Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell rang, signaling the end of the first round.
The audience was in complete shock.
“...What? The first round is over already?”
“Alexei pressured Kim Donghu all the way through and took the first round.”
It was an unthinkable outco. Everyone had expected another one-sided victory for Kim Donghu.
What the hell happened in just a few short days?
Alexei had completely outmaneuvered Donghu, relying on his overwhelming physical strength.
“Was he hiding his true power?”
While the crowd reeled from Alexei’s sudden improvent, the Olympic athletes in attendance were beginning to catch on.
Especially the boxers, who instinctively sensed that sothing was off.
“He’s juiced.”
“Did they buy off the judges too? How did he even pass testing?”
“Of course they bought them. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before—rember Sochi?”
But knowing the truth didn’t change anything.
The officials and comntators had probably already been paid off.
“Strength, speed, stamina—there’s nothing he’s lacking. Looks like he’s using every drug he could get his hands on.”
“The fighters know it better than anyone, but… it doesn’t look like Donghu has any intention of giving up.”
The athletes turned their eyes to Donghu, who was seated in the corner of the ring.
His eyes were sharp and unyielding, showing no trace of defeat.
But his slightly heavy breathing told a different story.
It wasn’t a matter of fatigue from stamina loss.
It was the strain of facing a chemically enhanced body.
“His arms are all swollen. Look at his triceps—they’re completely red.”
“And Alexei? He doesn’t have a single mark on him. He’s staring Donghu down like he’s already won.”
“He’s confident. Probably thinks he’s got this in the bag.”
“If it goes to a decision, Alexei wins for sure. Donghu’s only chance is a KO...”
But could anyone deliver a knockout against a fighter pumped full of drugs?
As the doubt began to creep in—
Ding!
The one-minute break ended, and both fighters touched gloves.
“Box!”
At the referee’s signal—
“Alexei’s charging in again!”
“He’s going straight for a slugfest!”
“Is he trying to end it with a knockdown too? He’s too aggressive—Donghu needs to dodge!”
But contrary to expectations that Donghu would be pushed back again—
Boom!
“Huh?”
In the blink of an eye, Alexei was down.
It wasn’t a KO.
But the look of confusion on his face said he wasn’t sure what had just happened.
Before the 10-count ended, Alexei sat down to rest until the count of nine, then stood back up.
“Box!”
The match resud.
Still looking baffled, Alexei rushed forward again—
Boom!
But before the round could gain montum, he went down a second ti.
A second knockdown.
Olympic boxing didn’t enforce a three-knockdown rule.
But in terms of scoring, it was a massive disadvantage.
‘And more importantly, it’s a sign that a KO is coming.’
What the hell was happening?
The audience reeled in disbelief as the match continued.
*****
After the second knockdown,
Alexei felt the fear he had been suppressing slowly creeping back to the surface.
‘What the hell is going on?!’
Just a mont ago, Donghu had been struggling to counter his attacks.
What the hell did he eat between rounds to pull this off?
Under the KO rule, Alexei had up to nine seconds to rest after a knockdown.
As he caught his breath, he glanced up at Donghu.
‘What’s with those eyes...?’
They looked like the eyes of a man who had actually killed before.
‘How did I even go down?’
Alexei tried to retrace what had happened,
but he couldn’t rember anything.
All he knew was that by the ti he ca to his senses, he was already on the mat.
“7! 8! 9!”
“I’m up! I’m up!”
“Can you continue? Are you okay?”
As soon as he stood at the count of nine, the referee stepped in to give him a few extra seconds of rest.
With his chemically enhanced body, Alexei recovered quickly during that brief pause.
“Okay, okay. I’m good.”
Pretending to struggle with English,
he bought himself a few more seconds before signaling his readiness.
“Box!”
The match resud.
Alexei forced himself to forget about the two knockdowns.
He could still win by points if he just regained control.
‘Pin him in the corner and beat him down.’
That was the plan as he moved to close the distance.
But—
Bang!
His supposedly ironclad guard shattered.
A quick left hook, followed by a right hook.
The blows forced his arms upward as pain shot through them.
And then, Donghu’s signature combo.
A hook to the temple, a short uppercut, and a liver shot.
“Ugh...!”
The impact sent his mouthpiece flying.
The sheer force of the punches overwheld him.
And then ca the third knockdown.
Scrambling, Alexei reached for his mouthpiece as—
Ding!
He checked the remaining ti.
“...”
Only one minute had passed.
He had been knocked down three tis in just one minute.
‘There are still two minutes left?’
He was supposed to win this match with drugs.
Why was he the one who now had to endure for two more minutes?
At this rate, the drugs didn’t even matter.
