The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 139

Hong Ki-joon, with a towel wrapped around his head, emerged from the bathroom.

His steps faltered as he saw his wife, Yoo Se-ra, holding her phone, her eyes blinking like a cat.

“What’s wrong? Did you get a strange call?”

“No…”

Yoo Se-ra stammered, looking like she’d lost her mind.

“Jin-hyeok hung up on me first…”

“Yoo Se-ra, are you still half-asleep? Jin-hyeok called? Not Gwang-yeon or Jin-hyeok’s mom?”

And he hung up first? Hong Ki-joon’s chest heaved with silent laughter at his wife’s absurd words.

“It’s true…”

Hong Ki-joon, observing his wife’s still unfocused eyes, brushed it off. Yoo Se-ra didn’t have a habit of lying, but she sometimes talked nonsense like this when she woke up from a nap. At least when she spoke in Korean like now, he could understand her, but she spoke in German more often, leaving Hong Ki-joon at a loss for words.

He lifted his daughter, who had fallen asleep while rocking in her cradle. Hong Ki-joon felt the reward of his regular workouts for his health. Even though his daughter had grown quite a bit lately, he could lift her effortlessly.

“You go to sleep first. I’ll take care of some work in the living room.”

“Slurp-. Huh? Oh. Do you have to call that US investment firm again?”

Yoo Se-ra, startled, wiped the drool that had unconsciously escaped her mouth.

“No. The rocket test launch is soon.”

“Ah, right. You’re really amazing. How did you sweet-talk the government?”

“You can say that again.”

He should have used his connections and spent some money sooner. If he had, he could have expedited the high-speed internet business. Hong Ki-joon smiled bitterly, thinking so. It was impossible back then when Yoo Myung-sun had a grip on the group, but it was still a shame.

Yoo Se-ra spoke to her husband’s back as he carried their daughter out, sounding like she was scolding him.

“You say it’s hard and gives you a headache, but it seems like you’re doing all the business alone.”

Hong Ki-joon nodded without turning around.

He intended to seek advice but do all the execution himself.

He had no intention of giving Son Jin-hyeok time to stir up trouble with his revenge or whatever.

‘That’s the condition of my return, Yoo Se-ra.’

Well, it’s a separate matter if that guy has something he wants to do.

Moon Seok-il had said he seemed to be sharpening his knife against Daejeong, but sharpening a knife was his freedom.

However, he didn’t intend to give him a chance to use it if he could help it.

Tsk.

‘I told him to enjoy life, but seeing him like that, he’s suspicious too.’

He was thinking things that normal kids wouldn’t.

Isn’t it normal to worry about homework for tomorrow while flipping through adult magazines?

He even said he didn’t touch the erotic videotape that his friend Son Gwang-yeon had slyly left out like bait.

‘Wasn’t the title ‘Affairs in Venice’ or something?’

That’s a fun one.

Anyway, he’s suspicious.

Finally, Hong Ki-joon’s mind began to replay the moments he had spent with Son Jin-hyeok like a panorama.

A foreign sensation, like a prickling on his tongue, was felt in the flow of his thoughts.

‘Ah… Could the reason he looked at me strangely when we first met be…?’

Thump-.

Without even noticing his daughter’s head bumping against the stair railing, Hong Ki-joon delved into his memories. He blamed himself for living too busy a life and for not suspecting others because he was happy with the life he had regained.

‘I thought he was just taking care of Su-jeong so much because she was like a younger sister to him.’

Thump-.

If that was the case, he could understand why Son Jin-hyeok, a boy with a coldness rather than the shyness of a country boy, was so affectionate towards Hong Su-jeong.

‘There weren’t any special conversations though.’

For Hong Ki-joon, there were many ambiguous situations.

It wasn’t like he could only hang out with his friend’s son after going all the way to find his friend.

‘It’s just a hypothesis for now.’

Thump-.

Interesting. Very interesting. Hong Ki-joon muttered, enjoying the tingling sensation rising from his chest like a chest pain.

“Daddy, is it fun?”

“Huh?”

“Is my head a ball? I’m wide awake now!”

***

Should one maximize strengths or minimize weaknesses?

It’s a question that everyone striving for improvement, not just athletes, grapples with.

