Yang Chi-seung Says Gym Fraud Loss Is Nearer 2 Billion Won Than the Reported 1.5 Billion

Gym owner Yang Chi-seung says the lease fraud that closed his gym cost about 2 billion won in total, and that actor Park Ha-na lent him a large sum when he could not find the money to refund members. He said that after the loan, the refunds were fully settled.

Yang spoke on KBS2's "Mr. House Husband 2," broadcast on the 17th, after working a day at his small bakery in an underground arcade at Gangnam Station with the siblings Park Seo-jin and Park Hyo-jeong. The episode also showed how he came to run a bakery after closing his gym, the siblings' one-day part-time job, and what his family went through after the fraud.

Reported 1.5 billion won, actual about 2 billion

Over a meal, Park Seo-jin said he was shocked to hear about the fraud and asked whether the losses had been large. Yang replied that the publicly known damage was 1.5 billion won, but that adding interior costs, lawyers' fees and membership refunds brings it to about 2 billion won. "Even if I scraped together all my funds, I didn't have the money to refund people, but the actor Park Ha-na readily lent me a large sum, and after that I settled the refunds completely," he said. The programme dealt with both the background to the bakery and the way refund costs were added to the damage figure.

Yang said he had been running his gym when the lease fraud shut it overnight. He described the problem as linked to a build-and-donate system, in which a private operator builds a facility, donates it to the state or a local government and uses it for a set period. According to Yang, the operator's duty to disclose had not been properly carried out. He said other tenants had been hit in the same way, in a structure where tenants kept paying rent to an operator whose right of use had already ended.

On the episode he also spoke in detail about the shortage of refund money and Park Ha-na's help, and put the total spent on the facility, interior, lawyers and member refunds at about 2 billion won. His family learned of the fraud from TV news and struggled with it, he said. "The kids didn't even turn on the air conditioner in midsummer, and they cut off their own tutoring," he said. Park Seo-jin said he too tends to endure hard times alone rather than tell his family, that he understood Yang's feelings, and recounted crying as he walked in front of his home.

A bakery of just over four pyeong, and siblings who owed a favour

The siblings' visit grew out of an earlier free trial personal training session. They had received the free session from Yang for dieting but did not sign up for a membership. Park Seo-jin and Park Hyo-jeong turned up in the middle of Gangnam Station carrying congratulatory opening plants, both to mark the opening and to apologise for that. Yang told them to repay the debt of conscience by working part-time, and they accepted.

The shop is a little over four pyeong in the underground arcade. Yang said the gym had closed overnight because of the lease fraud and that he had been there for three months. He said he did everything himself, from the interior to menu development, unlike when he ran the gym. "I'm accepting my second life naturally," he said.

Park Seo-jin made salad bread in the shop, while Park Hyo-jeong prepared to receive customers and then held a free tasting event in front of Gangnam Station to draw people in. Park Seo-jin signed autographs for a fan who came after seeing his sibling's promotion. When an acquaintance of Yang placed a group order for 30 loaves, the siblings delivered it themselves. They worked seven hours in total on the programme and, after closing the shop, went to eat with Yang.

One portion paid, and Hwanhee's month at home

After the meal, Yang handed the siblings their day's wages, said "Thank you for coming today," and left early, saying he had something to do. As Park Seo-jin and Park Hyo-jeong prepared to leave, the restaurant owner told them they still had to pay the rest of the bill: Yang had settled only one portion. Park Seo-jin laughed in embarrassment but said, "Still, I got paid and ate meat, so it was a rewarding day." The meal was all-you-can-eat meat, and Yang and Park Hyo-jeong wolfed down thin-sliced pork belly.

The episode also showed Hwanhee beginning a month of living with his mother at his family home. On day four, to give her one meal a day, he served a meal-kit braised chicken dish with rice and a fried egg. He then clashed with her over dishwashing, recycling and water left on the bathroom floor. Late at night he confided in her about Fly to the Sky's comeback after eight years and his worries about trot fans. The scene in which his mother scolds him for not wiping the bathroom floor drew the episode's highest nationwide rating, 4.8%, according to Nielsen Korea.

The next episode of "Mr. House Husband 2" airs on KBS2 on November 7 at 10 p.m.

Read the original (Korean)