The Right Kind of Uncomfortable
"I have one question for you first, Pro Jeong. After you became an adult, did your body still go through any changes?"
"……!"
Jaehak startled as if I'd driven a nail straight into the truth.
When an athlete's physical balance falls apart, it's usually because the body itself has changed. Given his age and circumstances, it was far more likely a matter of natural growth than some accident. A growth spurt, for instance...
And my guess landed dead on the mark.
"That's right. The truth is, I grew another four centimeters after I turned twenty."
Four centimeters? That's more than enough to cause problems.
Height is a critical part of how the body moves. If someone who stood a hundred and sixty centimeters suddenly shot up to a hundred and seventy, just adapting to that new frame would take a considerable amount of time.
"That's probably what threw your entire physical balance off."
His expression darkened again.
"...Then I suppose there's no real solution, is there."
"No. That's not the case. But this isn't a problem that swapping out clubs alone is going to fix."
"Not a problem that swapping clubs will fix?"
I pointed at the golf shoes he was wearing.
"We need to start by fitting those shoes to your body all over again."
"What? I mean, I switch to a different pair every month. Unlike the clubs, the golf shoes don't feel uncomfortable at all."
Jaehak might have been near the bottom of the rankings, but he was still a professional golfer. He knew perfectly well how important golf shoes were. That was why he hunted down a pair that fit his feet once a month and wore them — and up until now, he hadn't felt anything particularly wrong with them.
"That's the problem. Right now, a pair that's a little uncomfortable would actually suit your body better."
"I'm sorry...? Uncomfortable golf shoes would suit me better?"
"Yes. It's hard to explain in words, though... Would you mind leaving those golf shoes with me for a bit?"
"The ones I'm wearing right now?"
I nodded.
"That's right. I could make a pair from scratch, but that would take considerably longer."
On top of that, the All-Purpose Workshop wasn't stocked with the kind of equipment you'd need to build shoes from the ground up. Modifying an existing pair, though — that much isn't hard.
Jaehak hesitated for a moment, then said he understood and handed me the golf shoes. We agreed to meet again at the golf course in two days, and parted ways for the time being.
The next day, the moment I arrived at the All-Purpose Workshop, I set yesterday's golf shoes up on the workbench.
The shoes themselves are good.
They looked expensive. The materials were high quality, and you could tell a lot of care had gone into the fit and every other detail. But that comfort is the problem.
They were so comfortable that his lower body had been engaging less force without him even realizing it. And from there, his balance had naturally fallen apart. This wasn't the shoe company's fault, honestly. It was Jaehak's own lower-body balance that had collapsed as he'd grown taller.
The way he uses his lower-body power has changed, so I need to make them just uncomfortable enough to force that tension back into his legs...
Too much comfort had become poison for him. That said, too much discomfort would be an even worse poison — like burning the whole house down to catch a single bedbug.
"I'll just tweak them enough to put some tension back in."
Two things to work on: the insoles, and the spikes. First, I pulled the insoles out of the golf shoes.
Just as I thought...
They were made of a plush, comfortable material, exactly as I'd expected. I was considering what to make the new insoles from when a material I'd used back on Mount Olympus came to mind. I should be able to buy some around here.
I grabbed my wallet, headed to the largest materials shop in the industrial complex, and bought what I had in mind.
"What are you planning to use this for? Not many people come looking for it these days."
"I'm going to make some shoe insoles."
"Insoles? Out of this? Aigoo, those are going to be pretty uncomfortable."
I smiled.
"Yes. That's the point."
"What?"
The shop owner gave me a look of complete incomprehension.
What I'd bought was densely compressed cork — the same stuff they use to stopper wine bottles. It wasn't a material commonly used for insoles, but for Pro Jeong in his current state, nothing else would do.
I began slowly cutting the cork to match the foot shape I'd recorded. Being uncomfortable and being a poor fit are two different things. My goal was an insole that fit his body perfectly — and was just uncomfortable enough.
"Hoo... a little more this way..."
I lost track of how much time had passed. When I checked the clock, it was already past two in the afternoon. I was getting a little hungry, but looking at the finished insoles, I was satisfied. I considered stopping for a meal, but the fire was already lit. I couldn't break the flow.
I went straight into replacing the spikes on the golf shoes. In the end, I have to make it so he can put more power through his lower body. The spikes needed to be swapped out for a better alloy, shaped to match his feet.
Come to think of it, I still have some of that left over from last time.
I still had a bit of KANG left over — the alloy I'd used not long ago to make the supports for the vacuum chamber. The boss had said I could take it, so I'd set some aside, but I hadn't expected to use it this soon. Yeah. Nothing else comes close. I'd put an enormous amount of care into the alloy ratio, durability included.
"Alright then. Let's see."
