I was just on my way home assimilating everything that happened today. I still didn’t know how much the matter with Chris was gonna change my days. That day, I arrived home. Today as any other one, I had to train another part of my body. Following my notebook today I just had to train my jab. Throwing them countless times, until I faint or my arm gives up.

  I was about to start my training. I even had the dummy put and I was about to hit the first jab when I suddenly heard the doorbell. I opened the door and behind it, there was no one, but a package. As the smart and clever guy I am, I obviously… Took the package and closed the door fastly. It could be something dangerous, but what if it’s not?

  I was nervous. How could I not be? I literally had a cardboard box in front of me. It didn’t have anything else. No letters. No names. I took a knife from the kitchen to open it. My hand wouldn’t stop trembling while I was opening it. Inside the package, there was another package, but it had a piece of paper above it. I took it and I looked at the handwriting and realized it was Mon’s.

  Hey kid, how are you?

  If you have received this letter it means that I’m dead.

  Nah, joking.

  I see that you have been fulfilling the task diligently. I am not surprised though.

  The real reason I’m sending you this letter is because I will probably not be able to communicate for some time. Maybe even after you finish the task I may not be able to meet with you. For that and because you are nearly at half of the challenge, I have prepared a special present to celebrate it. In the back of this letter you have an address. Go to that place and give the guy who lives there what is inside the box. This will be an addition to your task. You have to go to that place and do what the old man tells you for one hour.

  Take care

  Mon Park

  Mon’s pov…

  Shootings could be heard. Mon and someone else behind a brick wall. They were in an open field.

  “Hey, Mon. Have you really sent that kid to that old man's house? Are you crazy”. Shouted a guy next to Mon. It was probably difficult to hear due to the explosions and shootings.

  “Yeah I sent him, but don’t worry. I have full faith in that kid”. Replied Mon who had an M4 in his hands, hiding behind a brick wall, before starting to shoot.

  “Your kid is not the problem here. Don’t you remember how that old man did his stuff? You even had issues with him”.

  A shiver came down Mon’s spine after remembering what he went through with that old man.

  “I’m sure he will be okay. Probably…”

  Going back to Mark’s pov…

  “Lets see, this was the address”. I went directly to that address after reading his letter so later I could still do my daily training. In front of me is a rusty house. Well, more that rusty I would say that no one could leave here. It was in the outskirts of the city, but still it was literally made out of stones and old wood. It seemed as if it was gonna fall anyday. I knocked on the door, but no one opened.

  I knocked harder and that made the door fall. I went inside the house. I had to bow down so I didn’t hit my head with the roof.

  “Fuck. It's so dark inside, I can’t see anything”. Suddenly I felt that I had stepped on something. It was soft but wasn’t completely plain. I was finally able to see a light bulb that had a cord. I pulled from it and I saw that I was stepping on a body.

  “AAAAAAH! Fuck!” I jumped back, hitting my head with the roof. I get down to touch the body.

  I tried moving it to see if it was alive, but it didn’t move. “Heeeey. You alive?”

  I thought I heard something, so I approached my face to his mouth and I focused to see if I could feel him breathing. In that moment, the old man opened his eyes, grabbed my hand left hand and before I could react, my entire world flipped.

  I felt my feet leave the ground as the old man yanked me forward with a sudden burst of strength. My head hit the low roof again and I fell to the floor. Before I could even process what was happening, my arm was trapped between his legs. He was on his back, his hips tight around my shoulder, and my elbow was hyperextended.

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  Pain shot through my arm. It felt as if my elbow was gonna be completely obliterated.

  “Who are you? Are you here to steal stuff from me?” Said the old man calmly.

  I don't know why, but instinctively I tapped his leg.

  He was surprised and after some more seconds he released the technique. I was still in the ground grabbing my arm and trying to sustain the pain. He walk past me and took the box that I had left previously at a table. He opened it and after seeing what was inside, he sighed and suddenly started explaining what he just did.

  “What I just did to you is called a flying armbar”.

  “A high-risk, high-reward submission move, the flying armbar is an advanced technique in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It starts from a standing position. The attacker in this case, grabs the opponent’s arm, jumps up, and swings one leg over their head while locking the other leg around their shoulder. Gravity does the rest. The opponent gets dragged into the fall, and in an instant, the arm is caught in a vice grip, seconds away from breaking if the opponent doesn’t tap”. Explained the old man.

  “You are the brat that Mon mentioned?”

  “Y-yeah. Fuck you nearly broke my arm!” I was in huge pain, but I could move my arm again.

