The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 126

< The Unsent Season >

It was a warm autumn.

Every evening, Jin-hyuk secretly shared a spoonful of formula with Yu-jin, trying to improve their relationship. However, he didn’t give her the whole can. It was his only thrilling act of rebellion in the house, and he couldn’t easily give it up.

“You and I will share a spoonful every day, okay?”

“Yes. Ehehe-.”

How could she refuse?

Yu-jin bowed, her hands clasped in front of her, agreeing. As he poured the formula into his younger sister’s wide-open mouth, her head tilted back, Jin-hyuk inwardly justified his discipline.

Yu-jin needed to know that the world was dirty and unfair. If she grew up too pampered, she might become a spoiled, nasty rich girl later. It was obvious that their family would become wealthier as their father’s business grew and his relationship with Hong Ki-joon became stronger. She might even gain the power to turn a plane around just because she didn’t get her peanuts peeled.

If that happened, the family would be criticized. While she should bear the criticism that naturally followed her actions, he wanted her to grow up to be a child who didn’t harm those around her. He thought it was the proper attitude for a strict older brother to maintain.

‘I have to teach her because I’m her older brother. No one taught me those things!’

It was truly a great act of power and influence over just a can of formula, but Jin-hyuk gave it his own meaning.

On weekends, he went to the back mountain with Yu-jin to gather acorns and chestnuts.

When he was young, he used to collect them until his pants pockets were full every autumn. Back then, if he gathered them for a month or two, his mother would make acorn jelly and put it on the table.

Although there were more mouths to feed, there were also more hands to help, so the harvest was plentiful. Jin-hyuk’s sharp eyesight contributed the most to the harvest, but it was true that having more hands helped.

“Jang-gun, don’t swallow the chestnuts.”

He laughed, watching Jang-gun carry tree nuts while working with the other dogs.

Even if Jang-gun swallowed the chestnuts, he would just poop them out, but if chestnut seeds sprouted in the compost pile, it would be quite unexpected.

Grrr-.

It seemed like Jang-gun glared at him for a moment, but it must have been his imagination.

Well, it seemed like he was saying not to make a perfectly fine dog look like a fool after feeding him.

*

Yu-jin became an ordinary child, training the four dogs with a frisbee that her brother had made by cutting cardboard into a circle. It was unclear who was training whom, as Yu-jin seemed to be more exhausted than the dogs, but it was not something a third party should interfere with.

After exhausting herself like that, Yu-jin would often get nosebleeds. At first, Han Yu-young made a fuss, but then she said that Yu-jin was probably growing a lot. Instead, she taught her how to handle nosebleeds.

Han Yu-young smiled as she pushed crushed mugwort into her daughter’s small nostrils.

“Don’t be surprised. Your brother was also a troublemaker and used to get nosebleeds after playing until he was exhausted.”

“My brother? Nosebleeds?”

Yu-jin’s big eyes grew even bigger.

It was an amazing story. He was stronger than a wild boar. Could such a giant have been a snot-nosed kid when he was young? Then he must have wet the bed too, right?

Han Yu-young stroked her daughter’s head as she sniffled, her nose feeling stuffy, and smiled again.

“Yes. He used to get nosebleeds even in his sleep, and his pillow would get all red.”

“Ooh-.”

It wasn’t so much shock as it was a sense of kinship.

It was exciting to have something in common with someone you admired. Son Yu-jin thought she should continue to get nosebleeds and put a handful of mugwort in her pocket.

With all her preparations, when she ran to the fields and mountains, Jang-gun and Hong-si followed behind.

When Jang-gun barked once as he left the house, Chun-ma and Gwang-ma stayed behind to patrol. They were completely under Jang-gun’s control.

While Jin-hyuk was at school, Son Yu-jin followed in her brother’s footsteps and grew into a child.

