Chapter 15: The Power of Doping

Chapter 15

“Hahaha….”

Standing in the arena, Go Junkyung looked across at his opponent and laughed loudly. His expression and voice were brimming with confidence.

“Did you write your will? If it’s in your trunk, tell me now! Before I burn it with you in the incinerator.”

On the other side, Kim Jinsung did not react to the shallow provocation. Instead, his eyes were calmer than ever, showing perfect control of his killing intent.

“I will win, Go Junkyung. I don’t need awakening agents to kill someone like you.”

Kim Jinsung had several reasons for not taking the awakening agent, but the biggest was the uncertainty of what kind of trick Representative Jo might have played.

After seeing Go Junkyung groaning before the match, Kim Jinsung had not touched any food provided by Representative Jo. He only ate the same food as the other boys.

“The match begins!”

With the referee’s shout, the much-anticipated duel between the two began.

Immediately, Go Junkyung charged at Kim Jinsung without hesitation.

Kim Jinsung, on the other hand, stepped back to create distance and calmly assessed the situation.

‘Let’s stick to the plan for the beginning.’

As he thought this, Go Junkyung threw the first punch at Kim Jinsung.

It was incredibly fast, incomparable to what he had seen the night before!

Thwack!

The punch landed precisely on Kim Jinsung’s face.

Kim Jinsung fell backward from the impact!

“What?!”

“No way, already?!”

The audience was shocked, but the feared event did not occur. Kim Jinsung immediately got up again.

“Whoa, that scared me..!”

The one who sighed in relief the most was Representative Jo. He had thought that Kim Jinsung would be knocked out in just 10 seconds, the worst possible outcome.

“Damn it, why didn’t he take the awakening agent…!”

As Representative Jo was grinding his teeth internally, there was one spectator watching with a different perspective: Baek Jun.

‘Why didn’t he dodge?’

He had seen it clearly.

When the punch was thrown, Kim Jinsung had his eyes open and didn’t flinch at all.

In previous matches, Kim Jinsung would always try to move his head to avoid a direct hit, even when allowing a punch.

But this time, there was no movement at all. It was as if he had intentionally taken the hit.

‘That wasn’t a failure to react. He definitely didn’t move.’

At Baek Jun’s level, one can tell whether the opponent failed to dodge or chose not to.

Kim Jinsung had clearly chosen ‘not’ to dodge.

But why?

‘Could it be…?’

As Baek Jun’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, Go Junkyung, seeing Kim Jinsung get up, smiled triumphantly and shouted.

“How does it feel? Different from yesterday, right?”

His gaze quickly turned to Kim Jinsung’s left cheek, which had reddened from his punch.

Without responding, Kim Jinsung immediately took a fighting stance, and Go Junkyung charged again, swinging his fists.

The threatening sight of his 195 cm frame charging and swinging his large fists.

Kim Jinsung narrowly blocked the attacks,

Thwack!

Once again, Go Junkyung’s punch struck Kim Jinsung’s side.

The audience cheered.

“Wow! As expected of Go Junkyung!”

“How can that size have that speed?”

“I knew it! There’s a difference in weight class!”

“Even the great Kim Jinsung can’t handle it….”

Representative Jo was just as flustered by the overwhelming nature of the match, but for different reasons than the audience.

“Hey, are you sure he only took the awakening agent?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Didn’t he secretly take some kind of potion?”

Representative Jo, who had been watching Go Junkyung closely for two years, knew best.

This was a level of performance that far surpassed Go Junkyung’s usual abilities. Without doping, it was impossible to achieve that speed and stamina overnight.

“Should I order them to check the waiting room again?”

“No, forget it.”

Representative Jo shook his head.

“What’s the point of finding out now? It’s not before the match anymore.”

Once the match had started, and with over 1.5 billion in betting money confirmed, the outcome of this match was now out of even the representative’s hands.

‘All I can do is hope Kim Jinsung holds on.’

Representative Jo watched the exchange between the two fighters with an anxious expression, unable to take his eyes off.

‘At least there doesn’t seem to be any serious injury yet…’

Fortunately for him, unlike Park Seongtae in the previous match, Kim Jinsung showed no signs of discomfort in his movements. If there were no critical hits, the outcome of the match was still uncertain. Moreover, it was only the first round.

And there was another spectator, like Representative Jo, who was suspicious of Go Junkyung’s condition: Baek Jun.

‘That’s the movement of someone on doping.’

Having run the Colosseum program, he had seen many types of doped athletes. By now, he could tell whether someone was doping just by looking at the state of their muscles, without needing test results.

‘And yet, he’s holding up well. Plus…’

Baek Jun’s gaze shifted to Kim Jinsung.

He seemed to be only defending, but one thing had changed since the beginning.

‘Unlike at the start, now he’s avoiding all the attacks.’

For the first minute or so, Kim Jinsung took a few solid hits, but after that, he didn’t allow a single clean hit.

This was a significant change.

‘He’s already adapted to Go Junkyung’s fighting power.’

Although it looked like Go Junkyung was pressing the attack, a closer look revealed the opposite situation.

Kim Jinsung was dodging punches with minimal movement and stepping out of the attack range with quick steps.

This was not a situation of crisis. It was right to see it as a phase where Kim Jinsung was gauging Go Junkyung’s fighting power while sacrificing the first round.

