Preparations
From the moment the doors opened, Myeonghun had been hauling things around with sweat pouring off him.
Men's and women's workout clothes, towels, health drinks—once, he could have finished all of it alone without much trouble. Lately, that was no longer the case.
Ugh, seriously... I keep telling them to hire somebody already, and they don't even notice their one and only son is working himself to death.
New memberships had nearly doubled, which meant the demand for consumables and anything that needed regular replacing had doubled right along with them. And what other staff did a cozy little family-run gym have? Myeonghun was plugging every gap with his own body.
This is all because of that one...
His gaze drifted toward one side of the floor. A full-length mirror stood up front, with mats laid over the ground—a corner set aside for bodyweight work and yoga. There, a woman with long, straight hair let down was moving through pose after pose.
A restless murmur rose around her. Men pretended not to look and stole glances anyway, and every last one of them was a new member, signed up only recently.
"Haa..."
She settled into cobra pose, and the men loitering in front of her went wide-eyed. A moment later they shuffled backward in awkward little retreats, the fronts of their shorts bulging so obviously that nobody could have missed it. Then the pose changed. This time her chest dropped toward the mat and her hips lifted—cat pose—and the men behind her fell apart. One of them went whoa, whoa, backpedaled, and toppled over. It was a comedy routine that needed no script.
She really has gotten pretty. No denying that.
Back in school she'd had a boy's temperament and stuck stubbornly to a short cut, so it simply hadn't shown. Come to think of it, that Yunjin really was something else. Even then, he'd seen what Hani was worth and confessed.
Well. Seems like he's given up now.
Myeonghun finished sorting the stock and emptied the trash. His body was thoroughly worn out, but he endured it on the thought that all of this was money. In the meantime Hani wrapped up the day's workout and vanished into the showers, and the men who had been watching dropped their heads in open regret.
Nothing today, huh?
"Hoo!"
As if there wouldn't be.
Shoving that thought of Myeonghun's aside, one man planted himself near the shower entrance with a look of grim resolve. A little later Hani emerged, fingers combing through hair that was still faintly damp, and walked straight into the man who had been waiting.
"E-excuse me. If you have a moment, could I buy you a coffee at a café?"
Every eye in the room snapped to them at once. Even Changman-hyung—who insisted that four or five hours a day was the bare minimum and held a perfect attendance record at the gym, three hundred and sixty-five days a year—was watching like an auntie glued to a morning drama.
"Uh... y-you're talking to me?"
Hani glanced around as if this sort of thing had never happened to her and she had no idea what to do with it. To Myeonghun, who knew exactly what was going on beneath the act, it was revolting. The rest of the room saw something else entirely. That innocent, pure-hearted air turned more than a few men's eyes into hearts.
"I-I'm sorry! My dad told me to come home early!"
She blurted an excuse that wouldn't have fooled a child and bolted for the entrance. It was barely four in the afternoon—how strict could her household possibly be? Myeonghun, who saw straight through the lie, could only snort. Even so, the people bewitched by her looks nodded along as happily as if they were drunk. Their judgment had left the building entirely.
"Th-then I'll see you next time. I'll be the one to say hi."
She didn't forget the empty sweet talk. Then, heading for the counter by the door, she flashed him a little smile—and in that smile Myeonghun could read the message clear as day. Caught the member who was about to make today his last. Meeting her eyes, he had no choice but to smile back.
She'd started this broadcasting thing, and she'd gotten downright sly.
Just another ordinary day in the life of gym trainer Myeonghun.
"Ugh, I'm sore. Got a real workout in."
With the inter-floor noise complaints, streaming from home had started to feel awkward, so I'd come outside to work out and switch on a mobile broadcast while I was at it. That Myeonghun—at first he'd coached me one-on-one, and lately, just because membership had picked up a little, he was putting on this busy act. Infuriating. I'd made a proper face at him on the way out, so maybe next time he'd actually pay attention.
I passed the bus stop and met a crisp breeze. It had been about a month since I started working out, and walking the distance of a single stop back home had already become familiar.
"How's this spot? The flowers are blooming so bright."
"Thank you for worrying about me. I'll be careful."
The viewer was right. The world had gotten harsh enough that I really did need to watch myself on that front. Anyway, I wrapped up the outdoor broadcast on the walk home and went inside.
These days, from the building entrance all the way to my door, I could feel my heart pounding. I tensed at the thought of running into a neighbor with a grievance about the noise. Every time it happened, I wanted to move—somewhere I could stream to my heart's content without walking on eggshells. And for that, as I'd said more than once, I had to win the Ladies Cup I was entering this time. The MVP prize money was not something I could afford to miss, either.
"It can't be helped. Streaming matters to me, but the people around me have just as much right to live their own lives. I'm already grateful they put up with it for as long as they did."
Lately, anything I streamed from home was either a talk show in a small voice or a game broadcast short enough to finish quickly. Now and then viewers wanted a song or a dance as a reaction, and I had to bring up the noise problem, promise I'd move as soon as I could, and ask them to bear with me. Outdoor broadcasts, squeezed in wherever I could to make up the missing hours... and while I was spending my time that way, the Sunday I'd been waiting for arrived.
