I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 55

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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 Genius Nobody Knew 055
Axis Korea Film Studio.
The waiting room was quiet.
Outside, staff members hurried back and forth.
Lights flickered on.
Cameras were being set up.
Soft music drifted in from beyond the walls.
Baek Seojun sat at the edge of the sofa.
A water bottle was in his hand.
He wasn’t drinking from it.
Just rubbing the label over and over.
A Yeon glanced up from her tablet and spoke. “Today’s a promotion shoot. Interview, poster, some face-to-face shots. No actual match, so try not to get too stiff.”

Baek Seojun nodded.
“Yes.”
He gave the answer, but his shoulders remained tense.
Do Yun let out a soft laugh from beside him.
“You’re going to tear that bottle.”
Baek Seojun’s hands stilled.
The water bottle was already crumpled.
“Sorry.”
“Can’t blame you for being nervous.”
Do Yun crossed his legs.
“Your opponent is the Champion.”
At those words, Baek Seojun’s gaze shifted toward the door.
Lee Sung Jun.
The current Korean featherweight Champion.
The man who’d defeated Lee Woo Sung twice.
The peak of Black Leaf Korea.
The monster who’d shaken the heavy bag like a cannon blast.
And the man who’d stepped into the Octagon and stolen the entire atmosphere with a single phrase.
Congratulations.
That brief word still echoed in his ears.
Baek Seojun drew in a slow breath.
Then.
Click.
The waiting room door opened.
A staff member bowed quickly.
“The Champion is here.”
The air shifted.
Lee Sung Jun walked in.
Thump. Thump.
It was different from the oppressive presence he’d felt in the Octagon.
Black slacks.
White t-shirt.
A light jacket.
His hair was neatly swept back, and his face carried an easy composure.
Less a monster
than a well-managed star athlete.
Someone who understood the camera.
The staff in the waiting room all bowed in unison.
“Hello, Champion.”
“Welcome.”
Lee Sung Jun raised a hand lightly.
“Thanks for all your hard work.”
His voice was soft as well.
Baek Seojun jumped to his feet.
“Hello.”
His bow was a touch deeper than necessary.
Lee Sung Jun looked at him.
He approached slowly.
There wasn’t much difference in height.
But as he drew closer, the presence shifted.
Broad shoulders.
A thick neck.
A center of gravity that didn’t waver even when he stood still.
Baek Seojun’s body tensed again.
Lee Sung Jun stopped right in front of him.
Looking down at him.
He said nothing.
Baek Seojun didn’t avoid his gaze.
But tension crept into his fingertips.
Do Yun crossed his arms quietly.
A Yeon lowered her tablet.
Silence settled over the room.
Then.
Tap.
Lee Sung Jun’s hand struck Baek Seojun’s shoulder.
Not hard.
Light.
“You’re way too stiff, aren’t you?”
Baek Seojun’s eyes widened slightly.
Lee Sung Jun smiled, pleasant and genuine.
“It’s not a fight day, so loosen up.”
The air in the waiting room eased.
A few staff members let out quiet laughs.
Baek Seojun was caught off guard.
“Ah… yes.”
“It’s your first championship fight promotion, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then it makes sense.”
Lee Sung Jun settled onto the sofa naturally.
As if it were his own waiting room.
“I was like that at first too. Talking in front of the camera was harder than throwing a punch.”
Baek Seojun’s words caught in his throat.
This wasn’t what he’d expected.
He’d thought Lee Sung Jun would pin him down coldly.
Pressure him with nothing but a look.
But the Champion before him had ease about him.
He was approachable. There was humor in him.
Then Lee Sung Jun’s gaze shifted past Baek Seojun’s shoulder.
Standing there, weight on one leg, was Do Yun.
A thin scar still lingered near his eye.
Lee Sung Jun’s mouth curved upward.
“How’s your eye holding up?”
His tone had changed.
Not the Champion before reporters.
Not a predator sizing up a challenger.
The kind of words you throw to an old comrade.
Do Yun laughed outright.
“Fine.”
He shrugged.
“The doctor’s just being overdramatic.”
Lee Sung Jun scoffed.
“Overdramatic? After bleeding like that?”
“As long as the eyeball’s still attached, what’s the problem?”
Do Yun looked Lee Sung Jun up and down.
Then spoke with a sneer.
“And you—cutting weight going well? Your body looks pretty rough.”
The staff held their breath.
Few people spoke to the current Champion that way.
Lee Sung Jun let out a sigh.
“Getting older, the weight just won’t come off.”
He patted his belly lightly.
His physique wasn’t in bad shape at all.
Beneath his t-shirt, his shoulders and chest were solid and well-defined.
His waist was trim.
Yet the two men tore into each other as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Do Yun spoke up.
“Time to retire.”
“You first. You got poked in the eye.”
“Want to die?”
“Right, that’s right.”
Lee Sung Jun flicked his fingers.
“That Japanese bastard is retiring, I hear.”
The air in the waiting room stilled.
Kuroda.
At that name, Tae Soo’s face hardened.
A Yeon lifted her eyes.
Baek Seojun glanced naturally at Do Yun.
Do Yun’s expression didn’t shift.
He simply clicked his tongue.
Tsk.
A short, clipped sound.
But the killing intent woven through it was far from light.
