Lookism: Forbidden Knowledge

Daniel kept thinking about it for a while before coming up with a brilliant idea. He thought about fighting to make money. It would not only help him earn but also improve his fighting skills.

Changing into comfortable clothes, he headed out, walking through the streets in search of bullies. He had no intention of hurting innocent people, but beating up bullies was an entirely different matter.

After a while, he found a group near an alley. They were smoking and laughing, their gazes directed toward the ground. Curious, Daniel followed their line of sight—and his eyes darkened.

A person lay on the ground, curled up as the bullies kicked them without remorse.

Anger flared inside him. He was scared to fight them, but he refused to let fear consume him. Gathering all his courage, he stepped forward.

The bullies noticed him.

There were four of them, not counting the person being beaten.

"Stop bullying him," Daniel said.

One of them smirked. "Oh? A pretty boy trying to play hero, huh? I'd love to beat you up."

The others laughed.

Then, without warning, the one Daniel had spoken to threw a punch.

Daniel dodged reflexively, just as he had done in the webtoon against Zack. He had no real experience, but his body moved on its own, slipping past the attacks just in time. The attack missed him by a few inches.

But this wasn't a one-on-one fight.

This time, he was up against four people.

One of the others swung at him, and Daniel felt a fist crash into his back. Pain flared, but it was nothing compared to what he had endured under Logan's bullying.

Daniel still didn't want to hurt others.

But deep inside him, a fire had ignited.

He had to become stronger.

Stronger to protect himself.

Stronger to protect his mother.

Without thinking, Daniel clenched his fist and threw a punch at the first bully—the one who had spoken to him. The force sent him crashing to the ground, completely unconscious.

His perfect body wasn't an exaggeration.

The remaining three froze in shock for a moment before charging at him together.

Daniel dodged every attack instinctively. His movements were sharper, faster. He countered with a swift punch to one of their stomachs.

The first time was difficult.

The second time became easier.

His mind reeled at what he had just done. He had never hurt anyone before—never even considered it.

And yet, here he was.

Before he could process it further, the remaining two bullies attacked. One slammed a fist into Daniel's stomach while the other struck his ribs.

The pain brought him back to reality.

'No time to think. If I want to get stronger, I have to fight.'

With that thought, he retaliated. Another punch to the stomach. One more down.

For the last one, Daniel decided to do something different.

He had thought about it before—if he could copy any moves, then there was no reason he couldn't copy the moves from the manhwa.

Taking an Aikido stance, he grabbed the final bully and slammed him into the ground.

It worked.

He had successfully copied Gun's technique just from reading the manhwa alone.

The bully wasn't unconscious, though.

He scrambled to his feet and tried to run. He was fast—but Daniel was faster. In a single second, Daniel closed the distance, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him back.

Terror was written all over the bully's face.

"P-Please spare me! I won't bully anyone again, I swear!" he begged.

"If you can survive this attack of mine, you can run away," Daniel replied.

The bully's expression brightened in relief.

But that relief wouldn't last long.

Daniel thought of copying James Lee's invisible attacks.

He slipped his hands into his pockets. Then, with speed faster than sound, he struck the bully's ribs.

A loud crack echoed through the alley.

Daniel felt his leg connect, and the sound sent a brief flicker of worry through him. But the concern faded almost instantly.

'Why should I worry? If I get held back by small things like this, I won't be able to handle what's coming.'

Crouching down, he reached into their pockets.

He counted the cash. His face lit up with excitement.

It was 450 $ ( 655,035 ₩) in cash.

He then looked at the young boy lying there unconscious. He was wearing glasses. Daniel didn't beat him, the bullies did. Daniel then carried him near a park and put him on bench before he waked away.

But the truth was, the boy wasn't unconscious. He acted unconscious to lessen the beating. But Daniel saved him. He had witnessed the entire fight. A spark lit deep within his heart. He wanted to grow stronger.

The boy was none other than a student from J-High!

His name was...

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Author's Note:

Author's Note doesn't take word count.

Word Count: 805

I love making cliffhangers!

Sorry for uploading late as I had alot of work today. Also, I mainly focused on improving Daniel's mindset and also the advantage of reading the webtoon along with his ability to copy. And let's not forget the second body too.