Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of students falling on their backs as they were flipped by their partners could be heard in different areas of the auditorium. Judo was introduced into the school curriculum less than two years ago, so most students were not good at it yet. Some weren’t good, but they knew the basics well and were good at attacking and making their partners fall.
“You! Yes, you! If you keep holding the waist continuously like that, it can’t be considered as judo! Defend the waist!”
Although Cho Hyun was a supervisor in judo classes, he didn’t have the patience to teach. So, the students resorted to teaching themselves and others who knew less than they did.
“That’s it! Defend the waist! Don’t do that! Come on!”
Cho Hyun grabbed a person who was near him and immediately lifted him and threw him on the ground.
“All the boys here should be able to do this to me, do you understand? Answer me!”
“Yes!” they chorused.
Cho Hyun nodded his head when they answered, and his eyes fell on two boys who were sparring. One guy was using his opponent’s strength against him, breaking his balance while his opponent kept falling. Using an opponent’s strength against him was not easy, so Cho Hyun approached the pair.
Thud!
Thud!
Looking at Kim Young-Woo, who was groaning on the floor, Lee Jong-Suk felt excited.
“This is so much fun!”
Though it was exciting to see Kim Young-Woo fall, feeling his body move in harmony with his mind was more exciting for him.
“Phew!” Lee Jong-Suk let a huge breath and stretched out his hand to help Kim Young-Woo up, but Cho Hyun appeared in front oh him.
“You, pair with me.”
“With sunbae-nim?”
“Yes, come on.”
Lee Jong-Suk gulped. He knew very well what kind of person Cho Hyun was. He was considered one of the best – if not the best – in the TaeJin High School since the beginning of the first year of judo, and he had been teaching since then too.
Lee Jong-suk went stiff when he heard the word ‘come on’ from Cho Hyun who was like a tiger. If it were some other person, he might not have been that scared, but Cho Hyun sunbae was the scariest person on the judo team, and even thinking of sparring with him was scary.
Cho Hyun frowned.
‘This kid is scared.’
Cho Hyun stretched out his hand to attack.
Lee Jong-Suk’s hands instinctively shot upwards in defense.
“His reactions are worthy of praise,” Cho Hyun remarked.
Lee Jong-Suk’s hand held onto the left hand of Cho Hyun, and Cho Hyun held onto his hand too, very firmly. Lee Jong-Suk’s foot shot forward. With his arm still holding Cho Hyun, Lee Jong-Suk deftly moved his body. Cho Hyun also twisted his body in response and put his right hand beneath Lee Jong-Suk’s armpit and applied pressure. Holding the neck at the back and holding the waist from the back usually made throwing a person down easy.
Cho Hyun thought he had Lee Jong-Suk cornered and would turn him over the next moment, but he was caught by surprise when Lee Jong-Suk twisted him and threw him forward.
Thud!
Lee Jong-Suk did something that fighters did instinctively to prevent themselves from falling and throwing the opponent instead. Cho Hyun rose up immediately and adjusted the collar of his uniform. He looked like an offended turtle as he frowned.
He slowly circled Lee Jong-Suk, and Lee Jong-Suk had the feeling he had forgotten they were just sparring and not fighting. Lee Jong-Suk was excited and amazed at the move he made.
“What are you looking at?” Cho Hyun sneered.
The technique he used was not easy, and it had its share of loopholes. But with the knowledge of the loopholes, it was easy to get the other person.mBut this was something that only players knew, this backstroke wasn’t something that everybody knew about. For a regular person to know, the backstroke was a big deal.
“Phew!” Cho Hyun let out his breath and reached out towards Lee Jong-Suk.
“Come here. ”
“Sorry?”
“Come here.”
Lee Jong-Suk went over to him and stood in front of him. Cho Hyun held the uniform of Lee Jong-Suk and tore it open. Lee Jong-Suk tried to walk away, but Cho Hyun held on tightly to his uniform, so it wasn’t possible for him to leave without doing much damage to the uniform.
Cho Hyun stared wordlessly at Lee Jong-Suk’s body.
“What are you doing?” Lee Jong-Suk protested as Cho Hyun proceeded to remove his uniform completely.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked stiffly.
Cho Hyun, obviously enjoying Lee Jong-Suk’s embarrassment, walked confidently around him. He poked his body with his finger and asked,
“Where do you exercise?”
“What?”
“I asked you where you exercise?”
“At home”.
“Home? I see. Where do you practice judo?”
“Only at school”.
“Only in school and no other place?”
“No, no other place.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Cho Hyun looked at his body again.
“Your muscles are looking good. Though there is nothing quite spectacular about them, they look good. And the muscles are soft too,” he remarked.
According to the sport of a player, specific muscles develop more than others over time. For baseball players, their shoulder muscles start to develop, and for soccer players, muscles start to develop in their legs and calves. And for those who do judo, muscles start to develop in the legs as well as their back. To hold and pull, a lot of strength is needed in the upper body and muscles. This does not mean that the lower body doesn’t play any role. Though the muscles on the legs are there, big muscles are needed on the upper body.
But the muscles on Lee Jong-Suk’s body had no specificity. Though most of the body developed muscles, the upper body muscles were quite large. On top of that, the muscles were still soft, which meant they were flexible, and these were the optimal muscles for a judo player.
“No thoughts of doing judo?”
“Judo?”
Cho Hyun was looking at Lee Jong-Suk, and some other students who had stopped sparring were watching both of them. They were both sweating profusely.
“Seems like you’re not interested.”
“I wish to study and go to college.”
“You study well?”
“I think so.”
“If you do well in judo you can enter college as a special student.”
“Even then, I-”
“Do you hate judo?”
With the look on Cho Hyun’s face, he immediately waved both hands as he said no.
“It isn’t like that, it’s just that my family doesn’t want me to.”
Cho Hyun studied his face and then nodded after a while.
“Okay. Tell me that story later. Put on your uniform for now.”
Lee Jong-Suk exhaled loudly in relief and put on his uniform. When he was done, he took a step back from Cho Hyun.
“Come on.” he motioned him forward.
“Sorry?”
“Come on!”
Lee Jong-Suk took his desired posture and mentally readied himself. A few minutes ago, he flipped Cho Hyun sunbae. It seemed he had achieved the bachelor’s study experience.
Cho Hyun regarded the posture of Lee Jong-Suk. Both hands were in front of him, but one was placed higher than the other. Cho Hyun carefully moved forward.
“You don’t have to worry,” he said to Lee Jong-Suk
Cho Hyun, who was approaching very carefully, was caught off guard by Lee Jong-Suk, who was as quick as lightning.
Phat!
Lee Jong-Suk’s hand blocked the advancing hand of Cho Hyun. Cho Hyun caught the sleeve of Lee Jong-Suk’s uniform and pushed him down using his strength. Lee Jong-Suk held tightly on Cho Hyun’s arm.
“Your strength is great too,” he commented.
Cho Hyun tried to attack again, but he was stuck and could not move. Lee Jong-Suk, who also couldn’t move, was finally able to move his leg. While he was trying to move and shake Cho Hyun off, Cho Hyun was trying to move his lower body.
Lee Jong-Suk suddenly kicked Cho Hyun’s leg, and he moved his body forward. However, Cho Hyun returned the kick with one of his, and Lee Jong-Suk lost his balance and almost fell.
“Ugh!” he muttered.
Cho Hyun kept silent, and only the sound of the both of them breathing could be heard. In the experience of the bachelor’s degree, there was no such thing as a fallout. Lee Jong-Suk’s body was shaking when he heard the familiar sound of the bell that rang at the end of each class.
Riiiiiiiiiing!!!