New Cards, Apologising & Surviving

[Attack Card, Boxing - Weave - You can now weave. Current skill rank: F 0/100]

[Defence Card, Karate - Defence - You now know techniques to defend yourself. Current skill rank: F 0/100]

My new cards are pretty good. I do feel bad about being such a creep to Chaerin but what else could I do? Fail the quest and lose all my stuff? I'd rather not, as selfish as that sounds. I mean, I'll apologise to her tomorrow and get a few slaps but that's the most I can do, really. After all, I'm in a world with superhuman teenagers who are supernatural fighters. I need every advantage I can get and if that means making some people uncomfortable...Well, I guess I'm just not that good of a person.

Those thoughts aside, I stood up from my bed and began grinding my skills.

You see, I already knew how to punch. How to do footwork. How to weave away from a hit. While I wasn't the perfect kickboxer in my previous life, I knew enough and had practiced enough that even with a new body I knew how to fight. Yet with these skills...it was like the perfect motions had been burned into my muscle memory.

I pulled on the Jab skill I had and my left fist blurred up and out, stopping when my fist could no longer extend any further. Remembering the motions, I pulled my fist back and threw out another jab, this time without the skill helping me and I felt the difference.

My jab was slightly slower and less sharp than the skill Jab. Whether that was because of the skill magically enhanced the skill or whether my jab was just lacking, I didn't know.

But I wanted to find out.

I alternated, over the next ten or fifteen minutes between using the skill and not using the skill to jab. Comparing both the actions, I began to feel where I was going wrong, the differences between a skill enforced jab and one I naturally pulled off. It was in the gathering of motion.

In boxing, you generate power from your feet, hips and shoulders. All of these twist or move when you throw a punch, adding to the overall force. But the skill-powered jab...didn't follow these rules. It produced the optimal power regardless of my stance or positioning. Now, getting in a proper stance for fighting did increase the damage output but it also meant that even in a bad posture I could still catch someone off guard.

And when I levelled up the Jab skill from F to E, the max damage output and speed of the jab increased. Even the reach of my jab increased, as well as how many jabs I could throw out in a few seconds. Stamina usage also got more efficient with the skill rank up.

With all that practice, I got the skill to D-Rank where it began to stagnate. Most likely because of the lack of use in fighting or sparring. After all, you can't just keep throwing jabs and expect to become a pro boxer - you need experience in using that jab against a real-life opponent for it to become an actually useful tool in a fight.

But even with D-Rank, I quickly found that every jab I now threw was a skill-enhanced jab. Every jab I threw was efficient, fast and sharp regardless of how I threw it. This gave me some much needed...variety. Imagine a blindingly fast jab that can come from anywhere. Imagine thinking your opponent has just lowered their guard and arms, only to be hit by a jab you didn't expect. Knowing this, I began to repeat the same process with the rest of my skills.

All of them except the Karate defence skill card. Not because I didn't want to either but because I legitimately couldn't.

Thinking about it, it was most definitely because it was a defence skill and not an attack one.

I needed to defend against an attack to rank it up. Kinda annoying but not unreasonable.

Even at F-Rank it was pretty useful though. Motions on how to defend, how to block and how to harden my body in preparation for a hit...it was all very useful. By the end of my grinding, all my attack skills were D-Rank outside of the Karate one and then I went outside for exercise. I'd decided to incorporate some intensive cardio into my workout regimen, and it helped that there was an outside exercise park nearby as well.

Plenty of stuff there to do calisthenics with. Especially pull-ups. Don't worry, Biceps, you're gonna get big and strong like the rest of me~!

Pulling on some cheap sneakers, I left the house and began running. I decided on interval training for my cardio - medium pace jogging with some flat out sprints mixed in - and by the time I was at the exercise park, I was sweating buckets. Goddamn, how do athletes do this training all the time?

Despite my internal complaints, I quickly got to doing my workout with a few extra add-ons like pull-ups, leg raises on the same bar as the pull-up one, holding those leg raises for as long as possible, front lever tucks, reverse iron cross push ups--it really just boiled down to six types of exercises that I'd looked up on the internet. Upper body pushing exercises, upper body pulling exercises, knee flexion exercises, single leg exercises, hip extension exercises and core stabilising exercises. If you don't understand what that means? It means every muscle I could exercise, I exercised.

In the end, I was basically dead. But S-Rank Tenacity pulls through again alongside five times recovery speed and I was up and about after ten minutes of rest, where I had a calm walk/jog back home where I got in the shower, had something to eat and had an early night.

