The next morning, Soon Hae's eyes felt like someone had replaced them with two small bags of sand.
Her stepmother's never-ending list of chores from the night before had kept her up far too late, and she'd only managed three hours of sleep.
Still, she wasn't going to let that stop her.
This was the first day of advanced drills at the Iron Tiger Boxing Academy the day she'd prove she wasn't just the clumsy recruit who tripped over her own feet.
At least, that was the plan.
****
By the time she reached the academy, the training hall was already alive with the sound of skipping ropes smacking the floor, the smell of disinfectant mixing with faint leather and sweat.
Coach Kang stood at the far end, arms folded like a general surveying his army.
"All right, advanced recruits!" he barked. "Today we start at the bottom of the ladder. Which means you'll be wishing you were still in basic training by the time we're done."
The warm-up alone was brutal five minutes of jump rope, ten minutes of shadow boxing, push-ups, squats, burpees… Soon Hae's lungs burned.
****
By the second hour, her arms felt like they'd been replaced by wet noodles.
Coach Kang clapped once. "Break time! Five minutes. Drink water, stretch, and don't waste time."
Soon Hae staggered to a quiet corner near the side wall, gulped from her bottle, and tried to keep her eyes open. She sat cross-legged on the mat, telling herself she'd meditate, focus her breathing, find her center like Ming Tian had taught her.
Her breathing slowed.
Her shoulders loosened.
Her eyelids got heavier.
Just a minute, she thought. One minute to rest my eyes.
****
When she opened them again, it wasn't because she had d decided to.
It was because an entire bottle of ice-cold water had just been poured directly onto her head.
She shot upright with a strangled shriek. "AHHH! WHAT..?!"
The shock jolted through her like electricity. Water streamed down her neck, soaking her T-shirt and dripping onto the mat.
Standing in front of her, holding the now empty bottle with the casual grace of someone who knew exactly what he was doing, was Han Lu Han.
****
"Training's not nap time," he said, voice calm, almost bored but his eyes glittered with the faintest trace of mischief.
The room had gone suspiciously quiet, except for the muffled, half swallowed snickers of the other recruits.
Soon Hae sputtered, pushing wet hair out of her face. "I wasn't sleeping... I was meditating...."
"Uh-huh." His tone said he believed her about as much as someone would believe a cat swearing it hadn't touched the fish.
***
Then came the voice that tipped the situation from embarrassing to downright humiliating.
"YAH! Soon Hae!"
Fang Yu — wiry, grinning, and apparently unable to resist an opportunity bounded over, eyes sparkling with mischief. Before she could react, he climbed onto her back like a gleeful monkey.
"Come on, carry me! Maybe you'll wake up faster!"
"Get OFF!" she yelped, trying to twist away. But the slippery mat and her soggy shirt made the whole thing more ridiculous than threatening.
The room's snickering turned into full-on silent laughter. A few recruits covered their mouths to hide their grins.
****
The amusement ended abruptly with the sound of the side door slamming open.
"What is going on here?"
The voice was sharp enough to slice through steel.
Everyone turned.
Standing there was Senior lu Han —tall, poised, and wearing an expression that could make a heavyweight champion reconsider his life choices.
Soon Hae had seen her around before, but this was the first time Lu Han's attention was aimed directly at her.
****
Lu han gaze swept the room, then landed on Soon Hae still dripping, still kneeling on the mat with Fang Yu perched on her back like an overexcited parrot.
"Is this… how you treat advanced training?" Lu han voice was calm, which somehow made it worse. "Sleeping on the mat? Letting your teammates use you as furniture?"
Soon Hae scrambled upright so fast that Fang Yu slid off and landed with a surprised "oof."
"I wasn't...I mean, I..."
"No excuses." Lu han's tone sharpened. "You're here to work, not take a spa day. If you have energy to nap, you have energy to train."
****
Lu Han's eyes flicked toward the far corner of the hall. "Coach Kang! Permission to assign her extra drills?"
Coach Kang looked up from his notes, shrugged. "She's all yours, Golden boy."
The room collectively winced in sympathy.
"Fifty push-ups," Luhan said. "Then you'll run ten laps around the hall. And when you're done, you'll hold a plank for as long as I tell you."
Soon Hae groaned. "Fifty...?"
"Do you want to make it a hundred?" Lu han asked sternly.
"No, ma'am."
****
By the end of the punishment, Soon Hae's arms trembled, her lungs were on fire, and her wet hair clung to her face like seaweed.
When Lu han finally dismissed her, the senior leaned in just enough for only Soon Hae to hear. "Next time you fall asleep, don't expect someone to wake you with water. Expect me to wake you with gloves."
Soon Hae swallowed hard. "Yes, Senior."
---
As she stumbled back toward the group, Ming Tian her with a faint smirk.
"You should thank him you know," he said under his breath.
She glared at him. "For what? Public humiliation?"
"For saving you from whatever Coach Kang would've done if he had caught you actually asleep," he replied. "Trust me cold water is kinder."
She didn't know whether to thank him or throw her empty bottle at his head.
---
The rest of the session passed in a blur of footwork drills and bag work. Every time she thought she might get a break, Lucy's voice would cut through the noise with another correction or order.
By the time Coach Kang blew the final whistle, Soon Hae could barely lift her arms.
But as she headed for the locker room, a strange thing happened.
Some of the recruits even the ones who had laughed gave her small nods, quiet grins.
It wasn't respect exactly… but maybe it was the start of it.
---