The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 197

***

Jinhyuk talked to Yoo Sera more often than Hong Sujeong. Even that was only about once a week, if that.

“Oh, is Sujeong exercising again?”

– “Don’t even get me started. I don’t know who she takes after, but she’s gone completely crazy. These days, she’s going around learning some kind of Deux dance…” [Deux was a popular Korean dance group in the 90s] “And do you know how much taller she’s gotten over the winter? She’s probably about my height now? No, maybe taller? And she has so many friends, she brings them home all the time…”

Jinhyuk, who had called to check in, felt like his soul was being extracted through the receiver.

This must be what they mean by eardrum terrorism.

– “I’ll put her on, can you wait a bit? But it’s scary to call her. I think she’s going through puberty, she’s so aggressive…”

“No, it’s okay. Really, it’s okay.”

Save me.

He was already confused about whether he was talking to Hong Sujeong or Yoo Sera, and now he was supposed to talk to someone else?

– “But when she’s playing with Suhyuk, she’s an angel? Suhyuk has started calling her ‘noona’ [older sister] properly these days, and she’s completely smitten with him…”

“Yes… Aha, I see…”

– “Let’s talk more about it when we meet next time.”

“Yes…”

Click.

Haah, I’m completely burned out.

The call was a brief 30 minutes, just for the necessary business.

There wasn’t much reason for the foundation’s chairman and an athlete to communicate directly anyway.

The contract could have been handled through an employee, but he did it himself because of their personal connection.

He could just go through Min Yongrak for anything else, that was the kind of person he was.

“Uncle is stronger than the bear doll!”

“It’s a relief that I’m better than a bear doll at something,” Min Yongrak said, sitting in Jinhyuk’s room with Yoojin on his lap, showing off his positive mindset.

It was optimism beyond positivity.

In the past, Jinhyuk had valued Min Yongrak’s personality. Even though he never outwardly showed his pessimistic side, Jinhyuk’s negative view of humanity had changed little by little after meeting Min Yongrak.

Not only his personality but also his potbelly was similar to the past. Department Head Min Yongrak used to argue that he was slim when he was young, but he couldn’t refuse the alcohol that the rough world offered to men, which is why he got a beer belly. But now it seems like it was all a lie.

“Should I help you lose your belly fat before you get married?”

“Oh, no, I don’t like that. I’ll just live as I am.”

Min Yongrak contacted Jinhyuk more often for business-related matters than for exercise-related ones.

At least in South Korea, there was no one who could interfere with Son Jinhyuk’s track and field training, so he was instructed by Yoo Sera to focus only on support.

Therefore, the tasks Jinhyuk requested from Min Yongrak were all about researching various materials and understanding the trends of the economic ecosystem.

Along with the ambitious preparation for the research institute’s personnel management.

“Deputy Manager, how’s the personnel recruitment for the Sakdo Research Institute going?”

“They’re still looking. It seems like it’s not easy.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.

He had expected that not many people would want to come since they would have to live a life close to exile. Although there was a boat, they wouldn’t be able to leave the island if there was bad weather. The only advantages of the Sakdo working conditions were near-perfect safety and high pay.

Sakdo was a place suitable for reclusive scientists who hated being around people.

“You’d be living completely alone there.”

“It would be lonely to live alone-”

Yoojin, who was nibbling on a fish-shaped bun on Min Yongrak’s lap, chimed in.

“That’s right-. It’s lonely to be alone. But it seems like there are people who like being alone.”

“Why is that?”

Yoojin tilted her head like a chick who had found a shiny piece of glass.

A child who loved spending time with her family and friends. An energetic eight-year-old who ran around with her uncles and dogs whenever she had the chance. Yoojin, who was still young, didn’t seem to understand people who enjoyed solitude and hated being disturbed.

Jinhyuk, who wiped the red bean paste from his younger sister’s mouth with his thumb, turned his head back to Min Yongrak.

“Would it be difficult to have a research institute in Seoul?”

“If we tear down a building and build a new one, what would be difficult? It’s just a matter of money.”

That darn money, money. Moneeeey-.

“That kind of scale is not something I can request. The Vice Chairman is difficult for me too. You know?”

“Yes.”

Difficult matters were something Jinhyuk had to handle himself anyway.

It was difficult to make personal requests, but Jinhyuk was the kind of person who would confidently demand things from Hong Gijun when it came to business-related matters.

