That’s Not How You Exercise (1)

 

A large fitness center located in Gangnam, Seoul. In a corner of the office meant for the staff.

“Nice to meet you, ‘Fallen’ members! This is Choi Kang-hyuk of ‘Strongest Muscle TV’! Today’s content is a mukbang!”

A muscular man, Choi Kang-hyuk, was speaking lively in front of the camera.

“Yes! Thanks to the enthusiastic support and comments from the ‘Fallen’ members, I’m doing a mukbang again. And today, it’s the menu with the most comments! Chicken with cheese balls. And what can’t be missed with chicken? Beer!”

After finishing his intro, Choi Kang-hyuk tilted the camera to focus on the chicken, cheese balls, and beer he brought, then began savoring the food one by one.

‘Damn it. Muscle loss for me.’

‘Ah, damn. It’s dirty delicious.’

He experienced two conflicting emotions simultaneously.

As one could easily guess, the muscular man lived the life of a fitness fanatic.

However, he wasn’t born a fitness fanatic.

The reason he became one was that, without maintaining his muscles, even walking would be challenging because his body had deteriorated.

After his body was wrecked while serving in a special forces unit during his younger years, he started receiving manual therapy and physical therapy for rehabilitation.

After that, he gradually mastered exercises beneficial to his body, like yoga, fitness, and Pilates. He even studied nutrition to plan his own diet. Eventually becoming a famous fitness trainer.

And with the tenacious mindset he developed from serving seven years in the special forces, he managed a workload close to workaholism for several years, ultimately becoming the owner of Strongest Fitness Center with five branches in Seoul.

So why was such a successful fitness center owner worrying about muscle loss while doing a mukbang?

‘Freaking COVID-19!!!!’

It was because of the disaster that struck in 2020.

He started YouTube to cover the maintenance costs of the gym, which had to cease operations due to COVID-19.

Initially, he focused on the home gym trend that emerged due to COVID-19, uploading videos on various exercises or stretches that could be done at home without any equipment. Occasionally, he also shared stories from his time in the special forces.

Then one day, unable to contain his stress, he turned on the stream to relieve his frustration while eating food and drinking alcohol.

After that, the mukbang content titled “Fallen Gym Bro” became a huge hit, leading him to occasionally do mukbang streams like this.

Of course, even with that, the YouTube revenue was nowhere near enough to cover the operating costs of five gyms, but it had certainly helped him endure the COVID-19 period.

And now, in 2021.

Even though vaccination had begun and social distancing measures had eased, he was still uploading mukbang videos on YouTube.

Even if social distancing had eased, it didn’t change the fact that the number of members had sharply declined compared to before COVID.

“Well then, Fallen Squad! I’ll see you again with a new video tomorrow! Please like and subscribe!”

After finishing the chicken, cheese balls, and beer, Choi Kang-hyuk greeted the camera, let out a deep sigh, and turned off the camera.

“Phew. I’m worried about tomorrow.”

He had eaten cheese balls and chicken, which could be considered lumps of grease. He wanted to burn them off with exercise right away, but he had already consumed two cans of beer.

As a competent health trainer, he knew very well how bad it was to overdo exercise after drinking alcohol.

“Well, I should just go in and rest today. The doctor told me to take it easy.”

In fact, mukbang wasn’t the only thing that COVID had given him. Choi Kang-hyuk recalled the words he had heard during a consultation with the doctor a few days ago.

* * *

“Stress-induced hair loss.”

The words from the doctor’s mouth were like a bolt from the blue.

“Pardon? Stress? But I seem perfectly fine.”

With consistent exercise and a well-managed diet, he had no health issues. So, stress-induced hair loss? What was that supposed to mean?

However, to Choi Kang-hyuk’s question, the doctor sighed lightly before speaking.

“You appear healthy, but your body is on the verge of breaking down from stress. The symptoms have manifested as hair loss.”

“So, what should I do? Is there any medication or something I can take?”

