"What's an easy plan with no results?" Cho Yong-il asked.
"It's about maximizing Jung-ak's strengths," Oh Jung-ryong muttered to himself.
"Right. The cicada fist. It's not easy to land hits on a clingy opponent. In fact, Go Kyung-hee is weak against that sticky fighting style."
"So you're saying to mix dirty boxing and ground fighting?"
"Yeah. Destructive power needs space too. Even if you're not heavyweight, there's not much impact hitting from close range. Since Jung-ak has good stamina, we'll make it an endurance battle."
"It could certainly work out easily..."
"But there's no gain. You're not just going to finish Go Kyung-hee, right? Almost no one among the officials knows your weapon is wrestling yet."
"Come on, I showed it in the neighborhood fights last time."
"Is wrestling just that one move? There are many variables, you judge based on that one action? You have to look at the whole picture."
"I guess..."
"It's important to hide your weapons as much as possible. That's how you create variables."
"So what's the difficult plan that allows for big growth?" Oh Jung-ryong asked Yoon Chang-seon.
"You just saw it. What Oha Matsuri did."
"That pitter-patter play."
"Pitter-patter play? Go Kyung-hee was beaten up the whole first round by Oha Matsuri's diligent play."
"But she got knocked out."
"That's why we need to make sure you don't get knocked out."
"It would certainly allow for growth. But is it possible? Coach Yoon?"
"Jung-ak's physical condition is much better."
"But isn't Oha Matsuri's striking skill much better?"
"That's right. But this isn't a striking battle. It depends on how well you can avoid Go Kyung-hee's one-shot throughout the match."
"So the issue is avoiding?"
"That's right, sir."
"Jung-ak, what do you think? How do you want to do it?"
"Let's go with the second option. The striking part is a mountain I have to climb anyway."
"Alright then. We need to prepare. Coach Yoon, make a proper game plan, and Jung-ak, start training right away."
"Yes."
The match with Go Kyung-hee, the strongest hard puncher in the lightweight division, was set for the end of January. The preparation period was about 2 months and 10 days.
Within that time, they had to equip weapons capable of defeating Go Kyung-hee.
Trying to beat Go Kyung-hee with striking might seem reckless at first glance, but in a way, it wasn't such a reckless endeavor.
Yoon Chang-seon, Cho Yong-il, and Yu Jung-ak were already well aware of their abilities.
Although Yu Jung-ak was still a beginner in striking, only knowing the one-two, his evasion ability was so outstanding that he could be called a veteran.
It wasn't that his guard was good, but simply his ability to dodge was excellent.
This meant he had good eyes and sense.
Players who are slow in this area don't improve easily even with training. However, players with innate talent for evasion often see their abilities improve rapidly with proper training.
Yu Jung-ak was one of those cases.
"Dodge with minimal movement. Don't be scared. If you avoid getting hit properly, you'll definitely make an impact. So dodge smaller, smaller. Why are you keeping such a distance from the jab!"
Cho Yong-il was pushing Yu Jung-ak hard.
Yu Jung-ak was practicing dodging using only upper body movements with his hands tied behind his back. He was sweating profusely.
"Huff. Huff."
Thwack!
Yu Jung-ak thought this was the hardest of all the training he had done so far. At first, he didn't think it would be that difficult.
He thought he just needed to concentrate and dodge well, given his unique ability.
But that wasn't all there was to it.
Cho Yong-il made Yu Jung-ak keep dodging until he reached his physical limit. The theory was that being able to dodge in a state of exhaustion was necessary to dodge in actual combat.
As a result, Yu Jung-ak had to avoid attacks using only upper body movements for all 9 rounds of 5 minutes each. He could use steps to avoid, but if he just backed away mindlessly, Cho Yong-il immediately scolded him.
At first, Yu Jung-ak dodged well, but as his stamina depleted, he started getting hit more often. Even though it was training with headgear and abdominal shields, there was still impact when hit.
Especially in the last round, after Oh Jung-ryong and Joo Hwan-seon did two rounds each, Cho Yong-il himself stepped in, and that was truly hell.
Despite his age, Cho Yong-il was much more painful and faster than the active players. When Yu Jung-ak took Cho Yong-il's punches without guarding, he understood why Cho Yong-il was called a hard puncher.
This wasn't a fist, it was almost at the level of a hammer.
One hit made him feel like his bones were aching.
"Huff. Huff."
"Alright, last round."
"Can you... can you untie this?"
"Stop talking nonsense and put your mouthpiece in properly."
"Ah!"
The last round began. Cho Yong-il started attacking Yu Jung-ak without mercy. Yu Jung-ak concentrated and avoided Cho Yong-il's punches.
"Don't duck! Keep your head up, you fool! Want to get knocked out with one hit to the back of your head?"
Cho Yong-il scolded.
Hitting the back of the head was a foul in any situation. The reason was that such a hit could lead to fatal injuries.
However, it was also an unavoidable foul in standing situations.
Even if one didn't aim for the back of the head, if the opponent ducked their head, they could get hit there. That's why it was important not to show the back of the head in standing exchanges. Of course, if someone hit the back of the head without much movement being shown, it would immediately be declared a foul.