  "Don't cry for that little. Its just a technique that I'm still learning". The old man looked at me moving my arms and opened his eyes wide.

  “Is there any problem?” I asked, seeing how he was looking at me.

  “No, no. It’s just that I thought I was seeing a ghost for a second”.

  “By the way old man, who are you and what the fuck I’m here for?”.

  “My name is Martin Graves. That idiot didn’t explain anything to you?” Said Martin while he crossed his arms. He had a skinny body, but I could feel something. I can’t describe what it is. It's as if I knew that this old man could destroy me in an instant.

  “He only said that I had to do as you told me for one hour”. I replied putting my hands in my pockets.

  “That’s enough I guess. Okay I only have one command for the rest of the days that you are gonna be here. No matter what you feel or how you feel you must not shout, nor cry, nor ask for help. You also will try to get up every time even if your body feels like going to break”.

  I just stood there with my mouth wide. I couldn’t believe what I just heard.

  “What if I do anything that you just said. You will automatically lose the bet you did with him”. Said Martin completely serious.

  “For now stand right there. Don’t move”.

  I did as he said, I remained immobile as if I was a statue. He approached me and stopped right in front of me. Then, he charged his punch. His stance was similar to one I saw not much ago. Similar, but not the same. I can’t explain why, but this one seemed to be a lot more stable than the other one.

  At that moment, I saw his fist moving and hitting directly into my abdominal. A huge pain invaded that area. I sustained the pain as much as I could, spit coming out of my mouth. Even with all that, I didn’t fall and I stayed standing.

  “Not bad”. After saying that he took the same stance and hit my right arm. Then my right tight.

  He kept hitting me like that for the whole hour. He was very precise. He didn't hit me in the same place twice. I had marks of his right fist all over my body except for the leg where I had the injury.

  I was barely able to maintain my posture. I had been brutally beaten. I don’t think I have received this many punches from one person since I was a child.

  “As you could have guessed, my job is to beat you to a pulp every day for an hour until your task ends. To endure all that, I’ll teach you a stance of the martial art that I mastered. There are various, but this one…"

  He suddenly spread his legs wide, toes turned slightly inward, knees bent deep not in surrender, but in defiance.

  “This one is called Kiba Dachi”.

  He wasn’t guarding himself at all. His face, his chest and even his abs weren’t covered.

  “Try it”. He said.

  “Huh?” I looked confused at him saying that.

  “Try to knock me in one hit. Put all your strength in your punch or kick and try to knock me”.

  I gulped. “Can I really hit you anywhere?” He then nodded.

  I got ready for it. My body was still hurting from all the beaten. Now I could get revenge on this old man. I set up the stance I had been doing for kickboxing straight. I got focused completely. I closed my eyes, focusing completely on the point I wanted to aim for. I imagined it in my mind. I opened my eyes and I threw it with all the strength I had. BAM! A clean hit to his chest moving him an inch. Martin opened his eyes wide, amazing with the strength I had without ever being trained properly by anyone.

  “Fuck. My knuckles hurt now”. They were all the right hand knuckles red.

  “Kid”. Said Martin. “Wanna try again?” Said Martin with a mocking smile on his face.

  “Tch!”

  “You can go for today, kid. I’ll see you tomorrow. Come by when you get out of school every day and on Saturdays and Sundays more or less the same time”.

  “Okay geezer, I’m out then”.

  I get out of the house and just go home directly to continue with my daily routine.

  Martin Graves pov after I get out of the house…

  Martin took out his phone and called Mon.

  After some time Mon takes it. “Hey Martin, what do you need”.

  “Nothing for now. I was just calling to tell you that Mark has been here”.

  “Oh, great. How did you see him? Did he exceed you expec.. “He moved me” Said martin cutting Mon.

  “What?” Asked Mon

  “What you heard. I let him hit me while I was in Kiba Dachi stance”. He just threw one kickboxing straight and he was able to move me an inch”.

  “...” Mon didn’t answer.

  “Pffff. Hahahahahahahaha”.

  “Oh my god. This kid. Even with the difficult task I gave him, he decided to practice a martial art on his own. Kickboxing, no less”.

  “I now understand why Mary told me that he shouldn’t get hit on his right leg. He must have been practising each part of the body every day. Hahahahahahaha. God I can’t stop laughing. He even surprises me”. Said Mon

  “Hey Martin. Take good care of the kid. Make sure he is ready when the time comes”.

  “I’ll do it. After all you just gave me this beatiful present”. Said Martin while looking at the Whisky bottle he had in his hands.