Beneath the cushioned headgear laid the sweat of hard work, beneath the mouth guard hid the sharp teeths of hunger for success, but in those pair of ferocious eyes hid the history of these two rivals.

In the ring they had no name, they had no history, no relation to be found. However, there was a connection, a terrifyingly strong one that could be felt by the judges and the spectators. A connection that the trainers, who nervously stood behind the corners of the ring, were well aware of. 

Kang Seulgi and Bae Joohyun, two childhood friends that trained together.

Two lovers that threw crosses.

It was going to come to this, they knew this. Time was going to do its work, even if they were unaware of how long it would take for them to be facing one another; two amateurs hungry for the golden belt that would catapult them into professional boxing. Gloves heavy, muscles tense, heart thumping madly, eyes set on the prize but a tension in the atmosphere made their bodies feel heavier than normal.

Kang Seulgi, with her foxy eyes that terrified opponents with one glance and an enviable footwork, looked at her lover with a dash of emotion. An emotion felt but barely addressed, an emotion she pushed aside for the matter in hand. Bae Joohyun, with a frightening right hook and a gorgeous face that teetered on the edge of being too magnificent to punch, understood every emotion and every single twitch of Seulgi’s covered face. She was the oldest of the two, with a dash more maturity to understand that whatever happens in the ring is not personal, but just unfortunately heavy with history. She nodded to encourage Seulgi, who she felt was starting to get tense.

The cacophony of chatter and voices around them, judges judging before the round begins, audience setting their bets muffled by the enthusiastic cheers of others who already set their bets before entering, nervous family members that couldn’t stop expressing their concerns, and the coaches who blurted out strategies and reminders, as if both boxers weren’t born next to one another, as if they’ve never sparred in the past.

That’s right, in the ring they had no name, they were nothing but strategies and pure instincts to survive another day. 

But Seulgi knew Joohyun, Joohyun knew Seulgi. Seulgi’s footwork was superb, but she lacked the strength to knock out in no time; Joohyun’s punches were terrifying, and while she was swift in her movements, she was hardly as fast or as agile as any of her peers. Seulgi’s hidden strength, which she didn’t even know, was her uppercut -- perhaps her strongest punch -- and her body shots, while Joohyun’s hidden talent was, yes, her clever combinations and -- in the peak of her adrenaline -- her deadly precision to connect everything and to get out of the way. Endurance was their bridge, so they knew they had to manage every second of each round, for they knew the other would do just that.

The referee came in the middle of the ring and spoke loudly into the screeching microphone that shook everyone. He introduced the boxers for the audience, while the audience wasn’t aware they knew each other far more than what it looked like.

Bae Joohyun, who once saved Seulgi from suffering a devastating car accident in her youth, the woman whose cold exterior was a front to protect herself in the colder streets, the woman whose cool heart remained patient and collected but had its worries just like any other human, the woman who was highly sought after by suitors but ironically had no friends to rely on. Except for Kang Seulgi.

Kang Seulgi, the big smile that kept shining in the darkness of the slums, the woman whose good nature never gave no matter how mistreated she got sometimes (to a fault, even), the woman whose warm heart was the first to befriend the terrifying girl that was Bae Joohyun. Yes, the woman who came after Joohyun with a bouquet of colorful flowers and nothing more but her pureness to give, unknowingly beating the offers of gold jewelry, the sweet promises of a silver future, and the mischievous smile of bronze. Ironically becoming the woman who gave it all to Joohyun, with such little offer, and the woman who won.

But would she win this one?

“No mercy,” Seulgi muttered under her breath, echoing in her brain what Joohyun once told her.

“No mercy,” Joohyun muttered as well, her heart not as committed as her voice. She was good at pretending otherwise.

The referee looked at the two of them, a wrinkled face that had seen many battles begin with quiet fires beneath each fighter, but nothing quite like this. He was drawn to watch, drawn to take a close look, to try and decipher what this tension held. He too wondered how this match would end, just like everyone.

Even the boxers themselves.

His hands came together, both Seulgi and Joohyun took a decisive lunge forward and met right in the middle.

The match had begun, and they no longer knew each other.