Ch.337IF Side Story: From the Beginning (105)

I may not be a martial arts enthusiast, but since I promised Seo-hee we’d spar together, I couldn’t just half-ass it.

That said, I wasn’t planning to become a legendary fighter either. I was practicing with moderate seriousness, just enough to hold my own against Seo-hee, which is why I only sparred about two or three times a week.

At first, I was only doing this to help fulfill her dream, and honestly, I didn’t really understand what was enjoyable about it. Well, I do understand that fighting can be cathartic. While throwing punches, moving your body around, and sweating, your mind goes completely blank.

On the ring, there’s only the sound of two people breathing, bare feet sliding across the floor, gloves hitting flesh… just those primal sounds remain, and I can’t hear anyone cheering from the sidelines.

But that novelty only lasts a day or two. Eventually, boredom sets in. I think I went through that phase once. That feeling when you really don’t want to do it anymore but continue anyway because you’ve already invested so much time.

And then, I meet those eyes looking straight at me.

Those red eyes are beautiful. Everything they look at seems so righteous.

When we face each other with clenched fists, those red eyes are focused only on me.

It’s strange. I don’t think I felt this way from our first meeting.

I don’t really believe in love at first sight, but somehow, I seem to have been captured by something similar.

As I follow those red eyes, I notice Seo-hee’s eyes narrowing slightly.

When I see those eyes narrowing with a smirk, as if challenging me to catch her, I feel a surge of competitiveness.

So I reach out to grab her. She dodges and blocks. She counterattacks. I dodge and block too.

Our breathing becomes rough, and our exposed skin becomes slick with sweat. We’re both wearing loose shorts and tank tops, and neither of us has a bad physique. As sweat runs down and makes our skin glisten… if I were watching this on TV, I probably wouldn’t be able to look away from that subtle sensuality, but right now, I don’t notice it.

There’s a sound of leather hitting flesh, and sweat sprays like a manga impact effect. Some droplets must have landed on my body too. And mixed together.

Conversely, when I guard against an incoming punch, a heavy impact hits my arm. Again, that sound like a whip striking flesh.

I noticed my sweat flying by chance. It landed on Seo-hee’s nape, mixing with a drop of her sweat, slowly trickling down.

Well, yeah.

Saying “I don’t notice it” was a lie. Born as a human, how could I not be drawn to such a sight?

Fortunately, those beautiful red eyes looking at me were captivating enough that I could still fight despite being distracted.

Once again, the sound of flesh being struck.

“…Haah.”

“…Phew.”

We both staggered back a bit and exhaled.

Then, without any coordination, we both plopped down on the floor.

In our sparring sessions, winning or losing isn’t that important anymore. Rather, we’re saving that competitive edge for the actual match later.

The ring was soaked with our sweat, and it felt like steam was rising from both our heads despite being indoors.

“Ah, I don’t care anymore.”

Knowing it was dirty, I still lay down on the floor.

The reason I exerted myself more today was because I got unnecessarily fixated on Seo-hee. This is truly not a lie. It just happened that such a scene caught my eye by chance.

I heard a thud as she collapsed on the floor too.

Now, the only sound was our breathing.

Occasionally, a magical girl or an alien technician would come to watch us fight and cheer for me with extreme bias, but that only lasted a day or two. Not many would continuously watch us engage in full-time combat two to three times a week.

Well, they probably had their own things to do.

Various parts of my body ache.

Could this be considered touching? As I was lost in strange thoughts while catching my breath…

Something seemed off near my feet.

I slightly raised my head to look down, and Seo-hee was crawling towards me. The way she moved on her knees with both hands on the ground reminded me of a feline. I’m not sure if red felines actually exist in nature.

She approached me as I was sprawled out, and then, plop. She lay down using my arm as a pillow.

“Ouch.”

“I’ll borrow this for a moment.”

When I complained playfully, Seo-hee made an after-the-fact announcement.

“It’s a bit dirty.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I can clearly see sweat dripping. Even at this very moment.”

“Oh? Do you think I’m dirty right now?”

Well.

It might feel different depending on the time and situation. For instance, if she came running to me all sweaty after playing outside without changing clothes, I’d be horrified. Both Seo-hee’s body and mine would be in a “dirty” state.

If I had to say, it’s not that different now. But at the same time, something feels subtly different.

As I was seriously pondering what exactly was different, Seo-hee turned to face me.

A few strands of red hair stuck to her face.

A slightly humid scent wafted over. It was inevitable given how damp both our bodies were.

Once again, before I knew it, I found myself looking at her chest. Sweat was trickling down from inside, flowing sideways, seemingly covering the boundary of her chest that shouldn’t normally be visible, making it sensual.

“Hehe.”

Seo-hee made a somewhat perverted sound, then,

“Hwah!?”

She lunged at me.

Seo-hee’s body, still hot, clung tightly to mine. I was already a bit conscious of my armpits as I lay sprawled out, and now her face was suddenly close to that area.

Of course, she didn’t bury her face there—

“Chu.”

Seo-hee planted a kiss on my sweaty body, then buried her face in my chest.

Somehow, I also turned towards Seo-hee on the ring, ending up in a position where we were embracing each other.

Seo-hee’s body wasn’t so much soft and plush as it was elastic. Her skin was smooth. The sweat made it feel even more so.

…

With Seo-hee burying her nose in my chest, maybe it was okay for me to do something a bit perverted too?

With that thought,

“Hiyak!?”

I lightly touched Seo-hee’s back.

The back beneath her slightly rolled-up tank top.

Well, to be honest, it was a bit lower than that.

We stayed still for a while, our hot and damp bodies pressed against each other. My heartbeat must have been clearly transmitted to Seo-hee. I felt like I could hear Seo-hee’s heartbeat too.

Seo-hee slightly raised her face towards me.

The predator approaching to devour its prey was now gone. Instead, there was just a drenched cat looking up at me pitifully.

Beautiful eyes. The red hair, wet and flushed, was beautiful too.

Her face was beautifully flushed as well.

With an expression as if her breath might be visible, Seo-hee looked up at me with slightly wet eyes.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if the predator appearance was just a mimicry.

Rather, she might be closer to the prey.

Deliberately burrowing into the predator’s embrace, pretending not to know but actually knowing everything.

It would be a mystery according to natural law, but well, there’s no rule saying such beings can’t exist. Because right now, she’s right here in front of me.

Seo-hee’s body moved up a bit towards me. The soft parts of our bodies rubbed slightly. Our wet clothes stuck together, making me feel like I could tell how Seo-hee’s body was shaped without even touching it.

The sweat on our bodies had already mixed, making it pointless to distinguish whose was whose.

I gave Seo-hee a slight smile and slowly lowered my face.

Indeed, this was something I usually wouldn’t initiate.

Our lips slowly met, and today, I moved my lips a bit more actively than Seo-hee.

“Mmm…”

Seo-hee made a sound as if she was melting.

And in a way, it was a sound of “losing.”

Seo-hee seemed to accept that defeat with a bit of joy.

On the wet ring, with wet bodies, we spent time clinging to each other like that. We didn’t go further. Somehow, both of us were so satisfied with that state that we even dozed off a bit. Or was it just because we were too tired? Well, either way, going further seemed a bit challenging after already having a bout.

With our bodies gradually cooling down as the sweat dried, we stayed pressed against each other for a long time, remaining in that position until the kids came rushing down to find us when we didn’t return for too long.