Chapter 58: Life of a Gym Rat
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58: Life of a Gym Rat
4 AM.
As always, I woke up at my scheduled time, packed my lunchbox in the kitchen, changed into my workout clothes, and left the house for a jog.
My usual jogging course is about 10 kilometers, round trip.
There was a certain romance to exercising alone in the crisp morning air before the sun had fully risen.
But for today, I had someone joining me on this jogging course.
It was a former delinquent with an old-fashioned pompadour who, despite being the same age as me, called me Hyung-nim.
"Hyung-nim! Good morning!"
"Yeah."
For the next three days, I was to spend my time with this guy, Goto Kazuya.
To be honest, taking on a disciple seemed like it would be a huge pain, so I wanted to shake him off as naturally as possible.
My solution was to propose a three-day hell course.
There was no way a normal person who rarely exercises could keep up with my workout routine.
Goto, who was running in step beside me, spoke up.
"It's been a while since I've jogged like this! I used to run around a lot delivering newspapers back in middle school!"
"Newspaper delivery? Why were you doing that in middle school? Short on allowance?"
Goto rubbed a finger under his nose and said,
"The man who was my father left home when I was three, and my mother raised me by herself after that."
Hearing such a heavy family story come out of nowhere, I instinctively shut my mouth.
Frankly, that wasn't the kind of response I was aiming for.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Goto smiled brightly and said it was fine.
'No, I'm the one who's not okay….'
Anyway, after running a full lap around the town along the riverbank, we headed to the public park I visit every day.
The park was equipped with exercise machines that the local middle-aged men and women often used, but they were also perfect for people like me to work out alone.
"How many pull-ups can you do?"
"I used to do about five back in the day. I haven't tried recently, so I'm not sure."
"Alright. Watch closely."
With that, I immediately grabbed onto the pull-up bar.
My shoulder and arm muscles tightened, straining under the load.
But I casually reeled off about 50 pull-ups.
The key to doing pull-ups is the lower back.
Using momentum to do pull-ups isn't very effective from a training standpoint, which is why proper form like this is required.
After my light warm-up, I told Goto to give it a try.
He swallowed hard, then shouted with a tense expression.
"Osu!"
Hey, don't shout like that, it's embarrassing….
"Yes! Hyung-nim!"
At least he was a good listener.
*
After finishing our morning workout, we headed straight back home.
It was exactly 6 AM. I had to leave for school by 7:10 AM at the latest, which meant I had about an hour to spare.
I showed a minimum of human decency and fed Goto a hearty breakfast before sending him on his way.
He'd have to wash up and eat once he got home anyway, so I figured I'd save his single mother the trouble.
"Thank you! The food you made was delicious, Hyung-nim!"
"Sure. See you again later, around 6 PM."
"Yes!"
Since we both had to go to school in the morning, it was impossible to stick together any longer.
So, I set our meeting time for 6 PM, a time when I would already be out of school, and we agreed to meet in front of the shop again in the evening.
I watched him ride away on his motorcycle, then stretched and walked up the stairs to the second floor.
It was time for me to wash up and get ready for school.
*
When I got to school, the atmosphere in the classroom was quite lively.
It made sense, since midterms had just ended.
The day after the end of midterms, which had been a major hurdle in our second year of high school, all the students who had been in intense study mode were now relaxed, thinking only of how to have fun.
"Yo, Kim Yoo-Sung."
I returned Satoru's greeting and sat down at my desk.
"Did you get home okay yesterday?"
"Yeah. Thanks to having a good friend, I got to experience the luxury of hanging out surrounded by beautiful girls. Yesterday was fun."
"Glad to hear it."
As I shrugged, Satoru brought up another topic.
"By the way, did you hear? Things have been getting pretty tense with the Bōsōzoku in Tokyo lately."
"The Bōsōzoku? Why all of a sudden?"
I found myself listening intently to Satoru's story.
"The leader of Byakkiyakou, a crew based in Setagaya, changed recently. I heard the new 4th generation leader has been colluding with guys from other organizations, and now the team is on the verge of falling apart."