Thwack!
Cho Yong-il's sharp hook hit Yu Jung-ak's forehead. Yu Jung-ak's head shook and he staggered.
Cho Yong-il, not missing this chance, unleashed a series of punches.
They hit Yu Jung-ak's chin precisely. Yu Jung-ak slumped to the floor.
"You fool. How are you going to beat Go Kyung-hee if you can't even handle this?"
Provoked by Cho Yong-il's words, Yu Jung-ak stood up with trembling legs. He glared at Cho Yong-il silently.
Yu Jung-ak had always had outstanding grit.
Cho Yong-il grinned and then started unleashing strikes without mercy again. Yu Jung-ak, though panting heavily, tried his best to avoid Cho Yong-il's punches.
However, with his stamina depleted, it was natural that his body wouldn't move properly. Yu Jung-ak allowed more than half of Cho Yong-il's punches to land.
And through this, Yu Jung-ak was learning a skill.
That skill was minimizing the impact of strikes.
For punches he felt he couldn't dodge, Yu Jung-ak started to meet them with his forehead to reduce the impact. Cho Yong-il's expression contorted as his fist collided with Yu Jung-ak's forehead.
"Right. If you can't dodge, at least change direction. You won't go down if you avoid clean hits."
Yu Jung-ak finally completed all 10 rounds of training.
Usually tireless no matter what training he did, Yu Jung-ak was now almost completely exhausted. Cho Yong-il brought water to Yu Jung-ak, who was sprawled on the floor.
"Do I have to do this every day?" Yu Jung-ak asked.
"Why are you asking the obvious?"
"Won't you go somewhere before that? I feel like something in my face is going to break. Seriously."
"You won't die, kid."
"Uncle, don't you know about punch drunk syndrome? Boxers get it a lot, they say. What if I get that? Don't you feel sorry for your nephew?"
"You're still far from getting punch drunk. Stop exaggerating and let's do 5 more rounds in the evening."
"Ah!"
Yu Jung-ak writhed in agony while Oh Jung-ryong and Joo Hwan-seon laughed.
"I'll beat you up well in the evening too. Think of it as a massage," Joo Hwan-seon said. He was a fighter in a weight class above Yu Jung-ak, who fought in welterweight. Though not very experienced, he had good strikes.
"I'll give you a massage," Yu Jung-ak offered.
"Nah, I'm healthy."
"Even if you're healthy, you should take care in advance. Just try one round of massage."
"No thanks. Hehe."
Oh Jung-ryong chuckled on the side.
'Oh man, I really want to beat them all up for just one round.' This thought wouldn't leave Yu Jung-ak's mind.
December 31st.
There was a scheduled match for Kim So-hee, a member of Team Silence. Most team members decided to go to the arena, but Yu Jung-ak and Cho Yong-il stayed behind. Oh Jung-ryong and Joo Hwan-seon did the same.
"So-hee. Win and come back. Don't get hurt anywhere."
Yu Jung-ak said as he watched Kim So-hee leaving for the arena.
"You take care of yourself. You know your face is no joke, right?"
Kim So-hee said with a smile.
"Tch. You talk too much."
Yu Jung-ak looked at his face as he returned after seeing off Kim So-hee. Bruise marks were still visible. A month of continuous training.
Yu Jung-ak was still only honing basic boxing skills. If there was any consolation, it was that he was properly learning kicks.
The recent trend in MMA was to equip various weapons.
The era of fighting with just one's main weapon, as in the past, was almost over.
Now, it had come to a time when if you weren't perfectly well-rounded, your weaknesses would be exploited.
That was the scary part of MMA.
MMA, which started simply as event-like matches, was now changing into a truly comprehensive martial art encompassing all fighting disciplines.
In the past, MMA was often criticized for using various techniques but lacking in proficiency. Now, such evaluations had long disappeared.
It was an era where even Olympic medalist wrestlers could be overpowered in wrestling.
MMA was developing rapidly year by year.
That's why Yu Jung-ak needed to equip various weapons as soon as possible. While boxing skills were being taught thoroughly from the basics by Cho Yong-il, kicks needed to be learned diversely from now on.
Especially for a tall fighter like Yu Jung-ak, mastering just the low kick could become a great weapon, so it was good to increase proficiency early on.
Yu Jung-ak was slowly learning low kicks, middle kicks, and high kicks classified as head kicks.
Starting with the front leg, which doesn't carry much power.
It would have been much easier to learn with the back leg first, but it was better to properly establish the form starting with the less-used leg.
Especially for a fighter like Yu Jung-ak whose main weapon wasn't kicks, the front leg was much more useful than the back leg.
Not a kick with full body weight, but a kick thrown like a jab after bending the knee.
Given Yu Jung-ak's long reach, just slightly raising his leg when coming in could be a threatening check.
So Yu Jung-ak was recently learning what's commonly called a Taekwondo style kick.
Not a kick that uses the whole leg with full power like in Muay Thai, but a fast and elastic kick. It might not look very powerful, but it's different when you actually get hit.
After all, whether kicked hard or soft, a properly landed kick can result in a KO.
The impact when a slightly raised kick catches the chin is surprisingly strong.
