“What’s going on?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Immediately after such a small commotion, Choi Seong-hyun, who was watching another player from the side, asked insinuatingly. Kang Tae-han shrugged lightly and answered in a calm tone.

“I thought he just wanted more massages.”

Naturally, Kang Tae-han knew right away that he had just made up the words without a man. He had just checked his body and made sure there was nothing wrong with his lower back.

In a way, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Kang Tae-han is more aware of his physical condition than the player himself. So, when he said that his back seemed to be uncomfortable, to Kang Tae-han, it sounded like cute nonsense.

“Ahh… It deserves it, well.”

At those words, Choi Seong-hyun nodded as if he understood. It was like a grown adult faking an illness, but it was a part that anyone who had received Kang Tae-han’s massage could fully understand.

The accumulated fatigue from a single massage disappears as if washed away, and the physical condition is truly at its best.

Who doesn’t think ‘I want to receive more’ after receiving this kind of massage… It will be one of the two. Either there was no fatigue in the body, or there was no feeling in the body.

Moreover, the people gathered here are none other than national athletes, people who have been preparing for the upcoming Olympics for at least four years or half their lives.

In such a situation, an opportunity to improve your condition to the maximum has come? I can’t help but be greedy.

“Besides, ten minutes seems a bit tantalizing.”

And Kang Tae-han’s massage here is only ten minutes long.

Since the time is also short, the players will have no choice but to feel a little deeper regret.

“is it… I’m looking at all the necessary parts.”

However, Kang Tae-han also has something to say.

It is said to be reduced to 10 minutes, but all the parts that needed action were in the middle of looking at their hands.

The time is short, but it feels like it is compressed and proceeds efficiently. If it was judged that there was an insufficient part, I would have massaged for more than 10 minutes, or even more than 30 minutes.

“Well, actually, we are doing good enough just by volunteering on a day off like this!”

When Kang Tae-han showed signs of serious concern, Choi Seong-hyeon deliberately said so in an exaggerated voice.

It wasn’t exactly wrong. They came here because they came with good intentions. If you say that the massage time is short when you are not paid, that is truly ungrateful.

“Yeah, it’s not like that.”

“Rather than that, am I doing better?”

“you? If you couldn’t, you’d have already said it.”

Kang Tae-han answered Choi Seong-hyun’s question with a nuance that was new. Then Choi Seong-hyun scratched his head with an embarrassed expression and said.

“Well, if that’s you, that’s what it would be like.”

Jincheon Athletes’ Village is the best sports facility in Korea, where the national representatives of Korea gather to camp and train together.

The state-of-the-art training system, as well as various medical facilities and management systems, are equipped with the highest standards.

As such, the management of the players was also at a fairly high level, and there were quite a few players who did not have any abnormalities in their bodies. To the point where Kang Tae-han didn’t have to look after his hands.

In this case, even if measures were taken, it was only simple tasks such as activating blood vessels and relieving muscle fatigue.

As for those players, Kang Tae-han entrusted the massage to Choi Seong-hyun, who was next to him. As far as stimulating the bloodstream and relaxing the muscles, Choi Seong-hyun was able to do well enough.

“Thanks to that, things have become a lot easier. Thank you.”

“… What. I was just around.”

At Kang Tae-han’s words, Choi Seong-hyeon put on an embarrassed expression and deliberately replied in a sullen voice. In response, Kang Tae-han smiled playfully and asked as if adding.

“Do you think things are going well with Ga-in?”

“Child… right, what.”

The reason Choi Seong-hyun was able to come all the way to this place in Jincheon.

The reason was simple. He had already arrived in Jincheon-gun the day before and had already spent the day there, and he was just a taxi away from the athlete’s village.

And the reason he came to Jincheon-gun first was also simple. His girlfriend Jeong Ga-in was here, and last time Jeong Ga-in came all the way to Seoul, so this time Choi Seong-hyeon came all the way to Jincheon-gun.

“Hmm… Come to think of it, the team leader said he would prepare a room earlier, but I have to ask for one.”

