The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 108

In the past, Jin-hyuk had no one to learn from.

He saw people who were respected or had fanbases as nothing more than bipedal free operators. It wasn’t that they were inadequate, but rather that Jin-hyuk had such a closed-off mindset.

The only things he could learn from were books and printed words, and the only people he wanted to emulate existed in biographies of great figures.

But how fortunate it is that he now has people to look up to.

He recalled what his father had said to the SSS [Special Security Service] not long ago.

– “If you’re going to follow me around, dress like farmers and carry shovels.”

Well, it’s after the harvest, so there wouldn’t be much to do, but farmers never look around their fields empty-handed. They carry shovels, repair broken rice paddy ridges, and pull out weeds from the fields by the roots with their shovels. They even smack the uprooted weeds with their shovels.

Anyway, it was welcome news for the SSS agents.

At least they could move around with Son Gwang-yeon when he went out.

After confirming their positive response, Jin-hyuk went a step further.

It was a way to make the SSS blend naturally into the countryside, and Yang Kang-wook, as well as the other agents, welcomed the idea. They said that disguising themselves as locals was also a kind of operation.

And so.

Sturdy men wearing green hats and carrying shovels began to appear in the village. The names of pesticides, boldly overlock-stitched in yellow thread, looked quite natural. ‘싹수리’ (Ssaksuri) [Pesticide brand name, meaning ‘싹’ (sprout) + ‘수리’ (repair)], ‘이걸확’ (Igeolhwak) [Pesticide brand name, meaning ‘This, for sure!’], ‘구라목손’ (Guramokson) [Pesticide brand name, meaning ‘Lying neck hand’]······.

Jin-hyuk monitored the agents whenever he had the chance.

“Ah… it doesn’t look natural at all.”

They looked more like petty thieves, peering around to see which houses were empty, rather than farmers. And that uncle’s pants are too tight, making him look like a pervert. The color, even, is apricot, so from afar, it looks like he’s wearing a completely bottomless outfit.

Jin-hyuk, who was sitting on the roof reading a book to Yu-jin on his lap, sighed.

He immediately wrote down the improvements in his logbook.

「Enhance diversity in presentation and ensure decency in clothing」

Well, they’ll understand what I mean if I write it like this.

Fortunately, there were agents with good observation and learning skills, so things gradually improved day by day. Some chopped firewood, while others carried A-frames [wooden frames used for carrying heavy loads] to the mountains. One might think they were being used as servants, but it was clear that they had volunteered. There were also agents who stayed inside.

Still, the SSS preferred to be out and about.

“Uncle, would you like some sweet rice drink?”

“Oh! Thank you!”

If they wandered around, they could get delicious food from the village elders, which was incomparable to the food they ate in the hobbit bunker.

The people who usually talked to the agents were Han Yu-young and Yu-jin. They were the only ones who were always home.

“Are you a ‘dachong’ [a term used by children for older men, similar to ‘uncle’] or an ‘ajissi’ [a more general term for older men, similar to ‘mister’]?”

“Haha, I’m your uncle.”

“Ah-. Does ‘dachong’ give good piggyback rides?”

“Huh?”

There was no one who didn’t understand what the child meant when she stood on tiptoes and raised her hands.

The agent caught on Yu-jin’s radar had this piggyback duty added to his tasks, but he seemed to enjoy it even more.

There were also people who went fishing regardless of their duties, and no one scolded them. Even the inflexible Jin-hyuk acknowledged it as normal work, saying, ‘You have to play hooky sometimes when you’re working.’ It was a judgment filled with the consolation that it would be hard to endure if there was no fun in a remote village with nothing to do.

There was also an agent who was braiding rope, saying he would use it for rock climbing, and even Jin-hyuk thought it looked usable. It was thicker than a tug-of-war rope.

‘It won’t break easily.’

He couldn’t do that even if he tried to braid it that way on purpose. Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue.

Sometimes, there were agents whose eyes were swollen from bee stings, but there was a medical officer, so it was reassuring. Autumn bees are hard to find, but they are dangerous enough to cause serious harm if stung, and the bees encountered in the mountains were mostly hornets.

Anyway, the SSS gradually blended into the static rural landscape.

Jin-hyuk chuckled as he recorded the incidents in his logbook.

“It was a good thing we got a medical officer. If not, Mr. Jo Il-heon would have put soybean paste on them for bee stings.”

Jang-gun, who was lying at Jin-hyuk’s feet wagging his tail, suddenly raised his head. It must be a delusion that he seemed startled by the word ‘soybean paste’.

Jang-gun is now full without having to steal the yellow dog’s food.

Jin-hyuk stroked the head of his friend, who was still by his side.

