The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 21

Was it because they rarely talked, given the age difference between the old woman and the child? Choi Mi-kyung’s grandmother endlessly unraveled her life story, from her birth and childhood to tales of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.

“…Heaven is so heartless. My only older brother was killed by a tiger on this mountain. On a foggy day, what was he doing going into the mountain to get wood? I was twelve then.”

Though she said she was too old to cry, she kept dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve.

Jinhyuk’s shoulders twitched slightly. The sweat had cooled, and the fog wrapped around him, making him feel chilly. This was the kind grandmother who had helped when Yujin was born. He decided to listen quietly, as if hearing her grievances, and focused on raising his body temperature with meditation breathing.

“During the war, Janghwan’s father was always running away from the bamboo spears, so I did all the work myself. What else could I do? I had to feed my children. The youth association in that Jaedong village was all about bamboo spears. Those guys, what was it, that party or group, they’d come barging in all the time with torches and spears, demanding we join. Then my husband would hide in this mountain, and the next day, he’d hide in that mountain. What would a farmer know? He just knew it wasn’t good, so he hid.”

Whether it was from shortness of breath or heightened emotions, the grandmother sighed, “Aish-.” But she didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping her story.

“I had an older brother, Janghwan’s older brother, who joined the army to avenge his friends who were killed by the North Korean soldiers during the war, and he died fighting on this mountain. This place was originally called Sibbong Mountain. Because of all the shelling, one of the peaks disappeared. That’s why it’s called Gubong Mountain now. We recovered our eldest son’s body, but there were many women who couldn’t even recover their husbands’ or sons’ bodies.”

The grandmother said that her son, whom she had at nineteen, was killed in action when he was twenty. Jinhyuk couldn’t even imagine how a mother would feel losing her child, and he kept his lips tightly shut.

But it was hard to believe that this mountain had been such a fierce battlefield. It wasn’t something he had learned about in history class. He briefly wondered if the grandmother was making up stories to tell her grandson. But her expression and voice were too serious for that. It was confusing when records and people gave different accounts.

No, more than that, why was she telling him all this now?

He wanted to ask, but there was no room for Jinhyuk to interject.

“I had Janghwan when I was thirty-six, so he went trusting his older brother. After him, I only had daughters until I had Janghwan, my youngest son. Janghwan also had two kids, Taeyang and Mikyung, so I can face my ancestors now. I raised them well, very well. Aigoo-. I’ve done all I had to do.”

Her expression seemed both solemn and relieved. When had he seen someone with such an expression? He tried to recall, but it was as hazy as raindrops on a car window.

Why was the grandmother trying to go somewhere alone when it was still winter? Wherever she was going, the path was too high and rough to be a shortcut. The weather wasn’t good either. It was still foggy all around.

“But where are you… going?”

“This mountain has another name, Bukmaeng Mountain.”

Bukmaeng Mountain? He thought he had heard of it, but maybe not.

Why was everything so hazy? It felt like he was dreaming. Everything was unfamiliar, and he didn’t know what to do. His mind was awake, but he felt like a fool.

He could understand why his dad sometimes looked foolish. Ah, Dad must have been momentarily dumbfounded by things he had never experienced in Seoul.

Was this what they called being out of it?

‘Where did she go?’

While he was lost in thought, the grandmother had gone quite far ahead.

She was walking with a speed that defied common sense.

“Grandmother! Please go with me. It’s dangerous because of the bad weather.”

Jinhyuk used his long legs to quickly catch up to the grandmother.

It was morning when he left the house, but the surroundings were all dark. It was like dusk after sunset. The fog was thicker than before.

Even though the weather had warmed up, it was still winter, and it was so dark. He worried about her tripping and falling. Even though he was suspicious of the grandmother’s identity, he couldn’t help but worry.

“Should I give you a piggyback ride?”

He was already panting. If Jinhyuk was like this, the grandmother showed no signs of fatigue, and she kept walking forward without looking back. Like someone late for an appointment.

‘This is a little scary?’

It seemed like he was finally coming to his senses.

It was a strange sense of déjà vu. It was similar to the moment he woke up from a long sleep and returned to the past.

Should he grab the grandmother’s arm? Should he make her stop for a moment? She wasn’t listening no matter how much he called out to her. What should he do?

It was then that Choi Mikyung’s grandmother stopped abruptly and turned to face Jinhyuk.

