*"
Jungho's fingers twitched.
"Good."
---
### **\[4] — The Forum**
Online, a mysterious thread was growing traction:
> **Subject: The Maniac in the Shadows**
> **User: ?!BleedByte**
> They say there's someone in Gangbuk who isn't a gang member, not a system holder, not anything. Just a monster. A quiet one.
>
> He broke someone's jaw for bumping into him. Tore a doorknob off during detention. Made a Logan Lee henchman cry by *staring.*
>
> No one knows where he came from. But everyone's whispering his name: Jungho.
> Update: Someone burned his stuff. He didn't scream. He didn't yell. He just sat and waited. Like a volcano deciding *when.*
> I don't know what's scarier—what he can do. Or that he hasn't even *started* yet.
---
### **\[5] — Daniel's Concern**
Daniel found Jungho at the stairwell again.
"You okay, man?"
Jungho nodded, slow. "Yeah."
Daniel hesitated. "I saw the fire. That was messed up."
"Not really," Jungho said.
Daniel frowned. "Why not?"
Jungho looked at him with that calm, unblinking stare.
"Because now I know what line they're willing to cross. And it means I can cross further."
Daniel's breath caught.
"Hey... just don't lose yourself, okay? We've all got our demons."
Jungho smiled faintly. "Mine is awake. That's all."
---
### **\[6] — Baekho's Escalation**
That night, a rumor spread through a local underground chat:
> \[Yoo Baekho is calling out the Maniac. Location: Old train station. Midnight.]
Jungho received it through airdrop. No sender. No warning.
He showed up.
Alone.
---
### **\[7] — Traps and Tapes**
There were no challengers.
Just speakers.
And recordings.
Jiwoo's voice. Daniel's laugh. Even the soft shuffle of Jungho's own footsteps in hallways.
It was a psychological ambush.
Meant to fracture him. Disorient him. Maybe even humiliate.
But Jungho stood still.
Then walked to one speaker.
And crushed it with one hand.
The others followed.
He crushed them all—slowly. Deliberately. Like killing bugs.
Then he picked up a rusted pipe from the floor.
And spoke for the first time that night:
"You're making this fun. I don't like fun."
---
### **\[8] — Maniacal Message**
The next morning, police were called to the old train station.
Spray-painted across a wall:
> **"STOP TESTING ME."**
Beneath it, a stack of broken speakers, twisted into a crude sculpture of a human spine.
Baekho saw the photos and chuckled.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
---