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3. Into the Octagon <3>
Changgong began speaking.
“I just told you right? I sparred with an athlete. The excitement as we exchanged blows, the excitement when I won, I can still feel it. My heart pounds…… I feel like I’m on top of the world……”
“……”
“It can’t be explained in words. It felt different from ssireum or boxing. It was only sparring, but when I won after giving it my all……I was happy.”
“……”
“You know how some people say, ‘I feel alive?’ I never understood that phrase, but now I do. This is the first time I’ve felt like this.”
The words flowed from Changgong’s mouth. There were no lies. He was being completely honest. He was truly serious.
Seungjeong lied down again and turned his attention back to the TV. He watched the TV like that for a short while before suddenly speaking.
“You have to do it if you want to do it.”
“……That’s all?”
“What else?”
“No, I just thought you’d give me some life advice…… you know, the kind of stuff father’s tell their kids in these kinds of situations.”
“There’s no point in saying that stuff. You live your life yourself.”
“……”
“I’m going to sleep. Don’t wake me up.”
“You’re really going to sleep?”
“……”
“Was I being too dramatic?”
“Look at this bastard here. I said I was going to sleep.”
With that, Seungjeong covered himself with a blanket and turned off the TV.
Changgong sighed heavily having lost steam.
What could he do?
He was happy that he had gotten permission, but he had thought it would be a father and son bonding moment.
‘Whatever, I guess it turned out okay.’
Changgong scratched his head as he head into his room.
Click.
“……”
Seungjeong slowly opened his eyes.
‘That kid’s all grown up. Coming to me for life advice.’
He actually wanted to stop him.
What parent would be fine with their child going around fighting?
But Changgong’s words had persuaded him.
His son may have been a bit clumsy with his words, but Seungjeong could feel the honesty in them.
It wasn’t just a child looking for a new game to play. Changgong, the kid, had the aura similar to that of a man searching for their life path.
How could he block the path his son had found for himself? He was sorry that he hadn’t done more for his son.
It’s always good to try things out when you’re young. Nothing bad would come of it, and maybe even something good would happen.
‘Well, it’s not like he’s going to die.’
Seungjeong closed his eyes.
Like father like son, they both had a difficult time expressing their feelings.
Changgong was playing with his toes in bed.
He would do well.
He had never lost in a fight. The master had said it wasn’t like street fighting, but punching and kicking was the same. If he just trained a little from there, he would become an athlete.
‘I’m going to become a professional, like the people who come out on TV.’
His excitement would not die down.
Changgong suddenly got up and threw a few punches and a knee kick in the air.
‘What if I end up becoming a champion?’
Woof, woof, woof!
A dog’s bark echoed through the moonlit night.
4. Changgong Lee, Getting Ready for His Debut! <1>
“Please take care of me!”
Changgong bowed his head politely to the coaches and the other athletes. Everyone pat his back and encouraged him.
He naturally came face to face with Jungtae.
Changgong felt a little uncomfortable.
Jungtae’s right eye was black. Changgong was the one who had made that eye as swollen as an egg.
Jungtae slapped Changgong on the back and grinned.
“Did you commit a crime? What’s a big guy like you doing cowering like that?”
“It’s just……”
“Good luck. You’ll be a success if you don’t slack off.”
Changgong felt better since Jungtae spoke confidently. Adults really were different.
“Please teach me well, hehe.”
“Teach you? I should be learning from you.”
“You’re embarrassing me……”
“Hahaha.”
***
Not much changed after registering as an athlete. Like usual, Changgong helped Doyoong with menial tasks before training.
Dongsub spoke to him before training started .
“The Golden Glove Interleague Grand Prix will start accepting participants in a month. The matches start in 3 months. You’re entering.”
“Interleague?”
“Unlike boxing, there’s no pro testing in MMA.”
“Then how do you become a pro?”
“The martial arts world generally has 3 leagues: the amateur league, interleague, and the pro league you see on TV.
“Uh huh……”
“Anyone can register for the amateur league. People who register for the interleague usually had their skill recognized in the amateur league. It’s a required process if you dream of going pro. There are no special exceptions.”
“I think I understand. But I can just directly enter the interleague?”
“Normally you would have to enter the amateur league first, but the master pulled some strings.”
……That was a lot of pressure.
Regardless of the sport, an untested amateur shouldn’t be able to step foot onto the grand prix stage.
Comparing it to soccer, it would be as if someone who kicked a ball around in the neighborhood joined a K League team without a test. This wasn’t just pulling strings, this was basically abuse of power.
“Do you think I’m worth the trouble?”
“We’ll see. But anyways, there’s no turning back now. Don’t think too much and run until you’re shitting blood.”
“I’m confident with physical work.”
“I hope you are. Don’t go fainting in the middle.”
Dongsub laughed meaningfully.
Changgong laughed along.
Did he think he’d never worked out before?
How hard could the training be?
‘Fuck……What is this……!’
It was tough.
This wasn’t just tough. This was the first time he thought he could die from exercising.
His first time with crossfit.
It was a full body workout with both aerobic and anaerobic exercises, and was it something.
His heart felt like it would explode when he was finished with the set. He thought he had been through enough endurance training when he did ssireum, but he had almost thrown up while doing this.
20 reps of air squats, 25 swings with a 24 kg kettlebell, 20 meters of walking lunges, all for 3 sets as quickly as possibly.
