The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 196

There was a need for a moment of contemplation.

It wasn’t that they wanted the right answer, but rather they were asking for his thoughts, a topic Jinhyuk hadn’t seriously considered. He was also unskilled at observing and inferring from the actions of third parties.

“What do you think, Oppa?”

Yoojin, who was pinching and pulling at her brow so much that he worried her eyes might merge into one, urged him on.

The answer that it wasn’t done because it wasn’t profitable was unnecessary. It was likely a hypothesis that his father had already considered. In a conversation between people with similar knowledge and insight, explaining things in detail was no different from disregarding the other person.

There might be reasons to be considerate of someone with a significant difference in level, but often those who unravel the narrative before the main point had a strong desire to show off their meager knowledge or information. It was called the need for recognition, wasn’t it?

Explaining something to someone of a lower level, or listening to things you already knew, was tiring. That was why Jinhyuk, who had lived a long life, didn’t enjoy conversations.

Of course, conversations with family were an exception.

“In my opinion, there’s a saying, ‘You see as much as you know,’ right?”

“Hmm-.”

This time, Son Kwangyeon held his chin.

Jinhyuk, who had finished contemplating first, spoke in a hesitant voice as if muttering to himself.

“Since you see as much as you know, researchers keep digging into material development or research.”

“Uh-huh. That makes sense. There are many eccentric people who, once they dig into one thing, delve endlessly deep into the details. Those kinds of people are sometimes called geniuses.”

“But when you think about it. Once you start having affection or interest, you study because you want to know, and when you study, you learn that much more. In the end, you see as much as you know…”

“Hoo-.” Son Kwangyeon responded with a breathy sound.

“That’s true too? That’s how inventors are born. It’s a case of non-experts becoming experts… Since the initial approach is different, it’s possible to walk a different path than existing experts.”

“I think there are many cases where people who start with interest, like Dad, become experts in that field.”

Just like Dad said, those people would become eccentric inventors.

People who make discoveries of the century on their own, even if they start late and don’t receive professional education.

If you actually looked, there were many such people. There would have been even more people who were buried because they couldn’t unfold their talents.

He knew many examples of this, but he couldn’t remember them.

He just pursed his lips, unable to recall the names that seemed to be on the tip of his tongue.

‘Is my head turning to stone?’

Jinhyuk’s hazy eyes caught the title of the fairy tale book that Yoojin was using as a screen.

「The Tortoise and the Hare」

In front of her brother, who was making a troubled expression, Yoojin, who was hiding her face with the fairy tale book, mumbled diligently. Her eyes were squinted.

‘Affection, interest, study, as much as you know, inventor, non-expert, expert…’

It seemed as if time was passing as slowly as a tortoise for this little one, as Yoojin repeated every single word without missing one.

*

Son Kwangyeon was a manager who had to oversee the entire business, take care of employees, and make important decisions. Nevertheless, he was also immersed in research, dividing and splitting his short day.

He wanted to create safety gear that could protect the joints such as the spine and knees, even if it wasn’t bulletproof. With a material that was lighter and stronger than reinforced plastic.

Furthermore, he predicted that if technology and know-how were accumulated, bulletproof vests and helmets could also be developed. The ultimate goal was fire suits with ultimate flame resistance and combat uniforms with bulletproof performance. Of course, it was a field of research that was possible because of the support of Sein Group.

“Dad-?”

Yoojin grabbed Son Kwangyeon’s arm, as if she didn’t understand at all.

“If you have affection, do you become an expert?”

“Not necessarily, but it can be a great driving force for growth. But why? Does our Yoojin have something she’s passionate about?”

“Um…, no.”

‘What is she thinking? She’s a unique one, even though she’s my daughter.’ Son Kwangyeon chuckled as he watched his daughter turn her head away.

He always tried his best to answer young Yoojin’s questions, but Yoojin sometimes ignored her father’s questions. But he couldn’t scold her for it.

He sighed softly and then stared at his son.

“Time will solve it as you do it. From a farmer’s perspective, farming is very hard work, but if you look at it from the perspective of the vast world of nature, there isn’t much that a farmer does.”

It was a statement that would make farmers curse, but Jinhyuk listened quietly.

From his father, who was rubbing his face roughly, came the helplessness of someone who realized that the task he intended far exceeded his current capabilities.

“The labor of sowing, plowing, and harvesting is hard, so everyone thinks it’s all their work. But it’s the sunlight, wind, humidity, and microorganisms that grow them. When there’s a drought, there isn’t much that people can do. You just look at the sky, sigh, and resent it… From a management perspective, the farmer’s role is just sowing the seeds. The universe does the growing.”

There was a good deal of self-deprecation in his slow, reminiscent words.

However, it wasn’t the sneer of someone who had been frustrated and given up.

“Since the seeds have been sown, the world will help, and someday it will bear fruit. Even if it’s a little late. I hope the young people will have that harvest.”

Dad was a good person.

He didn’t try to leave even a single piece of trash in the place he stayed for a while, and he never moved anything in vain. Even now, he was thinking about people rather than personal rewards.

Perhaps Jinhyuk’s will to save people he might not even know was not because of past sadness, but because he was like his father.

