The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 200

***

Helios, a radiant being, sped through the inky earth that supported the deep blue sky.

That was Jinhyuk’s impression of the first bus of the dawn, its lights shining dazzlingly.

The bus driver, moving even before the diligent country folk, might not be an ordinary human.

‘Oh, is it because I’m a high schooler now? I feel a bit sentimental.’

Whoosh- Thump, thump.

The bus, which had been rushing to open the morning before the sun, slowed down.

‘Hehe-. Taking the bus to school, I’ll live to see the day.’

A schoolbag and a gym bag.

With two bags on his back, Jinhyuk, who was slowly puffing out his breath in the still-cold morning air, lowered his hand.

His steps as he boarded the first bus in his school uniform were as cautious as a stranger entering an unfamiliar world. However, his legs were full of energy, and his face wore an excited smile of a challenger.

“Good morning.”

“Ugh-hum-. Yeah, I’ll live to see the day.”

The bus driver, still with sleep in his eyes, yawned widely and checked the clock hanging above the driver’s seat. He looked as if he was wondering if he had misread the time and left late.

It was indeed unusual.

It was rare for a passenger to board the first bus, and students usually took the next one.

“It’s still dark, so I’ll go slowly, okay?”

“Yes.”

Of course, there were only the driver and Jinhyuk on the bus; his friends wouldn’t be awake yet.

If he took this bus and got off in front of the school, it would be around 7 a.m.

“Shall I turn on the heater?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

He was used to biking to school even in the dead of winter, so a chilly bus was nothing to him.

It was just his stiff body that bothered him. He had skipped his usual morning workout because it was the first day of school, and his whole body felt itchy, with a throbbing sensation in his calves and thighs.

It was because of his mom.

It happened last night.

Whether it was a measure to prevent the aftereffects of the fireworks or to upgrade the pain, his mom, who had applied Pura-min Anti [a fictional ointment] to his dad’s back where handprints remained, called Jinhyuk.

*

“Son Jinhyuk.”

I’m here-. Ah, that’s not it.

“Yes.”

She had never called him that way before, and his mom’s expression wasn’t good. At least, that’s how it looked to Jinhyuk. It was probably because she still had the momentum from subduing her immature husband.

Sitting across from each other at the table, Hanyoung stated her business.

“From tomorrow, take the bus. Exercise is good, but don’t skip night study either.”

Jinhyuk cautiously took a breath.

Why was his mom suddenly acting like a strict mom?

First, how could a child ever understand a parent’s heart? To prevent misunderstandings, it was best to ask directly.

Mom, whyyy?

Mother, why are you giving such an order…?

Tell me why.

What should he ask so that his mom wouldn’t be hurt? Jinhyuk unfolded a script in his imagination.

However, Hanyoung was one step ahead.

“The roads are busier now, and cars are speeding by. I’m worried our son might be in danger if he goes around when it’s dark. And you should hang out with your friends; spending time with family at home is enough for the weekends. Your dad is busy with his business now, so it’s hard to see him on weekdays.”

The lonely figure of her son seeing off his friends returning from training camp had left too strong an impression on Hanyoung’s mind. Her son was now bigger than his dad, and if she had to let him go anyway, wouldn’t it be right to release him during his socialization period?

“That’s how people are. As they grow, they should mingle with many people in the wider world. They say humans have to live among people. If you stay in a small house, your thoughts become narrow too.”

The house they lived in wasn’t small, but that’s what she meant.

Her smart son would understand.

‘I should stop wrapping him in my apron strings now.’

Well….

He hadn’t been hugged by his mom since he was about ten, and he had been taking care of his own things, but that’s what she meant. A mom who wasn’t good with words tried her best to persuade her son, hoping he wouldn’t feel left out.

“Okay.”

A reply without hesitation came back.

There was even a gentle smile on Jinhyuk’s lips.

Look at this guy?

Hey, do you have to answer so sharply?

Hanyoung unknowingly pouted her lips.

‘I don’t even know my own heart.’

Her son had always been by her side, whether her husband was farming or after he started his business, but now he was trying to leave as if he had been waiting for it, and her heart was pounding.

When she thought about it, it was because of Jinhyuk that Yujin was born safely, and she could worry less when she was away from home. They had even gone to Hawaii.

