Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Chapter 104:

Scene of Mayhem (2)

“Ah, if you bring your right leg slightly inward and balance with your core muscles, that should do it.”

However, for some reason, Mu-jin only explained verbally without touching Ryu Seol-hwa’s body.

“Um, could you hold me directly to help me balance?”

Normally, she would have been too embarrassed to say such a thing. But after seeing Mu-jin touch Jegal Jin-hee’s body, Ryu Seol-hwa had nothing to lose.

Of course, from Mu-jin’s perspective, it was a very awkward situation.

“Ahem. How could I dare touch a woman’s body so carelessly?”

Although Mu-jin wasn’t an overly old-fashioned person, he did have a sense of tact. He was mindful enough to act according to the social norms of the time.

However, the problem was that he lacked the tact to read a woman’s feelings.

“Ah, um… she’s also a martial artist, and we’ve already clashed several times during sparring, so I thought light contact wouldn’t be an issue. But if it made you uncomfortable, I’ll refrain from now on, Lady Jegal Jin-hee.”

When Mu-jin spoke while looking directly at Jegal Jin-hee, she shook her head vigorously.

“No! It’s fine! We’re martial artists, right? Unlike Lady Ryu Seol-hwa.”

Then, behind Mu-jin’s back, she flashed a victorious smile at Ryu Seol-hwa.

Naturally, seeing that smile made Ryu Seol-hwa’s eyes blaze with anger.

“I don’t mind either! So please show me directly with your hands!”

“…Others might see and spread rumors. Lady Seol-hwa, wouldn’t that sadden the Head of the Sangdan?”

“It’s fine! My father would be delighted.”

“Pardon?”

When Mu-jin, puzzled by her incomprehensible words, asked again, Ryu Seol-hwa hastily corrected herself.

“Oh, I misspoke. I meant he would ‘understand.’”

The fact that her father, Ryu Ji-gwang, the head of the Sangdan, was trying to match her with Mu-jin to bring him back to the secular world was a secret known only to her and Ryu Ji-gwang.

And Jegal Jin-hee, who was watching their conversation, quickly caught the true meaning behind Ryu Seol-hwa’s hasty correction.

‘The head of the Cheonryu Sangdan is also targeting Mu-jin! As expected of the head of one of the Five Great Sangdan. He recognizes Mu-jin’s worth.’

It was very significant and threatening information. Unlike her own family, the Jegal clan, which had a rather hostile attitude towards Mu-jin, Ryu Seol-hwa’s family was after him with full force.

Naturally, Jegal Jin-hee and Ryu Seol-hwa exchanged glances filled with various meanings.

‘Could it be… because of me?’

Mu-jin finally began to entertain a thought close to the truth.

‘No, that can’t be.’

But soon, he dismissed the idea.

It was an unavoidable issue.

Mu-jin. No, Choi Kang-hyuk had been a man who, from his early twenties when he served in a special forces unit, worked relentlessly to support his grandmother.

Even after that, it was the same. After his grandmother passed away and he was forcibly retired from the military, he had lived a life obsessed with work and exercise to survive and regain his health.

For seventeen years, he had lived without any romantic relationships, and then an additional six years as a monk, leaving his romantic instincts severely atrophied.

Of course, despite this, given his years of experience, the sudden reactions from the women sometimes led to strange thoughts.

‘I must be really lonely these days. There’s no way anyone would like me, a monk.’

He simply thought this and laughed it off internally.

Though he had every intention of escaping Shaolin and engaging in romantic relationships in the future, the idea that women who knew he was a monk could have romantic feelings for him seemed absurd.

So, why was Ryu Seol-hwa suddenly reacting this way?

In the first place, Mu-jin knew that Ryu Seol-hwa was capable of doing that move herself.

For over three years, Mu-jin had taught her rehabilitation exercises, Close-Range Spear Technique, and yoga.

Despite this, she suddenly insisted she couldn’t do it and demanded to be taught directly by hand.

‘Ah!’

Soon, Mu-jin came up with a new answer.

