The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 125

Jeong-won refused to drink formula.

They bought all kinds of brands and tried feeding her, but she would suck a few times and then push it out with her tongue. Jin-hyuk tilted his head, watching the liquid trickle down the baby’s chin.

‘Is mom’s milk that delicious?’

Jin-hyuk, who couldn’t remember the taste, could only think that.

“Formula is bland,” Son Yu-jin, the culprit behind the depletion of breast milk, commented after tasting the formula briefly.

They couldn’t give the baby regular cow’s milk either.

All the family could do was watch the nursing baby pitifully as she tried to suckle on her mother’s empty breast. There were few scenes as mysterious and endearing as a beautiful baby seeking milk, but when that baby cried out in exhaustion, the whole family’s hearts sank.

– “Boil snakehead fish thoroughly and feed it to her.”

It was Kim Sun-bok’s advice.

Kang Heon-chang’s wife also didn’t produce breast milk, and she had boiled snakehead fish and eaten it, which had worked well. Ah, they should have taken a few small snakehead fish as Jo Il-heon had said back then. But it was too late for regrets.

Jin-hyuk, along with Kang Heon-chang, felt along the walls of the old waterway that had not yet been filled in. There was no way there would be fish in the drained waterway, but snakehead fish had the habit of digging holes and living in them. Jin-hyuk hoped that there might be some snakehead fish left in the places that hadn’t dried out yet.

“Jin-hyuk, did you find any?” Kang Heon-chang asked, but Jin-hyuk just shook his head with a gloomy expression.

There’s a saying that snakehead fish climb mountains.

Perhaps they had moved downstream at night when no one was around.

“It looks like those are the traces of snakehead fish crawling on the bottom,” Kang Heon-chang pointed to the bottom of the waterway.

It really did look like it. Like the traces of mudskippers passing over the mudflats, there were marks of their bodies and pectoral fins. There seemed to be dozens of them.

“Let’s go now.”

The two men’s hunting activity ended without any harvest.

The overflowing downstream lake looked as vast as the sea, and they couldn’t just jump in, hoping to catch a snakehead fish that might pop out from anywhere.

‘It’s too wide.’

He had also thought about searching the reservoir on the way to Gubong Mountain. But the reservoir was wider than the lake, and the bottom wasn’t even. Also, the walls were made of stone, making it impossible to stick their hands in.

If it were late spring or early summer when the water was low, they might have been able to do something. But after the rainy season, entering a full reservoir was out of the question. Besides, they didn’t have any tools to catch snakehead fish at home, and they didn’t know how to do it.

“Uncle, let’s just go home.”

They trudged home.

When you’re busy, you’d borrow a dog’s paw [meaning you’d take help from anyone].

Jin-hyuk even tried to reason with Janggun.

“Janggun, can you catch some snakehead fish for me?”

Woof, woof….

Janggun looked away, pretending not to hear, and stared at the distant mountains.

Maybe she understood but didn’t want to go into the water. Considering Janggun’s behavior, it was a reasonable suspicion, but if he actually thought that, he felt like he would be disappointed in Janggun, so he decided to let it go.

When he entered the house, he saw the baby filling her belly with barley tea. There were six baby bottles that the baby had refused.

‘Does this taste bad?’

At first, it was curiosity.

Jin-hyuk shook a bottle and tasted a few drops.

Chop, chop-.

‘It’s not bad?’

It was bland, but savory and fragrant.

Suck, suck-.

It came out little by little, enough to make him impatient, but when he put in some effort, it came out enough to eat.

It was bland as Yu-jin said. But it’s still good?

Suck, suck-.

“Kyahaha-.”

Yu-jin, amused by her brother sucking on the bottle, picked up a bottle herself.

Slurp, slurp-.

“Mmm-. It’s delicious.”

Yu-jin even lay down like a baby.

Ah, lying down makes it easier without hurting your neck!

Jin-hyuk, who had no shame, lay down next to his sister.

Cackle-.

Oh? Jeong-won, who was in her mother’s arms, flapped her short arms vigorously, watching her older brother and sister’s show.

Her quick-witted mother didn’t miss the moment.

“Oop-cha-, shall we lay our baby down here next to her sister?”

Han Yu-young, sensing a positive sign, laid the baby down and quickly put the bottle in her mouth.

Slurp, slurp, slurp-.

“Oh my!”

Ehehe-.

Jeong-won, who was sucking on the bottle, smiled brightly when she made eye contact with her mother. It was that ‘mama smile’ that baby mothers were crazy about.

Sharp-eyed Jin-hyuk also realized it was an important moment.

“What formula is that? What did you mix in it?”

“Ah, ah-, the second one from the left.”

It was fortunate that her mother had a good memory.

He almost had to compare the taste of each one. It was hard to find the difference since they tasted similar to an adult’s palate.

But it was an unnecessary worry.

When Jeong-won, who had emptied one bottle, licked her lips as if she wanted more, Yu-jin offered her the one she had been sucking on, and the baby started eating without refusing.

