Dowoon slowly pushed himself up from the tatami, breathing with great difficulty. His body felt heavy, as if every accumulated blow had added pounds of lead to his frame. He spat out a bit of blood and muttered:
"Loose joints? That explains why you slipped out of that submission so easily..."
Even so, he couldn't afford to lose. He grit his teeth and, without giving Seungwoo any more time to talk, unleashed a rapid barrage of low kicks. However, Seungwoo dodged or blocked every single one with ease.
Dowoon then launched a direct side kick to the face, but Seungwoo raised his forearm and stopped it effortlessly.
Refusing to yield, Dowoon stepped back, preparing to gather momentum. He had to use his strongest technique.
Right as he set his stance, Seungwoo appeared directly in front of him, stomped hard on his foot, and unleashed a brutal punch straight to his chin. Dowoon spat blood as he crashed to the floor.
Seungwoo stared down at him.
"Do you take me for an idiot? I can tell plain as day you were trying to set up that flashy kick. I'm not stupid enough to let you finish it."
Dowoon's eyes widened. He had read him completely. His mind was in total chaos. His opponent was vastly superior, on top of the fact that he was already heavily battered...
Yet, for a reason he couldn't explain, deep down he felt a surge of heat blooming in his chest. He unconsciously touched the spot.
As he rolled back onto his feet, he adjusted into a new fighting stance—feet spread wide, hands separated.
Seungwoo raised an eyebrow.
"Boxing?"
In the stands, Taehun crossed his arms and frowned. Though he looked relaxed, he was visibly annoyed.
"What the hell is that idiot doing? Boxing?"
Dowoon began to move. His hips swayed left and right with footwork distinct to boxing. Closing in on Seungwoo, he threw a series of direct jabs aimed at his face.
It was a solid offensive attempt, but none of the strikes connected. Seungwoo had extended his leg, jamming his foot against Dowoon's abdomen and keeping him strictly out of range.
"Nice try, but that's not gonna work—"
He couldn't even finish his sentence. Dowoon snatched Seungwoo's extended leg and replicated the exact same sweep technique Seungwoo had used earlier. Wrapping around the foot, he spun with the momentum and dragged him down.
As they hit the floor sideways, Dowoon mounted him, imitating Dogyu's grappling. His left knee sliced right between Seungwoo's legs while sliding his right knee across his abdomen, applying as much pressure as possible.
He quickly pinned Seungwoo's wrist against the tatami, sliding his other hand underneath to torque the arm.
Seungwoo grit his teeth, visibly unsettled. Using pure physical strength, he tried to force an opening to escape. Seeing this, Dowoon had to release the arm to avoid losing position entirely.
Every time Seungwoo created a tiny gap, Dowoon shifted his weight to smother it, growing more comfortable by the second. Seungwoo's face was turning bright red. Anyone watching would assume Dowoon was about to secure the win.
However, Dowoon was far from peak condition. His body trembled from the sheer exertion. He simply didn't possess the physical conditioning to sustain that style of heavy grappling.
His grip loosened just a fraction—and that was all Seungwoo needed. Having waited patiently for his moment, Seungwoo wriggled free, grabbed Dowoon by the torso, and hoisted him up to slam him down.
Mid-air, Dowoon drove a knee straight into Seungwoo's solar plexus, breaking the grip. Capitalizing on being airborne, he flipped his body forward and drove a heel strike into Seungwoo's head, crashing him onto the tatami.
Dowoon stumbled back to his feet. His body was covered in deep bruises and blood, yet he kept feeling this strange sensation.
It hurts... it hurts so much. But... this feels amazing.
Unconsciously, a wide grin formed across his face. He looked down at Seungwoo on the floor and, surprisingly, waited for him to get up. He didn't rush in to attack.
Seungwoo pushed himself up, blood dripping down his face. He swept his hair back, scowling with a clenched jaw. The two locked eyes.
Seungwoo instantly noticed that something had shifted—and that something felt dangerously wrong.
Dowoon subtly adjusted his posture: hips lowered, shoulders completely relaxed.
He exploded forward. A lightning-fast low kick connected before Seungwoo could even react to the pain in his thigh. Without stopping, Dowoon spun instantly and unleashed a spinning hook kick. The heel struck squarely against Seungwoo's cheek.
Seungwoo spat blood and nearly collapsed, but he grit his teeth and initiated a clinch. Wrapping his arms around Dowoon's waist, he attempted a hip throw.
Except this time, Dowoon twisted his own body, reversing the leverage. Using Seungwoo's hip as a pivot point, he sent Seungwoo flying through the air to land flat on his back.
