The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 220

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Jinhyuk, who had been intently watching his younger sibling’s actions, worried that an unexpected situation might arise, quickly scooped Jeongwon out of the water.

‘He’s a smart kid, so he didn’t swallow any water, but if he goes too deep, babies can get scared or be in danger,’ Jinhyuk thought.

“Aigoo-. You fearless little rascal-”

“Ttaaaa-!”

As if he didn’t care about his worried older brother, Jeongwon was as happy as a fish in water. Right now, he’s only focused on being held up by his brother and cheering.

‘But if he dives in butt-first without any clothes on, doesn’t it hurt his little pecker?’ Jinhyuk wondered.

‘I don’t know since I’ve never dived in naked.’

‘Maybe it’s because he’s young, but he’s adapting quickly.’

Jinhyuk had been worried about letting a baby play in a deep pool.

Contrary to his worries, Jeongwon was more comfortable in the water than Yujin was when she first learned to swim. Even without being taught, he exhaled underwater and opened his eyes fearlessly. Letting his body float in the water was a given.

‘Could Jeongwon be a swimming prodigy?’

Like any other parents, Jinhyuk also indulged in the freedom of delusion while watching his younger siblings.

‘What does it matter if he’s not a genius?’

Looking at the baby’s face with wide eyes in the water, and the bubbles rising from his mouth, makes me smile even underwater. Jinhyuk, who had been diving first to watch over him in case he swallowed water, smiled brightly.

‘Heeheehee. So cute.’

Puh-gwah-gwah-gwah-gwah-.

He laughed so hard that water got into his mouth.

When he exhales all his breath, Jeongwon purses his lips. And then, he slowly flails his arms and legs like a turtle.

He instinctively knows that he shouldn’t open his mouth when there’s no more breath to exhale, and that it’s dangerous to flail around frantically.

Then, his older brother will support him from below and lift him above the water.

It’s like a natural rhythm they’ve developed through repeated water play.

“Ttaaaa-! Ummaa-. Bbaaa-. Nunaa-. Unga- Biyung-.”

He giggled.

‘I don’t know why he’s calling out for the whole family, but Jeongwon looked happy,’ Jinhyuk thought.

Behind Jeongwon, who was beaming in an airplane pose, Yujin, flipped over like an otter, floated by. She was moving forward by kicking only her ankles with grace, showing the prowess of a skilled swimmer. It’s partly because she’s worried about the baby’s safety, but playing with her younger sibling is also Yujin’s greatest joy.

“Jeongwon, do you want to try like your sister?”

“Ttaaaa-!”

‘What is he saying······,’ Jinhyuk wondered.

Jeongwon just splashed water everywhere.

Even the SSS agents who were exercising separately, and the residents who were sitting and resting, all focused their eyes when Jeongwon and Yujin were playing in the water. There’s no sweeter rest than watching young children play.

“Ttaiiiiii-!”

Splash-.

Little Jeongwon was also proudly becoming a member of the bear gym.

***

‘She’s her spitting image, so why doesn’t she listen to her mother?’ Yoosera thought, frustrated with Hong Sujeong.

“I told you to go with your grandfather when he goes down there, didn’t I? See Jinhyuk oppa [older brother], and meet Yujin and Jeongwon too. You said you wanted to see Mikyung unnie [older sister] before, right?”

“Ah, I said no-. I have a lot to do.”

Hong Sujeong, sitting at her desk, didn’t even turn to look at her mother.

Shhh-. The pages of the book turned with a rather agitated sound.

“Look at this girl? What does a child have so much to do? At your age, you should be playing with your friends-”

“Right, friends. I should play with my friends. Isn’t that why you sent me to the school I’m going to now? But why do you keep telling me to go to the countryside?”

‘Well, her logic is plausible?’ Yoosera thought.

‘Has she always been this good at talking?’ While Yoosera was momentarily stunned, Hong Sujeong unfolded her thoughts like a flowing stream. She was still facing away from her mother.

“And you should visit your uncles too. Munsik uncle’s older brother came from America, and Junsik uncle’s older sister came from England.”

“Why, why do you keep calling them by their names?”

‘It’s pathetic that the best she can do is ask that,’ Yoosera thought, but with her arms crossed, she was confident.

“Ah, the uncles said they like being called that. They said it’s hard to be called by their names after they get married, so they want me to call them by their names-”

Cough-.

Yoosera had to shut her mouth again.

This wasn’t an argument, but rather it felt like she was being educated by her daughter.

With her arms crossed, she scratched her neck for no reason.

Her neck always itches when she gets annoyed.

“And look at this.”

Flap-.

Hong Sujeong, still sitting in her chair with her back turned, held out a few pieces of paper in front of her mother’s eyes. Her arm is bent so far back, ‘our daughter is so flexible,’ Yoosera thought.

Before Yoosera could even take them, Hong Sujeong listed them out clearly in an emotionless tone.

“Piano, ballet, taekwondo, English, math, computer. Should I say more?”

“Aish-. No, it’s okay. Take a break.”

“Take a break? I have to do my homework.”

There are five academies she attends just because of her mother.

The exercises that Hong Sujeong does on her own are an exception.

‘It’s ridiculous that she’s pushing her daughter to go play, forgetting all that,’ Yoosera thought.

Even so, Hong Sujeong didn’t complain and was more composed than her mother.

‘I heard I was that smart during my puberty too.’

Tsk-.

‘Where did that smart one go, and only a clumsy one remains?’ Yoosera thought.

Her older brothers teased Yoosera, saying it was the curse of puberty.

They said she used up all her intelligence and reason during puberty, so she went crazy.

