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4. Changgong Lee, Getting Ready for His Debut! <3>
“I’m working hard.”
“Here, your list of matches.”
Kiryong handed over a document. Changgong rushed over with eager eyes.
It was the list of matches that confirmed his registration into the Golden Glove Interleague. He was in the welterweight class, a weight class of under 77.1 kg.
“How much do you weigh right now?”
“82 kg.”
He had lost 3 kgs since the start.
Kiryong nodded.
“As you can see for yourself, there are 16 entrants. The matches start in two months, and if you make it to the semifinals, you’ll enter the Final Grand Prix after two weeks.”
“Yes……”
Although Changgong had agreed, he still felt a bit troubled.
According to Kiryong, he would have to first fight in two matches back to back, and then two more again after 2 weeks. The schedule was tight. Would his body last?
“Are you feeling the pressure?”
Kiryong asked sensing Changgong’s insecurity.
“Honestly, yes……”
“Then win. If you want to be recognized as a real athlete you’ll just have to hurry up and make it into the pro league.”
“I understand.”
“Keep up the good work.”
Kiryong went into the office.
“Seems like your matches got scheduled. Congratulations.”
Dongsub spoke.
“It’s called a league, but it’s actually a tournament.”
“It’s the Grand Prix. The rules are basically a tournament.”
“Do pros enter, too?”
Dongsub approached Changgong and looked at the match program.
“Four of them. Him and him, and him and him. They seeded them to make them fight in the semifinals and finals.”
“Then my first opponent……”
“Kisub Kim. A pro. He’s about exactly average in the Golden Glove Pro league.”
“……he’s strong.”
“Yup.”
You might think he’s pretty weak being average in the pro league, but you’d be totally wrong. Anyone who trained in martial arts even for a hobby is stronger than normal people. People who can become pros from among those people are about 1 in 20. He’s average, so he would be in the top 2.5% of everyone doing martial arts in his same weight class. Of course, that’s just a number.
Changgong was up against such a strong opponent for his debut match, yet he was excited. He enthusiastic just from being able to debut in an official match.
“But um…… I get money, right?”
“Fight money? Of course. That’s the most important part.”
“How much?”
“I’m not sure. The official announcement hasn’t come out. I think the  winner got 50 while the base was 30. It’ll probably be the same this year.”
“Are the units in ten thousand wons?”
“Yeah, what else?”
“Freakin’ cheap! Only 500 thousand won for winning after months of training? People like Mayweather get paid like millions.”
“You think you can be compared to Mayweather?”
“I’m just saying. I thought they would at least give a million won.”
Changgong actually lowered the amount he had expected.
He really though it would at least be 2 million won.
How could they get a measly 500 thousand won for a match after they trained themselves to the ground for months? The only good news was that they still gave 300 thousand won even if you lost.
The 500 thousand wasn’t even simply 500 thousand either.
First, 1 percent went to health insurance, and about 3 percent went to a withholding tax or something. Then, 30 percent would go to the manager (the gym) with a total of about a 34 percent deduction.
He would receive about 330 thousand won after subtracting about 170 thousand won. If he happened to lose……he didn’t even want to think about it. Even the army wage was better than this.
“I told you before, right? It’s rare for even pros to be able to support themselves with martial arts alone, that’s why everyone has a different job. Office work, part-time at a cafe, or a restaurant. Do you think they do that for fun?”
Changgong’s face contorted.
“Well, if you become the level of a champion of a major stage like the X-1 life gets pretty nice. There’s differences, but if you add the win money, sponsor advertisement, and pay-per-view on top of the fight money that’s around 10 million won by itself, it comes out to about 40-50 million.”
“40-50 million?”
“You could also get paid by the ticket, too. Suppose you sell 300 at about 50 thousand a ticket, you’d get about 15 million won, right? After just two fights and sponsor money, nine figures is nothing.”
Changgong’s face lifted slightly. This guy was too easy to read.
“Why, you feeling greedy?”
“It’s not bad.”
