The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 173

It was strange to see Janggun, who usually rushed to greet me first, sitting quietly and watching. Do dogs mature too? But that’s not what’s important right now.

‘Our Yujin must have been very surprised.’

Watching his younger sister tremble as she hugged him, Jinhyuk sensed that something had happened.

And.

‘Oh my, this kid is fast-charging.’

Jinhyuk could feel vibrations like sand grains in an ultrasonic cleaner on his body as well.

It wasn’t enough to affect his condition, so Jinhyuk let his sister do as she pleased. After all, Yujin wasn’t the type to hurt anyone, and she was probably doing it unconsciously.

He simply stroked the back of his younger sister’s head as she buried her face in his chest and sobbed, showing his affection.

‘Cry all you want.’

*

Do kids really grow that much even when they’re apart for just a short time?

Yujin seemed to have grown even more in just a few days.

In height, in her speech, and in her actions.

“Oh my, our Yujin must have been very surprised.”

“I managed to hold up okay.”

“I see…”

Jinhyuk doesn’t disagree with the saying that events make people grow.

Even during the wild boar incident, Yujin had shown a composed demeanor.

Now, she was even using words that adults use. Only her voice and tone were still those of a child.

“-I kept hearing voices. So I thought you were coming, Oppa [older brother].”

“I see…”

Chatter, chatter-.

She kept saying that she kept thinking of her brother, that her brother kept talking to her in her head. So she believed he would come soon, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say in response.

‘Yujin has a good memory, so she remembers everything vividly. I’m getting dumber and dumber.’

He had only dozed off in the car with the air conditioning on, and hadn’t done anything else, but he couldn’t say that truthfully. His younger sister was so excited, why ruin the mood…?

Listening to Yujin’s explanation, which she was listing in order, he felt relieved, and at the same time, he was glad that Janggun and the other dogs had accompanied her. He didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if they hadn’t been there.

“You guys did a great job.”

Jinhyuk massaged each of their cheeks, making them like sticky rice cakes [a Korean dessert].

When he did this, the dogs would get excited, stick their tongues out even further, and wag their tails even more vigorously.

“Yujin, even adults can’t do anything in such situations. In the future, I don’t want you to go to dangerous places without your brother or uncles.”

“Yes…”

Perhaps because he had given her a scolding-like warning, the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

From the way Yujin’s tone had changed drastically, to her gloomy appearance as if she couldn’t bring herself to say something, Jinhyuk felt a sense of frustration.

Then, Yujin murmured softly.

“We were supposed to build a boat and play…”

Jinhyuk’s hearing was too good to miss that lingering regret.

‘Ah, we did make that promise.’

How far back does Yujin remember things? To Jinhyuk, who had almost no memories of his childhood, his younger sister seemed like a true genius. Or maybe it was because the promise she made with her brother was so important that she couldn’t let go of it.

“Our Yujin, is a tube not good enough?”

They had an indoor swimming pool, so they could swim regardless of the season or weather, and when they got tired, they could float on tubes, but he wondered if a boat was that important. Was this also a child’s fantasy…?

“Tubes and boats are different.”

“That’s right. But-”

“But it’s okay now. I rode a boat today, and it wasn’t fun. The boat was too small, and it tickled my tummy-”

His younger sister, who always listened obediently, was unusually ahead of her brother’s words.

When she touched the small boat with her hand, it was too hot, and it wasn’t the wooden boat she wanted, it was similar to the steel plate attached to the door of the mud house storage.

Yujin, feeling better, began to ramble on about her impressions.

Lee Dongho, who was walking with them, nodded and kept pace.

Jinhyuk knelt on one knee and wrapped his arms around Yujin’s shoulders. He had an unchanging smile on his face.

“Do you know why it wasn’t fun today?”

“Why?”

Yujin looked at her brother with a brighter face. Her eyes were wide as she seemed to be anticipating her brother’s next words.

“Because I wasn’t there. We were supposed to build a boat and ride it together, but you rode it alone.”

“Ah-”

At times like this, she really looked like their mother.

Whenever Jinhyuk explained something in detail, their mother would react as if she had tasted a delicious dish for the first time, and Yujin was very much like that mother.

“I’ll earn money and buy you a boat.”

“Buying it isn’t fun. Making it is better…”

“Okay, let’s make it.”

Jinhyuk gently persuaded Yujin, who seemed completely convinced by her brother.

“Building a boat will be much harder than folding paper cranes or carving spinning tops. I’ll have to do a lot of research too.”

It wasn’t like you could just get a log and hollow it out to make a boat.

He would have to make a blueprint and learn construction techniques. He would also have to test the safety by putting Janggun on it first, and he would probably need to experiment with sandbags to see how many people could board.

