I Thought I Was Bullying a Nobody, But He's a Martial Arts Genius - Chapter 9

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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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Fighting Genius Unaware, Bullied Nevertheless – Episode 9
“Here it is.”
Seo Jun handed over the documents he’d brought in a Plastic File to keep them from creasing.
Do Yoon carefully examined the signature line at the back of the paperwork.
His mother’s neat handwriting was clearly stamped there.
“Good. The legal side is settled.”
Do Yoon filed the documents away and turned his head.
He gestured with his chin toward Tae Soo, who was working the Heavy Bag in the corner of the Gymnasium.
“Hey, Tae Soo. Come over here.”
“Ugh, why? You’re breaking my rhythm.”
Tae Soo trudged over, grumbling, his face already slicked with sweat.
Do Yoon looked between the two of them and opened his mouth.
“Starting today, you two are a team. Call it the AXIS Rookies prep squad.”
At that, Tae Soo’s eyes widened.
He’d been dreaming of going pro, of competing on the AXIS stage himself.
“Really? I’m competing too?”
“Yeah. You’re fighting Lightweight—70.3 kilograms. You’re at 76 right now, so cut six kilos over four months.”
“Hell, the weight-cut nightmare begins.”
“And get your parents’ consent form.”
“Ah, that’s easy!”
Tae Soo tugged at his bangs and let out a groan.
But the corners of his mouth twitched, barely containing the joy he couldn’t suppress.
Do Yoon’s gaze shifted to Seo Jun.
“You’re Featherweight—65.8 kilograms. You’re at 68 now, so just a slight water cut. Eat normally, just ramp up the training intensity like a madman.”
“Understood, sir.”
Seo Jun’s answer was resolute.
From that day forward, the two of them began their grueling partner training.

* * *
“Hook! Hook! Move faster!”
Crack! Thwack!
Do Yoon’s piercing shout rang through the Gymnasium.
Seo Jun’s Gloves tore into Do Yoon’s Pads with devastating force.
It was no simple striking.
The moment his fists extended, his lower body stretched back in a continuous Sprawl motion to defend against takedowns.
“Hagh, hagh…!”
A metallic rasp tore from Seo Jun’s throat.
Even as his lungs burned, his eyes gleamed with terrifying intensity.
In one corner of the mat, some distance away.
Jin Hyeok, who’d just finished drilling his own partner lightly, glanced over.
‘That bastard. He’s got faster again.’
Jin Hyeok’s gaze locked onto Seo Jun’s lower-body balance.
Two weeks ago in sparring, he’d had the guy completely figured out.
But Seo Jun’s movements now were operating on an entirely different level.
Beyond evading strikes with Dynamic Vision, he’d begun controlling his own center of gravity.
“Jin Hyeok. Where are you looking?”
The heavy voice of Ryu Tae Hwan came from behind.
Jin Hyeok hastily averted his gaze and lowered his stance.
“Nowhere, sir.”
Jin Hyeok answered curtly and seized his partner’s collar again.
But his attention was entirely fixed on the impact sounds coming from behind him—Seo Jun’s strikes.
The same age. And a monstrous talent closing in at a terrifying pace.
A strange competitive fire, something Jin Hyeok had never felt before, was kindling inside him.

* * *
One month later.
The School Hallway was peaceful.
“Hey, PE next?”
“Yeah, let’s change quick.”
In the middle of the hallway, a cluster of male students passed by.
Seo Jun walked forward in silence, his footsteps steady and purposeful.
His mind was consumed entirely by movements within the Cage.
‘The moment a Takedown comes, drive the knee up into the chin.’
As Seo Jun walked with his gaze fixed on empty space, a familiar group appeared from the opposite direction.
Dong Chul and his gang of bullies.
They’d been talking loudly until they spotted Seo Jun, then fell silent in an instant.
Flinch.
Dong Chul reflexively hunched his shoulders and pressed himself against the hallway wall.
The rest of the group parted like the Red Sea, clearing a path as if by miracle.
Not one of them could meet his eyes; they stared only at the floor.
The nightmare of that single punch—how Seo Jun had shattered Choi Gang Min’s jaw—was etched deep in their minds.
Whoosh.
Seo Jun passed through them like a ghost.
He didn’t spare them a glance.
There was no need to flinch, no need to show fear or read their moods.
The hellish hierarchy that had once suffocated him was already completely shattered.
Now his gaze was fixed not on this narrow school hallway, but on AXIS’s vast Cage.

