The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 102

I had heard it from my old friends back in the day.

That someone in an awkward position at home, like an unmarried uncle or aunt, would be responsible for the kids?

‘Wherever I go, my role is a babysitter.’

Jinhyuk was aware that he was in an awkward position. It was only natural, considering the small age gap with his parents. Still, having a sense of belonging was something to be proud of. A smile never left Jinhyuk’s face as he watched the little ones running around.

Well, it wasn’t so bad since the kids were playing well together. Jinhyuk also disliked crowded places like department stores, supermarkets, and movie theaters.

It was a decent peace.

‘It feels like I can count on one hand the number of days I’ve rested like this without doing anything.’

Whether it was exercise or studying, he always spent his time doing something.

To forget the pain by focusing on one thing.

But since returning, he had been busy living to protect something.

‘You can’t be peaceful just sitting still.’

It wouldn’t be bad if time stopped like this, but he knew.

Time wouldn’t wait, and even while Jinhyuk rested, someone might be plotting in the shadows.

In the future, there would be even more things to worry about and he would be busier. That was obvious.

Still, to have such satisfying rest even occasionally, he needed someone to manage.

He had unexpectedly received advice from Hong Su-jeong, who was a managing director in the past.

She had cautiously opened her mouth, looking at him, as if she was intimidated by Jinhyuk.

– “Um… I don’t think you were appointed as a team leader to do everything yourself. You need to know how to use people. That’s what I think a leader is… My dad, the chairman, said that the first step of a leader is to find the strengths of each person and place them in the right position. Yes.”

It was a statement that made Jinhyuk, who had been aggressively digging into documents and data, look up and see people. Recalling the young managing director who had bowed to her subordinate, Jinhyuk, while saying what a leader should say, made him chuckle.

‘Yeah, Su-jeong. You’re right.’

Jinhyuk looked up and watched Hong Su-jeong and Bbomi playing.

They called that disc a frisbee. When Hong Su-jeong threw the disc, Bbomi would run and fetch it, and Bbomi was so skilled that she would sometimes catch the frisbee before it even touched the ground.

‘Oh, amazing.’

Watching it made him want to clap. It was amazing to witness something he had only seen on TV. It was as fascinating as seeing a celebrity on the street.

“Kyahaha-.”

Yujin was jumping up and down next to Hong Su-jeong, clapping.

Other kids would have begged for the disc to try it themselves, but Yujin didn’t seem to be greedy about such things.

Heheheh-.

Janggun was also chasing after them diligently, but being short-legged, he couldn’t keep up with Bbomi.

Perhaps feeling sorry for him, Hong Su-jeong threw the disc at Janggun.

“Danguni!”

Clang-!

Janggun was startled when the frisbee suddenly hit his nose. Janggun, who had rolled once on the lawn, ran straight into Bbomi’s doghouse and hid.

‘Tsk, that coward.’

Unfamiliar things made even Janggun, the strongest dog in Dunaeri, hide. Still, watching Janggun running around diligently, Jinhyuk thought he should make a disc and play with him. He had only been running every day, but dogs also liked to play like that. He could cut a circle out of plywood or a box. A paint can lid was round and good, but would it hurt if Janggun got hit by it?

“Yujin do it-.”

“Yes-, ehehe-.”

Yujin politely received the frisbee with both hands.

After playing excitedly for a while, Hong Su-jeong approached Jinhyuk, panting like a dog.

“Hah, hah-, Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to marry me, right?”

Clang-. Jinhyuk heard the sound of a pot lid clashing in his eardrum.

Was this the straight-forward proposal he had only heard about?

It wasn’t the first time this little one had said such things, so he wasn’t flustered. However, Jinhyuk found it difficult to know how to respond each time.

‘Oh, well, let’s just get through this situation.’ Saying yes was too insincere. And saying no firmly, since he didn’t know what the future held, would hurt the little one’s feelings.

He couldn’t even say a word to the little one’s question, fidgeting, and he was supposed to be a genius…

“Because I saw something important. You have to marry me, Oppa.”

