I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 31

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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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The Fighting Prodigy Who Didn’t Know It — Episode 031
Time until the match was running short.
There was no room to polish new techniques.
Do Yoon’s choice was simple.
Live sparring.
More sparring.
Nothing but sparring.
Inside the Cage, Jin Hyuk continued to move like Hwang Dae Geon.
Guard lowered.
Take the hit and keep coming.
Shoulders and elbows mixed in, driving forward relentlessly.
Seo Jun was struggling.
He dodged, but Jin Hyuk followed.
He blocked, but Jin Hyuk crashed through.
He struck, but Jin Hyuk absorbed it and kept advancing.
Thwack!
Jin Hyuk’s hook drove into Seo Jun’s ribs.
“Ugh.”
Seo Jun’s body folded.
Do Yoon called out from outside the Cage.
“Steal his Footwork.”
Seo Jun caught his breath and looked up.
“His Footwork?”
“That’s right.”
Do Yoon pointed at Jin Hyuk’s feet.
“No matter how hard he apes a brawler, his feet don’t lie. He’s got a habit burned into his bones—he always angles out to the square.”
Jin Hyuk’s eyes narrowed.
“Why are you exposing my weakness, sir?”
“If you think that’s a weakness, you’ve got a long way to go.”
Jin Hyuk said nothing.
Do Yoon turned back to Seo Jun.
“Don’t just watch his hands. Watch his feet. See where he disappears to—steal that.”
Seo Jun’s gaze dropped to Jin Hyuk’s feet.

* * *
One day passed.
Thwack!
Seo Jun took another hit.
But this time, he watched the tips of Jin Hyuk’s toes.
Right foot opens first.
Body slips out to the left square.
Then the punch comes.

* * *
By the second day.
Seo Jun turned half a beat faster.
Jin Hyuk’s hook whistled past his face.
Seo Jun’s left hand grazed Jin Hyuk’s shoulder.
He didn’t land it clean.
But he made contact.
Something flickered in Jin Hyuk’s eyes.

* * *
By the fourth day.
Seo Jun’s stance dropped lower.
The instant Jin Hyuk drove in with his shoulder, Seo Jun slipped sideways and vanished.
Half a step.
That small distance.
Jin Hyuk’s fist cut through empty air.
Seo Jun’s right hand snapped upward.
Jin Hyuk instinctively tucked his chin and raised his guard.
Clean Boxing Guard.
Not an imitation of a brawler.
The real Ryu Jin Hyuk.
Do Yoon’s lips curved slowly upward.
‘Got him.’
Seo Jun doesn’t know.
He just touched Jin Hyuk’s instinct.
Only Jin Hyuk knew.
He’d almost gotten hit just now.
Really.

* * *
Four days in.
Seo Jun was faster.
It wasn’t following Jin Hyuk’s footwork anymore.
He cut off the escape route first.
The instant Jin Hyuk tried to slip to the corner, Seo Jun’s front foot was already blocking that path.
Jin Hyuk’s brow twitched.
‘Already?’
Do Yoon said nothing either.
He just stood watching, arms crossed.
Seo Jun’s growth had always been rapid.
But this was different.
He steals.
Watches.
Gets hit.
Watches again.
Then makes it his own movement.
Monstrously sharp absorption.
Jin Hyuk didn’t smile.
This time he moved his feet with real intent.
Tap.
Tap.
The Mat sound grew crisper.
Seo Jun’s eyes locked onto him.