Dongsub grinned. This guy was dreaming big before he even debuted.
This would be good motivation for the young Changgong. He wouldn’t whine about the training being difficult for a while now.
“Then let’s get back to it. Let’s go again!”
Slap, slap! Slap!
“Ack! Bastard! Wait for me to put the mitts on!”
“Good job everybody!”
Today’s exhausting schedule was over.
Because Changgong was preparing for his debut, the cleaning and closing up went back to Doyoon. Changgong packed his things and left the gym.
It was when he got off the bus on the corner of his home.
“……”
There were two men in gym clothes leaning against the street light absentmindedly.
It was too dark to make out their faces, but their auras were intense.
Changgong quickly tried to leave the alley.
“Hey!”
One of the men called to him with a low voice.
“Where’re you going in such a hurry?”
“I’m going home.”
“Come over here, kid.”
The larger of the two grabbed Changgong by his shoulder.
“I don’t have any money.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t carry money with me.”
“Why don’t you?”
“I don’t have anywhere to spend it……”
“Why don’t you have anywhere to spend it?”
“I only go to work and back home……”
“Why do you only go to work and home?”
The two men snickered. Changgong felt something off and slightly raised his head.
“Oh……!”
“Bastard, you scared?”
It was his school friends, Cheonkyu Kim and Seungcheol Park.
Changgong gaped like a fish, unable to say anything.
His friends had never contacted him since he was expelled. But now, they were in front of his house. He was both happy to see them and surprised.
“What’s up?”
“What do you mean what’s up, bastard. You never contacted us after you changed your phone number, so we just came to you directly.”
Cheonkyu spoke.
Changgong felt thankful and sorry simultaneously.
He had been thinking of contacting them, but he was so busy he hadn’t found the time to. But they had waited for him, not even knowing when he would be back.
He became emotional.
“What’d you do about after school?”
Changgong asked.
“We ditched it. Your body looks good. What have you been doing lately?”
“I started a sport.”
“A sport? What sport?”
“Mixed martial arts.”
Cheonkyu and Seongcheol looked at each other.
“Why mixed martial arts all of a sudden?”
“It’s a long story. I already have matches scheduled.”
“Already?”
“I’m going to have my debut match at the Hanyang University Olympic Gymnasium in two months.”
“Fuck, wow. Are you going to a be a pro fighter then?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Changgong answered, embarrassed.
“Do you get tickets when they come out?”
“I’ll get some for you guys.”
Unless you were the main or co-main event or it was a major stage, the fighters actually didn’t get any free tickets to give out. The fighters had to buy them themselves.
These guys wouldn’t know that and asked for them easily. But two tickets shouldn’t be too bad.
The three moved their location to the park nearby and spent the time talking about mundane things. The guys smirked as they flattered Changgong saying things like, ‘You’ll do well since you fought so well in the streets,’ or ‘Don’t forget us when you make it big.’
It was a complete waste of time if you really thought about it.
But for Changgong, that waste of time was extremely pleasant.
He had been lonely.
He had been interacting with nice people all the time, but he hadn’t been able to act like himself with no walls up like he could with these two.
His true friends who had stretched out their hands first.
He didn’t think he would be moved from something like this, but as embarrassing as it was to admit, he was getting emotional in front of his friends.
“Good luck. We’ll be there to cheer you on.”
Cheonkyu spoke.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“We’ll be going, then.”
“Be careful on your way home.”
And thus, the short reunion after a month and a half came to a close.
Changgong sent a message to the two guys as he head into his home.
Thanks. You two mean so much to me.
Kakaotalk! A reply came.
What’re you saying, you moron 凸( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“……”
Yeah, this was what friends were for.
***
It became midsummer before he knew it.
There was half a month before the Golden Glove Interleague Grand Prix, and Changgong’s training was focused around Jiu jitsu, his weakest area.
First, he warmed up his body by crawling on both arms, moving with his ankle hooked behind the back of his partner’s knee, and jumping while his opponent hung onto his waist.
After that was some light sparring.
