Serious About Working Out

I tried my best to focus on my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠workout.

It was none of my business. Senior and junior colleagues could teach each other how to exercise if they wanted. There was no real reason for me to stick my nose in.

No need for pointless meddling.

I nudged the treadmill speed a little higher. Thud, thud. My feet struck the belt in a steady rhythm as I locked my gaze straight ahead.

And yet—

"...No."

Barely a few seconds later, my head turned again. This time for a different reason. My brow furrowed before I even realized it.

He's teaching her like that?

Oh Gitae was standing behind Choi Yuri, adjusting her form.

"You need to bend your waist a little more here."

"L-like this?"

"That's it. Just a bit more."

Choi Yuri bent forward as instructed.

"...What?"

No. Absolutely not.

That's completely wrong.

A hollow laugh escaped me. After everything I'd put myself through with training, I might not have been a certified trainer, but the basics of proper form had long since become second nature. And that—anyone could see—was wrong.

Bend your waist more?

Keep that up and her lower back would be wrecked. The spine needed to stay neutral. Rounding her back like that would dump the entire load onto her lumbar region.

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

"Good, good. Can we go a little lower?"

"Hngh… Manager, this is hard—"

"Ahh, that's nice."

No matter how you looked at it, the man was far more interested in ogling Choi Yuri's body than teaching her anything about exercise.

This won't do.

I'd been trying to stay out of it. But if she kept following that form, she could genuinely get hurt.

Working out isn't a game.

One bad position and your back, your knees—everything falls apart in no time.

In the end, I stepped off the treadmill. I walked over to the two of them at an unhurried pace and spoke.

"That's not how you do it."

"...Excuse me?"

Oh Gitae turned to look at me with a blank expression.

"I said that's not how you exercise."

Choi Yuri had never been the athletic type.

She'd signed up for a gym three separate times. All three times, she'd registered with every intention of going—and then never showed, burning the membership fees for nothing. After work, she preferred collapsing at home. Anything that involved sweating was something she avoided whenever possible.

The reason she found herself back in a gym now came down to one thing: the strange new trend sweeping through KJ Group.

A fitness craze had taken hold of the company. It had started with the president himself, Kang Taeseong. Word was he came down to the company gym every morning and evening. Word was he ate nothing but salads and chicken breast. Perhaps it was because the very man who had transformed the company's entire atmosphere was so devoted to his training—but after the rumors spread, the number of employees throwing themselves into exercise began to climb in a way no one could quite explain.

"Anyone hitting the gym today?"

"Ugh, how am I supposed to manage a diet on top of work?"

"I hit sixty kilos on the bench yesterday."

Workout talk at lunch. Workout talk after hours. One by one, people around the office started showing up at the gym. Working hard. Training hard. Under Kang Taeseong's influence, more and more employees were living what people called a god-tier lifestyle.

With everyone around her making such a fuss, Choi Yuri eventually found herself looking in the mirror.

"...Have I gained weight?"

Her waistline seemed a little softer. Her stomach looked just a touch fuller than before. It might have been her imagination—but for a woman, those things mattered.

"I should take better care of myself."

With that resolve, she signed up for the company gym.

After work, Choi Yuri changed into her workout clothes and stepped inside. There were more people than she'd expected. Employees jogging on treadmills. Employees lifting dumbbells. Employees stretching on yoga mats.

Where do I even start...?

She was a complete beginner. Should she start on a treadmill? Try the machines? She didn't even know how the equipment worked—what if she hurt herself messing with something alone?

She was still glancing around, stuck in indecision, when someone spotted her and called out.

"Oh?"

"Is that you, Choi Yuri?"

She turned and found a familiar face. Assistant Manager ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oh Gitae—from a different department, but a name everyone knew, and not for good reasons. Despite being forty-two, he was notoriously aggressive toward younger female employees. Among the women in the company, he was firmly on the avoid list.

Ah....

Choi Yuri's expression stiffened for the briefest moment.

"Here to work out?"

"Ah... yes."

"First time?"

"Yes."

Oh Gitae beamed.

"Perfect. I'll show you the ropes."

"...I'm fine, really!"

Choi Yuri waved her hands in a hurry.

"I was just going to start slow on the treadmill."

"Come on."

Oh Gitae laughed and waved her off.

"You can't work out alone when you're just starting. I'll walk you through everything—just follow me."

"...."

Choi Yuri hesitated. Honestly, she wanted to be left alone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She wanted to put in her earphones somewhere no one would bother her and quietly get through a workout. But the man in front of her was an assistant manager. She was still a new hire. Different department or not, he was a superior she'd keep running into at the company.

Making things awkward over this would be worse...

"Okay...."

In the end, she couldn't refuse.

...

And less than three minutes later—

Damn it....

Choi Yuri was already regretting everything.

I got stuck with the wrong guy.

Oh Gitae claimed he was teaching her, but he never stopped talking.

"Yuri, you're popular, right? Even outside of work?"

"...No."

"Come on. Looking like that, the guys can't have left you alone."

Choi Yuri forced a smile.

"Haha...."

Almost none of it was about exercise. It was all personal—her looks, boyfriends, stories about his own life. Things she had zero interest in.

And that wasn't all.

"Bend your waist a little more."

"Okay."

"No—more."

