The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 165

Lee Byeongse’s face was flushed red, as if it would explode at any moment.

No one tried to stop him or calm him down. It’s the same with bombs and people; there’s nothing to gain from lingering near something about to explode.

‘Come out! I’ll smash your head with a sledgehammer! Do you know who he is? He’s the one who holds the national junior record!’

Oooooh-.

As if in response, the crowd’s attention turned to the athlete with the number 94.

The athlete was puffing out his cheeks, trying hard to ignore the supervising teacher.

To the spectators, it looked like he was trying to focus on the race ahead.

Lee Byeongse’s shouting didn’t stop, and the crowd’s attention shifted back to the center of the commotion.

‘Ah, damn it, who the hell was talking about drugs to my athlete! Come out, you son of a bitch! I’ll kill you! You bastards, have you ever bought Bacchus [a popular Korean energy drink] or Guronsan [another Korean energy drink] for the kids sweating in this heat, you bastards!’

Lee Byeongse’s booming voice echoed throughout the venue, making it feel like a dome stadium.

Min Yongrak nodded inwardly.

He had seen firsthand how hard the kids had worked to get here.

During the vacation, Lee Byeongse had visited with energy drinks to encourage them, and he had watched the training without saying a word. As a teacher who couldn’t help, he felt ashamed, and Lee Byeongse had only handed Min Yongrak a box of drinks, asking him to take good care of the athletes.

‘It sounds more like a rant than swearing.’

Even though it was just words, was it because there were two adversaries that he used the word ‘damn it’ twice? Even as his heart pounded from the harsh language, Min Yongrak tilted his head. But it didn’t seem to matter to the fuming Lee Byeongse or the crowd trying to stifle their laughter.

Although the academic sports world was undergoing a transformation, a kind of upheaval where abusive and violent teachers were being replaced, Lee Byeongse was second to none when it came to swearing, if not violence. And what about his rough voice that sounded like a jar breaking and his roar that was louder than a Doberman?

Of course, when such a person is on our side, the swearing strangely sounds beautiful.

Eheheh-.

Even though the swearing wasn’t directed at him, Min Yongrak’s face flushed, but while his heart was pounding, he also snorted.

He timidly looked back, not bothering to hide his exposed teeth. There, the silent ones were avoiding Lee Byeongse’s gaze, pretending to be busy with other things. Judging by their attire and belongings, they seemed to be local reporters.

The announcer, who was holding a microphone, turned his gaze to Lee Byeongse.

[The venue is in an uproar, and the competition is being delayed. As this is a place where young students are watching, we ask that all leaders and guardians use proper and polite language-.]

Lee Byeongse’s finger-pointing also turned towards the announcer’s booth.

‘Ah, damn it! Just tell them to be quiet, why the hell are you messing with me!’

[If you interfere with the progress of the competition, you may be subject to expulsion-.]

‘Damn it, the management is a mess! You leave the bastards who are talking nonsense alone, and you kick out a coach who’s protecting his athlete for swearing a little? Oh my-! The Athletics Federation is oppressing the teachers of Korea!’

Kkkkkkk-.

Ehehehehe-.

People all over the spectator seats and waiting areas started to shake their shoulders.

In the midst of the heat, this comical scene was like a welcome shower.

Shouting and swearing happen more than once a day at every competition. If no one yields here, it leads to collar-grabbing, boycotts, and disrupted operations. In the end, the athletes suffer the most.

It was impossible to delay the time with arguments, putting aside the athletes who were the main characters of the sacred competition. In the end, the announcer backed down.

[Ahem-, we would appreciate it if you could keep quiet.]

The giggling sounds from all corners of the stadium continued for a long time.

That was why the swearing didn’t just sound unpleasant.

Sometimes, people who are just observers or spectators make all sorts of unverified nonsense, and from a coach’s perspective, they often have to engrave ‘patience’ not three times but more than thirty times. Collar-grabbing also happens frequently, but there was almost no one among the troublemakers who could beat a physical education teacher with strength or skill.

And so.

The coaches, to protect their pride as athletes and their athletes, would often get into fights, get sued, and end up paying money. Standing still and taking it didn’t suit their personalities.

Anyway, their important consensus was that as coaches, they sometimes yell and give punishments, but no one should speak carelessly about their athletes. It was the anger that only those who knew how hard they had worked to get to this point could express.

‘Those bastards who don’t know anything compare this and that, talking nonsense. Those bastards deserve to be fried in sewage-.’

Kaak- ptoo!

Lee Byeongse finished the pre-finals ceremony with a loud spit.

It was enough that he wasn’t being pointed at by other coaches.

Even as he stood with his hands on his hips, huffing and puffing, Lee Byeongse’s face was smiling as he turned towards Jinhyuk. It was the satisfied smile of a hero, intoxicated by the feeling that the world was on his side and the victory of protecting his athlete.

