Chapter 333 (2/2)

When he got into a suitable distance, Maru started hopping in front of the sandbag. As he hopped, he calmed his breathing and punched out with his left hand again when his feet touched the ground.

Thud - he was still a little too close. His hand reached its target before his shoulders could drive enough power into his hands. He punched with his left hand again at the sandbag that was pushed back with a low sound. Tang. There was a decent sound this time. Maru thought of his figure in front of the sandbag before punching out again.

‘One, two, slip.’

Left, right, then a light duck. He followed the swaying sandbag with his eyes and sprung back from having ducked to the left with his waist and followed it up with a left hook and a right cross. Bang bang, this time, the sound was much more pleasing. He chased the sandbag that swayed backwards and ducked again. This time, he did a left jab and a right hook.

The rhythm slowly came back to him. His boxing teacher always told him that rhythm was important in boxing. He chased the sandbag with a right step. Then, he did a combo again. He hit the sandbag so that it wouldn’t start going in circles as he punched out. He started exerting more power into his hands. Maru smiled whenever he heard the leather popping sounds.

His breathing started quickening, and just as his knuckles were starting to ache, Maru stopped the sandbag before heaving a deep breath out.

“It’s quite fun to hit it after such a long time,” saying that, he turned around.

The first thing he saw was Choongho, who was smiling and nodding. He was saying ‘I knew it’ with a small voice. Bangjoo, who stood next to him, approached him and spoke,

“Seonbae-nim, you learned boxing? You were really good just now.”

“I’m just a beginner.”

Maru took off the gloves. The slight ache that remained in his hand and wrist made him smile. This sensation was what made him like boxing. This was what made him follow his dad to the gym.

“You didn’t just quit after a month or two,” Choongho spoke.

“You learned properly. I’m not a boxing expert so I can’t judge you properly, but your punches were really clean. Do you really not have any intentions to work under my wing? I think you’ll get used to stunts quite easily.”

“It’s just hitting a sandbag. I don’t have any talent.”

Just as he put down the gloves, some men entered the building. They all seemed to be students.

“Well then, let’s narrow people down then, shall I?”

Choongho signalled everyone to gather round. The students that just entered stood in front of Choongho. Maru and Bangjoo joined them.

“I don’t like dragging things out so I’ll get straight to the point. I’m going to pick a few of you here and meet the director. The director wants someone young who can do proper action so do your best. I’m going to have a look at your basic posture. There’s not much time so look carefully for now.”

Choongho called a man wearing black training clothes.

“I’m going to show you the basic choreography. Here, punch like this, and grab his collar. It won’t sound fun without any lines, so let’s go with ‘you bastard’ as the line.”

Choongho did a demonstration. He punched out at the right shoulder of the man in front of him. The man deflected Choongho’s punch with his left arm. At the same time, Choongho grabbed his collar and shouted ‘you bastard’. It was a short scene.

“The hit point is the right shoulder. You have to grab his collar violently. If you hesitate, then that’s the end. You have one round of practice and one real deal. Everyone got that?”

Choongho then proceeded to pick the student standing on the far right. The one that got picked came out without hesitation and greeted the man wearing training clothes.

“Then here I go.”

The student then tried doing the choreography that Choongho showed them. He approached the man, punched, and grabbed the man by the collar once his punch was deflected. After that round of practice, the student said he’d begin with a resolved face.

The student started running. Then, he punched out. His hand was pushed away. He took another step and grabbed the opponent’s collar. The acting was quite clean.

“Sangjin, good. Well then. Next.”

It seemed that Choongho was acquainted with everyone here. As soon as Choongho said next, another student stepped forward.

* * *

“Let’s go with that for now.”

Maru had a look at the students that looked disappointed as they were turned away. Five people didn’t pass Choongho’s test. Although everyone looked decent, it seemed that they weren’t up to Choongho’s standards.

“This time, it’s blocking then hitting.”

Choongho did a demonstration this time as well. The difficulty rose by quite a lot. The sequence went as such: punch, then block a rod from the side with both arms and then punch the person to the left.

The rightmost student stepped forward immediately. He didn’t make a mistake in the practice round, but he was late in blocking the rod in the real deal. There was a sound signal before the rod was swung, but he couldn’t block it due to having messed his steps up. The student made a disappointed expression after getting hit by the styrofoam and stepped back.

“Don’t feel down. I’m just looking at how you do.”

Next was Maru’s turn. His developed body and nervous systems handled the action without much difficulty. He punched and blocked just like the choreography.

“Good.”

Bangjoo passed without a hitch as well. He was someone who wasn’t scared of anything so he looked good with stunts. Like that, they did a few rounds of tests before around 10 people remained.

“Today, I focused on how bold you were in your actions and how much trust you had in your opponent. I can’t use people that can’t look at the opponent in the eyes when doing action scenes.”

Choongho took out his phone before calling someone up.

“Yes, then let’s do that. We’ll be eating dinner then, so come by whenever you want. Yes, director. Then see you later.”

Having finished his call, Choongho spoke.

“Why don’t we get some meat?”