He didn’t know when she was due, but her belly wasn’t sagging much. Judging by her swollen breasts, she must be pregnant, but it was a strange thing. Kim Eun-jeong’s dog’s belly sagged to the ground and she gave birth to eight puppies.

“How many puppies will Jang-gun have?”

Jang-gun, who was enjoying Jin-hyuk’s touch with her eyes closed, nodded her head once.

Hehehek-?

Looking at her tilting her head, he figured she didn’t know either.

Jin-hyuk closed his logbook and sighed.

While peace was returning, there was something he was dissatisfied with.

‘When is the 5-day school week starting?’

Even if the 5-day week started, it wouldn’t apply to Jin-hyuk anyway, but he felt somewhat resentful that he had to go to school on Saturdays.

The company he used to work for had a bi-weekly 4-day work week. It was a system that Chairman Hong Ki-joon had vigorously promoted to improve corporate culture, and the employees’ response was good, and the improvement in performance was noticeable, so it was about to be fully established as a 4-day week.

“Wow! There are so many persimmons, right?”

His mother, who had come out to collect the laundry, exclaimed in admiration.

Jin-hyuk also followed his mother’s gaze.

There are always a lot of persimmons. All he did was scatter the leftover fertilizer from the field and occasionally throw away charcoal, ash, or food scraps, but the tree was a marvel, producing fist-sized fruits on its own.

“It would be delicious to ripen them in the warm room and eat them one by one on snowy days, right?”

“Yes…”

She described the situation in detail, but her request wasn’t direct.

It would be nice if she just asked him to pick them, but his mother always spoke in such roundabout ways.

That’s why it’s harder to refuse.

His mother wanted to eat them, and he had no intention of refusing anyway.

Jin-hyuk put down his logbook and got up without hesitation.

“Yu-jin, shall we go pick persimmons with your brother?”

“Yes-! Ehehehe-.”

Yu-jin, who had been drawing pictures on the ground with a small stone, jumped up. She followed her brother, her hat’s earflaps dancing like car wipers.

Perhaps because her belly was full and her body was heavy, Jang-gun only wagged her tail to see off the siblings.

***

After finishing his business at the county office, Son Gwang-yeon stopped by the market and packed a bundle of sundae [Korean blood sausage]. He also filled it with plenty of pig stomach, called ‘osori gamtu’ [pig stomach lining], and pig liver, which Han Yu-young especially liked. His wife had been eating less lately, as if she had no appetite, so Son Gwang-yeon was uneasy.

Yang Kang-wook, who was accompanying Son Gwang-yeon, estimated the weight with his eyes.

“You bought a lot.”

“Haha, there are many mouths to feed.”

Are only family and blood relatives family? Yang Kang-wook laughed silently, remembering what Son Gwang-yeon often said. He would share it with the SSS and probably give some to Jang-gun as well.

Son Gwang-yeon got into the car and sank into the soft seat, groaning.

“Aigoo-, I’m exhausted. Hyun-woo, let’s go.”

“Yes, sir.”

The scenery that flowed by, leaving afterimages outside the car window, had changed a lot.

The town was growing bigger day by day, so the existing outer road had become the central road, and a new outer road was being built.

“Bear Team-, no, Team Leader Yang. Is that a missile?”

Son Gwang-yeon pointed to a truck carrying a large cargo covered with a military green tarpaulin and a net, roaring as it drove by.

“Yes, that’s right. It seems to be going to Anheung.”

It was an open secret that there was a missile launch base in Anheung.

Usually, they moved in the early hours of the morning when there was little traffic, but it was strange that they were moving late in the afternoon when it was still bright.

“I hope nothing’s going to happen?”

“It’s probably a test launch vehicle. It seems they couldn’t arrive on time because of the West Coast Expressway construction.”

Son Gwang-yeon nodded at Yang Kang-wook’s explanation.

He spoke so cautiously and speculatively, but he was more informed than anyone else.

He was busy and tired, so he had become hypersensitive. Now that he had a strong ally and had built a fortress, it was only natural for him to look at other things as a human being. Besides, hadn’t he lived with anxiety his whole life?

As he thought this and let out a long sigh, Son Gwang-yeon noticed Yang Kang-wook’s strange behavior.

He was subtly turning his head, looking to see what Son Gwang-yeon was doing.

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t be shy.”

“Ah-, did you notice?”

It would be strange if he didn’t notice, with that big bear head of his shaking back and forth.

Yang Kang-wook asked quietly, as Son Gwang-yeon chuckled to himself.

“Shouldn’t we be monitoring the people on Senior Moon’s side?”

