The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 151

Ten kilometers round trip.

The flat road is 4 kilometers, and the mountain trail from the entrance to the summit is 1 kilometer. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But it was a daily workout for Jin-hyuk and his uncles, and it was training planned with the hope that his friends would become stronger, so it couldn’t be done half-heartedly.

‘It’s the last summer we’ll spend together.’

It was an unpleasant thought.

Next year, all four of them will be in different places, attending different schools.

It would be tough, but I wanted to do my best as much as I had set a goal.

Even while climbing the mountain, Jin-hyuk pricked up his ears to check on his friends’ conditions.

The three friends took turns leading and lagging behind, showing a spirit of sacrifice by volunteering as targets for the pack of dogs [referring to their tiring pace, like being chased by dogs].

“…I am the future of soccer. …My stamina… Ah, am I dizzy now?”

“Hic-, just a bit-, hic-, Grandma-, filial piety-”

“Park Yang noona-, heh heh! Shower time-! Haa haa-”

It was a relief that they were at least mumbling.

I had to be careful when their words decreased and their expressions became serious, but my friends’ complexions were not much different from when they usually exercised.

Even though their body temperatures rose, their heads throbbed, and sweat poured like rain, the kids didn’t give up.

Jin-hyuk, proud of his friends, didn’t hold back on encouragement.

It was the second carrot [a reward or incentive].

“Hoo-hoo-. Let’s finish the round trip in an hour. I usually finish this course in 50 minutes almost every day.”

At that moment, Jin-hyuk saw it.

The friends who had always been playful but never said a harsh word to Jin-hyuk were now glaring at him with their eyes.

Especially, Yeom Byeong-taek’s eyes were blazing.

“Come on-, let’s push through. A delicious breakfast awaits after the workout.”

Yeom Byeong-taek also hated the uncles who were encouraging him from behind.

He wanted to fart and make them suffer, but he thought he would be in trouble if he failed to control his strength because he was too exhausted. So, he decided to endure it.

When they were almost at the summit, Jin-hyuk, who had been climbing the mountain as if he were running in the lead, stopped again.

It was to encourage his friends one more time.

“If you do it every day for a month, you’ll be fine.”

…It was to encourage them.

“…You little…”

“Son Jin-hyuk, you…”

“…A month… When will I meet my girlfriend…”

It was strange. It seemed that motivational speeches didn’t work well with these friends.

Jin-hyuk thought.

‘Ah, maybe I am…’

Wasn’t it because I was so obsessed with exercise that I couldn’t date even when I became an adult?

It was a rational and reasonable judgment.

Son Jin-hyuk, who didn’t care about other people’s opinions, finally began to realistically refine his self-awareness skill. It would become an asset to plan more specifically what kind of person he would become in the future.

*

The house is visible in the distance.

“Hic! Hic! We’re almost there-!”

“Huk-, hubuk! Choi Yang noona, legs- are falling off- huk-!”

“My girlfriend is still sleeping…”

Was it because they wouldn’t get breakfast if they were last? The kids started to pick up the pace.

Jin-hyuk’s house was basically located on high ground, but it was downhill from the road where buses ran.

The friends fell and tumbled, showing their determination for breakfast.

“Oh my! Grandma, Seulchan is rolling-!”

“Hic! Shibak! Kang Yang noona! ! Huk!”

“I am… Homo erectus…”

The kids spilled into the yard like a flood.

Moon Seok-il, who was sweeping the yard with a broom, greeted the kids.

“First place is Park Sang-gi, second place is Yeom Byeong-taek, third place is Jo Seul-chan…, Jin-hyuk is last?”

Park Sang-gi, who had been a professional soccer player, had decent endurance.

Yeom Byeong-taek’s tenacity, who had been doing track and field for a long time, was also commendable.

But Son Jin-hyuk was last?

“The last place is Uncle Heon-chang?”

Kang Heon-chang, who was the last to step into the yard, blinked his eyes with a blank expression.

“Huh-, me?”

I’m last…?

I hadn’t even thought about that.

Jin-hyuk, who had spoken casually without showing any signs of being tired, turned on the water at the yard’s faucet and sprayed himself with the hose.

The ice-cold groundwater hit his crown, and his whole body tingled as if he had been electrocuted.

“Haa-, it’s good. It’s really good. This is the taste of summer.”

“Me too, me too!”

He sprayed water on Jo Seul-chan, whose face was flushed red, and also gave a gracious stream of water to Yeom Byeong-taek. Each time, the kids shuddered but had blissful expressions.

“Ugh-! That’s the taste!”

“Ugh-! I’m alive!”

Park Sang-gi, not wanting to wait, submerged his upper body in the red tub that had been filled with water. He was slow to speak, but his actions were quick. He must have a girlfriend because he was so good at taking action. Jin-hyuk thought he should learn dating skills from Park Sang-gi.

