The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 153

< Summer Camp of Turmoil (5) >

No matter how good their instantaneous speed was, reacting to the sound of a whistle or an electronic starting gun was a different matter. This was where the difference between Yeom Byung-taek and Park Sang-gi became clear.

Although Park Sang-gi had explosive power, his reaction time at the start was significantly slower, like the difference between a chick and a hen. Because of this, Yeom Byung-taek consistently had better start times.

Although they called it training, it was simply finished after everyone ran three sprints.

Since it was the first week of physical training, pushing their speed while their bodies weren’t ready could lead to injuries. There was also an unexpected variable they encountered.

Park Sang-gi, who had trained with the soccer club, surprisingly had good endurance and recovery. The problem was Jo Seul-chan and Yeom Byung-taek.

‘Aigo, my thighs and stomach are so tight.’

‘My back hurts too.’

‘…I’m okay. Or am I not okay…’

It was a natural result of doing strenuous training they weren’t used to.

The kids decided to massage each other and went home.

‘Eat some orange juice and bananas. It’ll help with the muscle pain.’

‘Really?’

Jin-hyuk didn’t answer.

‘I don’t know either.’

Who cares?

It’s better to be full than not eating anything.

And it tastes good too.

‘Kkyaaaaaaak!’

‘Eukekekekekekekek!’

‘Euh-! Heung-…’

After making them lie down and massaging their thighs, they were in an uproar, saying it hurt and tickled.

The fussing of Yeom Byung-taek and Jo Seul-chan was immediately suppressed by Jin-hyuk’s one word.

‘Endure it. You need to loosen your muscles to go to Gubong Mountain again tonight.’

He had checked the schedule, but was it real? To go back and forth on a 10-kilometer course morning and evening? Was this serious guy really planning to kill them?

‘Is Jin-hyuk’s nipple crying?’

‘It’s flexibility, you idiot, Jo Seul.’

As the kids rolled their eyes, Jin-hyuk chuckled.

‘Just kidding. We’ll just do some light running and walking in the evening.’

‘Why do you joke so brutally…’

Originally, he had planned to go to the mountain in the evening as well, but he decided that he should avoid excessive training in the afternoon to have time for supplementary classes. Besides, it was dangerous to go to the mountain in the dark anyway.

Jin-hyuk had already revised more than half of the schedule.

‘Training in the morning, studying in the afternoon. Light recovery training in the evening.’

He also mixed in some fun elements for entertainment. Of course, his friends didn’t seem to see it as play, but Jin-hyuk thought it was fun enough. After all, how enjoyable was it to spend time with friends?

They started with a training exercise where they stood back-to-back, pushing against each other’s shoulders.

‘Straighten your back! Tighten your stomach! Tuck your chin!’

The kids, who had thought it was just a simple exercise when they heard the explanation, felt the power spreading from their feet and ankles, through their calves and thighs, to their back and spine, and realized the significant training effect.

They knew the truth that the harder it was, the stronger they would become and the more their stamina would improve.

There were also basic push-ups. It was training to strengthen the muscles on the front of the upper body, including the shoulders.

‘Keep your elbows close to your sides.’

‘They don’t stick?’

‘I’m telling you to think of it that way. Keep your fingers together and make your hands parallel, like the number eleven.’

It didn’t seem like much of a difference, but when they did it as Jin-hyuk instructed, their arms were shaking before they even did ten. Their faces turned red as if they were about to explode. Even Park Sang-gi, who had often been punished in the soccer club, was surprised.

‘Wow, my shoulders and chest are really getting a workout.’

Moon Seok-il, who was watching the kids exercise, tried it himself in the shade, following Jin-hyuk’s demonstration. Keeping his body, palms, and shoulders in a straight line, and his elbows not flaring out. Slowly going down, keeping a straight line from head to toe, and coming up without overdoing it, but not too slowly either.

‘Huk-.’

When he was training in the military, he had focused on doing a lot, quickly, but this time, the pain his body felt was different.

As a burst of stimulation hit his shoulders and chest, he remembered what Jang Jin-nam had said.

‘Is this really human modification training?’

He had only done ten push-ups slowly, but sweat was pouring down like rain.

Next was pull-ups.

‘Pull up to your chest! Tighten your stomach and tilt your head back! Don’t do a belly flop! Who’s bending their legs! When you come down, hold with your back muscles!’

Jin-hyuk had transformed into a scary drill sergeant.

Since the drill sergeant demonstrated first, the kids couldn’t even cry and just groaned.

The only saving grace was that they were all used to exercising, so they somehow managed to do it.

‘Let’s do 1,600 jump ropes each and take a break.’

‘Jin-hyuk, why 1,600?’

Yeom Byung-taek, who had quenched his thirst with lukewarm barley tea, asked.

‘Your age times a hundred.’

As if it had some great meaning, the good-natured friends nodded.

Even though his friends had all finished their jump ropes, Jin-hyuk didn’t stop.

He was even faster than the others.

‘He’s so tough.’

‘Yeah, tough.’

