The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 16

The wailing of kindergarten student Hong Sujeong vanished without a trace.

Jinhyuk lingered in the yard for a moment, gazing at the hill where Hong Gijun’s car had disappeared. It was as if the little one’s presence still lingered in Jinhyuk’s vision, like the tail of a snake disappearing into its hole. Was this what they called lingering attachment? It must be because she had clung to him every vacation, and he had grown fond of her.

He rotated his left arm, which he had offered as a pillow every night.

It felt empty. It was a strange sense of disappointment that came with the lightness.

‘Still, I’m free. Hurray for independence!’

He deliberately stretched out to his full height.

His dad, holding Yujin, carried a gift set in one hand. It was a gift Hong Gijun had bought to share with the neighbors. He smiled brightly at his mom, asking for permission as if seeking approval.

“I’m going to visit Taeyang’s place. It’s been a while since I’ve seen his face.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

Choi Taeyang was Choi Mikyung’s older brother, five years older than Jinhyuk. He was already a high school student, so Jinhyuk rarely saw him. He was a famous wrestler, so he was always at training camp. Once a month, when he came home, he would stop by Jinhyuk’s house, a close neighbor, to say hello.

‘That guy, didn’t he eventually become a Baekdu Champion?’ [Baekdu Champion: A prestigious title in Korean wrestling, similar to a national champion.]

He was a tall, muscular wrestler. It was during the New Year’s Day National Wrestling Championship, wasn’t it? Choi Taeyang couldn’t withstand his opponent’s powerful attacks and was pinned down. That image was so strongly etched in Jinhyuk’s mind.

‘It was funny.’

He should have tried a leg grab instead of a push-out at that time. Jinhyuk recalled the past with a serious face. As a neighbor and a friend’s brother, it pained him to see Choi Taeyang, a man comparable to a sumo wrestler, get crushed. Was Choi Taeyang around thirty-five years old back then?

Well, it was fun.

He slipped off his slippers and threw himself onto the porch.

It seemed like it would take some time to recover from the drain of energy Hong Sujeong had caused with her crying. Whew—, he let out a sigh of relief and sat on the porch, enjoying a moment of leisure. The feeling of Janggun licking his toes was amusing, so he wiggled his toes.

“Hehehe, that tickles.”

He pulled his chin down to look at his feet, and his toenails were as introverted as their owner. No wonder he had been feeling a tearing pain in his big toe when he ran lately.

‘I’m so oblivious.’

Jinhyuk’s feet had no time to rest, being overworked by intense exercise. Jinhyuk stroked his calloused and ingrown toenails as if comforting them. But it was only for a moment.

Although he was happy to have regained peace, he couldn’t rest like this forever. He spread his homework out on the porch. He had fallen behind on his homework, having spent the vacation playing with the Seoul kid and Yujin.

‘Looks like I’ll be working late.’

Jinhyuk was already much taller than other twelve-year-olds. But Jinhyuk had a great desire to grow even taller. That was why he maximized his appetite and sleep through exercise and meditation.

In Buddhism, it was said that people had three desires. Jinhyuk, being human, couldn’t be without these three desires.

Appetite, sleep, and the other one was…

“Ouch, you rascal!”

…Janggun’s bite.

Hehehe-.

Janggun, finding Jinhyuk’s feet tasty, took a firm bite. He was vaccinated against rabies and was his most precious friend, so the generous Jinhyuk decided to forgive him.

Anyway, to grow taller, he couldn’t give up sleep.

That was why he had to finish his homework quickly.

‘I’m leaving on time. I’m leaving the stragglers behind.’

The determined warrior Jinhyuk drew his sword.

The stubby pencil in the warrior’s hand began to unleash elegant strokes.

The lines he drew casually were as straight as if they had been drawn with a ruler.

‘This is an airplane, this is a frog, this is Janggun—ah, a puppy. This is a baby, not as pretty as our Yujin.’

With a single stroke, he connected pictures and letters, and there was nothing that wasn’t the correct answer.

He tapped his temples with his index finger and did mental calculations, reaching a level where no ordinary person could find an error.

‘Seven times four is twenty-eight. Math is easy.’

Who said they feared the scorching heat of the long summer days?

With a puppy attending to his feet, lying on his stomach in the shade of the zelkova tree, this was paradise, and when he lifted his stiff neck for a moment to take in the earth, the lush greenery was teasing his five senses.

Jinhyuk finished his homework and sat up on his knees.

He was a master who had subdued all enemies in one breath, but there were too many enemies, and the consumption of his mental energy was extreme. It meant that his chest felt stuffy after doing his homework lying down in one position. He took a breath to prevent qi deviation [Qi deviation: A concept in traditional Chinese medicine referring to an imbalance or disruption of vital energy flow].

