Ju-jitsu and Chicken Breast
Baek Jieun was a noona who lived in the same studio apartment building as me, and there wasn't much of an age gap between us. From what I could gather, she was practically my savior.
When we first met, she apparently saw me limping back home looking like I'd just been beaten to a pulp. After stopping me to ask what happened, she was kind enough to offer to cover a month's worth of my food expenses in exchange for me coming by her gym to do some light cleaning.
I absolutely despise chicken breast, but apparently, I was the one who asked for it.
Normally, I was supposed to show up at the gym at 8 PM and head home around 10 PM. When I asked what kind of cleaning took that long, she told me she'd been using the spare time to teach me Ju-jitsu... No wonder my entire body had been aching.
"I failed to recognize my savior and committed a grave discourtesy. Please forgive me."
"Stop it, it's embarrassing."
"Yes, ma'am."
Noona said it was fine if I did the cleaning tomorrow instead, but a real man doesn't go back on his word. Despite the late hour, we headed to the gym together.
But I seriously don't get it. Why was the fake Hyunwoo getting beaten up everywhere when he had such a great physical build? And of all things, why did he choose Ju-jitsu? He should've run away screaming the moment she offered to teach him.
If it were some kind of striking discipline, I could at least understand, but Ju-jitsu was the absolute polar opposite of my taste.
To think I got possessed into a novel only to find out I was actually a Ju-jitsu dog...?
"Ugh!"
"You're reacting pretty fun today. Is your head really okay, Hyunwoo?"
"Yes, yes... I just had a terrible thought for a second..."
Just imagining myself as a Ju-jitsu dog made me want to throw up. It was a horror on par with chicken breast.
"Since you're late today, let's just do one quick round."
"Huh? Of what?"
"What we always do."
What a high school boy and a woman in her twenties would do alone in a gym late at night.
"What are you standing there dazed for? Get in."
It was rolling. Ju-jitsu sparring.
Before I knew it, noona had changed into her gi and was lying on the mat.
"Ah, that."
"What are you doing? Hurry up. I'm tired."
"Yes, noona."
It felt a bit wrong to say this about someone who was helping me out both physically and financially, but in my opinion, Ju-jitsu is a somewhat vulgar martial art. What kind of combat sport has you lying down in such an indecent posture, waiting for your opponent to walk into your guard?
And what about its real-world practicality? If you get into a street fight, are you going to lie down? On the asphalt? Insane Ju-jitsu dogs. If I ever met one of you on the street, I'd give you an immediate soccer kick to the face.
Suddenly, I'm craving ramen.
Pondering what kind of ramen to buy on the way home, I bent my knees and slowly stepped onto the mat. It was just rolling anyway. And to begin with, I had zero interest in Ju-jitsu.
I know I need to practice it more for the future, but striking is just so much more fun. What can I do?
Right now, the ramen I was going to eat at home was far more important than Ju-jitsu.
Slide— slide—
"W-Wait, what?"
Swoosh—
"Hey, hey! Time out! Stop!"
"Noona, what's wrong?"
"What are you doing right now...?"
"Huh? Just controlling your wrist to set up a keylock..."
"I never taught you that."
"..."
Ah, right. I was supposed to be a complete beginner at Ju-jitsu. It made no sense for me to outmaneuver Baek Jieun in the first place.
Without thinking, I had transitioned to side mount, controlled her wrist, and tried to lock in a keylock.
Noona was a Brown Belt. An elite practitioner. It was only natural she'd be flustered if a high school kid she thought was a total Ju-jitsu baby suddenly dismantled her.
Even if my base wasn't Ju-jitsu during my active days, I have years of pro experience, so my basics are well above average.
But since I couldn't explain all that, I just made up a quick excuse.
"I saw it on the internet and tried to copy it. I guess it worked out."
"You crazy bastard!"
Thwack!
She smacked me right on the crown of my head with her fist.
"Are you trying to break your noona's arm?! How can you just blindly copy something like that!"
"...I didn't even apply the submission yet."
"You lunatic!"
Thwack!
"That hurts."
"I hit you so it would hurt! I've raised a tiger cub, haven't I?"
"Who uses fists in Ju-jitsu? This is why Ju-jitsu dogs... the moment things don't go their way, they throw punches."
"Wh-What? Ju-jitsu dog? Where on earth did you learn such a weird term?!"
"It's not wrong, is it?"
Thwack!
After striking my head with full power, noona demanded that I pull guard.
"I thought you said you were tired."
"Shut up and guard."
"Yes, ma'am."
I lay down and opened my legs. As she came in to pass, I caught her with both legs—closed guard.
Immediately after, I grabbed her sleeve, kicked my leg into her armpit, and slid in deep for an underhook.
Pushing off the ground with my other leg, I controlled the entire arm I had grabbed by the sleeve.
Instantly pivoting my torso, I rolled, using the momentum to throw my leg over her head.
With that, I swept her and took mount.
Ignoring her dumbfounded expression, I transitioned straight into an armbar and applied a tiny bit of pressure. She immediately tapped.
"..."
"I also saw this on the internet..."
"Hey!!! Do you think this is a place to show off?!"
