We arrived at the gym. No one else had arrived yet. Who would wake up early in the morning to come and exercise anyway?

Özkan hadn't arrived yet.

Kerem and I started our usual chores. We were mopping the floors and putting back the weights and dumbbells that people hadn't returned to their places.

I couldn't shake off the thought of my training. Would he train me?

"Don't worry so much, Taşkın. Whether you get trained or not isn't that important."

...

Taşkın was not paying attention to Milaz and continued with his work.

"Hey, who am I talking to?"

"Taşkın! Answer me!"

...

"Look, don't blow yesterday's incident out of proportion."

"Kerem, the water in the bucket is filthy. Let me pour it into the sink and refill it. You can take a break until I come back."

"You've got a point, Taşkın. There's no point in mopping the floors with this water."

"Alright, I'll be right back."

Kerem replied with a slight grin, "Okay, take your time. Haha."

I grabbed the handle of the bucket and headed towards the sink.

Now I understand.

You don't want to communicate with me in front of Kerem, so you're going to the restroom to speak freely.

...

Right?

Taşkın poured out the dirty water from the bucket and began refilling it with clean water.

Enough already, Taşkın, talk to me now!

Are you doing this because I said something bad to Elif?

You're dragging out a trivial matter, Taşkın.

Elif is dead! Forget about her!

Just because she's dead doesn't mean you can curse at her!

And I'll never forget her! I'll always remember her!

Alright! Fine! I can't handle you blowing this out of proportion!

Sorry! Okay! Done!? I won't talk about that girl again!

...

Now answer me, Taşkın!

What is it! What do you want!?

I'm busy, can't you see!

You're worrying too much about the training, that's what I'm saying.

Why!? Isn't training important?

It's not that important. I mean, it's not a matter of life and death.

What exactly do you mean, Milaz?

Let me explain.

Think about wanting to learn how to ride a bike. If you have someone who knows how to ride with you and teaches you, you'll learn more easily and quickly.

They'll help you keep your balance, prevent you from falling. They'll teach you the tricks.

But if you try to learn on your own, it'll be harder. You'll take much longer to learn.

You'll fall dozens of times and hurt yourself. Without someone to support you when you fall, you might even consider giving up.

In short, what I'm saying is, whether Özkan trains you or not, you'll eventually learn martial arts one way or another.

...

But how will I learn if I don't get trained? I don't have a natural knack for it.

Symbols, Taşkın.

Did you forget the symbol that appeared on your right hand?

No, I didn't forget, but what do those symbols have to do with anything now?

Each symbol that appears on your body will make you stronger. You'll also gain some abilities.

Remember the last ability you gained? It helped you easily find Elif's location.

...

Yes...

I determine the abilities you gain from those symbols.

Why didn't you tell me this before?

Because at that time, you were only thinking about Elif.

When you climbed out of the pit, I knew you'd want to search for her immediately.

So, I gave you that ability.

If anything, you should be grateful to me. Without giving you that ability, you'd never have found Elif.

Don't expect thanks from me for that.

... (grumbling)

I wish I hadn't helped.

Yes! I wish you hadn't helped, and those terrible events hadn't happened!

What do you mean? You can't really be this stupid, can you? Right now, you're just fooling yourself.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

If I hadn't helped, nothing would have changed. Elif and her mother would still have died. What are you trying to achieve, Taşkın?

What's done is done, Taşkın! You can't change the past! Move on from these things!

What you need to focus on now is getting stronger to prevent such things from happening in the future!

"Taşkın! Take your time, but not that much. What are you doing there? Don't you plan on coming any time soon?"

The bucket was filled, and the water was being wasted.

"I'll be right there, Kerem!"

I quickly shut off the faucet, grabbed the filled bucket, and went over to Kerem.

Kerem, with a worried look, said, "where were you, Taşkın?"

"I thought you had fallen in the restroom or something. If you hadn't responded, I was going to come check on you."

"The water was running low, so I came as soon as it was filled. I'll go back as soon as it's done."

..

