Chapter 23
The gym owner, Darae, could not quite adjust to the strangely charged atmosphere.
-The opposition party poured out criticism, claiming that the ruling party was not being proactive about proposing bills.
-Honestly, what has the ruling party done well? Wasn't this whole mess the president's doing?
-Wasn't that president from our party?
-If the ruling party had been more proactive about proposing the special criminal law in the first place, this might not have happened.
-What? You were the ones who opposed it…!!
Given that it was a gym in a neighborhood where the rich lived, current-affairs news rather than music was playing.
After all, most members had jobs that required an interest in current affairs, rather than being people who seriously needed to build their bodies.
Most people exercised only enough to maintain a reasonable level of health.
There were even members who did not exercise at all and merely watched the news.
But today was different.
"Member… are you really sure we can add another 10 kg?"
"Ah! I told you I can! Do you think I can't lift even this much?"
"Aaaagh!!"
"Member… this is enough…"
"One more… I told you I can do one more!!"
Everyone was competing, adding 10 kg more than usual and doing two sets where they would normally have done one.
If they had done two sets, they did three, their competitive spirit burning fiercely.
"Huff… huff… Good. One more set here…"
At the center of it all was Geum Mari, a new member who had joined the gym that day.
Blonde hair and delicate features.
A body with firm muscles showing how many years the newcomer had spent exercising.
No matter how hard someone worked out, it could not be easy to build muscles like that….
If she had been a man, everyone here would have become aroused and rushed over to her.
Perhaps they wanted to make a good impression on such a perfect 'corset-free woman'.
Every member was exercising with all their strength and spirit.
"Huff, huff…"
It was not hard to understand.
Even the owner had ended up losing sight of the beads of sweat sliding down the new member's body.
Just how perfect was that physique?
The curves formed from sleek muscles without a single ounce of excess were more than enough to draw the eye,
Saaaaa-!!
and the scent released as the beads of sweat vaporized was intense yet wonderfully fragrant.
What kind of perfume was the newcomer even wearing?
It was enough to make one feel as though a real man were exercising right there…!
It was only natural for women to want to show off their strength somehow in an environment like this.
"You're a member I haven't seen before. If you don't mind, may I give you a PT session just for today?"
They say only the brave win a handsome man.
One of the PT instructors who happened not to have an assigned member approached Geum Taeyang.
The newcomer wasn't handsome… No, how should the instructor put it?
'With this much corset-free power, they're practically a man!'
The PT instructor decided to think of the newcomer as handsome. If someone was acting the part of a man this perfectly, they were practically a man after all!!
All that was missing was a dick!
"Phewww… I'm fine. I know how to do it by myself."
"Hwaaah?! Wh-what was that voice…"
"Add 20 kg!!"
"Aaaagh! One more set…!!"
Hearing an actual voice instead of merely the rough breathing Geum Taeyang emitted while exercising, the other members pushed themselves even harder.
The members were no longer exercising for their health.
They had begun a battle to show off somehow.
It seemed a little strange to Geum Taeyang that they were courting another woman because they could not meet a real man, but it was common in this world.
There were many women who had never even seen a real man because there were so few men.
That was why celebrities existed.
Women who dressed as men, 'corset-free women'.
Many women fell for them at first sight and became fans.
Because men were scarce.
Even while knowing they were substitutes imitating men.
Even those substitutes were not very numerous.
That was why it was only natural for everyone to compete to show how impressive they were to Geum Taeyang, who looked like a perfect 'corset-free woman'.
"Are you signed to an agency? If you're a trainee, could I become your number-one fan?"
"No. I don't have an agency yet."
"Hahaha… I see. But you have a really nice voice. Did you have surgery or use magic?"
"Yes… something like that."
Geum Taeyang did not bother revealing that he was a man.
If he said he was a man, they would obviously pester him just like the enforcers writhing in the shadows even now.
Listening to them say that he was torturing himself or that exercising was dangerous would make him lose all desire to work out.
So Geum Taeyang ignored the attention pouring toward him and focused solely on exercising.
"Huff, huff…"
Because it had been a week since his last workout, Geum Taeyang's concentration had reached its peak.
He did not even spare a glance for the breasts threatening to burst from the woman absently lifting a dumbbell in front of him, or for her gray leggings, which seemed to have grown slightly damp.
"Phewwww…"
Along with a rough breath, Geum Taeyang set down the heavy barbell he had been lifting.
He finished his bench press as his final routine.
He had never felt so refreshed.
He shot to his feet!
Seeing Geum Taeyang stand like an erect cock, the members all began tracking his next move.
What exercise would he do next?
Something like push-ups, where a hint of chest might show through the loose workout clothes.
Or perhaps an exercise using the lat pulldown.
"I like hairy ones."
Ignoring the strange person's comment, perhaps lat pulldowns that revealed smooth armpits?
Or power leg presses that showed off a bare bottom?
Anything would have been fine.
Whatever exercise Geum Taeyang did drew the women's eyes.
Just as everyone was watching Geum Taeyang to see what exercise he would do next.
After realizing that quite a long time had passed since he started exercising, Geum Taeyang went straight into the locker room, abandoning all their expectations.
"Ahem. Ah~ I exercised too much today."
"Y-yes, that's right, member. Let's stop here for today."
