Chapter 137

<The Messy Hand Coach (2)>

***

Teacher Lee Byeong-se came to find Jin Hyuk.

Normally, teachers call students to their office, but it wasn’t unusual for him to come in person. If this PE teacher, known for his laid-back attitude, were to summon the model student whose father is the school’s biggest benefactor, he might face complaints from other teachers, the principal, and the vice-principal.

“The athletics competition is scheduled for September.”

“Really?”

Jin Hyuk, for some reason, looked delighted and smiled like a kid his age. He had already checked the schedule Yoo Se-ra gave him, but the reaction came out naturally.

Lee Byeong-se flinched at the unfamiliar sight.

“If we start preparing from July, will that be enough? Is there a relay race?”

“I don’t know if you’ll make it as a relay runner.”

“Then I’ll just do the 100 meters and 200 meters, right?”

“Yeah. You’re registering as a runner, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

Lee Byeong-se, who had turned away with a slightly annoyed expression, looked back at Jin Hyuk.

“The middle school division also has a 400-meter race, right?”

“It does, but do you really want to try it? I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Okay, then I’ll just do the two events.”

Lee Byeong-se’s eyes widened.

Surprisingly, he didn’t push back. His stubborn face made him seem unyielding, but when you actually talked to him, he wasn’t like that. As he moved up grades, he became more like his peers and friendly, as if he was just shy. Anyway, he’s an interesting guy.

“Got it.”

It looked like a coach reporting to an athlete, but Lee Byeong-se and Jin Hyuk didn’t find it strange. As Lee Byeong-se left the classroom, some friends giggled.

Lee Byeong-se, walking with his hands in his sweatpants pockets and scratching his head, thought, “Did I do something wrong?” But he had just done his job.

‘He said he’d participate in third grade.’

And then he smirked.

Jin Hyuk hadn’t been consistently doing track and field, but based on his speed during PE classes and fitness tests, he’d probably run better than Yeom Byeong-taek. When had Taeyang Middle School ever done well in competitions? For Lee Byeong-se, it was just an event to get some fresh air.

***

Was third grade of middle school this busy in his past life? Jin Hyuk briefly tried to recall. But all he remembered from his school days was studying until his books were tattered and torn. The textbooks weren’t enough, so he practically memorized every book in the school library from first grade until graduation.

But now, he’s busy.

Well, it’s the life he chose, so he has no intention of complaining.

He still wakes up before sunrise, runs to Gobongsan Mountain with his uncles trailing behind like a tail, and after washing up and eating breakfast, he hops on his bike.

“I’m off!”

He raced the 10 kilometers to school at a terrifying speed. It used to take him about 30 minutes, but now he arrives in 20. He doesn’t push himself too hard, but without any stops, he’s faster than the bus.

“Jin Hyuk, good morniiing-.”

While warming up, Yeom Byeong-taek and Jo Seol-chan, who were already running laps around the field, waved at him.

After a few laps around the school field, they headed to the Ssirum Club’s outdoor training area to climb ropes. Looking at their bulging arm muscles, it seemed like they were climbing with just arm strength, but that wasn’t the case. They minimized arm fatigue by using their back muscles, like in pull-ups. When they reached for the rope, their back muscles spread like a fan, and when they pulled, their chest and back muscles clenched together.

“Ugh, I’m dying! Jin Hyuk! What does this have to do with track and field? Ugh!”

Jo Seol-chan, who was following Jin Hyuk, fell onto the sand.

Huff-huff.

After 15 rounds, Jin Hyuk caught his breath.

‘Right? What does it have to do with anything?’

Even if it doesn’t, so what?

He just does it because it’s fun and something he’s always done. There’s nothing as enjoyable as feeling the tension in his muscles and his body heating up.

After finishing his morning workout, Jin Hyuk helped his track and field friends correct their form.

He’d been doing this since first grade, but these guys kept running away, so he never got to do it properly. But now that the competition was approaching, Jo Seol-chan and Yeom Byeong-taek started taking it seriously. If only they had done this earlier.

“Seol-chan, when you run, try to consciously keep your knees close together.”

Jo Seol-chan still used a wide-legged running style.