“But where on earth do those people come from? People with only a middle school education come to the Olympiad manager with strange, spider-like machines. Last month, someone came who had developed an engine that runs on water using a cultivator. Oh, it was on the nine o’clock news, so you must have seen it.”

“I think it’s because they didn’t have a place to use their talents, so they were buried.”

From the world’s perspective, they were errors.

An overly advanced system, buried in safety and stability, recognizes exceptional talent as an error. How many talents bloom and wither because they possess abilities that the system doesn’t require, within a system created by people to nurture and control people to their liking?

In the past, Jinhyuk had memorized and memorized to survive in that system, but he didn’t think he had succeeded because he was outstanding himself. He just had good memorization skills, good comprehension, and the minimum amount of empathy needed for work.

In the end, he had realized early on how to succeed within the system and had conformed to it. With a bit of luck and blatant favoritism on his back. Thanks to that, Jinhyuk’s adulthood was never unfortunate or unlucky. It was just that the emptiness he held was too much, and his life was not satisfying.

“How many people do you need for Sakdo to be satisfied?”

“It’s not for satisfaction. The more, the better, so I’m going to keep hiring.”

No matter how many research personnel there are, it’s not enough.

He was trying to increase the workforce to reduce the time it would take to develop robots to replace humans.

‘Can’t I shorten it to 10 years?’

Time is fast, and humans are slow.

Without looking overseas, people are still dying in vain accidents all over the country.

“I’ll keep looking for people. If we use the general corporate recruitment format, we won’t be able to find those weirdos. I think I’m starting to figure out how after trying a few times.”

“Are you going around and finding them by word of mouth?”

“Eheheh. That’s right. It’s easier if I think of it as sales. I’m working on them by saying, ‘I’ll sell you the future, so give me your talent.’ They’re surprisingly naive, so that method works well. The ‘S’ hyungs [older brothers/mentors] are experts at finding people, so it’s not like I’m searching for them myself. Jinhyuk, you just bring in the money.”

Could there be a more reliable partner than this?

In the past, Min Yongrak, who had been the right-hand man of a team leader with a lower rank than him and had never shied away from dirty work, was now showing off that side of himself without reservation.

“What’s a weirdo?”

“It means someone who’s eccentric.”

He was now used to Yoojin’s interference, and he had reached the point where he could answer her appropriately and focus on the conversation.

“Don’t worry about the money. I’ll keep pushing to set up a research institute in Seoul and to recruit personnel.”

The money issue had already been agreed upon with Hong Gijun last year.

He had asked for investments for 20 or 30 years in the future, and Hong Gijun had brought in a global investment firm located in New York and poured money into it.

「RB Partners」

Jinhyuk, who had asked Min Yongrak to investigate RB, was almost knocked out.

RB, which he didn’t know what it meant or what words it was an abbreviation of.

This monster-level investment firm not only held shares in leading companies around the world but had also been gradually securing shares in domestic companies for several years. Daejeong, Sein, Seokyeong… It was no exaggeration to say that most of the publicly listed large corporations were caught in RB’s net.

In addition, it was repeatedly swallowing companies that had developed undisclosed technologies using its outstanding information capabilities. Among them were many technologies that were never known to the public and were buried in the future.

Of course, the global investment firm’s aggressive moves were not surprising.

The reason Jinhyuk was shocked was that the name of RB’s representative was too familiar.

「Steve Sohn」

It was the English name Jinhyuk had used in the past.

Even the fact that he had deliberately inserted ‘h’ into the family name to honor his mother, Han Yooyoung, was the same.

Why wasn’t the representative Raymond Hong?

Why did Hong Gijun use the name Jinhyuk had used in the past?

Why did he set up a monster investment firm and release so much money without hesitation?

Why-.

At first, he thought it was just Hong Gijun’s quick fix to hide himself.

However, if that was the intention, there was no need to use Jinhyuk’s name.

Hong Gijun answered plainly.

「40 million won for the bet reward. And imagine where the monthly dollars went. Money? Money breeds when it’s left to roam and lives longer than humans. If you think that the world might suddenly disappear one day, you wouldn’t want to hold on to it. Read and delete.」

It was an absurd explanation that he had started such a thing with only 40 million won as seed money.

It was obvious that he had set it up with Sein Group’s capital and handed it over, what a good excuse.

Did this old man owe me something? Or did he have some intention of burdening me with something? Jinhyuk, who had such suspicions, asked for the reason, but Hong Gijun did not reply.

‘This old man read my email and ignored it.’

