62
"…" Daniel only had a cold, stony expression on his handsome face. His indifference gaze made him look even more intimidating when he was already towering over them, standing a good 8cm over the tallest of the group.
The group of men he was talking to did not look like young punks or delinquents. They were all in their late twenties who looked like salarymen who came out on a weekend to have a drink together. Daniel felt a little strange that he was standing up to a bunch of grown-ups who were trying to be unreasonable towards two teenagers.
While he had always been bullied when he was young, he had never been in such a situation against grown-ups before. So perhaps it was because of this that Daniel felt strangely a little more courageous than he would be if he were talking to thugs that were his age. There was an expectation of maturity from these adults.
The man who had rebuked Daniel felt awkward looking up at his stone cold expression, like it was the calm before the storm.
Eventually, Ken, the drunkest man, was unable to take it anymore and let go of Hana's wrist while screaming in pain, "You son of a bitch! I am going to kill you!"
His friends were holding him back, frustrated at Ken's obstinacy and inappropriate behaviour. Since they were friends, they felt responsible to take care of him, especially when he was drunk, but they were also getting angry as well.
Since the drunk man let go of Hana, Daniel had no reason to push it any further as well. He similarly released his vice grip on Ken put his arm around Hana's shoulder. "Come on, let's go."
Hana quietly nodded, staring up at Daniel's dispassionate appearance with a blush that had returned with full force. She felt safe and secure with his strong arm wrapped around her small frame. 'Oppa… you're so cool…'
While the two of them were ready to move on and forget about this incident, the drunk man behind them wasn't so willing to let things go so easily.
"Motherfucker, where do you think you are going!? Son of a bitch! Fuck your mother bitch!" The drunk man still continued to shout insults that barely made sense even while he was getting dragged back by his friends who were trying to get him to shut up.
Daniel was perfectly fine with being insulted. He had years of practice being scolded by his classmates and bullies after all. But this was the first time he got angry after hearing someone scold his mother. His mother who worked hard to put food on the table. His mother who sacrificed everything she had so that he could have a good life. His mother who sadly smiled at him while saying she loved him as he cried.
His dear mother that he loved more than anything else in this world, and this scum bad actually said "Fuck your mother bitch"!? THIS PIECE OF SHIT SAID THAT!?
Daniel turned back and glared at Ken, an unholy fury in his eyes. He let go of Hana and walked back towards the group. His fists were so clenched tightly his fingernails were digging into his palm, but he couldn't even feel the pain with the adrenaline and rage coursing through his veins. His stride towards the group was slow and methodical, like a lion stalking a gazelle.
"Hey. What the fuck did you just say?"
"You heard me, you son of a bi-mffh!" Ken started shouting at him but his mouth was covered by his friend.
His friend approached him with an apologetic smile, "Hey man, just forget about this. He is drunk and retarded. Just walk away."
They were trying their best to be reasonable in a situation that had solely been caused by their friend's drunkenness and inappropriate behaviour. But although they were apologetic towards the young man who was offended by Ken's stupidity, they still considered him their friend and had to help him in such a situation.
Daniel gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw. He was getting ready to say something else until Hana pulled the back of his jacket, "Oppa let's go. He's not worth it."
The teenager exhaled heavily, trying rapidly to calm down and cool his hot head. She was right, it wasn't worth it. He was just a drunk idiot saying stupid shit. Why did he need to get down to his level?
"Fine." He breathed out, a glare still shooting at the drunk Ken who was struggling against his friends' grasp on his arm and hand covering his mouth, "But your friend better watch himself, fucking drunk idiot..."
Ken didn't care much about his friends calling him and idiot or retarded, but once he heard Daniel uttering those words his resistance and struggled became a lot more violent before finally breaking out of his friends' grasp.
"You bastard I'm going to kill you!" The drunk man lunged forward and swung a fist at Daniel to the shock and astonishment of everyone.
Daniel saw his lunge like it was in slow motion. Having experienced it before when he was playing arcade games with Brooke and Wii games with Hana, he knew his dynamic vision and visual acuity was, like the rest of his body, off the charts.
His first thought was to step back, to gain distance like what the chicken headed teacher had said. But Daniel realized Hana was standing right behind him holding his jacket. If he tried to move away now, the drunk asshole would miss his target and lunge towards Hana instead. Unacceptable.
So he couldn't move away. Instead, he would have to stand his ground and retaliate. But he wasn't going to just take a free shot from this asshole. And so, Daniel knew what he needed to do.
Time resumed as Daniel made the decision in his head. With the chicken head teacher's words echoing in his mind, he advanced forward to close the distance. The wild haymaker from Ken was disrupted as Daniel was suddenly closer than before. His forearm collided into Daniel's shoulder ineffectively and with minimal impact.
Daniel, however, was already in position to deliver an uppercut that landed square on the bottom of the drunk asshole's chin. He threw it lightly, not trying to take the head off his opponent, but with enough force for it to deter any further conflict. 'Strike first, strike hard to discourage their rude behaviour.'
However, three things Daniel did not take into account when throwing his punch:
(1) He still was not completely familiar with this body's strength, so while he considered the punch to be light, it was still a heavy blow for the average person.
(2) The force of a blow did not consist solely of the strength from the punch. Instead, it would be amplified from the movement of the opponent as well. Ken had lunged at Daniel, and the momentum from his leap combined with the heavy blow from Daniel amplified the force of the blow.
(3) Ken was already drunk and intoxicated. Receiving a heavy punch in this scenario, not to mention a perfectly timed counter uppercut that landed perfectly as well would do more than the deterrence he had initially intended it to be.