Even Teacher Kim Young-tae from elementary school knew about Jo Seol-chan’s issue, but he didn’t correct it much, wanting the kids to enjoy their sports.

‘Even so, he could’ve at least fixed his form a bit…’

Some teachers would hit their students to force their style onto them. Looking back now, Teacher Kim Young-tae might not have corrected them out of indifference. He always said he wanted the time spent on sports to remain as happy memories.

Well, fixing form isn’t easy, and many athletes quit during the process, so it’s understandable.

Taeyang Middle School… what athletes? They’re just fast students gathered when there’s a competition, and Lee Byeong-se is just a supervising teacher, not a coach.

“Jin Hyuk, I’m bow-legged, so my knees don’t stay close.”

“I’m not saying you have to force them together. Just think about keeping them close while running.”

If Jo Seol-chan had met a results-oriented coach, his knees would’ve been tied together with a belt. Or he would’ve been kicked out for having no talent in track and field. That’s how severe his bow-leggedness was. It’s impressive that he can run 100 meters in the 12-second range with those legs.

“If your knees are too far apart, the force goes outward when you push off the ground. That’s how you hurt your knee ligaments. The force should go downward, and your knees should extend forward to gain speed.”

Jo Seol-chan, who often skipped training due to knee pain, nodded with his mouth wide open.

It’s not like they could tell him to run in a tight skirt. Frustrated that his friends couldn’t keep up, Jin Hyuk decided to help them with their form as much as possible. They’re still growing, so fixing their form shouldn’t be too hard.

“Alright, I’ll give it a try. Ugh-!”

Jo Seol-chan, sitting on the ground with his legs stretched and knees together, screamed as he held his pelvis and knees. Forcing his joints into place clearly wasn’t easy.

“Seol-chan, take it slow. Little by little.”

Jin Hyuk felt Jo Seol-chan’s legs and judged that his joints weren’t beyond correction. Of course, this was just the guess of a non-expert.

‘Can’t put splints on both sides of the joint.’

He told Jo Seol-chan to keep doing the stretch where he lies face down, supports himself with his arms, and lifts his upper body. He also reminded him to keep his feet and knees from separating.

“That position should feel comfortable.”

“Yeah, it does. Ugh- it’s refreshing, right?”

It must feel good.

The tension in his thighs and ankles relaxes, temporarily relieving the pressure on his knees.

While Jo Seol-chan practiced keeping his knees together, Jin Hyuk had Yeom Byeong-taek do stationary running.

“Think about bringing your knees up to your chest, and don’t let your toes splay out. Make your right foot step where your left foot just stepped.”

Yeom Byeong-taek had a severe duck-footed gait.

He used a duck-footed running style, so he often complained about ankle pain.

“My dad says it’s because our family is from the noble class.”

As time went on, he was gradually adapting to his peers, but their humor was impossible to keep up with.

These kids would spout nonsense like boring old men. Look at him now. Yeom Byeong-taek, pleased with his own joke, grinned at Jin Hyuk, his nostrils flaring. But Jin Hyuk’s cold expression quickly made him sulk.

‘How would you know if your family bought noble status in the late Joseon era?’

Jin Hyuk, about to counter with a solid argument, swallowed his words, worried his friend’s bones might break.

Instead, he decided to fix this nobleman’s gait.

“If your feet splay out, the impact from the ground doesn’t get absorbed by your feet and goes straight to your ankles.”

“How do you know that, Jin Hyuk?”

How would he know?

He just thought their form looked ugly. He hadn’t studied it formally, but his understanding of the human body was quite advanced.

“That’s not important. This week, don’t push yourself to run. Focus on changing your form step by step.”

“Alright. Lately, it’s just been dragging tires, and it’s boring.”

“By the way, where are the other two?”

“One transferred to Chuncheon High School to play soccer, and the other quit. Said it wasn’t fun.”

The relay race is doomed.

It’s a bit disappointing. There’s no event as thrilling and fun as the relay race. The seamless baton passes and the full-speed sprints of all runners combined in a short-distance relay have the power to excite the audience.

Even at a rural middle school’s spring sports festival, regardless of rankings, all the students would cheer. Just seeing that, you could tell how gripping a relay race is. If the audience is like that, imagine the athletes.