The members and the PT instructors all finished exercising and headed for the locker room, as though it was simply time to leave rather than because of Geum Taeyang.
"Hup…!!"
"Get inside quickly!!"
"Don't push!!"
In an instant, the locker room entrance became an absolute madhouse.
Huff, huff…!
Because the locker room was less well ventilated than the gym, the pungent scent of Geum Taeyang's sweat came rushing out the moment the door opened.
The first woman to open the door could not take a step, thinking that if she smelled this any longer, she would surely show an unsightly side of herself.
A woman reaching climax from nothing but the hormonal scent of a 'corset-free woman'.
How ridiculous was that supposed to be?
"Have you rented out the entrance?! Let's get inside already!!"
But the woman standing at the very front had no choice but to go inside.
There were countless people pushing her from behind.
"Hnnngh-!!"
Each time she was pushed farther inside, her reason cried out a warning that she was in danger.
Her instincts kept making her lower abdomen tingle and burn, preventing her from making a proper judgment.
Phoot… pfft-!!
In the end, the woman climaxed slightly.
Still, if there was one fortunate thing, it was that she was not the only one.
"Hnnngh-!!"
Everyone who caught the scent was walking strangely with their thighs clenched tightly together.
As though trying not to let anyone discover that the skin between their legs had become wet and changed color.
Flutter-!!
Even amid that confusion, Geum Taeyang took off his gym clothes without the slightest hesitation.
"…"
A moment of quiet silence descended.
Geum Taeyang's physique, displayed while he wore nothing but square boxer briefs, was perfect.
Sculpted, sleek muscle lines rippled as he moved.
He looked like someone God himself had forged and sent down into the world to teach everyone what true beauty was.
He looked so much like a man.
That was precisely why no one could think of Geum Taeyang as a man.
Because men were either short, scrawny minnows or overweight pigs with flab hanging everywhere.
If this wasn't a 'corset-free woman', what man could possibly look like that?
A man who belonged in a history book.
But there was a reason it was called history. Men like that, who might have existed ten thousand years ago, could no longer be seen.
As people said, when confronted with something so unrealistic, the brain denied reality. Thus, every member of the gym firmly believed that Geum Taeyang was a 'corset-free woman'.
If the enforcers hiding in Geum Taeyang's shadow had not used magic to conceal the cock that would have shown beneath his underwear, they would have realized he was a man.
Geum Taeyang paid no attention to the women's gazes as he put his clothes back on.
When the body forged by God was covered by scraps of fabric made by lowly humans,
"Ah…"
someone let out an exclamation.
"I can't shower here."
Seeing that, Geum Taeyang naturally left the locker room.
It was already causing this much commotion just to exercise and change clothes; there was no way he could shower too.
Even Geum Taeyang was having trouble enduring the pheromones emitted by the females surrounding him.
If he saw them naked in the shower room, he might just thrust his cock into them.
Geum Taeyang went straight to the counter and returned his gym clothes and key.
"I return the gym clothes and key here, right?"
"Y-yes! You don't actually have to return them, though."
Many wealthy customers hated having their personal lockers reassigned.
So most people took their keys with them, but Geum Taeyang had no intention of doing that.
If he lost the key, it would cost 80,000 won.
All the money Geum Taeyang currently had on hand was the 2 million won in living expenses he had received from the men's welfare fund. And he had just spent 500,000 won on his gym membership.
He was also planning to buy equipment for broadcasting. He needed to save money.
He wanted to earn money through a part-time job, but…
Why was the process of issuing an ID card so complicated?
Fingerprints, irises, penis, anus, nipples, hair, an identification photo, and so on… Since he had to register everything that could prove he was male, they said it would take a month before it was issued.
It was difficult to find a part-time job without an ID card, so he would have to wait until then.
"Ah… We're looking for a part-timer at our gym right now. If you're interested…"
"…I'm sorry. I don't plan to work yet."
"I-I see."
So Geum Taeyang declined the gym owner's offer.
He was not desperately short of money yet, and he did not want to create trouble by working without an ID card.
*
Several days later.
"Ah… I could really use a part-timer like that…"
The gym owner sighed.
He had heard that another gym had hired an aspiring celebrity as a part-timer.
Could that news be why some members had stopped showing up?
"Should I have hired her no matter what back then…"
It was an upscale residential neighborhood where plenty of suckers came to maintain their memberships despite the high prices.
But put another way, that meant he had to charge those high prices just to be able to pay the rent.
At this rate, he would not even be able to pay the rent.
The rumor that Geum Mari and a real man had registered at the gym had briefly increased the number of members, but since neither had appeared for several days, as though they were illusions that had vanished, the number had begun falling again.
"What kind of gym is this…! Did they come here to see celebrities? Are they really all going there because of one rumor about an aspiring celebrity?"
The owner muttered in a tearful voice and put on his business smile at the sound of the bell jingling.
"Welco…"
Then he stopped midway through his greeting.
It was that person. The 'corset-free woman' who looked so perfectly like a man.
"Boss. Is there still a part-time position available?"
"Yes! Yes! We'll make one even if there isn't one!!"
When that 'corset-free woman', Geum Mari, said she would work part-time, the corners of the owner's mouth began stretching all the way to his ears.