When you talk about power struggles among biker gangs, you can't help but feel they're a bit less intense than, say, a Yakuza war.
We live in completely different worlds, so I had little desire to understand it, and it was a story that had nothing to do with an ordinary person like me.
When I pressed him for a more interesting story, Satoru's glasses flashed as he spoke.
"Actually, this is top-secret information that almost no one knows, but I'll let you in on it."
"…What is it that's such a big deal?"
"How much do you know about our school's Three Great Beauties?"
"Three Great Beauties? What's that?"
"You idiot. How can you be a guy and not know about the Three Great Beauties of Ichijo Academy?"
"Stop talking nonsense and explain it so I can understand."
"Hmph, I'd love to explain it from beginning to end, but that would take too long, so I guess I have no choice."
Satoru pushed his glasses up with his index finger and began.
"First, two of the Three Great Beauties of Ichijo Academy are third-years. The student council president, Saionji Kumiko, and the kendo club captain, Fuma Yukika."
Coincidentally, I knew both of them.
The former I see every week in the student council room, and the latter is someone I owe my life to from just a little while ago.
She said she'd contact me soon, but I still haven't heard anything. I have no idea when she'll talk to me again.
All I could do was wait.
"And the last one, a first-year, is coming to school next week."
"Who's the last one?"
Satoru puffed up his chest and said,
"Prepare to be shocked."
"I won't be, so just tell me."
"The celebrity who's been rising in popularity as the nation's first love, Minato Nao."
"Minato Nao?"
"Even if you're not interested in celebrities, Yoo-Sung, you must know her name. You just have to turn on the TV, and her commercials are on dozens of times a day."
Just in case, I searched through the pre-possession Kim Yoo-Sung's memories.
Satoru was right; she was an incredibly famous celebrity.
And a former child actor from a top-tier theater company, at that.
"I didn't know someone like that went to our school."
"Well, of course. She's been too busy with her celebrity work to come to school much. It seems like she's trying to branch out into the idol world recently, too."
Satoru said, puffing out his chest proudly.
"But how do you know all this stuff so well?"
Satoru raised his chin and said,
"I am a super, super elite member of Minato Nao-sama's fan club, with a membership number in the low 100s."
The way he boasted made him look like the very definition of an idol otaku.
No wonder he knew so much about her; there was a story behind it.
"Why don't you become a fan of Naotang, too? If you join now, I can guide you as your senior."
"…I'll have to respectfully decline."
I was busy enough with my daily workouts; I had no intention of wasting time on a celebrity I'd never meet.
As Satoru and I were talking about Minato Nao, the protagonist, Sakamoto Ryuji, his childhood friend Yaguchi Maiya, and Rika and Sasha all arrived at school.
First period on Thursday morning was math.
As a former STEM graduate student, it was my favorite subject.
Last week, the teacher gave us a free period, saying the exam was just around the corner, so I expected we'd be back to learning new material today, but I was wrong.
The math teacher looked around at the class and said,
"Today, we're going to go over the midterm exam questions together. Everyone, take out your test papers."
At that, the math-phobes who had been desperately ignoring the cruel reality began to collectively freak out, afraid to grade their scores.
One of them was Rika.
I took in the scene and shook my head.
It looked like a storm of red marks was about to rain down on several test papers today.
*
After school, I immediately took the subway home.
It was to keep my promise with Goto Kazuya from this morning.
Normally, if I don't have anything special going on, I head straight to the fitness club after school.
But today, out of consideration for Goto, who was a first-timer, I decided to meet him halfway and go together.
The gym's director was thirsty for fresh new members, so I was sure if I asked him to let Goto try it out for free for three days, he'd smile and say it was fine.
Of course, that also meant he'd be trying to teach him a lot.
"Hyung-nim! Welcome back from school!"
Goto, who was waiting in front of the shop as promised, spotted me walking from a distance and bowed deeply in greeting.
A passing child saw this, held his mother's hand tightly, and asked,
"Mom, why is that uncle calling the younger-looking uncle 'Hyung-nim'?"
"Shh, be quiet. Let's go."
"……."
I'm going to have to forbid him from greeting me like that while he's with me.