* * *
Time flowed without mercy.
Three months.
Two months.
Seo Jun’s existence turned like a gear, moving only between the Gymnasium and his home.
Thud! Crack! Bang!
“Nice! That Combination is perfect!”
Do Yoon grinned as he caught the Pads.
A crisp Right Straight from Seo Jun, followed by a sharp Left Hook.
The force of the Punch translated so completely through his body that Do Yoon’s wrists tingled even through the Pads he held.
Watching Seo Jun catch his breath, Do Yoon swallowed an admiring thought.
‘This guy’s learning ability is absolutely phenomenal.’
He absorbed everything like a sponge the moment it was taught.
Especially his sense of reading an opponent’s movement and landing a Counter was unrivaled.
But Do Yoon’s assessment was cold and precise.
‘That only holds up by Amateur standards, though.’
The Professional world was different.
There were psychological tactics—baiting an opponent into a dodge, then springing a trap. Dirty Boxing that ground an opponent against the Cage wall, sapping their energy.
The real Professional stage was a place where countless variables and brutal, savage exchanges reigned supreme.
Seo Jun was still in a raw state, ignorant of the murky, viscous taste of that world.
“Hey, Seo Jun! Your chin comes up when you throw a Punch! If this were a Professional bout, your head would’ve just gotten knocked clean off!”
“I apologize! Let me try again!”
At Do Yoon’s stern rebuke, Seo Jun immediately raised his guard tighter.
Humble despite his gifts, he carved himself down without ceasing.
That earnestness was the most brilliant weapon in Seo Jun’s arsenal.
Tae Soo, standing nearby in a sweat suit and turning a jump rope, clicked his tongue.
“That crazy bastard. Never gets tired.”

* * *
Two weeks before the tournament.
Tae Soo’s face had withered to half its size.
“Man… I’d kill for some water.”
His cracked lips worked as he sprawled across the mat.
The agony of Water Cut to hit the Lightweight limit.
Meanwhile, Seo Jun chewed chicken breast and brown rice with a calm expression, performing Shadow Boxing.
For Seo Jun, the Featherweight Weight Cut required only dietary adjustment—nothing more.
“Hey, Seo Jun. You really are blessed.”
“Senior, just a little longer. Once the Weigh-ins are done, you can rehydrate right away.”
“If I can manage to keep my mouth shut.”
Tae Soo grumbled, but forced his heavy body upright again.
With his junior grinding away like that, he couldn’t just lie there as a senior.
The fruit of their grueling training was etching itself firmly into muscle across both their bodies.