Noona threw a massive fit, and we ended up rolling for three more rounds.
I lost all the rounds after the first two. Once she got serious, every single one of my attacks was shut down. Man, I should have punished her with some ground-and-pound.
Actually, in the final round, I could have swept her from back mount and locked in a choke to win, but she looked like the type who absolutely couldn't stand losing, so I just let her win.
"Phew! Who do you think you're messing with? This is the difference in our levels."
"..."
She muttered with a smug, irritating face as I sat there exhausted. Our height difference meant our eye levels were actually about the same anyway.
I should've just choked her out. Look at that smug face.
Having fully vented her stress, a thoroughly refreshed noona headed into the locker room to change. In the meantime, I cleaned the gym.
By the way, the spot where she punched me hurts like hell. If she's going to act like that, why doesn't she just do MMA instead of just Ju-jitsu?
I think someone told me this in the past. A striker tackles when they're desperate, and a grappler throws punches when they're desperate. Surprisingly, it might actually be true.
"Done cleaning?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, clean. Good job."
She scanned the gym once and walked out.
On the way home, noona didn't stop nagging me for even a single second.
"Hey, kiddo. How can you use techniques you haven't even properly learned?"
"It worked perfectly on you, though. And I'm taller than you."
"Shut up. How dare you talk back to an adult."
"Ah, yes, yes."
"That's more like it."
"Noona, let's stop by the convenience store for a second."
"What are you buying? Want me to buy it for you?"
"No, it's fine."
I grabbed a bag of Shinna Ramyun and a bottle of soju. I wanted to eat quickly and go to sleep.
"...Jung Hyunwoo, are you crazy?"
"What now?"
"The blood on your head hasn't even dried yet, and you're already trying to touch alcohol?"
"Ah, force of habit."
Thwack!
She clipped me on the head once more.
I arrived home carrying nothing but a lonely bag of ramen. My apartment was room 508, and noona's was room 501. Right across from each other.
"Drink alcohol and I'll literally kill you."
"Yeah, yeah..."
I had tried to buy it out of habit, but if I wanted to go pro, I obviously had to quit drinking. Alcohol addiction is nothing. I can overcome it.
"...If you really want to drink later, just tell me."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"...Nothing! Go inside and get some sleep!"
"Understood."
Click—
Watching noona head into her apartment, I went into mine.
Maybe it was because my body was in a growth spurt, or maybe because I'd been moving around so much, but I was constantly hungry. I immediately boiled some water, threw in the ramen, and cracked an egg into it. I also microwaved a chicken breast.
"Should I ask noona to exchange the chicken breast back for cash?"
I had 30 chicken breasts left. About 5kg in the freezer.
"Ugh..."
That night, I had a nightmare where a giant chicken breast put me in a submission.
Click—
Having finished her shower, Baek Jieun cracked open a can of beer. She threw on some loose clothes and poured it down her throat.
"Ahhh!"
Making a face that words couldn't possibly describe, she collapsed onto her bed and stared at her phone.
"In the red again."
Baek Jieun was rich. Not just slightly rich, but incredibly wealthy. Her father was a highly successful businessman, so her family had money to burn. That was why, despite her young age, she was able to run her own gym. The building the gym was in was actually owned by her father.
Unfortunately, while she had a talent for Ju-jitsu, she had absolutely zero talent for business.
"Ju-jitsu is so popular lately, why does our gym have so few people?"
She provided top-tier equipment and charged average industry rates. If there was a problem, it was probably the atmosphere where slacking off was absolutely not tolerated. Baek Jieun had overlooked the fact that there were far more "fashion fitness" enthusiasts than she thought.
Ding!
"Ugh..."
It was a text notification.
"So many quitters. If only everyone worked as hard as Hyunwoo."
She tossed the empty beer can into the trash and recalled the events of today.
"...I was caught off guard, but still, is that even possible?"
Applying a technique in real life just from seeing it on the internet. Her speed was fast, and her accuracy was high.
"Hmm."
She closed her eyes and crossed her arms, deep in thought. She pondered the true identity of this cute kid, Jung Hyunwoo.
"He's a Ju-jitsu genius!"
She had completely forgotten about the Jung Hyunwoo of a few months ago, who had absolutely zero athletic ability. He was tall, handsome, cute, and strong. Of course he'd be athletic. The reason he couldn't grasp the techniques she taught him before must have been because he just needed time to digest them.
Now, Hyunwoo's talent was finally blooming.
Of course, the chances of that being true were infinitesimally low, and this was nothing more than drunk Baek Jieun's delusion.
"My Hyunwoo... I should raise him well and..."
She was currently covering his food expenses in exchange for him cleaning the gym. Now, she was thinking of letting him train without charging him any membership fees at all.
After deciding to tell her staff about registering Jung Hyunwoo, she drafted a text message to send him. Or rather, she tried to.
"This noona will teach you Ju-jitsu... No, that sounds too cocky. Hyunwoo, let's conquer the world with Ju-jitsu... No, no. Not that either."
After agonizing over it for a long time, she finally sent a text and immediately fell fast asleep.
Baek Jieun had no idea.
She didn't know that Jung Hyunwoo still hadn't unblocked her.