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Part 16, Act 4
The Beginnings
If You Lose, You Die
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It's said in a study with 2,000 testers that someone who sleeps on the left side of the bed tend to be left-brained thinkers. They exhibit sides of imagination and creativity while also being more optimistic and happy while waking up. On the other hand people who are right side sleepers tend to be right brained, making them more analytical and logical while also waking up more pessimistic and upset. Showing that there is in fact a way to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
" So fucking early..." Lucas grumbled, rubbing his face as he walked into the warehouse with a chipper Valerie behind him.
The two slept very differently. After their defense training Valerie convinced the male to go to The Upside down. What she hadn't expected was when Lucas drank he tossed and turned horrifically. Though once she was asleep not even a typhoon could have woken her up.
" It's not that bad." Valerie rolled her eyes playfully.
" Yeah Luke! It's not that bad!" Ten popped up from behind them, scaring the living daylights out of Lucas who instantly swung," Woah! Woah! Chill! I got here before you! Standing next to the door! Not my fault you didn't see me!"
" Stop calling me Luke, we've been over this, and two— you cannot fucking jump at me like that." Lucas groaned.
Clearly Lucas had slept on the wrong side of the bed.
" Mother fucker, I walked— anyways!" Ten shook off his response and turned to Valerie," Ready to train in offense with me first? Just a bit of a warning I'm pretty energetic in the morning."
" Oh fuck yeah, let me nap on the mat." Lucas groaned happily and made his way to a mat near a punching bag.
" Well, guess I have to be. Give me a second to warm up." Valerie hummed and opened her drink to take a sip of the protein powder shake.
The drink went down thickly, making her groan as she switched to her water bottle that she had in the opposite hand to wash it down quickly. She put down both of the drinks near the ring, putting her hair up with the hairtie on her wrist and tying the back of Lucas' shirt to make it less baggy.
Ten was stretching by the time Valerie made her way over, allowing her to crack her bones before he got into position to defend himself from the girl," You ready?"
" Yeah," Valerie hummed, getting into a fighting position," You?"
Ten nodded along with a smile but he immediately have to shift to duck as Valerie threw a punch," Jheeze, okay okay!"
Valerie always was stuck with the newbies. She had to train them since she joined but due to her, what seemed to be, talent while fighting she never had to train with someone. The person who was always difficult to train though was Jisung. His hand-eye coordination was absolute dog shit. Even outside of fighting he meant to punch her shoulder and somehow punched her in the boob.
Hense why Valerie always covers her tits the moment Jisung picks up a hand after training.
" Okay so pretty simple. Put your left— or right, whatever is opposite of your dominant hand, foot out—" Valerie stated while demonstrating," Then keep your hands near your face, thumbs to the lips. Your chin must be tucked into your shoulders. Then shoot your arm out like a rubber band. This is a Jab. Make sure to rotate your hand so your knuckles are up towards the ceiling, palm down, and elbow is straight. Looking over your hands should help you make sure you know where your punch is going to go."
" Uh.. okay..."
" Okay, so practice by punching next to my head. Not at my face, not my shoulder, not my ear, not my hair or whenever, next to my head." Valerie instructed, standing still as she watched Jisung get into position.
" She's gonna eat his knuckles." Yuna states with her arms crossed, watching the two in Valerie's dad's boxing ring after hours.
The man didn't know they were there but what he doesn't know won't hurt him.
" Nah, I think making it so he can physical see where he has to punch helps. His arm is going straight out. Unless he bends his arm she's fine." Dejun waves off the girl.
" Ready?" Valerie questions.
" Uh... Yeah."
" Okay go."
She watched him throw the punch, his fist moved perfectly but his elbow and shoulder had different plans until—
" OW FUCK!" Valerie cried out, holding her eye in her hand," Jesus fucking Christ!"
The girl managed to move her head away just in time, rather than Ten punching her square in the nose she got hit in the eye," Jesus! Val I am so sorry! Are you okay?"
" Thank fuck it isn't my nose again. Oh god..." Valerie groaned, covering her eye in her hand," I'm fine.. I think you shook my brain, Jesus fuck."