* * *
One day before the tournament.
Weigh-in day.
Seo Jun arrived at AXIS Korea Stadium, located on the outskirts of Seoul, in Do Yoon’s car.
“Wow…….”
A shallow gasp escaped Seo Jun’s lips as he stepped out of the vehicle.
A massive dome-shaped arena.
A colossal black hexagonal logo symbolizing AXIS was emblazoned across its exterior wall.
The surroundings teemed with athletes from other gymnasiums carrying gym bags and various staff members.
‘This is the stage where the coach fought.’
That vast space, which he’d only ever seen through a TV monitor, materialized before his eyes as tangible reality.
His heartbeat quickened gradually under the weight of the overwhelming scale.
More than nervousness, an ineffable sense of exhilaration swept through his entire body.
“Don’t stand there spacing out. Get inside and take your shirt off.”
Do Yoon gave Seo Jun’s back a gentle push.
The weigh-in waiting room inside the stadium.
The moment the door opened, the sharp smell of topical balm and the biting scent of athletes’ sweat assaulted his nostrils.
Some fighters’ eyes were sunken from squeezing out every drop of water weight, while others lounged about listening to music.
The savage aura emanating from the elite athletes gathered from each gymnasium filled the space.
“AXIS Rookies, High School Division, Featherweight. Seo Jun, you’re up.”
The official’s call.
Seo Jun stepped lightly onto the scale wearing only his underwear.
Beep.
[65.5 kg]
“Seo Jun, you’ve passed.”
“Thank you.”
Seo Jun gave a slight bow and stepped down from the scale.
Tae Soo, waiting at his side, handed him a Sports Drink.
“Good work. Drink it quickly.”
“You worked hard too.”
He was just stepping into the hallway with the drink in hand.
The moment he crossed paths with a group of athletes from another gymnasium approaching from the opposite direction.
Thud.
“Ah, damn it.”
A broad, muscular shoulder deliberately rammed hard into Seo Jun’s chest.
The impact was strong enough to knock an ordinary person backward onto their backside.
But Seo Jun’s lower body remained steady, firmly rooted to the ground.
He absorbed his opponent’s weight smoothly and held his position.
“Huh?”
Confusion flickered across the face of the one who’d rammed him.
Seo Jun turned his head and met the man’s gaze directly.
Bleached blond hair, and a snake tattoo coiling unpleasantly from the nape of his neck to his collarbone.
With gum chewed lazily in his mouth, the man’s eyes raked over Seo Jun from head to toe, brimming with naked hostility.
“Oi. Got a problem with eye contact? What’s a runt like you doing blocking the way and causing trouble?”
Provocation.
A deliberate, calculated attempt to seize the initiative.
But Seo Jun’s eyes didn’t flicker in the slightest.
‘His right shoulder’s raised, and his jaw’s completely slack.’
Seo Jun’s aberrant Dynamic Vision had already coldly scanned his opponent’s sloppy balance.
Beneath his threatening appearance lay crude, fundamentally unsound footwork.
To Seo Jun’s eye, the man was nothing more than a strutting heavy bag.
“You were the one blocking the way,” Seo Jun replied flatly.
His calm response caused the tattooed man’s facial muscles to twist viciously.
“You really want to die. I’m gonna destroy you in the cage.”
“What’s going on here?”
Just as the man was about to clench his fist, Do Yoon, arriving from behind, cut in coldly.
The overwhelming presence of a professional fighter.
The tattooed man flinched and took a step back.

A man who appeared to be his coach approached and dragged him by the back of the neck.
“Kang Chul Jin! Stop wasting time and get over here!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it! Hey, watch yourself.”
The one called Chul Jin raised his middle finger at Seo Jun and vanished down the hallway.
Once the confrontation ended, Seo Jun quietly gathered his clothes and dressed.
Do Yoon tapped the bracket sheet he held and looked at Seo Jun.
“You catch that punk’s name?”
“Kang Chul Jin, I heard.”
“That’s right. High school division, Featherweight. Your first opponent tomorrow.”
At Do Yoon’s words, Seo Jun’s gaze dropped to the bracket sheet.
[Seo Jun (Team Jujak) VS Kang Chul Jin (Black Tiger)]
Two names were written at the very top.
“The typical striker type—mouths off because he can throw a punch in the streets. What’s your plan?”
Do Yoon’s question hung in the air.
Seo Jun withdrew his gaze from the bracket sheet and stared silently toward the end of the hallway where Chul Jin had disappeared.
The man’s uneven shoulder balance and the exposed chin were etched clearly in his mind’s eye.
Seo Jun slung his gym bag over his shoulder and spoke briefly, with finality.
“I’ll finish it within Round 1.”
At the confident answer, Do Yoon raised his hand and tousled Seo Jun’s hair.
“That’s the right call.”
All preparations were complete.
Now it was time to step into the 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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