Jin-hyeok recalled Yoo Se-ra’s advice from the previous day.

In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that these friends had no strengths. If he had to find one, it would be that they were good at running and enjoyed it compared to their peers. Their abilities were too ambiguous to call them professional athletes.

That was the basis for his judgment that fixing their weaknesses was the priority.

Jo Seul-chan’s strength was his speed.

He ran with short legs and short strides, covering 100 meters in 12.50 seconds. And that was on sand. Because of his scurrying style, there was no loss of power. He didn’t slip on the sand, which made it possible.

But that was it. There were no other strengths besides being simply fast. He wasn’t tall, nor did he have long legs. He wasn’t particularly good at endurance either. Of course, he was outstanding compared to his peers who didn’t exercise, but compared to other track and field athletes, he was a one-time wonder. Insufficient nutrition must have also contributed to that.

If you were to ask whether his bowlegs came first or his scurrying style, it would be obvious that his bowlegs came first, but it wasn’t clear if he ran like that because of his legs. That’s because he kept his strides short even though he could stretch his legs out longer.

Kim Young-tae, his elementary school track coach, hadn’t left him alone. Because it was obvious that his running style wasn’t that of a track and field athlete, Kim Young-tae sometimes scolded him and sometimes coaxed him, trying to correct Jo Seul-chan’s style. But Jo Seul-chan never managed to fix it.

Jo Seul-chan, who lived alone with his grandmother, was intimidated by adults, and even Kim Young-tae, who treated him well like an uncle, was someone he was intimidated by simply because he was an adult. No, it was more accurate to see it as defiance rather than intimidation. After his father passed away and his mother left home, Jo Seul-chan stopped listening to anything adults of his parents’ age said.

His heavy dialect and stunted growth might have been due to his grandmother’s way of speaking and the old-fashioned eating habits that didn’t consider nutrition.

Anyway, that Jo Seul-chan was gradually changing with the help of coach Son Jin-hyeok.

Yeom Byeong-taek, who approached Jo Seul-chan as he caught his breath after running 50 meters, made a fuss.

“When Seul runs, his knees are completely together! Just like Jin-hyeok’s posture!”

“Really?”

“Only the knees coming together…”

His legs didn’t spread out much, but he still had his scurrying style. It seemed like he could widen his stride, but it was hard to fix a habit that was ingrained in his body, especially multiple things at once.

Yeom Byeong-taek thought that if he fixed just a little bit, Jo Seul-chan could become an outstanding track and field athlete. Widen his stride, lift his knees two more spans, and use his shoulders more strongly… Ah, it wasn’t just a little bit. There were so many things to fix.

“But his posture is really pretty.”

“Really? Is it prettier than before? How was I before?”

“You were just like a dog before. Now you run like a human.”

Yeom Byeong-taek said, picking his nose as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Even so, calling me a dog, you bastard. You’re not even a friend, you son of a bitch.”

“Tsk, I’m giving you a compliment, and you’re still complaining? And son of a bitch? Is my mom a dog, you bastard?”

Kikikikikik-.

Yeom Byeong-taek and Jo Seul-chan, who had been doing track and field together for a long time, giggled in the sunset-lit field.

Someone sat on the concrete stands, watching them quietly, but the two friends didn’t pay any attention.

***

Everyone’s foot shape is different.

The same goes for track and field athletes. Yeom Byeong-taek had flat feet, large feet, and a wide area in the middle of his soles. But that didn’t mean he ran with a pigeon-toed gait. Yeom Byeong-taek’s gait and running style were genetic. His father and grandfather also had pigeon-toed gaits.

“Byeong-taek, try this.”

During morning practice, Jin-hyeok demonstrated.

It was walking on tiptoes. He shouldn’t wobble, and he shouldn’t put pressure on his little toes.

“Think of it as walking with your big toe. You’re actually walking on the front of your foot. Walk slowly, pressing down firmly. You have to use your calf and ankle muscles.”

Yeom Byeong-taek wobbled but followed Jin-hyeok well.

“Ooh-, my ankles hurt when I walk like this.”

His ankles had never hurt no matter how much he ran.

“Your outer and front ankles hurt, right?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“It’s probably because the ankle ligaments that were bent are getting back into place.”