In an instant she felt hands on her shoulders, Lucas was in front of her, worry plastered all over his face as he grabbed her wrist lightly," Let me see.... God, you didn't have to throw a move back Ten!"
" No no, it's fine. What am I supposed to do when I'm fighting in the ring and someone retaliates with a punch after mine is dodged? At least I moved my nose out of the way." Valerie commented as she moved her hand away, the world being a bit brighter and a little fuzzier after the hit.
" Actually on that note... Nose again?" Lucas questioned with his brows furrowed.
" Believe it or not I used to be the one training the newbies. And one had shit coordination. Like my new nose?" Valerie joked at the end but his dark eyes made her wave him off," I'm fine. Just need some ice for a bit. Brightness will clear up along with the fuzz soon."
Lucas grumbled at her braiseness before pulling out his phone and huffing," Chiya, can you run to Doyoung's and get the ice pack. I wanna keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't get a concussion."
" But you know how much I hate—" Ten began to complain, whining like a child, before shutting his mouth at the sharp look he got from Lucas," Okay, okay, fine. I'll be back."
With that the Thai male was gone and out of the warehouse, allowing Lucas to look over her once more.
" Okay how many fingers am I holding up?"
" Yukhei I swear to god." Valerie rolled her eyes, groaning a bit due to her left eye stinging.
The male put his hands on his hips like an upset mother with his eyebrow raised," See why I'm asking?"
" Well I see one Yukhei, Lucas, whatever the fuck you want to be called right now—" Valerie shook her head at the confusion of what to call him and where," On that note, which name am I supposed to call you by."
" Lucas here, alone either are fine, but at school or at my house I'm Yukhei." Lucas stated before sighed for a moment.
He enveloped the two in silence for a few seconds before his calloused hands held her face delicately to make her look at him in the eyes. She watched as his eye followed the beginning to bruise spot around her eye and the wetness her eye accumulated due to the hit.
Seeing him like this made her flush, imagining this situation a bit differently. Would he ever grab her face like this when she didn't have a bruise growing? Even if she did have one growing she would have preferred a more... Romantic relationship between the two.
Valerie's lips parted for a moment, wanting to say something or do something but nothing came out. What didn't help was Lucas' fingers brushing her skin on her ear and tangling with her hair lightly. But noticing her opened mouth he stalled for a moment and gulped, especially seeing her face blushing.
" Am I making you uncomfortable?" He questioned shyly, his hands threatening to pull away," I don't want to do anything you wouldn't want me to—"
" No–" Valerie rushed out, her oxygen leaving her lungs in a breath she didn't know she was holding as she gulped," I... I like it."
This made Lucas flush a bit as well, though Valerie's was getting a little darker. The man's hands became more secure on her face, one cupping her jaw while the other shifted to her shoulder. She watched Lucas' eyes flicker down to her lips, making her lick them shyly as he slowly moved closer to her.
But much to both's disappointment the door to the wearhouse opened again, causing the two to snap away from each other. Lucas rubbed his face as Valerie looked to the door to see Ten walking in with an ice pack in hand.
" God, I hate going over there." Ten sighed as he walked in lazily, but Lucas took his frustration on the man walking in on the male instantly.
" Yah! What took you so long! Her eye is bruising!" Lucas snapped, trying to look less flustered as Valerie rubbed her own cheeks and slapped them.
" Hey hey! Chill out! Sounds like I blue balled you!" Ten scoffed, handing the icepack to Valerie who activated it by twisting it before putting it to her eye.
Training for the rest of that afternoon was cancelled. Lucas being too worried that she'll get injured again— especially before her fight— while Ten was absolutely terrified of even daring to continue due to Lucas seemingly acting like he was going to kill the Thai man. Which Lucas did in fact consider. Ten hurt Valerie and he had infact blue balled the male.
So rather than continue they went and got lunch, took a few shots, and took Bella for a walk.
" Hey, Val." Ten called out to the female who was holding the leash, as much as Lucas had protested because of the dog attempting to make a break for it on almost every walk," I got a question for you."
