I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Unknown Genius Fighter Bullied This Whole Time — Episode 025
Team Zoozhak Gym.
The four of them entered without speaking.
Even the sound of the heavy bag swinging had ceased.
A Yeon set the medical report down on the counter first.
Tap.
It was a small sound.
But it rang out unnaturally loud.
Do Yoon stared at the papers for a long time.
Then he looked up.
“I’m withdrawing.”
Seo Jun’s eyes snapped toward Do Yoon.
Tae Soo’s jaw tightened.
A Yeon closed her eyes.
Do Yoon’s voice was resolute.
“We’re ending the tournament here.”
“Coach—”
“Don’t interrupt.”
Do Yoon fixed Seo Jun with a hard stare.
“If you fight with that eye injury still unhealed, you could suffer permanent damage.”
His finger pressed against the report.
“The swelling hasn’t gone down. The laceration is deep. Get hit in the same spot and it tears open immediately. You bleed during the match, the referee stops it. Bad luck, and you’ve crippled your athletic career.”
……
“It’s madness.”
Seo Jun said nothing.
Do Yoon pressed harder.
“You’re willing to risk your eye for one fight? That’s insane.”
A Yeon spoke quietly, backing him up.
“Seo Jun. This time I agree with Do Yoon.”
Seo Jun looked at A Yeon.
Her face was taut, unyielding.
Not the gentle reassurance she usually offered.
“I know how badly you want this. But once your body breaks, it doesn’t come back. Especially your eyes.”
Tae Soo scratched his head.
Under ordinary circumstances, he would have cracked a joke by now.
Not today.
“Look, I want to tell you to fight too…… but this? This isn’t right.”
He bit his lip.
“You don’t just have the next match. You’ve got a whole career ahead.”
The gym fell silent.
Seo Jun heard them all the way through.
Do Yoon’s pragmatic judgment.
A Yeon’s concern.
Tae Soo’s plea.
None of them were wrong.
Not a single word out of place.
Which made it all the heavier.
Seo Jun slowly clenched his fists.
White dressing still clung to the corner of his left eye.
“I understand.”
Do Yoon’s eyes narrowed.
Seo Jun lifted his head.
“I understand I shouldn’t get hurt. I understand the risk to my eye.”
“Then that’s that.”
“But I still want to fight.”
Do Yoon’s face hardened.
A Yeon spoke at once.
“Seo Jun.”
Seo Jun didn’t back down.
“There’s too much to learn on the professional stage.”
His voice did not waver.
“Fighting O Geon Woo, I understood. It was different from my time at Rookies. The way I breathed when I got knocked down, when I took a hit—everything was different.”
Do Yoon listened without speaking.
“I want to learn more.”
Seo Jun’s hands clenched.
“I want to exchange blows with more professionals. I want to know directly how far I can go, where I’m lacking.”
Tae Soo’s mouth fell open slightly.
Seo Jun continued.
“I don’t want to give up.”
A heavy silence descended over the gym.
It didn’t sound like simple stubbornness.
Seo Jun’s eyes were different.
They weren’t the eyes of someone cowering in an alley, taking blows.
They weren’t the eyes of someone flinching away.
Eyes that swallowed fear and calculated.
Eyes that wanted to move forward on their own terms.
Seo Jun looked directly at Do Yoon.
“Before, I never had a choice.”
Do Yoon’s eyebrows shifted slightly.
“When I got hit, I got hit. When I was told to endure, I endured. I couldn’t even properly think about running away.”
Seo Jun’s voice lowered.
“Now I want to choose for myself.”
A Yeon’s hands stopped moving.
Tae Soo said nothing.
“A withdrawal might be the right call.”
Seo Jun exhaled sharply.
“But I still want to fight.”
Do Yoon stared at Seo Jun for a long moment.
Then he raked his fingers through his hair, exasperated.
“Jesus….”
He paced around the gym once.
His footsteps were heavy.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Then he stood before Seo Jun again.
His face had hardened into something fierce.
“Fine.”
A Yeon looked up.
“Do Yoon.”
“You’re cleared to compete.”
“Hey!”
A Yeon started to rise.
Do Yoon raised his hand to stop her.
“But there are conditions.”
Seo Jun answered immediately.
“I’m listening.”
Do Yoon pointed at the area around Seo Jun’s left eye.
“Under no circumstances do you take a hit to that eye.”
“Understood.”
“I don’t just mean getting hit. Not even a graze. If your guard gives and it catches the edge, that’s it. If that cut opens, it’s over.”
Seo Jun nodded.
Do Yoon’s voice dropped even lower.
“If the wound opens during the match and even a single drop of blood comes out—”
A Yeon clenched her teeth.
Tae Soo held his breath.
“I throw in the towel immediately.”
Do Yoon’s gaze fixed on Seo Jun.
“I’ll stop the match with my own hands.”
Seo Jun’s eyes locked onto Do Yoon’s.
Do Yoon didn’t back down.
“No matter what you say. No matter if the referee doesn’t stop it. No matter if the crowd boos. No matter if you’re winning.”
He pressed each word deliberately.
“One drop of blood ends it.”
A Yeon spoke quietly.
“Do Yoon…”
Do Yoon still held his hand up.
His gaze fixed only on Seo Jun.
“Will you accept it?”
Seo Jun closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
Beneath the dressing, the skin around his eye throbbed.
But his answer came without hesitation.
“I accept.”
Silence fell across the gym.
Don’t take a single blow.
This wasn’t strategy.
It was a command that bordered on impossible.
Tae Soo spoke first.
“Does that even make sense? Is it possible to not take a single hit in the Octagon?”
A Yeon glared at Do Yoon.
“Are you looking at this kid like he’s some kind of monster?”
Do Yoon didn’t answer.
His gaze stayed locked on Seo Jun.
Seo Jun was silent too.
One hit and it’s over.
If his eye splits open again—the towel.
Even if he’s winning—it stops.
The conditions were cruel.
Then.
Thud!
A heavy bag in the corner swung violently.
Ryu Jin Hyuk shook out his gloved hands and turned his head.
“It’s simple.”
Everyone looked at him.
Jin Hyuk spoke in an even tone.
“Just don’t get hit and win.”
Tae Soo let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey, does that even make sense? Who doesn’t know that?”
Jin Hyuk shrugged.
“So just do it.”
Tae Soo gritted his teeth.
“Jesus, this guy.”
But Seo Jun didn’t laugh.
That phrase lodged itself in his mind.
Don’t get hit and win.
It wasn’t just about dodging.
The distance to avoid contact.
The timing to strike before being struck.
The pressure that prevents the opponent from attacking.
‘I’ve found the way.’
Seo Jun’s gaze deepened and sharpened.
Not defense.
But cutting off the opponent’s attack entirely.
Do Yoon saw that look in his eyes.
“What are you thinking?”
Seo Jun answered shortly.
“I’ll try.”
Do Yoon’s mouth twisted into something like a smile.
“Right. I knew you’d say that.”