“What, where to sleep today? Is not it. Two men sleep, I don’t need two.”

Kang Tae-han and Choi Seong-hyeon scheduled a massage for two days. In that case, it is natural to stay here for the night.

Choi Seong-hyun thought that there was no need to give a separate room, since he was not going to stay for a long time and was just sleeping for a day.

However, Kang Tae-han did not mean that. He looked at Choi Seong-hyun and said in a playful voice.

“No, I mean… Since I came all the way to Jincheon, I thought it would be better to spend time with Ga-in.”

“Oh, what are you talking about, really!”

And at those words, Choi Seong-hyeon reacted in a fit of rage. However, after a moment of silence and deep thought, he opened his mouth in a low voice.

“… Is it right to do that?”

“Do it yourself.”

In response, Kang Tae-han let out a chuckle. In the meantime, the door opened and another player poked his head into the room.

“Me, are you there?”

“Yes. You can come in and lie down here.”

Kang Tae-han smiles and points to the bed. At the same time, Choi Seong-hyeon also changed his playfulness to an expression that was gone.

Even though they came here for some kind of volunteer work, they were still working with a serious mindset.

* * *

After Kang Tae-han came to the Jincheon Athletes’ Village and started massaging.

It’s only been a few hours, but the impact is already showing up all over the athletes’ village.

“Coach! How did I come out this time?”

“… This makes little sense.”

“Eh, I thought I played well, but isn’t it?”

“No, not that… 100 m 10.97 seconds. At this rate, I can go out as a sprinter rather than a long-distance runner, right?”

“Senior, is something really good about this rally?”

“Is not it? Do you feel it?”

“Hey, this definitely has a massage effect… … .”

A smiley atmosphere that bursts out regardless of the event. At the center of the atmosphere, there were players who returned to training after receiving a massage first.

“The kids in archery and taekwondo were having so much trouble, so it was worth it… … .”

“I thought they were just being humble. I’m just afraid if I get good grades these days, I won’t be lucky.”

It was not a regular training to measure and record records, it was just light training, but there was a difference enough to be noticed.

Especially the person who moves his body.

The feeling he felt himself was on a completely different level. Even if you do the same performance as usual, the burden on your body is different. I would say it feels much lighter.

It’s like tearing down an old electronic product and trying it on for the first time.

Recently, ahead of the Olympics, there was such a strangely uncomfortable atmosphere, somewhere rigid and saggy, flowing inside the athlete’s village, but that atmosphere disappeared completely and energy flowed for the first time in a while.

“You worked really hard, sir.”

And a staff cafeteria located inside the athletes’ village.

Team leader Woo, who was having a late lunch there, bowed his head to Kang Tae-han and said,

“You’re welcome. I haven’t even done it for a few minutes yet.”

“haha. Even so, it felt like the atmosphere of the athletes’ village had already changed. As far as the employees working in the building feel, I said everything.”

Team leader Wu said that and picked up the side dish with chopsticks. Then, as if he remembered it belatedly, he opened his mouth with a shy expression.

“This, originally, should have been treated in a more plausible place… sorry.”

“I think the rice here comes out well enough, too.”

At Team Leader Woo’s words, Kang Tae-han smiled and said as if it was not a big deal. In fact, the food here was showing a quality that was superior to that of most restaurants, where you can’t really complain.

“The liver seems to be just right, and there is nothing to say about the nutritional aspect. I think I would have regretted it if I had left this place and ate somewhere else.”

“What actually… I don’t know if you go all the way to the city, but around here, the athletes’ village serves the best food.”

This is a so-called mountain and clean air place.

In other words, it means that people were less likely to visit it originally. As the athletes’ village came in, there were shops around it, but honestly, it was also true that there was no place to take guests.

“Let’s treat it once in Seoul next time.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Kang Tae-han speaks with an embarrassed expression. Woo Dae-seok shook his hands as if he couldn’t do that.

“No, the teacher put in all this effort for our national team players, but I have to treat them to at least one meal, no, dozens of times.”

“I’m not doing anything that great.”

Kang Tae-han opened his mouth with a more embarrassed voice.