Park Sang-gi, who had his head in the water, was thinking something else.

‘I still like soccer.’

Bloop bloop-.

Accepting the offer of the training camp because they said they would excuse him from supplementary classes was the biggest mistake of Park Sang-gi’s life.

He couldn’t run away because he didn’t even know where he was.

Maybe the military would be better.

*

There was no such thing as starving the last place.

When the monsters, including Kang Heon-chang, sat around the platform and started eating with their spoons, the cauldron was quickly emptied.

“Ugh-! It’s so delicious!”

“Uncle, eat a lot.”

Yu-jin put bulgogi [Korean marinated beef] on Min Yong-rak’s spoon as he mixed bellflower root salad and various greens in his bowl. Min Yong-rak was the person who had to drive her around for a month, so he had to eat well. The generous Yu-jin could put bulgogi on his spoon as many times as he wanted.

Jin-hyuk, who was a light eater, carefully called out to his mother, who was checking if there was anything missing on the table.

“Mom, what about the bracken and mung bean sprouts-”

“There are no ingredients. Eat the bean sprout salad.”

“Okay…”

Han Yu-young’s brow furrowed with a firm expression.

It was a natural measure as a mother for her son, who had to stay healthy in the future.

‘Just in case, my son, please bear with it.’

No matter how much science and technology developed and the level of consciousness increased, humans were still easily swayed by trivial rumors.

Jin-hyuk felt disappointed.

He had spent April and May searching the mountains for bracken, but he couldn’t even taste it. Why was she doing this? He felt like crying because he wanted to eat bracken and mung bean sprouts, but he had no choice but to obey his mother’s orders.

Crunch crunch-.

Everyone silently ate three bowls of rice as if they were devouring it.

“How is it, is it edible?”

When Jin-hyuk’s mother, who was more beautiful than the school’s music teacher, asked, the kids responded in unison.

“Ah-! Mother, it’s so delicious! This is the first time I’ve had such a meal in my life!”

“I want to live here! I don’t mind not seeing the older sisters!”

“It’s better than the soccer team’s diet, Mother.”

Han Yu-young showed a pleased smile that made her eyes disappear at the kids’ reactions.

That’s how mothers’ hearts usually are, isn’t it? The person who eats the food you prepared deliciously is the best guest.

“Let’s go to the beach and digest slowly.”

At Jin-hyuk’s words, which he casually threw out while looking at the schedule, the kids, who were patting their stomachs and eating Korean melons for dessert, had an earthquake in their pupils.

“Isn’t Jin-hyuk trying to raise us as secret agents?”

Jo Seul-chan muttered to Yeom Byeong-taek and Park Sang-gi.

Pretending not to hear, Jin-hyuk made his friends carry duffel bags filled with sand, one each.

‘…It’s reasonable.’

Park Sang-gi, who was carrying a duffel bag weighing over 20kg and bending his back, nodded to Jo Seul-chan. His eyes were quite determined, but strangely, Jo Seul-chan started to laugh.

‘I’m happy.’

Certainly, the morning training was a hellish time that made him breathless. But it wasn’t so hard that he would die. Running was something he did every day, and he recovered quickly because he had been doing it for a long time.

The feeling that Jo Seul-chan was experiencing was not an impulse to escape but a determination to be faithful.

It was also his first time at a training camp, and he had never experienced staying in one place with so many people for so long. Although he was pushed out of the 100m and 200m races by Son Jin-hyuk and Yeom Byeong-taek, the training camp itself was sprouting with the expectation that it would remain a pleasant memory.

“I wonder if Jang Yang noona went on delivery again today…”

Yeom Byeong-taek, who seemed to have chewed and swallowed even his soul with breakfast, looked at the mudflat in the distance and faced reality.

“It hasn’t even been a day yet. No, it hasn’t even been half a day.”

It was a sharp analysis that was not like a middle school student.

Kim In-rang, wearing navy shorts and a t-shirt, quietly gave a signal.

“Let’s go.”

Thus, the second march of hardship began.

*

Buzz- buzz-.

The shade of the zelkova tree expanded as much as the cicada’s sound grew louder.

Min Yong-rak and Yu-jin sat on a mat under the zelkova tree. If it were any other time, they would have sat on the platform, but it was a choice to prevent the still young Jeong-won from falling.

Min Yong-rak was excluded from the mudflat training observation.

It was because he had pedaled so hard in the morning that he couldn’t put any strength into his thighs.

“Yu-jin, this is a pyramid.”

Instead, he decided to stay home and play with Yu-jin.

“Are pyramids delicious?”

“Aboo-?”

“No, a pyramid. Color it and talk. Uncle will be working.”

“I’ll try. Jeong-won, you shouldn’t eat crayons, right?”

“Oooo-.”

While Yu-jin was taking care of Jeong-won and coloring only with a yellow-ocher crayon, Min Yong-rak organized the records to be delivered to Jin-hyuk.