‘Come to think of it, this happened in modern times too. Members who received PT from the same instructor would complain if the instructor’s teaching style or attitude was different, accusing them of favoritism.’

Everyone feels the same way. It’s natural to feel wronged if one doesn’t receive at least equal treatment. Few people get angry when they receive better treatment.

Therefore, there was only one solution.

‘I have to treat them both equally.’

One was a young lady from the Cheonryu Sangdan, who had been a great help, and the other was a young lady from the Jegal family, who might provide important information in the future.

Mu-jin decided to treat both members completely equally, as he could not afford to be negligent with either.

“Ahem. In that case, I will also help you with your posture directly, Lady Seol-hwa.”

“Ah, yes!”

As Mu-jin said this and approached Ryu Seol-hwa, Jegal Jin-hee glared at Ryu Seol-hwa with a cold expression.

Of course, with his back to Jegal Jin-hee, Mu-jin could not see her expression.

On the other hand, Ryu Seol-hwa also didn’t have the time to worry about Jegal Jin-hee’s expression.

Though she had requested physical assistance out of jealousy, when Mu-jin actually approached and extended his hand, she found herself unable to keep her composure.

“In this posture, the most important things are your core muscles and waist strength.”

As Mu-jin said this and his palm touched Ryu Seol-hwa’s waist,

“Hii!”

Ryu Seol-hwa let out a strange scream.

Startled, Mu-jin slightly withdrew his hand and asked,

“Are you okay?”

“I’m f-fine! No, it’s good!”

“Pardon?”

“No, I mean, not good, but I’m okay! You can continue!”

Ryu Seol-hwa shook her head vigorously as she shouted, making it hard to understand what she was saying.

In truth, even Ryu Seol-hwa herself didn’t know what she was blurting out.

“Ah, yes.”

Mu-jin, with a somewhat awkward tone, placed his hand on her waist to guide her where to apply strength, or held her abdomen to support her, while helping her lift her right leg up.

“Hii, hiik.”

Of course, each time, she let out a sound that was somewhere between a scream and something unidentifiable.

“…Are you really okay?”

Mu-jin asked, looking at her as she kept making strange noises, her face flushed as if it would burst.

“I-I’m fine!”

While Ryu Seol-hwa was losing her composure due to the intense contact (though from Mu-jin’s perspective, it was merely a light touch of his fingertips),

“Ahem. Master Mu-jin. It seems Lady Seol-hwa has got her posture right, so could you assist me now?”

Jegal Jin-hee quickly intervened.

‘Yes. Fairly! Fairly!’

There was a chance Jegal Jin-hee might complain if he didn’t, so now it was her turn to receive his attention.

“Hmm. It seems your body is well warmed up, so let’s move on to strength training.”

With that, Mu-jin brought over some weights.

“Let’s see how much you’ve improved over these two and a half years.”

He handed her an empty bar without any weight plates attached.

“We’ll start with a simple weighted squat.”

Given the importance of speed and fluidity, the most crucial muscles for Jegal Jin-hee were her lower body and core, making squats an ideal exercise.

Holding the empty bar Mu-jin handed her, Jegal Jin-hee said,

“It’s been a while, so could you help me with my posture, Master Mu-jin?”

Despite having learned and practiced under Mu-jin for two and a half years, she deliberately adopted an awkward posture.

Mu-jin, with no other choice, touched her back to help her balance and placed his hands on her thighs to adjust the angle of her legs.

Thanks to Mu-jin’s assistance, she successfully completed several reps of the empty bar squat, and continued to gradually add weight plates to the bar, increasing the load.

“The weight seems to be throwing off my posture a bit, Master Mu-jin.”

Feigning nonchalance, Jegal Jin-hee lied, having deliberately twisted her body.

Every time the weight increased, Mu-jin had to readjust her posture.

In the meantime, the weight she was lifting gradually increased to 150 pounds (90kg).

“Huuh.”

It seemed 150 pounds was her limit, as she completed the squat with a flushed face and used her internal energy to set the bar down.

Watching her, Mu-jin clapped with a pleased smile.

