The next day, Ji-won woke up the heaviness of the decision she made yesterday still lingered in her mind. She sighed staring at the ceiling, she couldn’t shake the sense of defeat she had felt at the festival. Her room filled with boxing posters felt suffocating. Doubts gnawed at her about her decision, did she make the correct choice? Her passion for boxing now seemed distant.

Her room was filled with her past boxing achievements, posters of her favorite boxers, and winning medals from her amateur women’s boxing league matches. She was reluctant to look at them thinking her past achievements were mocking her.

Ji-won sighed deeply, staring at the ceiling above her, recalling how she had no attachment left to the boxing club. Meaning she wouldn’t be able to practice boxing; she couldn’t care less about her teammates betraying her. However, did she want to continue with boxing? She had no coach and no place to practice, so how could she?

Up-and-coming boxers, much like hеr, typically were under еxpеriеncеd coach and dedicated themselves to the gym. This initial training pеriod held significant importance, concеntrating on thе mastеry of fundamеntal tеchniquеs and thе cultivation of an individual boxing style. These foundational еlеmеnts played an important role in shaping their еffеctivеnеss within the boxing ring.

Ji-won had tried various times before to join a boxing gym, but either they didn’t think her skills were passable or they rejected her based on her gender. Ji-won swung her legs to the side and stood up, heading for the bathroom. She didn’t have time to think of the past anymore; she had to look forward. Although she silently berated herself for not being able to fulfill her father’s dream.

A few minutes later, Ji-won walked downstairs, making her way to the kitchen for breakfast. Even the aroma of her mother’s food wasn’t able to cheer her up.

Hye-jin, noticing the dullness of her daughter, quickly handed her her favorite breakfast dish. “Here you go.”

Ji-won nodded in response and dug into the food using her spoon. Hye-jin, her mother sitting across from her expressed her concern. “You really need to buckle down on your studies now that you've stopped boxing.”

Ji-won nodded as she continued to finish her breakfast. "Yeah, Mom, I know. I'll figure it out."

“I got a call from the university telling me about your low grades. At this point, you won’t be able to finish your degree. Keep in mind, Ji-won, your rank has to be within the sixties to seventies for graduation. The higher the better,” Hye-jin added.

Ji-won remained expressionless as Hye-jin continued. “If you can’t finish your degree, then forget about getting a proper job and forever be stuck working at the convenience store,” she lectured, frustrated by her daughter’s doings.

Ji-won sighed and put down her utensils. She was too fed up and had a lot of thoughts coursing in her mind about boxing to be worrying about her studies. Even though she knew she wasn’t great at studying. All her life she had boxing to rely on, but now she felt unusually empty as if she didn’t have anything.

Ji-won thought of how exhausting it was for her to continuously train every day and still not be in matches or see any progress. She didn’t want to experience the same with the university. If she studied all the time now, then she knew she would be burned out. As Ji-won was in deep thought, Hye-jin came, bringing her bag along. “Ji-won, here’s your bag. Leave now or you're going to be late for class,” she instructed as she handed her the backpack.

Ji-won didn’t budge and remained seated as if she didn’t hear her mother. “Enough laziness, go on, I have to get ready for work as well. I have a major meeting today,” Hye-jin said frustratingly as she hurriedly started preparing her lunch for work.

Seeing her mother busy preparing for her day at work, Ji-won groaned as she lazily got up and walked toward the door. “Fine, I'm leaving," she voiced as she reached the door.

“Okay, be back on time. It shouldn’t be too long today,” Hye-jin voiced, busy with her tasks.

“Okay,” replied Ji-won, stepping out of the house. Arriving at the road, she continued walking as her mind was in turmoil. Various thoughts roamed in her mind such as her mother, always struggling as a single mom, and how many responsibilities she alone had to bear. The only way she could help her mother was through working. She did share her money from working at the convenience store but that wasn’t enough for a family of four.