*

The SSS agents [Special Security Service] who had set up a house in town became welcome guests during Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving]. Even though they saw each other every day, sharing neighborly affection and daily life made them feel like true family. Son Gwang-yeon was all smiles, saying he was happy to have so many siblings, even though he was busy and tired.

Sharing a hearty meal and chatting while walking along a path full of cosmos flowers was a gift for Son Gwang-yeon, who had lived his life thinking only of his family.

A peaceful smile appeared on Son Gwang-yeon’s face as he picked the crimson cosmos petals.

“I used to hate the idea of having power.”

“Didn’t you say we were family?”

“Yes. In some ways, you’re better than family.”

The quick-witted Yang Kang-wook immediately understood what he meant.

There was no way Son Gwang-yeon would feel closer to others than his own family. Although the family registry had been sorted out, he must have been referring to the people in town who were once connected to Han Yu-young as family.

Moon Seok-il, who had also realized this, chimed in.

“Leave it to us.”

It was a concise and dry tone, typical of Moon Seok-il. He believed that cumbersome obstacles should be dealt with cleanly. It was a habit ingrained in him from his long history of carrying out operations.

Son Gwang-yeon, who had been enjoying the autumn sunshine with his eyes closed, shook his head.

“Seok-il.”

“Yes, brother.”

“Don’t harm anyone unless the children’s mother wants it. I don’t want it either.”

“Yes.”

Moon Seok-il took a step back.

Son Gwang-yeon was the head of the family.

He was the leader of a force that was building power in the area and growing at a dazzling pace. No matter how close he was to Jin-hyuk and how he was carrying out Hong Ki-joon’s secret orders, Moon Seok-il could not ignore him. Besides, they were like brothers.

“Where did our kids go?”

“They went to the back mountain.”

“Hmm.”

Son Gwang-yeon’s lips curled up in a satisfied smile. Whenever he heard that the children were playing in the mountains or by the sea, he looked as happy as if he were playing himself.

He had been unable to experience the seasons in the harsh city, and he hadn’t even been able to wander. He wanted Jin-hyuk, Yu-jin, and Jeong-won to be happy in the garden that their father had cultivated and preserved.

To have a mischievous childhood and a healthy adolescence.

Son Gwang-yeon nodded and took a deep breath, looking at the blue jewel-like sky.

“Haaah-, it’s a good season. I always feel sad to see it go at this time of year.”

Even though he knew it would come back again.

Carrying the seeds of grass in the wind like a scent on his body.

Longing for autumn was the sentiment of a countryman.

*

Son Yu-jin gathered chestnuts and jujubes with her brother and uncles. They visited a place where mushrooms grew and also paid their respects at the wild boar’s grave. It was a grave where they had buried the ribs left over from grilling a wild boar last year, and her brother had tied two branches together to make a cross. There were also pretty, bright yellow flowers blooming nearby.

Jang Jin-nam, who was holding Yu-jin’s hand, widened his eyes.

“It’s small and pretty. What’s the name of this flower?”

“It’s a wild boar flower.”

“Oh-, Yu-jin knows a lot.”

Behind Jang Jin-nam’s admiration, Jin-hyuk tilted his head.

Son Yu-jin, ignoring her brother, shrugged her shoulders. She had just named it that because it had bloomed at the wild boar’s grave. On the spot.

She had thought that if she buried wild boar bones, wild boars would fly out, but she was disappointed that a flower that couldn’t be eaten had bloomed instead. Well, it was a fantasy that any human child would have at least once. Didn’t everyone bury snack bags when they were young, hoping that snacks would sprout? There was a high probability that one out of every ten snack bags found while digging in the countryside was buried for that reason.

With so many people, Jin-hyuk caught and prepared more mudskippers than in previous years. His uncles joined the event that he used to do with his father, and Yu-jin also proudly took her place. Jin-hyuk’s eyes were full of affection as he watched his younger sister giggling among the uncles.

‘I thought I would feel sad when Yu-jin grew up.’