Though Seungwoo scrambled back up immediately, he couldn't even catch his breath before Dowoon was already in his face, unleashing a rapid volley of kicks. Seungwoo dodged most of them, but each evasion proved harder than the last. Seeing a high kick coming, he raised his guard, but Dowoon stopped the strike mid-flight, snapped his leg back, and drove a side kick straight into Seungwoo's liver. Seungwoo's face contorted in agony.
Still, Seungwoo extended his hand to trade a strike. Dowoon threw a straight punch at the exact same time. Both absorbed heavy blows, stumbling backward simultaneously.
Seungwoo spat out bloody saliva, clutching his side.
"Your talent is genuinely disgusting..." he muttered.
Dowoon touched his bruised cheek and replied:
"Right back at you. You can still keep going, right?"
Seungwoo's breathing was heavy. He shifted his posture, completely relaxing his shoulders and letting his arms hang with unnatural looseness.
"Looks like the 'weak genius' is stopping being weak..." he said with a provocative smirk. "But it's still not enough."
Dowoon charged in with a high spinning kick. Instead of a conventional block, Seungwoo bent his elbow backward at an impossible angle—nearly ninety degrees in the wrong direction.
His arm twisted as if he had no bones, blocking the kick from a completely unexpected vector. Seizing the shock, he contorted his wrist unnaturally and launched an inverted upward elbow that struck Dowoon's jaw with a sickening thud.
Dowoon staggered back, dazed. Seungwoo pressed forward relentlessly, launching a swift front kick. Dowoon ducked, but at the very last second, Seungwoo's knee hyperextended backward, converting the strike into a axe kick that dropped his heel directly onto Dowoon's collarbone.
He then closed into a clinch, grabbing Dowoon and unleashing a brutal series of knees straight into his liver and ribs.
Dowoon grunted in pain and tried to create space, but Seungwoo refused to let go. Instead, he voluntarily dislocated his own shoulder to slip past Dowoon's defense, ducked under his arm, and with a fluid, stomach-churning motion, popped his shoulder back into place while executing a modified hip throw.
The throw was devastating. Dowoon flew through the air and slammed flat on his back, the air blasted from his lungs. Seungwoo rushed in to finish it, but Dowoon swept his legs, throwing off his balance. Springing up, Dowoon drove a hard knee into Seungwoo's face, double-cupped his fists, and brought a axe-handle strike crashing down onto Seungwoo's head, bouncing him off the floor.
Yet Seungwoo surged right back into the attack, even with his body completely wrecked. His wrist and elbow twisted mid-strike, causing his fist to travel in an unpredictable curve that whipped across Dowoon's cheek like a lash.
Dowoon spat blood and stepped back. Seungwoo pursued relentlessly, but Dowoon drove a front kick into his stomach, halting his momentum.
Extending his right leg, Dowoon hooked Seungwoo's heel and yanked it forward. As Seungwoo fell, Dowoon spun his body and drove his heel straight into his face. Seungwoo rolled across the floor.
Building momentum, Dowoon sprinted and leaped, extending his left leg high for a axe kick.
Seungwoo couldn't even stand up in time; he barely made it to a half-kneeling position, covering his face. The impact boomed through the mat as both rolled onto the floor.
Dowoon touched his chest. Now he understood what he was feeling. It was pure excitement. Before, he never understood why Taehun and Byeoto threw everything into a fight, but now he did. It was literally like a drug—pure euphoria. His best friends had given their absolute all, and he had been hesitating until now.
They exchanged blows once more, both taking heavy hits. Dowoon's head snapped back with every impact, blood splattering across the mat, but a genuine smile remained fixed on his face.
This feeling... was it freedom? He felt no pressure, no hesitation. His body, despite being at its absolute limit, was responding infinitely better.
That's it... I just need to let go. I have to get stronger so I don't get left behind by them.
Dowoon delivered an ascending kick to Seungwoo's chin, followed by a punch straight to the solar plexus. Seungwoo doubled over in pain, yet he still pushed forward with a direct strike.
Dowoon used Seungwoo's incoming punch as a springboard, leaping into the air to turn his opponent's momentum against him. He drove a full-force heel kick directly across Seungwoo's entire face.
As the hit connected, a sharp, blinding pain shot through Seungwoo as his vision went black. He was hurled backward off the tatami, rolling across the floor and landing far out of bounds.
He didn't get back up.
The referee raised Dowoon's arm high.
"Winner: Dowoon Lee!"
Dowoon collapsed into a seated position on the tatami, utterly exhausted, but wearing a smile he couldn't wipe off his face.