Son Jin-hyuk finally stopped after completing 3,000. It was a daily routine, so it wasn’t difficult. If he combined his past life and this life, he should have done more, but he had won a glorious victory in his compromise with himself to do only 3,000.

Park Sang-gi, who had finished 1,600 jump ropes first, stood far away and smiled meaningfully.

‘I’m naturally fast…’

He had been hospitalized and had surgery because his heart was weak when he was young, so he had started school a year late. Who knew it would help him in times like this?

Anyway, they somehow finished the first day of training.

***

Swish, swish-.

Jo Seul-chan, who had been groaning with muscle pain all over his body, suddenly opened his eyes.

‘This is a 94% chance it’s the sound of rain!’

He threw off the blanket and sat up, letting out a groan.

‘Kkeueueu-.’

Jin-hyuk’s bed was wide and comfortable.

There was also a large window next to the bed, which made it very scenic. However, the muscle pain, which made it impossible to pinpoint exactly where it hurt, had stolen the sweetness of his sleep.

‘Heueueueu-.’

Jo Seul-chan moved his heavy body to another room. It was raining, so they wouldn’t be training today. He had to share this good news with his friends. He walked out of the room, waddling like he did the day he ate pork cutlet with his grandmother.

As expected.

Park Sang-gi and Yeom Byung-taek were also massaging their thighs and watching the rain outside the window.

The terrible summer, the rain that had been pouring for the first time in a while, brought the musty and stuffy smell of dirt up to the second floor.

‘Hey guys, we’re not training today, right?’

‘I don’t know. They say you have to keep going when the fire is hot to make it your own. Heueo-, anyway, it’s going to be hard for the older girls to deliver today.’

‘…If it were my girlfriend, I would have told her to rest. The president is a man…’

Should they tie up Jin-hyuk and let him rest for a day?

Would he be tied up?

If they messed with him carelessly, it would be more dangerous. It would be better to just send him away…

As the murmuring voices mixed with the sound of rain and swirled around the room,

Son Jin-hyuk, holding Son Jeong-won, who was babbling, called out to his friends from the landing, without making a sound.

‘Let’s warm up lightly before breakfast.’

‘Aebuu-.’

Jeong-won also called out to his older brother’s friends, making a cute hand gesture.

‘It’s raining?’

‘Bring your swimsuits and follow me.’

Yeom Byung-taek questioned, but Jin-hyuk was not a very kind friend.

But why did he tell them to bring their swimsuits?

Were they going to splash around in the rain?

The kids followed Jin-hyuk to the garage connected to the house.

There was a door in the garage.

‘Aigoo-.’

‘Heueoaueu-.’

The thigh muscle pain was more noticeable when going down than when going up. The kids groaned as they opened the door and went down the stairs.

When they went down to the basement, they saw a straight passage with lights on.

‘What is this place? Are we running here?’

‘…Is this a secret base?’

Ignoring Jo Seul-chan and Park Sang-gi’s questions, Jin-hyuk walked silently.

After walking more than 50 meters, they reached a glass door.

When they opened the glass door, a gym appeared inside.

SSS agents who were exercising waved at Jin-hyuk.

Yeom Byung-taek and Jo Seul-chan, who had reached a state of enlightenment, began to smile like Buddhas.

‘Heeheehee-, I don’t like it. Why is this connected?’

‘Heoheoheo-, I miss my grandma-.’

‘…It’s not raining here.’

Park Sang-gi’s sad eyes turned to the floor.

The clean track, without a speck of dust, was cruel.

***

‘It seems like my friends like it too.’

Jin-hyuk, who had been observing the kids’ reactions, smiled contentedly.

It wasn’t that he had deliberately hidden the gym.

Jin-hyuk had planned as usual, and he was planning to rest during the hot midday, so he just didn’t have time to go to the gym.

‘Let’s start with stretching.’

They had to do it since he told them to.

‘Heueoeoeoe-.’

‘Aigugugugu-.’

‘Did someone hit me…’

It was the reaction he had expected.

Yeom Byung-taek and Jo Seul-chan’s training was focused on running, and Park Sang-gi hadn’t exercised for months.

That’s why he had deliberately exhausted their whole bodies yesterday.

It was no exaggeration to say that all muscles were used in short-distance running. Even muscles that were not used were eventually developed in track and field.

The physical training he had planned for quick adaptation and training was also designed as a process to awaken all the muscles in the body.

‘Do you remember the full-body twist we did yesterday?’

As he said that, Jin-hyuk lay down on the mat, spread his arms out, and placed his palms on the floor. Then, he straightened his legs and lifted them up.

‘Eueoeo-.’

‘Aigoo, grandma-.’

‘Does Jung-hwa know that her boyfriend is living this hard…’

‘Hey, at least you can make those noises when you’re with me, and I won’t say anything.’

Jin-hyuk smiled and offered a mix of teasing and comfort.

If Lee Byung-se were here, he wouldn’t even say those things. Friends are the best, aren’t they?

‘That bastard wouldn’t make us do this, you crazy bastard.’

Instead of shouting that, Yeom Byung-taek squeezed out a tear.

‘Okay, one, two, three-.’

‘One!’

