Weak Class of Anti-Hero

I stood there, in the middle of the empty room, for a long time. The silence was deafening.

Five million won. The number spun in my head. It was a wall. Unclimbable.

All my efforts at the academy, the humiliations, the fights... for what? To earn a few hundred points when I needed millions. It was a joke. A cruel joke.

A dry, joyless laugh escaped my throat.

I fell to my knees. The pain in my ribs exploded, but I barely felt it. It was nothing compared to the pain in my chest.

I had failed.

I had promised to save her. I had gone to this academy of monsters, I had endured it all for her. And I had failed.

The rage from last night, the hatred for Yoo-Na and her group, it all vanished, replaced by a much worse feeling: powerlessness. The same powerlessness I felt before entering Apex. Nothing had changed. I was still the same weak, useless boy.

I looked down at my hands. Empty hands.

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

No.

Not yet.