For Love's Sake || Jeno

01: His Highness is an outlaw

She had been looking forward to this night.

Something about an illegal fighting ring was wickedly exciting and an escape from her stressful life besides. But now that she was here, she just wanted to go back. The cigarette smoke irritated her lungs, the air was heavy with the stink of sweat, piss and petrol. All around her were dangerous people with their inked skin and daunting looks. Anyone of them could be a criminal.

She tugged on Renjun's sleeve, "when is this going to end?"

The boy chuckled, "what? You're already tired? It hasn't even started." If anyone from school saw Renjun here they'd have a heart attack. Some things were just not expected of the class rep.

"You feeling okay, Naeun?" Jiyoung asked.

"Yeah, it's just the smoke," she answered.

Upon hearing this Renjun took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck. Naeun pulled it up to cover her nose. The faint scent of his cologne was a welcome change to the stink around her.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to The Ring!" A booming voice rang out, followed by cheers and screams. Naeun had to cover her ears because there were people squealing all around her. "Are you ready for some action?" The crowd screamed their assents. "I won't make you wait any longer."

"Bring them out, Jerry!" The woman in front of Naeun yelled. The announcer, Jerry, was a man in his mid-twenties, standing in the centre of the ring with a microphone in his hand.

"Here's our first fighter," Jerry bellowed. "Calamity!" Even though Naeun was close to the ring, she hand to stand on her toes to glimpse at the tall muscled man. Calamity was bare-chested with half a dozen white scars and twice as many tattoos. He smacked his fists together and attained a reaction from the crowd. Amidst all the cheering Naeun herd noises of contempt as well.

"Challenging our last week's winner Calamity is another force to be reckoned with, King!" The response of the crowd was even wilder. A steady chant of his name left each mouth as he took his place beside Jerry. King was clad in all white. From his white headgear to his white mask. A white tank top hugging his torso tightly, highlighting his lean shape and the hard muscles underneath. White strips of linen were wrapped around his hands and between his fingers and he wore white trunks and shoes. In this shabby and unpleasant place, he looked out of place.

Before stepping off the war zone, Jerry spoke up, "betting ends when the first bell rings." Not only illegal fighting but illegal betting as well.

"Here we go," she heard Renjun say when the bell signalling the start of the match rang.

The fighters circled each other, stalking. Calamity moved forward and threw the first punch but King easily dodged it, circling around the big man and striking from behind. The crowd roared. It was easy to see why King was a crowd favourite. Not only was he powerful but quick as a cat too. He landed a punch square on Calamity's jaw, making the big guy stumble. Calamity studied himself and threw another punch. This one was too quick to dodge so King blocked it with a shoulder roll.

King made to punch the stomach of his opponent and as soon as Calamity brought down his hands to block the punch, King swing his other fist right at his face. Blood spurted from the big guy's nose and the sight made Naeun want to be well away from this place.

It was difficult to breathe in this space even if it was spacious. She pulled on Jiyoung's jacket to get her attention. "I'm going to go home," she told her.

Concern instantly flashed on the girl's face. "Are you okay?"

"I will be once I step out."

"We should all go," Renjun said.