Hi guys, sorry for the hiatus. I was busy with my exams and my job. From today onwards, I will complete the full quota of chapters.
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By 11 PM, the dinner plates were piled in Dominik's sink, and the five ITZY members were putting on their coats in the entryway.
"I'm serious," Ryujin said, tying her shoes. "If you ever get tired of driving in circles, our dorm kitchen is yours. I will personally negotiate your salary with JYP."
Dominik laughed, leaning against the doorframe. "I'll keep it in mind as a backup plan. Get home safe. Try not to let Dispatch catch you getting out of the van."
After the girls left, the massive apartment fell quiet. Dominik ran the dishwasher and crashed onto his sofa. A few minutes later, his phone vibrated against the glass coffee table.
Yeji:We made it back. Barely survived the food coma. Thanks again for feeding us.
Dominik typed back quickly.
Dominik:Glad you survived. Get some sleep. I'm up at 6 AM for training.
Yeji:Training? Like lifting weights?
Dominik:Neck conditioning. Simulating G-forces. It's basically an hour of voluntary torture.
There was a brief pause. The typing indicator bubbled up, disappeared, and came back.
Yeji:Ryujin is reading over my shoulder. We have tomorrow morning off. Can we come watch?
Dominik chuckled.
Dominik:If you really want to spend your morning watching me sweat in a harness, sure. I'll send the address. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The Next Day
Whatever cozy image the girls had of Dominik from the night before vanished the second they walked into the Gangnam private performance center.
The air smelled of chalk and sweat. Dominik was sitting on a specialized bench, strapped into a heavy, modified racing helmet attached to a pneumatic pulley system. His trainer, Jaehyun, was barking out timings.
Dominik finished the set, unclipping the chin strap with trembling hands. His face was flushed, chest heaving as he grabbed a towel.
Yeji stared at the menacing-looking machine. "Dominik... can we try?"
The other girls nodded, looking halfway between terrified and curious.
Dominik looked at his trainer. Jaehyun smirked and shrugged. "Sure. I'll drop the resistance."
Dominik wiped down the helmet pads with an alcohol wipe while Jaehyun dialed the machine down to a measly 5 kilograms.
"Start slow. It's lateral resistance pulling to the right," Dominik explained, stepping back to take a drink. "Just use your neck to keep your head perfectly straight."
Ryujin, the strongest of the group, went first. At 5kg, she managed fine. "This isn't bad!"
"Going to twelve," Jaehyun warned, tweaking the dial.
The machine hissed. Ryujin let out a sharp "Ah!" as her head violently yanked sideways, her neck muscles straining as her face turned bright red. "Nope! Stop, stop! That's awful."
Chaeryeong and Yuna both tried it. Neither lasted more than three seconds at 12kg before tapping out. Lia took one look at them rubbing their sore necks and crossed her arms. "I'm protecting my vocal cords. Hard pass."
Yeji stepped up last. She pulled her pink-highlighted hair into a messy ponytail and strapped the helmet on. She tensed up, but her posture was crooked.
"Wait," Dominik said, stepping in close.
He reached out, his fingers pressing firmly against the thick band of muscle on the side of her neck. "You're trying to use your shoulders. Don't. Push from right here."
His fingertips were calloused and warm. Yeji swallowed hard, suddenly hyper-aware of how close he was standing in the brightly lit gym.
"Ready?" Jaehyun asked.
Yeji clamped her jaw and nodded. The 10kg force hit. Yeji gasped, her eyes squeezing shut as she fought just to keep her vision level. It felt like someone was trying to rip her head off her shoulders. When Jaehyun finally released the tension, she practically collapsed against the backrest, rubbing her collarbone.
"My head feels like a bowling ball," she panted.
"What's your normal weight for this?" Chaeryeong asked, staring at Dominik.
Dominik just smiled, taking the helmet from Yeji. He strapped himself back in.
"We aren't doing static holds today," Jaehyun told the girls, bypassing the normal weight plates and turning a heavy-duty knob on the rig's console. "We're doing dynamic pulls. Sudden, violent snaps. It mimics taking a high-speed corner or a crash."
Dominik crossed his arms tight over his chest. His casual demeanor evaporated. His eyes locked onto the mirror with a cold, dead-eyed focus.
Jaehyun grabbed the manual release handle. He set the dial to 70 kilograms.
"Seventy?" Lia whispered.
Clack.
Jaehyun threw his entire body weight backward, engaging the pulley. The 70-kilogram force slammed into Dominik's helmet.
It was brutal. Dominik's entire torso was dragged an inch across the bench by the sheer violence of the pull. The veins in his neck and forehead instantly popped, thick like cords under his skin. His jaw locked tight enough to crack teeth, his face contorting into an ugly, raw mask of exertion.
But his neck didn't bend.
Under 70 kilos of lateral force—enough to snap a normal person's cervical spine—his head stayed pinned in the exact same position, anchoring his shifting body weight. It wasn't just resistance; it was a violent explosion of muscle control.
Two seconds later, Jaehyun dropped the handle.
Dominik let out a ragged, guttural exhale, his head dropping forward as he unclipped the helmet.
The five girls stood in dead silence. They spent their entire lives in dance studios perfecting body mechanics and physical control. But this wasn't art. It was raw, ugly survival.
Suddenly, the fact that Dominik had such a thick, muscular neck compared to his lean frame made terrifying sense. That was the armor required to survive 5 Gs in a corner.
Yeji walked forward mechanically, handing him his towel. She looked at his red, sweating face, her voice quiet.
"Dominik... are you Iron Man?"