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SWEARING OFF FIGHTING GOT HER NOWHERE... The moonlight barely reached the dark alley where y/n was backed against the cold brick wall. Her breath came in sharp, shallow gasps, every instinct telling her to run, but the five figures blocking her way made that impossible. They weren't just any boys—they were Jae-chul and his gang, the same bastards who had made her life a living hell for over a year. She had taken their shit in silence, swallowing every insult, ignoring every shove and every threat. But tonight, something in her had snapped.

And they had no idea what was coming.

Jae-chul stepped forward, his trademark cocky smirk plastered across his face. "You really thought you could just walk home alone? After what you did?"

Y/n narrowed her eyes, her voice steady but ice-cold. "What the hell are you even talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, bitch," Jae-chul sneered. "You trashed my car. Don't tell me you forgot already."

"I don't even know where you park your shitty car," she shot back, venom in her tone.

One of the goons, Hyun-woo, barked out a laugh. "Listen to her, acting tough now. Just one fight her boyfriend fought for her, and suddenly she thinks she's got balls."

"Maybe she needs a reminder of her place," Sung-min added, cracking his knuckles as he stepped closer. "After all, I don't see him anywhere... Do you?"

She scanned their faces—Jae-chul, Hyun-woo, Sung-min, Min-jae, and Dong-hyun—memorizing every twisted grin and smug expression. They had always been like this: cocky, overconfident, feeding off her silence. But tonight was different.

Tonight, she wasn't staying silent. Because as much as it pained her to admit, this was real life... it was war. The one she'd been trained for.

Jae-chul leaned in, his voice low and taunting. "You should've just stayed home. Now we're gonna teach you a lesson you won't forget."

She laughed—a dark, hollow sound that caught them off guard. "Oh, you're gonna teach me a lesson? That's fucking rich."

Before they could react, her fist shot out, smashing into Jae-chul's nose with a sickening crunch. Blood spurted instantly as he stumbled back, clutching his face and screaming in pain. The smirk vanished from the others' faces, replaced by shock.

"You crazy bitch!" Hyun-woo lunged at her, but she was ready. She sidestepped him with ease, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. The sound of his shoulder popping out of its socket echoed in the alley. He howled in pain, but she wasn't done. She drove her elbow into his ribs, sending him crumpling to the ground.

"Thought I was weak, huh? Thought I'd just take it forever?" she spat, standing over him. "How does it feel now, asshole?"

Sung-min and Min-jae rushed her at the same time, but she moved like a predator, quick and calculated. She ducked under Sung-min's punch, delivering a brutal kick to his knee. The joint buckled and he collapsed, screaming. Min-jae managed to grab her arm, but she twisted free, spinning and slamming her heel into his temple. He hit the ground like a sack of bricks.

"Come on!" she shouted, her voice wild with adrenaline. "You were so fucking tough when it was five against one. What happened? Where's all that big talk now?!"

Dong-hyun hesitated, looking at the three groaning bodies on the ground. Jae-chul, still clutching his bleeding nose, barked at him. "Don't just stand there, you idiot! Get her!"

Dong-hyun charged, but his movements were sloppy, desperate. She ducked low, sweeping his legs out from under him. He hit the pavement hard, and before he could recover, she stomped on his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"You picked the wrong girl," she hissed, leaning over him. "All those months of pushing me around, and you never once thought, 'Hey, maybe she's just waiting for the right moment.' Well, here it is. Congratulations—you're all fucking losers."

Jae-chul stumbled to his feet, rage twisting his bloodied face. "You're dead, l/n. You hear me? Fucking dead!"

She laughed again, louder this time, the sound echoing off the alley walls. "Dead? You're the one bleeding all over the place, looking like a fucking tampon, dumbass."

He charged at her blindly, but she sidestepped, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and slamming him face-first into the brick wall. He collapsed to the ground, groaning. 

"Look at me!" she roared, her voice reverberating through the alley, raw and guttural. She crouched next to Jae-chul, seizing a fistful of his hair, yanking his face upward. Blood dripped from his broken nose, painting his lips and chin, but he avoided her gaze, his swollen eyes staring off to the side. That cowardice only enraged her further.

