The 3-Lift 700kg Shoot
The YouTube filming had started on a whim.
Other players nearby, sensing entertainment, began to quietly drift over and gather around us.
As it happens, men are powerless to resist a test of strength.
Cha Kangmin wiped the action cam lens once with his shirt and smoothly launched into his opening lines.
"Alright! Hello, everybody! Football fans of Korea! You're watching Center-Back King Cha Kangmin! Pleasure to meet you all!"
It was the exact same hyper-energetic persona I'd seen on his channel.
"Today! We have a very special piece of content lined up! Right here! Joining us as a guest is our Suwon Blue Sky rookie, Kim Hanbin! We're going to measure Hanbin's 3-lift total on the spot! Give him a round of applause!"
When Cha Kangmin clapped by himself to whip up the atmosphere, the senior players around us snickered and followed along with the applause.
He shot me a subtle look.
"Now then, our very own Kim Hanbin! Say hello to all our Center-Back King subscribers!"
I hesitated for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden situation.
"Uh... do I just say hi now?"
Cha Kangmin burst out laughing at my awkward reaction.
"Ah, Hanbin! You gotta smash in with a pow! Haha! It's fine, everybody! Rookies are supposed to be this fresh and green! It's great to see!"
He turned back to me and fired off his next question.
"So, Hanbin! I heard this from you earlier... you said your 3-lift total is 650kg. Is that actually true?!"
Every eye in the room locked onto me again. I shrugged and answered.
"Yeah... that's about what I remember from the last time I tested it."
"Whoa~ 650! Did you all hear that, folks? A footballer with a 3-lift of 650! That is genuinely incredible!"
Cha Kangmin held up the action cam and swept it over my body, making a huge fuss.
"Now, look at Hanbin's muscles right now! Whew~ Isn't he basically a bodybuilder? Honestly, I think he's got the best physique of any footballer I've ever seen, don't you? You'd all agree, right?"
The high energy was almost too much. Was this really the same person I knew?
Cha Kangmin with YouTube mode switched on... is kind of scary.
"Alright! Then let's get the measurements started right away! First up is the bench press!"
Cha Kangmin swung the camera toward the bench press station.
"Hanbin, what weight do you want to start at?"
I thought about it for a moment. Starting too low would take forever.
"Hmm... for bench, let's just warm up easy... how about 180kg?"
"······?"
"What? 180?!"
At my words, not just Cha Kangmin but every player in the vicinity gasped in disbelief.
The well-built senior who'd asked about my 3-lift earlier spoke up as if he couldn't believe his ears.
"Hey! 180?! Wow... I can barely manage 140... and you're starting at 180?"
He clicked his tongue and, together with the other players nearby, began moving the plates over.
The heavy plates piled up neatly on both ends of the barbell. When I tried to help, the senior waved me off.
"Nope, you! Save your strength! Let's see if this is the real deal or a load of bull!"
And so the imposing 180kg barbell was ready. I lay back on the bench and set my grip.
I could feel every gaze in the room converging on me. Cha Kangmin shoved the action cam right up close and narrated like a broadcaster.
"And here it is! The first attempt! Kim Hanbin! Will he manage the 180kg or not!"
I took a deep breath and drove the barbell up with everything I had.
Light.
Frankly speaking, 180kg didn't even qualify as a warm-up for me. The bar rose without a hint of resistance, smooth as silk, and came back down just as smoothly.
"······!!!"
"Whoa!"
"Insane... he actually lifted it!"
"Look how easy he's making it look..."
Exclamations of awe erupted around me. I got up from the bench without a care in the world.
"Should we go a bit higher?"
At my flat, matter-of-fact tone, the muscular senior who'd carried the plates over swallowed hard.
"Higher? Uh... then... 185... no, 190kg?"
"Hmm... let's just jump straight to 200kg."
"You're adding 20kg just like that?!"
His voice still carried a streak of doubt. 200kg — a weight that would strain not just your average gym-goer but even most competitive powerlifters.
I gave a light nod.
"Yeah. Let's do 200."
More plates went on, and the barbell, now loaded to bursting on both sides, looked heavy enough to strain just from looking at it.
Once again, every gaze in the conditioning room fixed itself on me.
I lay back down on the bench and took a deep breath. It was definitely heavier than 180 — but at this level, still well within my control.
"Ngh...!"
With a sharp grunt, I pressed the bar up. The massive hunk of iron rose slowly, without the slightest waver. After a light touch to my chest, I drove it all the way to lockout once more.
"······!!!"
"Whoa... damn... he really got it!"
"A 200 bench with no bounce at all...?"
This time the reactions went beyond simple admiration — outright shock was rippling through the room. Cha Kangmin shouted, beside himself with excitement.