"I see. Well, let's get back to work."

It was almost noon, and a few people had arrived at the gym by now. But Özkan was still nowhere to be seen.

"Kerem, why hasn't Özkan arrived yet? Doesn't he usually come early?"

"He has regular clients, and he only deals with a few people each day. If the people scheduled for training today can't make it and they inform Özkan that they won't be coming, he might not come to the gym."

"I see, I hope he shows up."

"Looks like you're really serious about getting trained from him."

"Of course, I am. I want to learn to defend myself. Why do you keep dragging out this topic?"

"Taşkın, you almost die-"

"Yes, yes, I know. If you're so scared, why are you getting trained by him?"

"Because he treats me perfectly normal. He explains calmly, shows me things, and that's it."

"If that's how he treats you... I've never seen him behave like that before. I'm still surprised."

"Kerem, don't worry. Nothing will happen."

"I hope not."

As we were talking, the owner of the gym, Adem, approached us.

"Taşkın! Can you come over here for a moment?"

Kerem and I exchanged looks.

"Why is he calling me, Kerem?"

"I don't know, but don't keep him waiting. Go ahead."

"Alright."

I went over to him quickly.

"I'm here, sir."

"Taşkın, I believe I owe you an apology for the incident that happened earlier."

"It's okay, sir."

Adem seemed agitated.

"I really don't understand why that idiot did such a thing."

"Sir, actually, I wanted to ask Özkan to train me."

"It's not possible, Taşkın. I know plenty of martial arts instructors. They can train you."

"No, I want Özkan to train me."

"Why are you doing this, son?"

"Have you forgotten what happened before?"

"Sure, I haven't forgotten, but I don't think he'll do anything to me."

"Alright, but if he does something wrong, let me know right away."

h̭̑͘a̙͂͑͢ͅh̨͚͓̋ͯ̂͂aͤ̍͋, how easily he agreed to your request, isn't it? He doesn't care about you. He just wants you to think so. What a pathetic person.

...

"Alright sir, I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Then let's get back to work, Taşkın."

I returned to Kerem's side.

"What happened Taşkın? What did the boss say?"

"He said he's sorry for Özkan's behavior."

"Also, he didn't want Özkan to train me, but he accepted when I insisted."

".. I see."

"By the way, Özkan came while you were talking to Adem."

"I wouldn't normally tell you, but since you've already made up your mind, I thought I'd let you know."

"Yes, you did the right thing, Kerem."

"Where did he go then?"

"He went to the changing room to change. He'll be out in a moment."

"I see. Let's get back to work then."

"Yes, I think so too."

A few minutes later, Özkan came out of the changing room and sat on the chairs at the entrance of the hall.

"Kerem, would it be alright if I go over to Özkan for a bit? It's already lunchtime."

"Sure Taşkın, no problem. As you said, it's already lunchtime. It's time for a break."

(Taşkın's stomach growls)

Taşkın was a bit embarrassed.

(Kerem laughs while speaking) "I think I should call the doner shop right away."

"Do I need to ask if you want a whole or half portion anymore?"

Taşkın started laughing too.

"Please don't make fun of me, Kerem."

(Kerem still smiling)

"Alright, alright. You talk to Özkan. I'll place the order in the meantime. You can tell me what happened while we eat."

"Okay."

Taşkın left Kerem and started heading towards Özkan.

Milaz.

Yes?

Do you think he'll accept to train me?

We'll see.

But as I said, whether he accepts or not is not that important.

...

Özkan was having tea. When he saw Taşkın coming, he put the tea on the table.

"Yes, Taşkın.. What is it?"

"I was going to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I heard you're teaching martial arts to Kerem. I want you to teach me too."

It was evident from Özkan's surprised eyes.

"You're quite an interesting kid, Taşkın."

"If it were another kid, they would have already quit working in the hall."

"Aren't you afraid at all?"

"If I were, would I have asked you to train me?"

"Look at the answers you give. It's hard to believe you're just a kid."

...

"Let's agree on a few things first, Taşkın."

