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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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I ran after Seora’s ponytail.
“Huff, huff.”
I hadn’t exercised for a while, so I quickly became breathless. My throat ached as my breathing became ragged.
Seora slowed down and came up beside me.
“Don’t just breathe through your mouth. Didn’t I tell you?”
“Yeees…!”
“Your stamina has really dropped. Let’s run to that bench over there and take a short break.”
Reaching the bench, I gasped for air. Of course, another nagging followed.
“Don’t pant like that. Breathe slowly. Inhale, exhale.”
“Hoo, haa.”
“That’s it.”
Seora becomes quite strict when we exercise. But if I do as she says, the results are undeniable.
Once my breathing calmed down somewhat, Seora clicked her tongue and patted my back.
“This is what happens when you take a break.”
“But I only took a week off….”
I felt a bit wronged. I worked my butt off for two months, and this is what happens after just one week off?
“That’s how the human body works. Just when you think you’ve adapted, you go right back to where you started if you rest even a little. Building muscle is hard, but gaining fat is easy.”
“The human body is so inconveniently made. If there is a god, they definitely made a mistake.”
“Ahaha. I think so too. But you’re still better than when you first started running, right?”
Well, that’s true. My stamina decreased compared to a week ago, but compared to when I first started running, I’m like a different person.
“Come on, let’s run again!”
“Huh? Let me rest a little longer!”
“You’ve rested enough. We can’t rest until our bodies cool down. Come on, run!”
“Uwaaaa!”
Seora pushed my back, forcing me to run. Just when I thought I’d caught my breath, I was struggling again.
Seora ran a little ahead of me. She said running side-by-side isn’t helpful. It’s more efficient if I run trying not to fall behind someone ahead of me. Like a horse chasing a carrot, I ran, keeping my eyes on her swaying ponytail.
My heart felt like it was going to explode, but it wasn’t all bad. As I ran, mesmerized by her ponytail, I naturally saw other parts of her as well.
Her wiggling hips.
Even though she was wearing jogger pants, her emphasized buttocks were visible. As expected of someone who exercises, her glutes were incredibly toned. I felt sorry for her, but I squeezed every last bit of stamina out of my body, fueled by my perverse energy.
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Ahn Seora glanced back. She saw Kang Cheol-jin chasing after her, struggling to keep up.
“He’s so earnest.”
His mental strength was even more admirable than his physical strength. Even though she was pushing him to his limit, he was still trying his best to keep up. It was endearing to watch. It made her want to pick up the pace a little, and he’d still stubbornly try to follow.
‘He’s a different person compared to the beginning.’
Who would look at him now and remember the weakling she met on the first day? It hadn’t even been two months since they started running together, but he improved so quickly.
Was he naturally athletic? In any case, he followed her instructions well, making him a rewarding newbie to teach. It felt like walking a large dog.
“Hmm. His motivation seems a bit impure, though….”
Did she really think he was unaware of his staring? She hadn’t noticed at first, but with that level of intensity, it was impossible not to.
It was a little annoying, but she didn’t bother to scold him. If that’s what motivated him, then it was fine. It wasn’t like it was the first time men had stared at her body.
Ahn Seora was used to the male gaze, both positive and negative. That’s why Kang Cheol-jin’s gaze didn’t bother her much.
However, it was still annoying, so…
“Se-Seora, you’re too fast!”
“No, you can run more.”
She increased her speed. Just enough to push him to the brink.
If he still had the energy to stare at her butt, he wasn’t at his limit yet.
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“Uugh….”
I groaned like a zombie and collapsed onto the bench. I couldn’t run another step even if I was beaten to death. Perhaps as punishment for skipping workouts, today’s run was twice as hard as usual.
‘I feel like I ran 10km….’
It wasn’t an exact figure, but I ran about twice as much as usual, so that was my rough estimate. It took me almost an hour to finish.
Meanwhile, compared to me gasping for air like I was dying, Seora was only slightly out of breath. She wiped her sweat with a towel, drank some water, and smiled refreshingly. What the heck, that exercise freak….
At this rate, shouldn’t she be running marathons? I think she said she was a sports science major, but watching her run, she seems more like a player than a support staff.
“Don’t you participate in marathons, Seora? Seeing how relaxed you are after running 10km, I think you could even win a prize.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? We only ran 9km.”
Isn’t that basically the same?
I stared at her sullenly, and Seora chuckled.
“People who are really good at running can run 10km in under 40 minutes. Athletes do it in around 30 minutes.”
“They’re monsters….”
“Well, I can do it in about 40 minutes if I run seriously. Speaking of which, do you want to train together? I’ve been wanting to participate in a marathon.”
“Yikes. I’ll pass.”
I jumped up and waved my hands. I felt like I was dying after running 9km in an hour, and she wants me to enter a competition? I could already picture myself vomiting mid-race.
Seora clicked her tongue, looking disappointed. She seemed genuinely disappointed, which gave me goosebumps.
I decided to change the subject. I had something to ask her anyway.
“Forget the marathon. Can you teach me some exercises?”
“Huh? Exercises? Other than running?”
Seora’s eyes sparkled. Seeing that made me a little scared, but I’d already made up my mind.
“Weight training. Just running is getting a bit boring these days, so I want to try something different. Oh, of course, I’ll pay for personal training.”
Seora is a certified trainer with level 1 national certification and rehabilitation qualifications. She said she works as a trainer at a gym after her classes at school.
