I'll Stay Until Weigh-In
The official scale sat in one corner of the hotel fitness center. Geum Hyuk stepped onto it barefoot, shirtless. Under the lights, the deep grooves of his abs stood out against his tanned skin. Even before the cut, there was almost no body fat on him — nothing but the dense, functional muscle of a boxer, packed in without a wasted inch.
The digital numbers flickered, then locked.
The middleweight limit was 72.57 kg. He still had 4.6 kg to drop.
Hwang Jinsu checked the number and nodded.
"Within the expected range. Plenty of time before weigh-in."
"Got it."
Geum Hyuk stepped off the scale.
The cut. The most brutal ritual a boxer endures. No water. Sweat it out. Wring every last drop of moisture from the body. Stamina bottoms out, and you survive on willpower alone.
Geum Hyuk knew this pain intimately. Back in his amateur days, he'd done the same cut before the Rookie of the Year tournament — in Lee Woojin's glass body. This is still better than back then. Geum Hyuk's flesh recovered at an abnormal rate. A cut that would take an ordinary boxer far longer, he could finish in a fraction of the time.
The cut began.
Geum Hyuk was jumping rope in the hotel fitness center. Sweat poured off him like rain, pooling on the floor. His grip on the handles was slick, but the rhythm never broke. Jump rope. Shadowboxing. Treadmill.
He stepped back onto the scale.
1.1 kg down. Smooth.
Next: the sauna.
Heat bored deep into his lungs. Every breath scorched his airways. Heat rising from the bench seared the backs of his thighs. Geum Hyuk closed his eyes and endured. Sweat erupted from every last pore. Wiping it away did nothing — it just kept coming. Beads formed on his eyelids and rolled down his cheeks.
When he came out, his legs were shaking.
The scale.
A short rest, then a light roadwork run. He ran the streets of Las Vegas, the glittering cityscape swimming in front of his eyes. Dehydration was setting in. His vision blurred. His legs felt like lead. He didn't stop.
By the time he got back to the hotel, Geum Hyuk's face had gone gaunt. His cheekbones jutted sharper. The sockets of his eyes had sunk. His skin had drawn tight, the grain of the muscle beneath even more defined. The face in the mirror belonged to a different person than yesterday.
He checked the number and collapsed onto the bed.
1.2 kg left. It had to come off before weigh-in.
His mouth was bone-dry. No saliva. His tongue felt like sandpaper. He tried to wet his lips and found even his tongue was parched. Water. He wanted water. But until weigh-in, not a single sip.
Knock knock.
A knock at the door. At first he thought he'd imagined it. Then it came again. Geum Hyuk didn't even have the strength to turn his head.
"Come in."
The door opened. A woman with black hair falling to her waist stepped inside.
Ha Ije.
She was carrying a wet towel and an ice pack in one hand, a cooler bag in the other. Her shoulder bag looked packed with even more.
"......Hyuk."
Ha Ije saw his face and sucked in a breath. A face that had been healthy just yesterday had gone skeletal in a single day. Cheekbones jutting. Lips cracked. Dark circles sunk deep under his eyes — the dead-face look that hits during a rapid cut.
"You okay?"
"......Yeah."
Geum Hyuk's voice was faint. Ha Ije sat on the edge of the bed and laid the wet towel across his forehead. Cold spread through him. He closed his eyes as the heat-flushed skin slowly settled.
"......That's nice."
"Your lips are cracked, too."
Ha Ije pulled out lip balm and smoothed it over his mouth. Her fingertips trembled, just slightly. The touch that traced his split lips was careful and soft.
Geum Hyuk opened his eyes. The rims of Ha Ije's were red.
"......You idiot," she said, her voice low.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not."
"Your eyes are red."
"......They're always like this."
Ha Ije turned her head and wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. Geum Hyuk smiled, faintly.
"Worried about me?"
"What kind of person wouldn't be?"
Her voice shook. The red around her eyes deepened.
"Do you have to go this far? You're going to wreck your body."
"Every boxer does this."
"So because everyone else does it, you should too?"
Ha Ije looked him straight in the eye. Tears welled, trembling, but she didn't let them fall. He could see her holding them back.
"......But." She bit her lip. "I'm not going to tell you to stop."
"......?"
Ha Ije opened the cooler bag. Inside were several bottles of electrolyte drink and gel-type nutritional supplements. From her shoulder bag she pulled massage oil, a pressure stick, and athletic tape, arranging them on the bedside table.
"These are for the second you finish weigh-in. They're supposed to be good for rehydrating."
Her hands clenched.
Geum Hyuk looked at her. A woman who worried about him with a face on the verge of tears — and still cheered for his dream. Something burned in his chest.
"......Thanks." He gripped her hand tight. "I mean it. Thank you, Ije."
A single tear finally slipped from her eye. She wiped it with the back of her hand and lifted her head.
"......I'm staying here all day."
"Huh?"
"I'm sticking with you until weigh-in is over. I already told the coach."
Ha Ije pulled a folding cushion and a book from her shoulder bag. She'd come fully prepared for a siege.
"I'll follow you to the gym, wait outside the sauna, and work out any cramps. Got it?"
She said it like a declaration of war, her face still flushed red. Geum Hyuk huffed a laugh.
"What is this. You're a full-on manager."