“Jeong-won, is the one your sister was eating also delicious?”

It seemed like it would take some time for Yu-jin to get used to speaking informally. Not only her looks but also her way of speaking were just like her mother.

Anyway, Han Yu-young was greatly relieved. She also thought that she could sleep comfortably again from today.

“It wasn’t that she had a small appetite…”

“It seems like she just liked breast milk better.”

Han Yu-young nodded at Jin-hyuk’s words, resenting her breasts that didn’t produce milk.

“Su-jeong’s mom said she produces milk well.”

It was too far to ask Yu Se-ra for breast milk.

She had eaten pig’s feet after hearing that it helped, and she had bought pig’s feet and boiled them thoroughly to make pig’s feet soup. But there was no sign of any effect.

“But I’m relieved now.”

“Well…”

Han Yu-young tilted her head.

“Why?”

“It might be just for a little while. Eun-jeong’s younger sister, Eun-mi, was like our Jeong-won.”

It meant that drinking formula was a temporary act of eating because she was hungry.

If so, they couldn’t rely on formula forever.

Jin-hyuk called the know-it-all Jo Il-heon.

He usually preferred to visit adults in person when asking for favors, but Jo Il-heon was rarely home, so it was faster to check by phone.

“It’s Jin-hyuk-”

– Aigoo- Sung-.

“Ah, please don’t do that-”

He could hear giggling over the phone.

Jo Il-heon was completely immersed in playing the older-younger brother game with Jin-hyuk. He didn’t seem to care that he was the younger one.

“How do you catch snakehead fish?”

– It’s hard if it’s not spring. Sometimes they come out with earthworm fishing, but the crucian carps take all the earthworms.

“Is there no way?”

– You have to drain the reservoir and catch them by hand, or use a net, but snakehead fish don’t get caught in nets easily-. Why don’t you try carp instead?

“Can you catch carp quickly?”

Jin-hyuk thought of the many carp he had released in the new waterway.

– If you cast a fishing line for a few days, the carp will get caught on their own.

If it took a few days, he could catch them during the vacation.

– But to get the medicinal effect, you have to catch one that’s over eighty centimeters long. A female one-.

There wasn’t a way to catch a female separately, but it meant that it was good for postpartum care.

Jin-hyuk organized Jo Il-heon’s explanation in his head.

First, he had to prepare various baits.

Boil a potato the size of a ping pong ball, hide a carp fishing hook, attach it to a reel fishing rod, and cast it.

String boiled corn on a hook.

Mix the oil cake and rice bran used in mud loach traps with loess, make it into a firm ball, and hide the hook like the potato rig, etc.

– The Westerners also catch them by putting corn on a fly fishing rod, but I don’t know if it will work in the reservoir. And we don’t have a fishing rod.

He was stating the obvious.

Jin-hyuk had only seen fly fishing in the movie 〈A River Runs Through It〉.

Jin-hyuk moved to the mud house and filled the cauldron with water.

He put potatoes and corn in and lit the fire in the stove. As he was boiling the corn, he remembered the vacation he had spent with Jo Seul-chan last year. Jo Seul-chan couldn’t come to play this year because he had to help his grandmother. Jin-hyuk was also sad, but Jo Seul-chan showed his concern by calling his mother occasionally.

Now, while the bait was boiling, he had to prepare the fishing rod.

Freshwater reel fishing rod, reel, sinker for long casting-, he also had to make oil cake dough-. He mumbled to himself.

“Jin-hyuk, what are you doing?” Min Yong-rak called out to Jin-hyuk, who was mumbling in the old house’s storage.

“I’m going to catch carp.”

“Carp?”

“Yes. It’s necessary for my mom’s health.”

Jin-hyuk didn’t look back and rummaged through the storage. Who put the harpoon here? What’s with the bow? He kept chattering.

“Jin-hyuk, I know you’re busy, but can you come out for a second?”

“Yes.”

Only then did Jin-hyuk come out of the storage.

And he almost fainted.

Two snakehead fish were flopping on the hard yard. They were about 30 centimeters long, but they were thick, as if they had eaten well.

Behind them, Hong-si and Cheon-ma, soaked in water, were sitting quietly as if waiting for praise. Those sly guys, they seemed to have deliberately not shaken off the water to show how hard they had worked. Water was dripping from their wet fur.

‘Ah, Janggun, who doesn’t like to go into the water, made them do it.’

The saying ‘it’s like watching a video’ came to mind [meaning it was obvious what happened].

It seemed that Janggun, who had been acting like a boss, had reached the point of giving orders to her subordinates.

“Where are Janggun and Gwang-ma?”

That’s when it happened.

As if answering Jin-hyuk’s question, Janggun’s voice was heard.

Woof, woof! Arrr-!

Squeak-.

It was from the direction of the lawn.

Following Janggun’s barking, Gwang-ma’s whimpering was heard.

“Why are they like that again?”

