Before the alarm even rang, Kim Donghu woke up precisely at 6:50 AM. He immediately got up and began stretching his whole body for about 10 minutes. After a quick wash and pulling a cap tightly over his head, he headed outside.

"Sniff."

The fresh morning air tickled his nose, and the dewy leaves still carried signs of the previous day’s weather.

"Hoo, let’s go."

Beep!

The alarm followed soon after, and with it began his interval running routine. This had become his daily life since deciding to prepare for the boxing tournament.

'No matter how much talent I gained, I always need to keep my mind sharp to match it.'

It was true that Sims - The Real Life was like a cheat code. But he couldn’t just lie under the persimmon tree, waiting for the fruits to fall. He needed to keep driving away any laziness through consistent effort.

Huff, huff.

With each step, as his breath came in heavier, memories of his past life naturally resurfaced.

'I ran like this a lot back then too.'

There was a time when he hated being at home. It was unbearable to be alone.

He avoided seeing people, covered himself from head to toe, and ran every day.

Maybe the reason he could run so well now was thanks to that time in his life. With a vague sense of nostalgia, he finished his run, took a shower, ate breakfast, and then relaxed at home before starting a post-meal walk.

"...When did they put this up?"

As soon as he made his way towards the school, his eyes caught sight of something new.

Pride of Shinbit Middle School! Million Actor Kim Donghu!

Even though it was still winter break, the banner had already been changed.

'So they’ve officially decided to make me the school’s poster boy.'

He wasn’t upset about it. In fact, he had never received this kind of treatment before, so it felt unfamiliar but nice.

'Ahem.'

After briefly witnessing his own public "execution" hanging above the school gate, he continued on with his leisurely day.

'Golden Bell is in March, and the boxing tournament is in May.'

Since it was the end of January, he had about a month of leeway.

'And with Ilshik doing so well, they’re planning a fan meeting too.'

MNC had set several goals if the drama exceeded 40% in viewership. That meant they really wanted to surpass that 40% threshold.

'It’ll definitely go beyond that.'

The script had an "A" rating next to Ilshik. From what he had observed, dramas with a B rating hit around 30%, while A-rated ones reached 40%.

'As for movies, an A rating means 10 million viewers, but I’m not sure about B-rated ones yet.'

He hadn’t seen any B-rated commercial films, so it was hard to judge their performance. However, considering the short film Hero, which had a B rating and won four awards at Mise-en-scène, an A rating might mean it could become an internationally recognized short film.

'It could even end up being one of those well-known OTT films later on.'

While he was lost in such thoughts...

Hey Donghu, can you spar with me next week? I can’t get a good sense of it with just our size difference. We were going to do it in April, but I think it wouldn’t hurt to try it once before that. What do you think? Of course, if you don’t want to, that’s fine too... Just thought I’d ask, haha;;;

Why did his coach always act like a different person in his text messages? In reality, he looked like a shark, intimidating enough that no one would dare approach him.

<I’ll do it.

Really?
Thank you so much...

"..."

While Donghu was feeling puzzled by the stark contrast between his coach’s online and offline behavior...

Oh right, you said you’re entering the boxing tournament, didn’t you? I just woke up and gave it some serious thought. I’ll be your manager!

Right on cue, Yerim’s text came in. What did she mean by being his manager?

 

Time flew by, and it was the day before the scheduled sparring session. Kim Donghu’s sparring partner, Kim Sansoo, was warming up lightly in the gym.

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

The moment the mitts appeared, his fists connected with astonishing speed. It was clear why people called him a promising prospect.

Kim Sansoo threw punches with a relaxed expression.

Ding!

The sound of the round ending followed. Breathing calmly, Kim Sansoo finally opened his mouth.

"How should I smash that Kim Donghu tomorrow?" "Sparring isn’t about smashing, man. Don’t get any weird ideas, okay?" "Come on, how can I have weird ideas during sparring?"

Despite his impressive skills...

"I just thought I’d give that pretty face a little scratch for showing off."

His personality was inversely proportional to his ability.

"Cut it out. Do you know how crazy his fanbase is? You’ll get killed if you mess with him." "What are they gonna do? They’re all cowards who can’t say a word to my face." "You’re clueless, aren’t you? Do you even know what the ratings for Ilshik are right now?" "I don’t watch that stuff, so I don’t care." "It hit 36%. Pretty much everyone’s watching it right now, so you better be careful." "But you managed to arrange the sparring match, huh."

That’s because if they didn’t, Sansoo might cause a real problem.

The coach frowned, suddenly regretting his decision.

'Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this.'

Sparring was beneficial, even if not done frequently. The feel for real combat could only be honed through experience.

Objectively speaking, Kim Donghu and Kim Sansoo’s sparring was ideal.

'Their skills are about equal, and their builds match well enough.'