Whoooosh-.

It was then.

“Huh? There’s one homework left?”

A mortal enemy was glaring at Jinhyuk with sharp letters.

Essay writing. The topic was “My Heart-Pounding Summer Vacation.”

‘Hmm… essay writing is difficult.’

Jinhyuk had no connection with essay contests.

It was the same with diaries. Not to mention his handwriting, his dad often suspected that he had someone else write it for him because the content was too mature.

Wasn’t it said that people with rich sensibilities were good at writing? Since ancient times, Jinhyuk’s writing had been described as dry, feeling like a worn-out inanimate object.

‘Brutal truth.’

Their assessment was not wrong.

His brain was specialized in writing reports for persuasion based on logic and information, so it was rather an accurate critique.

The inanimate object specialized in writing proposals decided to summon an all-around helper.

He opened his lower dantian [Lower dantian: A concept in traditional Chinese medicine referring to an energy center in the lower abdomen] and gathered strength in his middle dantian [Middle dantian: An energy center in the chest area].

“Mommmmmmm!”

***

How did it come to this?

He had only asked his mom to help him with his essay, but the situation was flowing strangely.

“…There’s no leech like that leech. He comes over every other day. But then, this oppa [Oppa: A Korean term used by females to refer to an older brother or male friend] didn’t have a place to stay, you know? What could I do? It was dark outside, and it was raining. I couldn’t leave him outside to be bitten by mosquitoes in the middle of summer, and there were no other houses around. He was a Seoul person, so he was so scared, he was terrified even by the shadows at night. I don’t know why a man was so scared. But it was kind of cute. Anyway, so I had him sleep in my room. Our Jinhyuk was still young, so I can’t tell you in detail, but your mom was poor, and the house was shabby, and there were no other rooms. But then, I guess he thought your mom was asleep, and your dad’s hand was creeping up my arm like a spider—.”

Why was she saying this when she couldn’t tell her young son about their difficult financial situation? It felt like she had pulled out the wrong protractor.

Um, excuse me. Just a moment. Jinhyuk waved his hand, stammering.

“Um, Mom—.”

“Oh, come on. Listen more. So, your mom shook off your dad’s hand. Then, this oppa turned away with a huff! Your grandpa told me that men should be persistent. So, your mom tapped your dad’s back—.”

Did she mean she gave him a second chance to improve his persistence?

I didn’t know my mom was such a good talker. She never spoke unless Jinhyuk asked her something, so he didn’t know.

Jinhyuk’s soul was wandering somewhere in the vast space of the universe.

His eyes, which had lost focus and fallen, and the stubby pencil in his hand had nowhere to go.

‘Is this… okay to write?’

No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t a topic to submit for a twelve-year-old’s summer vacation homework. If it was something like Hwang Sun-won’s “Sonagi” [Sonagi: A famous Korean short story] or Kim Yu-jeong’s “Camellia” [Camellia: Another well-known Korean short story], the teacher might understand.

‘This is… like “When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom”?’ [When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom: A classic Korean short story known for its romantic and nostalgic tone]

His mom was doing her own censorship between what was okay to hear and what wasn’t, but it was a topic that was difficult to implement with Jinhyuk’s straightforward expression. Why was his mom telling him this story when he asked for essay material? Ah, it seemed like his mom didn’t have many summer memories. Jinhyuk tried to understand his mom, thinking so.

And he tried his best not to listen.

‘I can’t hear it. I can’t hear it.’

Perhaps it was because Jinhyuk’s expression was strange, the soft voice that had been tickling his ears like a spring breeze subsided. His mom’s lips closed. When his mom, who had been talking excitedly, became quiet, only the sound of cicadas remained. The cicada’s sound scolded Jinhyuk. Saying he was an unfilial son.

‘Ah, I should have pretended to listen.’

Jinhyuk thought that his mom had stopped talking because of him. If the listener didn’t concentrate, the speaker would lose their excitement and enthusiasm, or in severe cases, even get hurt. Even without the cicada’s words, he felt like he had become an unfilial son. His mom didn’t have anyone to talk to usually. He looked at his mom with as much apology as possible.

The white cumulus clouds blooming in the blue sky were reflected in his mom’s clear eyes.

Her cheeks were flushed, and her big, black eyes were gazing at the sky languidly.

There was a lingering feeling that only a soul that had entered its own world could have.

It was definitely not a look of disappointment.

“….”

It seemed like he didn’t have to feel sorry.

Jinhyuk pushed out all the sighs that were coming out naturally.

