Going to the Gym with Lua
Today was Ruru's first just-chatting stream in a long while, and all kinds of stories were flying back and forth in that just-chat.
"Whoa, our Ruru Squad. You have dating problems too? Why are you worrying about dating? You're supposed to only look at Ruru, right?"
One viewer's love life, for instance.
"Your semester starts in three weeks? Aww~ That happens~ It's okay, it's okay! Ruru will always be here!"
Talk about the start of the school term, for instance.
"Ah, Lunar New Year's almost here! Fantasy Live will be running as usual over the holiday! So our Ruru Squad has to come watch Ruru, right? Promise?"
Talk about the approaching Lunar New Year, for instance.
Truly, any number of topics came and went.
And the one that blew up the most among all of them was completely unexpected.
"Working out?"
It was about exercise.
Granted, this really was a tough time of year to work out. Winter made outdoor exercise miserable.
Of course, Ruru had a very simple solution for that.
"Working out's been rough lately, but… can't you just go somewhere like a gym?"
"Heh heh~ I've even been going to the gym and jogging, of all things!"
Ruru wore a thoroughly smug look as she said it.
And the viewers immediately went to town on her for it.
"Gloomy hikikomori beauty—you're out."
With that, Ruru slapped the chatter with a one-minute timeout on the spot, and the viewers burst into cackling laughter over it.
Exercise, huh.
Did Lua even work out?
I thought it over carefully. Come to think of it, I definitely hadn't seen her exercising outside lately.
I, for one, still went jogging outdoors now and then.
"Now and then"… was a stretch. I pretty much did it every day.
It was more for minimal health maintenance than anything, but there was no denying that a run left the rest of the day feeling fresh.
"Anyway, Ruru works out hard! Hard, I said!!"
The moment Ruru shrieked that, the viewers piled on even harder.
Naturally, I was among them.
The silver lining was that, unlike before, people didn't react just because I typed in chat. Not that anyone could tell who said what anymore with the sheer volume of messages flying by.
Either way, Ruru and the chat went round after round of banter like a WWE match, and that WWE only ended when the stream did.
That was a really chill just-chat for once, I thought, and almost on autopilot I opened my editing software.
Even out of a quiet just-chat like this, the Great Ruru-nim still delivered clips. Absolute broadcasting genius. The GOAT.
Always praise her. Forever praise her.
That was the mindset I started editing with when—
She'd gone straight into grumpy mode, so I fired back a rebuttal right away.
Let it slide? Let what slide, exactly?
It was a little ridiculous, and yet I found myself smiling for no good reason as I kept messaging her.
Leave it to Ruru-nim to leave a guy with nothing to say.
I answered the exercise question calmly.
Just in case a scolding was coming, I volunteered that I jogged outdoors first.
Sure enough, Lua seemed a little startled and launched into a lecture.
Go to a gym?
Those places cost way too much.
Her reply to that was nothing like what I'd expected.
A gym in our apartment complex—that really was news I hadn't seen coming.
Nobody uses it, so it's super empty…
Well then. That was worth going to. Yeah, worth it.
And just like that, somehow, I'd ended up making plans to go to the gym with Lua.
"Morning, Jinwoo."
The next morning, Lua waved at me.
I walked over, and she looked like she'd packed quite a lot—judging by how stuffed her bag was, anyway.
"What exactly did you bring?"
"Hmm~ Protein, and~ clothes to work out in?"
"You even packed a change of clothes?"
"Yeah. You don't have anything like that?"
"Nope."
Yeah. I had none of that. I was already wearing a short-sleeved shirt under my padded jacket, so I could just run like this.
"Aren't you going to be hot?"
I pulled the jacket open to show her the short sleeves, and Lua started laughing like she couldn't believe it.
"Short sleeves under a puffer. That's weird."
"What's weird about it? This is basically the official uniform."
"Official uniform of what country?"
"The nation of Jinwoo."
"A country with a population of one?"
"Pretty much."
I shrugged as I answered, and Lua suddenly came out with something strange.
"Think the nation of Jinwoo has room for one more?"
"Who?"
"Me?"
She tilted her head a little and looked up at me, and I gave her a light knuckle-rap on the forehead.
Thwap!
"Ow!"
"Can you do short sleeves under a puffer?"
"…Okay, that one's impossible."
"Then you're out."
Lua pouted, looked up at me, then whipped her head away.
"Come on. Once we get to the community center, the gym's right there."
"Yes, ma'am~"
I followed her at an easy pace toward the gym.
Before long, we were there.
And just like Lua had said…
"…There's seriously nobody here."
"Right? Once in a while some super jacked middle-aged guys show up, but usually it's just one or two people."
And even those one or two were only women.
My guess was that even fewer people knew a gym had opened in the community center to begin with. I was sure of it.
If word got out, this place would probably be packed. Looking at how many machines there were, anyway.
"I'm gonna go change, then~"
"Okay."
"No peeping, you pervert."
"I won't look. At all."
"Pfft-hehehehe."
With that, Lua disappeared into what looked like the changing room, and I stripped off my padded jacket and started a light warm-up.
Warming up to prevent injury was non-negotiable, after all.
I rolled my ankles, rolled my wrists, stretched my arms overhead—going through the usual routine—when
Creeeak
Lua came back out from the changing area.
"Jinwoo, you're already working out?"
"Better to get a warm-up in at least."
"Ooooh~"
She rose onto her tiptoes a little and started ruffling my hair.
Feeling that ticklish sensation from her hand, I finished warming up with her, then was about to hop on a treadmill and get started when—
"Hey, Jinwoo."
"Yeah?"
"……How do I look?"
Lua suddenly asked about herself.
What exactly did she want to hear?
Well… hmm…
She was pretty. That much was true.
Curves where they should be, cinched where they should be—that figure.
A face that was cool and a little aloof, yet somehow still endearing, and a clean, pure ponytail.
Plus the athletic tank top that put all of that on display.
Pretty was an understatement. She was far too pretty.
Which was exactly why I ignored all of that and said nothing of the sort.
"……You've put on weight."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah. You've gotten chubby."
"Excuse me? I have not."
"No, you have."
"I have not!"
At that, I snickered and climbed onto the treadmill.
I cycled through a few programs until I found one that suited me, then settled into that course and just kept running.
Lua still didn't seem to appreciate the teasing—her cheeks were puffed out like balloons as she glared at me.
"Hey. Seo Jinwoo."
"What."
"I did not put on weight."
"Sure. You didn't."
"Say it like you mean it!"
"You didn't~"
"Grrr…!"
Watching her fury-packed reaction put me in a weirdly good mood.
How to put it—seeing her that mad was just… refreshing, somehow?
I snickered as I looked at her, then finally turned toward her with a small smile.
"Okay. You didn't put on weight. And you're really pretty."
"Eh— wha?"
"I'm only saying it once."
With that, I focused on my workout.
Lua fidgeted for a moment, then eventually started running on the treadmill next to mine.
And from then until the workout was over, neither of us said a single word.
Yeah. Not a single word… at all.