And who says having a system makes everything easy, huh? Don't think I've ever worked this hard in either of my lives.

. . .

First things first, in the morning I went to the same exercise park as I did yesterday and completed the same intensive exercise regimen as before, except a tiny bit harder and longer than before. Gotta love that five times progress. Then I got back home, showered again and then got ready for school.

I checked my height and I was nearing the 180 club. I was 179cm tall and my body weight had obviously increased with muscle mass and muscle definition - my face was still kinda the same but still different. More mature looking. A traditionally handsome face whilst still not looking like a pretty boy. Ruggedly handsome the whole way. I guess that's the Adonis skill coming in clutch because you can't be pretty if you're supposed to be the representation of masculinity, right?

Did my mom and sister continue to ask me about my sudden increase in height? Mom, no. Sister, yes. Mom was completely fine to believe me when I said 'growth spurt' but Dahyun? Oh no, that'd be too easy.

She went on her phone for a few hours and came back convinced I was taking Human Growth Hormone--I mean, what? Who accuses someone like that? Little sisters, that's who.

Agents of Satan himself.

I just tuned her out after a while and so did mom. Right now, I was packing my own lunch to lower the burden on mom and also because I knew what I needed to eat to facilitate maximum muscle growth. Lots of protein. Specifically chicken. It's not a traditional Korean lunch by any means, way too bland, but my lunch is packed full of all the good stuff a growing boy like me needs.

For breakfast though I did have something Korean because it's what mom cooked. A lot of bulgogi - barbecued beef strips, basically - a lot of rice, kimchi and other popular Korean side dishes. It was lovely, even if my past English taste buds were much more used to blander food.

With that done and out of the way, I was off to school.

And when I arrived I had my first job of the school day.

"I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. It was caused by a state of delirium brought on by sleep deprivation," I bowed, quite low actually, to Baek Chaerin, who just gave me the coldest glare I'd ever seen. Sub-zero levels of glare. Or would it be Scorpion levels, considering she looks like she's contemplating my death?

First off, she slapped me. I rolled with it, to avoid having her hurt her hand by hitting my perfect jawline. Then she slapped me again. Deserved. Then she went to knee me in the balls and I had to block that, so she slapped me again. Fair, fair. Then she huffed, turned around and walked away.

Everyone around us was looking at me but I couldn't be any less bothered. I'd apologised and it was sincere despite the reasoning being a lie - what else was I supposed to say? 'Sorry, but a mysterious system gave me a mission to be a creep. Had to do it otherwise I'd probably get killed lol'? Yeah, I could say that if I wanted to be branded absolutely bloody insane. I'm okay with just being branded as someone who gets incredibly odd and weird when sleep deprived, thank you very much.

Ignoring the stares, I readjusted my bag and went on my merry way to class. But when I arrived, my mood plummeted.

There he stood, with his cronies. Choi Changdong. And they had backup as well.

I frowned when one of the cockier ones came up to me, sizing me up, "He's bigger than people said. I guess if this fucker knocked you out, it isn't much of a big deal, huh, Changdong?" he mocked as he turned to look at the twat I'd beat the shit out of a few days ago. With all his boys around him, he glared at me, squinting his eyes as if to intimidate me...and yet I wasn't intimidated at all. His nose was covered in a supportive splint and he was sporting a pair of black eyes because of me as well.

He looked pathetic. A spark of anger flooded through my veins at his appearance - you know what I hate? Repeating myself. I told his buddies to tell him to not turn up in front of me. Did they think I was fucking joking?

I walked passed the cocky bastard in front of me, stunning him at a little at my disregard for him being there and walked to Choi Changdong.

"Did those two bastards not get the message across properly?" I asked in a deceptively calm voice, my frown disappearing for a slight and serene smile, "Or did me breaking your nose seem like a challenge for you to come back at me whenever you wanted? Because it wasn't, you thick-headed prick. It was a warning."

"Kim Soohyun, you bastard--!" he was stopped by my hand locking around his mouth and jaw like a vice. He was still a little taller than me but the gap had massively shortened since we last saw each other. His eyes went as wide as they could given their slightly swollen appearance and I audibly shushed him, still smiling.

"Who the fuck said you could speak? Huh?" I asked, anger building. I hate this cliche. You beat someone in a Manhwa and they'll be back with more guys--I guess I didn't try hard enough to get the message across. "What did I say would happen if you came up to me and tried to start something, Changdong? Hm? Oh, right, I said I'd do something much worse than what I did before. That wasn't an empty promise."

