Chapter 21
Youth itself is a great merit.
Simply put, aside from having a lot of time left, it’s the time when the most life energy flows through the body and shines.
However, Choi Taejun’s body is in a state where its vitality is almost drying up.
He looks fine on the outside, but his internal energy and mental strength are at rock bottom.
The mental burden of a slump and the physical abuse to get out of it.
These two shackles, and the vicious cycle they create, were enough to ruin a talented young man.
‘It would have been better if he had been a resourceful guy.’
Expectations and criticisms pouring in from the outside.
Expectations sometimes make a person grow, but sometimes they ruin a person.
No matter how talented a human being is, there are limits, but there are no limits to the expectations of others.
What if you try to meet expectations that exceed your limits?
If you’re lucky, you might be able to do it a few times, but in the end, you’ll break down.
Even if you go beyond your limits, it cannot be called a normal process.
If you feel like you’re going to break, you need to know how to avoid it.
However, this man was not that kind of person.
To put it nicely, he is sincere, and to put it badly, he is foolish, that kind of person.
He probably would have found the cause of the problem in himself and repeated arduous training.
It must have ended up like this.
You can tell just by looking at the condition of his body.
Then what measures should be taken?
In fact, as mentioned earlier, youth itself is a great merit.
It is true that his internal energy is damaged and his energy is depleted, but if you just take care of his hand so that his recovery ability is revived, he will soon be overflowing with energy again.
Choi Taejun’s current state is like a dead car.
To be more precise, it can be said that not only is it discharged, but the wires spread out in various places have also gone slightly bad.
‘Then, first of all, I have to take care of the wires.’
From the Mingmen point to the Dazhui point, he presses dozens of acupoints along the spine in turn.
The spine is truly a pillar of the body.
It connects various organs, as well as from the lower Dantian to the upper Dantian, and is truly the center of the body.
In addition, thick major acupoints flow along the spine, and the acupoints formed along the thick stems also become important acupoints, each with a significant weight.
He quickly stimulated those areas in order.
The shock spread throughout the body in an instant, enough to awaken the dried and hardened meridian points.
“Heuk, heueu…”
However, Choi Taejun’s perspective, who was experiencing it firsthand, was different.
A feeling as if something was soaring up from his tailbone to the top of his head and exploding!
But that’s not all.
The stimulation that flowed from bottom to top along the spine soon scattered left and right, penetrating every part of his body, to the tips of his fingers.
“Oh my. You have to breathe.”
“Keheuk, heok, heok.”
Choi Taejun, who was even struggling to breathe due to the sudden stimulation.
Kang Taehan, who was watching him, lightly patted him on the back, and only then did he let out a short cough and catch his breath.
“Te, Teacher.”
The title of ‘Teacher’ came out naturally without anyone telling him to.
Choi Taejun sat up slightly and held out his hand.
“Just a moment, just a moment.”
After taking a few deep breaths, Choi Taejun barely picked up the cotton and thought for a moment about what had just happened.
‘What is this?’
He’s had quite a few massages.
There were times when he made noises while getting a massage.
But it was always because of the unbearable pain, not because of this strange sensation.
This is like… a feeling as if he had been hit by a stun gun, even though he had never been hit by one before.
No, it’s very different from a stun gun.
If you get hit by a stun gun, your whole body will hurt, but this is a different sensation from pain.
He doesn’t know if this word is appropriate, but… It feels closer to pleasure than pain.
‘…Huh?’
He looked at his palm at the sudden cool sensation.
The same feeling as when he tied his forearm for a long time as a child, pretending to play with electricity, and then released it, like the blocked blood flowing again.
At first, the feeling that lingered inside his palm soon began to be felt throughout his body.
It’s like a feeling of cold, clear water flowing here and there inside the body.
Is it because of that?
He may just feel that way, but his drooping body seems to be filled with vitality.
“Teacher, this is really amazing… Heueok!”
But his admiring praise was cut short.
Kang Taehan’s hand started to move again.
He had only paused for a moment until the stimulation spread through the meridian points, but he wasn’t waiting because he had asked him to wait.
‘I think it’s time to start.’
He hadn’t put that much effort into it before.
The main purpose was to stimulate the meridian points and awaken them.
If too strong a stimulus is suddenly applied to a hardened meridian point, it can actually cause harm, so it is a necessary process, like a warm-up.
Now enough stimulation would have been delivered even between the detailed minor acupoints.
He was now ready to begin in earnest.
“Heok, heok, heuu…”
Of course, it was a separate issue whether Choi Taejun himself was ready or not…
Kang Taehan’s touch began to press each acupoint nonchalantly.
“Hmm. Breathe.”
“Keuheok, huu, huu.”
Kang Taehan even kindly took appropriate measures whenever his breathing was irregular.
⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢
“Really? Did you say Choi Taejun is here?”
“That’s what I’m saying, man. Have you ever seen me lie?”
“I’ve never seen Manager lie, but I’ve never seen a celebrity come here either. So, between the two, I think Manager is more likely to lie?”
