The Cage of Strategy
Tae-seong was a blur of controlled violence. Jae-wook's strategy was terrifyingly effective: Tae-seong used his sheer bulk and newfound discipline to eliminate any break in the action. He didn't throw single punches; he threw heavy, linked chains of blows—a continuous, smothering pressure that forced Jinwoo to constantly evade and redirect.
Jinwoo was trapped in a cage of brute force and strategic genius. He couldn't create the necessary distance and pause to execute a new Mimicry, and he couldn't rely on the element of surprise.
He's denying me observation, Jinwoo realized, ducking under a massive body hook that cracked the air. Jae-wook built a defense against my power.
Jinwoo fell back on his integrated blueprints:
1. Minjun's Footwork kept him from being cornered.
2. Joo Hyuk's Core Stability allowed him to absorb the glancing blows without folding.
3. Rage's Explosive Recruitment allowed him brief, powerful bursts of speed to shift his body at the last second.
But he was bleeding from the nose, and his reserves were rapidly draining.
The Architect's Gambit
Jinwoo knew he couldn't win by dodging. He had to use the one weapon Jae-wook hadn't accounted for: the Architect's Echo (Blueprint 6).
He stopped trying to escape the pressure. Instead, he forced himself to endure it, dedicating all his cognitive power to analyzing Tae-seong's relentless onslaught.
The Architect's Echo flared to life. Suddenly, the chaotic flurry slowed. Jinwoo saw the patterns:
• Three left hooks always preceded a wide right cross.
• A head feint was always followed by a low kick aimed at the weight-bearing leg.
• The entire sequence relied on Tae-seong resetting his breath on the brief pause after the right cross.
Jinwoo decided to bet everything on that single pause.
He stopped dodging the low kick. Instead, he braced with the Core Stability and let the blow land, enduring the searing pain in his thigh. The shock momentarily forced Tae-seong to commit to his sequence.
As Tae-seong threw the third left hook—the one that usually leads to the resetting cross—Jinwoo pushed his body to its absolute limit, activating Explosive Recruitment to surge forward.
He bypassed the hook entirely, closing the distance from three feet to zero.
Overwriting the System
Jinwoo didn't punch. He executed a movement based on a split-second reading from the Architect's Echo.
He used a rapid, disorienting hip rotation—a move based on his Blueprint of the Bind (Submission Defense)—and dropped his weight beneath Tae-seong's guard. He wrapped his arms around Tae-seong's massive waist and hoisted him into the air, using his Source of Power and Core Stability for a massive, unrefined throw.
CRASH!
Tae-seong hit the mat like a sack of concrete. It wasn't clean, but the momentum was devastating. The impact momentarily stunned the King.
Jinwoo did not give him a chance to recover. This was the moment of complete, unburdened observation. Tae-seong was disoriented, his pattern broken.
Jinwoo dropped onto Tae-seong's chest, mimicking the pressure of Joo Hyuk's ground control, and then unleashed the Minjun Striking Mechanics, amplified by the Source of Power and the reckless fury of Rage's Recruitment.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Three perfect, rapid-fire punches landed on the King's solar plexus. The sound was sickening. Tae-seong's entire body spasmed, the wind violently knocked out of him. He lay there, his control shattered, his terrifying will finally broken.
The New Hierarchy
Jinwoo staggered to his feet, tasting copper and adrenaline. His body was a wreck of bruises and fatigue, but he had won, not by strength, but by integration. He had used one blueprint to break the pattern, another to overpower the defense, and a third to deliver the finishing blow.
A slow clap echoed from the doorway.
Ryu Jae-wook stood there, adjusting his glasses, his face completely devoid of surprise.
"Fascinating," Jae-wook said, stepping over Tae-seong's defeated form. "You successfully countered the choke, gained the leverage, and utilized a grappling move you had never been seen executing. An excellent synthesis. You are officially past the King."
Jae-wook pulled out his notebook and flipped to a new page. "Tae-seong was a useful tool for physical enforcement. He answered to me, the Tactician of the Four Major Crews."
He looked directly at Jinwoo, his intelligent eyes piercing. "The Crews are not about territory. They are about power structure. I'm responsible for planning and information. There is The Brute, The Shadow, and The Ghost, the one Minjun mentioned. And now, there is you."
Jae-wook closed the notebook. "You just opened the door to the next level of the game, Echo Striker. You now have a target on your back that the King's crew never had. I look forward to studying your next move."
With that, Jae-wook simply walked away, leaving Jinwoo alone with the defeated King and the knowledge that his victory had only earned him a spot in a much more dangerous game.