* * *
The final day of training.
The air inside the Cage felt heavy.
Bruising marked Seo Jun’s face.
But his eyes were sharp.
Jin Hyuk stood across from him.
His guard was low.
Still mimicking Hwang Dae Geon.
Yet his footwork was closer to the real Ryu Jin Hyuk.
Do Yoon dropped his hand.
“Go.”
Jin Hyuk came in first.
Like a beast.
He swept his right hand wide, forcing the distance.
Seo Jun didn’t retreat.
He pulled his left foot outward.
Half a step.
His upper body vanished.
Jin Hyuk’s fist sliced through empty air.
Seo Jun folded to the right.
Outside Jin Hyuk’s vision.
A perfect blind spot.
From there, Seo Jun’s fist rose up.
Counter.
Aimed at Jin Hyuk’s jaw.
In that fraction of a second.
Cold sweat bloomed down Jin Hyuk’s spine.
‘Danger.’
His body reacted first.
The brawler facade shattered.
He wasn’t elite.
Pure instinct.
Jin Hyuk’s left hand shot out like a beast’s claw.
Smack!
It caught Seo Jun’s face.
Seo Jun’s body whipped backward.
Thud.
He crashed onto the mat.
The gym fell silent.
Tae Soo’s mouth fell open.
“Wow….”
Ah Yeon held her breath.
Jin Hyuk looked down at Seo Jun.
He was still standing above him.
Still an insurmountable mountain.
But the tips of his fingers trembled ever so slightly.
‘I almost got hit for real.’
That thought lodged in his mind.
Seo Jun lay on the mat, breathing hard.
He’d been hit again.
He’d gone down.
But the punch hadn’t landed—not quite.
Jin Hyuk knew it.
Do Yoon knew it.
Only Seo Jun didn’t know yet.
Do Yoon opened the Cage door and stepped inside.
“That’s it.”
Seo Jun slowly pushed himself up.
A trace of blood stained his lip.
“I can go longer.”
“I know.”
Do Yoon tossed him a towel.
“Which is why we’re stopping.”
Seo Jun looked up.
Do Yoon held his gaze steady.
“You’ve finished all the preparation you can do.”
Every eye in the gym fixed on Seo Jun.
Do Yoon’s voice dropped low.
“Now get in the Octagon and prove it.”
He spoke with absolute certainty.
“Prove how you’ve changed.”
Seo Jun rose to his feet, towel in hand.
His legs still trembled.
But his eyes were steady.
“Yes.”
The answer was brief.
And it was solid.

* * *
Weigh-in day.
The Axis Korea Stadium event hall was packed shoulder to shoulder.
Journalists.
Fans.
YouTube channel.
MMA community moderators flooded in.
This match was no longer a simple quarterfinal.
The media had ignited a firestorm.

Public opinion split down the middle.
“Seo Jun has to win. A guy like that deserves to get destroyed in the cage.”
“But didn’t Hwang Dae Geon already pay for what he did? How long are we going to hold it over his head?”
“Victims remember for a lifetime while perpetrators go on TV and laugh about it.”
“Fighting is about skill. Dredging up the past like this is petty.”
In the waiting area beneath the stands, voices clashed.
One side chanted Seo Jun’s name.
The other roared for Hwang Dae Geon.
The arena air crackled with heat.

* * *
Weigh-in concluded without incident.
Seo Jun.
65.6 kg.
Hwang Dae Geon.
65.8 kg.
Both cleared.
The announcer raised his voice.
“Now we’ll proceed with the face-off!”
Seo Jun walked toward center stage.
White training clothes.
An expressionless face.
Hwang Dae Geon approached from across the way, grinning.
Irezumi tattoos coiled across his bare torso.
Ink crawled up his neck and stretched beneath his jaw.
Camera flashes erupted.
Click-click-click!
The two stood face to face.
One arm’s distance apart.
But Hwang Dae Geon didn’t stop there.
Another step forward.
And another.
A security guard moved to intervene.
“Fighter, please maintain distance.”
Hwang Dae Geon raised his hands defensively.
“I’m not touching him.”
Even as he spoke, he shoved his face inches from Seo Jun’s.
Do Yoon’s eyes turned lethal.
Staff members crowded close.
Hwang Dae Geon smiled at the camera.
Then he spoke in a voice so low only Seo Jun could hear it.
Only for him.
“Remember?”
Seo Jun’s eyes didn’t flinch.
Hwang Dae Geon’s smile widened.
“The bathroom floor.”
He exhaled slowly, then continued.
“You on your knees, gasping for air.”
Seo Jun’s fingers tightened ever so slightly.
Hwang Dae Geon caught it.
“Your eyes stayed open that whole time, just like now.”
He laughed, lower still.
“That’s why I wanted to hit you even more.”
Seo Jun’s jaw tightened, almost imperceptibly.
Hwang Dae Geon hadn’t cursed.
He hadn’t raised his voice.
In front of the cameras, he was smiling.
But his words had cut precisely where it hurt.
“Did you tell your mother?”
At those words, Seo Jun’s eyes seemed to falter.
Hwang Dae Geon saw it and smiled with a metallic edge.
“Even that part about shaking people down for lunch money back then?”
“Step back!”
Security moved in urgently.
They pushed Hwang Dae Geon’s shoulder.
He yielded without resistance, stepping back.
He even raised both hands to show compliance.
“I didn’t do anything.”
That’s how it looked on camera.
Just psychological warfare.
Just provocation.
But Seo Jun’s eyes had grown colder, more composed.
Do Yoon saw those eyes.
‘That cunning bastard.’
He wasn’t the type to curse stupidly and throw tantrums.
He was the type who knew exactly where to press to make a person crack.