“Should’ve made sure I cut his thread for good.”
A few staff members flinched.
Lee Sung Jun chuckled softly.
“Still the same.”
“Same what.”
“The way you say things—never sounds like a joke.”
Instead of answering, Do Yun picked up his coffee.
He took a sip and grimaced.
“Who made this? Tastes like garbage.”
Lee Sung Jun settled onto the armrest of the sofa.
He lounged there as though filming schedules were the last thing on his mind.
Do Yun crossed his legs and stood as well.
Something peculiar settled between the two men.
The banter was light.
And yet it wasn’t.
Both had worn a belt in the Cage.
Both knew the metallic stench of high-stakes fights.
Both knew what it felt like when an opponent’s ribs bent under your strike.
Baek Seojun absorbed the atmosphere quietly.
It was only a few words.
Yet the entire waiting room felt compressed.
Then Lee Sung Jun, as though to clear the air, spoke to Do Yun.
“So you got there first.”
Do Yun’s eyebrow lifted slightly.
“Got where.”
“Continental Champion.”
“It’s only provisional. When the Champion bastard comes back, then it’ll be fully mine.”
Lee Sung Jun laughed.
“Then I’ll claim the full title first.”
His tone was light.
But the substance was not.
A Continental Championship fight.
Lee Sung Jun’s gaze had already moved beyond Korea’s borders.
Do Yun smirked.
“That so?”
He draped an arm across Baek Seojun’s shoulders, standing beside him.
Baek Seojun’s body went rigid.
Do Yun kept his gaze fixed on Lee Sung Jun.
“Brother.”
The corners of his mouth lifted.
“If this guy beats you and takes the Belt, doesn’t that cancel the Continental push?”
The waiting room fell silent.
Even the staff members who’d been laughing moments before closed their mouths.
A Yeon’s fingers froze above the tablet.
Tae Soo’s expression lost its playfulness.
Baek Seojun looked at Lee Sung Jun from beneath Do Yun’s arm.
Lee Sung Jun was smiling.
He was definitely smiling.
But his eyes had changed.
What lay hidden behind that affable smile had surfaced.
Cold.
Deep.
Eyes sharp enough to cut.
A Champion’s eyes.
A predator’s gaze.
The eyes of a warrior who leaves blood on the Cage floor.
The air froze.
Tension coiled through Do Yun’s arm where it rested on Baek Seojun’s shoulder.
Do Yun didn’t erase his smile.
But his eyes had sharpened.
Lee Sung Jun looked directly at Baek Seojun.
That stare pressed against his skin.
Squeezed at his throat.
Buried itself deep in his chest.
“That won’t.”
Lee Sung Jun’s voice dropped.
All sound in the waiting room vanished.
“Happen.”
A brief declaration.
Those few words were enough.
The Champion said nothing more.
He turned.
Passed by Baek Seojun.
As he drew near.
Pressure rolled forward like a wave.
The sensation of an enormous wall moving past.
Baek Seojun’s breath caught.
His fingertips went cold.
His feet adhered to the floor.
Lee Sung Jun walked toward the waiting room exit.
Step after deliberate step.
Toward the bright lights.
Baek Seojun watched that back.
Broad shoulders.
A stride without hesitation.
The Champion he had to overcome.
The Belt he had to take.
Then something ignited deep within him.
Not fear.
Not pressure.
Something hotter.
Something sharper.
Baek Seojun’s fists clenched.
Tight.
His knuckles cracked.
“Me too……!”
The voice burst out of him.
Lee Sung Jun’s steps faltered.
Do Yun’s arm slowly fell from Baek Seojun’s shoulder.
A Yeon lifted her head.
Tae Soo swallowed hard.
Lee Sung Jun turned only his head.
Baek Seojun pivoted to face him.
His frame no longer rigid as it had been moments before.
His gaze steady and unflinching.
A cold fire kindling behind his eyes.
“I swear.”
Baek Seojun’s voice was low.
Yet it pierced clean through to the far end of the waiting room.
“I’m taking that Champion Belt.”
Their eyes met and locked.
Champion and challenger.
Predator and beast baring its fangs for the first time.
The director of photography spotted the moment and turned urgently to the cameraman.
“Get that shot.”
“N-now, sir?”
“Move!”
Spurred by the urgency, the cameraman began filming the two of them naturally.
In the camera’s frame, the ease that had lingered moments before had evaporated entirely.
Two figures radiating an intensity to strip everything from each other — that raw emotion transmitted crystalline-clear through the lens.
Then Lee Sung Jun’s mouth curved upward.
“Sorry.”
He turned away again.
“That won’t happen.”
With that, he opened the waiting room door and stepped through.
Baek Seojun’s fists clenched as though something in him had been wronged.
The man’s dismissive ease stirred anger hot in his chest.
Do Yun draped an arm back across Baek Seojun’s shoulders, speaking low.
“Angry? Good. Take that fire into the Cage. And let it detonate.”
Instead of answering, Baek Seojun only tightened his grip, knuckles whitening.
Injustice.
Fury.
And the hunger to take what was his.
Baek Seojun’s gaze pierced through the doorway where Lee Sung Jun had vanished.
Beneath the white lights.
The challenger’s face — flushed with rage at the champion’s taunt — was being captured by the camera.

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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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