I wanted to bite his arm clean off, but that kind of thing only happened in one's imagination. I was utterly exhausted, and of course, I couldn’t put any strength into my jaw. I wasn’t even drawing blood. It wasn't exactly a relief, but I could still make this bastard feel hurt. I clamped both arms around one of his and bit down, putting what little strength I had left into it. I was determined not to let go.

He wasn’t in any better shape. He kept yanking my hair, and my head tried to snap back, but I knew better than anyone that if I were to give in, it would be over. At the very least, I couldn’t let go of this arm.

“You crazy bastard! Let go!”

“You let go first, you idiot!” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

I’d thought throwing the dagger would pay off, and it had, but now that we were tangled up like this, I was starting to regret it. The longsword and axe we had dropped were out of reach. We were entangled and unable to move. We were just burning through what little stamina we had left. I couldn’t even change positions.

‘Damn it... damn it...’

I told myself to hold on just a little longer, but my legs were starting to give out. Of course, his legs were giving out, too. The fact that I could even think something as pointless as how tomorrow would be pure muscle pain said everything.

We kept straining against each other, not quite grappling, not quite anything. I thought it would turn into something grand, something intense, but when it actually happened, it was just a messy brawl, and even I was thrown off by it.

“You lunatic! Damn it! Aaaagh!”

Despite his lean frame, he had ridiculous stamina and strength, and he managed to shove my attack away with one arm. Startled, I grabbed the first thing I could, his hair. Right then, we fell on the ground, and the next thing I knew, we were rolling around in a tangled mess. Then came the wild punches. Honestly, I couldn’t even describe what was happening anymore. Everything was a blurry mess.

The only things I knew for sure were that I still had a fistful of his hair and was swinging with my free hand, and he was doing the exact same to me. We rolled back and forth, trading positions. One moment I was on top, the next I was underneath.

“You piece of shit, just die already! Die!”

“You—agh! You die!”

“Let go! Are you letting go or not?!”

“You bastard!”

I used to laugh at guys who shouted at each other while fighting, as I never understood why they did it, but now that I was in it myself, I finally got it. If I didn’t scream, I felt like I’d collapse. Even though I was struggling to breathe, I was still yelling as if it was the only thing keeping me going.

“Damn it!”

Perhaps he had realized that as well.

“Damn it!” he roared. Whether it was the power of shouting or not, he somehow ended up on top of me. I’d fallen into the perfect position to get beaten senseless. I felt like he sensed his imminent victory, as he grinned at me.

“Shiiiiiit!”

“You piece of shit!”

He wildly swung his fists at my face.

‘This bastard... doesn’t even know how to punch.’

Normally, one would throw a straight or use the base of one's palm to attack, but what the hell was he doing? Why was he hitting me with the bottom of his clenched hand? But then I realized that I was doing the exact same thing. Even if I tried to think about it, my instinct had already taken over me.

Right now, protecting my face was the priority. His flurry of blows came crashing down on me, and I immediately raised both arms to shield my face.

“Aaaaaaah! You crazy bastard! Just die already!”

‘None of these are landing clean.’

Of course they weren’t. He was so worked up that he was just flailing over my arms without any real aim. The arm I’d sacrificed for defense was already throbbing, but his fists were just as damaged. It hit me then that we were both trading pieces of ourselves little by little. Then, for just a split second, I slipped. His fist landed square on my eye.

“Aaaagh!”

“Hahaha!”

I twisted reflexively from the sudden burst of pain, and he rolled off me.

‘That barely did anything.’

I couldn’t help but realize that the attack wasn't that strong.

‘This bastard... He’s completely spent.’

His mana was exhausted, and even his stamina was shot. There was no strength left in his punches.

“Hah... whoo... hah... hah... ngh... hah...”

Getting too excited after taking the mount was a huge mistake on his end. It felt like he was hitting me with cotton. He couldn’t even break through my trash-level Endurance.