‘That kind of guy, you have to protect him no matter what. Even if there’s no one to guide him, he’s someone who grows on his own. If you can’t even protect him, then that coach should cut off his balls and give them to the dogs.’

Lee Byeongse was a swearer who knew exactly what he had to do.

That’s why he survived the principal’s scolding and the reshuffling.

His gold tooth, replacing his molar, shone brightly in the August sunlight.

*

The supervisor at the starting line grabbed the electronic starting gun and the microphone.

[Hehe, athletes, take your positions-.]

Oh dear, he had made a mistake because the commotion in the venue had been so enjoyable.

Then, from all over the spectator seats and waiting areas, voices criticizing the supervisor were heard in succession.

‘Hey hey-, that’s not right!’

‘Do your job properly! Do it again, do it again!’

‘Hey! Do you think Chungnam [a province in South Korea] is a joke?’

‘I’ll flip it over!’

‘I’ll beat them all up!’

Following the continuous protests, the supervisor lowered the microphone and bowed deeply.

It was an attitude that clearly acknowledged the mistake and apologized.

If he showed even a hint of displeasure here, it could lead to a collective uprising of those hot-blooded physical education teachers. Even if that wasn’t the case, it was a mistake made by a supervisor who should have been an inanimate object.

No competition was more important than another, but it was the finals, and since there was laughter and comments not in the rules, it was the attitude that a professional should naturally take.

After giving the athletes time to leave the starting area, warm up, and catch their breath.

He picked up the microphone again.

[Take your positions-.]

It was a tense time for the supervisor as well.

The same was true for the coaches holding stopwatches.

The athletes nonchalantly kicked the starting blocks and entered their lanes.

Despite witnessing the adults’ forceful behavior, the athletes’ faces were rather detached.

It seemed that the main characters of the festival had to have not only mature bodies but also mental strength, more so than the audience.

[Ready-.]

As if showing off their thick thighs and muscles that stood out like steel bars, the wild horse-like athletes raised their hips. The sight of them all widening their eyes and stretching their legs was majestic.

The audience held their breath and focused their attention on the blue-uniformed athlete in lane 4.

An athlete who had been particularly eye-catching since the preliminaries, even though he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary or act like other kids, fooling around with his friends.

Sometimes, there are people who steal your gaze just by their presence.

It wasn’t just a matter of physique or speed.

[Taang-!]

Finally, the sound of the gun rang out, signaling the start of the 200-meter race.

***

In my past life, I used to enjoy watching sports broadcasts with a can of beer after work.

Sometimes, I wondered what the athletes in those situations were thinking, how they were feeling.

For example, when a fielder in a baseball game who made an error mouthed the word ‘haircut’…… I guess he should have gotten his hair trimmed on time.

Now that I’ve become a track and field athlete, I’ve realized that even in a fleeting moment, there’s an infinite amount of time for thought. It wasn’t just Jinhyuk’s experience of being dissatisfied with his power not exploding.

Until they reached the finish line, it would be a long and tedious time for everyone.

Daydreaming is quite useful for relieving boredom.

‘Deerdeerdeerdeerdeerdeer-.’

I repeated it over and over, taking regular breaths.

Of course, I had to say it only in my head. It would be embarrassing if anyone heard me. Professing love like Park Sanggi is not Jinhyuk’s style.

Grandpa Cheon Gilyong said that rabbits break their heads because they look at obstacles while running, but deer don’t have accidents because they only look at where they are running.

‘Deerdeerdeerdeer-.’

It wasn’t just about imprinting the deer in my mind to aim for the suggestion effect. How many athletes would leave their lanes in a mere 200 meters, among the athletes who run every day?

I was counting my steps for later scientific analysis.

‘Deerdeerdeer-.’

Besides counting steps, the deer effect also had another purpose.

Giving rhythm to the deer and taking my breath there, the so-called deer breathing.

Of course, breathing naturally follows the movement of the legs, but it was a small game that Jinhyuk, who was used to analyzing with his head, had chosen.

[Taang-!]

Along with the sound of the gun signaling the finish line.

‘Damn it, how many were there? I just kept chanting deer again.’

All those deer disappeared.

It was the failure of someone who only chanted deer without counting the numbers.

But it’s okay.

Min Yongrak must have filmed it with a camcorder, and he must have counted roughly.

‘That’s why I prepared a Plan B!’

Jinhyuk is a smart athlete, so he prepares for things like that.

***

Kim Youngtae and Park Jaeseung pressed their stopwatches at the same time and compared the records.

With a difference of almost one second between the 2nd place athlete and him, the ranking was already out of their interest.

‘Twenty-two seconds?’

‘Yeah, it is-.’

Somehow, they had become formal track and field coaches, which was not in their plans, and they were guiding the junior athletes. The elementary school competition was over, but they were staying longer to observe the middle school competition. This would have been impossible without the financial support of Sein Group and General Farm.

One of the students that Kim Youngtae was coaching spoke in an excited voice.

