“That’s right, they are the ones with bad intentions. But this happened so suddenly—”

Jeong Taeui hurriedly stepped back from the man and moved closer to the mirror. The man turned around, his face even more ferocious as his punch missed its target.

“You came here with Christoph, didn’t you?”

Yes, that was the only reason he was being hated here.

“That’s right, but…”

“You bastard, that means you’re on his side too. Why are you pretending?”

The man approached Jeong Taeui again, yelling and swinging his fist. This time Jeong Taeui easily dodged and shook his head.

“You and him beat my brother to a pulp, didn’t you?”

The man chased after Jeong Taeui, shouting like a roaring beast. Jeong Taeui didn’t know who his brother was among the six people, but from his words, he guessed they were the people in the stables.

“No, it’s not like that. I was just watching; it was all Christoph’s doing. I’m innocent!”

Jeong Taeui shouted, feeling a bit cowardly but had no time to think about it. He quickly dodged the man’s random punches.

Moreover, even though Jeong Taeui shouted like that…

“Don’t joke around; how could one person beat six people!”

See, he knew the man wouldn’t believe him.

Even Jeong Taeui couldn’t believe it. How could one person beat six people in a fair fight without any weapons?

“That’s right, they are the ones with bad intentions. But this happened so suddenly without warning…”

“Coward, you dare to lie to save yourself?!”

Jeong Taeui guessed that the man would say that.

Feeling wronged, Jeong Taeui tried to explain the truth, but no one believed him.

While Jeong Taeui deftly dodged the attacks in the bathroom without any difficulty, the man probably thought that he alone wasn’t enough, so he called for backup to stand at the bathroom door.

“Aha, if you’re giving me a way out, I’m very grateful.”

Jeong Taeui smiled.

Beating six people was rare; but in a confined space, beating two people was quite normal.

First, before the man at the door could approach, Jeong Taeui grabbed the man chasing him. He dodged his punch and simultaneously grabbed his neck, slamming him hard against the wall. A loud thud echoed along with a painful scream as one person was quickly taken down.

When the other man saw this, his face twisted, and he prepared to attack Jeong Taeui, who punched him hard on the nose. Jeong Taeui could feel the man’s nose bone breaking clearly. Drops of blood fell, splattering on the floor.

“Why do two people attack me together? If it were just one, I would only need to dodge.”

Jeong Taeui adjusted his disheveled collar and spoke.

The man clutching his nose – unlike the one knocked unconscious against the wall – was still conscious and yelled, but his scream was unclear because blood was flowing down his throat.

“Sorry, but I have to go first.”

Jeong Taeui waved goodbye and opened the bathroom door to return to the hall.

At that moment, a large man walked in.

“Huh…”

“Hmm? …Huh?!”

The large man, wearing a hoodie that reached his thighs, happened to see Jeong Taeui and was about to step aside for him. But when he saw the two men lying and crouching on the floor, he shouted.

Jeong Taeui intended to leave before the situation worsened, but the large man turned back, glaring at Jeong Taeui.

“You?! You were with Christoph earlier, weren’t you?!”

Damn it. It seemed everyone in the bar remembered his face.

“This bar is really attentive, remembering each customer clearly, but I don’t like it much…”

Jeong Taeui muttered while thinking about how to deal with the large man when he heard voices coming from the hallway.

“What’s going on over there?”

“Why is it noisy?”

“Is there a problem?”

Turning back, he saw not just one or two people but four people appearing in front of him. And there might be more coming.

Jeong Taeui’s vision darkened.

Behind him was the man with a broken nose but intact limbs, and in front of him was the large man, with four more people approaching from behind him.

“Wow… People often say that if one rat shows up, thirty others are hiding*; it seems true…”

(*If one rat shows up, thirty others are hiding: This is a fable expressing vigilance and warning that when a small problem is discovered, there may be many other unseen issues.)

Jeong Taeui counted the people and mumbled unconsciously.

Exactly six people matched the magical number Christoph created earlier. But Jeong Taeui wasn’t confident he could create such a miracle himself.

In a situation where he had to face six people, Christoph chose to confront them. But Jeong 

Taeui was different.

“I’m best at running away…”

He muttered to himself and quickly scanned the surroundings.

Returning to the hall while avoiding these men didn’t seem difficult, but the problem was what would happen afterward. They would chase him to the end, and if a big fight broke out in the bar, it would be disastrous. Moreover, if that happened, Jeong Taeui certainly wouldn’t be able to stop Christoph (who was losing his temper).

So he had to run in another direction, but an outsider like him running anywhere would attract attention. There needed to be a temporary solution, but there was no time to think it through.

“Let’s just run first…. Sorry.”

Jeong Taeui quickly apologized and dashed straight at the large man in front of him.

The large man, looking at his approaching comrades, was suddenly attacked and shouted – “Huh?!” – But when he tried to punch Jeong Taeui, it was too late.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was caught off guard, Jeong Taeui’s sweeping kick might not have succeeded. The large man fell to the floor with a loud thud, and Jeong Taeui jumped over him and ran.

Seeing this, the men approaching from behind began to chase him.

Luckily, Jeong Taeui ran faster than them, so the distance gradually increased, but the next problem was that he didn’t know the way.

Damn it, he really didn’t know the way. Earlier, the path was already complicated like a maze, and now running without paying attention made it even more confusing.

He didn’t know how he ran, but suddenly Jeong Taeui found himself back in front of the bathroom door. Meanwhile, the men seemed to have decided to spread out to search for him, and he vaguely heard noises echoing everywhere.

