A New Stage
A new stage.
Daewong had come to the gym.
But he hadn't come alone. Beside him stood that matchmaker woman—Rachel.
Bae Jong-gap set down the mitts and more or less figured it out. The two of them showing up together like that meant something was up.
"…Old man. I, uh… I've got something I need to tell you."
Daewong opened his mouth in that blunt, expressionless way of his.
"I got an official contract offer from the UFC. So… I'm heading to America."
"America?"
"Yes. To the world stage. For real this time."
Beside him, Rachel calmly filled in the details.
As the Asian tournament champion, he had advanced to the UFC main roster, and he would soon be flying out to train and fight in the States.
Bae Jong-gap was silent for a moment.
…It had finally come.
He had known from the start. That kid was never meant to stay cooped up in a rundown little gym like this.
He was always going to spread his wings and fly someday.
But now that the day was actually here, a hollow little ache settled in one corner of his chest.
"…So you came to say goodbye?"
"Yes. I wanted to tell you myself, old man. In person."
Bae Jong-gap studied Daewong quietly.
Suddenly he remembered the day this kid had first walked into the gym.
Back then he had been a pure animal.
Zero control over his strength—hit a mitt and the whole person went flying. He'd turned a four-million-won heavy bag into scrap with a single punch and then stood there with no idea what he'd even done. Even his eyes hadn't looked human.
But the Daewong standing in front of him now… he looked almost like a person.
He knew how to ease off the power. He knew how to stop. He even knew how to think of other people.
That savage beast had grown into someone who could come say a stiff little farewell to his teacher.
…You've grown a lot, you damn kid.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Bae Jong-gap's mouth.
"What, you had to come all the way here for that? A phone call would've been fine."
He tossed the words out casually. Deep down, though, he was grateful the kid had come in person.
"Alright. One last thing before you go."
Bae Jong-gap gave Daewong's shoulder a solid thump.
"Even in America, don't forget what I taught you. How to pull your punches. How to stop. …You're stronger than anyone else on this planet. But that strength of yours? Use it wrong and it becomes a weapon that kills people. You get me?"
"…Yes. I'll keep it in mind."
"Good. Just remember that and you're fine. The rest you'll figure out on your own."
Having said that, Bae Jong-gap looked up at Daewong for a moment—really took in that massive frame again.
"…Anyway. You really are just like a bear."
The words slipped out without thinking, and he saw Daewong's shoulders twitch. Bae Jong-gap didn't notice. He just snorted a quiet laugh and kept going.
"…No. Not a bear anymore. Just Han Daewong."
At that, Daewong paused for a beat. Then he quietly bowed his head.
"…Thank you. I only made it this far because of you, old man."
"Enough, enough. You're gonna make my skin crawl."
Bae Jong-gap waved him off. But the corners of his eyes had gone a little damp.
"Go on. Go flip the whole damn world stage upside down. This old man'll be watching from Korea."
Daewong bowed deeply one more time. Then he left the gym with Rachel.
Only after the door closed and that enormous back disappeared did Bae Jong-gap look around the empty gym.
In one corner still sat the wreckage of the four-million-won heavy bag Daewong had destroyed.
Looking at it made him laugh.
"…Anyway. You were something else, you big damn bear."
Bae Jong-gap muttered under his breath and gave the remains a few light pats, first time in a long while.
One era had ended. And the bear he had tamed—no, Han Daewong—was ready to soar toward a much bigger world.
"Woooaaah! We're really going! We're actually going to America!"
Incheon Airport, departure hall.
Seo-yeon clung to her suitcase and had been bouncing around for a while now. People nearby kept glancing over, but her excitement refused to settle.
America. On an actual plane, flying across the Pacific.
To Seo-yeon, "overseas" had always been something that only existed on television—another world entirely.
Back when she'd been chained up underground, leaving this city alone had been an impossible dream, let alone another country.
And yet here she was, passport in hand, standing in an airport.
Following a certain big bear, no less.
…Seriously. You never know where life is gonna take you.
Her nose prickled for a second. Then the thrill rushed back in to fill the space.
"Bear! Look, look—the plane over there! Whoa, it's huge!"
Seo-yeon grabbed Daewong's arm and pointed through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Daewong himself, though, wore a strangely blank face. Not blank, exactly—more like he was a little tense.
"…Something that big can really fly?"
"Of course! It's a plane!"
"…Doesn't it get heavy? If it falls…"
"Pfft, it won't fall! Bear, don't tell me this is your first time and you're scared?"
Seo-yeon snickered. Daewong clamped his mouth shut. Bullseye, apparently.
The man with the strongest fists in the world, fidgeting in front of an airplane. Seo-yeon found it weirdly cute and couldn't stop grinning.
