"W-Wait, did you just say retirent?!"
Bzzzt!
As soon as the statent was made, microphones shot up, and flashes exploded.
"Are you saying that, starting today, you’re completely ending your career as an athlete?" "Not exactly. I intend to faithfully fulfill my military service."
Military service.
Foreign reporters didn’t fully grasp what was ant, but the Korean reporters understood right away.
"So, does this an you’ll be transitioning into coaching instead of competing?" "That’s right. I plan to share my expertise. I want to run a 7-day intensive training camp for athletes."
This was already sothing discussed and settled with the Korean Boxing Association. Once the reporters realized this, they imdiately fired more questions at Kim Donghu.
"Then why bring up retirent? I’m curious why you used that term." "I’ve accomplished everything I can in amateur competitions."
The statent was bold.
"Everything I can achieve in amateur competitions."
The impact of those words was trendous.
"Well, it’s true—there’s never been a ti where it took more than 5 minutes to win a gold dal." "Olympics, Asian Gas... how boring must that be?"
At first, the appearance of an exceptionally strong person may be entertaining. It’s fresh, destructive, and it’s hard to imagine what kind of performance they’ll bring.
But if it keeps repeating, people get tired of it.
Overwhelming victories every ti they step into the ring? Dominating before the round even ends, before the judges even have to make a decision?
That sort of thing actually kills the excitent of the competition. The presence of an overwhelming champion eliminates any sense of anticipation.
"The reason for his retirent from amateur boxing is that he was just too strong." "That’s a reason for retirent I’ve never heard before."
And so, Kim Donghu declared his retirent from amateur boxing.
"Does that an you’ll be entering the professional stage?" "My answer is the sa as when I said it at the Olympics."
If the conditions are right and the money is substantial, he said, he would consider it.
Even though he hadn’t officially debuted as a pro, he could say this because Kim Donghu was a new kind of character the boxing world had never seen before.
"S-So that ans... uh...?" "Yes, for the ti being, I plan to live as a coach."
Because that’s part of the athlete’s journey too.
At his words, the reporters nodded in understanding.
While the overall situation wasn’t clear, since he was speaking in English, they could follow the context.
"Thank you for sharing your future plans. Now, if we could move on to the match itself?" "Yes, feel free to ask anything." "In today’s final, you used a new technique that hadn’t been seen in previous matches. Was there a particular reason for that?" "Since it was the final, I felt it was necessary to show a performance worthy of the occasion." "So why didn’t you use it earlier in the competition?" "I only perfected the technique the day before the final."
Even before the dal ceremony, reporters scrambled to get just one more comnt from him.
Another 30 seconds passed.
"Due to ti constraints, we’ll have to wrap up the interview here."
The rest would be continued in the official press conference.
Kim Donghu stood up after his final words.
It was ti to go collect his second gold dal.
***
"[Is Kim Donghu really thinking about turning pro?]"
Well, the amateur level was too low for him.
At Kim Donghu's level, he’d probably be at the pro level too.
He’ll probably dominate every heavyweight championship out there, yep.
"[A special training camp for athletes?]"
Seems like he’s doing this because of volunteer hours.
But even if Kim Donghu trains soone, can they follow along?
There’s no way anyone can learn his straight punch.
How are you supposed to learn a punch that makes people fly?
Can anyone even learn how to make people bounce off the ground like that? Haha.
No way, haha.
"[So Kim Donghu will just teach for now, until December?]"
Even if he trains hard, it’ll still take at least three months.
It's funny that the association and military service office approved this, haha.
Don’t think he’s getting a huge advantage here.
He deserves it. If he naturalizes, will you take responsibility for that?
If it was any other country, there wouldn’t even be military service, haha.
The fact is, China, Russia, Japan, and the U.S. are already trying to get him to naturalize.
"[Looks like he’s trying to play coy about the naturalization thing.]"
There have been so articles about it already.
(link)
The military service office and Korean Boxing Association have already “promised” to provide various conveniences for Kim Donghu.
It’s not just talk, they really an it.
I don’t think they’ll make him do rigorous volunteer hours either.
This isn’t like the controversy around actors getting special treatnt, so the public opinion is good.
He’s just too strong; what are we going to do about it?
Two gold dals in a row, the Olympics and the Asian Gas, wrapped up in less than 10 minutes.
"[YouTube is full of Kim Donghu’s boxing highlights, haha.]"
The highlight videos have about the sa length.
It’s just the music that’s different, haha.
