I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 7

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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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Unknown MMA Genius Gets Bullied — Episode 007
“Bring ice, quick! Massage his leg!”
Do Yoon’s urgent cry.
The ring had become chaos in an instant.
Ah Yeon upended the First Aid Kit, scattering its contents, and slapped Han Tae Soo’s cheek as he lay unconscious.
“Hey, Han Tae Soo! Snap out of it!”
His body limp, his pupils completely blown.
Seo Jun stood in the corner of the ring, staring blankly down at his red Gloves.
‘Did I do that?’
A tingling sensation crawled up through his fingertips.
More than the fear of having knocked someone unconscious, it was the electric rush of the strike landing at perfect timing that weighed heavier on his chest.
Screeeech.
At that moment, the sound of the heavy iron Gym door opening echoed through the space.
Seo Jun’s gaze turned naturally toward the entrance.
“What’s happened? The gym seems rather unsettled.”
A solidly built middle-aged man strode toward the ring, his brow furrowed.
He was Ryu Tae Hwan, a retired legend who once dominated Korea’s MMA scene and now served as his son’s exclusive coach.
And behind him, moving like a shadow, came a boy.
“Father. Isn’t that one of the tournament placers lying over there?”
The boy’s name was Ryu Jin Hyuk.
The same age as Seo Jun, he was already stepping onto professional stages—a genuine monster.
It was an unusual question for someone who showed no interest in others whatsoever.
“So it seems. What on earth happened here?”
At Ryu Tae Hwan’s weighty question, a staff member nearby spoke up in an excited voice.
“We had a Knockout during Sparring! This new guy laid him out with a single Left Hook!”
“A new guy?”
“Yes! He’s been training for exactly one month, and he just dropped Tae Soo—who’s been at it for two years—with one shot to the jaw!”
The staff member’s voice rose in exaggerated excitement.
But Ryu Tae Hwan’s reaction to that account was lukewarm.
“He got lucky.”
A blunt assessment.
Dismissing it as a blind Lucky Punch that routinely occurs in amateur Sparring, Ryu Tae Hwan turned his head away as if there was nothing more worth seeing.
“Jin Hyuk, change your clothes. We need to start training.”
…….
But no reply came.
His gaze remained fixed on Seo Jun, standing inside the cage.
‘Lucky?’
The corners of Jin Hyuk’s mouth twisted ever so slightly.
The angle at which the unconscious man had collapsed. And the perfect lower-body balance of Seo Jun, who stood in the corner of the ring, regulating his ragged breathing.
The predatory instinct of Jin Hyuk—a boy obsessed with nothing but MMA—was stirring.
This was no remnant of a fist thrown by mere chance.
‘An interesting one just walked in.’
Having left this single observation, he followed his father.

* * *
That night.
Lying in bed, Seo Jun stared up at the ceiling.
Sleep would not come.
‘I put someone on their back.’
The heavy impact lingering at the end of his fist.
That singular moment when Tae Soo crumpled to the floor.
The joy of victory, tasted for the first time, rushed through his veins.
Thump-thump.
His heart continued to race.
A tangle of emotions pushed sleep away.
In the end, Seo Jun lay awake through the entire night.