"Whoa! A 200kg bench press! Even I've never seen one in person before! Hanbin! That is unbelievable!"
I got up from the bench and brushed off my hands.
Hmm... so that's what 200kg feels like? Still got plenty left in the tank. Could probably manage 220...
I considered piling on more weight, but Cha Kangmin was already moving on to the next event.
"Alright! A clean 200kg bench press! Next up is the squat! Let's see just how astonishing Hanbin looks under the bar!"
We moved to the squat rack. This time I called out a fairly high starting weight.
"I'll start the squat at 250kg."
"······."
Silence again. But this time, mixed in with the disbelief, there was a genuine flicker of hope that maybe — just maybe — I could actually do it.
The players loaded the plates without a word, and I shouldered the heavy barbell and began squatting.
One. Two. Three.
In the time-stopped soccer field, 230kg had been the maximum the plates could make, so I'd been a little worried about 250kg — but it was lighter than I'd expected.
250kg... this is easy?
"······Success!"
With Cha Kangmin's shout, the squat measurement came to an end.
"Now, the final event! The deadlift! Will Kim Hanbin deliver here as well?!"
I stood in front of the deadlift bar.
No point taking plates off and putting them back on — I'll just go with the same weight as the squat.
"I'll do the deadlift at 250kg too."
Same as the squat. Bench 200kg, squat 250kg, deadlift 250kg. If I landed all three, that was a 700kg total — a number almost unimaginable for a footballer.
I kept my back straight and gripped the barbell resting on the floor. I drew in a big breath and slowly lifted the bar.
I could feel its weight. But this much was no problem. I pulled it up with everything I had.
THUD!
As the barbell slammed into the floor, Cha Kangmin turned to the muscular senior standing beside him.
"Whoa... hey! I don't really know much about powerlifting, but this is a huge deal, right? Where does a 700kg total actually rank?"
The senior answered, the shock still plastered across his face.
"Is it a huge deal? Man, this is beyond ridiculous! That's not footballer territory — that's upper-tier among dedicated powerlifters who do nothing but lift! I've never seen anyone move weights that heavy that steadily, ever."
Spurred on by the senior's passionate reaction, Cha Kangmin came bounding over to me.
"Hanbin! A 3-lift of 700! This is pure short-form gold! If we throw this on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, that's an algorithm jackpot!"
"Algorithm? What's that?"
"Hmm... it'd take a while to explain, but basically, it's when a video explodes and spreads everywhere! These days the algorithm loves this kind of hype content. Slap on hashtags like #3Lift700kg #JuicedUpFootballer and the views will come flying in!"
"Hm... really? So on YouTube, the more bait you throw, the better?"
Still, Kangmin's basically my benefactor at this point...
I wiped my hands on my pants and spoke up.
"Well then, I've still got plenty left in the tank. Want to go a little higher?"
At my words, the senior who'd been hauling plates around yelped in horror.
"Hey! You lunatic! You just hit 700 — what more do you want! Keep that up and you'll actually get hurt!"
But Cha Kangmin egged me on instead.
"Oh! You can do more? Yes! If we're doing this, let's see it through to the end! Let's go for 720! To the top!"
The moment Cha Kangmin moved to load on more plates—
"Whoa there! That's far enough!"
A stern voice suddenly barked out from the entrance of the conditioning room. I turned to see the team's physical coach standing there with his arms crossed.
He'd apparently come to check on the players doing their personal training after team practice had ended — and walked right into this circus.
"And here I was thinking, how diligent, these lads taking care of themselves after training... what on earth do you call this?"
The physical coach looked back and forth between the action cam in Cha Kangmin's hand and the barbell loaded with plates.
"Ah, Coach! Perfect timing! We're measuring Hanbin's 3-lift right now!"
Cha Kangmin answered brightly.
"3-lift measurement? And? What did he get?"
"He just hit 700kg!"
"What?! 700?! Seriously?!"
The physical coach's eyes went wide. He walked over to me as if he couldn't believe it and looked me up and down.
"Wow~ that is impressive, no question. But..."
That was when Cha Kangmin cut in again.
"Coach! Hanbin says he can lift even more, so we're going for 720kg now! Cheer him on with us!"
The instant Cha Kangmin fanned the flames, the physical coach roared.
"Hey hey hey hey! No! Absolutely not!"
He wagged his hand in firm refusal.
"Are you joking right now? Do you have any idea how much injury risk comes with weights like that?!"
Even as he held Cha Kangmin back, the physical coach looked at me and went pale all over again.
"Wait. Kim Hanbin, don't tell me — you lifted those weights without a single piece of protective gear or a lifting belt?! Hey! You blow out your back once and your career is over, just like that! Are you out of your mind?!"
