I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 38

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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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Unaware He’s a Combat Genius, He Faces Bullying — Episode 38
After the Finals matchup was announced.
The KCR Featherweight division became an entirely different arena.
It was no longer a tournament watched only by fighting enthusiasts.
Mainstream news outlets.
Sports channels.
YouTube Shorts.
Community trending posts.
Baek Seojun’s name circulated everywhere.
Axis Korea didn’t miss the opportunity.
An official poster went up.

The video was even more sensational.
The moment he dropped Kang Cheoljin in nine seconds.
The moment he put Jo Minsung to sleep with a knee strike.
The moment he knocked out Oh Geonwoo with an Uppercut.
The moment he laid Ma Dohyun flat without a scratch landing on him.
The moment he shattered Hwang Daegun with a walkoff Knockout.
Every scene flowed together in rapid succession.
At the end, Seojun’s blood-streaked face appeared on screen.
Then the caption.

The fans erupted.
-God of Instant Kill? That’s a perfect epithet.
-Seriously, I’ve never seen one of his matches go long.
-I started watching KCR just to see Baek Seojun fight.
-Lee Woosung’s a real wall, but Seojun feels like he could actually do something.
-The fact that the guy who was bullied made it this far is insane.
The entire Featherweight division’s viewership skyrocketed.
Lee Woosung’s past match footage trended in reverse.
Even Champion Lee Seongjun’s final title defense article resurfaced.
All eyes pointed toward the Finals.
Baek Seojun versus Lee Woosung.
God of Instant Kill versus the virtually undefeated challenger.
That phrase alone was enough.

* * *
And that fervor crashed into the High School.
Lunch period.
The moment Seojun opened the Classroom door, the noise erupted.
“He’s here!”
“Baek Seojun’s here!”
“Hey, you’re really going to the Finals?”
“Did you see the poster? God of Instant Kill!”
Seojun stopped short.
Students were already swarmed around his desk.
Front row.
Beside his seat.
Even down the hallway.
All waiting for him.
It was a place no one had ever approached before.
The place where textbooks were torn.
The place where backpacks disappeared.
The place where he sat with his head bowed.
Now students swarmed it like a cloud.
“Just sign something for me.”
“My little brother’s a fan. For real.”
“So if you win this finals, you’re headed to the championship match, right?”
“I heard Lee Woosung is scary. You sure you’re okay?”
Questions tumbled out one after another.
Baek Seojun didn’t even manage to sit down.
He blinked for a moment, then spoke quietly.
“I’ll do it until class starts.”
“Wow, he’s really going to!”
“Hey, bring paper!”
“Pen! We need a pen!”
The students moved about with bright laughter.
Baek Seojun wrote down each name one by one.
His fingers felt stiff.
His handwriting wasn’t particularly elegant.
But the kids screamed when they saw it.
“Wow, I actually got one.”
“Can’t sell this.”
“Are you crazy? This is keeper material.”
Baek Seojun simply nodded without expression.
“Thank you.”
At those words, several girls flushed red.
“Wow, his tone is really just like that.”
“That’s how he is on broadcasts too.”
“Isn’t it so different from when he’s fighting?”
The hallway outside the window was packed as well.
Students from other classes had crowded in.
Even at the front gate, students from other schools had gathered.
They were waiting to get autographs after school.
In the staff room, teachers gazed out the window with troubled expressions.
“Shouldn’t we control this somehow?”
“He’s practically a celebrity now.”
“At least he’s not causing a scene.”
Baek Seojun moved his pen quietly inside the classroom.
As he wrote names on paper, a smell suddenly came back to him.
The wet bathroom floor.
Cold tiles.
A closed door.
Laughter.
That was at the same school.
During the same break period.
But no one had looked at him then.
Even as he was being beaten.
Even as he was being dragged away.
They turned their heads.
Now it was different.
Everyone looked at him.
They didn’t turn away.
They waited.
Now his name was called.
“Baek Seojun, me too!”
Baek Seojun lifted his head.
A boy standing in front of him held out a notebook with both hands.
His eyes were sincere.
Admiration.
Anticipation.
Envy.
All of it mixed together.
Baek Seojun took the notebook.
“Your name?”
“Kim Minjae!”
Baek Seojun wrote slowly.
Baek Seojun.
And he added one more thing in small letters.

