Ch.97Kim Sujin simply resented the world.

“Why am I so nervous about sparring with a gym member?”

Paek Sangha suppressed his nervousness and took slow, deep breaths.

Actually, when he thought about it, feeling intimidated wasn’t strange at all.

“Donghu’s stats were about 180cm and 81kg, right?”

That would put him in the heavyweight division by Olympic standards.

Each punch could deliver the destructive force of being hit by a truck.

“He’s almost the same size as me, though I’m still taller.”

The difference was that Donghu was still growing steadily.

Anyway, he’d told him to go all out against someone of similar weight class.

Gulp.

He swallowed involuntarily, and the sound of the bell seemed to reach his ears in slow motion.

Ding!

Finally, it rang—

The bell signaling the start of the round.

Following sportsmanship,

They lightly touched gloves.

“Box!”

First, he thought he’d start by creating some distance.

Just as Paek Sangha slightly raised his gaze—

Swoosh.

Kim Donghu vanished from his sight.

A movement that went beyond simply having quick ducking skills.

As if he had gunpowder hidden in his toes.

In an instant, Kim Donghu had slipped inside his guard.

“How is he so fast?”

Bam!

Before he could even react to the attack,

He felt an impact like being hit in the abdomen with a sledgehammer.

Stagger.

The force was enough to make him step back involuntarily.

Even then, he’d only avoided the worst by slightly turning his body.

He nearly took a direct hit to his liver.

“Is this really my student at 100%?”

There was no time to be simply amazed.

He needed to respond immediately.

“No sport exists where you can win by defense alone.”

Paek Sangha extended his fist.

A movement he had refined for at least 30 years,

Since childhood, sprang from his body as if it had been waiting.

But.

Whiff.

It passed by harmlessly as Kim Donghu executed a shoulder roll.

Unfazed, Paek Sangha immediately continued his attack.

No sport exists where you can win by defense alone.

Only offense was the key to breaking through any situation.

Inhaaale.

After taking the deepest breath possible, he followed with an intense dash.

He needed to press forward without giving any time to think.

“I’ll corner him against the ring.”

He thought that was the only way to contain Kim Donghu’s movements right now.

In reality, there was no other breakthrough.

He had to settle this in extreme close quarters.

Having reached that conclusion, Paek Sangha moved with all his might.

Swoosh.

With just a few steps, Kim Donghu escaped the pressure.

A stance with high guard protecting his face, only his eyes peeking out.

A style said to have been used by one of boxing’s legends—

The peek-a-boo style.

“This is insane!”

From there came ducking, slipping, rolling.

And from those movements—

Bam!

A powerful fist.

Even knowing it was coming, he couldn’t block it.

No, his guard had been penetrated from the start.

After one collision, he felt as if his forearm had burst.

After the second collision, his arm floated helplessly in the air.

Coach Paek Sangha desperately tried to counter with an overhand, but

Kim Donghu was already gone.

Just as a sniper never fires twice from the same position,

Kim Donghu had already changed his point of attack.

“Are you predicting even my instinctive reactions?”

He’s not some character from a manga—how is this possible?

As Paek Sangha felt this absurdity, a fist buried itself right into his solar plexus.

Thud!

At that moment, Paek Sangha felt for the first time what dying might feel like.

“Why did I tell him to go all out?”

One hit to the abdomen.

And one to the solar plexus.

The power was enough to make his consciousness fade, his legs gave out,

And his body, unable to withstand the impact, fell backward.

Thump!

The fortunate thing was that Kim Donghu quickly grabbed Paek Sangha’s head to prevent a concussion.

“Coach! Coach! Are you okay?!”

“Ha, haha… huh… huuh….”

Paek Sangha couldn’t speak properly because he couldn’t breathe.

“I should have told him not to go all out…”

Paek Sangha had thought he’d raised a tiger.

But now, after truly clashing with him, he realized that wasn’t the case.

“I never even taught him the peek-a-boo style.”

He should have known when he started using the flicker jab skillfully in real matches.

“Did I just get KO’d in the first round by a gym member?”

Normally, this would be extremely embarrassing, but…

“Hmm… why does it feel good?”

A strange sense of pride emerged.

The first man to be KO’d by Kim Donghu’s 100% power.

He suddenly thought it wasn’t such a bad title.

After about three minutes had passed,

Paek Sangha finally regained his ability to speak properly and said sincerely:

“Thanks for not hitting my face.”

“No matter what, I couldn’t bring myself to hit your face.”

“…”

Listening to Kim Donghu’s calm response, Paek Sangha thought:

“You weren’t at 100%.”

If he had been at 100%, there would have been no reason not to hit his face.