That's why there are cases of KOs from front kicks in actual matches.
"Yu Jung-ak. Did you weigh yourself?"
Oh Jung-ryong asked as he watched Yu Jung-ak coming to the training area. He was stretching. Yu Jung-ak naturally came over next to Oh Jung-ryong and started stretching.
"Yeah. This morning."
"How much?"
"81 kilos."
"I told you to gain more weight. Isn't it increasing?"
"What's the point of just gaining a lot of weight? The important thing is to increase the muscles needed for performance. I've increased my food intake and I'm doing weights, so don't worry."
"But you weren't lifting heavy weights?"
"Is there a need to lift heavy weights to gain weight when it's not urgent? That just increases bulk."
"Then?"
"I can increase it enough with bodyweight exercises."
"To do that, don't you have to exercise all day? Is that possible?"
"I keep doing it during rest time after the daily routine. While watching movies and such. For about one or two hours."
Oh Jung-ryong looked at Yu Jung-ak with a blank expression.
"Can you actually focus on the movie while doing that?"
"It's fine since I do it slowly, thinking of it as loosening muscles. I do plenty of strength training anyway."
"You're a monster too."
"Has Hwan-seon hyung come?"
"Yeah. Did Young-tae go to the arena?"
"Young-tae will probably come early too. He said he'd come right after So-hee's match ends."
Yu Jung-ak continued exercising without rest even at the end of the year. He hardly had any days off. Even on rest days, he never skipped evasion training with Cho Yong-il.
Thanks to this, Yu Jung-ak's upper body movement was improving day by day.
"Alright! Last round!"
Yu Jung-ak breathed heavily. Cho Yong-il and Oh Jung-ryong also looked tired. Cho Yong-il put on gloves and rushed at Yu Jung-ak.
A fast incoming attack.
Yu Jung-ak calmly focused. It was hard because he was exhausted, but he tried not to lose concentration.
Yu Jung-ak was practicing dodging just before the strike landed, as he had trained. It's natural that dodging right before the strike lands gives more time for counterattacks.
Moreover, he was performing well on Cho Yong-il's constant emphasis on dodging with minimal movement.
So Yu Jung-ak tried to dodge as if avoiding a jab for any strike that wasn't too big. First, he read the opponent's attack with upper body movement, if that seemed impossible he used his feet, and if even that seemed impossible, he raised his guard.
These three principles were being imprinted in Yu Jung-ak's mind.
Right now, he was training to avoid attacks using only the most basic upper body movements among these training methods.
Anyone watching might have thought it was crazy, but Yu Jung-ak was capable of it.
Yu Jung-ak was narrowly avoiding Cho Yong-il's punches in his exhausted state. He hadn't allowed a single clean hit yet.
It wasn't an easy feat to dodge Cho Yong-il's punches like that, even if he was past his prime.
In just a month, Yu Jung-ak had reached this level.
"Last 10 seconds!"
Cho Yong-il's uppercut aimed for Yu Jung-ak's chin.
But it wasn't an uppercut. A modified upper. A smash, also called something between a hook and an uppercut. A skill that starts lower than a regular hook and flies diagonally.
It was an attack with the advantage of being hard to dodge because it comes from an unexpected angle. However, this smash required a lot of practice because it's surprisingly difficult to put proper power into it when actually doing it.
Just as Cho Yong-il's smash was about to land properly, Yu Jung-ak quickly turned his body to the side and escaped. Then came Cho Yong-il's left hook flying down like a hammer!
Yu Jung-ak ducked his head and avoided that too. As Yu Jung-ak lowered his head, Cho Yong-il quickly threw a knee kick.
Thwack!
But Yu Jung-ak avoided even that attack by slightly turning his head to the side. Oh Jung-ryong, who was watching, dropped his jaw. He couldn't believe Yu Jung-ak could dodge even such a surprise knee kick.
"Ah! Uncle, what's that?"
"Don't forget kicks can come in real fights too."
"Why are you making fouls!"
As Yu Jung-ak complained, Cho Yong-il lightly tapped Yu Jung-ak's head with his glove.
"This training ends today. Jung-ryong, untie his hands!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, kid. Take a break tomorrow, and from the day after we'll do real sparring, got it?"
"I'll spar with Jung-ryong hyung too, right?"
"Of course."
"What about Hwan-seon hyung?"
"You will. Why?"
"And Young-tae hyung?"
"You will, I said. Why are you asking?"
"What about you, uncle?"
"Me?"
"Yes."
"I'll join in occasionally too, why?"
"I want to taste some punches now too." Yu Jung-ak said, clenching his fist and blowing on his hand.
"You crazy fool!"
Thwack!
Cho Yong-il hit the back of Yu Jung-ak's head.
"Why are you hitting me!"
"Yeah, you like beating up your old uncle that much?"
"Do you know how much I've been hit all this time!"
"Jung-ryong, tie the kid up again. Let's do one more week."
"Yes, understood, sir."
Oh Jung-ryong approached Yu Jung-ak again with the rope.
"Don't come! I'll hit you if you come!"
"Stop messing around! Hwan-seon, grab him!"
"Don't come!"