“I’ll prescribe some medication, but the most important thing is to reduce your stress. Be honest, how many hours do you usually work per week?”

“Around 90 hours…”

“There you go! With such a heavy workload, no matter how healthy your body is, you’re deteriorating inside!”

At the doctor’s outburst, Choi Kang-hyuk was left speechless. The truth was, he had understated the hours.

“From now on, you need to reduce your working hours. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise?”

“Your hair will all fall out.”

“!!!”

The doctor continued to list off warnings about internal damage and bodily harm caused by stress, but Choi Kang-hyuk didn’t hear any of it.

He had been obsessed with work and exercise for ten years. Now, at thirty-seven, he had successfully grown his company and recently set a new goal: dating and marriage.

‘If I go bald, I’ll be single forever!’

He instinctively realized he was in a very dangerous state.

* * *

Recalling the horrific memory from a few days ago, Choi Kang-hyuk went straight home.

However, even after arriving home, he still had one lingering concern.

Having been obsessed with work and exercise for ten years, he wondered, “But what should I do to relax?”

He had no hobbies.

“Hmm.”

After pondering what hobby he might enjoy, he decided on a pastime from his school days.

“I wonder if the new ones are any fun.”

He searched for martial arts novels on his phone and ended up on a web novel platform.

Reading martial arts novels had been his main hobby during his school days.

Growing up without parents in a poor environment under the care of his grandparents, the joy of renting a martial arts novel for 700 won at the neighborhood bookstore was quite precious to him.

Like people who waste time scrolling through Netflix unsure of what to watch, he browsed through the titles and descriptions in the martial arts section on the platform, repeatedly hitting the ‘back’ button.

After wasting time like this, he thought, “Perhaps?” and typed “Ga-gyeong” into the search bar.

Seeing the results, his eyes widened.

[Record of the Demon Sovereign’s Return]

[Legend of the Evil Emperor]

[Chronicles of the Shaolin Saint Monk]

Ga-gyeong was his favorite martial arts writer during his school days. And “Record of the Demon Sovereign’s Return” and “Legend of the Evil Emperor” were his favorite martial arts novels from that time.

“Chronicles of the Shaolin Saint Monk?”

However, the last one, “Chronicles of the Shaolin Saint Monk,” was a novel he hadn’t read before.

Curious, he touched the title with his thick finger and found out from the details that it was a recently serialized novel.

“Ooh.”

He felt as though he was being pulled into a fragment of childhood memories.

Feeling a peculiar excitement for the first time in a while, he eagerly tapped the “Read First Chapter” button with his muscular arm.

“Hmm~”

He savored each sentence, each word.

As he relaxed during this nostalgic journey, the fatigue from the past ten years hit him all at once.

Thud.

Not even ten minutes after starting to read, he fell asleep.

* * *

“Mu-jin, wake up!”

“Ughhh.”

The noise right in front of him made Choi Kang-hyuk groan as he curled up.

It had been ten years since he last relaxed, and, uncharacteristically for him, he could not awaken from his deep slumber.

“Mu-jin! It’s time for morning training!”

“Morning training!”

Yet, at the mention of training, his eyes snapped open as if reflexively.

But what he saw upon waking was the unexpected sight of a young monk whose origin he couldn’t determine.

“…Kid, how did you get into my house?”

Faced with the sight of the shaven-headed little boy, Choi Kang-hyuk asked with a bemused tone.

‘No, rather, what kind of parent shaves their son’s head so bald? He’s not even a baby.’

As Choi Kang-hyuk’s thoughts began to amplify suspicions of domestic abuse, the mischievous intruder blurted out something absurd.

“What are you talking about, Mu-jin? You’re shorter and younger than me, why are you calling me a kid?”

“…You think you’re smaller than me?”

Are your eyes deceiving you, kid?

Standing exactly 180 cm tall, with a muscular build weighing 90 kg, and maintaining a body fat percentage of 8-10% for health reasons—since going too low could actually be detrimental to health—he managed to lift a total of 650 kg across the three major strength exercises. What nonsense was this?

