I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 37

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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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A Genius at Combat, Unknown to Others as a Bullying Victim — Episode 37
A month had passed.
Seo Jun’s training had simplified.
When knocked down, get up.
When caught, escape.
When cornered against the cage, work back out.
Do Yoon’s assessment was ruthless.
“Beating Lee Woo-sung with Grappling alone in this timeframe? Impossible.”
Seo Jun knelt on the mat.
Do Yoon pressed down on his back.
“He’s an all-rounder. Wrestling, Clinch, Position Control—he’s above average at everything.”
Thud!
Seo Jun twisted to the side, pulling his hips free.
Do Yoon’s weight followed.
“So it’s not about winning.”
Seo Jun planted his foot against the cage.
“It’s about surviving.”
His hand pushed off the cage.
His knee rose.
His hips came free.
His upper body straightened.
Do Yoon locked his arms around Seo Jun’s waist at once.
“Down again!”
Bang!
Seo Jun’s back slammed onto the mat.
“Up!”
Seo Jun gritted his teeth and moved again.
All day, the cycle repeated.
Down.
Up.
Down again.
Up again.
Tae Soo shook his head from the sidelines.
“Damn, that’s going to kill someone.”
A Yeon made notes on her tablet.
“Your getup speed drops from the fourth round on. We need to track your conditioning separately.”
Do Yoon nodded.
“Right. That’s what Lee Woo-sung will be targeting.”
Next came Clinch work.
Seo Jun was driven to the cage.
Do Yoon drove his shoulder into Seo Jun’s jaw.
Short punches came in at the ribs.
Thud!
“Dirty Boxing defense!”
Seo Jun pressed his elbows tight.
He drove his inner hand in.
An Underhook.
He shifted his head position.
He stepped out with one foot and rotated his body.
He broke free from the cage.
“Again!”
Bang!
Pinned once more.
Do Yoon gave no quarter.
Cleaner than Hwang Dae Geon.
But far more precise.
Training to counter Lee Woo-sung accumulated this way.
There was no flashy technique.
How to stay alive even when thrown down.
How to keep breathing even when caught.
How to escape even when trapped in the Cage.
Seo Jun had carved only that into his body.

* * *
One month before the fight.
Seo Jun arrived at Axis Korea Broadcasting Studio.
KCR Finals promotional shoot.
The inside of the building was nothing like the Training Gym.
There was no smell of mats.
There was no smell of sweat.
Instead, there were bright lights, cameras, and the quick footsteps of staff members.
“Seo Jun has arrived!”
At someone’s shout, people turned their heads.
Seo Jun stopped mid-stride.
He still wasn’t used to hearing his name called so loudly.
A Yeon spoke from right beside him.
“Don’t stiffen up. Just walk.”
“Yes.”
“You can take off the eye bandage today. Makeup will just touch up the scar a little.”
“Makeup?”
Seo Jun asked in genuine confusion.
A Yeon looked at him and stifled a laugh.
“It’s a promotional shoot. You have to stand in front of the camera.”
“Ah… yes.”
Do Yoon snickered from behind.
“The guy who breaks people’s jaws in the Cage is nervous about makeup?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Then why are you walking like a robot?”
Seo Jun had no answer.
When he sat in the makeup chair, it only got worse.
A staff member brought a brush close to his face.
Seo Jun instinctively kept his eyes open and stared straight ahead.
The staff member hesitated.
“You can close your eyes, if you’d like.”
“Oh.”
Only then did Seo Jun close his eyes.
A Yeon checked the schedule beside him.
“Individual profile shoot first. Then the Finals teaser. After that, the interview. The two-shot with Lee Woo-sung comes last.”
“What about the question list?”
“I checked everything. I cut out the questions that dig too deep into your past, and I’ve put restrictions on anything provocative about Hwang Dae Geon.”
Do Yoon spoke quietly.
“So you’re not just the manager—you’re an agent too.”
A Yeon didn’t even lift her head.
“Both.”
After the makeup was done, Seo Jun changed into black shooting clothes.
In the center of the studio.
Massive lights flicked on.
The camera pointed at him.
“Please stand on the tape mark, Seo Jun.”
Seo Jun stepped onto the tape on the floor.
His shoulders stiffened slightly.
His fists curled naturally, but he didn’t know where to look.
“Look straight ahead, please.”
The camera lens was right in front of his eyes.
Not an opponent.
Not fists.
Just a black hole with no movement.
Seo Jun stiffened awkwardly for a moment.
Do Yoon spoke from behind.
“Hey, Seo Jun.”
Seo Jun shifted his gaze.
“Think of that lens as Lee Woo-sung.”
Something flickered behind Seo Jun’s eyes.
The staff held their breath.
Beneath the studio lights.
The boy’s face, stiff and unfocused just moments before, transformed in an instant.
The camera director spoke softly.
“Perfect. We’ll keep going like this.”
Click.
Click.
The flash erupted.
Seo Jun didn’t move.
He simply watched the lens.
As if standing in the center of the Cage.
Facing the opponent he would soon meet.

