152 First Round

[Yuito's POV]

Amidst the thundering crowd, I only saw my opponent.

Munseoung Kim.

My blood boiled in excitement and I wasted no time as I quickly walked towards the octagon. The doctors did a check-up on me like before and then I was allowed inside the cage.

That was when I came eye to eye with Munseoung. The guy was looking at me with firm and hardened eyes.

You could feel that he was not playing around. He was dead serious about beating me. No matter what.

'Excellent.' I threw a smile on my face and walked around the octagon. I kept my eyes on him.

"NOW!! THE FIGHT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!" The announcer screamed at the crowd and said a few more phrases to get the audience worked up.

I was jumping up and down, my heart was thumping in my chest and I felt the gaze of a thousand people on my back.

The referee came forward and called us towards the center of the octagon. Museoung and I had a staredown while the referee told us the rules and wished us luck.

You could tell just from his eyes how different he was from the others I have fought before. While others show aggression and try to convey malicious intent, he is just stone-cold.

Like he was holding back instead of trying to show how dangerous he was. His eyes were just steel walls that showed nothing but resilience. Holding something behind

"Back to your corner." The referee told us and we went back to our corner.

The announcer and the cameramen quickly left the octagon and the cage was finally closed. Initiating the start of the match.

*Ting!!*

And with the bell, the match started.

*WOOOSH!!*

Maybe I was too excited or maybe it's because I have finally found a worthy opponent after so long.

I blitz towards Munseoug the moment the bell rang and leaped at him with a flying knee. My aim stayed true and my knees did not stray from the path that leads to his face.

But he managed to jump away to the side and I couldn't change direction while jumping in mid-air. My knee landed on the steel net of the octagon and the net caved in under my momentum.

Leaving permanent damage on the net, I turned to my opponent. Taking the chance where my feet were off the ground, Munseoug sent a kick to my body.

The kick would not be avoidable as my feet were not on the ground. And I was in the middle of falling to the ground, I was falling to the kick rather than away from it.

I smiled.

I used my hand to grab the top of the fence and using it as an anchor, I pulled myself up so I never fell into the kick.

Planting my feet on the steel net, I pushed myself off and did a backflip. The crowd goes wild seeing such a perfect choreography of exchange.

I landed on my feet and immediately took a few steps back, expecting Museoung to come at me but he didn't. He observed me carefully and I could tell from his eyes that he had a plan.

'What are you planning?' I wondered. I was curious to know what strategy he was going to use against me.

{Do we have a strategy?}

Museong put up his guard and he even bent forward so that he would expose less of his body. From his posture alone, you could tell he was playing defensive.

He was like a turtle as he slowly strutted towards me.

'Of course, we have a strategy.' I said while getting into a karate stance. 

The best way to get through defense was always speed. Find an opening and fill it up as quickly as possible. 

Of course, you could also try to overpower him with Muay Thai but I was not very fond of the idea of getting into such an intense battle in the first round.

{What's our strategy?}

I smiled, and the image of a certain pink-haired guy came to my mind.

'Left-right, goodnight.'

{So we have no plan of attack!!} He paused,

{Please don't use any Iron Man reference.}

I did anyways, 'I have a plan, attack.''

I began bouncing in my place and stood only on the tip of my toes to be quick and springy. We both came forward and met in the middle of the octagon.

I held back my power but not my speed as I delivered a sidekick to his body. I was so fast that my kick was nothing but a blue. I could see his eyes shook in surprise.

I was pretty sure most people, including him, did not see the attack. That was how fast it was.

But his vitals were well protected and I did no serious damage. But that was never my intention.

*Pakh!!*

Museoung gritted his teeth and I smiled, seeing that my attack worked. I pulled my back my leg and not long after I kicked him again at his thighs.

*Pakh!!*

He stepped forward and tried to catch me with a close-guarded hook but I kicked at his inner thighs again.

*Pakh!!*

It was true that my attacks didn't do serious damage, but I was certain it hurts like hell. When you are kicked with such speed, your body might be fine but your skin would burn as if a bee had stung you.

