一层一层剥掉你的衣服

“Does everyone know how to box?” the officer asked. We all shook our heads, including me.

“What about you?” the instructor asked me, looking confused.

“No, I don’t.”

I mean, I don’t know what boxing is.

“I saw your match. You did well.”

“I really don’t know.”

“It seems like there’s a lack of communication.”

With that, the instructor turned around. On the other side, there was a line of female training officers. Unlike us, they all looked well-toned and ready to fight.

“You all know Sian Lee, correct?” the instructor asked them.

“Yes, ma’am!” the training officers answered. It was like a battle cry. Just a little bit louder and it would have been comparable to a pack of lions roaring over its prey.

“You all know that Sian is good at fighting, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am!” they cried out once more.

“Are you confident?”

“Yes, ma’am!” they shouted with determination.

Apparently, they were all trained in martial arts. There was a taekwondo champion, a judo fighter, etc. There was a boxer, and one was even a fencer. There was a jujitsu fighter and a wushu fighter. They were all long-time athletes.

“How can they all be professional athletes?” I asked.

“We especially prepared them for you,” the instructor said to me with a smile. She had a rather interesting look on her face.

Anyways, she said, “Now, you will all fight each other 6:6. First, it will be 1:1, then all together. The officer over there will be the referee. He’s an MMA fighter and will make his debut after his enlistment.

We all looked at the officer she was referring to. He looked up and I was immediately struck by how tall he was. I’d say about 190 cm? That’s not all. His overall body was huge. That was definitely not a human. He was more like a Hulk. Anyways, you know what’s weird? All of that just made me want to hit him more. I bet that it would feel great to land a blow on his body. It was extremely tempting.

“Now, we’ll start with individual combat. Everyone, put on your headgear and gloves. Also, pick your number.”

“Yes, ma’am!” we all replied. We all gathered around to pick the order.

“Sian, do you want to go first?” Joo-ran asked me.

“Me?”

“Yeah. Go first and get them all!”

“Hmmm…”

It didn’t sound like a bad idea. But what would that do for my image? I needed to stop with the whole “fighter” image that I had. Of course, this wasn’t my idea. It was Jinwoo’s. He kept going on about how I don’t have any male fans because I was too good at fighting.

“Joo-ran. Can I go first?” Jae-yoon cut in. She seemed pretty sure of herself. That isn’t bad, don’t get me wrong. It’s just it’d be better if she had the actual talent to back it up.

“Jae-yoon, are you sure?”

“Of course. I’ll get them. I’ll show you all how good I am at fighting. You guys thought that it was all just talk, right? You’ll see. I can walk the talk too.”

“Okay, then Jae-yoon can go first.”

So Jae-yoon was number one. Soomin was second, third was Joo-ran, fourth was Hyunjoo, fifth would be Heejin. And I would go last. Apparently, they were all eager to give it a go. All because fighting would equal more screen time. Even Heejin with her weak body seemed eager to participate. She wanted to get out there and promote her girl group. Good for her.

After choosing our order, we stood on one side. The tall officer stood in the middle of the stadium. Oh, the stadium wasn’t really a stadium. We were just in one of the unused buildings that they were using as a field.

“Are you ready?” the officer asked in a deep, hoarse voice.

“Yes, sir!” we all answered.

“Then, the first member from each team, please step forward.”

The first one to step out from the other team was Taekwondo athlete Joo-hyun Lee. From our side, it was Jae-yoon. Strong, rude, shamelessly big-mouthed Jae-yoon. I wonder how badly this would end for her. I knew just by looking at the two that Joo-hyun was going to win. To me, Jae-yoon was just a rude girl who talked a lot.

“Now, the rules are simple. You will both be judged on how many effective hits you get, your offensive techniques, and your defensive techniques. I want both of you to do your best. Understand?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Also, you’re allowed to use any form of fighting style that you wish. Now on my cue. And…start!”

The moment the officer raised his hand, Joo-hyun and Jae-yoon began to fight. At first, they slowly circled each other until Jae-yoon let out the first punch with a right hook. Oo-hyun used a Taekwondo move to dodge the blow and lifted her long leg to drop a kick onto Jae-yoon.

Wham!

