It's time to start the new train.
I get down to the darkroom, and the light is turned on and shines on the stage like a spotlight waiting for me to get up there. The difference between the day I first came here and today is that the ropes are in a checkered position. There are 7 strings on the horizontal and 7 strings on the vertical. They are on top and underneath each other and tied up with the top rings, creating a square space for one person to get through each square.
"What is this, Coach?
I ask.
"Get in."
He tells me and I get myself up there.
"I heard that you haven't let him out for a week. Is that true?"
He asks me.
"Yes."
"Mm. Wear this."
He gives the hand wraps.
"Ah!!"
It's heavy.
"Wrap these both hands."
He wants me to wrap the boxing wraps, which are stitched with the weight. I wrap it around while sitting on the stage. And the coach sits across from me.
"Give me your legs."
"..."
I do as he says. He takes out another wrap, wrapping it around my right shin, and the weight is a bit over the ankle. He does the same on the left side.
He grabs my hand and wraps it properly around my wrist, which is very heavy, making it difficult to lift steadily.
"How many kilos each one, Coach?"
"2.5 K-G."
"!!!"
"You're tiny…"
"Yes."
"They're big."
"I know…"
"One punch from them, you're knocked."
"...Yes."
"And you lose…or die."
"..."
"This…will help you more or less…I will tell you the rules of the Murking Match. Listen to me carefully."
"Yes, Coach."
"There are 5 rounds, 4:45 minutes each…The rule is to stay alive for 21 minutes and 5 seconds. And to be only knocked out and only that...then the fight will finish...If you can't knock them out until the last 5 seconds. It's a draw. No counting scores, no evaluation of the performance. Only collapse…You have a 5-minute break after each round."
That's crazy.
'Roelle.'
"That's why every Murking fighter aims to knock out another opponent in the first lap. If not, they must hang their fight each round until the time is up. Because they don't want to have a draw fight and they don't want to lose their body...Imagine you have been punched all over and over until you lose consciousness, and if you don't, you have to hang your ruined body longer."
"..."
Xin...
"No one wants that…And our strategy is just the same as theirs to knock them out in the first round."
"And if I don't."
"You better dodge their attacks until time is up."
"..."
"First, I let you attack for 3 rounds to make them lose. After that, you need only to dodge… Understand? You can not take your body farther than the limit. If you don't want to lose it for the rest of your life."
"..."
"The other reason for the first training I gave you was to see your limits. To test your limits, you should know when it's time and when to keep on going."
"..."
The Murking Match doesn't have many rules. That's why it's wild.
"Are you ready?"
Coach.
"Yes..."
"Get up."
Fuck! It's so heavy I can't even stand straight.
"Use only your strength, Don't let him help. Only let him run in you."
"Yes."
You heard him?
'Um.'
"Stand in the corner, start in the first block. Guard up and move the body to the next block by dodging under the rope. Yes. Move the body to the side, more like a slide to the next. Now, move the body to another side. Use your footstep to the front a bit and switch to another foot. Right foot for the right back side, left foot for the left backside."
"Thud Thud Thud"
"Skip the step and jump a little, like skipping ropes. Yes. Guards up."
"Yes, sir."
"Let the side back touch the rope first, not the arms."
I do what the coach says to me patiently because it's hard to keep the pace and rhythm. Along with keeping my arms up with weights, I have to jump every block, and I have to carry 5 Kgs on my ankles. I do it vertically from the first row to the second row.
"Lower...Dodge lower. Guard up!"
"Yes, Sir!"
My arms are sore.
"Side, side more…Use your core."
"Urgg!"
"Girl, don't lose your guard!"
"Urgg! ahh!"
I scream out while lifting my legs and my fists.
And why this stage is fucking huge all of a sudden.
'Roelle..'
Don't help!
"Last row."
Coach.
"Ah!"
"Thud Thud Thud."
"Ha ha…haa."
"Who says you can stop? Another round."
"Ha..ha.."
"Go go!"
"Yes, sir."
"Keep your pace. Don't focus on the speed yet. Keep the pace, the rhythm, the right blocking and the back's side touches it. Yes. lower."
"Ha..Ha…"
"Guard up!"
"Sorry!"
"Don't ever lose your guard…how much you sore, raise them up!"
"Y..yes..Ah!"
Damn!
"I can't breathe…Ha…Ha..ha—"
"Easy…long inhale, long exhale. Breathe in, breathe out. Next time, you need to control your breathing more. Everything is with the breath, the rhythm. If you know how to control your breath, you can take it more and more. Tomorrow starts with the run. I'll be with you."
"Ha...Yes, Coach."
"Take a good break…and we go again."
In the evening, I'm out of the dark room, and the coach wants me to train upstairs, switching with Emris. Coach takes me to the punching bag zone, but I see a different and unusual kind of punching bag in front of me.
It's a car's rubbles, on top of each other and tied together, hanging on the ceiling, and there are steel wheels inside.
You gotta be kidding me.
"Punch it. Rhythm 1 to 7"
"..."
I raise my fists with those weights on wrists.
"Thug-Thug-Thug-Thug-Thug."
"Harder!"
"Thug!!-Thug!!-Thug!!-Thug!!"
The next morning, I was dragged from the room to outside the Playground. Coach asked me to run after his nephew's motorcycle while I was wearing the weight wrapped around both arms and legs.
His nephew who was riding and the coach was behind him, directing me to breathe and telling me to catch up to him faster.
"I thought you're fast."
"Weight…Weight ha..ha."
I can't even speak.
"Control your breath."
The coach.
"Then, ha…stop...asking...ha."