‘Teacher! Isn’t the fastest older brother over there our school senior?’

‘No way-! That older brother is from our school! He was the president when I was in first grade! Who are you, a nobody, trying to claim our lineage?’

Squeak-.

If he were a dog, he would have made that sound.

That was the student who quickly hid behind teacher Kim Youngtae.

According to the guy who had a fight, Son Jinhyuk was the president when he was in first grade, so he must be in fourth grade now, but he was as scary as teacher Park Jaeseung, who was dark and tall.

‘I’m in fifth grade. You little punk……’

While the Confucian principles were succumbing to appearance, Kim Youngtae and Park Jaeseung looked at where Jinhyuk was.

Lee Byeongse was handing him a sports drink from an icebox, and a young man with a protruding belly was handing him a file, talking about something.

Jinhyuk nodded, listening to Min Yongrak’s words, and Lee Byeongse opened the icebox again and put a frozen towel on Jinhyuk’s head.

‘That’s how it’s done.’

Coaching that was centered on the athlete, not the coach, was the true path to development. The two teachers, who had watched every move, nodded with serious faces.

Lee Byeongse’s rant before the finals was also impressive.

Although there were some unpleasant words mixed in, it was seen by everyone as the image of a coach who was protecting and caring for his athlete.

The two teachers repeated Lee Byeongse’s swearing in their minds. It wasn’t easy to get used to, but it was at a level that they could reproduce without much difficulty if they practiced.

Even young students swear all the time, so what’s so difficult about it?

Park Jaeseung, making a hand gesture as if holding a glass, looked at Kim Youngtae, twisting his wrist.

‘You’ll be watching too, right?’

‘Hahaha-, of course, I will. Let’s have a drink tonight.’

In many ways.

Kim Youngtae and Park Jaeseung thought that it was good that they had come to observe.

***

After a happy reunion with Park Jaeseung and Kim Youngtae.

Jinhyuk was surrounded by juniors from Eodong Elementary School and Taeyang Elementary School, demonstrating his posture.

He was answering the children’s disorganized questions kindly.

‘You have to fully extend your back leg to get momentum. When you run, think of stepping only with your toes.’

‘It’s just a short run, can your posture change that much in a short time?’

‘If it doesn’t, you have to make it happen. At first, slowly, then faster and faster, and then make that posture happen even when you’re running very fast. That’s why we train.’

Judging by the way he used the folksy dialect, he must have come from Eodong Elementary School. Jinhyuk smiled brightly, patting the child’s head.

A child from Taeyang Elementary School also shook Jinhyuk’s finger as if he had a question.

‘But-, many of the other older brothers don’t extend their back legs, do they?’

‘Hmm……, I can’t really evaluate them. It could be a problem with their body type or their training. But all of that can be fixed.’

‘Really?’

‘Of course.’

They say that within 20 years, there will be an athlete who sets a world record even with scoliosis.

He had also corrected Yeom Byeongtaek and Jo Seulchan’s postures quite a bit in a short period.

Yeom Byeongtaek’s record was shortened, and Jo Seulchan’s height increased by about a finger’s length.

While he was spending a lot of time surrounded by the children, Lee Byeongse approached, pretending to push a cart.

‘Whoa there-. Go away, go away. He’s my athlete.’

Because Lee Byeongse stepped in to protect his athlete, Jinhyuk’s meeting with the children ended quickly.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, but Jinhyuk, who had vaguely guessed Lee Byeongse’s feelings, didn’t bother to take his time.

‘Juniors……’

It was a word he had never engraved in his heart.

The relationships that Jinhyuk had in his heart were only a few friends and his military comrades.

After all, everyone is born as a stranger and lives as a stranger in this world.

If the exchange is cut off, that’s it, so is there a need to be attached to relationships?

There were many problems with forming all sorts of factions, such as school ties, regional ties, and military ties, and causing trouble or making a fuss, and as someone who frowned every time he encountered such cases, he didn’t even engage in minor socializing.

But in this life, the little kids who call themselves his juniors are vying to show off their closeness.

‘Well, it’s not bad.’

That was Jinhyuk’s impression of meeting the rough yet cheerful children.

The children’s eyes and smiles were full of excitement, like people who had witnessed a living idol. He had no experience of worshiping an idol, but he could guess that his actions would somehow affect the children.

Someone might use Jinhyuk’s name to do bad things in the future.

However, on the contrary, wouldn’t it be possible to have a good influence?

‘I think I’ve become a bit famous. I should live a good life.’

Even if I can’t become an idol, I shouldn’t become a crazy person.

Jinhyuk looked around the wide track.

The athletes who had advanced to the relay finals tomorrow were preparing for the last festival. They were all outstanding track and field geniuses.

‘I need to show them that it can be done.’

He wanted it to be a festival for his friends and juniors as well.

Even if reality was not easy, as the records showed.

The 100-meter final, which would be held tomorrow morning, was not on his mind.