One Beat sounded simple until Minh tried to use it while angry.
Phong placed a phone on the mat.
On the screen was a freeze-frame from the semifinal: Lâm's shot falling short, his taped hand bent wrong in the air, Ernest Thälmann players already turning to rebound.
Minh stared at it.
The pulse under his ribs spiked.
"Begin," Phong said.
Minh attacked.
Too much.
Phong swept his leg and dropped him.
"Again."
The photo remained.
Lâm missing.
Khánh smiling.
Quân calm.
Hùng waiting under the rim.
Minh breathed in, failed to hold, and struck with enough force to crack the practice pad.
Phong hit him in the ribs.
Minh folded.
"Again."
Thiên Phú's voice cut through the pain.
"Anger is increasing output. Reduce emotion."
Gomboc laughed.
"No. Use it. Let it pay them back."
Minh pushed himself up.
"Shut up."
"Which one?" Phong asked.
Minh looked at him.
Phong's expression did not change. "You answer both too often."
That landed.
Minh stood again.
This time, he did not look at the photo.
He looked at his own hands.
Five things.
Mat. Tape. Phone. Phong. Door.
Four sounds.
Rain. Breath. Fan. Heart.
One intent.
Stop.
Phong moved.
Minh breathed once.
His arm rose.
One motion.
The strike stopped against Phong's wrist.
Then Minh's fingers twitched, wanting to grab, twist, break.
Gomboc surged.
"Finish."
Minh opened his hand instead.
Phong's eyes narrowed.
"Better."
"Again."
"You will collapse."
"Again."
Phong smiled.
"Now you sound less useless."
------
By evening, Thuận arrived at Dạ Nam with Tân Thành and Tân Phong.
Phong did not ask how they found the place.
Tân Phong looked at Minh's bruises. "Training or murder?"
"Both," Minh muttered.
Thuận ignored the joke.
"Lao is moving tonight."
The gym went still.
"Where?" Phong asked.
"Lê Quý Đôn. Not inside the main building. Around it. Old gym, side gate, back courts. He wants witnesses but not teachers."
Tân Thành crossed his arms. "He invited Ernest Thälmann's people too."
Minh's vision narrowed.
Phong tapped the back of his head.
"Breath."
Minh inhaled.
Held.
Exhaled.
Thuận watched the exchange carefully.
"Can you control yourself?"
Minh wanted to say yes.
Instead, he said, "Not always."
Thuận nodded as if that answer mattered more.
"Then you stay behind our line until needed."
Gomboc snarled.
Minh ignored it.
"No."
The refusal surprised even him.
Yesterday, he would have accepted any role that sounded useful. Shield. Weapon. Decoy. Problem.
Tonight, he needed to choose the shape of his own violence.
Thuận's gaze sharpened.
Minh stepped forward. "I won't be your weapon. I won't be your shield either. I go where ordinary students are in danger."
Tân Thành smiled slightly.
Thuận studied Minh for a long moment.
"Accepted."
Phong leaned against the ring ropes, amused.
"The boy learned a sentence."
Minh looked toward the rain-dark street.
Lâm's hand flashed in his mind.
The city beyond the gym felt close enough to touch and too large to understand.
One breath.
One intent.
One movement.
If revenge came tonight, it would obey.