* * *
The studio door opened.
The air shifted.
A man in black training gear stepped inside.
Lee Woo-sung.
His face was harder than it had appeared in photographs.
His jaw was rigid, the hollows beneath his eyes cut deep.
For a Featherweight, his frame carried unexpected weight.
With each step he took, the staff’s chatter dropped lower.
Seo Jun bowed slightly at the sight of him.
“Hello.”
Lee Woo-sung didn’t acknowledge him.
He passed by without a glance.
As if there was no need to meet just yet.
He moved to a chair on the far side of the studio and sat.
Seo Jun lifted his head.
What struck him first wasn’t the sting of being ignored—it was pressure.
‘It’s heavy.’
Different from Oh Geon Woo.
Different from Ma Do Hyun.
Not the same wild aggression as Hwang Dae Geon.
Just a weight pressing down.
Silent. Breathless.
Then a familiar face appeared behind Lee Woo-sung.
Black suit.
Hair perfectly arranged.
Eyes cold as winter.
Seo Ha Yoon.
Black Leaf.
Seo Jun’s eyes tightened almost imperceptibly.
Ha Yoon walked straight toward him.
A thin smile played at the corners of her mouth.
“It’s been a while, Seo Jun.”
Seo Jun bowed briefly.
“Yes. It has been.”
Ha Yoon glanced lightly toward Lee Woo-sung.
“Lee Woo-sung is part of our Black Leaf organization, so I’ve come as his manager.”
“I see.”
Seo Jun’s response was clipped.
But a single thought cut through his mind.
‘Good thing I didn’t go.’
Black Leaf’s facilities.
The money.
The overseas camps.
Back then, he wavered.
But standing here now, looking into Ha Yoon’s eyes, he was certain.
If he’d gone there.
He might not have become a fighter—just merchandise.
Ha Yoon smiled faintly, as if she’d read something in Seo Jun’s gaze.
“You seem to be doing well at Team Juwak.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll see if it was the right choice when we meet in the Finals.”
The moment those words fell away.
A Yeon walked up beside Seo Jun.
“Director Seo.”
Ha Yoon turned her head.
“Director Kang.”
The two women smiled.
But there was no warmth in it.
Their handshake was brief.
Fingertips touched and immediately withdrew.
A Yeon held a schedule in her hand.
Ha Yoon carried a fighter management file.
Both spoke softly.
But their eyes were anything but gentle.
“I’ve reviewed today’s interview questions.”
A Yeon said.
“So have we.”
Ha Yoon replied.
“I hope there won’t be any editing that disadvantages our fighter.”
“That’s our hope as well.”
A brief exchange.
But sparks flew between the lines.
Seo Jun, standing between them, quietly stepped back.
Do Yoon murmured softly beside him.
“It’s a cage here too.”
The filming continued.
Individual shots.
Face-to-face segments.
Profile reels.
Lee Woo-sung said almost nothing.
Not a single expression changed before the camera.
Seo Jun was the same.
When the two stood side by side, the studio fell silent.
Their height difference wasn’t great.
But the atmosphere was entirely different.
Seo Jun was sharp.
Lee Woo-sung was heavy.
After filming wrapped.
Seo Jun conducted a brief interview at one corner of the studio.
Reporters clustered in close.
“Seo Jun, how does it feel to have made it to the Finals?”
“I still have much to improve. I’m grateful to have time to prepare.”
“Your opponent Lee Woo-sung is essentially considered just below the Champion. Do you feel the pressure?”
Seo Jun glanced over at Lee Woo-sung.
Lee Woo-sung stood holding a water bottle.
He pretended not to listen, but his ears were open.
Seo Jun turned back to the reporter.
“I feel it.”
The reporters’ pens moved.
Seo Jun continued matter-of-factly.
“But that’s exactly why I want to fight him more.”
The surroundings went quiet.
“Because I can only know how far I can go if I beat a strong opponent.”
His words were measured.
His voice stayed low.
But there was no hesitation in them.
“Your goal in the Finals?”
“To win.”
Brief.
Pure Seo Jun.
No embellishment.
No swagger.
Yet it was solid.
Beside him, Lee Woo-sung’s hand tightened around his Water Bottle—just slightly.
The thin plastic crumpled.
Crackle.
Seo Jun heard it.
He didn’t turn his head.
Lee Woo-sung didn’t move either.
But the air between them had already shifted.