‘I should act like that hurt more.’

“You bastard! You picked the wrong fight! Hah... hahahaha! Cough! Cough! Cough!”

As he choked on his own victory shout, I slammed into him.

Thud.

He toppled backward, and I immediately grabbed whatever debris was nearby and brought it down on his head. I had already killed Michele with a rock before, so this was a solid choice. The problem was...

“Damn it...”

I had nothing left either. To put it bluntly, even if one handed me a dagger, I still wouldn’t be able to pierce his skin. I was holding a chunk of wood, but I couldn’t even put strength into my grip. My fingers gave out, and I dropped it.

‘Damn it, this is bad.’

Even to me, this situation was just ridiculous. The fact that it had come to this was just... absurd.

‘The attacker...’

The attacker was at a disadvantage. The one on the offensive was actually becoming more exhausted. Of course, I’d never expected things to turn out like this. I’d seen countless battles, commanded them, even taken part in them, but this kind of situation was a first. The attacker losing out? What kind of nonsense was that? It was comical.

At this point, it wouldn’t be strange if both of us collapsed from exhaustion. No, we’d pushed past our limits a long time ago. It was ridiculous even to me, but right now, we were both holding on through sheer willpower, and there was no telling how long that would last.

If I were to force myself to attack here, I’d burn through the final vestiges of my stamina and end up being unable to move even a finger. Just then, First Life Ki-Young realized that attacking was a bad move.

‘What the hell is this insane situation... seriously.’

Of course, the tension between us didn’t just disappear. We’d been trying to kill each other moments ago, after all. We just didn’t have the strength to actually do it. Both of us were still stubbornly aiming for our weak spots, even without the energy to follow through it.

I had no idea if it was some kind of self-loathing or what, but just looking at his face pissed me off. Even knowing I couldn’t afford to waste any more stamina, my hand kept moving on its own.

“You bastard! You loser piece of shit!!” I shouted, swinging weakly at him.

I was trying to hold back, aware of how drained I was, but the anger wouldn’t go away. It had turned into something else entirely.

“Loser? You’re the loser, you useless piece of trash!” First Life Ki-Young argued.

He knew he had to conserve strength, too, but he still lashed out, grabbing my hair again.

“You already failed, you disgusting bastard! Just get lost! Just disappear already!” I shouted.

“I haven’t failed! My plan hasn’t even started yet! If anything, you’re the one who failed, even though you're from the second life. You threw away the chance I gave you and crawled back here, throwing a tantrum! And you’re saying you didn’t fail?!” he shouted back.

“The chance you gave me? Don’t make me laugh! I protected everything I had! I’m not like you, you idiot! I didn’t lose everything like some pathetic failure! You’re failure itself! Just like your father said! Your very existence is a failure, you piece of shit!!” I insulted him.

“Say that one more time!” he yelled out.

“You want me to say it again? This crappy inn, huh?! Even after screwing up the first time, you still got that pig hurt again, didn’t you? That’s what makes you the real idiot! I’m not like you! I’ve never let go of what’s in my hands! Not once! Never! Ptooey!” I said, spitting at him.

“What a load of crap! You think I don’t know why you’re here? You’ve never failed? You’ve never lost anything? You’ve just been luckier than me! You’ve been on the edge this whole time! People don’t change that easily. You think you’re any different?!

"If you were in my position, would you be any better?! Don’t sit there judging me like you know everything! You’re about to lose something, too! That’s why you’re struggling just like me! So don’t you dare talk shit to me!” he shouted.

“Shut the hell up...” I muttered.

“You’re a failure, too!! A bastard who can only blame others!! I failed?! Bringing up my father, too?! What the hell makes you any different from him?! You filthy piece of shit! Die! You bastard!” he continued.

Thud!

“In the end, you too... Damn it!! You’re here, throwing a fit because you’re about to lose something important, too! And yet you’ve got the nerve to blame me for losing that pig?!