" Yeah? What's up?" Valerie questioned back to him, trying not to get tangled in the leash as Bella walked in between her legs.
"...Why did you chose this life? Everyone has their reasons. It can't just be you being friends with Jay." Ten stated as Valerie looked off at one of the alleyways.
Her reason? It was multiple things. Her upbringing, her mother's death, the secrets going on during her life, her short relationship, her connections. It was so much and so little time to talk about it right now.
" I joined the underground world in Daegu when I was 15. I was shown it after befriending Jay and Rose when I was 14. I started smoking weed and doing other stuff at 15 and Jay was my dealer. The reason why I joined fighting... I was 16. I met a guy that went by Zico in the underground at my dad's gym- he's a retired Olympic wrestler and after retiring he moved to Daegu and opened a gym where current and retired Olympic team members trained. I was already having my ass handed to me daily by them and Zico was the one who convinced me. Rose originally was worried because she didn't understand I trained with the top athletes, ontop of that Zico was apart of the gang in Dague without me knowing." Valerie explained why she joined in the first place before going into why she continued fighting," My first fight... I felt such a rush... It allowed me to push out all my stress and anger into my opponents and it helped me make friends that time would never break. But simply... I was born for this. It's in my blood. I love the fight, the feeling of power, the fear radiating off of my opponent. It's so... Blissful."
The day went by slower than it was supposed to which ended up making Valerie daydream and imagine how the match would even go. Her anxiety was going to hit but rather than come due to the help of weed, it mellowed due to some memories.
Valerie, before even knowing what underground fighting was, would frequently train at her dad's gym. Famous national team members would come for not only wrestling but other sports as well. Basketball, baseball, rugby, even football— or as the Americans called it, soccer— players would come to the gym and train both under and with the retired national wrestler.
Due to this Valerie had her fair share of being beaten up by national team members when she instigated fights. Granted, everyone knew she was the daughter of the oh so great Alexander Hwang so they never dared to actually hurt her but the fact she could stand her own before they pulled a cheap move to make her land on her ass was impressive. So impressive a regular gym goer propositioned her to join the underground world.
His name was Jiho. Granted that was what she knew him by at the time. In the underground he was known to be a major Mafia leader going by the name Zico. While he had a bodyguard to help defend him, he would never take the chance of being seen as weak or losing in a one on one fight. Hense, why he joined the Hwang Gym.
It started innocently. Him commenting on her form, him getting uppercutted, then his persistence made Valerie actually begin talking to him. He did have good pointers for her and she provided an amazing partner for training. It led to a relationship over time but that didn't happen officially until after she joined the underground.
He convinced her to join. Telling her it would be like training at the gym but with the promise of cash also being involved. Who could ignore money?
She got cold feet a few days before her first match though. Worried she wouldn't do well and wouldn't be able to show her face to her friends that she invited, though they already knew of the world but not that she was interested in fighting.
Zico gave amazing advice though, if you think you're gonna lose, think that they're actually going to kill you. It was crazy to hear honestly, who would ever have that mentality? But it worked magic during her first fight. They hadn't even started fighting when she told herself she had to win or she would die. But the moment the fight came to a start her adrenaline pumped so hard into her veins that she almost killed her own opponent.
She toned it back after that but the advice stuck to her, granted she was too cocky now to even consider someone killing her in the ring.
By the time the fight was about to start Valerie was calm, the most nervous person out of the three being Lucas. To think someone so tall, muscular, and handsome could worry about a girl who looked so different from those around her and was pretty much psychotic in the ring.
It was funny to Valerie.
But the moment they stepped into the warehouse Junkook's office was in she realized just how many people were interested in seeing the fresh meat fight.
The stands and the majority of the floor in front of the ring was filled to the brim with people. Most she didn't recognize.
Felix, Wonho, and Wendy stood in their own little group near the entrance of the ring. Joshua, Johnny, and a few of the druggies she met her first night that would be able to handle seeing a fight high as shit were in their own group near the right side of the cage. What shocked her the most was seeing Lisa, Doyoung, Jaemin, RM, Kris, Lay, V, and Seungkwan scattered throughout the crowd on benches waiting for the match.
