I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 3

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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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Fighting Genius, Unknown — Bullied 003
A month had already slipped by since Seo Jun started coming to the Gym.
His daily routine was monotonous, yet brutally unforgiving.
“Huff, haah!”
The same basic conditioning drills, repeated without end.
At first, his body couldn’t even complete half a Burpee Test before nausea set in.
But a month’s worth of time was honest enough to be carved into flesh.
His ragged breathing found its rhythm at last.
The gaunt forearms and flat thighs began to harden with lean muscle, thin but solid.
Most of all, his eyes had changed the most.
‘If I want to avoid getting beaten to death, I have to endure.’
The survival instinct that refused to return to that hellish everyday life.
That was what drove Seo Jun forward.
Do Yoon watched in silence as Seo Jun turned the jump rope, then clapped his hands together.
Clap!
“Hey, Seo Jun. Stop.”
“…Yes.”
Seo Jun stopped jumping and looked at Do Yoon, breathing hard.
Do Yoon tossed him a Towel and spoke.
“Your stamina’s solid enough now. Time to learn how to hit people instead of the Punching Bag.”
Hitting people.
Those words made Seo Jun’s shoulders flinch.
“Listen carefully.”
Do Yoon’s expression grew serious.
“The School Delinquents you’ll be facing aren’t professionals. They just run in packs and fool themselves into thinking they’re tough. But you’re no professional either. If you get gang-rushed, you’ll take the hits—that’s a fact.”
It was brutally practical advice.
Even a professional MMA fighter is in danger facing multiple ordinary people on the street.
And Seo Jun, who’d only trained for a month, need not be mentioned.
“Then… what should I do?”
At Seo Jun’s question, Do Yoon stepped forward.
He brought his right fist up to just in front of Seo Jun’s chin and answered.
“Your job is to take down the leader in one shot. Since they’re looking down on you anyway, you get close and land a Right Straight.”
A chill ran through Seo Jun from the fist hovering inches from his jaw.
Seo Jun swallowed hard.
“You drop the ringleader at the front with a single blow. That’s the only way to seize the Initiative Suppression in a street fight.”
“A Right… Straight.”
“Exactly. Forget clumsy jabs or hooks. One shot—put all your body weight behind it and shatter his jaw.”
Do Yoon took his stance.
Feet shoulder-width apart, hands up in guard—the textbook stance.
“Watch closely. You don’t punch with just your arm. It starts from your feet.”
Whoosh!
Do Yoon’s back foot drove hard into the floor.
The recoil traveled up through his calf to his hip.
The centripetal force generated by his rotating pelvis passed through his shoulder and finally erupted from his fist.
Crack—!!
The heavy Punching Bag hanging in front of him snapped back as if its waist had bent.
The Gym echoed with the force of destruction.
“Feet, hips, shoulder, fist. Connect that weight transfer into one line. Like thrusting a spear.”
Do Yoon’s explanation was clean, without a trace of excess.
The textbook Right Straight of MMA.
Seo Jun burned the trajectory Do Yoon had shown him into his mind.

* * *
From that day on, Punching Bag strikes were added to Seo Jun’s training regimen.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Your hips aren’t rotating enough! Twist more from the legs!”
“Yes!”
With each command from Do Yoon, Seo Jun’s form was corrected bit by bit.
At first, his punches were powered by arm strength alone.
But after thousands upon thousands of repetitions, he gradually learned the trick of channeling his entire body’s weight into each strike.
Bang! Thwack!
“Tuck your chin when you throw! You want to eat a counter and go down?”
The punching bag’s sound shifted from a clean slap to a dull, explosive crack.
Once training at the Gym ended, Seo Jun returned to his cramped apartment and took his stance again.
‘I’ll drop the bastard in one shot.’
Standing before the mirror, Seo Jun’s gaze hardened to ice.
Over his own reflection, the face of Choi Gang Min — the leader of the School Delinquents who’d been tormenting him — materialized.
That smug grin, hand reaching out.
‘He’ll look down on me anyway.’
Coming closer without even raising his guard, playing it cool.
The instant before his hand lands.
Seo Jun’s rear foot scraped the floor.
Whoosh—!
His hips pivoted, his fist cutting through empty air.
He imagined the precise sensation of his knuckles finding the bastard’s jaw.
One opening.
One strike.
‘Again.’
Until the timing and power were flawless.
Seo Jun’s Shadow Boxing didn’t stop until dawn.
Sweat pooled on the floor, but he kept throwing, mechanical and relentless.
In the simulation running behind his eyes, the delinquent leader hit the ground hundreds of times over.

