Eunho stood on the platform and explained, “The sparring matches will not be like the normal sparring practices. I would like to watch each and every one of you fight to see who is stronger. It will become easier for me to determine everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. I believe that all of you will be able to learn something from today's matches by observing others' sparring techniques.”
Yuna agreed with Eunho. It would be helpful for her to watch the experienced soldier’s spar. She was interested in learning how people fought. Although she was able to learn moves with her picture-perfect memory from the kung-fu movies, she didn’t know any moves that could be applied to real fights.
It occurred to Yuna that most of those moves were not applicable to real fights because they were all done for the purpose of creating a movie. Some of those moves were fake. The only moves she could rely on were ones that real martial artists performed. An example would be Bruce Lee.
She was determined to learn any useful moves while observing the movements of the experienced soldiers. Yuna believed that there would be moves that could be useful for when she was in a dire situation. There is bound to be such situations in the near future. She could sense the danger lurking in every corner of her future. Since she was able to change the flow of events, she knew that the future was unknown.
She would have to deal with any dangerous situations that popped up. At this point, any type of martial arts moves could be helpful in her situation. She needed to learn a lot of things fast to defend from any future threats.
Eunho watched as the soldiers looked around at each other to determine who they wanted as their opponent. He could tell that most of them were looking forward to being Yuna’s opponent. Eunho was disappointed when he realized that most of his soldiers were intent on finding weaker opponents to be deemed winners for their first match.
Eunho was furious with the soldiers that locked eyes on Yuna. He didn’t want to admit it, but he felt regretful when he thought of Yuna getting hurt during the sparring matches. He was determined to keep a close eye on her match to make sure that she wasn’t badly injured. He was sure that she would lose on her first match, and she wouldn’t have to face more opponents. He just hoped that her first opponent wasn’t too strong.
He decided at the last minute to change the rules of the sparring matches, “I’ve decided to change how the sparring matches will go. I think that it's inefficient for the winner to continue to fight everyone until he is the last one standing. I’ve decided that it’d be best if everyone were to choose their first sparring partner and from there, the winners of all the first matches will fight another winner in the second match. The matches will continue until there will be two people left and the winner will be the person that wins the final match.”
Eunho liked this idea better, especially since this gives Yuna the opportunity to pick her opponent. He didn’t want to see her badly injured by a soldier that had potential to win first place. That would be too harsh for her. He’d rather see her lose on the first match to someone that she trusted. He believed that there was at least one person she trusted in this group of soldiers.
Eunho stated, “Pick your first opponents and then line up together with your opponent in a straight line.” Yuna looked around for Namjoo in the crowd. She hoped that Namjoo would be her first opponent. She didn’t trust the other soldiers. The other soldiers were always glaring at her and she didn’t trust them much. While looking around, she stopped when a crowd of soldiers blocked her path.
They asked, “Do you want to be my first sparring opponent?” Yuna frowned, it was obvious what their intentions were. They wanted to be her first opponent because they thought it would be an easy match. She refused them all, but some of them weren’t willing to take no for an answer. They complained, “What did we expect from a noble lady? She thinks she’s better than all of us. I would like to see who she chooses as her opponent. She’s going to lose anyway. It would be funny to watch. I’ll laugh at her when her opponent beats her up.”
Another soldier commented, “Why couldn’t she have chosen one of us? She’s going to lose anyway. I’m disappointed…” Yuna ignored them and continued looking for Namjoo in the crowd. She finally came across Namjoo and found that most of the soldiers were avoiding her. They knew that she was strong, and no one wanted to lose on their first match.
Yuna hesitated to ask Namjoo to be her opponent mainly because she worried that she would humiliate herself in front of everybody. Namjoo was pretty strong, and she didn’t want to lose so miserably in her first match. She wondered if Namjoo was a good choice.
Although Namjoo was a strong opponent, she felt that it wasn’t bad to have her as a sparring partner. Namjoo wouldn’t do anything to harm her. She was willing to spar with Namjoo despite the differences in levels. Thinking of it like that encouraged Yuna. She wanted to accept the challenge regardless of the results. Yuna knew that she was going to lose but winning wasn’t her intention.