What to do now? Return to Christoph? No… with his temper, it would definitely lead to bloodshed.

“……”

Then let’s just keep running.

Jeong Taeui stood in front of the bathroom door and started walking aimlessly again.

At that moment.

“Huh?!”

Hearing a familiar voice from behind, Jeong Taeui turned around and saw the large man from earlier – the one he had swept and knocked down. It seemed he got injured from the fall; his elbow was scraped.

“Uh… it must hurt a lot. Sorry.” – Jeong Taeui sincerely apologized, not intending to mock, but the large man seemed to misunderstand.

His face turned red, and he charged at Jeong Taeui.

“You damn bastard!”

Seeing him rush in with ferocity, Jeong Taeui quickly ducked into the bathroom. The large man followed closely behind.

“You really are a mouse falling into a rice jar*.”

(*Mouse falling into a rice jar: This phrase implies someone falling into a favorable and unexpected situation. But in Taeui’s case, the man sarcastically implies that Taeui is about to receive a ‘great reward’ from his revenge.)

With an extremely angry face, the man lunged at Jeong Taeui, who hesitated in front of the sink.

At that moment…

Jeong Taeui ducked down, avoiding the man’s large arm, and then kicked hard at his ankle. 

The man let out a “Huh” sound and collapsed.

This man hadn’t learned anything and had no ability to learn.

Feeling a bit sorry for the man’s future, Jeong Taeui aimed precisely at the nape of his neck and delivered a sharp, strong blow. The man let out a “Huh” sound, eyes rolled back, and fainted.

The man, who had been roaring like thunder, fell, and the surroundings immediately became quiet.

Jeong Taeui wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and looked down at the man. The hood of the hoodie covered his head.

“……Maybe I should borrow this.”

Jeong Taeui stared at him.

The hoodie, which was loose and reached the thighs, seemed reasonable since he was being chased. This combination seemed logical.

***********************

He thought it was a logical combination…

Jeong Taeui immediately realized that his decision was a mistake.

After taking off the hoodie from the large man and putting it on, Jeong Taeui dragged him into the bathroom stall, stuffed him in, and used a broom to block the door.

The hood covered Jeong Taeui’s head; if pulled down, it almost covered his eyes and nose. 

The hoodie, which originally reached the man’s thighs, now almost reached Jeong Taeui’s knees.

At first, Jeong Taeui was very happy, thinking that it almost completely covered him, but that joy didn’t last long. The large man locked in the stall was quickly discovered by the others.

This made the hoodie very conspicuous.

“That’s it! The one wearing Wilhelm’s hoodie!”

…Damn it.

Jeong Taeui ran like crazy through the bar’s winding paths, realizing his mistake.

The hoodie was too hot. Covering him from head to knee prevented body heat from escaping while running.

Moreover, the initial thought that the large size of the hoodie was an advantage turned out to be a disadvantage. The hood obstructed his vision, and the long hem hindered his running.

He wanted to take it off and throw it away. But every time he stopped to take it off, someone would spot him and shout – “There he is!”.

He didn’t know how long he had been running.

He didn’t know where he was in the bar and couldn’t guess how long he had been running.

At this moment – with only one man chasing behind – the two were keeping a considerable distance. Perhaps he couldn’t see Jeong Taeui clearly, only following the sound of footsteps and breathing.

If he could find a place to hide, maybe the man would pass by without noticing.

Jeong Taeui ran while looking around for a hiding spot.

At that moment, Jeong Taeui saw a side path. At the end of it was a large cabinet-like locker.

“―…!”

It was a cabinet at the end of a dead end. If he hid there and got discovered, there would be no way out. In short, if he could hide successfully, that would be good, but if he got caught, it would be a disaster.

Jeong Taeui hesitated for a moment.

Normally, he wouldn’t choose that place. If it wasn’t a spot he couldn’t escape from, he wouldn’t enter.

But now Jeong Taeui’s legs were heavy, and he was sweating like rain in the hoodie. He just wanted to stop and rest for a moment.

So his thoughts became muddled.

“―… Whether I die from running exhaustion or getting beaten to death, it’s all the same.”

He started mumbling nonsense that even he couldn’t understand, then dashed toward the cabinet.

Not knowing how he had run through the paths, now beneath his feet was soft carpet. The sound of running footsteps no longer echoed. Good.

There was a sound of pursuit from behind the corner.

Before the man could see him. He had to hurry.

When Jeong Taeui was out of breath, he finally reached the cabinet just as the sound of pursuit neared the corner.

“…!”

He opened the cabinet and jumped in. The cabinet door closed silently, separating the inside and outside. At the same time, the sound of pursuit reached the corner.

Jeong Taeui held his breath in the cabinet.

This small built-in cabinet seemed to have been remodeled from a small storage room, the cabinet door made of thin wooden slats arranged like a shutter door. He could see outside through the gaps.

The young man chasing him went past the corner, looked around for a moment, then continued running forward.

“…―.”

Jeong Taeui breathed a sigh of relief in the cabinet. As he sighed to calm down, he heard a faint sound right beside him.

“―?!”

The sound was very close, only a few steps away.

Jeong Taeui, who was about to exhale, held his breath immediately. He slowly turned toward the sound.

Just like the door facing the hallway that Jeong Taeui had checked earlier, now he realized the side of this cabinet also had a door. No, it wasn’t a door because it had no handle. Perhaps during the interior renovation – the side of this cabinet facing the room at the end of the hallway – had become part of the wall.