Hah-. With a sigh of unknown origin, her arm reached out on its own.

“Oh my, my baby. When did you grow up so much?”

Stroking Jinhyuk’s cheek, Hanyoung finally teared up.

Just like the day she cut Jinhyuk’s hair before he entered middle school.

Jinhyuk was inwardly puzzled.

His mom told him to do it, so he was just going to follow her without complaint, but she was acting strict on her own, then getting emotional.

‘Is Mom already going through menopause?’

He should ask Ilheon Sung what’s good to eat during menopause.

***

He changed his clothes at the wrestling training center.

From his school uniform to his gym clothes.

“Taking off my uniform – the first day we met -.”

He hummed a song, feeling strangely awkward even though it was a place he used every day.

After putting on his gym clothes and stretching from his fingers to his toes, he would then run lightly around the field. His status had changed from a middle schooler to a high schooler, but Jinhyuk’s day remained the same.

Whoosh, whoosh-.

Climbing up and down the rope, doing pull-ups, and pulling the wrestling tube.

Thwack, thwack-.

Measuring his short-distance record alone.

Running around the field at a slow pace to cool down, and then walking while shaking his hands and feet.

He stopped abruptly.

‘It’s lonely.’

Was this what they called loneliness? It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He filled his lungs with the chilly air and looked around the school with puffed-up cheeks.

The lights in the classrooms were being turned on one by one, as if the night duty teacher had woken up, and high school students in their uniforms were arriving at school.

It was a scene no different from any other day, but Jinhyuk, realizing what was different from usual, looked somewhat dejected.

‘It’s because Byungtaek and Seulchan aren’t here.’

Although they had quit track and field last fall, Yeom Byungtaek and Jo Seulchan would often run with him or sit on the bench and watch, just in case their friend was bored. It was a touching act of meddling by good guys.

‘My sister isn’t here either.’

Hwang Gayoung, whom he had met belatedly, would come every morning to chat and teach him the fun of conversation.

University classes probably haven’t started yet, right? She went into the dorms, so I wonder if she’s made a lot of friends. Are her friends pretty…? They probably are. They’re college students.

‘What’s wrong with me!’

Jinhyuk quickly shook his head to stop his brain from suddenly accelerating.

Whether he ran together or alone, it was a great comfort to Jinhyuk to have someone watching and cheering him on. It was like another version of himself becoming a pacemaker and running with him.

Chomp-.

He smacked his lips strongly, trying to shake off the ambiguous feeling, whether it was affection or disappointment.

He couldn’t afford to be sentimental and shrink; this was something he had to overcome on his own.

‘Well, it’s exercise I enjoy doing.’

In the end, the effort and the responsibility for the results were his own.

His athletic life without a coach or a partner had begun.

***

Out of the seven classes, classes 1 to 3 were for female students, and classes 4 to 7 were for male students.

And the classes were assigned based on entrance exam scores.

Jinhyuk, who had naturally entered as the top student by getting perfect scores on the entrance exam, physical fitness test, and middle school grades, was in class 4.

He burned off the energy he hadn’t been able to use for his morning workout or on his bike, and took a seat at the back of the classroom. He couldn’t sit anywhere else anyway, given his physique.

He was about to listen to music with the CD player Hong Gijun had gifted him, but he stopped.

Because diligent new students were entering the classroom one by one.

‘I need to change.’

Jinhyuk waved to his friends one by one.

It would be ridiculous to ignore them when their eyes met.

“Welcome.”

“Hi?”

Still, they were quite a bit more mature than middle schoolers, and the classmates responded with a friendly greeting without hesitation.

A large figure filled the back door.

Lee Seunghoon, welcome.

He was in the same class as him in high school, just like in the first year of middle school.

“Yo-, class president. Did you come early? Did you work out today too?”

Lee Seunghoon’s eyes went to Jinhyuk’s still-damp buzz cut.

“Welcome. When does wrestling practice start?”

“Uh, from two.”

“What about your boarding house?”

Lee Seunghoon’s house was incomparably farther away than Jinhyuk’s.

Originally, he should have attended middle school in that area, but he had entered Taeyang Middle School purely because of wrestling, and Lee Seunghoon had to live in a boarding house since middle school.