* * *
Official interview.
Hwang Dae Geon took the microphone first.
A hearty smile played across his face.
“My past?”
He gave a casual shrug.
“Everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. I’ve paid my debt in my own way, and now I stand here as an athlete.”
Journalists scribbled notes.
Hwang Dae Geon looked directly at the camera.
“I’m sure plenty of people are unhappy about it. I understand that.”
His lips curved upward.
“But if you’ve got a problem, come stand in front of me and settle it with your fists.”
The crowd stirred.
Hwang Dae Geon laughed.
“I won’t run. I’ll be waiting for you in the Cage.”
Cheers and boos erupted simultaneously.
Roooaaaaarrrr—!
Booooooo—!
The moderator hastily turned the microphone.
“Seo Jun, would you like to say something?”
Seo Jun took the microphone.
The crowd fell silent.
He didn’t speak at length.
The camera.
The journalists.
Hwang Dae Geon.
Under the weight of all those gazes.
Seo Jun spoke coldly, without inflection.
“I’ll focus on winning.”
A brief answer.
But weightier for its brevity.
Hwang Dae Geon was smiling.
Seo Jun was not.
One man toyed with the past as if it were a game.
The other kept his past locked inside his fist.
That night.
The tournament promotional video’s title had changed.

* * *
The night before the match.
Team Jwak Gym was empty.
Only half the lights were on.
Long shadows stretched across the mat.
A single heavy bag swayed slowly.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Seo Jun stood alone.
He wasn’t wearing gloves.
He struck the heavy bag lightly with hand-wrapped fists.
No power behind it.
Strikes to steady his breathing.
A rhythm to clear his mind.
Tap.
Tap.
The heavy bag drifted back and forth.
Seo Jun’s eyes were quiet.
Tomorrow.
Hwang Dae Geon.
The Cage.
The past.
Those words passed through his mind.
But he didn’t hold onto them.
His fist went out.
The heavy bag drifted.
His breath came in.
And went out again.
Nothing but that, over and over.
The gym door opened.
Creak.
Seo Jun didn’t turn around.
He knew from the footsteps alone.
It was Do Yoon.
“Still here?”
“Just loosening up a bit.”
“Since when does someone warming up have conversations with a heavy bag?”
Seo Jun exhaled sharply.
Do Yoon took his place beside him.
For a while, neither spoke.
Tap.
Tap.
Only the sound of the heavy bag continued.
Do Yoon broke the silence first.
“That bastard Hwang Dae Geon.”
Seo Jun’s fist paused briefly.
“He’s far more cunning than he looks.”
Do Yoon leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
“I thought he was just a madman, but he’s not. He’s a dog that knows exactly how to bite—knows where to sink his teeth so the bleeding won’t stop.”
Seo Jun struck the heavy bag again.
Tap.
“At weigh-in, in the interview, everywhere. He didn’t curse. He didn’t make a scene. He clawed at you within the limits of the law. Perfectly calculated.”
Do Yoon’s eyes narrowed.
“And it worked.”
Seo Jun watched Do Yoon.
“Did it work?”
“I stirred up the hype. Turned this fight into the tournament’s biggest money-maker.”
Do Yoon lit up his phone screen.
Real-time search trends.
Highlight clips.
Community posts.
The provocation footage.
Seo Jun and Hwang Dae Geon’s faces kept appearing.