“I’m just warming up so the players can show their skills.”

It was true.

Athletes who received massaging from Kang Tae-han showed off good results, but Kang Tae-han is not a person who can create something out of nothing.

It is said that if you receive his massage, your body will become like new, but it is only to raise your body to the best condition, it does not make you have skills that you do not have.

Even if the engine of a compact car is replaced with a new one, it is only a compact vehicle, and even if the computer is completely repaired, if the parts are not upgraded, the performance will eventually stand still.

In other words, it is to make minus zero.

Of course, that in itself makes no sense. Not only does it relieve the fatigue accumulated in the body, but it is also at the level of resolving even injuries that require you to decide to retire.

However, anyway, Kang Tae-han is not a person who creates something out of nothing. If someone got a good result after getting a massage from him, Kang Tae-han created the conditions for him to show his skills properly, not to make him lack skills.

“Even if they received the same massage, there would be some differences in the effect for each player.”

“Hmm… is that so.”

At those words, Woo Dae-seok nodded slowly. However, he opened his mouth as if adding in a voice that seemed to be natural.

“Well, even so, wouldn’t it be self-sufficient?”

“It is.”

Kang Tae-han’s massage can definitely be a great opportunity.

However, the original opportunity is something that can be seized by those who prepare. Kang Tae-han nodded slowly, as if agreeing with Woo Dae-seok’s argument, and brought a spoonful of rice to his lips.

* * *

“Hey, Kim Chan-soo.”

“… … .”

That night. A vacant lot near the accommodation.

A man’s annoyed voice resounded in this deserted place where no one came and went even during the day, and there was no lighting.

“You don’t answer, Kim Chan-soo?”

“Yes, senior.”

“Ha, this is real. You man, are you complacent now that you overtook me and became the national representative?”

“no.”

One of the two standing in the dark was Kim Chan-soo, a national taekwondo representative, and the other was Jang Tae-cheon, a reserve candidate and one year senior at the same school.

“You bastard, looking at it today, he just endured with massage hair. That’s right, as a national representative, it’s filthy to sway… Ha, really.”

He brushed off the ashes from the cigarette butt he was holding, then tossed it around and continued.

“is not it? I just knew it when I saw the kids who came out after receiving a massage today. If you receive this and don’t represent the national team, that’s an idiot, dude.”

“… no.”

While Jang Tae-cheon was speaking in a trembling voice, Kim Chan-soo, who had been listening quietly, raised his head and opened his mouth.

“I don’t know anything else, but I think it was because of you that you lost the representative position to me. He’s been absent from training every time, and he hasn’t stopped drinking and smoking yet.”

“this… this bastard?”

“The reason I started receiving massage was because of a car accident, and it has nothing to do with the selection of the national team, isn’t it? I think what you said is unfair.”

Kim Chan-soo speaks in a quiet yet clear tone.

Then, veins appeared on Jang Tae-cheon’s face.

However, I couldn’t refute it, because none of them were wrong. He clenched his fists with his hands as if to replace his lack of verbal skills with other means.

But at that moment.

“Well… … .”

Before he knew it, he heard the sound of someone approaching behind him. Approaching without any sign, he put his hand on Jang Tae-chun’s shoulder and spoke in a low voice.

“I was going to take a walk because the night air was nice… Wouldn’t it be a bit annoying to passers-by if you talk so loudly?”

He is none other than Kang Tae-han.

Kang Tae-han spoke in a calm tone as usual, but now there was a chill in his voice that seemed to harden even the veins.

That coolness… It’s not the feelings you have when dealing with people.

It was the kind of cold feeling that would only come out when dealing with a small creature hovering in front of you. Jang Tae-cheon stood still, not even thinking about looking back.

No, no.

Even if I tried to look back, my body wouldn’t move at all. I only put a hand on his shoulder, but the pressure I felt there was indescribable.

“It’s such a low-level thing.”

“… Sin, sorry.”

Kang Tae-han’s still cold voice.

At those words, Jang Tae-chun only uttered the words of apology with trembling lips.