Lucas guided Valerie behind the stand to the right to bring her to Jungkook's office, Ten seperating to join the crowd to watch knowing he shouldn't follow them. Inside the office was Jungkook, Taeyong, Dean, and Jay. Jungkook seemed to be talking with Taeyong while Dean and Jay spoke on their own probably regarding drugs if she had to guess. But once the door closed the group looked over at the girl and man.
" The fuck happened to your face?" Jay furrowed his brows, looking at the girl as if she was beaten to a bloody pulp.
The male has seen her worse than this before, why was he acting like this was huge? " I'm fine Jay. Little training accident."
The male sighed before opening his arms to hug Valerie who shyly hugged him back," Well, it took you guys long enough. We've been waiting."
" I was told to bring her 10 minutes before the fight." Lucas shrugged.
" And it's 9 minutes before it starts," Dean tisked.
" Fuck off."
" Anyways." Jungkook clapped, getting everyone's attention," We're all gathered here today for a special moment, Valerie's first fight in Seoul! I wanted to be the first to congratulate my newest recruit. I really hope we get to see you in the championships— as much as Lucas doesn't want that."
Lucas huffed before Valerie grimaced and responded," Making it sound like I'm getting married, Kook."
" You're marrying the ring today." Jungkook smiled cheekily," You may have noticed the crowd. We invited every Gambler who specializes in fights so word got around and everyone knew you'd be having your first fight. Ontop of that Lisa and Wonho cannot keep their mouths shut."
" But, some ground rules—" Taeyong spoke quickly to not allow Jungkook to derail," Don't die, don't kill the other guy, and win."
" Major words of encouragement, thank you so much." Valerie spoke sarcastically," Is near death an option?"
" Considering Jimin is here, yes." Dean smiled, noticing Valerie's look towards Lucas immediately after he said that to cause him to explain," Park Jimin is one of our monogamous gamblers. He gambles only on fighters and the more blood the better for him."
This made Valerie look at Lucas with a thoughtful look," Who was your gambler?"
" Jeonghan. Dude just throws money on the table and as the fight went on he'd throw down more money if he thought you were gonna win." Lucas explained.
" Yep!" Dean clapped excitedly," So, you ready?"
" Yeah, I guess." Valerie shrugged, looking over at Jay," Oh did you get my text?"
" Yeah, hold on." Jay stated, going to Jungkook's desk to pull out a backpack," Hurry up."
Valerie changed as fast as she could. Sporting a new tight shirt and shorts to help her with not being absolutely dragged by Lucas' clothes. She kept baggy clothes on once during a fight after training at the gym, never again has she made that mistake. She had several bruises and a cut lip and she had to explain to her dad that she got into a fight with someone at school. Granted, all her dad cared about was if she won or not.
With Jungkook opening the door for the fight Valerie's hearing started slowly cutting out. The excited chatter and cheers seeing the doors open became muffled slowly as she walked behind Jungkook to follow him to the ring.
" Is he even real?" Jay questioned a nervous Valerie. Her first fight ever and the man who told her to do it had yet to show up.
Valerie was an anxious mess with Rose next to her holding her hand. If he didn't show up she was actually going to kill him, especially due to the fact she confessed she liked him that morning during their work out together.
God she was stupid.
" Yes, he's real!" Valerie barks a little more aggressive then she meant as she slowly become quiet," I may have just scared him off."
" Damn, did you beat his ass or something?" Jay joked," Dudes get turned off by that Butterfly."
" Fuck off! I didn't! We were working out and I said something that may have..." Valerie tried looking for the words as Rose squeezed her hand in reassurance due to already hearing about it due to the phone call that happened afterwords," Scared him."
" Scared who off?" It was the voice she had been desperately waiting for. The man stood with a crooked smile on his face and hands on his hips," You can't be talking about me, Spitfire."
" Jiho!" Valerie jumped up, going over to hug the man," You came!"
" I told you to join, of fucking course I came." The male chuckled and hugged her back. When they parted though Jay was right there.
" Jay." The male stuck out his hand to Jiho, questioning eyes pointed to the male," Have we met?"