“Of course! It’s natural to get bored doing the same thing over and over. Good thinking. The most important thing for beginners is consistency.”
Seora nodded enthusiastically. She was completely thrilled. I started to worry that I’d made a mistake…
“Let’s go now!”
“Huh? Now?”
Seora grabbed my arm.
Startled, I asked again, and she answered firmly.
“We have to go while we’re talking about it! You have classes this afternoon, right? I know your schedule, so don’t even think about running away.”
…My worries were too late. I was already caught.
Still, I made a last-ditch effort.
“S-Seora. How about starting tomorrow…?”
“Come on, I won’t make you do anything hard. Let’s just get a taste of it.”
“Isn’t the gym closed? It’s only 7 o’clock!”
“It’s a 24-hour gym. And I’m a trainer there, so it doesn’t matter if it’s closed.”
“…….”
I gave up. Escape was impossible.
I was dragged away, my arm still in Seora’s grip.
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Arriving at the gym:
“Wow… there are people here at this hour.”
There were more people than I expected. Roughly counting, there were close to ten.
“Of course. There are people even in the early morning. Some people work out and then go to work.”
“That’s amazing, really.”
I’m a college student, but I have to respect working people. Working all day must be tiring enough, but to exercise on top of that…
The gym Seora brought me to was huge. It was hard to count how many floors it had. From racks and machines to separate spinning and stretching rooms, it had everything.
“Since it’s your first time here, let’s measure your body composition. Go to the restroom first. You need to measure without any water weight.”
“Okay.”
After using the restroom, I stepped onto the InBody machine. She said it’s convenient to link it to the app, so I downloaded it right away and entered my height and age.
“Don’t let your armpits touch the sensors, and don’t talk.”
“Okay.”
“I said don’t talk.”
“…….”
I shut my mouth, and various numbers started appearing on the screen.
The ones that immediately caught my eye were my weight and body fat percentage.
[Weight 96.3kg]
[Body Fat Percentage 26.2%]
Humiliating. I thought it would be under 25% since I’ve been working out for a year, but I was way off.
If I remember correctly, the average body fat percentage for men in their 20s is 15-20%. Around 15% is supposed to show that you work out.
“This is serious, right…?”
I asked, slightly dejected.
“What are you talking about? It’s much better than I expected! Cheol-jin, why do you have so much muscle?”
Her reaction was completely different from what I expected.
“R-Really?”
I asked back, a little dubious. Was she trying to comfort me?
But Seora looked even more surprised than I was.
“Yeah, really. At this level, you’re not really obese. Cheol-jin, you have a lot of facial fat, so your body fat is actually lower than I thought.”
“?”
I didn’t understand what she meant. My body fat percentage was over 26%. As I blinked in confusion, Seora pointed to the printed paper and explained.
“Look, if you just look at your BMI, you’re obese, right?”
“Yes….”
The paper showed BMI ranges.
Underweight, Normal, Overweight, Obese, Severely Obese.
My BMI was at the far right of the [Obese] range. If my weight was just 1kg higher, I would have been classified as severely obese.
But Seora still had a bright expression. No, she even looked a little excited. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at me, which was a little unnerving.
“But actually, BMI isn’t a very meaningful number. It’s only measured by weight relative to height.”
“Uh… is that wrong?”
“There’s a lot of debate about the measurement method. Think about it. There are cases where two people with the same height and weight look completely different. That’s all due to the difference in muscle mass. But BMI doesn’t include muscle mass and only uses height and weight to determine obesity. Is that really accurate?”
“Ahh!”
I understood perfectly.
Consider an extreme case.
There are two people, both 180cm tall and weighing 90kg.
A has never exercised in his life, and B has been exercising his whole life.
They have the same height and weight, but their physiques are completely different. A has a potbelly and thin limbs, while B has broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a six-pack.
Since they have the same height and weight, their BMI is also the same, but their actual appearance is completely different.
“What really matters is muscle mass and body fat. But you have a lot of muscle and low body fat compared to your weight. Normally, with your height and weight, it wouldn’t be strange to have over 30% body fat.”
“Ooh….”
I felt a sense of accomplishment, thinking that my efforts over the past year weren’t in vain. At this rate, maybe I’m not so average after all?
But it seems like it wasn’t just at that level.
Seora looked me up and down and asked,
“Did you do any strength training separately? Or were you born with a good frame? How do you have over 42kg of skeletal muscle mass?”
“I did some home training. Push-ups and pull-ups.”
A fitness channel I often watch on YouTube introduced a push-up and pull-up program. I’ve been doing them based on that.
“Did you do them every day?”
“Not every day, just often….”
“How many push-ups can you do at once?”
“If it’s non-stop, about 60?”
“…Pull-ups?”
“Ah, I can only do five pull-ups.”
“…….”
Seora looked up at me silently. Were they too few?
I was starting to feel embarrassed, but then…
“Cheol-jin, take your shirt off.”
“Okay… Huh?”
Reflexively, I covered myself with my hands.
“Here?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about other people. There aren’t many people around anyway.”
“But, still…”
“I just want to check something.”
“Okay….”
Is this normal at the gym? Just taking your shirt off? I thought it was just for showing off in YouTube videos.
Anyway, I looked around and took off my shirt, and surprisingly, no one paid any attention to me. It really seemed like a common thing.
‘I was a little embarrassed, but thankfully no one cares.’
Of course, it was still embarrassing. Taking my shirt off in front of a woman. I’m not really embarrassed when we have sex, but doing this at the gym felt different.
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