My Pro Boxer System

"Get up," his voice was flat and emotionless. "Reacting to pain from your opponent only spurs them on. Pain is a secret message from your body to you, a message that doesn't have to be shared with others."

I gritted my teeth, my arms shaking as I fought my way up off the ground. I regained my stance as before, this time keeping my eyes locked on him.

"I want you to throw a punch. Show me your current skill, and I'll correct you from there."

At his words, I clenched my fist and prepared to throw a punch. I couldn't deny that the thought of rocking him in the face didn't bring me a little excitement—because, oh boy, it did.

At the apex of my excitement, I threw a punch aimed at his perfectly chiseled face, making sure to put my whole body weight behind it.

With a tilt of his head, my fist breezed past his face.

"Wrong. Your punches shouldn't curve; they should be a straight line. Also, pivot with your hip to put more force into the blow. Do it again."

With a deep breath, I steadied myself and prepared to throw another punch, but just like last time, he pivoted out of the way so I'd miss.

"Wrong again." His voice held no emotion, but there was a subtle weight to it. Every time he spoke, my pulse began to rise. "In elementary school, I believe you were taught that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. Your fist travels faster in a straight line. Do it again."

Dammit! I kept my hand tucked in close while lining up the punch. I raised my hand and fired a punch directly at his face again. He lazily raised his right hand and blocked it. He stared at me silently, his expression revealing nothing before he spoke.

"... Wrong. We'll try another exercise. Both of us will throw punches at the same time, and if my fist hits you first, it means your punch wasn't straight."

My lips went dry. He was basically proposing that I get hit every time I failed to throw a straight punch. I'd already felt one of his punches; I honestly didn't know how I'd endure another.

"This exercise will also help with your endurance. You need to get used to getting hit."

He took his stance in front of me and went on guard. I, too, took my stance and prepared to throw a punch.

…

I felt the force echoing throughout my entire body every time I was hit. Because of that I unconsciously flinched every time he raised his fist, and every time I did, his punches seemed to get more brutal as punishment. 

I tried my best not to focus on the pain, willing myself to concentrate on perfecting the punch.

My body protested with every movement. I didn't know how long we practiced since I was deep in the zone, concentrating. I watched his movements like a hawk, realizing that the same movement he wanted me to do, he was doing to me. I took it as a demonstration and studied his graceful movements.

Before long, I had fully grasped it, and I was confident that I could do it perfectly the next time.

But it was far too late for a simple punch. The little pride I had wouldn't let me accept that as a reward for all the suffering he put me through.

 With all the pain he'd put me through, just managing to throw the punch perfectly wouldn't bring me any fulfillment. I wanted more. I wanted to bury my fist so far in his face that he could taste the rubber glove.

I readied myself for the punch—not the straight punch he wanted from me, but the one that curved. The moment he saw that I wasn't doing it properly, his muscles tightened for a hit. My fist moved in a wide arc, leaving my body exposed.

He didn't skip a beat; he buried his fist under my rib, and the moment he struck, I pulled back my fist and attacked with a straight punch from my other hand. I felt the force radiating from my gloves as I hit him square in the jaw.

In that moment, something clicked, I didn't know what but something did.

For a second, everything went silent. The jarring from Alexa had completely stopped as the man touched his lip and saw blood on his fingertips.

He turned to me with an empty look in his eyes.

"You learn fast; that's good. I never expected you to pull off a feint so quickly. And it looks like you've managed to figure out the straight punch. What you need to work on now is your lead-off. After throwing a punch, you opened yourself up to a counter. Your movements were sloppy; that's why your punch didn't have much weight."

He retook his stance.

"When you're stepping in, you push yourself off the ball of your right foot and spring in about 18 inches or so. The action of your foot and arm should be simultaneous. What you did before was wrong; you stepped in and then punched. It's supposed to be one action carried out in fluid motion. To perfect this, you'll need to build proper hand and foot coordination. This move is called the step-in jab. For the remainder of this training, we will be practicing it.

By the time we finished the training, my body was covered in bruises. Every step I took felt as if I were drifting between consciousness.

"I could give you something for the pain, but as your coach said, it's best for you to get used to it," Alexa said as I arrived in my room and collapsed on the bed. She was still in her human form and fell down on the bed right beside me. "Don't make it obvious that you're in pain, or else your family might get suspicious. I mean, that's the main reason I ensured he didn't hit you in the face."

"Whatever. Can you shut up? I want to sleep."

After her prideful laughs while I was getting beaten to a pulp, I didn't want to hear any of her fake concerns.

"You know, you have a higher aptitude for boxing than I thought. When you get serious, you can really fight back, but you need to channel your pent-up anger efficiently."

"I don't have any pent-up anger."

"Really?" A mocking smile appeared on her lips. "The way I see it, you are angry at everyone except yourself. You don't realize it yet because all your anger has been trickling out slowly."

"..."

Knock-knock.

A sudden knocking came from my room door, and at the same time, Alexa vanished into thin air, turning into a dust of particles before my eyes.

"Come in," I instructed, not having the strength to move an inch.

The door creaked, and my sister stepped in. Her eyes wandered around the room as if she were searching for something until her gaze eventually stopped on me lying on the bed.

"It's time for dinner," she said with a frown on her face.

"It is? Thank you."

She moved to close the door as she left but stopped halfway, so it only covered half her face.

"Are you alright?"

[I think she's worried about you.]

She was worried about me? I didn't think so. She was probably just curious about what I was up to and wanted to poke her nose into it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, dragging my aching body off the bed and headed downstairs.

In the middle of the night, I climbed out of bed. My mind was racing so fast that I couldn't sleep. I slowly took the boxing stance I learned today. My fist cut through the air while my legs hopped back and forth. My body ached, but for some reason, I couldn't get today's events out of my mind.

"That fight!"

The way it felt to finally land a hit on my coach. It had been so long since I'd felt that level of accomplishment. I didn't know what I was doing, but my fist snapped through the air as today's memory resurfaced in my mind.

I remembered what I did perfectly.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

The words were engraved in my mind. Soon, wanting to punch someone became an itch at the back of my mind that I needed to scratch. When I grew too tired and my body couldn't take any more punishment, I turned to my computer to watch some more boxing matches.

I was still afraid of being hit, and watching others being hit cemented that fear in my mind even further. I started thinking about what the coach said about me developing my own boxing style. Just maybe, I could be the type of boxer who enters the ring and never gets hit.

The next morning, I ran ten miles instead of the eight I was supposed to. After a while the soreness of my muscles became a distant memory—like nothing but an itch. I would be late for school but… whatever. I sat down on a bench on the side of the road when two notifications popped up.

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DAILY QUEST

Roadwork: You must run an excess of eight miles without stopping.

Miles run: 0/8

Strength and Endurance Training: You must do 15 sets of push ups.

Pushups done: 0/15

Learn the Basics of Boxing

Time remaining: 24 hours

Warning: Failure to complete the quest will result in a punishment.

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[Would you like to begin learning the basics now?] [Y/N]

[NOTE: You will be transported to a more secure location.]

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This time I was instructed to do push ups as strength training. I clicked no for the option that asked if I wanted to continue my basic training now. It was the same training routine as yesterday but just as I thought it was all over, another notification popped up.

SPECIAL TASK:

You must join the boxing club at your school.

Time Remaining: 1 week

Failure to do so will result in a punishment.

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