“Something important?”

“Eheheh, there is something like that. You don’t need to know.”

What kind of logic was it to say it was important but he didn’t need to know?

Hong Su-jeong looked at Jinhyuk with her eyes narrowed, snorted, and then quickly left. Well, it seemed like she didn’t need an answer since she just said what she wanted and ran back to Yujin. He should be thankful that he avoided a tiring situation. Or should he?

‘Kids are so confusing.’

Jinhyuk didn’t dwell on it, but it bothered him a little. However, it would be ridiculous to ask the little one what she meant, so he just scratched the back of his head.

While peeing on the rice paddy ridge, his dad had told him.

– “It’s easier for a man to be bossed around. Women are smarter.”

Regardless of right or wrong, being bossed around didn’t seem so bad.

She was a person who had shown affection for him in two lifetimes, so having other thoughts felt like betrayal.

Jinhyuk nodded and stood up, clapping his hands.

“Whoa-! Good job, my little sister!”

“Eheheh-.”

Yujin was often throwing herself instead of the frisbee. It was as if the frisbee was pulling her, and every time she threw the disc, she would fall onto the lawn.

‘There’s no lawn at the country house.’

She seemed to enjoy rolling around on the soft lawn more than playing catch.

‘Kids like lawns, huh? I should lay a lawn near the house.’ His dad would take care of the necessary administrative procedures. As Jinhyuk was thinking, a strange scene caught his eye.

Bbomi, who had been watching with a puzzled expression, started rolling around with Yujin.

“Kyahahaha-. Bbomi is having fun too?”

She was a cute little sister no matter when he saw her or what she did.

Jinhyuk spent his time watching Yujin’s adorable antics and clapping.

About an hour later, Hong Su-jeong and Yujin finally ran out of energy and collapsed on the lawn.

Janggun and Bbomi were busy licking each other’s snouts. Did they put honey on their mouths?

Jinhyuk felt a slight pain in his lower abdomen as he thought about his upcoming schedule.

‘The midterm exams start next Tuesday, right?’

Taking exams was fun, but preparing for them was stressful.

***

Farewells are always difficult.

“Unnie, can’t I live here?”

“Oh ho ho- Yes, live here with me.”

Han Yu-young moved her feet with reluctance.

Watching the unfamiliar mother’s reaction, Jinhyuk thought that women preferred the city. Or maybe they just liked department stores.

‘If it weren’t for Yujin, she might really settle down here.’

The one who was most sad about the farewell was Janggun.

Janggun didn’t want to part with Bbomi, licking her snout and refusing to leave.

“Janggun, you live here. We’re leaving.”

As soon as Son Kwang-yeon finished speaking, Janggun moved his heavy feet and got into the car.

Woof-!

He looked out the window and said goodbye to Bbomi, but for some reason, he wasn’t wagging his tail. Janggun looked sad.

Han Yu-young, who had gotten into the car, pouted.

She was hugging a shopping bag with the department store’s name emblazoned on it.

“We need to hire a driver.”

“It’ll happen soon, so please be patient.”

Son Kwang-yeon, who had already picked out the right person among the bodyguards to be Han Yu-young’s exclusive driver, smiled like a Seoul man for the first time in a while.

The car carrying the five family members, including Janggun, finally departed for home, and two sedans that had been waiting at a distance followed behind.

As soon as they entered the main road, one of them skillfully cut in front of Son Kwang-yeon’s car.

***

After a short one-night, two-day trip to Seoul, they returned home.

Despite the physically short time, Jinhyuk felt like he was coming home after a week. That was how much mental energy he had spent.

No matter what, home was the best. Even when he lived alone, he felt at ease when he entered his own officetel [a studio apartment]. It seemed that it wasn’t just humans who felt that satisfaction. Even Janggun, that clueless rascal who seemed to know nothing, was rubbing his whole body against the oak tree, expressing his affection.

“Dad, you worked hard.”