"When I ask you a question, I want clear answers. I hate answering a question with another question."

"And the training you'll receive won't be like the training other martial arts teachers would give. I don't care that you're just a kid. I'll be very tough on you."

"So if you get injured, I won't take responsibility."

"Are you willing to acce-"

Taşkın interrupted Özkan.

"I accept."

..

"Taşkın, let's agree on one more thing. I also hate being interrupted."

"I apologize... Will you train me then?"

Özkan was carefully studying Taşkın.

"Okay. Let's start the training tonight."

"Thank you."

Taşkın stopped speaking when interrupted and began to listen to Özkan.

"No one easily grabs my attention, Taşkın. But you managed to do that."

"We'll start when work is done tonight."

"The hall usually closes at ten-thirty. I'll get the key from Adem. Only the two of us will be left in the hall. I want to give you special attention. I hope you won't disappoint me."

"I won't let you down, sir."

"We'll see tonight."

While we were talking, a courier entered through the entrance door of the hall. A few seconds later, Kerem arrived. Our order had arrived.

Kerem took the doners and signaled me with his eyes to come over.

"Can I go now? Our order has arrived."

"Sure, Taşkın. I'm looking forward to tonight."

I left Özkan and went over to Kerem.

Kerem was sitting on one of the seats inside the hall, waiting for me.

I went and sat across from him and started unwrapping my doner.

"You must be quite hungry, Taşkın. Haha."

To be honest, I really am.

Kerem remained silent for a few seconds and then, with a mix of annoyance and curiosity, he spoke up.

He hadn't even opened his doner.

"You can forget about the meal for now. Tell me what you talked about. I'm curious."

"Haha. You're really curious, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Come on, tell me."

"Alright, I'll tell you, but start eating too. I don't want to eat alone."

"Okay, fine."

Kerem also started unwrapping his doner and began eating.

Taşkın began to speak.

"I went and talked, you know. Frankly, he was very surprised. Most likely, he didn't expect something like this from me."

(Kerem speaks with his mouth full.)

"Of c'urse, h'd b' s'prised. W' w're s'prised t'."

"Kerem, I didn't understand a single word of what you just said."

He swallowed the bite in his mouth and spoke immediately afterward.

"It's very natural for him to be surprised. We were surprised too."

"Taşkın took a sip from his buttermilk."

"So, when will you start the training?"

"Right away, today."

"Well, today there are other people supposed to have lessons. I guess they backed out."

"No, they didn't back out. Or rather, I haven't heard anything about them. He'll train me tonight, after the hall is closed. He'll get the keys from Adem. In short, it'll be just Özkan and me in the hall."

"How come? How do you know he won't harm you?"

"I don't know."

...

"Still, be careful. If he tries anything, run away immediately."

"I don't think anything will happen, but okay."

Kerem took a bite from his doner.

"So, what time will you come home? Will you be too late?"

"I have no idea, but it shouldn't take too long."

"You can find the way home, right? Don't get lost in the streets."

"I'll find it, don't worry."

"Alright then. Tell me what happens when you get back home."

"Haha. Sure, I'll tell you."

We finished our conversations along with our döners and buttermilks.

Not much happened for the rest of the day. It passed with routine tasks.

...

It was past eleven o'clock. No one was left in the hall. Adem had also left the hall. Only Özkan and Kerem remained.

Kerem walked to the door to leave. Just as he was about to exit, he turned to me.

"Taşkın, as I said, be careful."

"Okay, don't worry so much. Nothing will happen."

Kerem looked at Taşkın for a moment. It was evident he was worried about him.

"Then, I'll see you at home, Taşkın."

"Okay, Kerem, see you."

After bidding farewell to Kerem, I went to Özkan. He was already in the ring, looking at me. When he saw me, he called out.

"Taşkın! Hurry up. Let's get started."

"Alright! I'm coming right away."

I entered the ring. I was face to face with Özkan.

"Are you ready, Taşkın?"

"I'm ready."

Finally, my training was beginning.