At Choi Seonghyeon’s words, Manager Hwang’s head tilted to the side. His words sounded quite plausible.
“Li… listening to it like that, it’s true, but I’m telling you it’s real? He got a massage from Mr. Taehan a while ago, and he’s sleeping in there right now.”
“If it’s real… Wow, this is the first time I’m seeing a baseball player in person.”
Choi Seonghyeon’s excitement leaks out.
Manager Hwang chuckled at the sight.
“Didn’t you badmouth Choi Taejun a while ago?”
“Hey, that was just talk. How many players have debuted professionally and risen to the main force this quickly.”
Choi Seonghyeon scratched his head awkwardly and muttered.
He usually said something, but he was cheering for him inwardly.
He even fought with a guy who left a malicious comment in the comment section of an article for a long time.
“But he does seem to be going through a lot.”
“Really? Why?”
“Just… He looked really bad, even I could tell.”
Manager Hwang made a pitiful voice.
Maybe because he was wearing sauna pajamas, his body seemed to be sagging a little more than when he saw it in pictures.
“Mr. Taehan must have taken care of it… Uh.”
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, just in time the door opened and Choi Taejun came out.
Choi Seonghyeon and Manager Hwang straightened their postures at the same time, as if they had promised.
“Did you enjoy your massage?”
“Yes. It was very nice.”
Manager Hwang’s voice was completely different from when he was chatting earlier.
Meanwhile, Choi Taejun’s voice was particularly clear.
‘…He said he seemed to be going through a lot.’
Choi Seonghyeon glanced sideways at Manager Hwang.
Choi Taejun, who came out, looked completely different from what Manager Hwang had said.
Far from looking bad, he even felt refreshed and neat.
But Manager Hwang was also embarrassed.
How can a person’s impression change so drastically?
It was a change as if he had put a person in a washing machine and washed them.
Or was his memory wrong?
“Could I get the Teacher’s business card?”
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
Manager Hwang immediately picked up a business card and handed it to him.
It was now a very natural thing for Kang Taehan’s clients to come out after getting a massage and look for a business card.
‘Teacher Kang Taehan…’
Choi Taejun looked at the business card with admiration.
Choi Taejun himself was also surprised by this dramatic change.
He was getting a massage absentmindedly, and when he came to his senses…
He was sleeping in a dark room.
With drool on his pillow.
It felt like he had been drugged with sleeping gas in a movie.
But there was nothing wrong with his body.
On the contrary.
‘My body feels so refreshed.’
Before and after losing consciousness.
The difference was so stark that he wondered if it was the same body.
His arms and legs felt so light that he wondered if this was okay, and he could feel the vitality overflowing in his body.
Even the gloss of his skin seemed different.
And one more thing.
The foreign body sensation he felt in his shoulder disappeared as if it had been washed away.
The feeling that hadn’t gone away even after visiting more than ten hospitals was gone like a lie.
“How is your shoulder?”
When Choi Taejun put his business card in and came out of the massage shop.
Someone spoke to him from behind.
Choi Taejun turned his head at the familiar voice, though the tone was different.
“Teacher Kang.”
He was none other than Kang Taehan.
Choi Taejun smiled because he wanted to thank him separately.
“Thank you so much.”
“How’s your shoulder? Is it better?”
“Yes. It’s not just better, it’s completely gone. How did you do it?”
“I put some effort into it.”
Kang Taehan said with a sly smile.
But Kang Taehan didn’t do anything special.
He just reawakened and activated the meridian points in his body, and infused him with a little vitality to boost his regenerative abilities.
Actually, the cause of Choi Taejun’s foreign body sensation was trivial.
There was damage to the meridian points where the surgery was performed, but it was a small wound that would heal naturally over time.
It’s just that his body was exhausted and his meridian points were hardened, so he hadn’t recovered and it remained.
In the end, this could also be said to be a problem caused by Choi Taejun overworking himself.
“But if you overwork your body again, you’ll quickly return to your original state. So, please get plenty of rest.”
That’s why Kang Taehan came out on time and gave him advice.
If he left him like this, he would most likely fall back into the vicious cycle of overwork and self-blame.
“Is that so… But it’s hard to do that.”
Choi Taejun smiled bitterly at his words.
“Actually, I’m a professional player… but my performance is not good. When I think about the fans’ expectations and disappointments in me, even when I’m resting, it doesn’t feel like I’m resting.”
He has a great mindset for the fans.
But it’s also in moderation.
If his condition deteriorates because of that, wouldn’t it be absurd?
Kang Taehan smiled lightly.
“Then, let me give you a good prescription.
“…A good prescription?”
Choi Taejun’s ears perked up.
Hasn’t he already experienced massage skills that are close to magic?
He had the expectation that there would be something mysterious and special this time as well.
“Don’t read internet news.”
“…Yes?”
However, the words that came out of his mouth were extremely modern.
Kang Taehan added a word to Choi Taejun, who was slightly dumbfounded.
“And focus more on the words of people close to you than the words of people you don’t even know. Just keep these two things in mind.”
Then be careful going.
Kang Taehan left those words and went back inside.
