NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 8: School
**After Two Years in the White Room...**
A six-year-old boy is seen fighting a gigantic, featureless man with bulging muscles. The child deftly dodges the monster's blows, countering with precise strikes targeting weak points—the neck, base of the skull, joints—each movement honed through years of brutal training.
The monster swings a massive palm toward the boy, but he ducks, spins swiftly, and drives his small hand like a dagger into the creature's ribs. A **horrifying crack** echoes. The monster staggers, drops to its knees, tries to rise—but its body is paralyzed. Ji-Hoon steps closer, whispering, **"Finally... I beat you."** Then delivers a final strike to a precise point on the monster's neck, ending it for good.
He stares at the lifeless corpse and thinks, **"Just as I thought... Killing it leaves a body. Knocking it out makes it vanish like smoke."** Suddenly, the black orb at the room's center **pulses with a deeper darkness**.
**"What's coming out this time?!"** His eyes dart between the corpse and the new shadow oozing from the void. **"No difference... They're identical!"**
But the new monster moves like lightning. Before he can react, it's already upon him. **It plants its right foot forward and throws a punch like a missile.** Ji-Hoon tries to evade, but the speed is unnatural. The blow lands on his chest with **bone-shattering force**, ribs **piercing his heart** in agony.
**He jolts awake in bed, drenched in cold sweat.** **"What kind of hell was that?! Its punch was three times stronger than the last! How?!"**
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he replays the moment. **"They share the same physique... What if their strength isn't just muscle?"**
He leaps up, mimicking the monster's stance before the killing strike: **a side kick, one arm raised like a shield, eyes utterly cold.**
**"So that's it..."** he murmurs, twisting through the air like an ancient warrior. **"Now I see your secret."**
Shocked, he realizes: **"It used martial arts! Techniques I've never seen before!"**
He practices the movement but feels something's missing. **His strikes lack that terrifying power!**
Kneeling, he adjusts his posture from feet to torso. **"Wait... The feet! It anchored itself like an ancient tree's roots!"**
**The epiphany hits:**
The monster's power didn't come from muscles alone—it **drew strength from the earth**, as if hell's energy surged through its footing.
**Laughing bitterly, he shakes his head:**
"How stupid I was! Copying its moves instead of understanding the source!"
**He tries the stance again:**
Digs his feet into the ground until they burn, then launches a punch at a wooden block.
**CRACK! The block splits in two.**
**"Hah... Finally."**
After uncovering the secret, Ji-Hoon begins **rooting and grounding exercises**. Hours pass in Grandfather's garden, feet buried in soil like an old tree, learning to channel the earth's energy into strikes that shatter barriers.
He realizes raw muscle won't suffice. Studying **ancient martial arts** from the old man's library:
- **Tai Chi:** For balance and energy flow.
- **Kung Fu:** For swift, pressure-point attacks.
- **Jiu-Jitsu:** To counter multi-limbed foes.
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**At night... inside the white room,**
I faced the monster but couldn't win—it was more experienced, with ruthless combat skills. I showered; today was my first day of elementary school. I put on my uniform, grabbed my bag, and walked the 30-minute route.
At school, children clung to parents. I ignored it; I'm used to solitude. I sat in the "hero's seat" by the window, waiting.
A girl beside me cried softly. I shut my eyes, but her whimpers grated. **"Can you stop crying?"** I snapped.
She glared. **"No."** Her face was kitten-like.
Had I been my old self, I might've cared. But after hundreds of white-room battles, **I feel nothing.**
The bell rang. The teacher wrote **"WELCOME!"** in big letters. The girl suddenly shoved a pink notebook at me: **"Take it. Maybe it'll help you not be angry like me."**
Inside were drawings of c
ats and trees, with shaky words:
**"I'm scared too."**