Chapter Text
“Mori Jin? Hello, I’m Ilpyo Park. Wanna shake hands?”
The scent of jasmine permeates Mori’s nose, heady and quickly intoxicating his entire being. It’s not the first time he’s gotten a whiff of this scent, but it’s so much stronger and he feels a sense of fuzziness within both his head and chest, not quite able to compute what the man just said. Mori’s eyes finally reach the eyes of the man speaking to him, and he’s immediately enraptured by the feeling of danger that oozes from the man.
Mori shakes his trembling hands, trying to get himself back under control, but he can’t quite control his breathing from getting slightly heavier.
‘At least I know where this scent finally comes from.’
Ilpyo Park holds out his hand before him, allowing Mori to shake it, but Ilpyo moves it upward instead. Soon, what takes place is not just a greeting, but a spar to test one’s abilities. And Mori is shocked by the swipe before a spinning kick combined with an out-leg bracket has him on his back, a fist at his nose.
“Why did you stop?” Mori asks as the fist never touches him.
“What about you?”
“Hmm… Thought I’d wait until you hit me first.”
Mori is no longer breathing through his nose, trying to minimize the amount of Ilpyo’s alluring scent from entering him and fogging up his brain again. Ilpyo pinches his lips, then smiles, before re-introducing himself and pulling Mori up.
“Let me introduce myself again. I’m Ilpyo Park.”
“Mori Jin.”
“I knew it! You weren’t at your best earlier.”
Mori is impressed by the man’s observation, “Ah! When I pressed the Meridian points?”
Mori doesn’t have time to react yet, but Ilpyo's expression drastically changes from a smile to deadly when he blocks a shooting spike from Taek Jegal.
“Aren’t lethal movements not allowed outside the room?” Ilpyo’s tone is cold, despite the nonchalant attitude he uses to speak, and Mori breathes just a bit through his nose in surprise, only to immediately grow warm again.
Taek Jegal uses the excuse of stopping their fight to attack them and Ilpyo realizes his mistake; of what they were doing looked like to others. Taek Jegal soons leaves and the spike breaks off from Ilpyo’s hand.
“You better be careful, too. He’s… very dangerous.”
Mori appreciates the warning, but in his opinion, Ilpyo Park is way more dangerous, simply in scent alone.
“Well, to me… you look more dangerous.”
Ilpyo is visibly shocked by Mori’s admission, before his lips seem to pinch once more.
“Anyway… I’m a fan. Looking forward to seeing your next match.”
“Well… Thank you for saving me even though you hurt your hand…”
Mori watches Ilpyo’s hand bleed, as he embarrassingly attempts to apologize, feeling kind of bad for what happened. The scent of jasmine remains in the air as he Mori is once more breathing through his mouth.
“It’s nothing,” Ilpyo says as he walks away, “It’s me… who should thank you.”
Mori is confused by the response, but doesn’t question it as Ilpyo has already walked away. He touches the back of his shoulder, looking at the blood that stains his fingers, sighing out,
“Once… now twice… I allowed two attacks to my vital points today… hmm!”