Jin-hyuk moved towards where Janggun was.

When Janggun bared her sharp teeth, Gwang-ma quickly disappeared towards the waterway, and a fish jumped up in front of Janggun.

‘Bullhead…’

It was a bullhead the size of a palm.

He must have scolded her for catching the wrong one. Jin-hyuk carefully guessed Janggun’s feelings.

“Janggun, two should be enough.”

Woof-!

The snakehead fish that Hong-si and Cheon-ma had caught were quite big, so it should be enough.

Jin-hyuk released the bullhead into the pond. It was a life too.

It wasn’t over just because they had snakehead fish.

First, he washed them thoroughly and put them in clean water.

It was to remove the mud and waste from the fish’s body. It was the same reason why they purged clams.

‘Let’s see, then…’

Why can’t I think straight these days?

He thought he should make a habit of taking notes like Min Yong-rak.

As he was pondering the next step, Min Yong-rak happened to open his notebook.

“Ginger, cinnamon, chives-”

“Ah, right. Thank you.”

Snakehead fish had a cold nature, so it was good to boil them with ingredients that raised body temperature. He also took some perilla leaves to remove the fishy smell. It was an ambiguous amount to send to a health center to extract juice, so he planned to boil it thoroughly and make soup.

‘I’ve got the medicinal herbs too.’

While Jin-hyuk was bustling around, Min Yong-rak followed closely behind.

This guy, he seemed to have something to say.

Throughout the vacation, Min Yong-rak had been asking him this and that, to the point that Jin-hyuk wanted to go to school.

Still, he was like family, so he smiled and asked.

“What is it this time?”

“Can I… eat the corn?”

Jin-hyuk sighed deeply.

Min Yong-rak, who was Jin-hyuk’s team member, also used to snack all day long. Then he would get gastroenteritis at the drop of a hat.

He seemed to be lured by the smell of the corn that was meant to be carp bait, but since they had snakehead fish, there was no need to be stingy. Just then, the pot lid was shaking, emitting white steam.

“Go ahead. There are potatoes too.”

He left Min Yong-rak, who was sitting on the stove and eating corn, and went back to rummaging through the storage. Janggun had done another good deed, so he had to give her a reward.

Wait, where did the mudskipper go?

He had stashed it away for Janggun, but it had disappeared without a trace?

‘This dad, really…’

Thinking of the obvious culprit, his head throbbed.

Even if he liked it that much, how could he steal dog treats?

As expected, a secret storage should not be shared even with family.

***

It was the season for snacks.

The market was far away, and there were no supermarkets in the neighborhood, so the Son family stocked up on snacks separately. Son Gwang-yeon and Han Yu-young preferred snacks that came from nature, and Jin-hyuk hardly snacked at all.

‘I have to steal some.’

When autumn came, the nights naturally got longer.

Yu-jin fell asleep early and woke up in the early morning.

Was she trying to grow up like her brother? She couldn’t sleep for long because of her rumbling stomach. Son Yu-jin clutched her stomach and rummaged through the cupboard.

Clatter, clatter-.

‘That’s strange. It was here somewhere, but it’s gone.’

She used the heavy dining chair as a stepping stool to rummage through the cupboard and also looked on top of the refrigerator, but it wasn’t there.

It was really strange. After her mother’s milk started flowing, she thought she had put the formula somewhere here, but it had disappeared without a trace.

Son Yu-jin, giving up the search, sighed, “Hoo-” and opened the refrigerator.

She wanted to drink juice, but if she drank it now, her stomach would hurt. The bottle was heavy, and it wasn’t easy to open the lid. Her mom didn’t keep cola at home, saying it would rot her bones.

Her brother and Janggun had drunk all the milk. They were like milk cows.

“Heeing-.”

Son Yu-jin was sad.

She was too grown-up to wake her mother up, saying she was hungry.

Thinking of sucking her thumb for the first time in a while, she put her thumb in her mouth.

That’s when she encountered her brother coming down from the second floor.

“Yu-jin, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“……”

Son Yu-jin couldn’t say anything.

Instead, she trembled with betrayal.

‘My brother stole all the formula!’

Jin-hyuk, who was slyly hiding the formula container he had tucked under his arm behind his back, had white powder all over his lips. But since he had already been caught, Jin-hyuk calmly stared at his sister, wiping his lips with his sleeve. She was his precious sister, but at this moment, she was just a food competitor.

Ah, what could he do about the deliciousness?

Every time he ate a spoonful of formula, he felt calm and healed. That’s how Jin-hyuk became an irredeemable formula addict.

The absence of Hong Su-jeong had a big impact.

That was the reason why Jin-hyuk and Yu-jin were having a silent war over trivial matters. Despite the big age difference, even though they cherished each other so much, their evolution into a real brother and sister was a rite of passage that humans had to go through.

In the silence of the siblings, who were facing each other in the dark and staring at each other without a word for a long time, a cool breeze blew. A cricket chirped, having come in from somewhere.

Autumn had come.