I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

“Khk.”
Hit squarely by the painful remark, Kim Yu-seong quickly put distance between himself and her.
It was just a single thrown punch, but he already understood.

She was above even Captain Boris, whom he had fought in Akihabara.
“You’re not coming?”
Li Mei Ling said that as Kim Yu-seong hesitated and failed to charge in confidently like earlier. Then, she took the first step forward.

“Then I’ll go first.”
Thud!!
The heavy stomp echoed in all directions the moment her foot struck the mat.

It was Zhen Jiao—the signature foot stomp technique of Bajiquan.
A method that used shock from the feet to shift the lower body’s weight into the upper body.
Closing the distance with a single step, she drove in with a sharply raised elbow, targeting Kim Yu-seong’s clavicle like a spear.

With her height at 180 cm, she was just slightly shorter than the 186 cm Kim Yu-seong—just enough to make that move work.
He instinctively raised his right arm to block her strike, but that was only the beginning of Li Mei Ling’s assault.
A fierce combination starting from Chungchui, the core of Diamond Eight Methods, to Strong Dragon and Pouncing Tiger.

Originally, standard Bajiquan was derived from spear techniques and emphasized a single powerful blow to subdue the enemy. However, the Heaven-Crushing Six-Harmonies Grand Bajiquan that she practiced combined the advantages of Xinyi Liuhe Quan and Bajiquan into a fully practical martial art, complete with chained techniques designed for ultra-close quarters combat.
But despite his earlier hesitation, Kim Yu-seong blocked all of her attacks with surprising ease.
‘As expected, she’s strong.’

He admired her inwardly, though he didn’t show it, and slammed both of his palms—with his full body weight behind them—toward his opponent’s chest.
Bang!!
And then, all of a sudden, Kim Yu-seong—who had been effortlessly blocking everything so far—took Li Mei Ling’s Wall-Crushing Palm head-on.
She gasped and tried to withdraw quickly, but he was faster.

His waist twisted sharply, and his right fist exploded forward with massive force.
“Guhk!”
The perfectly-timed counter slammed into her stomach, and though she reflexively executed a breakfall, the shock was enough to rob her of breath.

To throw around a woman who weighed nearly 70 kg due to her incredible muscle mass like she was a toy—this monstrous strength was truly befitting of the nickname Diamond Yasha.
After all, the alternate name of the Yasha guardian deity was Diamond Warrior.
“Woooooow…”

The spectators watching their fight couldn’t close their mouths.
A back-and-forth that happened in the blink of an eye.
To the young judo students, the dazzling match between the two seemed just plain cool, like something out of a fighting game.

But to those who had any idea of what was happening, it was nothing short of nerve-racking.
Thank god neither of them were using aura. If they had, the dojo would’ve been wrecked by now.
Yaguchi Genjiro, the instructor of the Mujin-ryu jujutsu dojo, suddenly realized he was watching the match completely spellbound, palms sweating.

‘Where the hell did this monster come from…’
He stared at the boy—his daughter’s classmate—who was currently fighting China’s Li Mei Ling.
It was less surprising that Li Mei Ling was strong—after all, her background was known.

But this boy had seemingly dropped out of nowhere and was holding his own against someone who could be called one of the best fighters in the world—the Fist Saint of China, Li Mei Ling.
It was overwhelming talent.
So much so that even his prized pupil Ryuji seemed to fade in comparison.

“…So this is it.”
And then he saw it.
In real time, Kim Yu-seong was evolving before his eyes.

Just moments ago, he had been posing awkwardly in a boxing stance, but now—he had absorbed Li Mei Ling’s fighting style.
Anyone else might’ve thought he was just mimicking it for show, but for someone like Genjiro, who had reached his own level of mastery, it was a surprisingly polished imitation.
His previously disordered breathing was now perfectly aligned. He exhaled and inhaled in sync with Li Mei Ling.