"LOOK AT ME!" she screamed, the veins in her neck straining as her fury boiled over. Her nails dug into his scalp, forcing his head up until his eyes met hers. "What's the matter, huh? Can't even face me now? You wanted to see what I was really like, didn't you? Well, here I am, Jae-chul. Look at the girl you fucking assaulted!"

She let go of his hair and jabbed a finger toward her nose, where a faint but jagged line still marred her skin—a brutal souvenir from the attack he'd led last month. "You see this?" she hissed, her voice a deadly whisper before it rose into a shout. "DO YOU SEE THIS? YOU DID THIS! Thought I'd just let it slide, didn't you? Thought I'd stay quiet forever? WELL, GUESS WHAT?" She stood abruptly, kicking him in the ribs with enough force to send him rolling onto his side. He groaned, coughing, but she wasn't done.

"GET UP!" she bellowed, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT? You're pathetic, Jae-chul! All those times you and your little cronies cornered me, all those cheap shots when my back was turned—where's all that big energy now, huh? WHERE THE FUCK IS IT NOW?"

He tried to crawl away, his hands trembling as he pressed them to the ground, but she stormed forward, slamming her foot down onto his hand. A sickening crack echoed in the air, and his scream pierced the night. "Oh, no, no, no," she snarled, shaking her head as she crouched again, grabbing his face roughly. "You don't get to run. Not tonight."

Blood smeared her fingers as she dragged him back toward the wall, shoving him upright against it. "What's the matter, Jae-chul?" she taunted, her voice dripping with venom. "All those months of acting tough, of making my life hell, and THIS is all you've got? I expected more from you. I really did."

He tried to speak, a garbled mess of words and blood, but she didn't care. Her fist collided with his face again, snapping his head back against the brick. His lip split open, and fresh blood poured down his chin. She didn't stop. Her fists were relentless, hammering into him with all the pent-up rage she'd swallowed for so long. Each punch landed with a wet, bone-jarring thud.

"This is for every time you shoved me into a locker!" she shouted, her voice cracking as her fists kept flying. "This is for every time you called me worthless, every time you thought you owned me!" Her knee drove into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He doubled over, gasping, but she grabbed his collar and yanked him upright.

"You scarred me, Jae-chul!" she shrieked, her voice raw with emotion. "You thought I'd forget? You thought I'd forgive? LOOK AT ME!" She slapped him hard, the sound echoing through the empty alley. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED? IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKING WANTED?"

When his knees buckled, she let him drop to the ground, only to kick him viciously in the side, sending him sprawling. He tried to crawl away again, his breaths ragged and wheezing, but she wasn't done.

"Not so fun now, is it?" she growled, grabbing the back of his jacket and hauling him up. "WHERE'S YOUR SMIRK NOW? Where's your fucking arrogance?"

His eyes were glazed, unfocused, but she didn't care. Her knee smashed into his chest, and he collapsed in a heap at her feet. Blood pooled beneath him, mixing with the dirt and grime of the alley, but still, she loomed over him, her chest heaving with exertion.

"Next time," she hissed, leaning down close to his ear, her voice low and deadly, "you think about messing with someone, remember this. Remember what it feels like to be completely fucking helpless. Because I promise you, Jae-chul, I will end you if you ever come near me again."

She spat the blood from her own busted lip onto his battered face, the crimson streaking down his cheek. "You're not worth another second of my time."

As she turned to leave, the faint sound of sirens began to grow in the distance. She froze for a split second, her mind racing. There was no way she was getting caught—not for this, not for him. She wiped her hands on her jeans, smearing blood and dirt as she sprinted out of the alley, her heart pounding. The cold night air stung her lungs, but she didn't stop until she was far, far away.

And as she disappeared into the shadows, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time: power. For the first time in over a year, she wasn't the victim. She wasn't the quiet girl they could push around. She was someone they'd never forget—and someone they'd never dare cross again.