"What I did was justified! Everything I did was justified! I turned back time in the end! I made Kim Hyun-Sung a regressor! You’re proof of that! That was the chance I gave you! And you’re saying I lost everything? You think that makes any sense?! I fixed it in the end! I cleaned up my mess!”

Thud!

“No, you ran away! You cowardly bastard! It wasn’t some grand plan! You were just scared that you’d make the same mistakes even if you went back! So you ran away! You shoved Kim Hyun-Sung out as a shield! You made him the regressor because you knew you couldn’t stand back up, but he could!

"That’s all it was! And now you’re saying you fixed everything?! Don’t delude yourself! You just ran away! If it were me, I wouldn't run away. Can you really say that you didn’t run?!” I questioned.

Thud!

“That’s why I’m saying I’ll start over now! Not Kim Hyun-Sung, me! I’ll become the regressor myself! I’ll erase trash like you and make sure none of this ever happens again! You bastard!” he declared.

Thud!

“I’m saying this because I can’t let someone like you start over! Didn’t you hear me earlier?! I protected everything! You think I’d just sit back and watch some parasite like you ruin that?! I protected Ji-Hye noona, Kasugano Yuno, Jung Ha-Yan, Jo Hye-Jin, and Kim Hyun-Sun! I wiped out every last one of those gods! I even protected that pig!

"Do you know he’s getting married?! You think you can do all of that if you started over?! You think you can pull that off without Kim Hyun-Sung?! In a world where he’s forgotten, nothing is going to work, you bastard!” I shouted.

Thud!

“...”

Thud!

“...”

Thud!

I saw First Life Ki-Young taking the blows without saying a word. He wasn’t doing it to drain my stamina either. His face was swollen, but he just looked at me like he had no intentions of fighting anymore. I couldn’t help but stop my raised arm.

Just then, the murmurs of the dolls filled the air.

“Heard any interesting stories lately?”

“There is a pretty good commission, but my party member died last week. Damn it... do you have any information on the scrawny guy who hangs around with that big warrior staying upstairs?”

“He looks like he just finished the tutorial... Surprisingly, that scrawny guy is considered more useful than the big guy.”

“If trained well, he might turn out decent... Should I take him along?”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Ahhh, they came down. They’re finally coming down. I was wondering what they were doing, holed up in their room and not coming out...”

“That body of his is seriously impressive, but I can’t tell if he’s just a coward or if it’s because of trauma... What a shame. Really a shame.”

“Hey, bros. Want to come over and have a drink while we talk? We’re thinking of going to hunt some goblins, but we are short on people...”

The dolls continued talking.

“Ahhh, they came down. They’re finally coming down. I was wondering what they were doing, holed up in their room and not coming out...”

“That body of his is seriously impressive, but I can’t tell if he’s just a coward or if it’s because of trauma... What a shame. Really a shame.”

“Hey, bros. Want to come over and have a drink while we talk? We’re thinking of going to hunt some goblins, but we are short on people...”

They continued talking.

“Ahhh, they came down. They’re finally coming down. I was wondering what they were doing, holed up in their room and not coming out...”

“That body of his is seriously impressive, but I can’t tell if he’s just a coward or if it’s because of trauma... What a shame. Really a shame.”

“Hey, bros. Want to come over and have a drink while we talk? We’re thinking of going to hunt some goblins, but we are short on people...”

They kept on talking like they were broken. No, they were already broken. None of them had been functioning properly in the first place. All they could do was sprawl out on the ground and repeat the same lines over and over again.

I couldn’t understand what was happening, but he looked like he did.

Slowly, I pushed myself up, and he did the same, rising just as sluggishly as I.

Judging by First Life Ki-Young’s reaction, it became clear to me who was coming.

“Ah... ack... ugh... hh... ngh...”

“Ugh... ahh... ngh... ugh...”

There was a reason Kasugano Yuno had brought the pig to the first life.