"I can do better than a manager, you know."
Hotel gym.
Geum Hyuk was jumping rope again — the final workout to shed the last 1.2 kg. True to her word, Ha Ije sat on a bench at the side of the gym. She had a book open, but her eyes kept drifting to him. Every time he staggered, her hand froze on the page.
Tap-tap. Mid-jump, Geum Hyuk's body hitched. A cramp seized his right calf without warning.
"Nngh......!"
He stumbled, dropped the rope, and went down on one knee. A muscle cramp in a dehydrated state was nothing like an ordinary spasm. Pain came in a rush, like a blade splitting the calf, and the muscle locked into a block of stone.
"Hyuk!!"
Ha Ije flung the book aside and ran. Massage oil and a pressure stick were already in her hands — she'd taken them out of the bag and set them beside her in advance.
"Straighten your leg. I'll work it out."
"......You know how?"
"I learned on YouTube. Athletic muscle massage."
Ha Ije took his leg and began to straighten it slowly. Her fingers found the knotted spot with precision.
"Ghh......"
"Just hang on a little."
Her hands pressed into the calf muscle, locating the exact point and bearing down. She drove her thumbs into the locked fibers and worked them loose. The cramp gradually released.
Geum Hyuk let out a ragged breath and lay back on the floor. The ceiling spun.
"......You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Ha Ije looked down at his face. Sweat-soaked gold hair was plastered to his forehead. She took out a handkerchief and wiped it carefully.
"......Let's go back to the room. I'll do this properly."
Hotel room.
Geum Hyuk pulled off his shirt and lay face-down on the bed. Ha Ije poured massage oil into her palm and rubbed her hands together to warm it. The slick spread of oil between her palms made her heart hammer.
Her hands touched his back.
"......!"
Ha Ije's heart slammed against her ribs. A broad back. Beneath the tanned skin, the grain of the muscle was vivid under her palms — the dense yet supple muscle unique to a boxer. On either side of the spine, the erectors rose in hard ridges.
Calm down, Ha Ije. This is just a massage. A massage.
Her hands moved along his back. Traps, lats, the columns of muscle along the spine. In the order she'd learned from YouTube, she worked through them — starting at the shoulders, down the center of the back, slowly toward the waist.
Geum Hyuk let out a low sound.
"......That feels good."
"You're knotted here. It might hurt a little."
"It's fine. You can go harder."
Ha Ije put more force into her hands. She pressed her thumbs into the locked muscle, and Geum Hyuk's back twitched, faintly. There was a particularly hard knot low on the lats. She focused there and worked it out, then followed the line of his waist — along the ribs, the flanks, the small of his back.
Her hands kept traveling lower.
Ha Ije's face went red. The flush spread all the way to her ears. God, why is my heart racing like this.
His body was too close. Heat transferred through her palms. A scent of sweat mixed with oil brushed her nose. She thought she could feel a heartbeat under the skin.
She moved up to the shoulders, working the space between the deltoid and the trap.
Then Geum Hyuk suddenly rolled over.
"Wh—?!"
Her wrist was caught. Geum Hyuk lay on his back, looking up at her.
A low voice. Close. Close enough to hear him breathe. The slow rise and fall of his chest was right in front of her.
Ha Ije's heart went wild. His eyes were locked on hers. The face was gaunt from the cut, but the gaze was fierce. Not the predator's stare he turned on opponents in the ring. In this moment, they were simply the eyes of a man looking at one person.
"......Yeah."
She barely managed the word. Her voice wouldn't come.
Geum Hyuk slowly sat up. The distance closed further — close enough that the tips of their noses might touch. Ha Ije's eyes went wide. Her breath stopped. Her heart felt like it would burst.
Is he about to......?
Geum Hyuk's hand found her cheek. A warm palm cupped her face. It was a rough hand, but the touch was endlessly gentle. Ha Ije's face burned red.
And then.
BANG!!
The door flew open.
"Hyuk! How's your conditio—"
Hwang Jinsu stepped in and froze.
On the bed: shirtless Geum Hyuk and a scarlet-faced Ha Ije, sitting face to face, inches apart. Geum Hyuk's hand still on her cheek.
"......"
"......"
"......"
A beat of silence. Hwang Jinsu cleared his throat.
"......Ah. I should've knocked."
"N-no! This is just a massage......!"
Ha Ije scrambled off the bed. Her hands flailed and knocked the oil bottle over. It rolled across the floor with a clatter. Geum Hyuk leisurely picked up a T-shirt.
"......What's up, hyung?"
"Oh, just checking on your condition. How much weight left?"
"A little over a kilo."
"Not bad. Should be plenty by weigh-in."
Hwang Jinsu smiled with a knowing look and glanced at Ha Ije.
"Getting some good care, I see?"
"Hyung!"
Geum Hyuk threw the T-shirt. Hwang Jinsu laughed and dodged.
"Alright, alright. I'm going. Get some rest."
The door closed. Ha Ije covered her face with both hands.
"......I could die of embarrassment."
Geum Hyuk huffed a laugh.
"Of what. You were giving me a massage."
"Th-that's......"
Ha Ije peeked at him through her fingers.
"......Want to keep going?"
Geum Hyuk's eyes widened, just a fraction. Her face went even redder.
"The m-massage! I mean the massage!"