Son Gwang-yeon sighed lightly and turned his gaze out the window.

“Team Leader Yang, you know what a vaccine is, right?”

“The flu…”

“That’s right. That vaccine.”

Yang Kang-wook and Myung Hyun-woo in the driver’s seat perked up their ears.

He always seemed bright and lighthearted, but when he spoke so seriously, there was much to take to heart. He was the kind of person who made you think of the word ‘respect’.

“Compared to Daejeong, those people are like a very small virus.”

“Are you saying they are the ones who built our immunity?”

Son Gwang-yeon nodded, still looking out the window. He looked like a bear, but he was smart. A fox-like bear.

“In the end, they are moving with us, so we can say there are no side effects. They didn’t just stop at building immunity to fear, but instilled a will to become stronger, so they are grateful people.”

“Antibodies, then.”

The Bear Team Leader was a person who naturally made you feel satisfied.

He responded so well that it was fun to talk to him, and there was no need to talk for long. His son talked more difficultly than his father, giving him a headache.

Son Gwang-yeon nodded, regardless of who was watching.

“That’s right. They’ll be the first to fight when the next virus appears.”

Because they are antibodies.

“I understand. I won’t deliberately be wary of them.”

Yang Kang-wook answered readily.

“Don’t create factions in my territory.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The SSS was also a workplace.

He meant not to divide each other into groups through political maneuvering.

As if he had never been tired, Son Gwang-yeon’s eyes lit up when they left the gray town and entered the brown earth.

“But Team Leader Yang, it seems like there’s something you don’t like about Vice Chairman Hong Ki-joon’s actions?”

“Ah, that is-”

Yang Kang-wook turned to face Son Gwang-yeon and lowered his eyes.

***

Jin-hyuk swung the pole with the resentment of having to go to school six days a week.

Each time, one or two persimmons fell to the ground, attached to the pole.

“Wow! Brother, you’re good at picking persimmons, right?”

It was the second time he had picked persimmons himself, following last year.

Before that, he was too short, so when he held the pole, he couldn’t balance, and he would pick up the persimmons that his father had picked.

He didn’t know what kind of variety they were, but not many of the persimmons turned into soft persimmons. They were picked before the full winter came and made into dried persimmons or ripened to eat. Sometimes, they would leave them on the tree to ripen and pick the slightly frozen soft persimmons in the winter.

Tap-.

When he twisted the persimmon tree branch with a U-shaped wire, the persimmon hanging at the end of the branch followed.

“Kyahaha-!”

Every time her brother picked a persimmon, Yu-jin clapped and enjoyed it.

At first, she had tried to do it herself, but she couldn’t hold the pole and struggled, soon giving up. Yu-jin was in charge of putting the ones that rolled on the ground into a rubber tub, and she was diligent even as she slipped and fell on the fallen leaves. Even though they were small hands, they helped, making the work much easier.

Jin-hyuk’s face bloomed with a smile, feeling sorry for and cute at the same time for his sister, who was panting with her tongue out.

“Jin-hyukaaa-, Yu-jinaaa-.”

“Unnie, hello-.”

He wondered why she hadn’t come yet. Jin-hyuk narrowed his eyes at the appearance of Choi Mi-kyung, the teenager.

Does she only monitor us with binoculars? She appears like a ghost whenever we’re getting food. She’s a legendary SSS food ghost. Still, she was a dear childhood friend, so Jin-hyuk always took care of Choi Mi-kyung.

“Just give me a little. I’ll go for a bit and come back to help.”

“Okay…”

Choi Mi-kyung, who had placed her basket down neatly, headed home. To Jin-hyuk’s house.

Hey, you. Where are you going?

“Is your aunt at home?”

“Uh-.”

She said today is cookie day. Choi Mi-kyung’s voice quickly faded away.

She likes to eat so much, but she doesn’t grow taller. Jin-hyuk swung the pole more fiercely, grumbling. The married Choi Mi-kyung of the past must have grown during high school.

‘Our Yu-jin is having a hard time picking them up alone, she should help.’

Huff! Huff!

Crack, thud-.

May you eat persimmon peels and get a blocked butt.

Eheheheheh-.

Jin-hyuk’s face was filled with a sly smile as he thought of his childhood friend turning yellow with a blocked butt. His smile was savage as he swung the pole.

Yu-jin, who was holding persimmons in both hands, looked up at her brother with strange eyes. Our brother is breaking innocent branches and smiling wickedly.

Yu-jin sniffled, drawing in the snot, and blinked her big eyes repeatedly. Her eyes looked more frightened than curious.

He’s been running around every day, and now this brother has finally gone crazy.

Maybe it would be better to tell Mom?