Her eyes held a mysterious smile, like a crescent moon.

“Wanna go together?”

A chill ran down his spine and up to his cheeks.

The shock of the gap between his resolve and his intuition was so intense that it shattered the mental defenses of even a strong-hearted person.

‘It doesn’t seem like she’s trying to give me something…?’

He hesitated and couldn’t answer right away.

The opportunity was an opportunity, but it was very different from the opportunities Jinhyuk knew.

***

The smell of earth rises.

When the frozen ground thaws, it becomes cool, moist, and soft.

Dogs love such ground and bury their noses in it to play.

Today, Janggun was happily rolling around, enjoying a mud bath.

Heheheh-.

A child is going to exercise.

But he can’t follow for the time being.

It’s a dog’s instinct that he can’t explain.

Something is changing in the ditch that he once used as a toilet, but he doesn’t know what it is.

Anyway, he’s guarding his old toilet out of the bond of having pooped there.

He flinched-. Grrr-.

The old woman from the yellow dog’s house came.

He thought she was visiting the owner’s house, but she didn’t go in.

Woof woof! Arrr- Arrr!

When he barked, the owner of the house opened the door and came out.

The old woman stroked the man’s face.

“Achoo-! Janggun, what’s wrong?”

Ah, it seems like the man can’t see the old woman.

He’s just sneezing.

He shouldn’t be misunderstood by the man.

He should pretend not to notice in this situation.

If he keeps barking, he’ll be treated like a crazy dog barking at his owner.

He wagged his tail while looking at the sparrows sitting on the persimmon tree.

The old woman circled around the house and left.

She was going up the hill at an incredible speed.

Woof-!

Ah, she wasn’t a human after all.

There was a saying that the men in the neighborhood whispered about this time of year.

When it suddenly gets warmer after being cold, many old people die.

Maybe that old woman was going around to say her last goodbyes.

That old woman cut his subordinate’s umbilical cord, they say. Goodbye.

The old woman is alone now.

What were their names? Wet Lions or something. Two guys with black clothes and blue lips. Those two aren’t around.

Then that old woman must be going to a good place.

Janggun is a smart dog, so he knows that too.

There are many ghosts in Dunaeri [a fictional village name].

They say it’s because the land is damp.

They say it’s because the sea with yin energy touches the concave land, but he doesn’t know what that means. Dokku from the next village, who is seven years older than Janggun, said there used to be a lot more in the past. They’re almost never seen now, but anyway. That’s why they keep a lot of dogs at home.

They say dogs keep ghosts away?

Heheheh-.

That’s all dog crap, you ignorant humans!

He can see ghosts, but he can’t stop them.

He can’t even bite them, so how can he stop them?

Well, sometimes there are some who run away when he barks. They’re cowards, but they don’t do any harm and just live in the village. They live a lot in the inner village, near the house of a guy named Yuk or something.

Anyway.

Why isn’t that old woman leaving right away and wandering around the village?

Is she perhaps looking for someone to take with her?

Sometimes there are ghosts who drown children or lure them to cliffs to take them away.

They say they’re bitter about going alone. Anyway, humans.

He flinched-. Janggun jumped up.

Grrr-. Then the child is in danger.

***

She was always a smiling grandmother.

But this smile was different.

The coldness that rose from his abdomen, passed through his heart, and instantly froze his cheeks was a strange feeling.

‘I heard about this from Mr. Jo Ilheon.’

When he was young, he said he saw a ghost while playing in a place that used to be a cemetery.

He said he also met a goblin. He said that even though they were smiling, it felt like his heart was freezing.

‘Grandmother’s eyes are scary.’

They were not human eyes.

In her vast pupils, like a universe, there was a void of emptiness.

Any other child would have had their legs give out or would have run away. But Son Jinhyuk was not a child, nor was he someone who would be swayed by deception.

‘Sad.’

Jinhyuk’s emotion was not fear but sorrow.

He suppressed his briefly trembling heart and opened his mouth.

True to his nature, he was direct.

“Grandmother, did you leave a will before you came?”

Asking that made him feel even more sorrowful.

It must have been Bukmang Mountain, not Bungmaeng Mountain. The solemn yet relieved expression was something he had seen on his former comrades who left their wills before going into battle. The face of the person who wrote a memoir also gave off a similar feeling.

“Is this old woman worrying you? Did this old woman scare you with a prank?”

It was a soft but hollow laugh.

