Chapter 19 - Chapter 19

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Translator: 8uhl

Chapter: 19

Chapter Title: Sparring Showdown

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Lee Dong-soo finished his 30-minute run and headed over to the coach.

"Dong-soo."

"Yes."

"I'll tell you what to watch out for during sparring. Sparring is all about checking your technique and improving your skills—it's not about taking your opponent down."

Dong-soo looked up at the coach, thinking to himself.

Man, if he'd been born back in the old days, he'd be a bandit leader for sure.

"...So keep your manners in check and don't get too heated. Don't go all out either. Got it? You listening?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course."

He hadn't heard a word.

Eh, just treat it like a practice match, I guess.

Lee Dong-soo was still young, but as a pro athlete, he had solid sportsmanship.

Even if he had some cheeky thoughts now and then.

"Alright, let's spar with those guys once they're done. In the meantime, think about the techniques you want to practice. You haven't learned much yet, though."

"Yes, sir!"

"Good!"

The coach ruffled Lee Dong-soo's hair as he spoke.

"So, who do you want to spar with?"

The fighters training at this gym loved games too.

After virtual reality games hit the scene, martial sports were predicted to be the first industry to go under. But as VR exploded in popularity, interest in martial sports surged right alongside it.

The flashy skill battles in games and the raw, bloody fights in reality weren't substitutes—they complemented each other.

And above all, VR games were just plain fun for martial artists.

That made Lee Dong-soo hugely popular in the gym.

Among the guys, a dude who was killer at games was basically a god.

And a friendly 18-year-old pro gamer who'd snagged world No. 2 in the hottest game?

Hard not to get chummy.

So the coach wasn't worried.

"Pick whoever, no pressure. Everyone'll go easy on you."

Your sparring partner mattered most.

If they didn't match your level properly, you gained nothing from it—and injury risk shot up.

And if your partner was way more skilled and a jerk?

Pang! Pang!

The sparring match was in full swing where they were looking.

The coach watched with a pleased smile that turned into a resigned grin.

Jin Seo-jun.

That madman's back after ages and he's stomping the newbie flat.

Stressed out again, huh? I keep telling him to dodge the guy.

The coach recalled the past, watching the cocky rookie—brimming with pro debut confidence—get toyed with by Seo-jun.

Should've known when that handsome high schooler who looked just like his dad slinked up and spouted nonsense like, "Teach me some modern martial arts," totally out of place for that face.

Should've clocked him as a lunatic right then.

If Dong-soo was the cute little bro everyone wanted to mess around with, that guy was...

A stinging nettle.

The coach nodded to himself, pleased with the perfect metaphor.

Touch it, get stung. Innate talent from who-knows-where.

No, even leave it alone and it'll come sting you.

Today alone, he'd shown up after forever, skipped his workout, loitered around the fighters dropping unsolicited advice, and ended up fighting a clueless newbie.

Good thing the vets stepped in. Seo-jun doesn't know the meaning of restraint.

The coach glared at the other fighters who hadn't stopped the newbie.

They were watching the ring like it was a fire across the river, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Gotta cheer the kid up later.

The coach sighed and glanced sideways.

Then he saw Dong-soo's gaze fixed on Seo-jun and felt a twinge of unease.

No, not that guy.

You gain nothing sparring him, even if you take the hits.

No matter how much unsolicited advice Seo-jun gave or how he toyed with everyone using his freakish skill, the gym never kicked him out for one reason.

The fighters who actually took his advice improved.

Not because his dad's a sucker who enrolled the whole family here, or to lure the kid into our world someday.

Nope.

Think about it: nettles have stinging spines on stems and leaves, but strip those away and you get a nutrient-packed plant with tons of uses.

To the fighters, Seo-jun was useful.

But to Dong-soo right now? Pure stinging nettle, spines and all.

Sure, Seo-jun never messed with regular folks outside the fighters first, but that was only if they didn't poke first.

"What about that hyung over there?"

The words no one wanted to hear slipped from Dong-soo's mouth.

The coach desperately averted his eyes and pointed at someone else.

"Oh, that guy?"

The coach's voice crawled like ants marching.

"Nah, who're you pointing at? He's way different."

Dong-soo scratched his head sheepishly.

"Just that hyung sparring over there. First time seeing him—rude to ask?"

"Yeah! Super rude and improper. Ask someone you know. Or I can do it."

Long time since he'd held pads, but sparring too? Fine.

The coach sighed inwardly in relief.

Meanwhile, Dong-soo felt deep regret.

Because he'd seen that Jin Seo-jun streamer's videos, and even Shin Ha-yeon was impressed.

Min-hyun hyung made such a fuss, and Ha-yeon noona was blown away?

Dong-soo couldn't accept it.

He was already planning to boot up Assassin's Dawn that afternoon and recreate Seo-jun's plays exactly.

Park Min-hyun was his respected teammate, and Shin Ha-yeon his idol.

Them acknowledging some outsider? Infuriating.