* * *
The announcement of the next opponent came that evening.

A brief bio accompanied each name.

The article continued.
Ma Do Hyun.
A fighter who competed at featherweight but carried a walking weight closer to welterweight.
The type who cut weight ruthlessly, then ballooned up within a day after weigh-in.
Inside the Octagon, he didn’t look like he belonged in the same weight class.
Southpaw stance.
Long reach.
Heavy Left Straight.
The moment his opponent extended a right hand, he’d control the outer foot and plant his left straight down the pipe.
Experts responded immediately.
[This is the worst possible matchup for Seo Jun.]
[He has an injury to his left eye, and his opponent is a southpaw. Ma Do Hyun’s primary weapon—the Left Straight—could go straight through the injured area.]
[On top of that, Ma Do Hyun is a huge rebound fighter. The weight disparity on match day will be at least one full weight class.]
[No matter how talented Seo Jun is, this time it’s far too dangerous.]
The online community agreed.
-Ma Do Hyun? This matchup is brutal.
-They’re really putting a kid with a torn eye against a southpaw hard puncher?
-They’re pushing him too hard because of Seo Jun’s star power.
-Ma Do Hyun’s walking weight is 77? He’s featherweight?
-After rebound he’ll probably be lightweight or heavier on match day.
-Seo Jun’s really in for it this time.
-One shot lands and his eye tears again. And the opponent’s left-handed.
-Genius or not, this is impossible.
The article headlines were equally brutal.

Team Zoozhak Gym.
A Yeon watched the laptop screen, her lip caught between her teeth.
Tae Soo swallowed a curse.
Do Yoon silently pulled up footage of the opponent.
Ma Do Hyun’s left hand extended across the screen.
Crack!
His opponent’s jaw snapped back.
Seo Jun watched the moment in silence.
The trajectory aligned perfectly with his injury.
To anyone else, it looked like a hopeless situation.
But Seo Jun’s eyes didn’t waver.
He watched Ma Do Hyun’s front foot.
His shoulder.
The slight bend in the elbow just before the Left Straight came out.
And quietly, he clenched his fist.
‘Not taking a single shot.’
His breathing deepened.
‘I cut him off first.’