“Yeah. Jinhyuk, you worked hard too.”

His dad, who had driven a long distance, looked very tired.

The distance was just over 100km. It was a journey down the Gyeongbu Expressway, then exiting in Gyeonggi-do and heading west on the national highway. It took more than three hours by car, and he had heard that there were many truck drivers who traveled such long distances every day.

His mom must have had the same thought, as she casually said to his dad.

“Those 5-ton truck drivers must be really struggling.”

“I know. They drive in the early morning hours when there’s less traffic, but it’s no joke.”

Son Kwang-yeon’s farmland wasn’t just rice paddies and fields. There were over ten types of crops that he delivered daily to Garak-dong and Yangjae-dong [major agricultural wholesale markets in Seoul], including all kinds of flowers, wild chives, scallions, green onions, and water dropwort, through four-season facility cultivation.

He was a land tycoon, but just holding onto land didn’t make money circulate, so he had started developing commercial crops, and that’s how things had grown so big. Thanks to that, he was always making a lot of money and was known as a real rich man.

Anyway, there were over twenty 5-ton truck drivers who carried those crops and headed to Seoul every day, passing through Sapgyocheon and Asanman Seawall [coastal areas in South Korea].

“They’re independent owner-operators, but I need to think of a way to help them.”

Son Kwang-yeon was a good person. He had no desire for material possessions or success. His only desire was his love for Han Yu-young.

He was just a person with the capacity and a big heart, so he was able to succeed. And he liked to share what he earned with his neighbors. He wouldn’t sell all the crops, but would keep the good seeds and share them with his neighbors, and if the crops on the tenant farms weren’t good, he wouldn’t collect rent that year.

Even now, he was thinking about the self-employed truck drivers who were technically strangers and business partners.

“Is there a good way?”

Son Kwang-yeon muttered to himself, looking at Jinhyuk. It was a blatant expression of his desire to hear his smart son’s opinion.

“Are all the truck drivers independent owner-operators?”

“That’s right. They all own their own trucks. Even the drivers who belong to trucking companies buy their own trucks.”

“Is there a lot of work on Dad’s land?”

“If I organize the invoices and ledgers every month, there’s enough work for twenty people to work 20 days a month. That’s why I give work to self-employed drivers in addition to trucking companies.”

Perhaps he was happy that Jinhyuk was showing interest, Son Kwang-yeon sat down on the porch, forgetting the fatigue from the long drive.

While stroking Janggun, who was taking a mud bath under the oak tree, Jinhyuk asked.

“It would be impossible to hire those people directly, right?”

“That’s right. It wouldn’t be good for them. They would lose the opportunity to work as freelancers.”

Being affiliated with a company would provide a stable income, but they would have to give up the additional income they could earn. If you went into detail, there would be boring and complicated explanations about the omission of cash fares in accounting.

How could he explain these difficult things to his beloved son? Jinhyuk quickly relieved his dad’s worries.

“The freelancers can choose the jobs that pay well and have a lot of unreported income, right?”

“Uh, uh- That’s right.”

It seemed like a lot of the explanation process was omitted, but Son Kwang-yeon nodded because it was a point that hit the core.

“If they belong to a company, that work would decrease, their income would be tracked and they would have to pay taxes, and the only good thing about belonging to a company would be health insurance.”

“Uh, uh. That’s right.”

Even health insurance wasn’t a big benefit. The benefits that actually went to the drivers from the trucking mutual aid association and other things were almost non-existent.

In the end, what the truck drivers who belonged to companies were aiming for was stable work and fares. It was a method chosen by drivers who didn’t have much experience and lacked connections and clients.

“It’s a problem that can’t be solved unless the employer buys the trucks and hires the drivers.”

“That’s how it is. Once they gain experience and save money, they’ll try to become independent.”

It was a problem that couldn’t be solved in the present situation.

However, there were ways to find a solution.

“I think there’s a way. We can find a way. If they want to become independent after gaining experience, we can let them go. Instead, if we make the job look attractive, there will be job seekers.”