* * *
A few days later. The Gym.
Bang! Crack!
“Hff! Ha!”
Seo Jun’s form on the Punching Bag had sharpened noticeably.
Not raw power anymore, but strikes born from understanding trajectory and timing.
Ah Yeon, leaning against the counter and watching, turned to Do Yoon with a quiet comment.
“The stance is coming along pretty well. Our punching bag here learns faster than I expected.”
“When survival’s on the line. Desperate ones always absorb things quicker.”
Do Yoon answered flatly and took a long pull from his Canned Coffee.
Ah Yeon studied him for a moment, then asked.
“You’ve taught him the techniques, sure — but you’re not going to tell him the most important part, are you?”
A loaded question.
Yet Do Yoon laughed quietly, as if he’d already seen it coming.
“What — whether he’s ready to actually hit a person?”
Ah Yeon nodded.
Those who’ve never hit someone before instinctively brake at the moment their fist swings.
No matter how well you work the Punching Bag, throwing full power at a living, breathing face is something else entirely.
If you can’t cross that psychological threshold, your fist meets nothing but air when the real fight comes.
“Better to throw him into the situation than to warn him and let him imagine it in advance.”
Do Yoon’s voice was cold and decisive.
“If he’s going to hesitate because he’s scared beforehand, then let his survival instinct take over when the enemy’s right in front of him. He’ll punch because it’s the only way not to get hit.”
It wasn’t wrong.
But the road there would be cruel enough to scar Seo Jun.
“Speaking from experience?”
Ah Yeon’s barb went deep.
Do Yoon’s brow crumpled as he crushed his Canned Coffee.
“Damn it, stop talking nonsense and just watch the counter.”
Do Yoon snapped back irritably, spun on his heel, and stalked away.
Watching his retreating back, Ah Yeon let out a quiet sigh.
Then she turned her attention back to Seo Jun, who was still grappling with the Punching Bag.
‘I hope your fist never hesitates.’
The only sound filling the Gym was the sharp crack of impact.

* * *
School dismissal.
Seo Jun’s footsteps froze as he passed through the School Gate.
“Long time, huh? Our money man.”
A familiar voice.
Cold sweat traced down his spine.
At the mouth of the alley, Choi Gang Min and his crew blocked Seo Jun’s path, snickering.
They’d left him alone for a while after getting beaten by Do Yoon two months back.
But their eyes had grown far hungrier than before.
“Hey, Gang Min. Look at this bastard’s face—he’s been living it up.”
“Damn it, we’ve been bleeding money into baccarat while this punk’s been having the time of his life.”
Their snickering chatter filled the alley.
Seo Jun grasped the situation instantly.
Illegal gambling.
Once their funds dried up, they’d come looking for him again.
“Drag him in.”
At Gang Min’s nod, the crew seized Seo Jun by the collar.
Before he could even resist, Seo Jun was shoved into the deserted alley behind the school.

