The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 203

It seems Yujin really likes Choi Taeyang, considering she wrote down two of his strengths.

Jinhyeok didn’t bother correcting his younger sister’s typo. If it were at work, he would have asked for a correction or fixed it himself, but he thought his sister needed the experience of realizing and learning on her own.

「Grandfather: Cheon Gil-long, he greets people well.
Uncle: Jjorongi, he knows many dogs.
Sister: Choi Mikyung, she plays well with me.
Sister: Hong Sujeong, she’s as pretty as a fairy.
Sister: Hwang Gayoon, she graduated from university.
Sister: Hwang Gayoung, she entered university.」

Wow, that’s a lot.

Next to each name, there was a description of their characteristics without exception, which made him laugh.

It was also admirable that she didn’t forget to include Hong Sujeong. They haven’t even seen each other lately. It seems the joyful times they spent together in their childhood had a significant impact.

「Friend: Ajji Bear, he doesn’t talk.」

Even the dog made it onto the family tree, so why not Ajji Bear? But she was supposed to write down their strengths, and she wrote that he doesn’t talk. A deep sense of disappointment was evident in that short sentence.

“Does Yujin wish she could talk to Ajji Bear? Does she not have enough people to talk to?”

“Nooo? It’s not that I don’t have enough, but I thought Ajji Bear might feel frustrated since he only listens.”

Right, Yujin would sometimes talk to Ajji Bear about various things and then pause as if to gauge his reaction. A child who gives affection and personifies even inanimate objects. How could she not be adorable?

He looked at Ajji Bear, who was sitting quietly next to Yujin.

His once pure white body was now stained with dirt in various places due to Jeongwon’s mischief, and he was patched up with cloth where he had been scratched, but Ajji Bear looked happy. It must be because he has a smiling face.

“Yujin, why do you have so many family members?”

“Uh-huh, you know-. Grandpa Cheon Gil-long says that if you walk through time together, you’re family-. Life partners.”

That grandfather sees the whole world as family, so that kind of explanation is possible.

Jinhyeok, who was influenced by Cheon Gil-long during his emotional turmoil, could somewhat relate to that. His father, Son Gwangyeon’s attitude towards others was also similar.

“So, when I looked up ‘life partner’ in the dictionary on Oppa’s computer, it said the English word is ‘partner’.”

Ah, so that’s why she wrote ‘Partner’ instead of ‘Family’.

A profound realization washed over him.

Jinhyeok was speechless when he checked the next family member.

「Friend: Dugu Elil, he laughs a lot.」

Dugu Elil?

Jinhyeok tilted his head at the unfamiliar name.

‘Is it another doll’s name?’

Or maybe it’s a cartoon character.

Although she only drags around Ajji Bear, who is bigger than her, Yujin’s room is full of dolls gifted by Hong Gijun’s family and the SSS agents. It must be one of their names.

“Yujin, who is this? Is it a doll?”

“Uh, uh-huh-. Is it a doll? I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know, but you wrote it down?”

“I don’t remember-.”

She doesn’t know and doesn’t remember, but how did she write the name, and how does she know he laughs a lot? Even though Yujin has started school, she still says things that don’t make sense.

Even though she’s smart, having a conversation with his still young sister requires a lot of patience. It’s not just a matter of age. Even her classmate, Jo Seulchan, often changed the subject to something random. It must be a matter of personality or concentration.

‘Well, I don’t know either, so I can’t ask more.’

It was the same for Jinhyeok; it was a familiar name, but he couldn’t remember it.

Yujin tapped her brother, who was maintaining a rather serious expression.

“Is my homework okay-? Did I do well?”

“Yes. You did very well.”

He patted her back and stroked her head.

He couldn’t forget to do the forehead rubbing that Yujin liked the most.

“Hehe.”

Yujin is a generous child, just like her father.

It’s clear when she includes neighbors, dogs, and even a doll she doesn’t remember as family.

Is it really right to point out errors to a child like this?

‘No. It’s better to leave it as it is.’

A child who grows on her own without needing any interference.

Like a vast nature.

‘Yujin is much better than me after all.’

Jinhyeok put the homework in her notebook so it wouldn’t get crumpled and handed it to Yujin.

As she put the notebook in her bag, Yujin asked,

“Oppa, can I use the computer?”