His opponent was Jungtae Kim who had successfully won his debut match at the earlier Golden Glove Pro League.
“Where do you want me to twist you today?”
“……please go easy on me. There’s nowhere on my body that isn’t sore.”
“You’re as big as a bear, but you sure fuss a lot.”
“There’s only half a month until my match.”
As if he was getting revenge for the past sparring match, Jungtae did not go easy on Changgong at all. He knew he wasn’t on the same level in jiu jitsu, but Changgong was feeling frustrated from being unable to win even once for over a month.
Following the orders of his jiu jitsu coach, Hyukchan Kwon, Changgong attacked first from a standing position. Changgong boldly rushed into Jungtae and grabbed both his arms.
He had decided on this move after some deliberation. Even Jungtae wouldn’t be able to perform a technique with his arms tied.
That was a big mistake.
Tap.
“Huh?”
Jungtae used his right foot to push Changgong’s left knee that had been supporting him. Changgong let go of Jungtae’s arm and supported himself with his left hand as his body tilted to the side.
Using that opening, Jungtae dug his arm into Changgong’s right armpit and moved behind him, putting Changgong into a chokehold in a single beat.
The rear naked choke.
It was Jungtae’s specialty, a move where he took control of his opponent’s back and choked his opponent by the carotid arteries.
Changgong flapped like a fly as he tapped out.
“You really suck on the ground. What’re you going to do during the match?”
Jungtae provoked Changgong.
Changgong, who had been bent over coughing, quickly got up and flared his nostrils.
“This is only the beginning. Let’s continue.”
“As long as you want.”
Changgong went at Jungtae with conviction.
He lost 10 times in a row.
“This is a scam!”
Changgong yelled out as if he was convulsing.
He was much stronger and weighed over 10 kgs more.
But he still couldn’t win even once after going at him hundreds of times. He didn’t even think of winning anymore, he couldn’t even defend himself properly.
“Okay, let’s change positions.”
Coach Hyukchan, who had been watching, spoke.
This time Jungtae would be the top, while Changgong was on the guard (the defending stance with one’s back on the floor) position.
Would anything be different in the guard position?
From the start, Jungtae got into Changgong’s space, lifting both of his legs to spin 180 degrees and get into the 69 position Changgong liked so much.
It was the north-south position in jiu jitsu.
As Changgong was taken aback, Jungtae jumped up again and returned to his starting position to get into a full mount.
“……This is so unfair.”
“Are you going to say that during a match, too?”
“Go a little easy on me! You’re a grappler!”
“Why’re you guys chatting during a spar!”
Hyukchan yelled. Jungtae shrugged his shoulders and began started playing around with his hands.
Changgong rolled his eyes around as he tried to get his hands out to save his life. This person would always throw out a technique once he got a hold of his hands.
And just as predicted, Jungtae grabbed Changgong’s left wrist.
Changgong tried to get his left arm away in fear.
But that had been a fake.
Jungtae changed his hold to the right arm while wrapping the back of his left knee around Changgong’s neck before using his groin as a lever to twist Changgong’s arm.
It was the armbar, also known as cross choke.
“Ack! Tap! Tap!”
Changgong tapped out within 10 seconds and lost 10 rounds in a row just like before.
“Aren’t you working him a bit too hard?”
The youngest coach, Doyoon, spoke.
“He has to experience the scariness of grapplers so he becomes wary of them.”
Dongsub answered.
Changgong and Jungtae stood facing each other.
Changgong was getting his ass kicked in the standing position, too. He could have gone a little easier on Changgong, but Jungtae was throwing Changgong around like a dummy.
“Changgong doesn’t seem to have much talent for grappling.”
“It’s only the beginning.”
“Wow, he got caught in the standing arm lock (twisting the elbow in the standing position). There’s actually people who get caught in that technique.”
“……Well, he’s still a beginner. That’s understandable.”
“And the standing neck choke, too. Jeez, he’s like a scarecrow.”
“……”
Maybe he really has no talent.