‘Daejin Middle School, Chungyang Physical Education Middle School, about that level?’

It was data collected and sent by Yu Se-ra, and the record sheet that Min Yong-rak was focusing on had the event name ‘4x100mR’ written on it.

“45 seconds.”

“What is it?”

“Aboo-.”

When Min Yong-rak muttered, Yu-jin suddenly raised her head.

“Uh-huh, they say that if four older brothers who run well in the province do a 400-meter relay, it takes about that much time.”

“Is that fast?”

“Yes. National athletes are faster.”

“Are they faster than our brother?”

“I don’t know. A relay isn’t something you do alone.”

Min Yong-rak often helped Jin-hyuk measure his records.

When Son Jin-hyuk ran 100m on the urethane track by the waterway, which had a similar condition to a general stadium, he recorded about 11.3 seconds.

‘It was terrifying.’

Min Yong-rak shuddered as he recalled Jin-hyuk’s posture and speed when he ran, and the sound that shook the ground. His movements were as agile as a cheetah in the animal kingdom, and the sound he made when he kicked off the ground was as heavy as a bison.

Yu Tae-hwa, the most agile and fastest of the SSS agents, barely broke 12 seconds, so it was needless to say how fast it looked to Min Yong-rak, who was an ordinary person.

What was even more surprising was that everyone agreed that it didn’t seem like he was running at full speed.

Anyway.

According to Min Yong-rak’s analysis, the relay record is shorter than the sum of the four runners’ 100m records. Of course, that’s assuming there are no mistakes in the baton pass.

“It’s about ninety-eight percent of the record of the fastest runner’s record multiplied by four…”

“Don’t swear.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

To avoid being interrupted by Yu-jin, who interjected every time he said a word, Min Yong-rak shook his legs and focused.

“It’s like that compared to the fastest runner, but if you consider the records of other runners…”

It could be seen as a significant decrease, not just 2 percent.

He looked at the records of the Taeyang Middle School athletes that Jin-hyuk had sent. Although they were records measured on sandy ground, they would be sufficient as simulation data.

“This is… It’s going to be hard to even compete?”

“I don’t like spicy bibim noodles [Korean spicy mixed noodles].”

“Okay, Yu-jin should eat non-spicy noodles.”

“My butt was also spicy when I pooped.”

“Yeah… I was also spicy.”

Where was I?

Ah, that’s right.

Min Yong-rak added up the records of the Taeyang Middle School athletes.

If he simulated the relay record by adding Jin-hyuk’s record, it would be a record at the level of the national championship finals, but the gap with the other runners was so large that he couldn’t apply it as it was in the hypothesis Min Yong-rak had established.

“Ah-, it’s going to be hard to even pass the preliminaries?”

“Even if it’s difficult and hard, you can only be called a gentleman if you overcome it in the end. Ahem- that’s it.”

“Okay, Elder Chun has given you a lot of good advice…”

Min Yong-rak responded to every word Yu-jin said without skipping a beat and carried out the task he had been given.

Even though she was chattering, Yu-jin’s voice was hundreds of times more pleasant to listen to than the cicada’s sound.

“Aboo-.”

He also had to make sure that Jeong-won, who liked to be next to his older sister, didn’t eat dirt.

He was clearly a specially dispatched company employee.

‘I’m babysitting.’

But strangely…

It was doable.

*

“…It seems like I’m digesting well. Ugh-. It’s doable.”

Park Sang-gi was surprisingly positive about the training.

It wasn’t just them who were suffering, but Jin-hyuk was also participating in the training, so the other friends didn’t complain too much even though they were walking with their backs bent.

“Byeong-taek and Seul-chan, is it doable?”

“I’m starting to wonder if this is how it’s supposed to be…”

Yeom Byeong-taek was in a state of being blocked by a strange wall, feeling dissatisfied but not knowing what he was dissatisfied with. It was also his first time at a training camp.

“Eee-. I’m okay. It’s just fun.”

A training camp where they exercised while chatting among themselves without a teacher.

Even though his body was tired, Jo Seul-chan’s heart was happy.

“We’ll exercise at a low intensity for about two hours, have lunch, and then have a break. After the break, we’ll do sprint training, and then posture correction and recovery training…”

Jin-hyuk, who was carrying a heavier duffel bag than his friends, shared the schedule while walking with them.

What you don’t know is scary, so if you don’t know what kind of fear lies ahead after overcoming this hurdle, a weak human might lose their mind at any time. In severe cases, they may even give up on themselves.

That’s why he shared it.

“Jin-hyuk, if we’ve done something wrong to you, how about just hitting us instead?”

“Jin-hyuk, can I go to the teahouse for a bit? I think I left something behind.”

It was strange.

Even though he told them the schedule, his friends seemed to be afraid.

‘Why are they like this? Should I revise the plan?’