The drop kick hit its mark. Jae-yoon, who had just suffered a blow to the head, stumbled backwards a bit in shock. She looked somewhat dazed, but she quickly regained herself and ran forward. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get a single blow in. Joo-hyun used her long legs to kick Jae-yoon and eventually ended her with another kick to the head. And with that, Jae-yoon suffered a humiliating defeat. She pretty much just proved that it really was just all talk. Next was Soomin. She too, went down when Joo-hyun drop kicked her in the head. At one point, Joo-hyun’s feet even ended up inside Soomin’s mouth. Next was Joo-ran. By now, Joo-hyun’s energy was low and Joo-ran was able to knock her down with a pounding. And here I was thinking that she was just a pretty actress, but she’s actually quite strong. Unfortunately, the next fighter from the other team was judo athlete, Hyunmi Lee. She brought Joo-ran down with a single punch. As expected from a judo champion. The next from our side was Hyunjoo, but she forfeited the match by running away. Next was Heejin. Heejin was the complete opposite. With every blow, every kick, every hit she received, she would grit her teeth, refusing to back down. Even though she knew it was impossible to win, she was passionate and determined. She knew exactly what the public wanted to see. Still, she suffered a lot of blows and she was finally knocked out with a kick to her face that made her nose bleed.

“Are you okay?” I asked, helping Heejin stuff tissue into her nostrils. Ugh, why were they so small? It was so cute.

“And finally, Sian. Sian Lee, please approach.”

I walked towards the middle. The judo fighter Hyunmi stared at me. She looked tired. Thanks to Heejin, a lot of Hyunmi’s energy had been sucked out. Of course, that wasn’t important to me. That’s because I planned to end her quickly.

“And…start!”

Hyunmi began to approach me. She’s a judo athlete. So for her, it’d be best to attack from up close. Of course, I didn’t mind. Suddenly, she let out a punch. With her punch, I let my own fist fly as well. And we both hit our mark.

Wham.

I was fine, but Hyunmi immediately passed out. Hey, I’ve done some training too, you know. Without their strength, those athletes were pretty much nothing. I got each of them one by one until I brought the last one to her knees. And with that, I won the match for our team.

“Go, Sian!”

My team started to cheer for me and even the bulldog instructor nodded in acknowledgment. The ones from the other team all looked incredibly displeased.

“Now we will start the next match,” the officer said. This time, we all stood in a circle. We were all going to fight at the same time. At least, that’s the idea. But now that I look at it, the looks that the training officers are giving me are not good. Something tells me that I’m going have to be on guard. So, I raised my hand.

“Excuse me, Sir?”

“Yes, Officer Lee.”

“What do we do if we get attacked by more than one person?”

“You mean what happens if it’s you against a group?”

“Yes.”

“Then you get hit.”

“Right,” I said with a nod. Okay, fine. I guess that’s one way to put it. If you become a target, you get hit. So, I planned to hit that officer.

“Okay. Then we’ll start the match. And…start!”

And as expected, as soon as the officer started the match, all six training officers ran towards me. It was like the other five weren’t even there.

The boxing champion did an uppercut which I quickly dodged while simultaneously pushing her towards the referee officer. I aimed a high kick in her direction and accidentally-on-purpose brought it down on the officer.

Wham!

“Hey!”

The officer stumbled backwards, but I continued on like nothing happened. I snuck in a few more blows while I was at it. Maybe because he was tall or perhaps because he was muscular, but hitting him felt great. I continued on like that while also fighting the training officers and soon, the match ended. Everyone stood around, panting. Except one person who had passed out. That was the referee officer. I guess I had “accidentally” hit him one too many times. Because there had been so many of us at once and I had been so quick, it was impossible to truly tell who had hit him. And no one could guess why he had passed out. Of course, if one were to re-watch the footage, they might be able to see. But even with that, it’d be hard to prove that it was really my fault. After all, it had been an accident. Really.

We now had a short break before dinner time. We were all resting while the instructors were on the other side, chatting with one another. There was the dark officer, the gas chamber officer, the referee officer. They didn’t look too happy and even less so when they were looking at me.

“What’s with them?”

I upped my hearing so I could secretly eavesdrop on their conversation.

“That Sian girl. I think she’s trying to make us look bad on purpose,” the gas chamber officer said.

“I’m sure she was the one who hit me earlier,” the referee officer said. Yeah, well, I couldn’t keep it a secret from everyone. Even if everyone else doubted it, I’m sure the referee officer himself knew that it was me. He just didn’t say anything because he was embarrassed.

“She really is shameless. I pegged her the moment she walked in with that chicken. Let’s get her during the ranger training,” the dark officer said. Hmm, I’ve never done anything to him. Wow, that was low.

“That’s tomorrow, right? I’ll make sure that she regrets being born.”

“Okay!”

And with their hatred towards me, they became one. They were even already setting up a plan.

“Make her fail during the obstacle course.”

“Make her do squats and do the roll over.”

“Make her do the duck walk. That’s the worst.”

“Anyways, we have to make her fail.”

“Should I cut her rope during rope training?”

“That’s murder.”

“I’m kidding.”

“Shake the rope during the tightrope portion.”

“Oh, good idea.”

“She’s dead meat, that Sian.”

The officers continued to stand around, snickering and feeling proud of themselves as they continued to plan my demise.

“Seriously, those assholes.”

Just wait until I’m through with them.