I fired up the small electric furnace and began melting down the KANG I'd made back then. Hoo... it's hot. It was the dead of winter, but working like this, my whole body heated up.
I accounted for everything — the shape of his feet, his height, even the quirks of his swing. Then I forged new spikes one by one and drove them into the golf shoes.
Bang! Bang!
How many more hours passed? By the time I finished the last spike, the sun was already going down.
"Ugh... what, it's already five?"
The sun set early in winter, sure, but I'd still spent a huge stretch of the day working without even a bathroom break. Even so, looking at the finished golf shoes, a wave of satisfaction washed over me.
My stomach growled. No amount of satisfaction was going to fill an empty stomach. In that case...
I pulled out my phone and ordered a whole fried chicken through a delivery app. Destination: home. Then I immediately called my mother.
"Mom, don't make dinner. No — I ordered a fried chicken. I'll be home soon. Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry. I'll drive carefully. Okay, see you in a bit."
I packed the finished shoes into a box, set it carefully on the passenger seat of the truck, and turned the key toward home — where a fried chicken was waiting.
I hope this is going to be okay...
The truth was, Jaehak had met Cheol-woo on impulse the day before and commissioned the golf shoe work on his advice. But as time passed, he started wondering what on earth he was even doing. He looked pretty young, too...
He didn't look all that much older than Jaehak himself. Appearance wasn't everything, of course, but it certainly didn't match the image of a master craftsman that you saw in the media.
"I did make a promise, though..."
He'd shown up at the golf course because a promise was a promise. But if there was nothing special about the shoes today, he had no intention of commissioning the golf clubs.
He was waiting at the entrance when a clean Porter truck rolled into the golf course. A moment later, Cheol-woo climbed out with a box in one hand.
"Sorry I'm a little late. I'm still not great at driving."
"It's fine. I haven't been here long myself."
Cheol-woo handed him the box.
"Go ahead and try them on."
With a composed expression, Jaehak pulled the golf shoes from the box and put them on. These are pretty uncomfortable...
Just as Cheol-woo had said, they felt quite uncomfortable. He genuinely wondered whether this would actually help his balance the way Cheol-woo claimed. But contrary to Jaehak's worries, Cheol-woo looked completely confident.
"Let's head out onto the course and hit a few balls."
"...Alright."
Honestly, he wasn't expecting much. But Cheol-woo had put in the effort, so he at least owed him a test. As expected for a weekday in winter, the golf course was fairly quiet.
Jaehak set a ball down and quietly took his stance. What is this...? Something felt different from usual as he settled into position. He tried to ignore the sensation, took his wood in hand, and swung.
Crack!
"Huh...?"
The moment the clubface met the ball, a startled sound escaped Jaehak's mouth. What is this... why did it go so far...?
They were definitely uncomfortable. They still were. And yet that discomfort felt like it was locking his stance back into place. The direction still wasn't going where he wanted, but the distance — that had clearly increased far beyond his usual.
Cheol-woo, watching from the side, asked with a confident look.
"How was that?"
"W-wait a second. Let me hit one more first."
It could have been a fluke. Even now, one out of every ten shots would sometimes carry well. He needed to confirm it wasn't just luck. With a dazed look, Jaehak walked to where the ball had landed, carefully took his stance, and hit it again.
Crack!
This time the sound was bigger, and the ball flew farther still. To put it more precisely — it flew cleaner. Jaehak grabbed Cheol-woo by the shoulder, his face a picture of incomprehension.
"What on earth did you do!? They're clearly uncomfortable — how can the distance have increased this much?"
"I told you. That comfort is what threw your lower-body balance off. Right now, that level of discomfort is forcing your stance to match the height you've grown into. It should be just right."
"Th-that's..."
It was hard to believe. But the results unfolding right in front of his eyes left him no choice.
Cheol-woo paused the recording and spoke.
"Looks like the lower-body balance has come back. The upper body, though — that's going to need a new set of clubs. Hmm... and in the case of clubs, between the materials and the time it takes to make them, the cost is going to be considerable. Will that be alright?"
A professional golfer typically uses fourteen clubs. Making all of them — the time, the materials — a jump in cost was inevitable. But Jaehak, who drove an imported car worth well over a hundred thousand dollars, didn't hesitate for even a second.
His eyes were already full of trust. He'd experienced it once. And that single instance of trust had been enough to change the way he addressed Cheol-woo — to Master — in an instant.
"I'll need about half up front for materials. Are you sure that's alright?"
Jaehak pulled out his phone and opened his banking app.
"Yes! Of course! I'll send it right now! Master!"
Looks like I'm going to make a pretty decent amount this time.
Cheol-woo quoted him a figure that was a little on the high side, but Jaehak transferred the amount to his account without a moment's hesitation. Cheol-woo checked the deposit, smiled, and said,
"Confirmed. Then let's meet here again in two weeks."