After an hour had passed, the man finally left. During that time, Noah Park, who had already forgotten about the incident he was involved in before arriving, was struck by anxiety once again. He paced around the room with his hands on his hips, scratching his head.
He was not sure what emotions were washing over him. Was it genuine anxiety from the fear that he might have killed someone, or that he could be arrested? Or was it disgust at himself, at how easily he had been able to harm someone without feeling anything at all?
The door opened and Soo Jang walked in. "What's with all the pacing? Your results are pretty good. I'll need to review a few things and make some adjustments before I give you your new routine."
Noah turned around and let out a sigh. "Alright, sounds good to me…"
Soo tilted his head, his expression growing more serious. "Something's off. Your cortisol levels were pretty high during the first test. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Perfectly fine…" Noah paused. "Ah, what do I do…?" he muttered.
"What do you do about what?" Soo asked.
Noah ignored him, staring at the floor as if he were having a full conversation with himself somewhere else. Soo walked over and slapped him on the back.
"It's obvious something's wrong. Tell me what happened."
Noah snapped back to reality, swallowing the excess saliva in his mouth. "W-well… you see, on my way home today, I ran into some people…"
Soo sighed. "Let me guess. You think you might have killed one of them?"
Noah looked up at him with a shocked, fearful expression. "H-how did you know? Is there some kind of alert out there?"
Soo cut him off. "No, nothing like that. I just knew a day like this would come. All I'll say is that you don't need to worry about it."
"I don't need to worry about it? How does that make any sense? How do you expect me not to worry about killing someone?"
Soo sat down in a chair and twirled a ring of keys in his hand. "Exactly like I said. Don't worry. It's not something you can control. Whether you killed him or not, they were planning on killing you or at least leaving you nearly paralyzed. It's survival of the fittest. Tell me exactly what you did and how he looked afterward."
Noah explained the entire encounter, recalling every detail he could remember.
"Hmm… no, he definitely isn't dead," Soo said. "If you heard sirens in the distance, they probably got to him before he bled out. How fast was he bleeding?"
"Not that fast, I guess, but that-"
"Then he isn't dead. Simple as that," Soo interrupted. "Don't fret over small details. The world you're stepping into is far more dangerous and exhausting than that. You won't even have the time to worry, even if you wanted to."
"World?" Noah asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, world," Soo said with a yawn. "And not the usual one. You're going to be dragged into it regardless because you're associated- I mean, because of how you look. Tough guys will see your physique and want to fight you. Envious men will gang up on you out of jealousy. Drunk or angry people will try to stab you with a knife or a broken bottle. And that's not even counting the martial arts tournaments people will try to recruit you into."
Noah let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Maybe he really had been overreacting.
"Well, I'll have your training regimen ready by next Monday," Soo continued. "It'll be much harder, but it'll be worth it. It'll also help you understand your limits and control your strength so something like this doesn't happen again. Still, you'll never truly know how strong you are if you only ever spar with me."
They walked out of the room together, and Noah grabbed his bag.
"Alright, alright," Noah said. "But it's not like I can spar with just anyone. The rest of your clients here are old guys who wouldn't be able to keep up with me even if they tried. I only needed one glance to know that."
"That guy could beat you," Soo scoffed.
Noah turned around, laughing. "Yeah right. He was moving slower than a turtle."
"That's because we were working on mechanics and perfecting his form," Soo replied, tapping Noah on the shoulder. " Come back at this time next week and I'll let you see. He's been a client of mine for a few years now."
Noah opened the door, the bell above it jingling, and waved back. "Alright. I'll be back next week, then."
Outside, the evening air felt heavier than Noah expected.
The city was loud. Cars passed by in uneven unsettling rhythms, people talked over one another, footsteps echoed against concrete. It was normal, yet it felt louder than usual. Noah adjusted the strap of his bag and started walking.
Someone brushed past him. A drunk man, judging by the stagger in his steps and the sour smell on his breath.
"Watch it," the man muttered.
Noah stopped without thinking, his body tensed, muscles coiling instinctively. He thought about what Soo had just said and worried the drunkard may stab him.
The man kept walking by, unaware and unbothered.
Noah stood there for a moment longer watching the man walk away before forcing himself to relax. His shoulders dropped, and his heartbeat slowed back to normal.
He exhaled and continued on his way.
A few blocks later, the noise faded into the background, replaced by his own footsteps as he approached and stopped at his front door. He looked at his hands and they were still trembling.
Noah clenched his fingers into a fist, then slowly loosened them. "I won't let that happen again," he told himself.