Then again, that was just how the bear was.
He always got thrown by things everyone else took for granted, completely clueless about how the world worked. Like a wild bear that had suddenly dropped into this world in a grown man's body.
Every time, Seo-yeon had to walk him through it one step at a time. Not that she minded. It was kind of fun.
"You two have your passports and boarding passes ready, right?"
Rachel, walking ahead, glanced back and asked.
"Yup! Right here!"
Seo-yeon waved her passport.
Rachel really was reliable.
Even in this chaotic airport she never once looked lost, cutting a clean path through everything. Well, of course—she'd lived in America. All of this was probably second nature to her.
"Rachel unnie, you're amazing! This place is so confusing but you don't get lost at all!"
"This much is nothing. Going back and forth to the States is basically my job."
Rachel smiled, easy and confident. She looked so cool doing it. Seo-yeon thought once again that she wanted to grow up to be an adult like that.
"There'll be a lot of this once we're in America. So both of you, stick close to me. It's way too easy to get lost."
"Yes ma'am! We're counting on you, Rachel unnie!"
Seo-yeon answered promptly. Daewong quietly nodded as well.
…The strongest bear in the world and a girl who used to live chained underground… leaving together for a strange land called America.
It was a little scary. But the excitement was so much bigger.
Before long, boarding began.
Seo-yeon took the window seat and buckled her seatbelt. Beside her, Daewong had crammed his massive frame into the narrow seat and was still wearing that tense look.
"Bear, you nervous? Want me to hold your hand?"
"…I'm fine."
"Aww, don't be shy. Come on, take it."
Seo-yeon wrapped both of her small hands around his huge one and held on tight.
Soon the plane started racing down the runway. Their bodies pressed back into the seats, and then the whole aircraft lifted gently into the sky.
Outside the window, the familiar city grew smaller and smaller.
…We're finally going. To a wider world.
Seo-yeon held her racing heart and watched the view beyond the glass.
As long as she was with the bear, even that unfamiliar America didn't seem so scary.
Their story was just taking off toward a much bigger stage.
How long had they been flying?
After the endless flight, the plane finally touched down.
"Alright, we're here. This is Las Vegas."
At Rachel's words, I looked out the window.
…It was a completely foreign landscape.
Endless, barren desert stretching as far as the eye could see.
And right in the middle of it, a massive city rose like a mirage.
Skyscrapers that looked ready to pierce the sky, flashing signs everywhere. Even the air felt different from Korea.
The moment we stepped out of the airport, a hot, dry wind hit us in the face.
"Woooaaah! This is America?!"
Seo-yeon spun around with sparkling eyes, taking everything in.
Completely worked up over the foreign scenery she'd never seen before.
I just stared at it all without a word.
…Honestly, it still didn't feel real.
That I would end up in a place like this.
From a tiny underground fight club in Korea—no, thinking further back than that—someone like me never imagined he'd cross the Pacific and come all the way to this distant land.
"Las Vegas is…"
Rachel started explaining as she walked ahead.
"…pretty much the heart of the combat sports world. UFC headquarters is here, and there are cutting-edge training facilities for fighters. The best fighters from every corner of the globe all gather here."
"From every corner of the globe…"
"Yes. The people Han Daewong will be facing from now on are all those kinds of fighters. From here on out, everything is going to be on a completely different level from before."
There was a quiet weight in Rachel's voice.
She wasn't trying to scare me. She was simply telling me, calmly, what kind of place this was.
I lifted my head and looked at the city again.
Somewhere among those glittering lights were the walls I would have to climb.
Monsters they called the strongest in the world.
Fighters stronger than anyone I'd faced so far would be waiting for me inside that octagon.
…And yet, strangely.
I wasn't afraid.
Instead, something deep in my chest burned hot.
When I thought about it, I had always been climbing walls.
From the impossible wish of becoming human…
to the dream of standing in the octagon.
One by one, things that had seemed impossible. In the end, I had climbed them all.
So this time wouldn't be any different.
If this was the peak of the world, then I would simply climb that peak.
My way. One step at a time.
"Bear! What are you doing, hurry up! There's something super cool over here!"
Seo-yeon, who had gone on ahead, waved at me. Looking at that bright face, the corner of my mouth loosened on its own.
Yeah. I wasn't alone.
I had that bright kid by my side. And reliable Rachel too.
I adjusted my grip on the suitcase and started walking toward Seo-yeon.
A new stage was unfolding right in front of me.
The real octagon—the one they called the world.
"…Alright. Let's do this."
I muttered under my breath and took a step into the middle of the unfamiliar city.
Toward the highest place someone who once wasn't human could reach… as a human.