There were times when he wished time would stop as he watched his lovely younger sister. Even though he knew it was a fantasy, it was an unavoidable human desire. But he seemed to have been wrong.

Yu-jin was a blessing, offering different joys as she grew, whether she was young or grown up. The baby Yu-jin would now remain in the photo album and fulfill her role.

‘Yu-jin has to live in the world too.’

As a human being.

*

Son Gwang-yeon held a lavish 100th-day celebration for his youngest, Son Jeong-won, as if to prove his growing influence. He set up tables in the yard and on the lawn, inviting not only the villagers but also the company employees.

He said it was to show off the baby, who had inherited his grandfather’s name, to the whole world. No one knew that he was trying to hide the sorrow of not even being able to honor his father’s remains.

Jin-hyuk also distributed Jeong-won’s 100th-day rice cakes in his classroom.

He thought about distributing them throughout the school, but decided it would be better to do that at the first birthday party. If he raised the level of goodwill too high, the balance of friendship could collapse even with a small mistake.

It was a warm autumn, and the house and its surroundings were peaceful, but it wasn’t just warm.

‘It’s not there. It’s not there.’

Even as October was coming to an end, there was no news of a passenger ship accident in the newspapers.

He turned on the news, just in case, but it was the same.

He read a short article stating that the approval for an increase in weekend operations by a small shipping company was suspicious, and that an investigation was underway into allegations of lobbying by the passenger ship company. The company’s representative was expressing his innocence, and the person in charge of the approval was under internal investigation.

To Jin-hyuk, who knew the inside story, it was nothing more than a comedy.

‘No matter how good the post-processing is, it can’t be better than prevention.’

Jin-hyuk’s childhood proved it. Isn’t it much more beneficial to wash your hands, overcoming the temporary fatigue and annoyance, than to suffer after catching a cold?

He didn’t know who those people were.

There would be good people and bad people, and it was possible that there would be people who would commit heinous crimes in the future. But even if all humans were evil, he didn’t want them to be sacrificed without cause. That was why Jin-hyuk didn’t see humans as viruses, as some pessimists did.

‘Hooray!’

Most people don’t realize what triggers the advancement of a system. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, it was bound to move forward in the end. Just as the wind that rose from the sea affected the land, the stone that Jin-hyuk had thrown was causing ripples that were reaching other areas.

He had no intention of influencing the system. That would be an act of denying the system itself.

He just hoped.

‘I wish there were no people dying in vain.’

Like his parents in the past.

***

He had been worried that she might feel left out because her mother was taking care of the baby, but Yu-jin had too many friends to cling only to her mother. She couldn’t even meet all her friends every day.

Yu-jin’s day began with her putting her hands behind her back, going out into the yard after breakfast, and clearing her throat.

“Ahem-. Did Jang-gun sleep well?”

When she went outside, the four dogs were waiting like loyal soldiers, and there were also children of the same age in the newly moved-in neighbor’s house. Chatting with Grandpa Chun Gil-ryong was also an important part of her daily routine.

“Haebiji is taller than my brother.”

“Hehehe-, soon your brother will be taller than me.”

“How do you know?”

“I know everything-. Hehehehehe-.”

If he eats that much, wouldn’t he grow? Chun Gil-ryong stroked his beard and laughed.

Son Yu-jin sat on the porch of Grandpa Chun Gil-ryong’s house, dangling her legs.

“They’re building another house next to Eun-mi’s house.”

“Hehehe-. That’s all because of your parents’ deep virtue.”

The number of people moving in from the city and other neighborhoods was increasing.

There were so many that they had to build new houses.

Every time, Han Yu-young’s mother would talk to her father and give up some land, and Uncle Kim In-rang was also building a house to take care of his mother. Uncle Kim In-rang said that he was planning to farm when he retired.

“Goodbye.”

“Hehehe-, okay. Come again.”

Chun Gil-ryong smiled until his eyes disappeared.

She was a kid who at least said goodbye properly when she came and went.