She wanted the sparring matches to help her learn new moves to add to her list. She could then practice on those moves to enhance her own martial arts. Yuna would be able to learn a lot from Namjoo as her opponent. She felt inspired just imagining it.
Yuna stepped in front of Namjoo and waved at her, “Hey Namjoo.” Namjoo rushed to her side and asked, “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be looking for an opponent?” Yuna laughed, “But I did find my opponent.” She asked, “Who?” Yuna pointed at her, “You.”
Namjoo vehemently refused, “Me? I can’t be your opponent. Our levels are way too different. I don’t want to hurt you during our sparring matches. Don’t you see that everyone else is trying to avoid me? Why aren’t you doing the same?”
Yuna shrugged, “I’m not afraid of you. I want you to be my first sparring partner. I trust that you won’t hurt me too badly. I think that you’d make a good opponent.” Namjoo sighed, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. What happens if you get knocked out by me? I’m sure both General Eunho and General Junho would punish me. I’m not interested.”
Yuna begged, “They won’t do anything, so please be my opponent. What can I do to convince you that I’m an okay opponent?” Namjoo frowned, “It’s not that you’re a bad opponent, it’s because I’m afraid of the repercussions of harming a noble lady.”
Yuna frowned, “Can you not think of me as a noble lady? Don’t you see that I’m also here trying to learn martial arts? It doesn’t matter whether I’m a noble lady or if I’m some special person. I’m just someone that wants to learn martial arts. I thought you’d understand me best.”
Namjoo felt bad after realizing her own mistake. She did the one thing that she despised. She didn’t like others judging her because of her gender, but yet here she was judging Yuna for her identity. Namjoo sighed, “I’m sorry, Lady Yuna. I shouldn’t have judged you like that.” Yuna patted her head, “It’s okay. I’ll let it go if you become my opponent.”
Namjoo had no choice but to accept, “Fine.” Yuna grinned once she obtained Namjoo as her sparring opponent. The soldiers that were rejected by her were all wondering why Yuna chose Namjoo as her opponent. They couldn’t help but pity Yuna for making the wrong choice. Namjoo would definitely win the match. Yuna was bound to humiliate herself in the first match. Even they couldn’t win against Namjoo. How was Yuna going to spar with someone way above her level?
Eunho noticed that Yuna was next to Namjoo. His heart dropped to his stomach when he noticed Yuna patting Namjoo on the head. She never touched his head before. It seemed that Yuna and Namjoo were quite close. He didn’t like that there were other men that were closer to her than he was. He saved her life on multiple occasions, but that still didn’t mean that they were close enough. He frowned at Namjoo from afar.
Eunho shouted, “Hurry up and pick your opponents. Get in line!” The soldiers scrambled to find a partner and stood in line at once. Yuna followed Namjoo and stood alongside the rest of the soldiers. Eunho’s gaze grew colder when he noticed Yuna and Namjoo standing next to each other.
He didn’t expect that Yuna would pick such a difficult opponent. He wanted to avoid that situation at all costs, but who would’ve known that Yuna herself would pick one of the best soldiers. He facepalmed in his mind. How was he going to protect Yuna now? Namjoo was known for injuring his sparring opponents to the point that some were crippled. He hoped that Yuna would be safe. If anything didn’t seem right, he would have to step in.
Eunho stated, “Now that everyone has picked their first sparring opponent, we will begin the matches. Who would like to go first?”
Yuna wasn’t keen on being the first to start the matches. She’d rather watch everyone else fight first to see how she can improve. She knew that she wasn’t going to win first place, but she didn’t want to lose on her first match. No matter what anyone else thinks, she wasn’t going to show everyone a noble lady being beaten miserably.
Yuna hid behind Namjoo to avoid being called first. Luckily for her, Eunho didn’t call out people to spar, instead he asked, “I’ll give everyone the opportunity to decide who will go first. Does anyone want to volunteer to go first?” Surprisingly no one was willing to go first. Even Namjoo stood on the side, not willing to go first.
Yuna cursed under her breath, when she realized that she just might be called on to go first since no one was stepping up. She made sure to hide very well so that Eunho wouldn’t notice her. He wouldn’t call on her, right? She’s just a beginner for crying out loud.
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