“I got a studio apartment. I can eat three meals at school, and we have frequent dinners, so I decided to live on my own from high school. It’s a nuisance for someone who eats as much as me to live in a boarding house.”

The boarding house grandmother who had taken care of Lee Seunghoon until middle school had passed away in the winter. She was someone who would keep feeding him even when he was full, saying that he needed to eat well since he was growing and doing strenuous exercise.

Since there were hardly any students from other regions who could be considered international students, there were hardly any houses left in the town that offered boarding.

“Studio apartments near the school are expensive, so I got a room at the foot of the mountain, over there, somewhere-. Anyway, I got a room over there.”

The head of a fishing village association who owned a medium-sized fishing boat could be considered wealthy.

Nevertheless, Lee Seunghoon had always been frugal, saying that his father was working hard because of his athletic son.

‘That guy, he’s too nice.’

Because of that kind of personality, Lee Seunghoon would hang on the bars alone during gym class or only hang out with Jinhyuk. He was worried that his friends would get hurt if they bumped into him.

Lee Seunghoon scratching his sideburns with his thick hand reminded him of Choi Taeyang.

“How was breakfast?”

“I ate at the cafeteria. It’s not the dried pollack soup that my grandma used to make every morning, but it’s edible. And they don’t say anything even if I eat a lot.”

Lee Seunghoon took a seat next to Jinhyuk.

Unlike middle school, the desks were individual, so it didn’t matter, but just the two of them sitting side by side made the classroom look full.

“Let’s move to the window seat.”

“Yeah-, that’d be good. If we sit here, the others will feel cramped.”

He leaned his arm on the windowsill, rested his chin on that arm, and turned his gaze out the window.

This was also a posture he had taken for the past three years of middle school, so it wasn’t new.

What was new would be his classmates.

Out of 200 male students, about 120 were from Taeyang Middle School.

Since there were about 370 graduates from Taeyang Middle School, over 250 had left for other regions to attend high school. To big cities, nearby cities, or the countryside. That meant that 40% of the incoming students were from middle schools in other regions.

A journey with unfamiliar people had begun at a different school than in his past life.

‘But they should be more mature than in middle school, so it should be quiet, right?’

Would it really be so?

As if ignoring Jinhyuk’s wish, it didn’t even take 10 minutes for the peace to be broken.

Buzzing, buzzing-. The classroom filled up, and a heated commotion started.

“Sex! Sex!”

Wow, that scared me.

Is that the same guy from middle school?

Jinhyuk, his expression comically distorted, rolled his eyes to find the sex parrot.

It’s a different guy.

And we can’t leave out the new students having sword fights with brooms.

“Heavenly Demon Great Extinction!” [a reference to a martial arts technique]

“Poisonous Snake Search!” [another reference to a martial arts technique]

Sigh-, these crazy guys, really.

*

Under the guidance of the homeroom teacher, they took turns going to the front to introduce themselves.

Jinhyuk didn’t have much to say. Nor did he need to.

“I’m Son Jinhyuk.”

Oooooh-. Clapping, clapping-.

Just by going up to the podium and bowing, he received a great response.

Perhaps it was a natural reaction.

He had come early in the morning and greeted his friends one by one, and he had become more famous in Taeyang County than his father, Son Kwangyeon.

“He’s a brave citizen!”

“I’ll drink my milk well!”

After the self-introductions, they would elect a class president.

It was as if there was a manual that forced it, but it was a process that had to be gone through at the start of a new semester.

The result was also obvious.

‘It’d be weird if I didn’t become class president now.’

He had only revealed his name during the self-introduction, but he gave a longer speech as the elected president.

“I hope that we can have a fun school life without any incidents, without any friends getting sick or going astray. I will also try my best to remain a friend, not just a class president, and to be a positive partner during our school days. In that sense, I would like to share my power with you all. From now on, the class representatives will take turns greeting the teachers in each class…”

Uh?

Is that sharing power?

Isn’t that just passing on work?

Looking at the murmuring friends, Jinhyuk couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘These sly bastards, they’re not falling for it?’

Their insight is extraordinary.

Is it because they’re high schoolers?

They seemed to be quicker on the uptake than Jinhyuk.