" I mean, I know of you but we never spoke. A buddy of mine buys off of you. You also buy from a buddy of mine ironically." Jiho chuckled and shook Jay's hand," Nice to meet the Dealer of Daegu in the flesh."
" Likewise, I was getting worried Val was imagining you. Not every day I'm worrying about one of my girls being taken from me." Jay joked with a playful eye roll.
" Have not!" Valerie bursted, her face turning red from embarrassment as she slapped her friend's arm," Don't say things like that!"
" Aw but you said you liked me this morning." Jiho pouted playfully as Valerie could only blush darker.
" Not you too~!" The girl whined as the announcement of the fight about to start came and stopped the conversation short.
" Well it's time!" Rose drawled excitedly, hugging Valerie," You're gonna do great!"
" Knock them dead, spitfire."
" Valerie?" The voice made her snap back to reality. Lucas was looking at the girl concerned, his hand on her lower back as they stood outside the ring's gate to prevent the fighters inside from being thrown out of it.
She didn't even notice him touch her, let alone the god knows how many other times he tried calling her name to get her attention," You good?"
The excited chatter around them came to her ears again as she nodded along, gulping as she put her hand on his shoulder closest to her," Yeah, sorry... spaced out."
" Try not to do that in the ring please." Lucas warned worriedly," One, that's how you get knocked out and two, Jungkook will kill you and me if you lose."
" Jungkook will probably kill me if I got punched once." Valerie rolled her eyes as Jungkook opened the gate for her with a proud bunny smile.
" Knock them dead." He encouraged," Well actually, don't. You'll be banned if you do... Also you're the one responsible for the body."
" Thank you, Kook. So helpful." Valerie rolled her eyes.
" No problem!" He responded chirpily as he pushed her into the ring by her shoulder.
Valerie could only roll her eyes at the male as she almost stumbled into the ring. Her opponent was already in the ring across from her.
He had a buzz cut and was fairly lanky. Granted, Valerie couldn't say much on that seeing as how she looked like she barely had any muscles on her bones. He looked dirty though, like he rubbed dirt into his skin before coming in. He also looked like he had been beaten up a few times by the look of his crooked nose and cut up lip with a scar on it.
" Val!" A voice called out from behind the girl, making her turn and see Joshua and Johnny directly behind her across the fence.
Johnny had a blunt in his hand and after calling her name took a deep hit of it before turning it around to allow her to hit it through the fence," Good luck hit?"
Why would Valerie ever disagree to that?
" Definitely." She smiled, moving to the cage's wall and took a hit through the hole of the fence. Her lungs burned for a moment from how deep the hit was, holding it in for a moment before blowing 'O's into the two's face before waving to Yuta who stood next to Johnny.
Yuta was in a blanket, clearly out of place with the rest of the room but the male, upon seeing Valerie's attention on him smiled softly and blinked slowly," Let's cuddle after your fight... I'm cold."
The girl chuckled at his response and nodded along," Alright Yuta."
" Everyone! Welcome to the fight of the night!" Jungkook began announcing, making Valerie turn to look at her opponent who was obnoxiously cracking his neck and fingers," Today in the ring we have our regular Taehyun and my newest recruit Valerie!"
The cheers became louder the moment the two were introduced, making her wonder if it was for her or the male seeing as how he was a regular.
" Match is beginning in 3!"
Upon the number being stated Valerie breathed in deeply, getting into a lazy position while Taehyun got into a boxing position.
" 2!"
Valerie then said her favorite phrase from her ex's experience fighting to herself,' If you don't win, you'll die.'
" 1!"
If you don't win, you'll die.
"Go!"
The man in front of her immediately rushed at her, rage clearly building as he didn't even bother to wait for her— something any sensible fighter would do if they were fighting someone for the first time.
He had been coming here for years attempting to be recognized but she was recruited before an actual fight? How could she be so special? Maybe winning this could get him finally recruited.
When he got close enough to her he moved to jab her in the face. She may have been hit by that once today but twice? Couldn't happen. Her foot and hand reacted instantly. While she slightly ducked she pushed the arm past her with her left hand as she swiped her leg to catch the man in front of her.
