This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 456

If you’ve made up your mind to change, what essential things need to be done?

Of course, opinions vary from person to person, but in my view, acquiring the motivation necessary for change and mental rearmament are not options—they’re essentials.

The thing is, if you don’t solidify those fundamentals before really starting, it’s obvious that you won’t last long and will end up losing your way in the middle.

In that sense, before starting training to become a strong man, I felt it was necessary to take some time to mentally rearm myself, especially since I had been feeling quite slack recently.

Sitting in a meditation posture I learned online, I imagined the consequences if I couldn’t escape my current predicament.

Given the situation, I must say it frankly… I’m barely hanging on as it is.

“Who would’ve thought I’d be worrying about this at my age…?”

I’m not even forty; I’m merely twenty, yet here I am, struggling with such thoughts.

Still, at twenty, one should be in the prime of their youth as a man.

But honestly, I couldn’t help it.

As for Bora, that’s one thing, but Chae-rim, Yoonseo, and the senior all had physically extraordinary traits.

Almost like elite athletes who’ve been training since childhood, or so it seems.

Even Yoonseo, who claims to hate exercise and has relatively low stamina, has already reached that level, so the other two? No contest.

In fact, those two were monsters in their own ways.

Chae-rim had suppressed her desires for so long that once she was disarmed, she turned into a monster fueled by curiosity, while the senior was simply a physical powerhouse.

It wasn’t without reason that Chae-rim, who seems like a competitive spirit personified, thought she couldn’t even beat the senior in such contests, proving how intimidating the senior truly is.

But just imagine facing off against such individuals in turn.

No matter how vigorous I felt, this was a situation where I wouldn’t stand a chance.

If all four of them charged me at once for a day, maybe I wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed.

But with them taking turns like it’s some sort of tag match, at least let me have a day to rest!

What on earth is going on…?

I felt just like a mobile phone hooked up to a charger.

Every time the battery charged, it drained just as quickly, and whenever I thought it was recharged, it would drop again just like that.

Even a mechanical mobile phone would have its battery life drained like that, so what about a mere human like me… there’s no need to elaborate.

In that sense, I’ve done well to hold on this long.

Sure, it’s precarious like tightrope walking, but I’ve managed—so that counts for something, right?

‘In that sense…’

I had to come up with a strategy as soon as possible.

Just because I’ve somehow held on thus far, doesn’t mean I can count on that continuing into the future.

The moment I started picturing myself collapsing under the pressure, I knew I had to take action.

And imagining Yoonseo saying “You look pathetic♡,” the senior giving me a disappointed stare, and Chae-rim asking, “Are you really tired today?”…

A force I couldn’t identify began to swell inside me.

Before that spark could fade, I opened the cap of the nutritional supplement bottle Chae-rim had brought and popped the small tablet inside into my mouth.

Water to swallow it?

I didn’t need such luxuries right now.

What I needed were means and training to become a stronger man.

So there I was, already changed into workout clothes, lightly warming up.

After all, it was worth the price it cost.

It felt like it had only been ten minutes since it entered my body, yet already my strength was surging.

I didn’t know if it was the placebo effect or what, but it literally felt like I had woken up from a deep sleep.

So even though it was a bit sudden, I found myself curious about where this supplement came from and what ingredients it contained.

I wondered if I could ask Chae-rim about it.

Well, it was certainly possible to ask about simple things, but… this felt like a tough one.

That was because it wouldn’t be any ordinary supplement.

I could guess that the recipe was closely guarded even at the place that made it.

‘Anyway…’

I’d save those questions for later; since I finished rearming my mind faster than expected and the doping was done, this was finally the time to truly put in the effort.

So… starting with the waist, which they say is the essence of a man, I began my thorough training in earnest.

I made sure to lock the hospital room door tightly, in case someone happened to peek.

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Who ever said that perfect secrets don’t exist, anyway?

According to that logic, it wasn’t long after Dogun set out to become a strong man, despite his vow to keep it from the girls until he had sufficient “strength,” that he ran into a crisis.

All because of one casual remark from Baeksulhwa.

“Is it that Dogun…?”

“Yes?”

“Are you doing anything different these days?”

“…No?”

When he first heard those words, Dogun thought to himself, “Why is she asking that out of the blue?”

And before even a minute passed, his once relatively normal feelings morphed into shock.

“Really? Hmm… strange…”

“What’s strange?”

“Nothing much… just that you seem to have lost weight lately.”

“…!”

“Or rather, to say you’ve lost weight feels off, you seem to be… how should I say it?”

“…?!”

“I’m not saying you were chubby or anything… you know that feeling right?”

That’s right.

Even after achieving his dream of becoming a hero, Dogun, who hadn’t been sloppy with his physical training like during his candidate days, had long since become as perceptive as the best personal trainers.

He was practically a walking body composition machine.

With that level of observation, it was impossible for Baeksulhwa to miss the changes occurring in Dogun, and it quickly became apparent that the countless workouts over the past week had sharpened his jawline.

Of course, that was Baeksulhwa’s perspective; Dogun was clueless about it, leading him to feel flustered and break out in a cold sweat.

‘No way…’

Even if the world has no eternal secrets, I’ve barely just started my efforts to become a strong man for a week, and already it’s been found out…?

Here I was, thinking my mental rearmament would be bolstered by admiring myself in the mirror every time I washed up, and suddenly, I was realizing I might have a sharper jawline. Just how top-notch is Baeksulhwa’s observation skills?

That aside, if I’m not going to outright reveal everything and ask the senior for help, I’d need some way to shuffle my way through this… what on earth am I going to say…?

In that moment, as my mind raced with thoughts, a sudden idea zipped through my head… and the very second it did, I blurted out the words before I could stop myself.

“F-Food from the hospital!”

“Hm…?”

“Could it be because of the hospital food?!”

“Hm… well, hospital food is generally low-sodium.”

“Exactly! But I can’t just not eat when I’m hungry… and honestly, every time I eat it tastes awful!”