If I had to guess, he had a D in Strength, an E in Speed and maybe a C in Tenacity. Everything else was irrelevant. All I knew is that I had him outclassed in everything that mattered.

I pushed him back with the hand still holding his face and planted a swift jab against his still healing nose, following it up with a solid cross that snapped whatever was healing within it. Pulling closer to him with rapid footwork, I drove a knee into his stomach before grabbing the back of his head and bringing him to me so I could deliver a brutal headbutt. At that point he was lost to the world, the brutal combo having taken him out before he could even think of a way to counter it.

He dropped to the floor and yet I wasn't done. I slammed a savage kick into his jaw. Not enough to break anything but certainly enough that I know some teeth are no clanging around in his mouth, knocked free of his gums.

Putting my foot triumphantly on his chest, I turned to his buddies, the ones I'd warned, "Oi," I called and they flinched, their frozen terror thawing and turning to just terror as I continued, "Get over here."

"K-Kim Soohyun, look, we're s-sorry--" I cut him off with a sharper voice this time.

"Get. Over. Here. Now," I punctuated the words with grit teeth and a menacing look. I pointed to the ground just in front of me, "Come and stand right here before I have to come over there and do something you won't like."

Intimidated and thoroughly cowed, they trudged over to me with slow steps and when they were finally in front of me, I landed a cross on one of their faces and blew them away, unconscious before he even hit the floor. I turned to the other one who was back to being frozen, "Why'd you make me do that?" I asked.

"W-wha--?" he stuttered, confused and afraid.

"I mean, I warned you, didn't I? Said that you needed to warn Changdong about what would happen if he bothered me again. There was an underlying warning to you two as well, you know? And," I sighed, shaking my head in a disappointed manner, "You went and failed what I'd asked of you. I didn't wanna fulfill my end of the bargain but you went and forced my hand, you know? Kinda selfish," I gave him a disappointed look and slammed a cross into his face before he could even reply. Just like the other one, he was out before he even hit the floor.

Feeling curious, I pulled up my stats.

[Strength: C ---> C+]

[Speed: C ---> C+]

[Potential: S]

[Intelligence: B]

[Tenacity: S]

Huh. That was faster than I expected, though factoring in that I exercise twice a day and that I have five times progress...Opposed to three days, it's more like I've been intensely exercising for an entire month. Granted this is also a world that runs off of webtoon logic, so a rapid growth in strength is kinda to be expected. But damn, even expecting it, it's pretty fast.

If C is an ordinary athlete, than C+ is an athlete who's a cut above the rest. Not an elite but more like a rising star among the rookies. Not the best, no, but still better than the E-Ranked Strength I started with.

But of course not everything can be roses and sunshine.

[A Quest is being generated.]

"You're a boxer," a deadpan, almost dull toned voice spoke up. It was a question, despite being worded like one and I turned to look at the person who said it. Black, unkempt hair, pale skin and dead eyes that matched his tone. He was tall - about 6'1" or 186cm - and broad too. Obviously very muscular as well. So, this is Goo Hajoon? The boss of West Gangbuk High. He stepped to me, not even sparing a glance for the downed people around me, "Hit me," he said.

[Prove yourself to the boss of your school. Fight Goo Hajoon and Survive (0/1). Reward: Gold Card (x1) & Silver Card (x2)]

Well, at least it ain't skimping out on the rewards. A Gold Card and some Silvers? Fair trade for just surviving. Pretty sure it means 'Don't get knocked out like a chump' as well, because Goo Hajoon isn't the type of guy to kill a dude outta nowhere. He's a delinquent bastard, sure, but he's not a killer.

"Sure," I answered both Hajoon and the system, taking the quest and fulfilling the guy's request in front of me by throwing out a jab.

...He dodged it. Cheeky bastard. Asking someone to hit him and then dodging? Inconsiderate.

I threw a few more jabs before mixing in a few crosses...and yet he kept dodging them. If I remember correctly, the only stats I have that beat or match his are Potential, Intelligence and Tenacity. His Strength and Speed are S+ and S, respectively. Meaning I have no chance of touching him and if I take a hit, it'll definitely hurt despite my Tenacity passive skill.

Blinking, I wondered why I was suddenly looking up at the ceiling before the faint pain around my nose became blaring. He'd hit me and knocked my head back so quickly I hadn't even been able to react. Fuck. What a monster.

