Wopora’s new mission promised a sweet reward this time as well.
But what drew his eye more was the bonus mission hanging beneath it.
“It can tell me twenty-four hours of future stock information?”
Was that even possible?
If it really worked, Taeseong — a trader by trade — would post results that made no sense at all.
Taeseong had already earned 4,000,000 won in a single week through Wopora.
At first he had wondered if it was a scam, but it had proved itself with cash, so for now he trusted it.
The app was so remarkable that he searched to see whether other people used it too.
‘It isn’t there?’
The video he had watched was gone, and there was no app called Wopora in the app store either.
The app had no customer service section, so there was no way to contact anyone.
‘Don’t tell me I’m the only one using it?’
Suspicious as it was when he thought it through, he had no intention of quitting.
It paid him for losing weight and threw in premium information — who would turn that down?
From here on he just had to shed weight and rake in money with Wopora in earnest.
“All right, why not sign up for PT while I’m at it?”
Personal training, which he had considered seriously once before and given up on because of the wicked price.
But while 3kg in a week was manageable on diet alone, 5kg in a month was another story.
To diet for a whole month, Taeseong needed a little external force.
Striking while the iron was hot, he searched online and found a suitable gym right near the office.
Even the name was brutal.
-20 one-on-one personal PT lessons: 990,000 won (special discount price!)
-Gym use free with PT registration
The lesson fee was a bit of a burden, but with easy money in hand it was not much of one.
Besides, if he was going to satisfy the bonus mission’s condition of 20 push-ups, he needed to build up some physical ability.
Taeseong got down on the floor of his studio apartment and attempted a push-up.
“O-one...... one...... urgh!”
Splat!
He could not manage even a single push-up, and his belly peeled flat against the floor.
“Not easy.”
The result was obvious.
A wretched, obese body that had never exercised in its life beyond breathing, walking, chewing, and voiding.
And how on earth was a lump of fat twice as heavy as anyone else’s going to do push-ups?
“Would PT make it any better?”
If he was going to keep losing weight through the Wopora app, PT was mandatory.
Wopora provided motivation with thrilling rewards — it was not an app that exercised for you or waved a magic wand to make fat vanish.
“Fine. Whatever else, this is about losing weight and living properly. Let’s not skimp on PT.”
The deliberating took a while; the payment took an instant.
990,000 won of Taeseong’s hard-earned money vanished from his balance.
But the moment he booked his PT schedule, something proud surged up in his chest.
He had only been eating clean for a week and he had already dropped 4kg.
“Would 4kg show at all?”
Taeseong stood in front of the mirror with a fluttering heart.
The eyeball scale, was that what they called it?
At this much, surely it would show even on the out......
“Nothing shows on the outside yet. Tsk.”
The same dull complexion, a belly greasier than a prime seasonal amberjack.
Naturally.
A 160kg giant dropping 4kg meant losing all of 2.5% of his total weight.
Of course it did not show.
But Taeseong did not lose hope.
“The tastiest salinity for the brine you salt kimchi cabbage in is 2.5%, isn’t it.”
He had gone from plain water to tasty brine, which was major progress as far as Taeseong was concerned.
***
The next day.
Taeseong went to work 2.5% lighter.
Maybe because it was Monday, the faces around the office looked rather dark.
Taeseong alone came in with a bright expression.
Sitting down, he bowed a good-morning to Associate Kang beside him as well.
“Good morning.”
“Oh, Assistant Manager?”
Associate Kang tilted her head and stared hard at Taeseong’s face.
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’ve lost a little weight, haven’t you?”
“What, it shows?”
“Of course! The puffiness has gone down noticeably compared to last week. Good thing you started eating clean. It’s working!”
“Kh!”
When Associate Kang recognized his weight loss with that bright face, Taeseong’s heart pounded.
Partly because he was happy, but also because he had angina.
Taeseong hurriedly opened his desk drawer, took out his angina medication, and swallowed it.
‘Phew, that almost killed me.’
A 160kg-class morbidly obese man could drop dead at any time and no one would be surprised.
Which meant the sooner he got down to a normal weight, the longer his thread of life would be.
Taeseong worked through his day faster than usual.
Quitting time.
“Sir, I’d like to head out a bit early today.”
“And the trading journal?”
Today’s P&L was +950,000 won.
A return of roughly 0.1%.
Department Head Park needled him along much the same lines as yesterday.
But Taeseong’s conviction had not changed: in a market like this, not losing mattered more.
“Keep this in mind — results at your current level aren’t enough for a promotion.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So, is there some reason you have to leave early today? Just personal curiosity.”
“That’s...... it’s because of PT.”
“I never assigned you any PT materials.”
“No, sir. A personal training lesson at the gym.”
“Gym PT? Who? You?”
“......You told me to exercise, sir.”
At Department Head Park Geonil’s words, the sound of Manager Jeong and the others stifling laughter drifted over.
Only after landing that dig did Department Head Park Geonil nod, as if he finally understood.
“Right, right. Go on. Our Assistant Manager Kim says he’s exercising — how could I hold him back?”
“Yes, sir, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Once Assistant Manager Kim bowed and left the office.
Manager Jeong sneered loudly enough for everyone around to hear.
“Wow, is this our Assistant Manager Kim’s eighth diet declaration of the season? How long will this one last?”
“I say a week.”
“Come on, he even paid for PT. I say a month.”
“Never mind that, why don’t we all bet? On when Assistant Manager Kim gives up this time.”
The assistant managers and associates gathered around Manager Jeong were snickering over the timing of Taeseong’s surrender when.
“Want in, Hyeona? Everyone’s putting in 10,000 won. I’ve got him giving up within a week. Assistant Manager Seong says a month.”