“You mean we should pay them more?”

Jinhyuk nodded.

“While they’re working as employees, the company will take care of tax benefits and accounting, so if they get used to that, fewer people will want to become independent.”

The hardships of working as a freelancer were indescribable.

They had to handle everything from orders to administration on their own. The reason why many drivers still relied on trucking companies was to reduce the hassle. Of course, the main reason was stable orders.

Anyway, as the world changed, cash transactions would inevitably decrease.

From a company’s perspective, tax invoices were important, so they would have no choice but to reduce transactions with self-employed drivers who only demanded cash, and they would have no choice but to use trucking companies, so wouldn’t it be possible to hire truck drivers as employees?

There was a clear reason why Jinhyuk was so enthusiastic about transportation employees.

“A logistics network is essential to do big things.”

Although he was tired, Son Kwang-yeon’s eyes sparkled as he looked at his son.

It felt like their roles had been reversed.

‘It feels like I was the one who used to say those things until last year.’

They really teach a lot in middle school these days. As expected, my son. There was a reason why he was the top student in the entire school without going to academies or getting private tutoring.

Son Kwang-yeon recalled the interviews of the top students in the national college entrance exam.

‘I was faithful to school classes and textbooks.’

He used to think it was a ridiculous lie. He had done the same, but he had only managed to enter the top of the business administration department at Korea University, not the top overall. But now he decided to believe them. The living proof was right in front of him, brushing dog hair.

He even catches fleas.

Thud-. Oh, he even popped a tick with his fingernail.

Ugh-, Son Kwang-yeon made a disgusted face at the gruesome scene.

***

Whenever he had time, Jinhyuk wrote down and drew the contents of his meetings with his dad on the back of the calendar.

He didn’t know it before, but there was no paper as big and sturdy as a wall calendar.

The two men had heated discussions for several days.

The conversation continued even during dinner.

Son Kwang-yeon felt like he was talking to Hong Ki-joon. No matter how smart he was, was this the kind of knowledge a middle schooler could handle? Was this really the insight a middle schooler could have? He had such doubts.

“Corporatization.”

Jinhyuk nodded and muttered.

It wasn’t bad to have tenant farmers and hire people for labor. There was no problem in making money. However, he thought that corporatization could be an alternative for more systematic farming and wealth distribution. In the end, they had returned to the original plan they had set up.

Of course, it had to be a good company.

“Su-jeong’s dad said he would help, so we’ll be able to prepare thoroughly.”

“The items are just as important as doing it systematically.”

If they included logistics there, wouldn’t they be able to arrange welfare and wealth distribution for the truck drivers? The topic that had started from his dad’s tired appearance from long-distance driving had led to the point of seeking diversification of a business that hadn’t even started yet.

Son Kwang-yeon pounded his chest as if he had choked on the food he was swallowing. He gulped down water and stared at his son, who was already putting his third bowl of rice into his mouth.

‘Maybe I don’t need Ki-joon’s help?’

Items…

It seemed like he needed to submit additional applications for warehouse and factory site allocations.

To get refrigerated warehouses in other areas, he would have to rip off a lot from Ki-joon…

“By the way, Jinhyuk, how about you start taking a car to school now?”

“I’m fine.”

He meant to choose a bodyguard, but it was an unnecessary measure for Jinhyuk.

A bodyguard for a middle schooler in the countryside? It was bound to be uncomfortable.

And Jinhyuk had someone in mind.

“Still-.”

Ring ring ring-.

The phone rang just as Son Kwang-yeon was about to say something.

“I’ll get it.”

Jinhyuk quickly went to where the phone was, still chewing his food.

It was because he didn’t want Yujin, who was fast asleep on his mom’s lap, to wake up, and also because he had an inexplicable feeling that he should be the one to answer it.

“Hello?”

Jinhyuk, who had answered the phone, turned his back completely to his parents and straightened his posture.

It was a call from Moon Seok-il.