Alexei forced himself to process the unbelievable situation and stood up again.
With dulled pain receptors, endless stamina, and overwhelming strength and speed—
He should have been winning.
So why was he being pushed back?
‘Did he take drugs too?’
Alexei wanted to believe that.
But there were no signs of it.
‘No, no. I’ll win. I have to win.’
Losing despite taking drugs was unacceptable.
“Can you continue? Are you okay?”
He nodded.
Alexei knew dragging out the ti no longer ant anything.
‘All I have to do is survive to the decision.’
He decided to play defensively and go all out in the third round.
As long as he lasted until the decision, the win was his.
Reaffirming his determination to win, Alexei tightened his guard.
His guard had been broken earlier, but now that he was prepared, he could hold out.
“Okay, box!”
The match resud.
Two minutes remained.
This ti, Donghu made the first move.
He probed Alexei’s defenses with light jabs, testing his reactions.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
And slipped in body shots to chip away at Alexei’s guard.
‘I’m ending this round. I have to end it.’
A vow to never lose anything precious again—
That vow ignited Donghu’s potential.
He hadn’t grown complacent with his talent.
He had never slacked off, not for a single mont.
And now, all those efforts were bearing fruit.
Crack.
He broke through his limits.
Boom!
Alexei, thinking he had finished analyzing Donghu’s jabs, prepared a counter.
He planned to strike the mont Donghu pulled back his lead hand.
But then—
Donghu’s stance shifted in an instant.
A switch stance.
‘He switched to southpaw?!’
The sudden change in foot positioning also shifted his body angle.
Whoosh!
Alexei’s counter sliced through empty air.
Bang!
Donghu’s jab transford into a straight punch and slamd into Alexei’s face.
Alexei’s head snapped back, and his body staggered.
He would have fallen if not for the ropes catching him.
‘I can bounce off the ropes and escape!’
Amidst the chaos, Alexei clung to that plan.
But Donghu’s fists moved faster than his thoughts.
A straight punch followed by an uppercut and a hook.
Normally, this would have been called as a KO.
‘Should I stop it? End it here?’
The bribed referee hesitated.
Anyone could see the match was over,
but Alexei hadn’t technically gone down yet.
The referee wavered, thinking it might be better to let Alexei go down and recover.
But Donghu didn’t stop.
‘I’ll finish this. I won’t give him a chance to recover.’
He knew allowing Alexei to go down would only benefit him.
So instead of knocking him down, Donghu kept landing blows.
Lowering his body, Donghu struck without rcy,
making sure Alexei stayed upright.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hooks rained down in rapid succession.
And just as Donghu prepared to land a final straight punch—
“Stop! Stop! It’s over!”
The referee jumped in and declared a KO.
2 minutes and 13 seconds into the second round.
Kim Donghu’s victory and the gold dal were officially sealed.
*****
The awards ceremony took place shortly after the finals.
The South Korean national anthem rang out in the heavyweight division—
The pinnacle of boxing.
The Taegeukgi descended from the rafters,
draping the space above Kim Donghu in glory.
The Uzbek and Kazakh athletes received silver and bronze dals.
Originally, Alexei should have claid the silver.
However, he tested positive for drugs during his post-match treatnt and was stripped of his dal and eligibility on the spot.
And finally—
Kim Donghu received his gold dal,
marking the end of the boxing tournant.
But it was far from the end.
The headlines erupted imdiately.
“Russian Athlete Tests Positive for Doping! Kim Donghu Defeats Cheating Opponent!”
“A Historic Mont for Korean Boxing—Gold dalist Kim Donghu!”
“Korean Boxing Association: ‘His international performance satisfies military service exemption. Full support for his acting career!’”
“Asian Gas Gold dal Already Guaranteed?!”
“Analyzing Kim Donghu’s Victory—Fists Touched by God!”
The doping scandal sparked massive attention.
From heartwarming stories about Donghu reserving lodging for his fellow athletes—
To glowing praise from foreign dia and love calls from celebrities—
South Korea was swept up in boxing fever.
And amid the celebration—
[You have achieved a feat that will alter fate.]
[You will be recorded in history, and the death you postponed has been erased completely.]
[Your family is safe. Congratulations.]
[Enjoy your life in peace.]
‘...It’s over. It’s really over.’
Donghu sat alone in his room, silently crying as he read the ssage from Sims.
Finally.
Finally, he could protect them.
The crushing pressure lifted.
The guilt of knowing his mistake could have cost his family their lives—
The sorrow of helplessly losing his parents in his past life—
And the fear of it all repeating—
All of it lted away like snow.
Relief washed over him as he realized he could now live peacefully with his family.
“It’s... it’s finally over.”
Tears wouldn’t stop falling.
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