Some blood trickled down my nose and I wiped it with a smile, "You fucker. You asked to me to hit you and then hit me? Kinda mixed signals here," I tilted my head before losing the smile.

Time to get a little bit more serious. I guess I can use this as a chance to grind up my skills in actual combat. Settling into an actual stance, I threw a feint jab and surprisingly he fell for it and the following cross impacted his cheek making his eyes widen a little in surprise before he smirked even with my fist digging into his cheek.

"...You've got some skills. Heavy hits too," he complimented before throwing a blindingly fast uppercut. This time, however, I was ready - well, more ready, anyway - and I deflected the hit to the side of my head with my defence skill.

[Karate - Defence - Has Ranked Up To E-Rank!]

Fucking monster. Just deflecting a single uppercut was enough to rank up a skill? At least this won't be a waste of time.

I thought about throwing out a kick to give me some space but realised that would only benefit him. He wasn't massively taller than me but the height advantage he did have gave him the reach advantage as well and the last thing I wanted to happen is to get pelted by this dude's jabs without being able to get close to him. They're probably stronger than my cross punches and he'd be controlling the pace of the fight from that point onward. So, instead of that, I stepped toward him and weaved around the shockingly fast one-two combo he sent my way in response to my movement.

Digging a overhand cross into his guard, I sent two further jabs into his body while his guard was up high.

[Your mastery of Jab is hugely increased due to the strength of your opponent!]

[Your mastery of Cross is hugely increased due to the strength of your opponent!]

Seeing the screens, I was incensed to become better. Even after landing so many hits on him, Hajoon had barely even flinched from any of them - I wanted to at least hurt him. Make him wince a little. Funnily enough, it was only until right now that I realised how much I wanted to be strong. Both sides of me wanted to make something out of myself.

Whether it be the seventeen-year-old who died to cancer or the seventeen-year-old who was killed by his bully. Both sides were in unity on one thing: 'I want to become something. Something strong.' Everything in me, at that moment, became funnelled into my next few attacks.

They were sharper, heavier and quicker. Any counters by Hajoon were dodged with Weave or blocked with Defence. And in the end, Hajoon winced, and then backed away a step.

He seemed surprised. I wasn't so surprised as I looked at the screens in front of me.

[Boxing - Jab - Has Ranked Up To C-Rank!]

[Boxing - Cross - Has Ranked Up To C-Rank!]

[Boxing - Weave - Has Ranked Up To C-Rank!]

[Boxing - Footwork - Has Ranked Up To C-Rank!]

Once his surprise left him, Hajoon dropped his fists and gave me an inquisitive look, "You're strong." He simply stated this and then looked to the others who were stunned solid - along with the rest of the class. Huh. Completely forgot this is a school classroom. "Get these guys out of here and put 'em wherever," he said before turning to me, "Come and have some cigs with us."

I tilted my head, looked to my seat where Kuza was sat next to and just shrugged, "Why not?" I asked to no one in particular and followed after them.

[You have completed the Quest.]

[As per the rewards of the quest, you will receive: Gold Card (x1) & Silver Card (x2)]

Willing the cards to open, I was treated to a real treat. The Gold Card was as such:

[Perfect Pitch - Tired of getting the notes wrong? Scared of making people's ears bleed when you sing? Well this skill has given you perfect pitch and control over your voice when singing. Also increases success of persuasion, intimidation and deception/bluffing.]

While the Silver Cards completed the little Boxing collection I had going:

[Attack Card, Boxing - Uppercut - You can now uppercut. Current skill rank: F 0/100]

[Attack Card, Boxing - Hook - You can now use a hook. Current skill rank: F 0/100]

[Do you wish to use these cards? Yes/No]

Uncaring of the gazes focused on me, I pressed the 'Yes' and felt the sudden change in my throat and the implemented muscle memory of the Hook and Uppercut cards. Now I was a well-rounded boxer, technique wise. Though I do wonder why the system is molding me that way. Does it want the perfect boxer or something? I hope not. I'd hate to get fucked over by a grappler because of my lack of skills there.

[Due to the completion of collecting all the necessary cards required to be considered a 'Boxer', you have been reward with a further card due having a Skill Combo: Strong Joints.]

...Huh? I was expecting the Dempsey Roll skill that the original got. But Strong Joints? Are you trying to turn me into some sort of unkillable rock man, system?!