* * *
The next day, after school.
Seo Jun’s body went rigid as he stepped into the Gym.
He came face to face with Tae Soo, who had a bandage taped to his jaw.
‘How should I handle this?’
It was the first time he’d encountered someone he’d knocked unconscious.
The thought flickered through Seo Jun’s mind.
Tae Soo approached, scratching the back of his head.
“Look. I wasn’t paying attention yesterday.”
Tae Soo’s eyes shifted slightly downward.
“We only did striking. We didn’t do any Grappling.”
“Ah…”
“I didn’t completely lose, you hear me?”
His tone was gruff, the words sounding like excuses.
“Next time we Spar, I won’t go easy on you.”
He was grumbling, but it was a clear admission of defeat.
The fact that Tae Soo had come forward first.
Seo Jun felt inwardly relieved and smiled softly.
“Thank you. I look forward to it.”
“Oh, you two already made up?”
Do Yoon, holding a towel, interjected abruptly.
The awkward atmosphere dissolved in an instant.
Seo Jun turned to Do Yoon and asked cautiously.
“Coach. What exactly is Grappling?”
“Grappling?”
Do Yoon touched his chin and pondered for a moment.
His gaze shifted to a corner of the Mat.
“Hey! Ryu Jin Hyuk. Come here.”
At Do Yoon’s call, Jin Hyuk turned his head.
His expression was plainly irritated.
“I’m in the middle of training.”
“No excuses. Come on. Show him what Grappling feels like.”
Jin Hyuk frowned and scratched his head vigorously.
He approached with a sluggish, unenthusiastic gait.
Smack!
Do Yoon kicked Jin Hyuk on the backside.
“What the—why’d you hit me!”
“Move it. Get up on the Mat!”
Jin Hyuk climbed onto the Mat, muttering complaints.
Seo Jun stood facing him, his expression tense.
“Take it easy. You saw how sharp his strikes are yesterday, didn’t you?”
Do Yoon warned him with a playful tone.
Jin Hyuk exhaled sharply and lowered his stance abruptly.
The irritation in his eyes transformed instantly into something lethal.
“I just need to show you Grappling, right?”
“Yeah, just give him a taste. That’s all.”
Seo Jun stood motionless, having no idea what Grappling was.
Jin Hyuk took his position.

