.
Watching the sight, I heaved a sigh of relief.
“Phew.”
Jung Yohan’s attack concerned me that it could be as fatal as Ban Hwee Hyul’s blow, which would knock out Eun Hyung at once, but thankfully, it wasn’t that strong. While I felt relieved, Jooin’s murmur reached my ears.
“He did struggle and spend much time learning things correctly from somewhere…”
I quickly turned my head aside.
“Huh?”
“The skills Jung Yohan is using… He isn’t just doing them roughly. Every move is from martial arts. He did learn and get trained systematically from somewhere,” said Jooin, fastening his gaze upon the stage. The look in his eyes was serious.
Until just a few days ago, Jooin had no interest in fighting techniques or moves; thus, only one reason existed for him to speak that way. He might have watched many videos to study different types of martial arts right before the Ranking Battle.
Swallowing my breath, I dropped my gaze back at the first floor. Listening to Jooin’s remark, the skills that Jung Yohan was using surely looked fancy and elaborate like those in action movies.
I asked concernedly, “Then what about Eun Hyung?”
Looking down on the stage nervously, I soon gaped at the words slipping from Jooin’s mouth.
“Eun Hyung? He’s just doing a dogfight,” replied Jooin.
Being shocked, I mumbled to myself, ‘Then the punches and kicks that Eun Hyung has shown us so far are all just part of a dogfight?’
Now I had come to think of it, well, I never heard that Eun Hyung had learned martial arts from somewhere. Even right now, he was just repeating defense and attack with simple moves.
I held my hands like praying and murmured with a pale face.
“It’s okay… although Eun Hyung loses the fight, he’d be followed by Ruda… But what if he gets brutally hurt? That’s big trouble…”
He wouldn’t get severely attacked, would he? And even though Jung Yohan became so mad at Eun Hyung’s words, he wouldn’t mercilessly offend him, right? While I asked myself those questions, Jooin diverted his gaze back onto me with widened eyes.
He asked in wonder, “Mama, what are you talking about?”
“Huh? Didn’t you just say that Jung Yohan has learned martial arts officially, whereas Eun Hyung is just doing a dogfight…”
“Oh…” he uttered. Switching his gaze back to the stage, Jooin spoke nonchalantly, “Mama, don’t worry. Fighting skills don’t always decide the outcome.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… you know, some local restaurants serve way better foods than fancy dining places.”
‘Jooin, why are you using food as a metaphor here?’ I wondered.
While I was slightly perplexed at his response, Jooin replied, “And San hyeong told me something after watching Eun Hyung fight.”
Woo San? I tilted my head. Meanwhile, Yeo Ryung and Ban Hwee Hyul also looked in this direction. Receiving our attention, Jooin kept speaking.
“He asked me where did I bring such a person like him. His actions––having no useless, exaggerated, and fancy moves––were for an actual fight. Those couldn’t come out unless Eun Hyung had been fighting every day. San hyeong said that even he couldn’t win over Eun Hyung.”
I saw Jooin grinning after the response. Then I realized that Jooin was already assured of this game’s outcome.
While Yeo Ryung and Ban Hwee Hyul also began to watch the stage, being more relaxed, something flashed through my mind. I turned my head and called Jooin.
“Yeah?” he replied without looking at me, being busy watching the stage.
I asked, “When did your cousin see Eun Hyung fighting? How does he know about his moves?”
“…”
“Jooin? Jooin!”
Sitting right beside me, Jooin would have definitely not missed it, but he kept pretending to ignore me. At that moment, a loud explosive sound came from the stage. I quickly stood up to look at the sight more closely.
As if he got severely beaten by Eun Hyung, Jung Yohan was tottering back. Eun Hyung then kicked him on his upper body. While not being ready to defend himself properly, Jung Yohan folded his arms hurriedly, but he flew away and crashed on the wall.