Heavy breathing came from right behind her.

"Just a little more."

"Manager, could you step back a bit—"

"Nice, great form!"

Choi Yuri felt deeply uncomfortable. He was far too close. Under the pretense of explaining, his face nearly brushed hers, and his hands kept moving.

"You need to engage here."

A light touch. His fingertips drifted toward her waist.

Choi Yuri flinched and took a full step back.

"Ah... I'll try it on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my own."

"Come on."

Oh Gitae grinned slickly.

"You'll improve faster if I fix your form for you."

"..."

I should've just insisted on going alone.

The moment Choi Yuri bit her lip—

"That's not how you do it."

A low, heavy voice cut cleanly between them. She spun around in surprise.

"...President?"

It was Kang Taeseong. In his workout clothes, a towel draped around his neck, he was looking straight at them.

So he was here...

She'd known he was in the gym—she'd heard the front desk staff greeting him earlier. But she hadn't expected him to step in himself.

"If you round your back like that, you'll wreck your lower spine."

Kang Taeseong spoke evenly.

"Keep your back straight and push your hips back."

Oh Gitae's face hardened. Correcting someone's form while they were in the middle of teaching it? Anyone could see it as a direct slight.

"P-President."

Oh Gitae looked flustered for a second, then forced a smile.

"Exercise techniques vary a little from person to person. What I'm teaching her isn't wrong."

"Is that so?"

Assistant Manager Oh Gitae didn't back down. Assistant manager versus president—despite the gap in rank, his attitude said he refused to lose on this particular turf. Or maybe he simply didn't want to lose face in front of Choi Yuri.

Either way, it was a bad call. The old Kang Taeseong might have let it slide. The current one would not.

Kang Taeseong took a step closer.

"...."

His frame was already massive, and the dense muscle packed onto it from constant training only made him more imposing.

"Assistant Manager Oh Gitae."

"Yes?"

"At the company—and at the gym."

Just that single step forward carried a strange, crushing pressure.

"It's best not to pretend you know more than you do."

Kang Taeseong's cold gaze settled on Oh Gitae.

"...!"

Oh Gitae's back went rigid. His heart plummeted. Kang Taeseong said nothing more after that, and the silence only made the pressure worse—as if a massive predator were standing right in front of him.

"...I-I'm sorry."

Cold sweat poured down his back.

"P-please enjoy your workout! I'll just—"

Oh Gitae couldn't hold out any longer. His legs gave way, and he scrambled out of there in a thoroughly undignified retreat.

"...."

Choi Yuri stared blankly after him.

Incredible...

President or not, Oh Gitae had to be five or six years older than Kang Taeseong. And yet a few quiet words had crushed the man flat. A scene from a nature documentary she'd watched recently overlapped with what she'd just witnessed—a dominant male driving a rival out of his territory. And the female left behind afterward, claimed by default.

"...."

The gym air conditioning was running, but the air suddenly felt warm. Her chest fluttered with a strange, restless beat.

Kang Taeseong looked at Choi Yuri.

"You looked uncomfortable."

"...Pardon?"

"That's why I stepped in. If I misread the situation, I apologize."

His tone was stiff and matter-of-fact. There wasn't a hint of self-congratulation in it.

"Ah—no. You read it perfectly. I was extremely uncomfortable… Thank you so much, President!"

"Then I'm glad."

Suddenly, something Park Soyeong had said at lunch the other day came back to her.

—He's not such a bad person, actually.

...Maybe she was right.

But it didn't end there. Kang Taeseong didn't leave. He seemed to consider something for a moment, then looked at Choi Yuri and continued.

"Have a seat."

"Pardon?"

"I'll check your form."

Choi Yuri sat down on the machine in a daze. And she understood almost immediately.

...This is different.

Completely different from Oh Gitae. He only pointed out what actually needed correcting. There wasn't a trace of anything improper in his gaze. His entire manner was strictly professional, and he allowed only the bare minimum of physical contact.

Instead, he tormented her in an entirely different way.

"One more set."

"...What? You just said that was the last one…."

"Three more."

"B-but...."

"You can do it. No excuses."

"...!"

Uuuugh....!

By the time they finished, Choi Yuri's face was on the verge of tears. Her arms were trembling. Her thighs felt like they were on fire. Did people who worked out regularly go through this kind of pain every single time? And they still claimed it was fun and kept coming back?

Choi Yuri trembled like a prophet who had just glimpsed some terrible, incomprehensible truth.

"That's enough for today."

"Thank you for your hard work…!"

"Go home and rest well. Don't forget to stretch out your muscles."

Kang Taeseong wiped the sweat from his face with his towel and walked off to resume his own workout. That was it. He had genuinely just taught her how to exercise and left.

"...."

Choi Yuri stared blankly at his retreating back.

What was that?

She'd thought he'd only come over to peel Oh Gitae off her. Instead, he'd given her a full personal training session—and one intense enough to nearly kill her.

Did he just not like the way I was being taught?

Had he been unable to stand watching bad form and simply had to intervene? It was hard to say. Her whole body had been put through the wringer, which only made the whole thing feel more surreal. She was exhausted enough to die, and yet somehow her mood wasn't bad at all.

...Is he a good person?

On the way home, Choi Yuri turned that question over in her mind for a long, long time.