Even the great outdoors likes computers.

“Only until Mom calls you for dinner.”

“Ehehe-. Yes-.”

*

Even though she wasn’t playing games, Yujin liked sitting in front of the computer and looking at various things.

She would also be amazed after entering DOS commands that she asked her brother about.

“Oppa, what’s the command to clear the screen in DOS?”

“CLS.”

“It says ‘chin’?”

“You have to press the Korean-English key.”

“Ah-!”

Tap-. Tap tap-.

Her typing with just one finger was also incredibly cute.

“Oppa, what’s the command to hide files?”

“Attrib, then h-. What are you trying to hide, Yujin?”

“I want to see what you hid-.”

That’s not allowed, you little rascal!

Why are you trying to find the files I deliberately hid in DOS?

It seemed like Yujin was asking to test her brother, even though she already knew. She’s squinting her eyes right now.

In this case, he had no choice but to play it cool.

“Oppa doesn’t hide any, anything.”

“Really? No Hee-young in my class has two computers at home, and No Hee-young’s brothers hide weird things and watch them.”

“O, Oppa doesn’t watch weird things.”

Oppa watches things that aren’t weird.

“I should go find some landmines.”

“Mines.”

“Mines-.”

She clicked the mouse on the screen, which was a Se-in-developed operating system that was similar to Windows, and played Minesweeper. She kept muttering to herself.

“Hmm-. If I step on this, it’ll explode… There are two next to this? Then this place is safe-.”

Once, he was curious about what she was doing and peeked over, and she was reading an email.

“Hel-lo there? Dear? It’s in English-.”

She seemed to find it interesting that her brother was using email, so he made an account for her, and she actually knew how to use it. The only people who exchanged emails were Hong Sujeong and Jinhyeok, but it was something that an eight-year-old was using email and had two friends to exchange emails with.

“Oppa, why do they say ‘email me’ instead of ‘email to me’ when they say ‘send an email’?”

It must have been the day she saw a spam email, a prank email sent to an unspecified number of people.

Jinhyeok’s brain, which was giving Jeongwon an airplane ride on the bed, temporarily stopped.

It wasn’t because the question was difficult, but because his sister was not only reading English but also translating it. And she’s even asking about grammar.

Still, he had to answer her question.

“Well…, when ‘email’ is used as a transitive verb, it means ‘to send an email to someone,’ so the preposition ‘to’ isn’t needed.”

“Ah-.”

Did she really understand that explanation?

Looking at her furrowed brow, it seemed like she was memorizing it to review it later?

Anyway, it’s an amazing talent. She chews over things repeatedly and eventually makes them her own knowledge.

He had seen Min Yongrak teaching her Korean, the alphabet, and numbers, but Yujin’s learning progress seemed too fast.

“Yujin, you’re not replying to them, are you?”

“Ah-, n, no-. I only know how to read them-.”

Why is she stuttering?

Is she even copying that from her brother?

He was suspicious, but Jinhyeok didn’t press her further.

He thought it was better to tell Yujin what she needed to be careful about and let her experience the rest herself.

‘As long as she doesn’t make any payments.’

It wasn’t because of Min Yongrak’s meddling that Yujin learned to read so early. Neither her mother nor Jinhyeok tried to teach her to read, but Yujin kept begging to be taught, so Min Yongrak, who was weak and had a big belly, had no choice but to teach her.

“Eung-ah-. Beeyung- beeyung-. Abu! Abu! Abuuu-!”

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!”

Jeongwon, sitting on his brother’s stomach, flapped his arms and legs and jumped around.

It meant he wanted him to pay attention to him and give him an airplane ride.

With two younger siblings, it wasn’t easy to focus on one of them.

He decided to focus on the meaning of walking through time together, as he had learned from Yujin.

Because they were family and siblings.

“Okay, okay. Here we go-! We’re flying-!”

“Kkaaa-. Eung-ah- beeyung-.”

When will Jeongwon’s pronunciation become clear?

He taught him to say ‘airplane’ instead of ‘beeyung,’ but it’s still like this.

Even though he knew that Jeongwon didn’t mean it, he couldn’t help but feel strange every time he heard it.

As her brother focused on Jeongwon again, Yujin, sitting in front of the monitor, moved her hands. She looked like an old man, squinting her eyes and hunching over, except she didn’t have reading glasses.