The male student looking at the words on the paper broke into a bright smile.
Seojun set down his pen quietly as he watched that face.
Outside the classroom, voices still rang out calling his name.
“Baek Seojun!”
“Seojun, just one more!”
“Win the finals for sure!”
Seojun nodded slightly.
His expression remained composed.
But the tips of his fingers had grown a little warm.

* * *
Just before the match.
Final medical clearance.
Seojun sat in the examination room chair.
The wound near his left eye had faded to a faint line.
The redness had nearly vanished.
The doctor examined the wound with a magnifying lens.
He pressed lightly around the eye with his finger.
“Any pain?”
“None.”
“Blurred vision?”
“None.”
“Open your eyes wide for me.”
Seojun opened his eyes.
The doctor studied it for a moment longer.
Then he closed the chart.
“Excellent.”
Doyun’s eyes moved.
Ayeon held her breath as well.
The doctor spoke.
“The wound has closed completely. The skin layer is stable, and the risk of re-bleeding is low at present.”
Seojun’s hand dried quietly.
The doctor added with finality.
“You’re cleared to compete.”
Ayeon exhaled first.
“Thank you.”
Doyun looked at Seojun.
“You heard?”
“Yes.”
“No excuses now.”
Seojun’s eyes sharpened with clarity.
“Yes.”
That single word carried force.
Physical uncertainty had vanished.
What remained was only the opponent.
Lee Woosung.
Virtually undefeated challenger.
The man who had lost twice to the champion.
And the wall of the finals.

* * *
After returning to Team Jujak Gymnasium.
Seojun stood inside the octagon.
There was no sparring.
Only conditioning remained.
He moved lightly through his footwork.
And extended his hands.
He checked his breathing.
Doyun leaned against the cage, watching him.
“Baek Seojun.”
“Yes.”
“Nervous about the finals?”
Seojun paused to consider.
“A little, yes.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“A fighter who isn’t nervous is one of two things.”
Doyun held up two fingers.
“Either genuinely insane, or too stupid to know where he stands.”
Seojun nodded silently.
Doyun opened the cage door and stepped inside.
“I’ve stood in a tournament final like you before.”
Seojun’s eyes widened.
Doyun walked slowly toward the center of the mat.
“My opponent was ranked second.”
He let out a short laugh.
“Everyone said I didn’t have a chance. He was an all-rounder, I was strike-heavy.”
Seojun held his breath, listening.
It was rare for Doyun to volunteer a story like this.
“What happened?”
Doyun’s mouth curved upward.
“Second round.”
He turned his neck sharply.
“Put him out cold with a Guillotine Choke.”
Taesu’s eyes went wide beside him.
“Wow, Coach, why are you just telling us this now?”
“Nobody asked.”
“You should go around bragging about it.”
Doyun ignored Taesu.
“Won that match, then went to the championship bout.”
Seojun’s eyes grew even wider.
Doyun spoke matter-of-factly.
“Won the Championship Belt there.”
The gymnasium fell quiet for a moment.
Kang Doyun.
Currently ranked second in the Light Heavyweight Continental Cup.
An active contender waiting for a title shot while the champion recovers from injury.
Seojun already knew this.
He knew Doyun was strong.
But hearing it said aloud carried a different weight.
Doyun wasn’t a relic of the past.
He was still someone climbing higher.
Someone whose fight wasn’t over yet.
And that person was standing in front of Seojun now.
Doyun spoke.
“The finals aren’t just another match.”
Seojun looked up.
“That one fight determines which road you take.”
“Which road?”
“Win, and the path to champion opens. Lose, and you get back in line.”
Doyun’s gaze sharpened.
“That’s why Lee Woosung won’t back down no matter what. He’s lost to the champion twice already, and he knows this is his last chance.”
Seojun clenched his fist.
“I have no intention of backing down either.”
“That’s what I want to hear.”
Doyun stepped closer.
Seojun met his gaze directly.
“Coach.”
“What is it.”
“Can I do it too?”
Kang Doyun paused, studying Baek Seojun for a moment.
Then he reached out.
He ruffled Seojun’s hair roughly.
“Of course you can.”
Seojun’s hair fell into disarray.
Doyun grinned.
“But first, you have to get past Lee Woosung.”
Fire flared in Seojun’s eyes.
Champion.
Championship Belt.
The world.
The gateway to all of it stood right before him.
Seojun answered tersely.
“Yes.”
His voice was low.
But his feet pressed firm against the gymnasium floor.