* * *
Shove.
“Move it. What’re you waiting for?”
Pushed forward, Seo Jun staggered deeper into the alley.
School delinquents lined both sides, snickering with open contempt.
Like spectators watching cattle trudge toward the slaughterhouse.
And at the end of that path.
Deep in the alley stood the ringleader, Choi Gang Min, weight shifted to one leg.
“Our money man. You’ve had it easy, haven’t you?”
Seo Jun walked with his head bowed low.
To Gang Min, he looked like a terrified loser through and through.
But Seo Jun’s gaze wasn’t fixed on the ground at all.
‘The way to measure distance is to watch their foot position.’
Do Yoon’s voice echoed in his ears.
Seo Jun’s eyes tracked Gang Min’s stance and foot placement with precision.
One step. Two steps.
‘Still too far.’
He couldn’t throw a punch carelessly.
In a street fight, opportunity comes only once.
It had to end with a single blow.
“Look at him—too scared to even lift his head.”
Gang Min sneered and snapped his right arm up.
He meant to tap Seo Jun’s shoulder and establish Initiative Suppression.
As Gang Min’s arm extended, his weight lurched forward.
‘Now.’
In Seo Jun’s vision, Gang Min’s left foot entered perfect range.
At the same instant, Seo Jun’s bowed head snapped up.
Eyes cool and settled—not a trace of fear, the gaze of a predator.
“Huh?”
Gang Min gasped in shock at the sudden change.
Bang!
Seo Jun’s rear foot drove hard into the alley floor.
The recoil flowed smoothly from his calf up through his hips.
A trajectory honed by tens of thousands of Shadow Boxing sessions.
His shoulders rotated with precision, generating perfect rotational force.
Whoosh!
His right fist shot out in a straight line.
Caught off guard with his chin raised, Gang Min took Seo Jun’s full-bodied Right Straight flush in the face.
Crack!!
A dull, sickening sound tore through the alley.
“Ooh.”
“Whoa, whoa—don’t go too hard on him.”
“Why’re you starting so rough? Is our money man okay?”
The crew flanking the alley chuckled and tossed out jokes.
It happened in a blur, so fast the eye could barely register it.
Naturally, they all assumed Choi Gang Min had struck Seo Jun.
But.
Thud!
The one crumpled to the ground like a dead tree was not Seo Jun.
Choi Gang Min, sprawled flat, his limbs gone limp.
Before that overwhelming reality, the alley fell silent as a tomb.
“……What?”
The delinquents’ mouths fell open, their laughter cut short.
Blank faces, their minds struggling to catch up.
Seo Jun turned his body slowly, facing them.
“Move.”
His voice was dry, pitched low.
Only then did some of them grasp what had happened; their bodies flinched instinctively, and they scrambled backward.
But two of the larger ones in the group flushed crimson and stepped forward.
“You—you crazy bastard!”
“You hit Gang Min? We’ll kill you!”
They were about to hurl themselves at him when a voice cut through.
One of them who’d moved closer to check on Choi Gang Min let out a ghastly shriek, his face drained of all color.
“Hey! Gang Min’s foaming at the mouth!”
“What—what?!”
The two charging at him stopped dead in their tracks.
Choi Gang Min didn’t so much as twitch.
His eyes had rolled back, white foam pouring endlessly from the corners of his mouth.
One punch. A single blow had done all that.
If that fist connected with them, they’d end up the same way.
Fear swept through the alley like plague.
Seo Jun spoke once more to the frozen delinquents, his tone clipped.
“Move.”
A flinch.
They parted left and right as if the sea itself were splitting.
None of them could meet his gaze.
The cage that had once held a beast now became a passage opening before the predator.
Seo Jun walked through them without pause, his steps unhurried.
No one tried to stop him.

* * *
Seo Jun emerged completely from the alley.
As he stepped onto the wider street where few people walked, the tension strung taut in his body suddenly snapped.
“Phew……”
A long, suppressed breath escaped his lips.
He’d hit someone.
More than that—he’d knocked down the demon who’d tormented him most cruelly, and done it with his own hands.
Tremor-tremor-tremor.
His right fist, the one that had struck, shook uncontrollably.
Whether it was fear, the lingering rush of adrenaline, or the exhilaration of his first victory, he couldn’t say.
Seo Jun wrapped his trembling fist tightly in his left hand.
‘I can do this.’
His steps began to carry him forward with quiet strength.
His gaze, steady and unwavering, fixed on the path ahead.

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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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