Of course, he hadn’t hit Kim Donghu’s face either,

But strictly speaking, it was more that he couldn’t hit him.

But what about his beloved student Kim Donghu?

“He definitely could have hit me.”

Even when he landed that first effective blow to the abdomen,

He could have driven a punch into his chin without hesitation.

“He went easy on me.”

He was genuinely grateful and simultaneously disappointed.

The title of “first man to be KO’d” had vanished right before his eyes.

“Well, Donghu, if you had hit my face, I probably would have passed out immediately.”

“Haha, what do you mean passed out? Honestly, someone like you could take it, right Coach?”

“Uh, uhh… huh? Um, huh? Ah, y-yes. Donghu, I am your coach after all… Of course, you brat!”

“I really can’t keep up with your jokes, Coach.”

It’s not a joke.

I really thought I was going to pass out.

“I’m risking my life with these jokes.”

After joking around with Kim Donghu for a while, Paek Sangha

Suddenly had a thought.

“Then in an actual match?”

When Kim Donghu enters a match at truly 100%?

For some reason, the emergency number 119 flashed in Paek Sangha’s mind.

“Oh right, the September tournament is scheduled for the end of the month. Does that work for you?”

“Yes, my schedule is pretty open these days, so it’s no problem.”

“Really? That’s good. Let me know if it doesn’t work out. Your main job is what’s important after all.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Kim Donghu replied while thinking about his upcoming schedule.

One of the variety shows he really enjoyed watching before.

“Rushman.”

He hoped they’d get to the name tag ripping soon.

++++++

Rushman PD Ji Yujin smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the upcoming shooting plan.

“This is bound to be a huge hit, isn’t it?”

The current Rushman cast was already in its golden age,

Close to being an invincible fleet.

And on top of that, the newly cast members were truly amazing.

“To think we could cast Kim Donghu and Kim Sujin for our Rising Stars special.”

Beyond simply being rising stars,

The two were currently making a positive influence under the name “Flame Troupe.”

And these kids would come on Rushman and show their human side?

“This can’t help but be a huge hit.”

They were at an age where they should be running around and having fun, so there were no restrictions on their activities.

Then suddenly, a question popped into her mind.

“Just how athletic is Kim Donghu?”

She actually knew to some extent.

She had conducted pre-interviews and diligently researched related materials.

And that’s when she discovered his boxing tournament awards.

Even if it was a youth competition, he had won first place.

“His main job is acting, but he wins boxing tournaments and even the Golden Bell Challenge.”

Plus he’s handsome, has a good personality, and from what she’d seen, he’d made substantial donations.

It was just fascinating.

“Is it next week already?”

She hoped the filming day would come quickly.

++++++

At the same time.

Thump thump thump thump thump!

There was a delicate girl mercilessly beating her blanket.

“Aaaaargh! No, why?! WHY?! How could this happen?!”

The girl’s name was Kim Sujin.

A girl simultaneously experiencing first love and unrequited love.

She was currently cursing the world.

“How could this happen! Why! How is this possible!”

Kim Sujin, as if she still couldn’t believe it,

Ignored reality and ran back to her vanity mirror.

Pop.

“Aaaah!”

What could possibly be the problem?

What went wrong to cause this?

A single pimple had popped up on her forehead.

How could this happen when she visited the dermatologist every month?

“Honestly, I wouldn’t care if it was any other day.”

But why today of all days?

She wasn’t worried about the Rushman filming.

By then, it would surely be gone.

But tomorrow was the problem.

Kim Sujin frowned deeply as she checked her KakaoTalk messages.

<Kim Donghu, what are you doing tomorrow?

>Tomorrow? Just the usual—working out or maybe visiting Yerim.

<Yerim? Oh, that girl from your agency?

>Yeah, she has her monthly evaluation at modeling school, so I thought I’d secretly go watch.

When she first heard this, she thought he must be crazy.

Here I am, alive and well with both eyes wide open, and he’s going to see another girl?

“Something that shouldn’t happen even if I were dead, he’s trying to do while I’m alive?”

But looking at their conversation, they hadn’t actually made plans.

Which meant he could still change his schedule.

So she boldly threw out bait.

<Do you know we have Rushman filming next week?

>Yeah, I know

<They said we’ll be running a lot, so can you check my running form?

>Form? Is that necessary? It’s not something you can pick up quickly

<So you’re saying you won’t help me ㅡㅅㅡ?!

>I’m kidding, I’ll help. I’ll come to your house tomorrow.

She’d finally managed to set up a date with Kim Donghu after so long!

After gathering so much courage to make these plans!

“Why did I get a pimple in just a few hours?!”

Was it because she took a nap?

Kim Sujin just resented the world.