What should I do? Since first-floor cleaning has decreased a lot, I think I’ll have time. The supervisors also let us rest sometimes when we have time left over.
Sangho thought for a bit, then said hesitantly:
“If, if you really need help… I’ll talk to the cleaning supervisors.”
“About 30 minutes is enough. I can do the rest alone.”
At Sangho’s answer, Han Kyungoh showed a broad smile. His blunt impression instantly softened, giving a youthful feeling. Han Kyungoh, who bowed in greeting, returned to his spot and began stretching again. Sangho looked at Han Kyungoh from that spot for a moment, then went upstairs to clean the second floor.
Unexpectedly, the cleaning supervisors readily allowed Sangho to help Kyungoh with his rehabilitation exercises. Rather, some of them scolded him saying “He saved your life, you should at least do that much!” So Sangho asked Kyungoh, who was still exercising alone, what he should do to help with rehabilitation exercises.
“Today is fine. I think starting tomorrow will be good.”
“Ah, yes.”
Kyungoh said he would come out at the same time tomorrow to do rehabilitation exercises, then left briskly. Sangho looked at the back of Kyungoh’s large frame, thinking whether he could have a body like that if he exercised hard too. It was an impossible image to picture, but at least he wouldn’t look so scrawny and easy to push around, would he? It was true he felt some expectation about that.
And from the next day, rehabilitation exercises with Kyungoh began.
The gym at dawn was a quiet space full of cool air. Even though it was called rehabilitation exercise, there was nothing special about it. Kyungoh centered on his injured shoulder to stretch, and repeatedly did low-intensity exercises with prepared bands. Sangho helped by supporting Kyungoh’s shoulder so it wouldn’t strain too much during stretching, or by pressing down with a bit of body weight.
“…More.”
“Huh, m-more pressure?”
Sangho, who’d been pressing on Kyungoh’s back as he stretched, answered promptly. He seems to already be pressing hard, but does he want more pressure? Sangho put a bit more weight on and pressed close to Kyungoh’s back. The folded body went down a bit more, but not quite enough to completely touch the floor.
“Mm.”
As if frustrated, Kyungoh made a slightly dissatisfied sound. Then Sangho, sweating profusely, pressed his chest and stomach against Kyungoh’s back and pushed down his body even more. Then Kyungoh’s body finally went down close enough to barely touch the floor. Though he has a large build, he seems more flexible than I thought.
How long do I have to keep pressing?
Even though he wasn’t the one exercising, he was strangely out of breath and his heart was pounding. Finally, when Sangho made a strained “nngh” sound, Kyungoh raised his body. He seemed to be checking Sangho’s complexion.
“…”
“Huff… huff…”
“…Your stamina is weak.”
Kyungoh, who’d barely said a word, uttered a comment. Are you just figuring that out now? Feeling annoyed for no reason, Sangho scrunched his face. Sangho, who’d roughly wiped his forehead beaded with sweat, pointed at the barbell placed on one side of the gym and asked:
“You said you’d teach me exercises. Do I lift things like that?”
“I don’t think weights are good yet.”
His words were strangely short. Sangho was slightly bothered that this guy four years younger was subtly mixing in informal speech, but he didn’t particularly point it out. Kyungoh looked over Sangho’s body standing in front of him with an expressionless face. Then he approached briskly and wrapped one hand around his thin arm. He pressed firmly along the muscle fibers, then seemed to feel his back muscles too. Sangho was flustered by the sudden skinship but tried to maintain a nonchalant expression.
“Push-ups. Pull-ups. Squats. These three first.”
Kyungoh, who’d turned Sangho’s body around like that, pressed firmly on the tense areas below his shoulder blades. It was a place that had hurt for a while, and it felt both painful enough to make him groan and refreshing at the same time. It was amazing how he pressed only the knotted parts precisely. Sangho thought, Well, Kyungoh is a professional athlete, so he must know bodies well.
After loosening the stiff muscles with a massage for a few minutes, Kyungoh lightly tapped the mattress where he’d been sitting. When Sangho hesitantly climbed onto the mattress, Kyungoh demonstrated first.
“Keep your body in a straight line and go down like this, then come back up.”
As he did push-ups with clean movements, the muscles in Kyungoh’s arms rippled. When Sangho awkwardly lay prone and got into position, Kyungoh’s hand came up over his pelvis.
“Uhh…”
“Butt higher.”
“Urk!”
“Hands slightly outward.”
“L-like th-this?”
“No. That’s inward… outward.”