The group draw was being held at the Pangyo studio, where Shindaeryuk TV ran its major events. It started at two in the afternoon, so the team had agreed to meet around noon and eat lunch together first.
"Thank you for the ride. Have a good day!"
"Aigoo, thank you. You enjoy your date too, miss."
I'd already told him it wasn't a date, and still I had to see off a taxi driver who hadn't managed to abandon the fantasy until the very end. Ever since my face had been finished, the stares and the attention had made buses and subways miserable, so most of my travel these days was by taxi. It cost far more, but there was nothing to be done about it.
I checked my phone. Just past 11:45. I headed for Exit 1 of Pangyo Station, where we'd agreed to meet, and the murmuring around me reached my ears as I walked. Sure enough, the eyes of the people passing by were turned my way—men staring outright, women scanning me from the soles of my shoes to the top of my head with open envy, and others blinking as if they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing.
I was in a short-sleeved tee and shorts that looked made for moving around, with a clean pair of sneakers. Makeup was skincare and nothing more. I hadn't even been to the salon today, and still this. The power a striking face held in modern life—the influence of it. Feeling that all over again, I arrived at the meeting spot, and Mia, who had gotten there first, came bouncing over in a cute little hop.
"Unniiii!"
Wham!
"Guh!"
Another excellent body check. Mia, at this rate you're going to end up a rugby player. I smoothed a gentle hand over the head she was happily nuzzling into my chest. Cute little thing.
And then, out of nowhere, someone slipped an arm through mine.
"...Ah!"
It was Yerin, both cheeks puffed full of air. One glance was enough to tell she was not pleased with the current situation. A moment later her eyes met Mia's.
"......"
"......"
The tension pulled taut. Surely not in real life, the same as on Discord? Fortunately, the carrot-and-stick I'd used a few days ago seemed to be doing its work. The two of them quietly put away those sharp looks and exchanged a light handshake.
"I'll carry, so just follow my lead."
"Oh my! I believe that's my line."
"......"
This is fine... right?
Mia and Yerin were taking turns stealing me out of my own arms when someone approaching from the station called out.
"Whoa! You all got here fast. Me, I last a really long time—I mean, until the other person taps out first."
"Oh—hello."
It was 19Sonyeo and Dogu-neun-sirheoyo. Even meeting them for the first time, I could tell who was who at a glance. 19Sonyeo had a snapback and slightly wide-leg pants, a bit of a hip-hop feel to her—that sort of vibe, anyway. Dogu-neun-sirheoyo wore oversized round glasses and a hoodie, with a short bob that called to mind a Choco Songi, those little mushroom-shaped snacks.
Then again, was "girl" really the word for a twenty-five-year-old? Still, she was astonishingly baby-faced, and as small as Mia, so the word didn't sit awkwardly at all.
"Whoa! I saw the cam broadcasts, but I never imagined the real thing would be like this. At this rate I might wake up to a whole world I didn't know I had in me."
"H-huh?"
19Sonyeo came toward me with a deliberately wicked smile, and Mia and Yerin flared up at once, planting themselves between us on guard.
"Kidding, kidding. Cute little ladies. It was a joke, so don't look at me like that. You'll hurt my feelings."
The "little" didn't seem to sit well with Mia, who whipped her head aside again. She and Yerin were nearly a matched pair in height, though Yerin was the tiniest bit taller—and Yerin was the youngest, still a minor. She still had that get-out-of-jail card called open growth plates. Which left Mia as the only target, and she shot a sidelong glare.
"Hahaha, cute. Come on, this way."
At nearly five foot seven, 19Sonyeo took the lead like a captain and guided the group to a restaurant.
"This place okay? First time for me too, but the reviews were good."
The shop she'd picked was a pasta place with the kind of interior young people liked. Eating too heavily at lunch could get in the way of the group draw later, so it struck me as a sensible choice. A little while after that, the dishes we'd each ordered came out, and we talked lightly over the meal.
"I figure if we just avoid Revia's team and Myomyo's, finals are basically locked at minimum."
Our team had registered almost right at the deadline, but applications had actually been open for a month. Most of the teams were already complete, and the last remaining slot had been decided by an internal review. We were the ones selected.
"Are both of them Grandmaster right now?"
"No. Revia's Grandmaster, and Myomyo's Master. They both main support anyway, so I'm not that worried—but safer is better, right?"
They say even a lion goes all out to catch a single rabbit. Letting our guard down was out of the question, and if we had options, drawing a weak team was best. With that in mind, we talked through the various possibilities.
Lunch ended there. Afterward we rested a little in a nearby park, and around 1:20 we headed for Shindaeryuk TV's Pangyo studio. At the entrance they checked our IDs and exchanged them for passes.
"Please head up to the third floor."
"......"
The challenge for the championship had begun.