It was amazing that she didn’t say ‘I’m going’ since her way of speaking was so unique.

After walking around the inner village with her hands behind her back like an old man, Yu-jin would now turn her steps towards the town, with Chun-ma and Gwang-ma following her. As she walked briskly with her noticeably longer legs, the four dogs followed behind, stopping and starting.

“Is Jjo-rong’s uncle home?”

“Eii? Yu-jin, why are you here so early today?”

“I’ve grown taller.”

Yu-jin stood on tiptoes and raised her arms in a ‘hurray’ pose.

Her arms and legs were getting longer every day, and she looked quite like a child even without standing on tiptoes.

It was a shame that she couldn’t see Choi Mi-kyung often since she had started going to the academy, but Yu-jin had a lot of things to play with.

‘No one’s watching.’

Son Yu-jin, with the eyes of a hawk, stepped into the mud house kitchen.

After putting pine needles into the fireplace, she took a deep breath and focused her mind.

Then, she reached out her hand and whispered.

“Deunareude-.”

Hey, what are you doing?

She didn’t know what she was trying to do, but nothing changed.

Was that not it?

“Ttolsswi-.”

Saaa- A faint frost formed on the pine needles.

“Nooo-, that’s not it-.”

Son Yu-jin tore at her already disheveled hair.

The words that she had only used unconsciously and had not actively spoken were tormenting the child, who was trapped in the swamp of forgetfulness, as if they were about to surface but not quite.

The power that lingered around her heart was still strong. It was because she had no need to use it, and the vessel had expanded on the day she saved her younger sibling.

However.

“I can’t remember.”

The language of shadows was gradually leaving Yu-jin.

Every time she played hard, slept soundly, and woke up, the speed was getting faster.

Less than a month later, on a day in November, Son Yu-jin completely forgot that she had once been a being who performed miracles and became a complete human being.

Occasionally, when something vaguely came to mind, she would just tilt her head with a puzzled expression.

‘It feels like something fun happened.’

With a slight sense of unease.

***

Nyahahaam-.

The warm sunlight had receded far away, and it was a Saturday evening with autumn rain falling.

Jin-hyuk threw down the book he was reading and stretched languidly.

‘I was wondering why I was so bored.’

There were no incidents or accidents around him. He had left external activities to Moon Seok-il, and he had just swayed with the waves of time like seaweed under the sea, so it was inevitable that he would be bored.

But the power he possessed was disproportionately excessive for his daily life. His power and influence were unnecessarily strong compared to what he did, so it was nothing more than excess capacity.

‘But I can’t just reduce my power.’

Just because a country has excessive military power, it can’t reduce its military spending and fail to achieve self-defense. It was an inflexibility that could not be tolerated in the territory of Son Gwang-yeon and Son Jin-hyuk.

There was no way to reduce it either.

To gather his momentarily complicated thoughts, he inserted a cassette tape into his mini component system.

Jin-hyuk liked Guns & Roses’ “November Rain.”

It wasn’t that he liked hard rock bands. One rainy night in his twenties, a song that came out of a taxi radio had pierced his heart.

The calm prelude, the vocals that had power but gave life within restraint, the chorus that surrounded it like a dawn breeze, the melody that gradually increased the tension, and the guitar solo that completed the lyricism.

He listened to it over and over again.

He didn’t know how much he had longed for this song to come out again after he was reborn.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the music. With his eyes gently closed.

Knock knock-.

Just as the song was about to enter its climax, he heard a knock.

Jin-hyuk, who had been nodding his head with his eyes closed, lowered the audio volume.

“Yes.”

It was Moon Seok-il.

Moon Seok-il unknowingly bowed his head slightly before entering the room. He was indeed a polite uncle.

Jin-hyuk got up from his chair, bowed politely, and offered the chair to Moon Seok-il.

As Jin-hyuk sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes gleaming, Moon Seok-il opened his mouth.

“There are two matters to discuss.”