"He said something weird again, didn't he?"
"Se-na, your uncle worked so hard to promote you, how can you call it weird..."
"Who asked you to do that?!"
Seemingly used to Se-na's outbursts, her uncle just grinned, giving both Se-na and me meaningful glances with a sly expression.
Whatever those glances meant, now Se-na's face was red not just on her cheeks but all the way to her ears. It wasn't just because of the glances – she might have overheard some of the inappropriate things her uncle had said earlier.
If she heard those things, any normal person would turn red up to their ears.
Or feel dizzy like me.
"Enough, I'm leaving now."
"Hey! Stay right there! I'll take care of everything. Since you're here, go put up those workout precaution printouts!"
"You're making me work even on holidays?"
"I'll give you overtime pay, so get lost, you brat. Quickly!"
Se-na tried to grab my hand to leave, but her uncle strongly prevented it.
By grabbing my other hand.
As a result, I momentarily experienced pseudo-torture as both my arms were pulled in opposite directions, making me think they might get ripped off.
The gym. What a dangerous place this is.
"I don't need that!"
"Tsk! You're not going to work here anymore?"
"Ah geez..."
She muttered while looking at me.
Se-na gave me an apologetic look, but I waved it off, trying to show it was fine.
What could we do? He was both her uncle and the owner of the gym where she worked part-time, and he even offered to pay – there was no choice, right?
Though being with this person was definitely exhausting.
Even now, his mouth was twitching with things he wanted to say, even though Se-na hadn't gone far.
"How far have you gone? What base?"
"Ah, no, we're not that kind of..."
"Why do you need to be 'that kind' to get to bases? With alcohol and night, bases happen quickly. I originally only planned to hold hands. But then she grabbed something else~ knowing how good it was..."
"Haha...."
Her uncle was excessively open-minded.
At least the Daeju-dan hide their faces while chatting online. He's saying such things openly in his gym where he's the owner?
Honestly, I think it's impressive.
Then Se-na's uncle suddenly started making lewd gestures with his hands, opening and closing them.
Like he was kneading something.
Those movements were too high-level, too experience-filled for a virgin like me to comprehend.
Honestly, it was a bit creepy. Maybe the muscular body amplified the horror.
"Did you touch?"
"...Whatever you mean, I didn't touch anything..."
"Right. That's why you're not dating yet. If you had touched, you'd be married by now."
Is this person really Se-na's uncle?
Isn't he just some pervert muscle guy?
At least now I could understand why she didn't want me to meet him.
"You're not fit, so trying to get into working out?"
"Ah... yes."
"Right, with a body like that, your possible positions are limited. Good thinking."
"..."
That wasn't why I wanted to try working out.
"If you want to change, start with your hair, clothes, and posture first. Even though I'm a gym owner, the gym is the final stage since it takes the longest."
"Hair and posture..."
I certainly hadn't paid much attention to those.
I understand the hair part, but what kind of posture does he mean?
I carefully asked.
"When you say posture..."
"You know, overall posture. Keep your back straight, shoulders back, and eyes that say 'I'll get you pregnant just by looking at you—'"
"Ugh! Keep your voice down with that stuff! I'm done putting everything up, we're leaving!"
"We? Ohooo~~ We~~~"
With a teasing tone and whistling, Se-na's uncle watched as Se-na grabbed my wrist and led me away. Though I had changed into workout clothes, I couldn't feel much difference from my original outfit.
She only let go of my tightly held hand after we left the gym and reached the parking lot.
"I'm really sorry. My uncle is usually like that... well..."
"Ahaha..."
Looking at Se-na's expression as she gave up trying to defend him, she seemed more troubled than I was.
"He wasn't like this before marriage, but after getting married, he started getting weird bit by bit..."
She even said he used to be quite popular for being gentlemanly.
Gentlemanly? I could nod to his physique and looks being popular, but wasn't he too far from being gentlemanly?
Finally, we got back in the car.
The destination would probably be Se-na's house. Though things had gotten a bit bigger than expected, since we'd already come out, there was no turning back now.
Actually, she was hesitating to start driving.
Perhaps she was having second thoughts about suddenly bringing a guy to her room. Either way, after some contemplation, the car slowly moved forward.
"Um... your uncle doesn't watch internet broadcasts, does he?"
"Probably... not?"
The uncertainty in her answer made me anxious.
No, surely not, but he could easily join the Daeju-dan right now and fit right in.
Se-na's house wasn't too far from the gym.
Perhaps for the commute? It looked like a studio apartment building. How do I know? I remembered it. I happened to see it when looking for a place to rent.
It was a bit large for living alone, and back then, it was quite expensive for me.
I could probably afford it now, but back then, one out of three meals was fixed as ramen.
While I was lost in memories, Se-na's car slowly came to a stop, and it was time to get out.
"Um... shall we go?"
"I guess so...?"
Though the situation hadn't been too awkward until now, by this point my heart started pounding with tension.