Jinhyuk wanted to cheer Yujin up and keep his promise to his younger sister.

“Buying it with money isn’t fun, right? If you give me time, I’ll make a wonderful boat and give it to you as a gift.”

“Hehe-”

Fortunately, Yujin was a good younger sister who was happy just with her brother’s promise.

She expressed her satisfaction by nodding her head vigorously.

“There’s a present for you when we get home. I bought it in Seoul.”

“What is it? No! Don’t tell me. I want to see it myself.”

Wow, that’s great. I only ever get hand-me-downs from my older brothers. Lee Dongho muttered enviously.

Lee Dongho was always envious that Son Yujin had an older brother who was much older than her. He seemed bigger and stronger than adults, but the thing he envied the most was that he didn’t bully his younger sister. He said something about powdered milk, but they ended up eating it together, and he said he had burst the doll’s belly, but he didn’t hit his younger sister. In the end, her brother sewed the doll back up.

His brothers were like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, who abused their younger siblings and stole their food, but Son Yujin’s brother was like a genie in a lamp.

“I bought a present for Dongho too.”

Wow, Son Yujin is so lucky.

To have a rich brother who even takes care of his younger sister’s friends.

That’s why Lee Dongho is even more envious of Son Yujin.

“Hehe. Let’s go quickly.”

It was when Yujin grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him.

“Yujin, you cried earlier, but if you smile like that-”

“I just cried because I saw you, Oppa.”

Well, it’s okay to cry.

“If you cry and laugh, you’ll grow hair on your butt- Ack!”

Yujin punched her brother in the stomach and then walked ahead with heavy steps.

‘No, she…’

She’s becoming like Sujeong after playing with her.

Compared to two years ago, one year ago, and even a month ago, his younger sister had changed a lot.

***

When they got home, the stroller was gone.

Their mother had said that she was teaching Gwak Hyangrim how to knit these days, so she must have taken Jeongwon in the stroller to Jo Ilheon’s house. If that was the case, it was a relief because he wouldn’t have to cause unnecessary worry for the adults. He wouldn’t have to tell them about what happened at the sea.

“Ajjigom [a Korean word for baby], I went to the sea today, and something happened-”

While Yujin was telling Ajjigom her adventure story, he decided to wash Lee Dongho first.

“I’m a little embarrassed.”

Lee Dongho, who was completely naked in the bathroom, covered his private parts with both hands and stamped his feet.

Even though the country kids ran around naked even when they were eight years old, Lee Dongho, who came from Seoul, seemed embarrassed by the fact that he had exposed his naked body in front of someone other than his family.

“But if you wash up, your mom won’t scold you, right?”

At Jinhyuk’s words, who knew how much Lee Dongho’s mother cared for her children, Lee Dongho was immediately subdued. It was a relief that he was a kid who could understand what he was told.

“The soap smells nice.”

“The shampoo is white. Ours is green.”

“The body wash is more foamy than the one we have at home.”

“I think something got in my eye.”

“It hurts if you rub it with a towel.”

“Can’t I brush my teeth when I get home?”

“Hey-, Son Yujin? Can you tell Oppa not to make me brush my teeth for me?”

Oh my, that kid is so talkative.

Jinhyuk bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

‘They said I was talkative at this age too.’

He had apparently gone around making all sorts of boasts and nonsense, but he couldn’t remember any of it, so he felt a little disappointed. Could it be that once the memories of childhood leave, they never return? Or maybe it was a good thing that he couldn’t remember his embarrassing past.

‘Parenting is really hard work.’

After washing Lee Dongho and sending him out, he started washing the clothes that had been soaked in seawater.

He had given the gold medal to his friends, and all that was left on his body was fatigue, but when he got home, housework and childcare were waiting for him.

Still, it would take less time to wash by hand than with the washing machine.

He put the wrung-out clothes, socks, and hat into the spin dryer and set it for 10 minutes.

The washing machines had gotten so good that there was no need to use the spin dryer, but when it came to using only the spin function, there was nothing better than the spin dryer. No machine had yet been invented to replace the spin dryer. Would one ever be invented?

‘Huh?’

He should have been tired and exhausted.

Lee Dongho was sprawled out in front of the fan, fast asleep. Seeing him like that in the nude, it seemed that his embarrassment was just talk. He put a pillow under his head and covered him from his stomach to his thighs with a towel. Even for a child, privacy was important.

“Yujin, let’s take a bath-”

It was time to wash Yujin, who was dozing off on the sofa, leaning against it while hugging her doll as if she was riding on its back.