* * *
A reporter raised her hand.
“Seo Jun.”
Seo Jun turned to face her.
“Yes.”
Her eyes gleamed.
The question was already loaded.
“If you win this Finals, you’ll challenge for the Championship Belt in less than a year as a Rookie.”
Surrounding reporters simultaneously raised their recorders.
“Are you confident against the Champion?”
One corner of the studio fell silent.
A Yeon’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Do Yoon watched Seo Jun with his arms crossed.
It was a leap ahead.
Lee Woo-sung hadn’t even been cleared yet.
Beyond him stood the current Korean Champion, Lee Sung Jun.
Seo Jun paused.
“For now,”
he said carefully,
“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
A few reporters nodded.
A safe answer.
A Rookie’s answer.
But Seo Jun didn’t stop.
“Still.”
Camera lenses moved closer.
Seo Jun’s gaze lowered.
“I would like to hold the Championship Belt once.”
The reporters’ eyes snapped wide.
Click.
Click-click-click.
Shutters fired.
“Did you just say you want to hold the Championship Belt—is that a message for the Champion?”
“Are you acknowledging Lee Sung Jun?”
“Does that mean you see the Champion before Lee Woo-sung?”
Questions were about to flood in.
A thick, heavy voice rang out from the back.
“You won’t get the chance.”
The studio went cold.
Seo Jun turned his head.
The reporters spun around at the same time.
Lee Woo-sung stood there.
A black training suit.
An expressionless face.
But his eyes burned with a cold fire.
He walked toward them slowly.
The journalists instinctively parted.
Left.
Right.
Like the Red Sea splitting open.
The people standing between Seo Jun and Lee Woo-sung were pushed to either side.
Space opened up.
The two faced each other directly.
The flash of cameras intensified.
Click, click, click!
Lee Woo-sung did not look down at Seo Jun.
He did not sneer.
He simply looked straight ahead.
That gaze was heavier still.
“You’ll never come near this belt.”
His voice was low.
Yet the entire studio heard it.
“You won’t get past me.”
The surrounding journalists held their breath.
A Yeon tried to step closer to Seo Jun.
Do Yoon stopped her with a hand.
“Let it be.”
Seo Jun did not flinch.
Lee Woo-sung’s pressure was immense.
Not crude like Hwang Dae Geon’s.
Not loud like Ma Do Hyun’s.
Not seasoned and smiling like Oh Geon Woo’s.
Simply heavy.
As if the Cage itself had come walking.
Seo Jun drew up his chin before him.
His gaze did not waver.
“So do I.”
He spoke quietly.
“Having come this far to the Finals,
the two locked eyes, and it seemed sparks flew between them in the empty air.
I have no intention of simply walking away.”
Lee Woo-sung’s eyes grew deeper.
“Good.”
With that single word, the air grew more taut.
The two said nothing more.
Words were not needed.
The cameras captured that silence.
Seo Jun’s sharp eyes.
Lee Woo-sung’s hungry eyes.
The Finals suspended between them.
Click!
Click, click!
Flashes poured down like a downpour.
The staff stood motionless.
The journalists held their breath, recorders in hand.
A Yeon and Seo Ha Yoon did not look at each other.
Each was watching their own fighter.
Do Yoon laughed softly.
“Now it’s a real fight.”

* * *
A few hours later.
That photograph decorated the front page of every sports section.

The community erupted.
-Lee Woo-sung’s presence is insane.
-Look at Seo Jun not backing down.
-This is what a real Finals looks like.
-The Hwang Dae Geon fight was a narrative, this one is pure skill.
-Whoever wins this fight faces the Champion. Crazy.
The video clip spread in seconds.
Reporters gathered.
The two of them stood face to face.
Lee Woo-sung spoke.
‘You won’t get the chance to lift that belt.’
Seo Jun answered.
‘I have no intention of just walking away.’
That brief exchange set the Finals ablaze.
The fans’ anticipation boiled like an active volcano.
The KCR Featherweight Finals.
Seo Jun versus Lee Woo-sung.
The final door to reach the Champion.
Was opening before their eyes.

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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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