Perhaps it was the absurdity of the conversation, but now fully awake, Choi Kang-hyuk began to notice his surroundings more clearly.

“…Kid, where on earth is this?”

The interior looked similar to a traditional Korean house, like those featured in TV or YouTube videos about Hanok experiences.

The quilt too, made in a very old-fashioned style, made him wonder about its thermal insulation.

‘Wait? Did that kid just call me Mu-jin? Mu-jin as in…’

The protagonist from Chronicles of the Shaolin Saint Monk!

Though he had fallen asleep in just ten minutes, he had read two volumes and could recall at least the protagonist’s name from the novel.

Once he pieced this together, the situation became somewhat clearer.

Why he suddenly found himself in this shabby place and why there was an unknown young monk in front of him.

‘It’s a dream.’

Choi Kang-hyuk concluded that he had fallen asleep while reading the novel and was now dreaming of being the protagonist.

“Hehehe, it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this.”

Even during his school days, when he was deeply engrossed in martial arts novels, he would occasionally have such dreams.

“What have you been talking about all this time?”

Now understanding the situation, Choi Kang-hyuk found the young monk’s scolding somewhat endearing.

“Eek, we’re going to be late for morning training. What should we do?”

“Alright, alright. Sorry. Let’s go together.”

Realizing this was all a dream, Choi Kang-hyuk, or rather, Mu-jin, decided to enjoy the scenario and followed the young monk.

After running for a while, Mu-jin arrived at a wide training ground where dozens of young monks were lined up.

“Ah! To be late on the first task. You must be thoroughly scolded!”

“Go find your place quickly!”

Mu-jin and the young novice monk were the last to arrive, and a middle-aged monk along with some younger monks scolded them sternly.

“I’m sorry!”

“I’m sorry!”

Mu-jin mimicked the novice monk and shouted, then followed him to an empty spot, jumping into it.

‘It’s a dream, why does it feel so real?’

The appearance of the training ground, and every expression and movement of the monks and novice monks there, felt incredibly realistic. Moreover, despite it being a dream, he felt out of breath from running.

But regardless of Mu-jin’s thoughts, as all the novice monks gathered, the monks shouted with a majestic voice.

“The training begins with the horse stance!”

“Everyone, take your position!”

As the monks barked their orders, the novice monks quickly assumed the horse stance, their movements swift and beyond their years.

And Mu-jin, catching on, spread his legs shoulder-width apart and took a stance similar to squatting.

‘Ah, they know something.’

He was pleased that they started with the lower body, which he favored.

Often, he saw members or trainers foolishly focusing only on building the upper body, ignoring the lower body, which Mu-jin did not view favorably.

Especially since he had started working out for rehabilitation purposes, he valued lower body and core training highly.

Even in a dream, he was constantly pondering about exercise. That was the life of a fitness fanatic.

‘Ah, my legs are already shaking! Is it because I still have the body of a child?’

While others might moan in pain, he was enjoying the screams of his muscles.

But that was momentary.

‘Something’s wrong.’

After maintaining the bent-knee horse stance for over five minutes, he began to feel that something was off.

‘No… If you exercise like this, it’ll ruin your knees!’

His lower body and knee muscles were already at their limit. He felt no stimulation; it was just torture on his knees now.

Especially for someone like him, who had experienced physical breakdown in the military and studied exercise and muscles for a decade, such foolish exercise methods were simply infuriating.

Even if it was just a dream.

‘No. But is it really a dream? Why do my knees hurt?’

As Mu-jin began to grow suspicious,

“The lower body is the foundation of martial arts!”

“If the lower body cannot stabilize, no martial arts or staff techniques can be powerful!”

The young monks, who had been vigilantly watching the novice monks’ movements, yelled at those whose legs gave out and fell.

And Choi Kang-hyuk was not the kind of man to overlook such improper exercise methods.

“Idiots who don’t even know the ‘exercise’ in exercise!”

Even if it was just a dream.