“You can really feel how much effort you’ve put in over these two and a half years! The fact that you can lift such heavy weights, especially considering your thigh muscles, glutes, and spinal erectors! You’ve become much more toned during this time!”

Due to the typical loose clothing of martial artists, he couldn’t see it precisely, but he could tell by feeling her muscles as she increased the weight during squats.

From her lower body up to her core muscles, every muscle was highly developed.

Or rather, beyond that…

‘It’s not easy for a woman of her build to lift 90 kg.’

Jegal Jin-hee appeared to be around 166 to 168 cm tall. In this medieval martial arts world, she was quite tall for a woman.

However, given the nature of the martial arts she practiced, she was likely to have a lean, muscular build. Although it was not clearly visible due to her martial arts clothing, Mu-jin estimated her weight to be around 52 to 55 kg.

While that might seem heavy for a woman, considering the proportion of muscle over fat, it was a balanced weight for her height with muscle.

And for a woman, squatting 90 kg at that weight was an elite level.

Through the quality of her muscles he felt and the weight she lifted, Mu-jin could clearly see how much effort she had put in.

Therefore, he praised the results of her hard work—her thigh muscles, glutes, and spinal erectors.

“Ahem, thank you.”

For some reason, Jegal Jin-hee blushed and cleared her throat.

‘Master Mu-jin seems to pay a lot of attention to women’s lower bodies. And it seems he prefers toned bodies over those with more flesh.’

She believed she had figured out Mu-jin’s preferences from his compliments.

“I need to increase my lower body exercises.”

“Even more?”

“Yes. To suit Master Mu-jin’s preferences…”

“…My preferences? What do you mean?”

“Oh, no! I guess lifting heavy weights made the blood rush to my head. I misspoke. For my martial arts. My martial arts emphasize the lower body and core, after all.”

Seeing her fan herself with her hands as she spoke with a flushed face, Mu-jin smiled gently.

Witnessing the harmonious interaction between the member and the trainer, Ryu Seol-hwa’s eyes burned with jealousy.

“Master Mu-jin.”

“Yes, Lady Seol-hwa?”

“Please teach me too.”

“Teach you what? What do you mean?”

“What you just taught Lady Jegal Jin-hee. Strength training.”

Ryu Seol-hwa had been learning rehabilitation exercises (Pilates) from Mu-jin and working as a kind of rehabilitation exercise instructor for over three years.

But conversely, she had only been consistently doing rehabilitation exercises and yoga-related techniques up until now. She had rarely touched strength training involving heavy weights.

Yet suddenly!

After watching Jegal Jin-hee and Mu-jin interact, she showed interest in strength training!

It was quite a peculiar situation.

“Oh! That’s a great idea, Lady Seol-hwa! While rehabilitation exercises are good, combining them with strength training is the best approach.”

Mu-jin was simply delighted that she showed interest in weight training.

“Then we’ll start with the lower body today, Lady Seol-hwa. Both of you can do it together with different weights.”

Since Jegal Jin-hee was already working on her lower body, Mu-jin thought to have them both do lower body exercises equally.

‘As expected, he likes strong lower bodies.’

‘I was satisfied with just losing weight until now. I must have been such a fool.’

The two women continued to foster their strange misunderstandings.

Afterward, Mu-jin was busy alternating between correcting the postures of the two women, who kept saying, ‘I really don’t know the posture.’

The two women, meanwhile, each flashed a victor’s smile at the neglected opponent whenever Mu-jin focused on them.

“That guy is so lucky.”

“…Is it okay for a monk to act like that, Senior Brother Mu-gung?”

“It seems he has no idea what’s going on, so what can you do?”

“Even Mu-jin has something he doesn’t understand.”

Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong, who were watching the scene, exchanged incredulous looks as they spoke.

“Yeah, how can he not get it?”

“…Maybe we’re the only ones who understand.”

Saying this, Mu-gyeong looked somewhere, and Mu-gung followed his gaze.

Where their eyes landed…

“Heheh. Senior Brother Mu-gung! Senior Brother Mu-gyeong! Aren’t you going to work out more?”

Mu-yul was smiling innocently.