Omnipotence of Weight Training
Two days had passed since the rebellion of the Jegal family was suppressed.
Jegal Gung quickly erased the traces of the rebellion and battle, directing the warriors and household members from the front.
Was it because he personally helped clean up the blood and bodies, leading by example, even though he was about to become the family head?
Despite only two days passing, his trust among the family members had grown significantly.
In the midst of this, Jegal Gung summoned the warriors and household members to the grand training hall.
‘Is he now declaring himself the head of the family?’
This was the common thought among those gathered in the grand training hall. Having finished the aftermath, it was time to announce a new beginning.
As expected by those gathered, Jegal Gung proclaimed himself as the master of the Jegal family.
However, calling everyone together wasn’t just for that announcement.
“History has always been a mirror that reflects the future. As the head of the family, I believe it is necessary to look back on the past to make a fresh start.”
With Jegal Gung’s words, a tense atmosphere spread through the grand training hall.
‘He must be planning to punish those who participated in the rebellion!’
‘The promise to bury the rebellion was just a lie to get through that moment!’
Those who reached that conclusion began to sweat coldly.
While most of those who actively participated in Jegal Gi-hwan’s rebellion had lost their lives in the battle, many who remained neutral or passively supported Jegal Gi-hwan after the rebellion’s success were still alive.
As people started preparing to flee or gazing tearfully at the sky, expecting a bloodbath purge,
Jegal Gung’s voice pierced their ears.
“I have endlessly pondered why such a horrifying event of blood relatives killing each other occurred. The conclusion was simple. It was because we couldn’t trust each other and kept each other in check despite being blood relatives.”
His words were entirely different from what they expected, and naturally, those in the grand training hall were drawn to Jegal Gung’s story.
“If we continue in the same way as my late father, it is clear that our family will once again experience such a bloody wind. Therefore, our family must change, and I, as the head of the family, will bring about that change.”
Instead of purging all those who participated in the rebellion, he would bring about change in the family.
So how exactly was the new head planning to change the family?
Those gathered in the grand training hall all had this question in mind as they looked at Jegal Gung, who slowly began to speak.
“First of all, from now on, martial arts training will not be hindered by bloodline! Instead, training will be provided according to the level each person has reached!”
At Jegal Gung’s declaration, the eyes of those in the grand training hall widened like pumpkins.
It wasn’t a look of gratitude. Rather, it was a look of disbelief.
Since martial arts were the foundation of the martial families, learning superior martial arts was a symbol of power within the family.
Jegal Gung had declared an abandonment of the superiority of direct lineage, advocating for a merit-based system of skills and talent.
Before the shock could subside, Jegal Gung continued speaking.
“Jin-hee, step forward!”
At his call, Jegal Jin-hee, who was standing in the front, climbed onto the platform with a stoic face.
But that was only her outward expression.
‘Why is Father calling me?’
She had not heard that she would be called in today’s speech, so she was quite perplexed inwardly.
However, Jegal Gung’s next declaration broke even her meticulously crafted stoic expression.
“Furthermore, to prevent any meaningless competition for succession that causes internal strife and schemes, I will announce today that Jegal Jin-hee will be the new minor head of the great Jegal family!”
After Jegal Gung’s groundbreaking declaration.
Jegal Jin-hee was still in a daze.
Although she dreamed of becoming the head of the family, she never expected to get so close to that dream in this way.
Although she had saved her father during the rebellion, she had not done so with this purpose in mind.
Especially since she also rescued her younger brothers during that process, she naturally thought that one of them would become the minor head.
Knowing that baseless expectations only lead to disappointment and discord, she had not expected anything from the beginning.
In a surreal state, as she wandered in front of her pavilion, Mu-jin came to find her.
“Monk Mu-jin, what brings you here?”
“I heard that Miss Jegal Jin-hee has become the minor head and came to congratulate you. From now on, I should call you Minor Head Jegal Jin-hee. Hahaha.”
Jegal Jin-hee replied with a faint smile at Mu-jin’s jest.
“The title seems too long and inconvenient. And I’m still not used to being called minor head.”
“You will get used to it soon. Amitabha.”
“…I wonder if I can?”
For some reason, Jegal Jin-hee asked with a complex expression. But it felt more like she was asking herself than Mu-jin.
“Why do you think that?”
After pondering for a moment, she began to speak slowly.
“Since childhood, my dream was to become the head of the family. But I realized that I couldn’t because I was a woman.”
Mu-jin simply nodded, listening silently to her words.
“So, as a child, I seemed to live with only resentment towards the world. Sometimes I resented the family’s rigid ways, and other times I resented being born as a woman.”
Thus, she had hidden her feelings and pretended to be a genius.
‘He showed me how small my abilities were.’
At a younger age, he had mocked Jegal-hyeon, an elder of the Jegal family, with his words and defeated her, who was called the prodigy of the Jegal family, in martial arts.
He showed her how small the Jegal family, which was once her whole world, really was.
After that, her goal remained to become the head of the family, but her approach changed.
She wanted the recognition of the world, not just the elders of the family.
If everyone in the martial world regarded her as the best warrior of the Jegal family, no one in the family could look down on her.
Thus, she changed. Instead of trying to please the elders to learn the family’s martial arts, she honed herself.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to tell Mu-jin this story.
