Everlast | yang jungwon 정원

[0.49]

"Come on noona, I know you can do better than that, swing at me like you used to!" Riki antagonizes while swinging his sword at me once again, to which I easily dodge.

"Riki, we used to fight with pool noodles.. This," I emphasize while holding up my sword, "this! is a real sword!" I shout back.

"Come on!" Riki whines while sagging his shoulders, as if he's a child throwing a tantrum. "Just swing at me, you know how to!"

"But I don't want to hurt you!" I argue back with a huff, blowing a piece of hair out of my face while clutching my own sword with both my hands tightly.

"You will never get better if you don't practice with a real opponent, noona." Riki retaliates with a huff while throwing his helmet to the ground. "Plus, Sunoo hyung can heal us if any of us were to get injured." he says before throwing his sword to the ground as well, landing sticking straight up.

He begins to walk away back towards the small spectator bench, where both our belongings were left while we practiced. I begin to feel a bit bad as I watch him sulk his way to the other side of the training grounds, disappointment in his every step.

I let out a large puff of breath before deciding what I must do to stop his sulking behavior.

With my chin held high I march up to Riki's sword, pulling it out of the ground with one hand while the other stays on the hilt of my own sword. I rush after him with urgency, and before he can reach the bench I promptly slide down onto my knees, using my leg to kick his foot out from under him.

Riki tumbles down onto his side with a huff, turning back to look at me with wide, surprised eyes. Without saying anything I toss his sword which he easily catches, smirking slightly as I watch him rush to his feet to collect his helmet.

"I guess we're doing this then," I taunt while adjusting the sword in my grip, ignoring the sweating of my palms and my pounding heart.

"That's the spirit!" Riki remarks back, a cheerful laugh escaping his lips.

Riki initiates the first move, swinging his sharp blade to the side while lunging closer on his left leg. I quickly respond by jutting out my own sword, blocking the attack just as I've been taught.

I counter-attack by swinging my sword to the opposite side, catching Riki off guard but he still manages to block the attack. This routine goes on for a while, just us swinging at one another but still managing to block every attack.

I create enough space between the two of us to swing at his torso, which sounds out a metal ring as the sword clashes against his metal armor.

Just as I think I've won the duel, I feel my feet get kicked out from under me, causing me to fall backwards onto my back with a large exhale. I squint up with the blinding sun in my eyes, making eye contact with the long blade pointed directly at my face.

I watch as Riki lets out a large laugh before sliding his sword into the sheath on his belt. "See? Only a week worth of training and you are already a pro," he says while holding out his hand for me to take.

I scoff but take his hand anyway, letting out a huff while storing away my own sword. "Yeah, but I still lost." I remark while standing to my feet and taking off my helmet, shaking out my hair and letting the wind cool off my sweaty forehead.

"Hey, that was unfair." I hear a voice call out, causing me to turn in surprise to see Jungwon walking up to us with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I knit my eyebrows together at the mere presence of him. I wonder how long he stood watching us.

"I don't know what you mean, hyung." Riki defends with his head held high.

"The duel was over when Minji slashed your torso. She should have won." Jungwon continues to say, a knowing smirk on his face.

I look at Riki while crossing my arms in front of my chest, pursing my lips together while giving him a knowing look- to which he just sags his shoulders with a distressed look.

"Okay, I know, I know!" Riki retaliates before throwing off his own helmet. "I just wanted to see you lose.. plus you looked pretty funny the way you fell-"

"Oh you ass!" I cut him off by pushing him backwards, causing only a laugh to erupt from him.

I sigh and shake my head before walking off back to the bench where all my belongings are. I slump down onto the bench, searching through my bag until I find the water bottle I had filled up with fresh water.

While taking chugs from the bottle I notice a presence near me. I look to my side to see Jungwon sat beside me, just staring at me. I give him a weird look, but he just continues to watch me with a stoic expression on his face.

"Hello, earth to Jungwon, are you here with me?" I say while shaking my hand in front of his face, which seems to break him out of the trance he had been in.

"Do you have energy for another duel?" he asks, causing me to frown at him with my eyebrows scrunched together. That's the first thing he says to me after avoiding me for an entire week?

"Uh, probably not-"

"Yes she does!" Riki interrupts lively.

I whip my head up to stare at him in bewilderment, but before I can protest I'm being dragged up onto my feet once again.

"I really don't think I-" I try to interject, but it's useless when I watch as Riki pulls up Jungwon as well.

"You can use my sword, hyung," Riki says while pulling out his sword and handing it to a stunned Jungwon. "Now.. fight!" Riki commands and pushes us together, making my eyes go wide.

"Riki, he can't fight without armor." I point out with a scoff, surprised when he suddenly places his own helmet onto Jungwon's head, before placing one on my own head.

"Just aim for his head," Riki retaliates.

"What?!"

Before I know it there's a sword swinging at me, causing me to immediately back up as I dodge the blade.

"I'm not very good at all, don't expect much." I say to Jungwon, tightening my grip around the hilt of my sword.

"Don't worry, I will go easy on you." Jungwon responds teasingly, causing me to scoff as I internally roll my eyes.

I swing my sword in an upwards position, keeping my attacks higher so that I won't actually cause him any harm. The sound of metal against one another fills the space between us, our swords binding together as we block one another's attacks.

"You are good," Jungwon comments in surprise as our swords block one another, our faces close to each other as he blocks my attack.

"Shut it," I mumble before spinning around just in time to block his counterattack.

Our swords clash against one another as we repeatedly swing at each other back and forth, until I find myself in a position with Jungwon's torso completely open. He most likely knows that I won't swing at the area, since he's got no armor covering it. Since he won't expect me to target his torso, I use my forearm to elbow his helmet, catching him off guard and causing a distraction big enough for me to kick his torso and send him stumbling back onto the ground.

I walk up to him with a sigh, my chest heaving heavily. I silently outreach my hand for him to take, but instead of pulling him up he instead pulls me down with him.

"I win," he taunts victoriously while balancing on one knee with me laying on the grass underneath him in shock, his sword placed across my neck.

I stare up at him with wide eyes, not believing what has just happened. How did I not see that coming?

"Jungwon wins!" Riki shouts from afar, cheering loudly.

"Yeah, whatever." I mumble gruffly while pushing Jungwon off of me. I take off my helmet and shake out my hair, letting out a loud sigh before pushing myself off the ground and standing to my feet. I begin to walk away without looking back.

"That was scary." Taehyun comments as I walk up to the duo. Had he been here the whole time?

"And intense." Riki adds while raising both his eyebrows suggestively, causing me to scoff before just walking past them.