“Ugh-, it’s a shame about the relay, right?”

“Yeah. It would’ve been even better with Jin Hyuk.”

“Byeong-taek, keep lifting your legs. Think about pushing off with your big toe and only stepping on the balls of your feet.”

Jo Seol-chan, watching Jin Hyuk adjust Yeom Byeong-taek’s form, grinned. Jin Hyuk, already over 180 cm tall, looked like a sports team coach to anyone who saw him. Even if what he was teaching wasn’t exactly textbook.

“Hehehe-! Ouch-!”

Jo Seol-chan, who was stretching, laughed while lying face down and then strained his back. Jin Hyuk sighed and shook his head. Still, exercising with these friends every morning is fun. It’s already been three years.

After helping Yeom Byeong-taek and Jo Seol-chan with their form, Jin Hyuk headed to the Ssirum Club’s equipment room.

“Coach, hello. I’m going to use the tubes.”

“Oh, sure. But what are you gonna do with them?”

Seong Bu-hyeon, who was overseeing the Ssirum Club members stretching, asked.

He was clearly from Seoul, but in two years, his accent had completely changed to that of a local Taeyang County native.

“Shoulder exercises.”

Jin Hyuk took two black tubes from the Ssirum Club’s locker and hung them on the horizontal bar. These weren’t the kind you pull while standing against the bar. He hung two narrow tubes, about a hand’s width apart, on the bar and pulled them alternately like cross-country skiing. His elbows were at a right angle, and he pulled each arm to a position perpendicular to the ground, repeating at a steady speed and force. Meanwhile, he kept his upper body bent forward and his chin from lifting.

Huff-huff.

Soon, thick beads of sweat were dripping everywhere, even from his chin.

“Jin Hyuk, what kind of exercise is that?”

“Shoulders and sides.”

“Does that make you run faster?”

“It probably helps.”

Sprinting is a race where you pour all your energy into a little over 10 seconds. You can’t achieve good results just by running with your legs, and it’s impossible to generate explosive power in such a short time.

Your arms, which work as hard as your legs, also need proper movement and strength. Sprinting naturally trains them, but it’s an area everyone overlooks.

“Sprinters need strong shoulders.”

“You already have good shoulders, Jin Hyuk.”

“If they were even better, I could run faster.”

Yeom Byeong-taek kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t wrong, but how much more did this monster want to pump up his shoulders? The muscles on his sides, with their rib-like patterns, made him look like Mr. Korea from last weekend’s TV show.

“I wanna try too.”

Jo Seol-chan, who had been flopping around like a squid on the ground, challenged himself to pull the tubes.

The horizontal bar was at a height where you had to stretch your arms to reach it, so the conditions were similar. Jin Hyuk showed Jo Seol-chan where to place his feet and his posture, then watched.

“Hup!”

Jo Seol-chan’s face turned beet red, looking like it might explode. He looked like he was about to give birth. But the tubes didn’t budge an inch.

Yeom Byeong-taek, watching, muttered heavily.

“Poop, poop.”

“Hahaha-! Ugh! Why are you laughing? I almost pulled it-.”

Yeom Byeong-taek and Jo Seol-chan held their stomachs and laughed.

“There should be weaker rubber bands in the Ssirum Club’s equipment box. You guys should try them when you have time.”

Jin Hyuk, laughing with his friends, packed up his things.

“I’m going to shower and head to class.”

“Alright-, see you later-.”

“Jin Hyuk, take care.”

Good-natured and simple guys. Jin Hyuk’s lips curled up slightly as he walked away, showing his back to his friends.

The Ssirum Club’s dormitory and indoor training area had a shower room. It was only cold water, but even in winter, he showered with cold water like it was nothing, so a cold shower in June was no big deal.

“Coach, I’m going to shower.”

“Oh, just go ahead. Why do you keep asking for permission?”

Seong Bu-hyeon wanted to say, “Your father’s money built this shower room,” but he held back. The moment he said it, the funding might stop.

Under the pouring cold water, Jin Hyuk thought about Jo Seol-chan and Yeom Byeong-taek.

‘They haven’t improved at all.’

If his friends’ level improved, Jin Hyuk could prepare for the competition more comfortably.

How could he take these cheerful guys to the competition?