Before long, the two—having caught their breath—lunged at each other again.
Their fists and legs collided in midair with brutal force, but in Genjiro’s eyes, the scene looked like a work of art.
***

It felt like time was moving in slow motion.
In a state of intense concentration, they read each other's breath and clashed their trained fists.
At some point, both she and I had forgotten everything else and were fighting in a trance.

We even forgot that this was supposed to be a sparring match.
When our stamina had nearly reached the bottom, Li Mei Ling stepped back and widened the distance, her gaze now deeply settled.
“I’ll end it with this.”

I instinctively realized she was about to use a finishing technique.
“Haa…”
I held my breath, tightening every muscle in my body.

Unlike her, I hadn’t learned any formal techniques, so all I could do was improvise.
And then her body came surging in.
Almost like she used teleportation, she stomped the ground with a Zhen Jiao and closed the gap instantly, spinning her body and driving in a Guan Shou—a spear-like hand strike powered by her full body weight.

I instinctively raised my arms to block, but sensing the danger, I changed my mind at the last second and threw myself sideways.
Crash crash crash!
The dojo echoed with the noise from the impact.

Right after, Li Mei Ling withdrew her outstretched hand and asked me,
“Why did you dodge instead of blocking?”
I answered with a bitter expression.

“Because I didn’t think I could block it.”
That last attack—no matter how I looked at it—was too dangerous to take head-on.
And judging by her reaction, I was right. Li Mei Ling smiled faintly and nodded.

“It was a wise choice. The move I just used is called Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear.”
“Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear?”
“If flesh blocks, it pierces flesh. If bone blocks, it pierces bone. It’s one of the secret techniques of Heaven-Crushing Dance.”

Saying something so terrifying, she walked over and held out her hand to help me up from where I was lying on the dojo floor.
“That’s enough for today. I don’t think we can settle this match properly now.”
“…Today?”

“I plan to stay in this town for a while. Please accompany me—for the sake of improving my skills.”
For the first time, Li Mei Ling smiled warmly.
***

After the spar, Li Mei Ling bowed to Yaguchi’s father and thanked him for letting us use the dojo.
Since I was the one who originally asked, I bowed along with her. Yaguchi’s father said he hadn’t seen something so entertaining in ages and that we were welcome to borrow the dojo again anytime.
With the Yaguchi father and daughter and the kids waving us goodbye, we left the dojo.

When we first arrived, the sun was still up in the sky—but now, it had already grown dim.
I asked her,
“So what do you plan to do now?”

Li Mei Ling answered cheerfully,
“I’ll be staying at a nearby hotel for now. Also, thank you for putting up with my insistence today. You were stronger than I expected.”
Then, tossing her long black hair, she added,

“But… it’s a shame you never showed your full strength. I want to fight the Kim Yu-seong who defeated Ivan.”
In a way, that was a challenge.
She must’ve been trying to provoke me—frustrated that I hadn’t gone all out.

But I pretended not to notice and saw her off.
“That probably won’t happen.”
Because I just didn’t have that kind of competitive spirit to begin with.

***
After my match with Li Mei Ling, I went to the gym like usual.
No matter how tired my body was, even if I wanted to collapse right then and there—I couldn’t skip the gym.

When Director Nakayama saw my face covered in bandages, he freaked out, but I just ignored it and got to work.
Fuma-senpai and Kazu were equally shocked when they saw me.
“Kim Yu-seong, what the hell happened to you?”

“Hyung-nim?! What the hell happened?! Should I call the crew?!”
I silenced Kazu’s dramatics by clamping my palm over his mouth and told Fuma-senpai it was nothing serious.
But Fuma-senpai didn’t seem convinced.

Probably because I’m not exactly the type to just walk around getting beat ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) up.
“Just tell me the truth. Maybe I can help.”
“I told you—it’s really nothing.”

I barely managed to escape Fuma-senpai’s interrogation, finished my workout for the day, took a quick shower, and headed home with a light heart.
And then I saw it.
Right beside our restaurant’s wall, there she was—squatting with a pitiful expression, tapping away at her phone…

…the Chinese woman.