“I’ll just write something else.”

His mom wasn’t listening.

She just looked like someone whose heart was pounding, fitting the essay topic.

***

Maybe his dad, who had a college education, could help.

“It was a very bright night. There wasn’t a single cloud, but suddenly it started raining. I stood under the eaves and swore that I would protect your night. Because your dad is a man. But then your mom grabbed my hand and—.”

It seemed like the two of them had different versions of the memory.

But their expressions were similar.

“Ah, Dad—.”

“Wait a minute. It gets really good from here? Ah, this young lady insisted even though I said I was okay… Then, she got a little wet in the rain, and her pure appearance like a flower, and the way she looked like a well-made porcelain in the moonlight that seeped into the room—.”

Ughhhhhh-. Jinhyuk covered his ears and ran away to the village hall. A hot wind blew into his chest. Janggun quickly followed Jinhyuk.

‘Dad’s genre is dangerous!’

Wasn’t the sensuality too much?

He thought that maybe he was reading a book in secret. Maybe it was “Joyful Sera”… No, that book hasn’t even come out yet. If it had been published, the media wouldn’t be this quiet.

Jinhyuk swallowed his resentment, saying that his parents were impossible to stop.

‘You two are a good match!’

He was doomed.

Because of the prompt “heart-pounding,” he couldn’t do his homework and only heard strange things.

After dinner, he spread out the manuscript paper again. See, it was late-night work after all.

He wrote an essay using Yujin and Janggun as the subject.

“The baby was a psychic. On a summer night when the moon, so bright it hurt the eyes, was showing off that it was the master of the world, the sleepless baby walked out the door at the sound of a dog barking. Even though there wasn’t a single cloud, the stream that had swollen from the sudden downpour was flowing proudly. It was because the dog, unable to cross the stream on its own, had barked to ask the baby for help…”

It was a sentence that made him yawn, but as he wrote each word, he felt his dried-up sensibility slowly rising. It was like he was slowly getting help from hormones. Well, looking at the worldview, it seemed like his mom and dad’s help was significant.

After the summer vacation ended, Son Gwangyeon received a call from the homeroom teacher.

– “Father, I understand that your love for your child is well-known, but please let your child do their homework on their own—.”

“… ?”

Son Gwangyeon was wronged.

He had recited a romance, but his son had submitted a fantasy.

***

After the autumn harvest, the water in the rice paddies began to freeze over.

The crackling speaker carried the principal’s rambling speech, which sounded like his grandfather’s mumbling in his sleep.

After the end-of-term ceremony, the children of the village, excited for the vacation, walked home shoulder to shoulder.

Son Jinhyuk, a fifth-grader who had started his winter vacation, was the same.

Choi Mikyung was on Jinhyuk’s right, and Yuk Seongchan was on his left, holding their bicycle handlebars as they walked together.

Yuk Seongchan was a child who lived by the sea, deeper in than Jinhyuk’s house.

Yuk Seongchan sniffled and asked.

“Jineki, why aren’t you running today?”

Just because.

He just wanted to walk today. Was this the winter sensibility of a cold country man?

…The sky was blue.

“What are you going to do during the vacation, Jineki?”

I have to play with my sister.

She’s so pretty these days when she says “oppa” clearly. She’s almost 30 months old, and she has the aura of a young child. If I sent her to the Miss Korea pageant, she might win the title without even competing.

“Hey! Son Jinhyuk! If someone asks you something, answer!”

Choi Mikyung shouted angrily.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking about something important.”

What is he talking about, this old man?

Choi Mikyung narrowed her eyes, and Yuk Seongchan took a deep sniff.

“Jineki has worries too? I have that worry too.”

“What kind of worries do you have, friend?”

Is he a regressor too? Looking at him sniffling, it doesn’t seem like it. Anyway, a regressor might shed tears, but they don’t sniffle.

Are you also observing the changes in hormones in real-time? Jinhyuk muttered inaudibly.

Choi Mikyung sighed at Jinhyuk’s way of speaking and shook her head.

The walk home together was enjoyable, but she couldn’t get used to his old man’s way of speaking.

“I…”

Yuk Seongchan couldn’t continue and glanced at Choi Mikyung. Then, he stood on tiptoes and put his mouth close to Jinhyuk’s ear. He wondered why Jinhyuk was so tall when they were born in the same village.

‘Do you like Choi Mikyung? Why are you trying to whisper?’

From what he had observed, it seemed like he liked Lee Haewon.

Whether Jinhyuk was thinking strange things or not, Yuk Seongchan moved his mouth, covering it with his hand.

Whisper, whisper-.

Oh my god.

Jinhyuk’s face turned pale.