‘What if the punches he allowed at the beginning were all part of the plan?’

The scene of Kim Jinsung not even blinking and allowing the punch to hit him flashed through his mind again.

If that was to fully experience the opponent’s power and speed firsthand…

‘If that’s the case, he’s a much more talented guy than I thought.’

The audacity to allow a punch, the toughness to withstand it, and the quick judgment and adaptability. All of these were actions impossible without possessing all these qualities.

Ding!

Then, the bell rang.

[The first round has ended!]

[The first round was completely dominated by Go Junkyung! Kim Jinsung didn’t throw a single punch, did he?]

As the round ended, the referee stopped the fighters. Kim Jinsung immediately turned and walked to the blue corner, but Go Junkyung did not.

“Are you just going to keep running away? Huh?! Come at me! Come on!”

Go Junkyung’s loud provocation drew cheers from the audience.

“Yeahhh!”

“That’s Go Junkyung for you!”

“Yeah, fight back a bit!”

Pleased with the reaction he drew from the crowd, Go Junkyung sat down in the red corner with a satisfied expression.

Looking at the still unresponsive Kim Jinsung, he thought.

‘It looks like he’s planning to drag this into a battle of stamina…’

If that was the case, Kim Jinsung was making the worst possible choice.

‘What are you going to do? I won’t get tired in the ring today!’

Even the lowest grade of a typical stamina potion would last at least 2-3 hours.

And 2 hours was more than enough time to keep fighting vigorously for over 10 rounds.

‘Just try to last until the 10th round! If you can last that long!’

Ding ding ding!

Soon the bell rang again, and the referee announced the start of the second round.

Go Junkyung charged immediately, just like the start of the first round.

As he swung his fists widely, Kim Jinsung stepped back again.

But this time, he didn’t just retreat.

He quickly landed a punch in Go Junkyung’s exposed side.

“Ooh! He hit him!”

“But he looks totally fine?”

As the audience reacted, Go Junkyung seemed unfazed and continued his charge without stopping.

Even after Kim Jinsung landed a few more hits, the result was the same.

“What’s this? Is that all the punch power ‘One Punch Man’ has?!”

Mocking him, Go Junkyung pressed the attack even more arrogantly than before being hit.

The crowd began to stir.

“The One Punch Man’s punch didn’t work!”

“Didn’t he usually finish with one punch?”

“As I said, it doesn’t work on Go Junkyung! I told you so!”

Kim Jinsung’s powerful punch, which could be said to be his only advantage over Go Junkyung, was having no effect. This was practically an emergency for those rooting for Kim Jinsung.

“No way, does that make sense? Was Go Junkyung’s toughness always that strong?”

Among them was Representative Jo, who was now shouting excitedly, regardless of the spectators around him.

“Calm down, boss. He hasn’t been hit in the jaw yet…”

“What does the jaw have to do with it?! Are his ribs made of different material than his jaw?! The others were smashed with one hit, why is he fine?!”

The only person who could respond to Representative Jo’s outburst was one man: Representative Baek.

‘He must have taken a muscle enhancement potion.’

Baek had noticed that the muscles in the area where Kim Jinsung’s punch had landed on Go Junkyung’s side were reacting much more elastically than normal muscles.

That was the typical body of someone who had taken a muscle doping potion.

‘At this rate, Kim Jinsung will have a hard time… I’m curious to see what solution he comes up with.’

However, it didn’t seem like Go Junkyung had the upper hand for sure.

Baek Jun had a feeling that Kim Jinsung, as he had seen him so far, would have brought a solution.

Thwack!

Then another punch from Kim Jinsung landed on Go Junkyung’s jaw.

But,

“See! He’s fine!”

As Representative Jo exclaimed, Go Junkyung seemed to have no damage at all.

In fact, Go Junkyung wasn’t hurt.

“What was that just now? It wasn’t even ticklish?”

The pain he felt at the hit site was truly bearable, and even that sensation quickly disappeared due to the effects of the adrenaline potion.

“Is that all? Is that all you got? Hit me! Hit me harder!”

Go Junkyung, now even more confident, provocatively dropped his guard completely.

‘If you want…’

Kim Jinsung, as if talking to himself, suddenly changed his movement.

‘The skill “Awakened Fighter” has been activated.’

▷ When “Awakened Fighter” is activated, strength and agility stats temporarily increase slightly. It continuously consumes mana while activated.

He had activated a trait he had acquired from Kang Kyungmo.

The effect was tremendous.

Go Junkyung couldn’t even react until Kim Jinsung’s punch hit his jaw.

The destructive power was on a different level than before.

Thud!

With a dull sound, Go Junkyung fell backward for the first time.

“What?!”

“He’s down!”

“The punch worked!”

The audience rose to their feet in unison.

At that moment, while everyone, including Representative Jo and the VIP members, was in a state of excitement, only Baek Jun remained seated, calmly assessing the situation.

‘My prediction was correct.’

This scene confirmed it. Until now, Kim Jinsung had been taking time to fully understand Go Junkyung.

‘But why did he use his skill before his opponent?’

Baek Jun didn’t miss the moment Kim Jinsung swung his fist, his eyes slightly changing to a blue color.

Realizing that Kim Jinsung had used a skill, Baek Jun was puzzled.

‘This will put Kim Jinsung at a much greater disadvantage going forward.’