Crossroads-1

At 7 a.m., Company Worker C was exploring Oceania TV on his way to work.

The commute to Seoul was an hour and twenty minutes by bus.

It was uncomfortable to sleep, and his eyes were bored just staring blankly.

His hand, scrolling through the list, stopped abruptly.

A thumbnail of a woman in tight leggings and a loose t-shirt caught his eye.

Seeing the title, he was drawn in and tapped the thumbnail.

After an ad played, he saw the woman squatting.

The way she subtly appealed to sexiness while maintaining a wholesome image was ironically appealing.

There were already people in the broadcast, trying to get the BJ’s attention by chatting amongst themselves, but the woman remained unmoved.

She was just silently squatting.

At first, he only noticed the woman, but then he noticed the weight of the Barbell she was carrying.

‘How many kg is that?’

Others had the same thought and asked about the weight in the chat, but the woman on the screen remained silent.

She just kept lifting the heavy-looking metal bar up and down, repeating the exercise.

The audio was empty, and one might get bored with a broadcast without reactions, but C couldn’t bring himself to switch to another channel because of the bizarre spectacle the woman was putting on.

Whether the people in the chat were in shock or not, her workout continued.

Following squats were leg curls, leg presses, and finally, running.

After about an hour, she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with a towel and looked at the camera for the first time.

A slightly curled ponytail and a healthy-looking body.

Without saying a word, she made full use of her charms to make an impression on people.

She looked at the chat with indifferent eyes and opened her mouth for the first time.

“Like and subscribe. This has been the Solitary Trainer.”

Then the broadcast ended.

Countless question marks filled the chat, and C was one of them.

What did I just watch? he thought. And that question soon became an exclamation point.

Something about it was new and interesting.

That was the common thought among those who watched the Solitary Trainer’s broadcast.

After confirming that the broadcast was definitely over, I went to Garam.

“Good job.”

“Ugh… I was so nervous. I couldn’t lift as much weight as usual because I was so tense… This isn’t good…”

That was not being able to lift weight?

Crazy.

“Just get more comfortable with the camera. You’re not really doing any content anyway.”

“Okay. But I don’t know if I’m doing well.”

“The reaction isn’t bad. About 15 people watched, and there were donations.”

“Huh? Donations?”

“Yeah. About 2,000 Coins came in.”

“Uh… 2,000 Coins is…”

She folded and unfolded her fingers, calculating. She probably wasn’t good at converting it yet.

“That’s 20,000 won after settlement.”

“Wow… 20,000 won…”

She looked noticeably disappointed. Is this newbie disappointed?

“Get a grip, Garam. You earned 20,000 won just by doing your usual routine, okay? And if you upload today’s video to YouTube, you’ll get additional income later.”

When I spoke a little strongly, she flinched.

“Ah! Sorry. I guess I had too high of expectations.”

“It was your first broadcast today. Don’t try to get too full on your first spoonful.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. The broadcasts you showed me get 100,000 Coins at a time, so I guess my expectations were raised.”

“Those are… really successful broadcasts. Anyway, you’re just starting out, Garam. In terms of exercise, you’re a beginner. You can’t squat 60kg from the start.”

“Huh? I did 60kg at first, though?”

She tilted her head and asked.

I hate you.

I did a test broadcast on Monday using the broadcasting equipment Ho-cheol had prepared.

Then, the first broadcast on Tuesday.

Fifteen people for the first broadcast is a good indicator.

Actually, there was an easy way to go about it.

If I logged in with my ID and donated a large amount of Coins, the broadcast would immediately rise in the real-time rankings and get attention.

But that would quickly create enemies.

When I, who had been a big spender, stopped donating, Hana, who had been holding the top spot in the rankings, plummeted.

I think she’s around 10th place now.

With the overwhelming number one gone, now all that’s left is the fight for first place between 2nd and 5th place.

Just a Coin donation rush would be a clean fight, but that’s not the case.

They tear at each other’s fandoms, tarnish the BJ’s reputation, and try to mess with their mental state by posting malicious articles on the internet.

I don’t want Garam to jump into that battlefield.

She always showed a bright side when exercising, so I didn’t know, but through the incident at Han River Park and the conversation at the hair salon, I got a glimpse of a different side of Garam.

Garam lacks extreme confidence.

The external environment surrounding her isn’t good, and she has a glass-like mental state that shatters with a single touch.

She gets hurt by trivial things and feels despair over trivial things.

What protects her is exercise.

According to Garam, she doesn’t have bad thoughts when she exercises. Probably because she’s focused.

Anyway, for this reason, she needs to receive less attention.

Since she started internet broadcasting, it’s something she’ll have to experience someday, but it’s still too early.

“Oh, come to think of it, I’ve been a little lax in checking lately. Member, let’s do an InBody test?”

Ah, I’m a member now…

So, we did the InBody test.

Compared to the beginning, it had decreased noticeably, but compared to the previous test, there was no significant growth.

“It’s a plateau. We need to change the exercise pattern a bit.”

Seeing me looking a little dejected, Garam comforted me.

“Inho helps with my broadcast, and I help Inho with his exercise. We’re helping each other.”

She scribbled something in her notebook and continued.

Her bright voice made me chuckle without realizing it.

“I guess we are. We’re helping each other.”

“Okay, then. We’ll keep helping each other until we both succeed? Let’s promise~”

She held out her pinky, and I matched her rhythm and hooked my pinky with hers.

“Stamp, and copy.”

After pressing our thumbs together and swiping our palms, she firmly confirmed and stretched her neck from side to side.

“Okay, then. Let’s increase the weight a bit today.”

“Huh?”

“Plateaus are usually broken with more intense exercise.”

Damn it.