[Strong Joints - Your joints are sturdy and strong. Increases force of punches.]*

(*A/n - Obviously this is because to generate the force for a punch, your joints are vital. Stronger joints leads to more force being generated and therefore to stronger punches.)

And it's got a lackluster description. I guess something is better than nothing though, so I shouldn't really be complaining. Put together with my Tenacity passive skill and now I'm basically walking around covered in armor. At least with this my temporary weakness to grapplers and submission holds has lessened slightly.

Either way, I followed at Hajoon with a body that felt much sturdier. Like it'd been reinforced at it's weak points. With that, I felt a bit more confident about the things to come in the near future.

I left the classroom and Hajoon actually decided to start up a conversation.

"I heard you used to be a nerd," he said oh-so-elegantly, "When'd you learn boxing? You're pretty good," he asked, seemingly pretty curious.

I shrugged in reply, "Not too long ago. Learnt it off my mom's brother who's in the military," which was only partly a lie. My uncle is actually a soldier - the only part that's a lie is him teaching me. I haven't seen him in years. Sorry estranged uncle, but you're the basis of my lie so don't come back to disprove it, please~!

Hajoon hummed in response and we walked down the hallway, down a flight of stairs and out into an alleyway next to the school. Ah, memories--Pretty sure I was bullied here by Changdong a few times.

The people following us, while casting a few glances my way, didn't make much of a fuss and began talking to each other while lighting up cigarettes.

"Help yourself," Hajoon did the same and I held up a hand to decline the one he'd offered me. Already died to cancer once, don't wanna do it again.

"I don't smoke. Causes cancer, you know?" I said in a jokey manner while genuinely being serious in my dislike for cigarettes, "Just came out here because I couldn't be bothered to deal with class and because it'd be nice to chill out after a spar."

"A spar?" Hajoon questioned before smirking and withdrawing the cigarette he was offering and pocketed it, "I guess that's what you'd call it." He stopped speaking while he lit up the cigarette and only said something after he'd taken a long drag, "Sorry about earlier."

"How so?" I questioned. Apologising wasn't very delinquent-like behaviour.

"About hitting back. I was just caught off guard by your technique and instinctively hit back," he explained before looking away, "I'm surprised you took the hit so well, honestly. Most people get knocked on their asses right away," he said in an offhanded, nonchalant manner and I couldn't help but scoff in reply.

"Yeah, I can feel why," I rubbed at my nose, "You hit like a fucking train, man."

He smirked at the compliment before his face settled back into a more neutral expression, "You should hang out with us after school today..." he trailed off and I realised I hadn't introduced myself.

"Kim Soohyun," I clarified and he nodded.

"You should hang out with us after school today, Soohyun. We're going to some karaoke place. Should be fun but it's near East Gangbuk High, so it wouldn't hurt to have a strong guy like you with us in case any shit happens," he explained in a neutral tone and I gave a noncommittal nod.

"Eh," I gave a half-frown, "I'll see how I feel after I finish working out. What's the address and time?"

"Give me your phone," he held out a free hand and I fished the device out of my pocket and handed it to him. He didn't seem the type to do stupid shit with other people's phones but I could be wrong--let's wait and find out, I guess. He opened it, clicked on my contacts and input his information before handing the phone back and getting his own out. Moments later, my phone dinged and I looked to see the information there. His texting style was as blunt and neutral as the way he spoke. "Message me if you end up coming," he said before pausing, "Where do you work out?"

...Odd question but okay.

"An exercise park nearby where I live. Not enough money for a gym and calisthenics are the best way for an equally developed body," I made some small talk and Hajoon's eyes lit up at the mention of calisthenics. Oh yeah, he's an exercise nut, isn't he? A fellow enjoyer of muscle pain, I see.

He didn't give an answer, so to speak, but he did look at me with a hint of respect in his dead eyes. I guess he's not used to guys who have the diligence and work out.

Which kinda makes sense. Not many delinquents work out in these types of worlds. They usually just rely on natural athleticism. Whatever the case is, I stood around with them and spoke a little more before we decided to go back into the classroom. I wondered if I was actually gonna go to the karaoke thing tonight but when I thought about...I probably was. I could have a 'relaxing' night after working out and then get ready for the quest that I knew was coming.

The Main Quest.

That Main Quest being having to become the boss of West Gangbuk High by beating Goo Hajoon and then uniting the entirety of Gangbuk. Ah, man, it's gonna get hectic at some point soon.