She felt it was too blunt and embarrassing.
“Ahem. Then I changed my mind. I thought it would be better to hone myself than to try to please the family members.”
“A commendable thought.”
She blushed slightly at Mu-jin’s praise but quickly returned to her usual expression.
“Thank you. But because I changed my mind, the position of minor head feels burdensome. Since the family is going through tough times, my role will be important, but I feel unsure about what to do.”
Mu-jin nodded understandingly at her words.
‘In simple terms, she has matured.’
Instead of thinking about obtaining a position and power, she was first thinking about the responsibilities and tasks that came with it.
Just from these thoughts, Mu-jin felt she would perform much better than those who only desired power.
“Miss Jegal Jin-hee, I believe you will do well.”
Jegal Jin-hee, smiling faintly at Mu-jin’s encouragement, suddenly asked as if she had thought of something.
“If Monk Mu-jin were in my position, what would you do first?” This text is hosted at nοvelfire.net
She asked, hoping he might offer great advice, as he was the person who had changed her and helped her greatly this time, and even possessed the mysterious ability to foresee the future.
Mu-jin, receiving her question, fell into thought for a moment.
‘If I were the minor head?’
His thoughts naturally drifted back to his days as a novice monk.
“Hmm. First, wouldn’t I teach weight training to the family members?”
Mu-jin had concluded that there was nothing better than weight training.
“First of all, as the minor head of a martial family, shouldn’t you enhance the family’s martial prowess? As Miss Jegal Jin-hee now knows, external energy is also very important in martial arts.”
“I know that now. But as a minor head, shouldn’t unifying the family members come before martial prowess?”
“You are right. That’s why you should teach weight training.”
Seeing her puzzled expression, Mu-jin began to explain his omnipotence of weight training theory.
“People tend to bond with others who share the same hobbies. Just imagine. The family members all doing weight training together, engaging in friendly competition by comparing their weights.”
“…Wouldn’t that rather provoke competition and cause fights?”
At her question, Mu-jin shook his head seriously.
“People who like weight training are never bad people.”
“Unlike martial arts, weight training is a static exercise. It’s a competition with oneself. Those who have enjoyed such exercise for years know how to control their anger. And if you’re still worried, Miss Jegal Jin-hee can step in.”
With a slightly dazed look, she asked, and Mu-jin nodded.
“Yes. Since Miss Jegal Jin-hee currently has the best fitness skills, you can show kindness to others. Teach them the best postures for building
muscles, inform them about diets and protein…I mean, protein supplements, and share your daily workout routines.”
“You mean to lead by example?”
“Yes. Additionally, during the workout, when someone reaches their limit, help them with the weights, or when they want to give up, encourage them with ‘Just one more rep!’ That would be perfect.”
Mu-jin’s eyes looked distant as he spoke.
‘Ah, how I miss my gym.’
What Mu-jin was envisioning was the scene of a modern gym.
Fitness enthusiasts working together, sharing information, and dreaming of a better tomorrow.
When they reached their limits in their personal battles, they encouraged each other, forming strong bonds of camaraderie.
Seeing this beautiful gym scene filled Mu-jin’s vision.
Of course, such scenes would be impossible in gyms where member-to-member teaching was prohibited, but the Strongist Gym, which Mu-jin ran, was different.
There are arguments that member-to-member teaching causes a significant decrease in personal training memberships, but Mu-jin disagreed.
To be precise, he believed that as long as certain conditions were met, such issues wouldn’t arise.
First, is the trainer’s ability exceptional? Second, is the gym famous? And third, is there a lack of overzealous fitness enthusiasts?
Every year, every month, every day, beginners come to the gym with a resolution to exercise.
Naturally, if the gym is famous, countless beginners would flock to it.
With an exceptional trainer, a few initial OT sessions can easily draw these beginners into the world of personal training.
The benefits of working with a trainer far outweigh those of beginners helping each other with superficial knowledge.
Moreover, when beginners identify mistakes during their workouts, even if they are not personal training members, if they kindly point out and correct those mistakes, it often leads to a personal training membership.
They are grateful for the help they received and realize how problematic it can be to train alone or with other beginners.
While excessive meddling fitness enthusiasts can be an issue, this too isn’t a major problem.
True fitness enthusiasts, those who fear muscle loss more than incontinence, prioritize their own muscle growth over teaching others.
Therefore, such enthusiasts can only spend an hour or two teaching others at most.
The real issue is unemployed fitness enthusiasts who spend over six hours a day at the gym.
And Mu-jin had a simple solution for dealing with them.
‘If they are unemployed fitness enthusiasts, I would just hire them as trainers.’
He had hired many talented individuals as trainers for the Strongist Gym in this way.
While working hard to grow the gym, he successfully opened seven branches.
‘Who am I, and where am I?’
How did he end up becoming Mu-jin instead of Choi Kang-hyuk?
As Mu-jin was lost in thought, looking far away,
Jegal Jin-hee felt a chill run down her spine seeing Mu-jin’s distant gaze.
It wasn’t a chill of disdain.
‘Could he be reading the future of our family with his divine powers!?’
If so, by following Mu-jin’s advice, by spreading weight training, wouldn’t the family thrive!
Jegal Jin-hee thought.
It was a strange scene with no one fishing, but everyone getting hooked.