He spun as he dropped to the ground, landing on his back as he coughed a bit from the impact.
Valerie was nice enough to move back to let the man get up, watching him hop to his feet rather angrily as he growled at her.
This time he waited for her, watching her positioning for any weak spots and when he seemingly locked onto one he rushed at it— her throat.
What he hadn't anticipated though was a similar approach to last time but rather than guide his arm away she simply pushed his fist away before clocking him right into his nose with her opposite hand.
The crunch that sounded was beyond satisfying to Valerie as she smiled maniacally. The sound was delicious to her. It's been so long since she was allowed to beat someone senseless and it started a fire in her blood that made her crave for more.
The male instantly cupped his nose with one hand before just wiping the blood from his face as he realized she was sending another punch at him.
Her fist went for his head and he managed to duck but her arm hooked around his head as he came face to face with a knee.
The second crunch wasn't as satisfying seeing as how it was his teeth this time. But at least he spit out two teeth as they also stabbed into his bottom lip.
The pain started making him delirious as he dropped but he pulled her down with him by an arm around her waist.
She fell sitting on his chest, making her chuckle as she punched him in the face. Knowing fully well he wasn't making rational decisions anymore.
Her fists kept coming at his face before she slowly got bored with that and grabbed him by his jaw. She slammed the back of his head into the ground but before any blood could be seen a voice snapped her out of her blood lust controlled brain.
" VALERIE!"
The voice made her look up, Lucas was at the unopen gate. He watched her, making sure she didn't kill the man as she got off of him. First she checked if he was breathing but the mumbling that came out of his mouth told her he 100% was still conscious.
So she stood up and walked to the gate," He's breathing and awake currently."
Suddenly arms were around her stomach, making her roll her eyes due to the fact it started off so weak before suddenly tightening around her to the point she thought she was going to throw up. Slowly she was able to pivot herself so she wasn't facing the fence before throwing her body forward to flip the male onto the ground.
He groaned out as she kicked the male in the face directly into the ground once more, this time he was knocked out cold. Making Valerie look down at her shoe's bottom to see the blood and grimaced.
" Valerie wins!"
Instantly the crowd roared in excitement, Valerie's chest huffing as she waited at the gate to be let out. The door was opened by Lucas who instantly pulled the girl out by her arm to allow Taeyong and Dean to run in to make sure Taehyun was in fact still alive.
" Jesus Christ Valerie, I thought you were gonna kill him." Lucas gasped, quickly looking towards Taeyong and Dean who gave a thumbs up.
" Well, he's alive." Valerie shrugged nonchalantly, making Jungkook chuckle.
" Well his amount is going to Doyoung." Jungkook states as Lucas furrows his eyebrows.
" Isn't he some rich ass farmer kid?" Lucas questioned, keeping Valerie close to him as they watched Taeyong pick up Taehyun while Dean looked disgusted at the sight.
" Do you really think we want to give him the money?" Jungkook questioned with a raised eyebrow before thinking about it," Oh yeah—"
Jungkook went into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, counting through it for a moment before giving Valerie the majority of it," For you."
Valerie had a solid thousand in her hand, maybe over. The sight made her excited, especially for the festivities for that night. But first she had to change.
" Alright, we done here?" Lucas questioned, wanting Valerie to clean the guy's blood off her pants, fist, and shoe.
" Yeah big baby." Jungkook rolled his eyes before Valerie interrupted.
" Wait— are you free tomorrow? I want to talk." Valerie stated, making Lucas raise a brow.
" Yeah, I gotta tell you who wants to rep you for fights if you want to do comps." Jungkook stated, Lucas almost barking back at the statement before Valerie cut him off.
" Perfect. I'm gonna change now." Valerie pointed to behind her as Lucas rolled his eyes.
" There's a shower next to the little training area." Jungkook made her aware to let her and Lucas go.
She made sure to shower quickly before getting changed, running her shoes under the water as well to get the blood off. Lucas waited for her the entire time and he followed her aimlessly to the Upside down.
Unprepared for how fucked up Valerie could get.