Air squats were pretty much like normal squats. The kettlebell swings were swinging a kettle shaped weight back between his legs and up above his head, while the walking lunge required him to lunge forward with a barbell on his shoulders.
After 3 sets of those, Changgong’s whole body was sore. He was expecting this much.
But this was just the warm up.
WOD (Workout of the Day). The workout of the day had to be completed in the shortest time possible, and it was hell.
The rowing machine for 700 meters, 30 reps of box jumps, and 30 reps of wall ball shots, squatting and then throwing and catching a 12 kg ball against the wall.
After doing 4 sets of that as quickly as possible, Changgong’s asshole twitched. He should check his underwear. It wouldn’t have leaked, would it?
After completing all sets like that, Changgong sprawled out on the floor.
“How do you feel?”
“I was thoughtless. I don’t think I’m fit to be an athlete.”
“I see you still have the energy to joke.”
Dongsub made a snide remark.
“Then let’s get on with the next stage.”
“Next stage?”
Changgong asked as he got up from the floor.
“This is the same training for all the athletes. If we’re going to make you into an athlete in 3 months, we’ll have to start out intensely.”
“……I don’t think I’m fit to be an athlete.”
“Get up. If you rest now, everything will go to waste. Sangok!”
At Dongsub’s call, Sangok Park, a giant of a coach came over.
“Take Changgong to do the rubber bar.”
“Will he be okay? He’s spent.”
“You’re okay, right?”
Dongsub asked Changgong.
“……I don’t think I’m fit……”
“Take him.”
Before Changgong could even finish his sentence, Sangok dragged him away.
Dongsub checked Changgong’s time.
‘18 minutes 38 seconds.’
The best record written on the whiteboard was 18 minutes 45 seconds. It was set by the youngest coach/athlete Doyoon Kim.
‘We may just create a monster……’
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck-!”
Changgong let out a curse filled kihab.
Changgong was crazily pulling at a rubber bar tied to pillar while wearing a gas mask.
“Stick your butt out!”
“Fuuuck!”
“Straighten your back!”
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck-!”
Called pulling the rubber bar, doing this exercise made his arms and back feel like they were going to fall off. Not lying, someone had actually shit while doing this.
It was only natural to curse.
He had given up on boxing in middle school because of this, and here he was doing it again. And while wearing a gas mask at that.
They say you’ll be gasping for air during a match. This training is to prevent that.
Changgong felt like he was going to faint now before he even made it to a match.
Sangok’s training regiment went something like this:
40 reps of rubber bar pulling, 10 seconds of rest, 20 reps on each side of 10 kg dumbbell curls while running in place, 10 seconds of rest, 15 reps of jumping in place with a heavy weight on his back, 10 seconds rest.
He had to do 10 sets of this while lowering the reps slowly, so how could he withstand this without cursing.
After finally finishing 10 sets of that, steam came out of his arms that had expanded like Popeye’s. His arms were burning enough to fry an egg.
“Cough!”
Changgong threw off the sweat and snot-filled gas mask and lied down on the floor.
“Rest standing.”
Dongsub suddenly appeared and pulled Changgong up. Changgong almost hit him without thinking.
“How is it? You warmed up?”
Is he fucking serious?
Dongsub noticed Changgong glaring daggers at him and laughed.
“Good job, rest for 10.”
“Why only 10 minutes?”
“We’re moving on to the next training.”
“……This wasn’t the end?”
“What’re you talking about. This is just the beginning. We still have to do boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, and wrestling. Once we’re done with that we still have to practice MMA separately.”
“……”
“Don’t look at me like that, kid. What is MMA? Mixed Martial Arts, right?”
Changgong sincerely thought over his decision.
‘I don’t think I’m fit to be an athlete.’
“10 minutes up!”
“I’m going!”
Changgong answered as he jumped up and ran over.
Dongsub and Changgong faced each other in the octagon.
“We’re just going to test the waters for standing wrestling techniques today.”
After having finished two rounds of crossfit from hell, Changgong could only look at him suspiciously.
“There’s something you should know first. The core, your thighs, butt, waist, and abs, are very important in MMA. Lately, the back, neck, and forearms, too.”
Changgong nodded his head.
Changgong understood since the forearm was fairly important in boxing, too.
“So, let’s start with getting control over your opponent by the wrist.”
Dongsub grabbed both of Changgong’s wrists and pushed them behind his body.
“You push with your body. Like this.”
Dongsub then pushed his body into Changgong’s. Changgong could do nothing before he was pushed into the cage.
“As you can see, if your arms are pulled back, you have less power. That’s why your forearms are important. If your forearms are weak, you won’t be able to pull your wrists free nor take control of your opponent’s wrists. It’s even more advantageous if your core is strong, too.”
“Yes, but it kind of hurts……”
“Next is fighting with the head.”
Dongsub pushed Changgong’s face into the wall with his head and tilted Changgong’s head chin up.
“You lose power when your chin is lifted like this, too. It’ll be easier to get in a few punches or knee kicks, and some body hits if you win the head battle. You’d easily be able to grab an underhook or even take it to the ground.”
It’s difficult for a single muscle to generate much power. They had to be connected to the other muscles for explosive power to form.
It really was difficult to use his neck and back muscles now that his neck was dominated.
“Yes, but it kind of hurts a lot……”
“Now, next is how to perform a takedown when you’re pushed against the wall.”
“……”
This guy keeps going even when I say it hurts.