My thoughts were proven true when the places I kicked immediately reddened with a red mark visible for all to see.

Sure, he guarded himself well to not take damage but you cannot guard yourself from pain. The only question was how long he would be able to endure before he gave up his guard.

*Pakh!!*

*Pakh!!*

*Pakh!!*

I was too fast for him to catch and my attacks were too quick that he could never catch my leg even when he tried. 

"ARGHH!!!" Museoung screamed, not being able to take the pain anymore. He took two huge steps forward and threw a combination of punches.

He lasted only 5 hits. How pitiful.

In response to the incoming combination, I took a step back and my mind measured the distance between us and the speed at which he came at me. In that split second, I deduced where he would be.

Then I spun around, I did not need to see my opponent anymore as my mind had already deduced where he would be. 

I threw a quick backkick toward him. My kick slipped right through his combination of punches and his guard, just as I had predicted.

Then the sole of my foot met his face right at the place where I deduced he would be.

*Pakh*

I hit him.

But...

"Huh?" 

'Why the hell did the ground become the sky?' I felt myself soaring through the air as I thought this.

My feet were off the ground and my body went haywire when it experienced movement not of my control or doing.

*Whoosh!!*

Then I was pulled from the sky back to the ground and the air in my lungs got knocked out when my back slammed against the mat of the octagon.

You don't know how hard the canvas was until you slammed into it like this. It felt as hard as concrete.

My mouthpiece fell out of my mouth.

Museoung had beared through my fast kick with no power and used the chance to grab my leg. He then flung me like a dirty rag and slammed me onto the canvas.

I did not see it happening so my mind lagged behind the incident. And when my mind finally caught up to what happened, Museoung was already on top of me.

As he was about to throw the first punch of many to come, I used all of my strength without holding back to push him off me.

Since he was unable to get into a sable position before, he was easily pushed away and I used that time to quickly get back up on my feet and threw quick strikes at him while he was getting up.

He immediately put up his guard again and I was unable to achieve much with my strikes. He finally threw a jab followed by a power punch.

I parried the jab and blocked against the power punch, or at least tried to.

There are fighters whose punches are impossible to block. It was because they punched so damn hard and because of the small glove we were wearing.

I felt my bone bend under his power and I immediately moved back.

He did not follow up and used the time to get himself together. I got on a karate stance again and I put my hand forward to measure the distance between us.

He was too dangerous.

He seemed to be in no hurry as he came towards me and we began exchanging strikes There were no more sudden attacks as we used the remaining of the first round to test teach other.

I tested his strength, his speed and got myself used to his fighting style and he did the same.

After a few minutes, we have more than 40 exchanges of attacks. I caught him with my strikes a few times but his defense was too good most of the time.

He on the other hand, never got a clean hit on me. The only times he even landed was always on my body. I never allowed my face to be beaten and I don't think I ever will.

You can break my leg but I will not allow you to land a single hit on my face. I am too pretty for that.

Museoung hit like a goddam truck but you could also tell that he was still pulling his punches, which was natural since this was the first round.

*Ting!!*

The first round ended with that bell and the crowd applauded and cheered because of the first exciting round.

The octagon opened up and the crew of the fighters came inside for the break. They put a chair and gave ice and water to Munseoug while the coach went over the match with him.

On the other hand, I did not have such teammates so I sat in one corner and let myself catch a break. It was a tough and intense match that eclipsed all the other fights I had in Japan.

But no matter what, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

.

.

.

I had no teammates. I did not have any friends or close supporters here in Korea.

At least that's what I thought.

But then a familiar scrawny little guy ran inside the octagon while hugging a water bottle, towels, ice, and all other necessities.

He looked funny carrying so many things with his small frame.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud when he quickly made his way over to me.

"What are you doing here Hobin?" I asked while shaking my head.

He had a sheepish smile while handing me a cold bottle of water.

"I can't let my friend fight alone while I watch at my home can I?" He said.

I took the cold water bottle from his hand while flashing a smile. This time it was not of battle lust or excitement but a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

[IMG]

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