My Pro Boxer System

The two of us stood in the empty break room, an awkward silence enveloping us. She then stared at me and sighed before taking a seat on one of the chairs and crossing her legs. She looked at me with an coldly and a little disappointed for some reason.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked with an air of professionalism, as if she had no idea why I had asked to meet with her.

"I wanted to speak to you about something."

"Go on, what is it?"

"It's about my part-time job I told you about once." The moment I said that, she clammed up. "Did you happen to see me Friday night?"

It was a waste of time to keep beating around the bush, so I came right out and said it. Ms. Dalton sighed.

"Yes, I did see you. In fact, I was planning to call your parents and inform them that their son was taking part in an illegal boxing match."

[So she did see you… This could be a problem. Fix it.]

I knew she had seen me. The only reason she panicked this morning was because me confronting her proved that I saw her. That was exactly what she was scared of.

"I don't think your boyfriend will approve if I quit," I said. "You know what he is, don't you?"

"Don't know what you think you saw, but—"

"Would you rather I get in contact with Chris?"

She froze, and her face went pale.

"I-I… I still have to call your parents no matter what that means for my job. You are my student doing something illegal that can endanger your life."

"Your boyfriend ran me off the road and tortured me afterward. You don't know how dangerous these people are. Doing something stupid like going to my parents or involving the police will only backfire, and someone will get hurt in the process."

Her face seemed to lose all its vigor when she heard my story. She no longer looked as serious as before.

"I know what Chris is like, believe me, but… you could get hurt or even killed from this. That wasn't my first time at one of those matches, and I've seen plenty of horrible things."

"The alternative is just the same. You saw me fight last night, right? I have to be in control," I told her.

From her expression, I knew she understood what I was saying.

"Maybe I can try talking to Chris about it," she suggested.

Chris wasn't an idiot, so I knew he knew that his girlfriend went to the same school as me. I bet he also knew that she was my homeroom teacher. The bastard was probably waiting for me to find out and confront him about it.

"Yeah, you should ask him about it," I suggested.

She nodded and then got up from her chair. She looked at me, and her face softened. Before I knew it, she pulled me in for a hug. It felt a bit strange since I was taller than her.

"It's going to be fine, okay?" she whispered. "I'll try my best to help you."

It was a bit surprising. I never thought this cold-hearted teacher actually had a soft side. After a while, she finally pulled away, and I could see tears etched in the corners of her eyes. We then left the room. I wished her goodbye and headed home.

When I got home, I saw Thalia sprawled on the couch, half changed from her uniform. She was on her phone, so I waved to her and went upstairs to complete my daily quest. This time it was a training I had done before—the training where I had to run up a mountain and the gravity would increase every five minutes.

Just like the first time I completed this quest, I was left drenched in sweat and covered in dirt.

[Your bones are getting harder from this training,] Alexa commented. [If you continue like this, I'll be shocked to see what you'll be like in the future.]

"Yeah, I understand, but it's still exhausting."

When I got back home, I took a shower and then made dinner for Thalia and me. Thalia was good at making breakfast, but dinner was her weakness.

The following days passed in a blur. It was the same routine every single day. I got up, trained, then went to school with Thalia. I would sit through the boring lectures, then after school, I would go for club practice. After club practice, it was training with Ivy.

She was improving slowly, so I suggested that she run with me in the mornings. This way, I could sneak in some more training and work on her stamina. She was hesitant at first, but in the end, I managed to convince her. After training, I would then go home to complete the daily quest with Alexa.

Yuki had contacted me during the week to inform me that I had two matches scheduled. It was currently Wednesday, so my first match of the week would be tomorrow.

She gave me every piece of information she had on my opponent: his injuries, how many times he had lost, how he had lost, along with other crucial details such as his height and weight. She wrote everything down in a book.

She was honestly more helpful than I had expected. I had the feeling she was trying to earn the pay I gave her.

The two of us sat on a park bench after I had finished my morning training exercises.

"How much do you know about Chris?" I asked.

"I don't really know anything," she said, looking at me suspiciously. "Hey, don't get ahead of yourself. Chris isn't the type of guy you want to get involved with. He might act nice when you win your match, but he's not your friend."

"Sounds like you know a lot about him," I commented, causing her to frown.

"I've seen him do a lot of things. Like running you off the road, for instance, and torturing you. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. Chris improvised."

"You seem to be complicit in a lot of the things he has done."

"I don't care about idiots who get themselves hurt. I've got my own stuff to deal with."

She looked me in the eye as she spoke, so I knew that statement was meant for me.

"I'm not your informant. Next time you want to know anything about Chris, go ask him yourself and don't drag me down with you," she said.

She was as cold as ever. I nodded, and then she got up from the bench.

"Also, make sure you show up for the match tomorrow."

After that, she walked off, leaving me to contemplate things a bit.

…

When I got to school, Cassian and Ken weren't there yet. They had informed me that they were taking a few days off from school to train. They invited me to train with them, but I turned them down.

With my grades, I couldn't afford the luxury of skipping school. From the outside, I bet it looked like I was slacking off—that Cassian and Ken were trying their best while I was taking it easy.

It was obvious in the way the upperclassmen looked at me. One even straight-up told me that just because I beat Cassian that one time, I shouldn't be too overconfident. I got the hidden meaning behind his words.

He was basically saying that if I didn't work hard, Cassian would surpass me. I tried to tell them that I was doing my own training on the side, but it was obvious that none of them believed me.

Even the coach had started to look at me as if I was slacking off. For them, just going to training wasn't enough—you had to be seen in the gym after hours. It was a good attitude to have but somewhat limiting.

After classes were over, I went to the club room as usual, and afterward, I did my training with Ivy. The two of us sparred together so I could get a grasp of what the major problems were.

The way she fought was a bit awkward. It was obvious that infighting wasn't for her. I was certain that plenty of people had tried to tell her, but she was probably too stubborn to listen. She was dead set on following in her father's footsteps, so she mimicked his boxing style.

I was still at a loss for how to break her out of it. Could I even do it? Her love for her father and his way of boxing was too strong. How would I manage to change her attitude?

The coach would watch us from time to time, but he always shook his head with a disappointed look on his face and then left the room. Maybe he could figure out a way to help his granddaughter.