* * *
Axis Korea Stadium.
The day of the KCR Featherweight Round of 32.
Seo Jun was outside the Octagon, working his mouthpiece.
Much of the swelling around his left eye had gone down.
But the wound was still vivid.
Thin new skin had barely formed over the stitches.
It stood out even more under the lights.
The camera zoomed in on that spot.
[This is the area around Seo Jun’s left eye.]
The commentators’ voices dropped.
[The swelling has gone down, but the cut site doesn’t appear to be completely stable yet.]
[That’s right. If it takes another impact in that area, it could open immediately. If blood starts flowing, we could see a doctor check, or in a severe case, the match could be stopped.]
[And today’s opponent is Ma Do Hyun, a Southpaw hard puncher. His primary weapon—the Left Straight—follows a trajectory that aligns precisely with Seo Jun’s injury site.]
The screen shifted to the opposite corner.
Ma Do Hyun was smiling.
His frame was thick enough to make the weight class seem questionable.
Broad shoulders.
Long arms.
He was noticeably larger than at the weigh-in.
His coach applied Vaseline while speaking quietly.
“Don’t overextend yourself. Just watch his eye.”
Ma Do Hyun chuckled.
“Understood.”
“You don’t even need to plant the left hand. Scratch with the jab, and once the cut opens, then you push through.”
Ma Do Hyun raised his gloves and waggled his left hand loosely.
“Just scratch that spot and he’ll fall apart on his own.”
The other cornermen laughed.
“Got a few more fans and suddenly thinks the pro game is easy.”
“Show him what reality looks like today.”
Ma Do Hyun stared toward the center of the octagon.
Seo Jun stood at the end of that gaze.
“No need to drag it out with a guy whose eye is already damaged.”
His tone was light.
But his eyes were cold.
He was looking only at Seo Jun’s wound.

* * *
Team Zoozhak corner.
Do Yoon gripped Seo Jun’s shoulder.
His hand was tense.
“One last thing.”
Seo Jun looked up.
Do Yoon’s face was even more grim than usual.
“If you bleed—”
“Yes.”
“I won’t wait even a second.”
Seo Jun listened without speaking.
“Even if you’re winning. Even if your opponent is wavering. Even if you say you’re fine—I won’t listen.”
Do Yoon’s voice dropped low.
“I’m throwing the towel.”
A Yeon stood behind them, both hands clasped together.
Tae Soo wasn’t joking either.
Seo Jun nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“Then look like you actually do.”
“I understand.”
Do Yoon searched Seo Jun’s eyes.
There was no hesitation there.
That’s what frustrated him.
This kid wasn’t fearless.
He was the type who factored fear into his calculations.
Do Yoon released his grip.
“Today isn’t about looking good.”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t a day for holding on.”
“I understand.”
“It’s a day when nothing fits.”
Seo Jun’s eyes dropped low.
“I understand.”
Do Yoon tilted his chin toward the Octagon.
“Go.”
Seo Jun clenched his Boxing Gloves, then opened them.
He felt the pressure of the Bandage tightening across his fingertips.
His body was light.
His breathing was steady.
Only the corner of his left eye throbbed quietly.
That pain was almost sharp—clarifying.
‘One clean hit and it’s over.’
The rule was simple.
If blood flows, stop the fight.
If the wound opens, it’s finished.
His opponent would target only that spot.
Southpaw.
A long left hand.
A frame built on the Rebound style.
Ranked tenth.
The disadvantages were many.
And yet one thing alone remained in Seo Jun’s mind.
‘Don’t get hit. Win.’
Simple.
So simple it became hard.
Running away won’t work.
Defense alone won’t be enough.
I have to cut him off before he strikes.
Take away his angles.
Erase the distance itself.
Steal his rhythm before it begins.
Seo Jun exhaled slowly.
“Breathe.”
Inside the Octagon.
The Referee called both fighters forward.
“Fighters, center.”
The crowd stirred.
The commentators’ voices rose.
[Seo Jun’s second professional Match—the challenge today is crystal clear. Can he protect that wound and get past a ranked fighter?]
[Ma Do Hyun will show absolutely no mercy. In the pros, they exploit your weaknesses. We have to see if Seo Jun can overcome this test!]
Seo Jun stepped out from his corner.
His feet touched the mat.
Step.
Step.
His silhouette moved into the light.
The stitched wound at the corner of his left eye gleamed faintly.
Ma Do Hyun emerged from the opposite corner.
A smirk at the edge of his mouth.
Seo Jun walked to center with no expression.
Still only one thing occupied his mind.
‘Don’t get hit.’
His feet stopped at the center of the Octagon.
‘Win.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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