Chapter 2.2   - Game Start

ChubbyCheeks

A celebrity professional health trainer, an A class dietitian [1], and a national athletes and representatives' rehabilitation trainer. These three people were watching Minhyuk and his big build exercise in the pool. Minhyuk's father was the head of Ilhwa group that was the reason why he was able to live a very rich and extravagant life. This was also the reason why these people were hired to take care of his daily needs and life.

Minhyuk moved frantically in the water, it was as if he was trying to smack the water away with how vigorous his strokes were. There was only one reason why this was the only exercise that he could do...

'My knees will break if I run.'

Minhyuk had already exceeded the range of high obesity and if he ever ran then his body would definitely break down. For him who was suffering such a terrible and rare disease, even if he exercised extremely hard, sweated like crazy and burned lots of calories, his body would still remain fat.

"Ha… Ha… Ha…"

Oh Changwook, Minhyuk's health trainer talked to him when he saw him breathing hard.

"Minhyuk-ah [3] shall we take a break?"

"No. ha… ha… I'll do… ha… ha… a bit more."

None of the three people laughed at Minhyuk's disheveled and big figure because they have watched him grow and have seen how desperate he was and how hard he tried just to lose some weight.

Splash!

Whenever he tried to move, his belly would shake and his breath would always turn ragged. This was how difficult it was for him to move with how big he was currently.

While the three people were looking at him, Minhyuk shared what he and Jinhwan talked about in the hospital.

*flashback*

'When Minhyuk tried to play the game Versal, you ended up gaining 20kg of weight and suffered from a yo-yo effect.'

He felt full in the game but he was not able to taste the food which ended up triggering a more terrible yo-yo effect.

What should I eat? Ah! I really want to taste it.

The game triggered in him a much larger desire to eat food in reality instead of suppressing it. This was the reason why Minhyuk ended up gaining 20kg instead of losing weight. This effect had endangered his life more than what he was already in effect.

'So even if you could try the food in there, you might experience a different yo-yo effect. You might want to taste what you ate in the game in real life.'

Minhyuk knew that fact. And right now, the only thing that he needed to do was to choose.

'You can choose whatever you want. But I just want to tell you…'

Jinhwan looked extremely bitter.

‘I don’t think we have any other choice, right?'

Jinhwan used 'we'. This informed Minhyuk that the both of them did their best but they had now run out of confidence on the other treatments and that they did not have any other choices to choose from. In fact, the only thing that they were scared of the most was what would happen if this went wrong and the yo-yo effect turned out to be on a worse scale than before.*end of flashback*

"Hoo."

Oh Changwook and the rest of the trainers helped pull out Minhyuk from the pool once he was done exercising. They immediately covered him with a towel as they helped him dry off.

Right now, Minhyuk was feeling extremely hungry. Like an athlete exhausted after his training who wanted to eat a big meal. However, he couldn’t afford to do so.

'This damned appetite…!'

His stomach felt relatively fine when he was exercising, he did not even feel a shred of hunger even if he exercised so hard. However, the moment he stopped his exercise, his horrendous appetite would rear its ugly head once more. For Minhyuk, it felt like someone was screaming in his head to just eat, eat and eat! It was a terrible disease in a way that it would always tell him to continue to eat even though he ate a lot already.

And as always, food had already been prepared and ready to eat in the gym. He was given a big bowl of salad that was made with cabbages, onions and his staple diet food, cherry tomatoes. It also went without saying that the salad had no sauce at all. Cherry tomatoes and a select few protein supplements were the only food that Minhyuk was allowed to eat.

Crunch, crunch—

Minhyuk kept on putting this tasteless food in his mouth just to satisfy even a bit of his insane hunger but no matter how much he ate he still felt like his stomach was still empty. He keenly felt that stomach was like a bottomless abyss.

He emptied the first plate then grabbed the second.

He emptied the second plate then grabbed the third.

He emptied the third plate then grabbed the fourth.

This act of continuous eating would keep on repeating all the time and would only stop when he fell asleep or when he exercised. If Minhyuk ever stopped eating then he would experience symptoms that were closely related to seizures. He would feel extremely anxious and his heart would start to beat rapidly which in turn would make his breathing difficult.

In the past, Minhyuk had undergone through what he dubbed was one of the worst treatments. They had locked him in a room alone without any food whatsoever. The result was a completely horrible and traumatic experience. Minhyuk was so hungry that he even ate the tissue [4] in the room [5].

After he ate his fifth bowl of salad, he went and picked up a box of cherry tomatoes.

"Hyung [6], is Athenae fun?"

"Athenae?"

He heard that Oh Changwook was a mid to high ranker in Athenae so he believed that he would know something about the game.

"Yeah, it's fun. There's nothing more fun than Athenae these days."

"I'll give it a try then."

"Athenae."

Oh Changwook smiled softly at him. He had been with Minhyuk for years and in his observations Minhyuk’s daily life was spent the same way everyday. Work out, eat then sleep. Work out, eat then sleep. It did not even cross his mind to go out and play. So for Changwook and the rest of the people who had been with Minhyuk throughout his treatments, all they ever wished for was for Minhyuk to live a life like any other ordinary human being.

"What? Are you going to break a new record again?"

"Hehe, as expected of a cool man like me. Maybe this is the touch of a ranker?""You're after all a perfectionist, you will definitely be the best then stop playing it altogether. Is there still anything that you don't have?"

"A slim and fit body."

"......"

Changwook laughed his head off.

"Sometimes your jokes are not that funny."

"Then shouldn't you cry?"

"No, well…"

Changwook ended up mumbling his words.

"Laughing is really the better choice."

"Hup!"

Minhyuk stood up smiling.

"Right now, do you know where my fath…"

Suddenly, Minhyuk’s surroundings started to spin. He felt extremely dizzy and his heart was thumping hard. He couldn’t even breathe properly.

Then…

Thud.

He fell down.

"M… Minhyuk-ah!!!"

"C-call the doctor!"

In just an instant, total chaos had descended in the gym.

***

Footnotes

[1] Raw explicitly says diet manager but I used dietitian instead since it is better. Also, fyi, dietitians alters the patient's nutrition and diet based on their medical condition and physical needs. Back

[2] There are two more classes exceeding high obesity or class 3 obesity. Back

[3] Koreans often add -ah or -yah after the name to indicate their closeness. Or if they are younger than them. Back

[4] Raw can either mean trash or tissue… But I think tissue paper is more appropriate since they probably won't have any trash in the room since it's a treatment room right? Back

[5] This may sound disgusting, but if you look at the patient's point of view this would make sense. Since they feel extreme hunger if they don't eat then they would feel that they would die if they don't eat. So in a room without food, what is the next best thing for you to fill your stomach? Back

[6] Hyung : lit. older brother, used by younger males to call a male friend or a male sibling older than themselves Back

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