Chapter 131: A Distinct Lack of Talent [R-18]

Nervous about running with a group, Seojin did some preliminary stretches before standing near the rest area.

The screen of her phone read 06:29.

She was one minute early. She had timed her arrival precisely, thinking the awkwardness would be unbearable if she got there too soon. An unfamiliar gathering, a strange place, and…

“Is it really okay for me to be out here…?”

The sensations from yesterday still crept through her mind. The whispers he had poured into her during sex lingered, refusing to leave.

“…Hah.”

She was taking a breath, about to pat her strangely tingling thigh, when suddenly—

“Ah!”

A man from the group that had already gathered raised his hand in a cheerful greeting.

“She’s the one I was telling you all about! The new person in our chat room!”

It was the same man who had first scouted her.

Shim… or whatever his name was.

Seojin offered a small smile and a nod. That one smile was enough to draw the gazes of everyone around them.

“This is Seojin. She said she hasn’t been running for very long~”

In the brief moment it took to introduce her, the looks in several men’s eyes changed instantly. They were either dazed or slack-jawed.

They were projecting an expectation onto Seojin that went beyond simply seeing a new face.

“Whoa…”

“Welcome.”

They were all people with enough wealth to live nearby and gather for a healthy hobby at this early hour. While not exceptionally handsome, they were decent-looking enough.

And for that reason, an unspoken confidence radiated from them—the confidence that they might have a shot with Seojin.

Little gasps of admiration.

But that was also enough to provoke the gazes of others. On the opposite side, three women who looked like long-time crew members stood side by side.

A woman with a neatly trimmed fringe shot a subtle, sidelong glance and muttered.

“…I guess they’ll let anyone in these days?”

“I know, right? I’ve never seen someone come so dressed up at dawn.”

Short jogging pants, a sleeveless top, and a sporty crop top. Seojin had merely dressed comfortably, but the unrealistic curves and volume of her body rendered all her choices moot.

“It’s… nice to meet you all.”

At the office, she had the energy and the will to approach people first, but here, where subtle romantic interest was part of the equation, it was a different world entirely.

Seojin had only come because Rio had said, ‘You’re going there starting tomorrow, right?’ just following the flow he’d set. But now, under the pretext of being a newcomer, she had already become the center of attention.

She was already drained.

“Alright, shall we get started?”

After another round of group stretching, a few people gathered in a circle to loosen up. Seojin kept her head down, trying to regulate her breathing.

She knew many eyes were on her, but what tormented her more was the fact that the muscles on her inner thighs, caressed by Rio until dawn, were screaming in protest.

Wanting to hide it at all costs, she deliberately began with large leg rotations. The jogging pants slid over her knees, and beads of sweat trickled down.

She couldn’t help that every single movement drew their attention.

“Okay, let’s run!”

“Seojin! Don’t push yourself. Let’s go slow~”

From the very beginning, the man—Shim Kyung-woon—kindly matched his pace to hers. Seojin forced an awkward smile.

“Ah, no. It’s okay. I usually run faster than this…”

“Oh, really? Then you just need to work on your pace control.”

As he ran beside her at what was practically a walking pace, the speed of several men who had been ahead of them slowed noticeably.

Their intent to match Seojin’s pace was obvious, and she was enveloped by their subtle glances and heavy breathing. A faint sense of competition simmered among them, each one reacting sensitively to her every word.

“Wow—how long did you say you’ve been running?”

“Do you do any other sports?”

“Where do you live? I figured it must be close since you come out so early.”

As the run neared its end, the real approaches began.

One offered her a wet wipe, another unfolded a towel right next to where she sat.

The most persistent one knelt before her and cupped her ankle, saying, “Are your running shoes a good fit? Your feet seem to be turning inward.”

“I’m a physical therapist. You have to be careful with your Achilles tendon these days.”

His words were kind, but the moment his hand brushed over the top of her foot, Seojin flinched and pulled her foot back, forcing a dry laugh.

“Ah… yes. It’s fine. I think I’m okay…?”

Strictly speaking, no one was rude enough to cross a line. To Seojin, that was even more exhausting.

Days passed. Someone would casually bring up their car; another would share the schedule for an after-work crew meetup.

Meanwhile, some of the women, having apparently done their own research, approached Seojin, whom they had previously ignored.

“Excuse me, this is you, right? I think I’ve seen you on Instagram…”

“Oh my god, really? Do you get sponsorships?”

“Can I get a follow-back?”

Their voices were bright, but a subtle edge laced the ends of their smiles. And behind them, another person would whisper to their friend, their gaze half-averted.

“…Look, they’re latching onto the new girl again.”

“They’re always like that. Coming here to ‘work out,’ but really…”

The comment wasn’t entirely fair, but it wasn’t entirely wrong, either.

Seojin quietly pulled the brim of her cap down. She loved running, cutting through the wind, and had come out simply to exercise, but her mind was only growing heavier.

And yet, the next day came, and the day after that. After about two weeks, she felt like she was shedding weight not from exercise, but for entirely different reasons.

“Seojin, I’m a huge fan of Jeong A-reum~ Do you know what kind of cosmetics she uses?”