Even though they were struggling, the kids shouted in unison.

They each had their own personalities, but they were athletes who had gathered under the name of exercise and for the purpose of training camp.

After repeating the eight types of calisthenics 40 times, the kids’ faces turned red and they were sweating.

‘Ugh-, I feel a little better now. What about you, Yeom Byung?’

‘My body’s warmed up. Come at me.’

‘It’s exhilarating. Let’s do more…’

The kids were joking around, feeling the effects of their warmed-up bodies.

As they say, those who have tasted meat know the flavor.

‘Today, let’s run ten laps around the track, swim, and then have breakfast.’

The kids’ eyes widened.

That’s all they were running?

That wasn’t the end of it.

‘Let’s just warm up after lunch and dinner too. We’ll do some weight training and just run a little on the track.’

It was a drastic change.

Yeom Byung-taek, who knew that Jin-hyuk wasn’t someone who would slack off, narrowed his eyes.

‘You have other intentions…, some kind of plot or scheme, right?’

‘There’s nothing like that. We’ll do this on rainy days. Instead, we’ll study.’

He didn’t know how many rainy days there would be in the future, but as a planner who hadn’t prepared for bad weather, he had quickly proposed a compromise.

‘Well, we were going to have supplementary classes anyway-.’

‘That’s a shame. Running in the rain would have been fun too.’

‘It can’t be helped…’

Eueuheung-.

The kids did their best to manage their expressions.

***

Jo Seul-chan and Yeom Byung-taek kept shaking their heads to chase away sleep.

They didn’t want to disappoint their friend, who had planned the training camp and was even giving them supplementary classes. However, studying suddenly going well or the brain suddenly waking up was something that only happened in movies.

‘I want to sleep.’

The two friends were thinking the same thing.

Others would probably feel the same, but when living in a group, especially when exercising, the most anticipated times were meal times and bedtime.

They could eat their fill without being watched, and after a refreshing shower, they could pull the blanket up to their chin under the air conditioner. It was a summer they had endured with a fan, but now that even their sleeping arrangements were comfortable, they felt like they had truly arrived in heaven.

‘Even though we ate so much, I’m hungry again-.’

‘I’m sleepy.’

He was usually quiet, but he always added a word or two. However, Park Sang-gi didn’t respond to the conversation between Jo Seul-chan and Yeom Byung-taek, who were studying on their own.

‘Is it because he’s a city person? He sleeps with his eyes open-.’

‘It’s scary. He’s like Shin Yang-noona [older sister].’

Classes in the morning, classes after lunch.

Because they hadn’t exercised in the morning, their sweet nap was gone, and they were given time for self-study.

‘Yeom Byung, what does this say? Why do I have to find the volume of a cylinder?’

‘It must be dangerous. Just find it.’

Yeom Byung-taek, who was supporting his face with one hand, was being quite kind to Jo Seul-chan.

The two friends’ eyelids were more than half-closed, trying to outdo each other.

‘Why is it dangerous? Is it dangerous because it’s a cylinder and it’s having a hard time?’

‘Did Frieza kidnap it in his spaceship? But why is this crazy fox trying to eat grapes and getting into an English passage? It’s a disgrace to the family.’

Eueuheung-

They tried to wake themselves up with silly talk, but they were helpless against the onslaught of sleep.

Who said that the heaviest thing in the world was an eyelid?

It was a true and accurate statement.

Park Sang-gi was the only one who kept his eyes open until the end of self-study.

That doesn’t mean Park Sang-gi was awake.

***

Jin-hyuk left his seat so that his friends could relax and hang out without being watched, even though he had told them to study on their own.

It was also because he wanted to play with the baby.

Just watching Yoo-jin and Jeong-won play, or holding the baby and rocking him was a precious rest for Jin-hyuk that he wouldn’t trade for anything.

‘Aigoo, so cute, our baby-. How can a boy be so pretty? But why isn’t Jeong-won taking naps these days?’

‘Aebuu-.’

What are you saying…

Instead of human language, clear bubbles came out of the baby’s mouth.

His mother had told him that babies would make bubbles when the wind blew outside. So, it seemed that Jeong-won was reacting to the strong wind blowing after the rain stopped.

‘Oppa is not doing self-study.’

‘Aebuu-.’

Yoo-jin, who was lying on the floor in the living room drawing something in her sketchbook, tilted her head, and Jeong-won also flailed his arms as if scolding his older brother. He kept moving his lips.

All of his friends were studying, but Yoo-jin must have thought it was strange that only her older brother was relaxing.

‘Oppa is doing self-study too.’

‘It’s not self-study. He’s playing with the baby.’

‘Aebuu-.’

Jin-hyuk smiled silently.

Sigh, how could a child understand if he explained the grand dream of a phoenix to them?

‘Oppa is practicing taking care of babies.’

He wanted to have a pretty baby like his younger siblings.

Feeling his heart pounding as he indulged in his pink fantasies was also an indispensable pleasure of his rest.

Hehehehe-.

‘Oppa smiled like General.’

His younger sister compared him to a dog, but Jin-hyuk didn’t hear it.