Is this my first time going to a woman's house? No, that's not true.
Though it was for broadcasting, and other people were around, I had been to Yeonhee's house too.
But the reason this felt so different was because this time it wasn't for broadcasting but for personal reasons, and we were alone rather than with others.
And when you put the situation into words, isn't it really strange?
Going to a blonde, tanned woman's house to sweat.
Huh.
This was a crazy situation.
<First floor.>
The suffocating silence between us was broken by the elevator voice.
Even though we were on the first floor, due to other people in the elevator who hadn't gotten off, our shoulders couldn't help but brush against each other. Even trying not to be conscious of it, I kept flinching when we touched, and the inexplicable scent wafting over made me increasingly aware.
Then the doors opened at the fourth floor.
"...It's here."
"Ah."
Belatedly remembering that Se-na had pressed the fourth floor, we made our way through the people and got off.
Se-na strode to the door on the right and undid the electronic lock. Even though she must have entered the password hundreds of times, she made a mistake.
Finally, with a satisfying "beep" sound, the door opened.
"Come in."
"...Excuse my intrusion."
Only after entering did I realize how strange the situation was.
Isn't this what the Daeju-dan called a situation where getting jumped would be legal?
At least if Se-na were part of the Daeju-dan, if she had the same mindset as Soo-ah, she would 100% jump me.
I guarantee it.
"Wow..."
After taking off my shoes and entering the studio, I saw it was full of exercise equipment except for the bed and computer.
It was far from what I imagined a woman's studio would be like. The studio smelled of protein. I could actually see protein powder next to the refrigerator. The trash can contained tissues and empty chicken breast packaging.
"Are you even looking that far?"
"Ah, sorry."
"It's a bit much... right? This is actually after I organized the exercise equipment"
I suddenly remembered that high-performance clothes rack, the indoor bicycle she had sold to me.
I see, so this is the reduced version. If this is reduced, then originally there probably wasn't even space for the bed and computer.
Though I feel like I've seen her get embarrassed several times today, even when she blushed while caressing the dumbbells, it didn't really register.
It's scary how she seems like a psychopath gym rat.
"So what do we do now?"
"I'll take responsibility and teach you how to exercise."
Perhaps due to the confident subject of exercise, Se-na's voice regained its confidence.
Overwhelmed by that energy, this time I became timid.
"First, let's warm up"
Se-na brought over a full-length mirror from the corner of her house.
She added that beginners are particularly at risk of injury from incorrect posture, so looking in the mirror is recommended. And then began the light warm-up.
To get muscles and joints moving properly, you do appropriate exercises beforehand to prepare them, she said.
Se-na overestimated me too much.
"Why are you sweating already...?"
"Haha..."
Your warm-up.
It might be someone's full effort.
It was like light national calisthenics movements[1], but following along made me sweat profusely.
Seeing me like this, Se-na tilted her head and stared as if looking at a research subject or some strange animal. Even if you look at me like I'm some rare specimen, I'm just weak. She probably couldn't understand this thoroughly gaming-optimized body.
"Well then... shall we try dumbbells?"
Se-na picked up a 5kg dumbbell.
The dumbbells only came in odd numbers. A 1kg pink dumbbell, 3kg, and the 5kg dumbbell Se-na was holding, and a 7kg dumbbell.
I fell into contemplation.
Pink? That's out. I'm still a man after all. Though my endurance is lacking, my strength is okay. Then 7kg?
That seems a bit too high. But sometimes a man needs to fight even knowing he'll die.
"Just use the 3kg."
"Okay."
At the trainer's warm words, I quickly grabbed the 3kg dumbbell.
As expected, it was light. Even for me, 5kg would probably be appropriate. But since Se-na had already claimed it, nothing could be done.
I followed Se-na's movements in front of me.
Well, this much was easy. Maybe I'm the type whose upper body is much stronger than lower body. Lifting dumbbells was much easier than that warm-up exercise. In contrast, Se-na, who was maintaining proper form while holding the heavy weight, looked tired. Though I didn't say this was s*xual harassment, from the start Se-na was carrying about the same weight as the dumbbells in her chest area.
These thoughts are all because of the Daeju-dan.
Absolutely not because I'm a pervert.
As Se-na started getting overwhelmed, she began making breathing sounds.
A woman's breathing and my breathing in the quiet studio. The timing even matched subtly, creating what seemed like a strange harmony.
And I, because of those sounds, had no choice but to.
Briefly sit down and bend forward.
"Why suddenly? Are you hurt somewhere?!"
"No, I just have something to think about for a moment."
While I was deeply lost in thought and absolutely couldn't get up.
As Se-na kept exercising in front of me who kept falling into thought and couldn't get up, I finally managed to stand again after 10 minutes.
* * *
(End of Chapter)
T/N:
The national calisthenics (국민체조) referenced is a standardized set of exercise movements that are commonly practiced in Korean schools and workplaces.
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