Tap- tap tap-.

‘Ah, Yujin. You said you weren’t replying.’

She never listens!

Still, he was curious about what she was writing, so he peeked.

「Hello. I am Son Yujin, number 18 in class 1 of grade 1 at Eodong School. I don’t know English yet. I don’t live in London. I think you sent it wrong…」

She’s so kind. Our Yujin.

He didn’t know if the other person would understand Korean.

“Hic-.”

Toda-da-dak-.

She was also like her brother in how she was horrified when she made a mistake and how she frantically pressed the backspace key.

***

Why does the warmth of the same sun differ every season and every month?

A few breezes are enough to change warmth into heat.

Feeling the seasons through the wind and the sun is the same for city dwellers and farmers. And so it was for Jang Jinnam, the manly man who came down from the city.

The yellow dust that had flown in with the wind had subsided, and after a brief period of fantastic spring weather, pine pollen began to fly.

“Hmm hmm hmm-. A-choo-hack!”

Even while sneezing so much that his nose turned red due to his pollen allergy, Jang Jinnam was busy collecting newly sprouted pine shoots. Today, the back mountain next to the bus route was Jang Jinnam’s workplace.

He planned to make an enzyme by soaking the pine shoots and pine needles together in boiled and cooled sugar water.

He learned it from Jo Ilheon, who said that pine shoots are good for rheumatism, numbness in the hands and feet, and muscle softening. Pine needles are said to be good for the five internal organs and also have hair growth effects. It was information that men with thinning hair would come running for with bundles of money.

‘If I ferment it well for six months, I won’t have to perm my hair anymore!’

He had been perming his hair to hide his thinning hair, but the neighborhood kids called him ‘He-Man Ajumma,’ which made him upset. He was even grateful to Lee Dongho for calling him ‘Janggo Ajussi.’

Even without the advice of the know-it-all, as a manly man who enjoys cooking, it was worth trying various things since he had come to a place full of all kinds of ingredients.

The effects of the sea squirt dish from last fall were also very effective. The taste was so good that it seemed to heal even his mind, but…

‘When is our third child due?’

…Anyway, Jang Jinnam had become the most beloved husband since his marriage.

With the protection of five dogs, including Geomma, Jang Jinnam’s partner, Son Yujin, stayed by his side.

Chop chop-. Son Yujin licked the pine pollen with her tongue.

“Chop chop-. It tastes sweet-.”

“Hey-, you shouldn’t eat pine pollen-. It’s dirty.”

“Uncle Jjorongi said that the powder is more effective than the leaves or pine cones-.”

“I think I heard something like that too.”

Jo Ilheon had told so many stories that there was a limit to what he could remember, but Son Yujin seemed to memorize everything without missing a single detail. It must be because she has good concentration at a young age.

“Janggun and Hongsi, you should try it too-.”

Hehe-hek!

Kind Son Yujin held out the pine shoots, but Janggun and Hongsi quickly ran away into the forest.

In this case, only the gentle Doberman Gwangma was left.

“Huh? Where did Gwangma go?”

How could five dogs disappear so quickly? The effects of pine pollen must be amazing.

“Isn’t it about time for our Oppa to come?”

“Is today the last day of Jinhyeok’s competition?”

“Yes! He said he’d come after the 200-meter final-.”

Based on the time, he must have already finished the final and be on his way.

“Jinhyeok is so amazing. He’s faster than third graders and even adults.”

“He’s also taller than third graders and adults.”

“That’s true. He’s even taller than me.”

Was it 10.38 seconds?

Yesterday, he received a call that he had set a new high school record in the 100m. It was a record that was close to the general division, surpassing the high school division.

Thanks to that, Son Gwangyeon, who had left work earlier than usual, held another barbecue party. It was a party without the main character, but everyone enjoyed it, and Son Yujin, who was hiding behind Jang Jinnam and drinking cola, looked happy.

He heard from Han Yooyoung that she screamed when her brother made a surprise appearance on the sports news after the nine o’clock news.

“Uh-huh- but, our Oppa is bored.”

“Even though Yongrak went with him?”

“He doesn’t have any friends. He doesn’t have any teachers either.”

Was she worried about her brother? Son Yujin’s eyes were filled with a sad light.