Unable to watch anymore, Kyungoh knelt on one knee next to Sangho. Kyungoh, who’d wrapped around Sangho from behind like that, grabbed both his arms and slightly turned them outward. From behind his neck—whoosh—the scent of well-dried sunlight wafted over. And at some point, Sangho felt hot skin touching his nape.
“…!”
Startled, Sangho flinched and trembled, but Kyungoh continued speaking nonchalantly as if it were nothing.
“Remember this width well. If it’s hard to do alone later, put a hanger on the floor and spread them about that much. Like this, go down in a straight line, then come back up.”
A low, calm voice rang in his ear. Seeing how Kyungoh’s breath was felt on his earlobe, what was touching his nape seemed to be his cheek. Every time Kyungoh spoke, his jaw moved and skin precariously grazed his nape. Sangho didn’t know what to do with the somehow strange feeling, then just started doing push-ups as told.
“Ugh, nnh… urk.”
His arm muscles trembled as he laboriously went down, then barely came up once, and Sangho panted as if he’d sprinted at full speed. I think I did it properly, but Kyungoh still had no intention of moving away from behind him and stayed still.
At that moment, Kyungoh’s cheek slowly rubbed against Sangho’s nape. The hot skin pressed firmly and rubbed, then quickly pulled away about when Sangho snapped to attention. It was a fleeting moment too ambiguous to say anything about.
Flop.
Unable to hold on any longer, Sangho collapsed onto the mattress. What was that just now? Trying hard to hide his confused mind, Sangho stammered:
“Th-that, uh just now…”
“Try increasing the number every day.”
At the all-too-nonchalant voice, Sangho rubbed the back of his neck and turned around. Unlike himself, whose face seemed to have turned bright red, Kyungoh was looking at him with an unchanged complexion, bland and nonchalant face. What is this? Sangho felt embarrassed, thinking he was making a fuss over nothing.
After that too, Kyungoh taught him pull-up and squat positions. Though they were simple bodyweight exercises, it was hard to do even two properly with the right posture. After that as well, Kyungoh showed him the positions several more times, strangely rubbing his cheek or chin subtly against Sangho’s nape or where joints bent. Each time, Sangho felt something was strange, but with Kyungoh’s all-too-nonchalant expression, it was also ambiguous to say something outright. So Sangho just thought Kyungoh had a strange habit.
When the promised 30 minutes passed like that, Kyungoh separated precisely and began doing personal exercises.
“Thank you.”
That’s what he said as he left. So Sangho occasionally glanced at Kyungoh doing personal training in the corner while cleaning the first floor. Perhaps because he’d done exercises he’d never done before, his muscles trembled, but he felt like his body had become somehow healthier and more refreshed. Since his body warmed up with exercise from morning, even his shoulder muscles that always knotted up seemed to become activated.
Exercise… isn’t bad?
With a strangely light body, Sangho tilted his head curiously and went up to clean the second floor.
***
That afternoon, after finishing cleaning, he had to visit the grievance committee. When Sangho hesitantly peeked around the union office, one of the cleaning supervisors came out from inside and greeted Sangho. Still, having seen each other a few times seemed to put his mind at ease.
The grievance committee statement was nothing special. It ended with talking about how the Center Director had ordered dawn clock-ins, the record of clocking in at 4 every day, and what kind of verbal abuse he’d done when he occasionally threw tantrums. Sangho calmly told the investigator in detail about what had happened during that time. The investigator listened to Sangho’s words with a serious expression, nodding while also writing things down. Writing the statement didn’t even take an hour.
When Sangho came out of the union office, the cleaning supervisor lightly patted his shoulder and said he’d done well. He also said that at the disciplinary committee meeting two days later, the Center Director wouldn’t be able to avoid severe disciplinary action, so there would be no reason to encounter him again. At the situation unfolding at lightning speed, Sangho could only nod in a daze. I thought society was always cold and heartless to me. He thought that it also had aspects that protected him in unexpected ways.
Suddenly Sangho recalled Wonha’s face. He didn’t know why Wonha’s face came to mind when he felt like this, but Sangho decided he should call Wonha tonight.
When he bowed in farewell to the cleaning supervisor and turned around, the supervisor stopped Sangho again for a moment.
“Sangho-ssi. You haven’t taken the legally mandated education yet, right? You have to take it once a year.”
“Mandatory education?”
“Yeah. Four in total. Personal information protection, sexual harassment, disability awareness improvement, trait accident prevention education.”