As Ji-won neared the Haneul University gates, the amount of people on the street increased. She hesitated, feeling a bit tense as she walked through the crowd, reaching her class.

A few minutes later, Ji-won had settled into the middle row of the lecture room. It seemed for the first time, she was a bit early to class since usually she would leave early and arrive late. Checking her phone, Ji-won clicked her tongue. It seemed like she had an extra ten minutes before the lecture started. She put her head down, closing her eyes to relax…

One by one students started appearing and began sitting in their seats. The next second Professor Kim arrived in the lecture hall as well and started the lecture. As soon as he started lecturing, he noticed a gaze from the middle of the classroom where usually the student wasn’t a very active participant. He unconsciously smiled, glad that one of his students was starting to pay attention to his lectures.

No one would have known that their strict Professor Kim cared so much for his students, while the students on the other hand…

In the lecture hall, students chatted about weekend plans while others passed notes discreetly. The students showed decreasing levels of class participation, only a few could be seen taking notes.

One of the students at the very back of the lecture hall was Min-joon, with his hair slicked back and his clothing put together as he wore a casual but charming outfit. His usual demeanor within the classroom was nowhere to be seen and his eyes were on the lookout for a certain someone within the hall.

Su-yeon noticed his peculiar behavior and asked curiously, “Why are you acting so strange today?”

Min-joon continued his search, scanning his surroundings. “Nothing…just something interesting is roaming around here.” Answering Su-yeon’s question, a smile tugged at his lips as at the same moment he finally spotted Ji-won farther down by two rows in the hall. He wanted to jump up to greet her but he had to keep his manners in the lecture hall. He coughed, straightening his posture, and gazed intently at Ji-won, who obliviously waited for the lecture to end.

Noticing the professor going on and on about the topic, she couldn’t help but recall her mother’s words in her mind. Guilt began to arise as she didn’t put any effort into studying, and remembering the disappointing look on her mother’s face, she sighed and took out her materials for notetaking.

A few moments later, as the lecture neared its end, Professor Kim finally pointed out something that he could no longer overlook within the classroom ever since class began. He had tried ignoring it, but as the student made it too obvious, he couldn’t. Even he was a bit embarrassed to call out his student for this, but he had to since there were limitations within the hall.

“Student Lee Min-joon, it would be best if you paid attention to the lecture rather than Ms. Yoo’s head,” said the professor, eyeing Min-joon. The whole class collectively gasped, “Oooh,” as if there was a dramatic show in front of them.

Min-joon caught off guard, stood up, chuckling awkwardly as his name was called out. At that moment his cheeks instantly reddened as he noticed Ji-won looking back at him. A slight blush was apparent on Min-joon’s face, and he struggled to find his voice meeting Ji-won’s eyes.

“Mr. Lee, I’ll let it go this time, but please be careful next time,” the professor said as he went back to the lecture, facing the blackboard filled with chalk.

"Got it, professor. Won't happen again," said Min-joon, still blushing, sitting back down and trying to shake off the embarrassment. Though amidst the awkward ordeal, his mind couldn’t help but think of Ji-won.

“Why is your face so red? Are you sick?” Su-yeon asked in concern as she glanced at his face.

“Wha-what… Nah, just caught up in the moment. No big deal”, stammered Min-joon, flustered as he turned to focus on his notes with his heart thumping loudly. He couldn’t contain his excitement; he was too excited to meet Ji-won and talk to her. He hoped to make a positive impression on her.

Even though it was a challenge, he wanted to do it. Min-joon thought as he gazed passionately toward Ji-won yet again. Ah, I’m a goner, he thought with ecstasy as he gazed at Ji-won’s back.

The next second the bell rang, signaling the end of the lecture and breaking Min-joon from his thoughts. Ji-won muttered, "Finally, done with this," as she headed out of the hall, grabbing her bag. Not wanting to miss her, Min-joon followed closely behind.