She had been exposed to the sea breeze and had sweated in the hot weather, so if she fell asleep like that, she wouldn’t be able to recover from her fatigue.

“The water is cold. Did Lee Dongho wash with cold water too?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Lee Dongho was quite something too? He could see the determination not to lose in Yujin’s face as she muttered that.

“Kyaaaa-!”

“Whew-, our Yujin must feel refreshed.”

Even though she screamed and stomped her feet at the cold water pouring over her head, Yujin endured it well.

Later, she even showed a composed demeanor as she rubbed her face with her tiny hands and enjoyed the cold water.

‘It seems like summer is finally coming to an end.’

Jinhyuk felt the change of seasons in the temperature of the cold water he felt on his fingertips. The subtly changing temperature of the groundwater with the seasons was as good an indicator of the changing seasons as the smell of the wind. Well, maybe this was a skill that only country people could acquire.

‘The water is very cold. Our Yujin must be cold.’

I’ll have to turn on the boiler when I take a shower.

It would be a problem if my muscles got stiff.

*

He dressed her in clothes that had dried crisp in the hot sun, and he also cleaned her bag.

He was planning to take Lee Dongho home after that.

But there was no need to do that.

Woof-! Woof woof-.

Janggun only barked like that when a stranger came.

He didn’t bark even when a thief passed by when he was alone, but now that he had subordinates, he was getting bolder and barking like that.

“Oh my, what a surprise! Is anyone there? Dongho-yaaa-”

A woman, startled by Janggun’s barking, stopped in the middle of the yard and peered into the house.

It was Lee Dongho’s mother.

It wouldn’t be difficult for someone who lived in the neighborhood to find the tallest house in the village, even if they lived in another neighborhood. Even the pastor of the church near Eodong Elementary School often came to preach. Why did he only come to one house to preach?

“It’s hot, please come in and have something cool.”

Jinhyuk invited Lee Dongho’s mother to sit on the sofa in the living room and served her a cool juice.

“They said something happened today-”

He thought that Lee Dongho’s mother might be shocked by the children’s incoherent stories about what happened at the sea. So, Jinhyuk stepped in and explained what he had heard from Yujin without exaggerating. After all, she was Lee Dongho’s guardian. It would be better to tell her clearly, even if it led to criticism, than to cause misunderstandings later.

While the children were playing with the dogs in the yard, Lee Dongho’s mother listened intently, sometimes surprised and sometimes sighing in relief.

“Thank you for taking good care of him.”

It seemed to have gone well.

She did hit Lee Dongho on the back a few times, but her touch was full of affection.

There was nothing that would make a mother feel more relieved than seeing her son looking bright and cheerful. Jinhyuk thought that he had done well to wash the child and his clothes.

“Oh my-, our Yujin must have been very surprised?”

Even if it wasn’t because of the way she hugged and comforted Yujin and didn’t scold Lee Dongho, the bright smile of a mother added conviction to her actions.

“Lee Dongho, see you tomorrow.”

“Son Yujin, take care too. Bye, Hyung [older brother].”

“Okay, Dongho. Be careful and come play again.”

Lee Dongho, who was holding a nicely wrapped gift, bowed his head and followed his mother with excited steps.

Jinhyuk’s lips curled up in a satisfied smile as he watched the backs of the mother and son as they chattered and left.

‘I think I used to go for walks with my mom like that when I was little.’

He would have held his mother’s hand, looked up at her, and talked nonsense.

And every time, his mother would have smiled and stroked her young son’s head.

Ah! Now it was time to show Yujin the present he had hidden in the mud house yard.

‘I hope she likes it.’

He also hoped that Lee Dongho would like his present.

When he got home, he would proudly hold a gift-opening ceremony in front of his brothers. How happy would he be to have a laser gun that his brothers didn’t have? He would have to stop by and give Kim Hojin his share soon.

“Ugh! Oh my- my bones are aching! The day was so long!”

Now, he would take a shower and put Yujin on her new bike to go pick up their mother… Huh?

He stretched out with a light heart, but then he made eye contact with Janggun, who was sitting quietly. When Janggun put his front paws together and tilted his head, it meant that he wanted something.

Ah, our Janggun. He was so smart, wasn’t he? He was giving him a look that said he wanted the presents he had bought in Seoul.

He decided to give Janggun his present first, before Yujin, and went into the living room.

“Let’s see, for our Janggun who did a great job, starting with the delicious snacks made from Australian beef… What the heck?”

Clunk-.

That’s not the sound.

Clunk-.

That’s not the sound either.

Jinhyuk, who was shaking the wrapped presents one by one, felt like the blood was draining from his face.

Oh my god.

‘Why are all the laser guns here?’

That Lee Dongho, he took the dog treats.