* * *
The day of the Finals.
A corridor in the Axis Korea Stadium.
Seojun walked alongside the Team Jujak crew.
The hallway stretched long.
Beyond the walls, the roar of the crowd swelled.
Rumble upon rumble.
The sound traveled up through the floor.
Seojun drew in a breath.
It was shallow.
He breathed in again.
This time, rougher.
His shoulders felt heavy.
His fingertips were cold.
The wound near his eye had healed completely.
He’d kept his body light.
Yet somehow his feet felt weighted down.
The Finals.
Lee Woosung.
The final door to becoming champion.
Those words pressed down upon him.
Taesu glanced sideways at him.
“You good?”
“I’m fine.”
The answer came at once.
But his voice was quieter than usual.
Ayeon caught it too.
Her gaze shifted toward Kang Doyun.
Doyun said nothing, only watching Seojun’s back.
‘He’s locked up.’
It wasn’t the wrong kind of tension.
But it had gone too far.
When muscles clench, reflexes dull.
When breathing shallows, vision narrows.
The opponent is Lee Woosung.
Lose that single beat, and you lose ground.
Doyun bit his lip.
‘How do I snap him out of it.’
A joke?
Won’t land.
A scolding?
It could be even harsher.
Right before a fight, a single word becomes a blade.
Wield it wrong and your body locks up.
That’s when the staff approached.
“Baek Seojun, we’re ready for your entrance.”
Seojun lifted his head.
“Yes.”
The door opened.
Light poured in.
And sound crashed over him.
Roooooaaaaar!
A roar that threatened to tear the ears apart.
Flashes.
Cameras.
Stands packed with people.
Seojun’s name shook the entire arena.
“Baek Seojun!”
“God of Instant Kill!”
“Win the finals!”
Seojun paused at the end of the corridor.
Light struck his face.
Flashes stabbed at his eyes.
His heart pounded harder.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His shoulders tensed again.
Kang Doyun noticed immediately.
‘Damn.’
Seojun walked.
One step.
Another step.
The cage wasn’t far.
Yet it felt unusually distant.
Beyond the chain-link.
Lee Woosung’s entrance video was already queued on the big screen.
The pressure grew heavier.
This wasn’t just another fight.
Win, and he’d walk out as champion.
Lose, and he’d have to start climbing again.
That weight anchored his ankles.
Then Seojun’s gaze shifted suddenly to the side.
The VIP section closest to the cage.
Someone sat there.
His mother.
Neatly dressed.
Her hands clasped tightly, her face anxious, and yet she didn’t look away.
She was watching him.
It was the first time in his life.
His mother had come to watch his fight in person.
Seojun didn’t stop walking.
But their eyes met.
His mother’s hands gripped tighter.
Her lips moved silently.
No sound reached him.
The roar was too loud.
But Seojun understood.
“You’ll be fine.”
That’s what she was saying.
In that instant.
Something swelled inside his chest.
The weight of the Finals.
Lee Woosung’s pressure.
The path to becoming Champion.
All of it melted away like a lie, bit by bit.
Baek Seojun drew in a breath.
This time it was deep.
Air filled him all the way down to the bottom of his lungs.
His shoulders dropped.
The chill in his fingertips dissolved.
His feet grew light.
He bowed his head, very slightly, toward his mother.
She did not cry.
Instead, with both hands clasped before her chest, she nodded firmly.
That was enough.
Baek Seojun walked forward again.
This time his gait was different.
Kang Doyun’s eyes, watching from behind, shifted.
‘He’s let it go.’
His shoulders fell.
His neck loosened.
His footwork grew lighter.
His breathing deepened.
Kang Doyun smiled quietly.
“Damn.”
Taesu asked.
“Why?”
“It’s done.”
“What is?”
“It’s done now.”
Ayeon watched Baek Seojun’s back as well.
It was no longer the hunched figure that had been weighed down moments before.
Quiet, but solid.
Not the withdrawn boy from before.
Now he was a fighter walking toward the cage.
Baek Seojun stood before the cage.
The referee opened the door.
Light poured brighter from inside the steel mesh.
The crowd’s roar erupted again.
Baek Seojun gathered his breath one final time.
His mother’s eyes.
Kang Doyun’s words.
Ayeon’s training.
Taesu’s cheering.
The footwork he’d stolen from Jinhyuk.
Every fight he’d weathered sank into his body in a single moment.
There was no fear.
No excessive tension.
Only a peace so profound it was terrifying.
Baek Seojun stepped into the Octagon.
Thud.
The mat rang solid beneath his feet.
His eyes did not waver.
He had finally stepped into the Finals cage.

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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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