* * *
“Striking isn’t everything in MMA.”
Do Yoon spoke with his arms crossed.
“You take your opponent down and break their joints.”
“Wrestling and Jiu-jitsu. That’s what Grappling is.”
Seo Jun watched Jin Hyuk on the Mat intently.
“You can handle striking with animal-like reflexes.”
“But ground fighting is purely the realm of discipline and effort. It’s a world proven only by sweat and experience.”
Do Yoon gestured toward Jin Hyuk with a tilt of his chin.
“That kid trained Jiu-jitsu since he was small. He’s already a Brown Belt at eighteen. You’re nowhere near his level.”
Seo Jun swallowed hard.
Jin Hyuk’s gaze was expressionless and cold.
“Start.”
Do Yoon’s brief signal dropped.
Seo Jun was just about to step forward.
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s body dropped to the mat with a sharp dip.
He vanished from sight in an instant.
‘What?’
Crack! Thud!
His legs were swept, and the world spun upside down.
His back slammed against the mat with brutal force.
A perfect, textbook Takedown.
Seo Jun flailed in panic, throwing his arms out desperately.
But Ryu Jin Hyuk moved like water, seamless and controlled.
He pinned Seo Jun’s torso and slid smoothly into Side Control Position.
In an instant, Seo Jun’s right arm was trapped.
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s legs settled over Seo Jun’s face and chest.
The devastating joint-lock technique: an Armbar.
“It’s over.”
Han Tae Soo, watching from the side, clicked his tongue and muttered.
“At that angle, he’s got to tap. No question.”
“If he doesn’t, his arm snaps clean off.”
Do Yoon stepped forward quickly to intervene.
It was unmistakably a flawless Submission technique.
But then.
“…What?”
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s brow furrowed.
A deep confusion settled across his face.
Normally his opponent would cry out and tap.
But Seo Jun, pinned underneath, looked perfectly fine.
He didn’t even make a pained sound.
Do Yoon approached, bewildered, and asked.
“Hey, Seo Jun. You alright?”
Seo Jun blinked where he lay on the mat.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
In that moment, Ryu Jin Hyuk’s face went rigid.
His pride had clearly been wounded.
Ryu Jin Hyuk wedged Seo Jun’s arm deeper into his ribs.
He arched his hips upward violently and bent with brutal force.
Crack-crack!
“Hey! His arm’s going to break!”
Han Tae Soo cried out in alarm.
The joint twisted hideously in the wrong direction.
The angle that would tear ligaments to shreds in an ordinary person.
Yet Seo Jun’s expression remained serene.
He even tilted his head slightly, curious.
“It really doesn’t hurt at all.”
Do Yoon’s jaw fell open stupidly.
Seo Jun’s elbow bent with the smooth, pliable curve of a bow.
That wasn’t the bone structure of an ordinary human.
‘This lunatic. His Range of Motion is…’
It was overwhelmingly, abnormally flexible.
‘I’ve heard that occasionally people are born with flexibility that differs from everyone else…’
You saw it sometimes with overseas fighters.
On the professional stage, there were athletes with impossibly wide Ranges of Motion.
But to think Seo Jun was one of them.
Then Ryu Jin Hyuk released his arm.
He wasn’t foolish enough to keep clinging to an attack that wasn’t working.
He twisted his body and drove sideways into Seo Jun.
His weight bore down hard on the ribs.
A flawless, airtight Side Control Position.
“Joint locks don’t work on you?”
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s voice cut close to Seo Jun’s ear.
“Then what about choking?”
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s upper body moved like a serpent.
He slipped cleanly over the top of Seo Jun’s head.
The cross position inverted completely—upside down.
Slip.
Ryu Jin Hyuk’s forearm wrapped around the neck.
His arm sank deep beneath Seo Jun’s jaw, and he clasped his hands together, pressing down hard against the mat.
A lethal Submission technique that crushed the carotid artery.
The North-South Choke.
“Ugh…!”
Seo Jun’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
Witnessing this, Do Yoon exhaled a low whistle of admiration.
‘Joint locks can be endured through their unique Range of Motion, but choking techniques that compress the carotid directly—that’s a different matter entirely.’
There was no way to condition the carotid artery.
No matter what training one underwent, once the carotid was compressed and blood flow to the brain was cut off, a person simply couldn’t—
Thump.
—help but lose consciousness.
Do Yoon called out urgently, watching Seo Jun’s limp hand fall away and foam fleck his lips.
“That’s it!!”
Before Do Yoon’s words even finished, Ryu Jin Hyuk released his grip and rose to his feet.
“Damn it! He’s completely out! Han Tae Soo, get over here and lift his legs!”
“Yes!”
“Come on, snap out of it!”
Tap-tap!
They elevated his legs above his heart, forcing blood back to his brain quickly, and stimulated him to restore consciousness.
Do Yoon’s response was flawless, and Seo Jun regained awareness moments later.
“Hah—!”
“Don’t get up. Stay down for now.”
He gently pressed Seo Jun back as he tried to rise, keeping him steady and still.
Seo Jun’s eyes rolled, taking in the surroundings. He saw Ryu Jin Hyuk standing over him, perfectly composed, and turned to Do Yoon with a question.
“Did I… lose consciousness?”
“Yeah. But for your first Grappling session, that was impressive endurance.”
“Sigh…”
Seo Jun exhaled deeply.
Watching him, Do Yoon felt a flutter of concern.
‘If his first knockout leaves him traumatized, this could become a real headache.’
Losing consciousness wasn’t something one experienced every day.
Such an experience could calcify into trauma and damage his MMA career down the line.
But Seo Jun’s reaction took a different turn entirely.
“So this is Grappling?!”
“Huh? Yeah, yeah.”
“What’s this technique called? And how do you escape it? Are there ways to counter it?!”
His barrage of questions continued unabated.
Watching Seo Jun’s eyes sparkle like a child discovering a new toy, Do Yoon’s expression turned dumbfounded.
‘This guy’s already been seduced by the allure of MMA.’
MMA was difficult to enter, but once you crossed that threshold, you couldn’t escape its pull easily.
Do Yoon called it being seduced by the allure of MMA.
And Seo Jun appeared to be firmly in its grasp.

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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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