Jinhyuk was puzzled when his father came up with the idea of protective gear.

It would be overwhelming to properly manage the business of a company located in the agricultural industrial complex, but he was building a research institute in a separate site in collaboration with Sein Chemical and Sein Bio, and was striving to realize all sorts of strange ideas.

Most of the ideas came from Jinhyuk’s head, but Son Kwangyeon was particularly focused on protective gear.

He made knee pads and had Jinhyuk wear them while commuting to school by bicycle, made him wear gloves that looked like gauntlets, and made him wear a helmet that looked like a bulletproof helmet rather than a safety helmet.

Each time, Jinhyuk wrote a simple test report.

Even now, Son Kwangyeon was nodding as he looked at the spine protector report written by Jinhyuk.

“As expected of my son. I know you’re knowledgeable, but you write so easily.”

Son Kwangyeon, who praised his son, pointed to the part with the improvement requests with his index finger.

“Ah, Jinhyuk. Was it stiff? Does that mean you want to secure more joint flexibility?”

“Yes. It was a little slow to follow when I bent my upper body.”

It was a protector to prevent spinal injuries in the event of a rear fall… It meant that it would prevent the spine from being injured even if you fell.

It was a protector inserted like a flat, long pillar in the center of a jacket that looked like an aviator jacket, but the joint hinges were stiff, which restricted movement.

It was an existing product, but Son Kwangyeon wanted to create equipment that was more reinforced and dramatically reduced the impact on the human body in the event of an accident than existing products.

“Dad. Elasticity? Elas-ti-ci-ty? Ah, it says that the bones hurt because of the lack of elasticity-.”

Thanks to the easy-to-understand wording, Yoojin, who could read, also pointed somewhere with her index finger.

Son Kwangyeon said that Jinhyuk’s such aspect was because he was considerate by nature.

Jinhyuk could say with confidence.

‘That’s not it.’

Late at night, Son Kwangyeon scratched his forehead with eyes that were quite tired.

Even so, he had no intention of leaving his seat.

Because there was nothing as important as the conversations he had with his children every day, the time he cherished.

“Our company also told us to minimize reports, but to write them easily when necessary. Even if I understand, it’s useless if other employees don’t understand. That’s why, when researchers or engineers use words that only they understand during meetings or reports, I sometimes get annoyed without realizing it. It would be nice if they at least added proper footnotes.”

“I heard that engineers tend to be like that.”

Jinhyuk had experienced getting heated while talking to an employee of an outsourcing company that was in charge of server and database maintenance in the past.

“Dad, what is an engineer?”

“Well, it’s like a scientist.”

Taking advantage of the fact that Yoojin had drawn her father’s attention, Jinhyuk immersed himself in the forgotten stress. Making sure that Jungwon, who was dozing off, didn’t hit his head on the table.

He thought that a true expert needed the ability to explain technical terms in plain language that the general public could understand. In other words, if they weren’t going to use machine language consisting of only 0s and 1s, they should be able to communicate and work together as humans.

Of course, it wasn’t a stubborn insistence that ‘it should be that way.’ It was just a meager philosophical approach of a businessman, wondering if it was an attitude that a professional should maintain.

“Yoojin, look at this. This is what Oppa wrote, and this is what the engineer from the client wrote.”

“Wow-! Our Oppa’s handwriting is similar to Dad’s!”

It was enough for them to use alphabet vowels or lesser-known terms among themselves. The logic that would only be applied to detailed practical work was also something that only they needed to know, but they would unnecessarily use technical terms or give lengthy explanations to people who were not practitioners.

Of course, it wasn’t about taking issue with commonly used abbreviations.

“Dad, what does this say? S-, F-, S-.”

“Dad doesn’t know either…”

“If the boss doesn’t know, what should we do?”

“I, I’m sorry…”

It wasn’t something that could be simply expressed as a lack of service mind or consideration. It meant that they lacked the knowledge and flexibility to find alternative terms, or that they didn’t have the ability to explain things concretely, or it was just another form of a pedantic attitude.

‘Manager Min Yongrak said it would be better to talk to a foreigner.’

It was an experience that gave him a far heavier sense of fatigue than when talking to someone who excessively revealed their regional characteristics and insisted on using only the dialect of their hometown.

Even Jinhyuk, who didn’t curse without reason even though he distrusted and hated humans, had people at the company who made him angry. They were people who were steeped in unnecessary formalities without substance, and the people described above. Jinhyuk internally called them ‘dummies’.

Of course, Jinhyuk considered all of that process to be a flow of emotions that occurred because his rigid personality narrowly judged others.

‘I thought it was because I was selfish.’

But it seemed that it wasn’t just Jinhyuk’s problem.

Even his good-natured father was using the expression that he was annoyed.

Jinhyuk had already incorporated his past experiences into the interview requirements for General Farm.

There weren’t many managers, and Son Kwangyeon was the only one who would directly communicate with the R&D personnel with high security clearance. Therefore, he wanted to reduce the stress that his father was experiencing due to communication problems. Because his good-natured father might not be able to say he didn’t like it, even if he didn’t.

