Fighter (Woosan)

Chapter One

Wooyoung entered the mixed martial arts training centre that he had been training at since he was sixteen years old. It was a familiar sight for him to see since he had first joined. He confidentally walked through the first hallway of the building, saying hello to the receptionist along the way. The hallway wasn't long and before he knew it, he was in the training area or at least one of a few training areas that was inside the mixed martial arts centre. There were a few people already inside and training with their managers watching. His favourite thing about this centre was that there were a few boxing rings around the edge of the place and some training equipment in the middle of it. That was nothing new.

"Hey Woo," Moonbin, another MMA fighter, called out, "Where's boss man?" Boss man was a nickname that Wooyoung often called his manager and it was something that just stuck.

"I don't know," he responded, "All he told me was that he was going to be late."

"Ah, boss man better hurry up," the older joked, "Time is money." Both MMA fighters both ended up laughing before Moonbin continued to train, which was what he was doing before calling out the other fighter. Wooyoung walked over to the locker room of the centre as every MMA fighter that trains there had a locker that belonged to them. He walked over to the locker that he had, unlocking it by entering the code into the keypad. He pressed the numbers that made up the combination and as soon as it was entered correctly, he was able to open the small door that kept his equipment safe from being stolen. Of course, there was still a chance that things could be stolen if he were to leave it open or if he didn't close it properly. Or maybe unlocking it by using force from a crowbar or something stronger. Though, he didn't have to worry about that currently because well, if something like that happened, his manager would've told him much earlier. He took out his gloves that he had to wear while training and while in an actual match. He undid the velcro and put them on his hands, the first joint of each finger and both thumbs showing at the end of the gloves. Every MMA fighter wore these gloves whether they were training or were in a match.

Wooyoung did up the velcro again once he had both gloves on, closing his locker afterwards. He did have his mouth guard in his locker but he didn't need it while he was training. Only for matches. He made sure that his locker was actually locked before leaving the locker room. There were the same people that were in the training area when he was in there a moment ago.

"Because boss man isn't here yet," Moonbin said, as he walked over to the younger fighter, "I'll help you train until he comes. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, sure," the younger responded. The other MMA fighter got two punching pads and placed the velcro straps over his hands, making sure that he had them on not too tightly nor too loose. It was a habit that everyone had when putting on punching pads. Wooyoung took the time to stretch as he didn't want to pull a muscle or get an injury that would put him out of commission for a few weeks. That was the last thing that he wanted as he was starting to gain some popularity for himself. While he didn't necessarily care about the popularity, having an injury that could take weeks to recover from wasn't the best thing to do if he was going to continue with making a name for himself in the MMA world. Stretching was the best way for him to avoid getting injuries. Well, he could technically still get injuries but he still wanted to avoid some of them. He stretched his legs, arms, back and neck, just making sure that he didn't injure any part of his body. It was like that for a brief moment until he was ready to start training.

"Ready?" Moonbin asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Wooyoung answered. He took in a deep breath and got into the the stance that he had been in a few times before. One foot behind the other, his hands in front of his face and hopped slightly back and fourth on each foot, something that he often did since the beginning of his MMA career. Well, he didn't do it in the very beginning, he started doing it when his manager said that doing so would help him get an advance on his opponent. For a brief moment, Wooyoung just bounced back and forth on his feet, though eventually after that moment he started throwing punches at the punching pads. At certain points, he would punch one punching pad with the opposite hand and arm, other times he would do it with the corresponding arm. Even though he didn't have an upcoming fight any time soon, he liked to train on a regular basis because it helped keep his strength and stamina.

***

"Choi San!" Jooheon called out, catching San's attention, "Come here!" San stopped his training session with his trainer, Jongin. He gave his trainer a fist bump before leaving the ring that was in the training centre that he was in. He took the towel that was on the barrier surrounding the ring and began to dry off the sweat that was on his face, arms and any other exposed skin. He did so as he exited the ring and made his way over to his manager.

"What's up?" he asked, as he stopped in front of his manager.

"I have something to tell you," Jooheon answered, "I know that your last fight was only two weeks ago, so not that long ago. But, I just spoke with another manager named Hyunjin. He is currently training his client for his next fight that we have just finalised. What I am trying to say is that you have another fight coming up within three weeks from now."

"What's his name?" San asked, "The fighter."

"Wooyoung," Jooheon answered, "Jung Wooyoung." As he answered, he got his phone out and looked through the social media that Hyunjin had given him, trying to find the photos of the fighter that San would be going up against. He enlarged a photo once he found a photo of the fighter that he would be fighting. Jooheon showed the MMA fighter of Wooyoung, allowing him to view it as much as he needed to.

"This is Wooyoung," the manager continued, "He has been a professional MMA fighter over the past two years. He has been in eight fights so far and he has won six of those. He lost one of those fights and the other one was stopped because he had received a linear fracture to his right arm during the third round." San looked at the photo that was in front of him, taking in the physical appearance of the fighter that he was going to go up against. He had to say, he did hear the other fighter's name a few times before. Of course, he didn't recognise the other fighter instantly because well, the other MMA fighter had only been fighting for two years while San had been doing so for five years. For a few moments, he looked at the photo before looking back up at the manager, who turned his phone off and put it away afterwards.

"You can go back to your training," Jooheon said, "Don't train too hard. Don't want you being too tired or injured before the fight." San chuckled a little bit at the last statement, only for a moment before making his way back to the ring to train like he was before. He briefly explained what his manager had told just told him, just so that Jongin wasn't left in the dark since he had trained San since the very beginning. San continued to train from where they had left off.