And now a chance to crush him in real life, no game needed—and passing it up?

"Eh, nothing to be done."

If it's rude.

"Then you do it, Coach."

Dong-soo shook it off quick, ran through the moves he'd learned the past two weeks, and prepped for sparring.

The coach smiled warmly, fetched protective gear, and corrected his stance.

The wholesome vibe lingered.

Until that guy showed up.

Someone approached them.

The coach confirmed who and sighed, glancing at the ring.

The newbie stared blankly into space, shell-shocked.

And the scary bastard calmly removing his headgear, face serene and sweat-free.

"Hey. Overheard you earlier—wanna spar with me?"

The coach heard his plan to lock in the pro gamer clientele shatter through Dong-soo.

"Oh? Hell yeah. You're Seo-jun hyung, right?"

"How'd you know my name?"

"Watched your stream. Can I call you hyung?"

Seo-jun hadn't realized collab reach was this big. Instant recognition?

"Sure, whatever."

"No break?"

"Straight in."

They climbed into the ring.

"Hyung, you're pretty good at games, huh? Not as good as me, though."

"Yeah. But... who the hell are you?"

Dong-soo provoked Seo-jun.

But it barely registered. He didn't even know who Dong-soo was.

Even if he did, no big deal.

Dong-soo froze in shock, wondering if Seo-jun had flipped the provoke—but remembered he'd only started gaming three days ago and steeled himself.

"I'll tell you after I win. You'll be honored later."

"Cool. Here I come?"

Seo-jun jabbed the instant he finished speaking. Dong-soo took it to the face and thought.

Sparring's about manners, right...?

Thwack!

That day.

Realizing it was impossible IRL, Assassin's Dawn got added to Dong-soo's game library.

Seo-jun and his dad, Jin Ha-jun, were walking home from the gym together.

They lived next door—technically in Ha-jun's building.

Reason? His wife wanted to keep their son from bolting independent the second he turned adult.

They compromised: Ha-jun offered the place next door at half price.

The landlord's opinion? Irrelevant.

"Seo-jun, why didn't you go easy? Kid looked like a regular joe."

How many fighters had he driven off already?

So heartless.

"He's fine. His footwork showed real talent—pro fighter level. Probably bulking up."

Dong-soo never revealed he was a pro gamer to Seo-jun.

"Really? Streaming going well?"

"Yeah."

"Your mom opposed it hard at first, but now that it's 'safe,' she doesn't nag like before. Streaming's tough to make it, though, right?"

Ha-jun heard from Tae-woo.

New streamers struggled to snag even one viewer.

"Here's a pro tip from Dad: try StarCraft. PC games are booming again—you'd own that blue ocean. Whaddya think?"

FYI, Ha-jun was a diehard PC gamer.

Not recommending to keep his kid from capsules out of danger fears.

And PC games weren't booming.

"Is that really trending?"

"Whatever. So how many viewers?"

"Last time was 440. Tonight when I go live..."

Ha-jun choked at 440 viewers.

"Followers at 3,000, so at least 1,500 should pop in."

"Cough!"

Ha-jun spat his coffee at the shockingly high number.

"Why so many?"

"Dumb luck."

Seo-jun's followers doubled from 400s post-collab to 1,000 right away.

Then Lee Soo-han clipped the highlights into YouTube Shorts.

Those Shorts hit No. 15 in gaming trending, adding 2,000 more followers.

YouTube power in action.

"How lucky you gotta be... You didn't do anything weird for attention, right? Mom'd snatch your capsule in a heartbeat."

Ha-jun shuddered.

"You think I'd do that?"

"No, but..."

Still, 3,000 followers fresh off the blocks? Insane.

1,000 was the bare minimum Seo-jun and Tae-woo figured.

Before starting, Seo-jun checked the community.

It was flooded all day with posts about him and Alpaca from the collab fallout.

He scrolled to the collab start time and dove in.

Seo-jun scrolled down to later replies.

Every post had 30+ recs.

No more trashing Seo-jun for obscurity.

At least in this community, he had majority awareness.

But then.

-lolololol Seo-jun check this

Tae-woo linked a downvoted, blinded post.

Seo-jun clicked to view.

Serious long post, but TL;DR: His Grain vision in-stream is dubious, no one else sees it.

Claims he's at minimum a dev or hacker.

Obviously BS, downvote nuked it—but the link showed a few similar posts.

Seo-jun burst out laughing.

"Get famous and they'll nitpick something else~."

Tae-woo's words rang true.

And "dev" sounded plausibly shady.

Grinning, Seo-jun reported it on the Assassin's Dawn site, hopped in his capsule.

Set stream title, hit go live.

Day 3 and I'm doing a clarification stream?

Silly thought.

Not even a real one.

Wonder how many'll show.

Seo-jun's lips curled in anticipation.

About a minute in.

Viewer count blew past their minimum guess in seconds, chat exploding.

Seo-jun greeted them.

"Haha. Hey, everyone."

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