Yeom Byeong-taek had temporarily corrected his posture when he was coached by Kim Young-tae. But the problem was that the correction didn’t last long. To maintain the corrected posture, the athlete had to constantly be aware of it while running. It wasn’t a daily training, and after the competition, he would often revert to his original posture.

Yeom Byeong-taek had good leg strength but not good mental strength. In the end, Kim Young-tae also focused on the children enjoying themselves and gave up on correcting their posture. He was just a physical education teacher, not a track and field coach.

“Will this improve my record?”

“I think it will definitely improve. You’ll be able to focus your power in a straight line without loss.”

Yeom Byeong-taek nodded, but he was still puzzled inside.

‘Is it because he’s good at studying? His words are too difficult.’

But let’s try it.

Jin-hyeok’s kind explanations were much better to listen to than the yelling of the ‘Shibangsa’ [a derogatory term for a strict teacher]. If he couldn’t understand it with his head, he could just do it until his body got used to it. It was difficult to exercise consistently in elementary school, but it was different in middle school. He felt like he had more energy and was less tired? And with the competition two months away, he felt like he would get used to it if he practiced every day.

“Byeong-taek, who is that friend?”

“Who? Oh? You mean them from yesterday?”

“Yesterday?”

“Yeah. He was watching Seul and me train. He’s a transfer student from Cheongju.”

Where Jin-hyeok was looking with interest, the transfer student and Jo Seul-chan were together, and the transfer student was drawing a line on the ground and helping Jo Seul-chan stretch on it. The posture was to bend the leg stretched forward and have the knee of the leg stretched backward touch the ground, and he was making sure that both feet, the center of the body, and the back knee did not deviate from the line.

Although it was a humble movement on the ground, it seemed like a program to help correct Jo Seul-chan’s bowlegs. Jo Seul-chan was struggling to keep his balance.

Jin-hyeok’s eyes sparkled with interest.

‘That guy has some experience with exercise.’

His physique was unusual.

***

Park Sang-gi had transferred to Taeyang Middle School from Cheongju a week ago.

He hadn’t made any friends in a week, but he didn’t particularly need any. He had transferred temporarily due to his father’s job and planned to return to Cheongju in November. And the kids here, who went to a very small school compared to Cheongju, were not on the same level as him. These country bumpkins were so amazed when they heard that Park Sang-gi had a girlfriend in Cheongju.

‘Are they naive or just stupid?’

Even though it was an all-boys middle school, they said it was hard to find a guy with a girlfriend. It was strange. Lee Jun-hee, a girl who lived next door to the temporary house near the school, had a boyfriend. Ah, her boyfriend was a high school student. As expected, girls were always faster.

For two or three days, it was bearable.

Park Sang-gi, who had been in the soccer club in Cheongju, felt restless. He had to continue his soccer career when he returned to Cheongju, so he went to the school field after school to do some physical training and watched the track and field members training.

‘They look like they’re having fun.’

There were only two track and field members, but the two guys were joking around, massaging each other, and constantly laughing.

The next day, he wondered if they would train early in the morning, so he went to school early to watch. People who exercise can learn and find it interesting just by watching others exercise.

But there was someone he hadn’t seen yesterday.

‘Is he the coach?’

He looks young, but he’s in great shape.

He was correcting the postures of the two track and field members, so he seemed like a coach or a senior, but from their conversation, it seemed like they were friends. He looked over 180 cm [approximately 5’11”], and his back looked better than a college rugby player.

‘He’s just trying to correct their posture with explanations. He’s a fraud.’

The guy with the good back touched the bowlegged guy and then went to the pigeon-toed guy. But this bowlegged guy was slacking off? As a promising wing forward who would lead Korean soccer, he could never tolerate someone exercising half-heartedly. Park Sang-gi unconsciously approached the bowlegged guy.

Screech-screech-.

He drew a line on the field. He had just bought these new sneakers when he transferred, so they would get a little worn.

“Try to balance on this line with your legs as wide as possible.”

“Huh? Oh, okay. Should I? Sure, why not.”

The short-legged bowlegged guy glanced at him once and then obediently listened.

Are country bumpkins just nice?

Then, the voice of the fraud coach behind him turned Park Sang-gi around.

“What’s your friend’s 100-meter time?”