When he was a team leader, he created a guideline called the ‘Contractor Selection and Collaboration Standard’ to thoroughly filter out such people or companies, and he remembered inducing companies that wanted Sein Group’s money to have communication skills as a requirement.

Thanks to the people selected based on the collaboration standard, he was able to reduce the time spent on communication. It was a welcome decision from the perspective of a company seeking efficiency, and from the perspective of the field staff who did not prefer unnecessary stress. As an aside, the people who were hired or selected in that way had good impressions and good personalities. That was also natural. It meant that they were not stubborn or narrow-minded.

“Dad, what is this? Re.cruit.ment. An.nounce.ment?”

“It’s saying that we need employees, so please come to our company.”

Despite the labor shortage, General Farm was prioritizing hiring employees who were good at communication, accepting Jinhyuk’s hiring criteria. Communication and interaction were just words, and in the end, it was a matter of how easily and logically you could speak. Even if it wasn’t Jinhyuk’s suggestion, Son Kwangyeon was also aware of the need for it.

It wasn’t just personnel that reflected Jinhyuk’s opinion. After all, there wasn’t a corner of General’s establishment and management that wasn’t influenced by Jinhyuk.

“Are there no people coming?”

“There are, but…”

“But?”

“If we hire people easily because we’re in a hurry, people who don’t fit in with us might come in and make it harder for existing employees.”

In many ways, he was a father who understood his son. Being kind to young Yoojin, and considering the whole as a leader.

How fortunate it was to talk and work with people who had similar tendencies.

Although he didn’t pay him a salary like Hong Gijun, Jinhyuk enjoyed the time he spent talking about work with his father.

It seemed that Yoojin felt the same way.

“Is it urgent to hire people?”

“It’s not urgent.”

“If it’s not urgent, why are you hiring them?”

“It would be nice to have more science and engineering experts, but it’s too rural, so people don’t want to come.”

“Can’t Dad do it? Science and engineering?”

“Dad’s head is too stiff, so I’m out…”

Kuh-.

Jinhyuk, who had been recalling the past with narrowed eyes, couldn’t help but burst into laughter at his father’s self-deprecation. It didn’t seem like his head was stiff, but rather that he was buried in other thoughts.

Did his son’s reaction seem like a sneer? This time, Son Kwangyeon showed self-respect.

“I may not have depth in science and engineering knowledge, but I have a rich imagination. Full of humanism.”

That’s right. Dad had a sense of humor and humanism.

And a large amount of fart gas.

He knew not only the imagination, but also the heart and story behind his father’s ideas.

Even Jinhyuk, who was dull and slow, couldn’t have not known that his father was developing protective gear while thinking of his grandfather.

“I have to go to bed first if I want to go to work early tomorrow.”

A small and medium-sized company president who didn’t have professional management and assistants like Hong Gijun had a lot of things to take care of himself.

“Good night.”

“Dad, good night, sleep well-.”

Yoojin, who had gotten up from her chair, folded her hands on her stomach and bent her waist.

“Okay. Yoojin, don’t play too late and go to bed early-.”

“Yes-, ehehe-.”

Son Kwangyeon picked up his youngest son, who was sitting on his older brother’s lap and dozing off with his head nodding.

Since when, his father’s back, as he entered his room to rest his tired body, looked lonely.

The helplessness of a loved one unintentionally exerted a strange power.

As a son who had belatedly guessed his inner thoughts, it made him have a desire he hadn’t had before.

Clank-.

Watching the door close, Jinhyuk made a resolution.

‘I will definitely find him for you.’

He didn’t want to make his father sad, so he didn’t reveal it, but Jinhyuk had already made a plan to find his grandfather, who was buried somewhere in the DMZ [Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea], and place him next to his grandmother.

For a man who was a strong umbrella for his family without any shady corners.

To do that, he needed power.

Something like Hong Gijun.

Maybe even more power.

「As you know, the whole world is under pressure because of the stubbornness of the guys up there. It’s not entirely impossible if we throw money at it. Because there is no such thing as absolute. Nevertheless, my principle of minimizing the impact on the political scene and the history of the citizens remains unchanged. I’ll leave your task to you. Read and delete.」

The only thing worth salvaging from Hong Gijun’s email was ‘Read and delete.’

He acted like he would do everything, but then he said he couldn’t do it because of this and that.

‘I was a fool to expect it.’

Time was passing quickly, but Jinhyuk was impatient.

He was the type of person who would silently clean up even if the chairman’s only daughter, who came as his assistant, caused a major accident, but he couldn’t maintain his composure when he thought about his parents.

Because his parents would also grow old as time passed.

It was slow for a child to become a decent person, but his parents’ aging was fast.

That meant that the current happiness could not be eternal.

“Oppa, Oppa. Look at this-. The slowpoke tortoise won-.”

Jinhyuk smiled silently and stroked his younger sister’s head.

That only exists in fairy tales.

“Oppa. Take a nap next time-. I want to win too.”

Reality was more like a novel than a novel, but reality was never like a fairy tale.

“Huh? Huh? Did you understand?”

Oppa is not a hare.

Kids grow up.