“The other quarterfinals got buried. Right now, people only see this match.”
Do Yoon switched off his phone.
“If you win, you become a star. If you lose?”
Seo Jun met his gaze.
“Hwang Dae Geon will feed off your story.”
Seo Jun’s eyes narrowed.
“He’ll turn your past into his product. ‘The bullying victim who lost again in the end.’ That’s what he’ll sell.”
Thud.
Seo Jun’s fist touched the heavy bag.
This time it sank deeper.
The bag swung backward.
“Tomorrow’s fight.”
Seo Jun spoke.
His voice was flat.
But it was solid.
“I’ll win.”
Do Yoon watched him.
“Words are easy.”
“I’m not saying it lightly.”
Seo Jun pulled his hands from the heavy bag.
He turned to face Do Yoon.
“Whatever he does, I’ll fight with what I’ve learned.”
“If he unsettles you?”
“I won’t be unsettled.”
“If he dredges up the past?”
“I’ll listen.”
Do Yoon’s eyebrows shifted.
Seo Jun continued.
“I’ll listen, I’ll watch, and I’ll move.”
Short words.
Do Yoon understood what lay beneath them.
That he wouldn’t run.
That he wouldn’t bury it.
That he’d transform all of it into motion inside the Cage.
Do Yoon slowly turned his head.
The Octagon came into view.
Dark mesh walls.
Tomorrow, lights will flood that space.
The crowd will roar.
Hwang Dae Geon will smile.
Seo Jun will stand before him.
Do Yoon spoke slowly.
“If we execute what we’ve drilled, we’ll have him.”
Seo Jun listened quietly.
“A man who stands his ground head-on, you break from the side. A man who charges through, you cut him off from outside his sight. You stole Jin Hyuk’s footwork, and you’ve made it yours.”
Do Yoon turned back to Seo Jun.
“The math checks out.”
But his expression was not bright.
“But.”
The gym’s air sank low.
“If tomorrow that bastard turns out to be a monster beyond what we’ve calculated.”
Seo Jun’s eyes met Do Yoon’s.
Do Yoon stepped closer.
“Strategy alone won’t cut it then.”
……
“If your opponent breaks the plan, you have to break it too.”
Seo Jun’s fists slowly unclenched.
Do Yoon’s voice dropped lower.
“Surpass even my expectations.”
Do Yoon fixed his gaze on Seo Jun’s eyes.
“Exceed even your own limits.”
Seo Jun said nothing.
The words lodged themselves deep in his chest.
Limits.
They’d always been there.
The limit of endurance when fists came down.
The limit that kept him from running.
The limit that made him bow his head because there was no money.
The limit of weakness that left him powerless.
All of it climbs into the Cage tomorrow.
Wearing Hwang Dae Geon’s face.
Seo Jun turned slowly back toward the heavy bag.
He drew in a breath.
His hand rose.
A fierce determination gleamed in his eyes.
This time he didn’t strike lightly.
His foot pressed into the mat.
His hips rotated.
His shoulder followed through.
His fist drove in short and deep.
Crack!
The impact shattered through the empty Gym.
The heavy bag lurched violently backward.
The chains groaned harshly.
Screech-screech-screech.
Do Yoon listened to it in silence.
Seo Jun reset his stance.
And struck again.
Crack!
The sound of knuckles echoed through the empty Gym.
Tomorrow.
In the Cage.
That sound will reach Hwang Dae Geon.

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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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