It must mean that he should judge for himself.

Or it was a silent reproach, asking why he was asking when he already knew.

Jinhyuk, recalling Hong Gijun’s past actions, found one answer.

Nevertheless, he didn’t mention it or think about it seriously.

‘You never know what might happen in life.’

It wasn’t that he felt burdened or disliked it.

The ambition to become a powerful person for his family had sprouted in his heart.

‘Find grandfather, and take down Daejeong-.’

Even while waging a silent war with Daejeong, Hong Gijun had said that he would leave Jinhyuk’s tasks separately. At the same time, he also advised him not to be attached to anything and to live happily, as the world might end at any time.

‘Why does he say the world will end when it’ll be fine for at least 30 years?’

Anyway, you have to understand the worries of old people.

That’s why there’s a saying called ‘old people’s worries’.

Chairman Hong Gijun, who had always enjoyed taking the role of a helper and taking a step back, was the same even after returning.

Jinhyuk understood Hong Gijun’s intention as meaning that he would do the dirty work for his friend and his son.

“Should I go to New York if necessary? I can investigate the company called RB more. There might be some trickery.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Okay…”

Min Yongrak was clearly disappointed, but Jinhyuk pretended not to hear him.

This guy is trying to pull a trick because he wants to fly on a plane with company money.

“Uncle, do you want to go to New York?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Knowing that RB Partners was a cornucopia prepared for Jinhyuk, there was no reason to interfere or be wary. The operation could be left to the investment experts on the ground, and the management would be more effective if Hong Gijun, who was sitting on top of them, took care of it.

What was Hong Gijun trying to gain by accumulating wealth by creating the virtual character Steve Sohn? Apart from the external meaning of conquering the world as a company.

「I’ll tell you when the time comes. Why I did it. For now, just believe what you see.」

It was a world where all sorts of illegal methods were possible, but would that even be considered a trick for the returnee Hong Gijun? But he was also curious about his skills.

‘Those people are so talented.’

Passive principle-followers like Son Jinhyuk, who had internalized system compliance, could never follow the tricks of cunning people, even if they died and came back to life.

The people involved would call it flexibility.

***

“Chairman Yoo, it would be good if you were a little more flexible.”

Cheon Gilyong pointed to the coastline with a bamboo fishing rod.

The Sein Group Human Resources Development Center.

A single-story building, surrounded by an area the size of three soccer fields, was nearing completion.

Due to Son Gwangyeon’s insistence that the tranquil rural scenery should not be disturbed, only some of the office buildings were built with three floors. The neatly lined single-story buildings were subtly hidden in the low mountains and coastline.

“Generally speaking, it’s not a place where anyone can come and go, is it?”

“Yes. It’s inevitable that outsiders will be restricted from entering.”

“There must be a reason why President Son gave up the land, but if you try to block even the locals, that place will become a prison, not a training center. It’s no different from an island.”

Yoo Myungseon kept wiping away his cold sweat.

He had come down for a site inspection, keeping it a secret from his children and Son Gwangyeon, but he had been caught by Cheon Gilyong.

“As far as I know, I heard that Chairman Yoo will be living in there. Wouldn’t it be lonely?”

When the training center was completed, Yoo Myungseon planned to stay there and spend the rest of his life giving lectures to new employees and other staff. He had set up a personal medical facility and even a medical team and security team, so all he had to do was come down. He had already entrusted the group’s management to his son-in-law, but it meant a complete retirement even in a formal sense.

“Instead of being trapped in there and growing old like a lion in a zoo, wouldn’t it be better for the chairman to come and go freely?”

“Then this junior will find a way.”

No matter how much of a group chairman he was, how could he win against an old man who had transcended worldly affairs? It was best to at least show a retreating attitude. Power only works on those who are receptive to it. Yoo Myungseon was also a person who had overcome and endured the storms and had come to observe the world, so he had that much cunning.

At Yoo Myungseon’s retreating appearance, Cheon Gilyong, with a winner’s smile, tapped his pipe on his palm.

“Does the chairman have a religious life?”

“I don’t, but why do you ask?”

“Then, as soon as you come down, let’s become friends with this old man and go to church. Oh ho ho-. Let’s become companions. No, it’s not like I’m trying to get a ride in a fancy car-. Ahem!”

“Church… you say?”

The wrinkles around the old chairman’s eyes deepened as he expressed his doubt.

Son Gwangyeon had told him that he was like a Taoist hermit, but why was he talking about church?