The New Target
Jinwoo's victory over Tae-seong left a vacuum that was filled almost instantly by fear and speculation. The King was gone, replaced by a ghost—the student who moved with impossible perfection and hit with unnatural force.
But the silence was temporary. Ryu Jae-wook had scattered the news of Tae-seong's defeat, ensuring the other Crews knew there was a new player. Jinwoo wasn't waiting for the next challenge; he was going to meet it head-on.
He needed a stronger blueprint—a defense that could withstand the kind of overwhelming, focused damage Tae-seong could only dream of inflicting. He needed to target The Brute.
The Brute, whose real name was Kang Dae-ho, controlled the port district—an area characterized by heavy industry and heavy crime. Dae-ho was infamous for ignoring all pain and fighting with a style that resembled a human battering ram.
The Observation of Resilience
Jinwoo found Dae-ho at an unlicensed, underground MMA gym in the docks district. Dae-ho was sparring with a professional heavyweight, letting the man hit him repeatedly with full-power liver shots and hooks. Dae-ho didn't fight back; he just stood there, enduring, his eyes cold and empty.
Jinwoo sat in the darkest corner and focused his Mimicry. He wasn't looking at muscle; he was looking at tissue and bone.
The Echo that came back was terrifyingly simple: The Constitution of Iron.
Blueprint 7: The Constitution of Iron (Damage Mitigation)
• Knowledge: Dae-ho's body was trained to instantly stiffen and redistribute the force of an impact across the largest possible surface area, bypassing the natural reflex to collapse. It was a defense of pure, self-inflicted rigidity.
• Function: The ability to momentarily harden the muscle and tissue around vital organs upon impact, turning glancing blows into trivial bumps and reducing the effectiveness of direct hits.
The Trap is Set
With the Constitution of Iron reinforcing his existing Core Stability, Jinwoo felt ready. He knew Jae-wook would be watching, and he knew a direct challenge was the only way to gain the blueprint quickly.
Jinwoo walked straight up to Dae-ho after the sparring session, his new, lean physique moving with deadly confidence.
"I beat Tae-seong," Jinwoo said, his voice quiet but clear. "Now I'm taking the port district."
Dae-ho, a man of few words and vast bulk, only smiled—a slow, terrifying widening of his mouth. "You're fast, kid. But fast things break."
Dae-ho didn't wait for a signal. He lunged, not with a punch, but with a wide, open-handed palm strike aimed at Jinwoo's chest. It was designed to concuss and destroy internal rhythm, not break bone.
Jinwoo tensed, activating his new Constitution of Iron.
THWUMPH!
The blow hit like a shovel. Jinwoo flew backward, his feet sliding on the dusty mat, but he didn't collapse. His heart hammered, and the pain was immense, but the Iron Constitution had redistributed the blow across his entire torso. He was breathing, and he was standing.
Dae-ho looked genuinely surprised. "You absorbed it."
"I learned from the best," Jinwoo spat, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip.
A Battle of Endurance
The fight became a brutal exchange of offense against pure defense.
Dae-ho relied on massive, simple swings, trusting his Iron Constitution to repel anything Jinwoo threw. Jinwoo would unleash a perfect Minjun Strike with Explosive Recruitment and the Source of Power, only to see the punch land with a muffled thud.
BAM! A perfect liver shot. Dae-ho barely flinched.
BAM! A direct hit to the temple. Dae-ho just shook his head and kept advancing.
Jinwoo used the Architect's Echo to predict Dae-ho's patterns, ensuring his defense was perfect. He evaded ninety percent of the attacks, but the ten percent that landed—the heavy body shots and grazing haymakers—were battering his endurance.
Jinwoo realized the truth: You cannot defeat a Brute with efficiency alone.
He had to break Dae-ho's pattern using his newest, most destructive weapon.
The Overload
Jinwoo retreated a step, creating the necessary space. The Architect's Echo flared up, mapping the Brute's slow, methodical advance. Dae-ho was setting up a crushing overhand.
Jinwoo made his decision. He initiated a full counter-attack, using Minjun's Striking toward the chin, powered by the Source of Power. But just before impact, he layered on Tae-seong's Principle of Aggression (The Iron Blueprint). He wasn't just hitting; he was forcing his body to ignore its limits and over-deliver force.
WHOOSH-CRACK!
The punch landed clean. Dae-ho's head snapped back violently. He stumbled backward, his iron composure finally cracking, pain flashing in his eyes.
Jinwoo didn't stop. He immediately followed up, using the Explosive Recruitment to leap forward and transition into a ground-and-pound sequence, targeting the same spot on the jaw, over and over.
The Iron Constitution could mitigate damage, but it couldn't stop cumulative damage delivered with reckless abandon.
After a final, thunderous blow, Dae-ho collapsed, his massive body finally giving out.
Jinwoo stood, his arm screaming from the forced internal strain of the Iron Blueprint, but the fight was won. He had defeated the King and the Brute by integrating his stolen power into a single, overwhelming sequence.
His gaze drifted to the corner of the gym. A flickering camera lens confirmed his suspicion: Jae-wook was watching.
Jinwoo knew the rules now. He had the strength and the strategic blueprint. It was time to find The Shadow.