Even though she was smiling brightly, she looked sad. She looked at Jinhyuk with eyes that seemed to find him admirable.

“What’s there to leave behind? You just come when it’s time and go when it’s time. I’ve delivered all the kids in this neighborhood, so it seems like they’re calling me to a good place. It’s nice to have Jinhyuk see me off like this. Now that I think about it, I didn’t deliver our Jinhyuk and Younggu’s son. A shaman told me that if I delivered them, they’d live well, so I went around being a midwife.”

The grandmother took Jinhyuk’s hands.

“Child, live well?”

As expected, there was no feeling of skin contact.

Nevertheless, when the grandmother raised her hand, Jinhyuk’s hand that was being held also rose.

After briefly making eye contact, the grandmother’s gaze moved from Jinhyuk’s forehead to the top of his head.

She awkwardly smiled and moved her lips.

“Okay then, I’ll be going now.”

“Yes?”

She didn’t have dementia.

What was she talking about?

Jinhyuk looked around for no reason and touched his head. There was nothing there.

It was as if the grim reaper was urging her from behind.

“This old woman is just playing a prank, you rascal-.”

It was a voice that laughed like a child.

She liked children so much and played pranks, and she was the same even after she passed away. Jinhyuk sighed lightly.

“Is there anything you want to say…?”

“Don’t say such things. Unless you want to be called crazy.”

That was true.

There were many people who had seen ghosts, but no one had ever followed a deceased person and had a conversation with them. Unless they were a shaman with strong spiritual powers.

“Still, is there anything you want to say to Mikyung’s family? They might be sad.”

“Aigoo, this boy is so kind-. Don’t worry. I’ll visit them all in their dreams tonight, so Jinhyuk, just don’t say anything, okay?”

She was saying it for Jinhyuk’s sake.

Knowing her heart, Jinhyuk nodded.

“Just live happily like a child. It’s no fun growing up too early. Take good care of your parents and your siblings, okay? Meet a pretty girl and have lots of kids. Got it?”

“Yes…”

He tried to answer, but his throat was choked up.

For no reason, sad tears fell.

His nostrils flared uncontrollably, and he felt a tingling sensation as if he had been electrocuted.

It was the first time.

It was the first time he had watched someone leave. Whether that person was alive or dead.

He had never lived closely with anyone to the point of being there at their deathbed.

The grandmother’s hand, which was holding Jinhyuk’s hand, was busy, as if telling him not to cry.

He felt warmth following her comforting touch.

“Your family is what Jinhyuk has to protect.”

Protect your family.

It was a word that he had to accept.

Jinhyuk bowed deeply and paid his respects to the departing grandmother.

Jinhyuk didn’t have a grandmother. What would it have been like if he had a grandmother like this?

‘I should have acted more spoiled and greeted her more often.’

A brief regret washed over him.

But even if he had been a child in his first life, he would have been awkward. That was how children usually were with the elderly. He knew that the regret would only last for this moment.

It was an unreal phenomenon.

He had thought that ghost or goblin stories were just adults’ exaggerations. Jinhyuk was a strong-spirited person, so he had never experienced sleep paralysis.

‘I’m a body that has returned to the past. There’s nothing more mysterious or scary than myself.’

He thought that today’s events were probably just a coincidence. So, Jinhyuk thought he was lucky rather than scared. Who else could have such an experience? Janggun would like it if he told him. He’d tell Yujin about it later, after adapting it. Maybe it’s better not to tell Choi Mikyung. She’d be sad.

When he raised his head, the grandmother had disappeared as if it were a lie.

A refreshing breeze blew through the place where she had been.

‘Rest in peace.’

The fog cleared, and it became bright again. Sunlight began to pour down from the blue sky.

Jinhyuk was standing in a place he had never seen before. He must have come all the way here while following the grandmother without thinking. The top of the mountain was visible not far away.

As he took a step to go back, a wooden signpost caught his eye.

「Fairy Rock」

Someone else must have had the same experience.

Maybe it was one of the old woodcutters.

The corners of his mouth slightly lifted. It was a lighthearted smile like a feather cloud.

Near the rock, there was an incense burner and traces of sacrificial food. It seemed like someone was holding a memorial service.

He should ask Choi Mikyung what the grandmother liked.

He should bring it up sometimes.

After bowing twice and paying his respects to the Fairy Rock, he turned his steps.

‘Status window….’

He muttered nonsense.