I agree with that.
There’s no way, even if you throw in all the highlights and slow-mo, it’s still under 10 minutes.
"[Sorry to break the mood, but I have a question.]"
My son says he wants to learn boxing.
But he wants to be like Kim Donghu—what should I say about that?
It’s hard to explain from a parent’s perspective.
Just let him try it out.
Yeah, it’s better for him to face the reality of it quickly instead of just talking about it.
The community too.
"Kim Donghu, becoming a coach? The new teacher of Korean boxing!" "A monuntal achievent no one else could reach, Kim Donghu’s special camp opens!" "For athletes only, 'intensive training with high intensity.'" "Kim Donghu slowly being ntioned? Professional boxers are starting to speak out." "New York Tis headline?! 'A player who will write a new history.'" "The whole world now knows where the true boxing powerhouse is!" "It’s not Korea that’s strong, it’s Kim Donghu. Korean boxing needs to reassess once again..." "Boxing gyms are booming! Everyone’s caught up in the 'Kim Donghu fever.'" "Kim Donghu’s coach Baek Sangha speaks out! 'I never thought of myself as the one who raised him.'"
The articles went wild.
They never expected this level of domination. They didn’t think he’d show such a destructive performance again.
The aftershock was even bigger than the Olympics.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Back then, people weren’t ready to accept it, so they hesitated a bit. But now, the preparation is more or less in place, so they can actively push for Kim Donghu.
"I never expected him to explain his retirent from the national team so well after fulfilling his military service." "Yeah, with skills like that, of course, he had to go pro eventually."
The reporters smiled, impressed by Kim Donghu.
Sipping on a 300-won coffee from the vending machine, they once again analyzed his strategy.
"He built up the retirent angle to make it seem like a huge loss." "‘He’s retiring? Why? That’s the first thought people will have.’" "And now, he naturally ntions in the official press conference that after finishing his military service, he’ll retire."
The result is the sa, but the nuance is different. If he had just announced his retirent right after military service, he might have gotten so backlash.
Kim Donghu is both a boxer and an actor, so he’s under a lot of attention. But when he brings up his retirent in a positive way during a light-hearted mont, the public interprets it with a smile.
"I should move to an even higher stage..." and the mood is set.
"Smart, really smart."
He’ll solve his volunteer hours with the training camp, and the Korean Boxing Association has already settled his two gold dals.
"So once the service period is over, you’ll go pro?" "That’s right, but the opponent’s side needs to agree too." "What?" "Without much hassle, they’ll probably just do an event match or sothing." "Straightforward, huh?"
The reporters, even at this mont, were checking out Kim Donghu’s articles online. Despite many gold dal matches at the Asian Gas, most of the focus was on him.
After all, there aren't many wins as overwhelming as this one.
How exhilarating it must be to experience that.
"This really looks like CGI." "What?" "The way he makes people fly." "That video already hit 50 million views in no ti."
With a record of achieving 50 million views in the shortest ti for sports highlights, the scene was just too absurd to believe.
"Kim Donghu is probably still training, right?" "I don’t know, but he probably is."
People were extrely curious about what Kim Donghu was doing at that mont.
And as expected, Kim Donghu was living his life, completely different from what anyone had anticipated.
"Isn’t his stamina a bit too bad?" "...You’re the one with too much stamina."
He was just living a steady, everyday life.
***
Three days after the Asian Gas boxing event ended, I returned to Korea and imdiately started the scheduled short-term intensive training camp.
So people suggested I take a break, but it was actually the perfect timing to train now.
Having already conditioned my body perfectly for the match, this mont, with all preparations in place, was the most effective ti to train.
"Now, let's get started with the real training. Thank you for trusting and following along!" "Yes!"
Thus began the training schedule. Although there were rumors about Tarzan from the Disney side, suddenly news ca out that the project had been delayed for so reason.
‘Actually, I have my own things to do during that ti anyway.’
So, my schedule was simple: two things.
In the day, I would continue training the athletes.
"I’m not coming in for a while... It’s too exhausting... Kim Donghu is really insane! Beast! Pervert! Freak!"
And at night, I would stick to regular cardio workouts.
"Honey, I don’t think I can co for a while... Yeah... I don’t think I’ll be able to make it."
Of course, this cardio didn't last long.
Despite alternating between both, we eventually hit our limits.
And then, just as if waiting for this mont…
"Can we talk about Tarzan?"
I got a call from Evelyn after a long ti.
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