“You don’t like coffee? My shop is right near here—”

“I’m sorry, I have to go straight to work after my run…”

But even if it wasn’t after the morning workout, it was the evenings, the weekends… The advances kept coming, and Seojin had to constantly invent excuses like overtime and training sessions.

“Seojin, it’s good to rotate your shoulders like this during the cool-down.”

As the run was ending and they slowed to a walk to manage their stamina, a man’s hand rested lightly on her shoulder.

Seojin’s brow furrowed for a second before she put on a smile and subtly moved her shoulder, shrugging his hand off.

“Thank you for the tip.”

The man awkwardly backed away, but the lingering touch of his fingertips felt like an attempt to imprint his presence on her.

He was the same man who had been badmouthing her behind her back for being stuck-up because she was a latecomer who always skipped the after-parties.

It was then.

“…Wow, look.”

A quiet gasp. Behind her, two female crew members who were cooling down simultaneously lifted their heads.

“Look over there. Over there, at the front.”

“The front?”

The words spread like a whisper. They covered their mouths with the backs of their hands, not even daring to laugh out loud as if to share the secret only among themselves, their eyes shifting.

Soon, the gazes of several other women naturally followed.

“Damn… a feast for the eyes this early in the morning, for real.”

There, at the entrance to the rest area, stood a man, backlit by the sun. He didn’t even flinch from the glare, standing there as if posing for a photoshoot.

It was Rio.

His hair was swept back simply. His broad shoulders and well-defined forearms were visible under a gray short-sleeved shirt. Perfectly composed and dry without a single drop of sweat, the man—

—exuded an aura that no other man in the vicinity could dare to compare with.

He had been looking at his phone, but now he lifted only his eyes to find her. A dazzling smile, complete with dimples, bloomed on his face.

It was a greeting meant for only one person.

“……Holy.”

“He looks like that foreign actor…”

The whispers from the women around her began to spread. The closer his steps brought him into the rest area, the more the men looked toward Seojin, while the women, pretending to look away, stole glances at him.

By the time all their gazes converged, the expressions of both groups were ones of pure shock.

Seojin, wanting to avoid the attention, tried to take a roundabout path even after seeing him, but Rio walked straight toward her and stopped right in front of her.

“Where are you going? You have to run again?”

He nonchalantly tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, his hand trailing down to the nape of her neck.

Even with everyone watching, he acted as if she was the only person in the world.

The others tried their best to continue as before, whispering among themselves or fixing their eyes on their phones, but they couldn’t take back the admiration that had already escaped them.

Seojin quickly bowed her head, the spot on her neck where Rio’s hand had touched tingling, but when that didn’t hide her mouth, she covered it with her hand.

Then she whispered quietly up at him.

“Rio… what are you doing here? You can’t even wake up in the morning…!”

Rio laughed at her tone. Then, as if mimicking her posture and manner of speaking, he leaned his head close to her mouth and whispered playfully.

“Hmm—I thought a woman in workout clothes might be nice. If I liked what I saw, I figured I’d make a move.”

No matter how sweet he acted, this was the kind of man Rio was.

But it was already too late.

Though they couldn’t hear the conversation, the sight of their intimate closeness, with no distance between them, made most of the crew members start glancing at one another.

Among them, the man who had hit on Seojin most frequently spoke, as if talking to himself.

“Ah… Seojin, you have a boyfriend?”

His voice was light, but his tone was deliberately pointed. The blatant question sent another ripple through the atmosphere.

But into the echoing silence where no one could answer, Rio, who had never met any of them, tightened his arm around Seojin’s waist and tilted his head.

“I hear you’ve all been taking good care of my girl every morning. Thank you for that.”

At his deliberately showy display, Seojin lowered her head even further.

Even as every gaze swirled around them, Rio’s hand continued to stroke her side gently.

Seojin grabbed his hand and urged him on.

“…Let’s go, quickly.”

Even as she grabbed his hand and forced him to walk, Rio’s face was full of smiles.

“Okay. I’ve seen enough.”

Her cheeks, flushed from a mix of strange ticklishness and other emotions, turned a shade redder as she urged him away to create some distance. Her sweat hadn’t even cooled, but her heart was already racing, hotter than her body.

He was still standing a little ways off, arms crossed, quietly watching her.

In that moment, what entered Seojin’s line of sight were the female members who had just been gaping at him as if he were a magnificent sculpture.

Now, they were staring blankly at Seojin.

Receiving their gazes head-on, Seojin’s face grew even redder, and she took a sharp breath.

“Um, I’m going to head out first today!” she announced, bowing her head toward the murmuring group.

“Please tell the others who are still coming that I’m sorry for leaving early…!”

After that embarrassed farewell, she scurried over to where Rio was standing.

As she approached, Rio leaned down slightly and, without a word, pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Mwah.

“Ugh—! I told you not to do that here…”

Mortified, Seojin lightly tapped his chest in protest. But Rio’s smile never wavered.

They walked off as if nothing had happened. From behind the crew, who were watching the two figures shrink into the distance, someone clutched their phone and said,

“—Legendary.”

The morning run was over, but the gossip they left behind was set to run for a long time to come.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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