Assistant Manager Seong Gihyeon smoothly urged Associate Kang to join the bet.
“Hmm, why not. I’ll place one too.”
“Oh, good, good. When are you betting on, Associate Kang? Two weeks? A month?”
“I’ll take the other side.”
As Assistant Manager Seong laid a 10,000-won note down in front of everyone, he asked her.
“The other side? Betting on what?”
“I’m betting that Assistant Manager Kim doesn’t give up on his diet.”
“What? Pffhaha! Hyeona, you like long odds, huh? You’ve got a gambler’s streak.”
Everyone chided her for throwing money away.
But Associate Kang meant it.
‘Why does everyone doubt Assistant Manager Kim this much?’
She might be the youngest in the office, but the Taeseong she had seen so far was not a man who deserved to be looked down on like this.
It was true that he was heavier than most.
But in a runaway market like this one, while everyone else burned through their allocations and posted brutal losses, he carefully protected his assets — that alone made him a man worth trusting.
‘I really hope he sticks with the diet.’
Associate Kang looked toward the elevator where Taeseong had disappeared and quietly rooted for him.
***
Meanwhile.
Having left work on the dot, Taeseong arrived in front of the Dye-Gym near the office and stopped to take a deep breath.
The exercise history of Taeseong, raised as a purebred aristocratic pig, stood at zero sessions.
For a man who got winded and sweaty just from walking, exercise was a horrific act that made him gag at the mere thought.
But.
‘If I want to lose 5kg in a month, this is the only answer.’
If he failed, whether the Wopora app would hand him another mission was anyone’s guess.
He carefully pushed the glass door open, and rhythmic, thumping music came at him.
The front desk staff spotted Taeseong hovering awkwardly at the entrance and greeted him.
“Welcome to Dye-Gym. Is this your first visit?”
“Ah, yes. It’s my first time at a gym, but I made a reservation.”
“I see! And your name, sir?”
“Kim Taeseong.”
Just then, from somewhere.
“Kim. Tae. Seong. Sir!”
A man’s bright voice responded to all three syllables of Taeseong’s name.
At a glance, the fellow had the muscle-packed build you would expect of a trainer.
Above all, his face. His face.
‘Wow, he’s handsome.’
Healthy bronzed skin, sharp eyebrows, and beneath them a nose that carved out a clean T-zone. Down to a lean, angular jawline.
Even to Taeseong, a man, he was flawless — great body, striking face, nothing to fault.
“You’re the member who booked the 20-session one-on-one PT course yesterday, correct?”
“Uh, yes, yes! That’s me.”
“Good to meet you, sir. I’m Kang Pilgeun, head trainer at Dye-Gym.”
Trainer Kang Pilgeun seized the flustered Taeseong’s hand.
Then he immediately dropped into a crouch and ran his hands over Taeseong’s entire body, from calves to shoulders.
“Oh, oh? Ha! Magnificent.”
“What is?”
“In twelve years as a trainer, this is the first body I’ve seen that is such pure fat.”
Why that was magnificent was beyond him, but Trainer Kang Pilgeun’s eyes were serious.
There was none of the mockery of Manager Jeong or Assistant Manager Seong back at the office.
At his insistence that they measure his body composition first, Taeseong stepped in front of the machine with a trembling heart.
“Our machine is a 970-series model, so it handles 300kg easily. We brought it in new this year for members like yourself.”
Judging by his expression, his pride in the gym’s facilities was considerable.
And indeed, despite its ordinary appearance, the base plate was solid enough that even a frame like Taeseong’s posed no problem.
Then came the results sheet.
- Weight: 156kg
- Skeletal muscle mass: 40.5kg
- Body fat mass: 70.3kg
- BMI: 45.58
Beyond that came a complicated spread of numbers — segmental muscle analysis, extracellular water ratio, total body water, protein, minerals.
Every single figure was more than double an ordinary person’s.
At this point most people would start sighing, but Trainer Kang Pilgeun’s eyes only shone brighter, as if he were brimming with drive.
“At last I can achieve my lifelong dream.”
“What dream is that?”
“Folding a person in half by body weight.”
Taeseong could not begin to understand why that would be anyone’s dream.
But contrary to his worries, Kang Pilgeun ran the workout in a fairly rational way.
Taeseong appeared in Dye-Gym’s member uniform, which for some reason came in sizes up to 4XL.
“In your current state, running alone could cause a serious injury. Your knee joints especially would be destroyed.”
The exercise began with walking. And at a speed setting of merely 5.
To an onlooker it might have looked like a leisurely stroll.
Even so, Taeseong’s entire body was covered in sweat.
Next came a rubber band looped between his knees.
He spread his knees lightly to either side, dropped into a squat stance, and walked sideways.
‘Wow, this is that hard?’
It looked like nothing, but Taeseong felt agony fierce enough to leave his thighs quivering.
After that came half squats, jumping jacks, and other bodyweight work easier than an elementary-school PE test.
Even so, his uniform was soaked through — it felt like he had shed a kilogram in sweat alone.
When the workout ended, Kang Pilgeun paid no mind to Taeseong’s sweat-drenched state, threw an arm around his shoulders, and encouraged him.
“You did a truly excellent job today, sir. You have more grit than I expected.”
“Really?”
“Of course! Today’s workout may have looked easy to other people, but for you it was genuinely brutal. I know that feeling well.”
He wanted to shoot back ‘what would you know!’ but he had no strength left for that either.
“From now on I’ll manage your diet as well.”
At the thought of exercising this hard and eating less on top of it, his stomach began to turn.
“Actually, I’ve been eating a bit cleaner lately. How much should I cut my portions?”
“Hmm, quite the opposite. I think you need to eat more than you do now.”
At the unexpected good news, Taeseong’s eyes went round.