***

As the violence unfolded, John Kreese stood in the shadowed alley, his eyes narrowed in grim satisfaction, a sinister smirk playing at the corner of his lips. The brutal assault, the calculated fury, was precisely what he had expected. His eyes never left the fight, watching every punch, every painful strike, as if savoring it.

The girl, the one he had seen as a lost cause, had become a true warrior at last. She was no longer the meek, defenseless thing she'd once been. No—now, she was relentless, a force of nature. The way she moved, every calculated hit, was nothing short of pure violence. She had finally shed the weakness he had so long despised.

"That's it, l/n," Kreese muttered under his breath, barely a whisper, but filled with a dark, almost eerie pride. "Fight with everything you've got. Show them who you really are." The words were barely audible, but to him, they held the weight of triumph, knowing that his twisted influence had carved this beast from the broken remnants of the girl she had once been. Every second of her pain, every bruise, every drop of blood was worth it. She was his to mold, and now she was his perfect weapon.

As she kicked Jae-chul in the ribs again, the sound of his agony mingling with the wet thuds of her fists, Kreese's expression darkened, his body tensing. He watched her with cruel intensity. The satisfaction that washed over him was palpable, chilling in its depth.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Kwon standing nearby, frozen in disbelief. His eyes widened with awe and fear, his stance unmoving as he watched the girl he had always thought of as fragile. She wasn't weak. She was a lioness—ferocious, unstoppable.

Kwon's heart pounded in his chest. He didn't know whether to be terrified or exhilarated by what he was witnessing. His breath quickened, his hands trembling. He had never seen this side of her before. It was... it was savage. And yet there was something mesmerizing about it. He couldn't take his eyes off her, even as the lethal blows landed. Her form was flawless, each strike expertly executed.

And in that moment, as her fist collided with another goon's jaw, Kwon's eyes flicked toward Kreese. A chill ran down his spine. There was something deeply unsettling in the way the man was watching. The way his smirk widened, twisted, and darkened as the girl fought on. It clicked in Kwon's mind—the history between them. He hadn't seen it before, but now it was undeniable. This wasn't just a coach and his student. This was something darker, something far more dangerous. Kreese was no mere spectator. He was the architect of this brutal transformation.

As Kreese's gaze met Kwon's, there was a dark, almost unholy gleam in his eyes. His voice was low, dripping with a mixture of pride and cruelty. "You see it now, don't you? She's no longer the same. This is the result of my training. She's stronger than you ever imagined. And there's more to her... so much more."

Kwon's heart skipped a beat as Kreese's words sunk in. A sense of dread washed over him. The girl—y/n—had always been a mystery to him, but now, as she stood over her defeated enemies, bloodied and breathing heavily, he realized that he didn't know her at all. She was a weapon, forged in darkness, and now, Kwon saw it clearly. She wasn't just a victim of her past—she was a product of Kreese's training.

He stayed put, his eyes still locked on the girl. His breath was shallow, but there was something else in his chest—a heavy, tight sensation. A mix of fear and something he didn't fully understand.

Y/n turned then, her eyes wild with adrenaline, her fists still clenched. She wasn't the girl he presumed her to be—this was someone else, someone far more dangerous. She was a storm, and Kwon couldn't help but be drawn to the raw intensity of her presence. The way she moved, the way she fought—it was like watching a wild animal tear through its prey. Unstoppable, unforgiving. He wasn't sure what to make of this new version of her, this brutal, fearless warrior who seemed to thrive on pain. It was like looking into a mirror, but seeing the shadow. 

Kreese's grin widened, the malevolent satisfaction clear on his face. He had always known this would happen. He had known from the moment he took her under his wing that she would one day become a weapon of destruction. And now, as he watched her stand victorious, her enemies broken at her feet, he knew she was ready to strike again—this time, with no hesitation, no remorse. "You see?" Kreese's voice was low, his tone dripping with sinister approval. "She was always in there. Just waiting to come out. I gave her the tools. The rest... was inevitable."

Once a Cobra Kai, always a Cobra Kai...

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