That’s why he had specially requested Baek Sangha to set up the match. But to think Kim Sansoo had hidden these intentions...

He had always shown signs of being a punk, but the coach didn’t know it was this bad.

'I’d like to cancel it, but it’s too late for that now.'

Worst case, the coach thought he could intervene if anything went wrong during the sparring.

But unlike his innocent train of thought, Kim Sansoo’s mind was filled with jealousy.

To think that the guy who would have been bullied back in school had gotten lucky and was now showing off like this.

Moreover...

'How dare you mess with my junior? I’ll make sure you know how small the world really is.'

It wasn’t just simple anger; there was bad blood between them.

Back when everyone had forgotten about it, there was still the matter of Park Seokgu, the number one in Shinbit Middle School who threw up immediately after being punched by Kim Donghu.

Sansoo planned to pay back the punch Donghu had given to his loyal junior tenfold.

'Just wait until tomorrow.'

He was eagerly anticipating the next day when he would pummel Kim Donghu.

 

"Yoo-hoo, Donghu!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out, followed by an energetic backhug. I knew who it was, so I couldn’t help but feel flustered.

"...You really came?" "Of course I came! I said I’d be your manager!" "I didn’t think you’d actually show up... I wasn’t expecting it." "But you told me where it’d be and gave me all the details, didn’t you?" "I didn’t have a reason to say no..."

But could you maybe let go of the backhug now? Kim Donghu couldn’t bring himself to say that.

Something soft and...

Squishy.

He could clearly feel something pressing against him, but the mind of a teenage boy firmly rejected the idea of pushing it away.

"Since I’m going to join your agency anyway, this much should be fine, right? We’ll be seeing each other a lot."

They’d be going to school together, after all.

"Oh, school."

That’s right, Yerim was also coming to Daejong High School.

'Wait, so next year it’ll be me, Yerim, Sujin... and Jaerin, all in the same school?'

Why did it feel like that shouldn’t happen? Why did he have a bad feeling about the idea of all three meeting together?

But those worries were short-lived.

"Okay, everyone’s here. Shall we head out?"

Coach Baek Sangha appeared, driving a car.

Since their gym didn’t have a ring or cage, they needed to head to their opponent’s gym. We quickly got into the car and drove off to the gym where the sparring would take place.

"Just say hello, then go warm up, Donghu. I’ll talk to the others for a bit." "Yes, sir."

The gym they arrived at felt strange, perhaps because it was the first time they had been there. It was completely empty, likely due to the early morning, and the space felt entirely dedicated to sparring.

"Wow, it’s not every day you see a celebrity from TV in here. Nice to meet you. I’m Gym Master Geumjin." "Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Donghu." "And I’m Kim Donghu’s manager, Shin Yerim! Please take care of us!" "You already have a manager? Actors really are on another level."

Haha.

After some light-hearted banter, we exchanged greetings, and I headed straight for the sandbag to start warming up.

And that’s when I heard it.

"So you’re Kim Donghu, huh?" "Huh?" "I’m your sparring partner today, Kim Sansoo." "Ah... Nice to meet you."

His tone was cocky, and he stood with one leg bent casually. He wanted to look down on me, but because of our height difference, he couldn’t.

It was obvious to anyone that he was picking a fight. But strangely enough, this situation felt very familiar.

'When have I been through this before?'

Why did this guy, Kim Sansoo, seem so familiar?

"Bringing a girl to a sparring match? What are you gonna do if you embarrass yourself in front of her?"

A one-sided attempt to provoke me.

"Excuse me, isn’t that a bit rude for a first meeting?" "Hey, shut up or you’ll get beat. Mind your business, weakling."

Treating someone close to me like trash.

"Didn’t I hear that she’s your manager? No way, right? Is this what she really is?"

He made an obscene gesture with his hand, sticking his thumb between his fingers and wiggling it. Yerim couldn’t say anything in response to the blatant provocation.

Someone who bullies the weak just because they’re strong...

'Oh, I remember now.'

It was just like Park... what’s his name.

As soon as that realization hit me, my head cleared.

Normally, I’d be irritated by such low-level provocations. But the moment I realized he was just like Park What’s-His-Name, I knew exactly how to handle this.

"How about we skip the warm-up and just get started?"

I had planned to take it easy.

Even though it was a sparring match, I knew the limits of my body’s talents, so I had intended to respect my opponent and go easy on him.

But if he was the same type as Park What’s-His-Name, there was no need for that. My body had been itching for some action lately anyway.

'This is perfect.'

Luckily, I had the chance to let loose. Perhaps it was all part of Sims - The Real Life's plan?

"Now? Without warming up?"

But when I suggested it, Kim Sansoo seemed slightly taken aback. Time to use the magic words.

"Yeah, but if you're scared, you can warm up a bit more."

"Hey, let’s do this right now, you’re dead meat."

Just as expected. Works every time.