Wow, I exclaimed. Although Jooin criticized just now that Eun Hyung was doing a dogfight, in my perspective, Eun Hyung was still an amazing fighter. With another loud thud, there was a dust cloud on the stage.
Looking at the corner of the gym stacked with a bunch of mattresses, I couldn’t stop emitting a whoop. How could Eun Hyung kick Jung Yohan exactly to the pile of mattresses? Was it intentional? Swallowing my breath, I directed my eyes to Eun Hyung.
It would be on purpose, of course. If Eun Hyung still had enough strength to fight, he could act considerately to others. Thus, Eun Hyung had received no damage so far while fighting against Jung Yohan.
Jooin indeed had an insight. While I heaved a sigh of relief, Jung Yohan slowly raised himself up through the dust of clouds.
As if Eun Hyung’s consideration had humiliated him, Jung Yohan showed a look of anger. He then suddenly lifted his hand to touch his nose. Although Eun Hyung might have thrown him to the stack of mattresses in consideration, Jung Yohan was bleeding at the nose.
“Ah…”
Instead, it was Eun Hyung who was in a fluster than the actual victim of nose bleeding. He seemed to be unsure of whether he should go close to Jung Yohan or find something to stop his nosebleed. Shortly after, Eun Hyung called the host.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?” The host replied particularly kindly as if he felt thankful to Eun Hyung for grabbing him from slipping down the stage.
Eun Hyung suggested, “Why don’t we pause the game for a second?”
“Pause the game?”
“Nosebleed is very dangerous than we know. We must first stop the match here, make him get treatment, and once he stops bleeding his nose, we could then restart the game. I’ll stay downstairs under the stage.”
“But we had never done that before…”
Rolling his eyes in bewilderment, the host flushed his cheeks as he saw Eun Hyung desperately asking him, ‘Come on, can’t we?’ with praying hands.
‘Oh, Eun Hyung, don’t use your good looks to save your enemy…’ That was when I murmured those words.
“Stop that bullsh*t!”
The thunderous yelling suddenly came out from the corner of the gym. Wiping out his bloody nose with his sleeves, Jung Yohan struck a retort.
“Don’t stop the game. If you dare to do that, you are dead meat.”
“B… ut…”
“Shut the f*** up and keep it on!”
Clenching his teeth, Jung Yohan shouted with all his might. His voice rang the entire gym.
“How further are you gonna humiliate me?!!”
Everyone shut their mouths at his outcry. A weird silence prevailed in the space. It wasn’t because none of us had screamed that loudly until now. Instead, many people had made louder noises than him.
It was the vigor or spirit Jung Yohan was emitting from his small physique that suffocated us. His desperate and gruesome emotions combined with his cry also made us become at a loss for words.
Through his voice, I could sense the suppressed pain, unfairness, and sorrow he had experienced for a long time.
‘I had never thought I would feel something like those from him…’ While I spoke to myself that way, Jung Yohan strode toward Eun Hyung then stretched out his bloody hands to seize Eun Hyung by the collar.
“Do you think this is funny? Looking like a person who never fought before, you actually have lived a life of a model student, well-behaving at school and to other people. You said you hate fighting, but what fu*k was that after knocking out a couple of kids at once? Your school uniform what? Does that matter to you right now?”
That was when Eun Hyung finally removed his smile from his face. I wasn’t sure if it was due to Jung Yohan’s remark or his nose still bleeding.
Wiping out his nose again in annoyance, Jung Yohan continued, “You… you think this is a joke, huh? This fight is like nothing to you because you’re always good even without any practice or effort. So, all these bastards, desperate to win the fight for their life, look ridiculous, right? Even me…”
Quietly listening to his words with mixed feelings, Eun Hyung finally opened his mouth.
“I… I never thought to that extent, but after listening to your words, I can’t deny that you can see me that way. I’ll apologize if that hurts you…”
Jung Yohan cut him off, speaking out of patience, “You are the same as that bastard!”