Are these weights really heavy enough to worry about injury...?
Hearing it from the physical coach, I suppose that's how it looked...
"That's it for today! 3-lift measurement is over! Everyone clean up and go do your stretching!"
At the coach's barked order, Cha Kangmin lowered the action cam. A little of the air had gone out of me too, but I had no choice but to nod.
After getting an earful from the physical coach, Cha Kangmin seemed to realize something, and came over with an apologetic look on his face.
"Hanbin, I'm sorry... your team captain got so blinded by his own YouTube channel that he completely forgot you could've gotten hurt..."
"It's fine, hyung. I've never once gotten injured lifting."
He really doesn't need to apologize...
Honestly, after decades of training at the absolute limit, my current muscles were at the point where weights like these wouldn't cause an injury — they wouldn't even cause so much as an egg-grade case of soreness.
"Well... if you're sorry, then grant me one favor later."
"A favor?"
"Yeah. A favor."
"Hmmm... honestly, it's better if you just ask me now and get it over with... and it was mostly my fault anyway... Okay! Whatever it is, I'll do it!"
And so, having secured a favor-token from Kangmin hyung in the conditioning room, we each headed back to the dorms.
With both the afternoon team session and individual training time behind them, Manager Kim Seongcheol gathered with his coaching staff in the strategy room.
The purpose was a tactical meeting to prepare for the home match against Gangwon Ocean FC, now just four days away, and to settle on the starting lineup. The atmosphere was grave.
With Suwon languishing near the relegation zone and Antonio's departure piled on top, the Gangwon match carried more weight than any game in recent memory.
Manager Kim spoke first.
"As for the back line... Kangmin got through today's training without any issues, so let's bring him back in at center-back, agreed?"
The head coach nodded.
"Yes, Manager. From what I saw at training today, his condition looks nearly fully recovered. With Kangmin anchoring the middle, we'll get real stability back there."
"Good. Then the defense is settled."
"······."
"······."
Manager Kim flipped through some documents for a moment, then looked around at his coaches with a bitter expression and said, half to himself, in a self-mocking voice:
"Haah... everyone... we — no, I — have driven this team to where it stands."
Deep self-reproach and anguish were woven through his voice.
"Six straight league defeats. Three in a row at home. It's all down to my own shortcomings. There's no excuse... I can't even face our supporters, who scream themselves hoarse for us every single match. All of this responsibility rests on me, the manager."
His self-recrimination left the coaches solemn. The team's slump was hardly the manager's burden alone, but not one of them was blind to the weight pressing down on his shoulders.
"But..."
Manager Kim lifted his head and met his coaches' eyes once more, his voice hardening.
"There is no ground left to retreat to. This Gangwon match... it's our home. This home game above all, we must win. We cannot hand our supporters another disappointment. Let's put everything on the line and take all three points! Help me do it!"
At their manager's desperate, resolute rallying cry, determination rose in the coaches' eyes once more.
"Yes, Manager! We'll give it everything we have!"
With the mood reset, Manager Kim returned to the matter at hand.
"Now then — the attack, our biggest headache... Kim Hanbin, who joined us today. Any good ideas on how we should use him?"
Kim Hanbin. The name that had set the entire clubhouse abuzz all day long.
"Hmm... Manager, in my opinion, throwing Hanbin straight into the starting eleven would be a stretch."
The attacking coach was the first to offer his view.
"There's no question his performance today was excellent. But as you know, he's never properly trained in combination with the squad. On top of that, his grasp of our tactics and his link-up play are still unproven. Starting him from his debut could be far too big a gamble."
At his words, the other coaches nodded in agreement. Manager Kim shared the same thought.
Because of the U22 Rule we do have to include one young player, so putting Hanbin in the starting lineup is worth considering. But... the risk is too great. This is a boy who's never played so much as a single minute as a substitute, let alone a full match...
While Manager Kim was lost in thought, the head coach proposed a different way to use him.
"Manager, if we do bring him in... you saw his free kicks at the test and again today, didn't you? What if we deploy him as a joker mid-match, whenever a free kick chance opens up in a dangerous position? Forget everything else — his shooting is simply sublime. In set-piece situations, he'd be a guaranteed weapon."
At the head coach's suggestion, the other coaches nodded along.
"Ooh, that's a good idea."
"Agreed. One free kick at the decisive moment could turn a match on its head."
"Putting him on the bench first and playing it by ear seems like the most practical option."
Manager Kim, too, judged the proposal a sensible one.
"Yes, good. Then that's how we'll plan to use Hanbin, and we'll put him on the substitution list."
No one on the coaching staff raised a single objection to the manager's decision.
"Yes, Manager."