‘What, you idiots,’ Yoosera thought.

It’s Yoosera’s unique way of expressing affection for her brothers, not an insult.

In Yoosera’s eyes, her older brothers were just as crazy.

The eldest brother who only has a good face and physique, and the younger brother who only has intelligence. ‘If there was one more son with strategic thinking, the person who would inherit the group would be the son, not the son-in-law,’ she would often joke with her husband while drinking. In the end, it means it’s impossible.

Hong Sujeong, who had finally turned around, sighed.

She turned around because her mother suddenly became quiet, but she’s scratching her neck. ‘If she scratches a little more, she’ll draw blood,’ Hong Sujeong thought.

“Mom······, Mom?”

“Uh-huh? I’m going. I’m going.”

She may have used up her reason during puberty, but she still understands what’s being said.

*

After her mother left, Hong Sujeong opened her desk drawer and took out her pager.

It’s a newfangled device that her father gifted her to use when contacting her friends.

‘Hmm-. Still no contact today,’ she thought.

She definitely gave Jinhyuk oppa her pager number, but the only numbers that appear on her pager are her school friends’ numbers.

There are also a few that left strange numbers without contact information, and ‘I don’t know who they are because they didn’t leave a voice recording in the voice mailbox,’ she thought.

「0000」

「0024」

「0124」

‘It’s not an international call, what is this?’

When she received the pager as a gift from her father, she was puzzled as to why she needed to use a pager when there was a separate phone in her room and a phone in the car. As an ordinary student at school, there was no need to urgently receive calls during class. But after using it, she realized that this pager had a hidden function.

The function of anticipation and excitement. ‘Ah, are they similar words?’ she wondered.

Anyway, Jinhyuk oppa didn’t page her.

She lifted her head and looked at the frame on her desk, in the most visible spot.

There was Son Jinhyuk, bending over and shoveling, and a little Hong Sujeong, smirking and smearing spit on his cheek.

‘I don’t remember,’ she thought.

Since it exists in a photo, ‘I just think that’s how it was,’ she thought.

Jinhyuk oppa was someone who watched over Hong Sujeong no matter what she did, and pampered her like a princess, saying yes to whatever she asked. He even rushed to save her when she fell into the stream.

Because it was so long ago, most of it is vague, but some memories seem to remain vivid for a long time. But since they couldn’t meet often, it became like, ‘Oh, that happened back then.’ As the time they couldn’t meet grew longer, even the longing became dull.

Deep down, Hong Sujeong is thinking that maybe it’s because of puberty. She feels like she’s the center of the world, but she’s also confused about whether she’s a child or a mature person.

“Hmph.”

‘Well, whatever. Playing with her friends is still better,’ she thought.

She even went to an amusement park in Gyeonggi-do [province in South Korea] as soon as the vacation started, and thanks to her father, she was able to show off in front of her friends. She went on all the rides and walked around the park for two days straight, and she played so hard that one of her friends’ legs gave out, so they ended up just playing games at the accommodation for the rest of the day.

She casually asked a close friend, and they said that a five-year age gap is already high school age, so he’s too old. It was an undeniable fact, so Hong Sujeong just nodded silently. Her friends’ boyfriends are all the same age as them.

Still, feeling somewhat regretful, she pouted and fiddled with her pager.

Every vacation, we would run around together, he would pick wild strawberries for me, and give me piggyback rides.

‘Wow, thinking about it makes me miss him again,’ she thought.

‘I can’t just say I’ll go back now,’ she thought.

‘I feel like running to the countryside and asking him what he’s been doing that he hasn’t contacted me,’ she thought.

‘Should I try first?’ she wondered.

She has changed.

In the past, she would have picked up the phone without hesitation, but why is my heart fluttering and making me hesitate over this?

She once asked her father.

‘Why don’t adults use cell phones, and why don’t they distribute them when mass production is possible, and why do I have to use a pager?’

– “It’s a small consideration that your father can give to someone he owes a debt to. It means to gradually enjoy the times that others can enjoy, so to speak?”

Although she’s said to be smart, it was a difficult thing for the still young Hong Sujeong to understand.

At first, she thought that person was her mother, her uncle, or her grandfather.

But when she asked them directly, they reacted as if they had never heard of it.

And decisively, they are all using cell phones.

‘Is Son Kwangyeon ajusshi [a respectful term for an older man] a debtor?’ she wondered.

She took a deep breath while making a trivial deduction.

It was when she was about to pick up the phone with courage.

Thud- Thud-thud-.

The sound that brightened the silent room. It was the sound of her younger brother, Hong Suhyeok, knocking on his sister’s door with a rattle.

Perhaps it’s because his sister has been coaxing and comforting him early on, but Hong Suhyeok spent a lot of time looking for his sister even though he had a dedicated caregiver. He’s also a younger brother who follows his sister well.

“Wait! Nuna [older sister] will open it for you!”

Hong Sujeong quickly pushed off the floor. Her agility and speed, honed through consistent exercise, stood out.

The caregiver will be watching nearby, but it’s possible that he came alone. If the baby loses his balance while grabbing the door handle on tiptoes, he could fall, and babies have their center of gravity in their heads, so a wrong fall could lead to serious injury. Hong Sujeong has already caught Hong Suhyeok’s head from falling several times.

“Ehehehe-, did Suhyeok come because he missed nuna?”

If there’s a moment when Hong Sujeong speaks in a bright voice at home, it’s when her younger brother Hong Suhyeok comes to her room.

“Nuna, did you do the ‘ongbu uttete’ [a baby game where you lift them up] with the other kids?”

“No, playing with our Suhyeok is more important. Aigoo! You’re heavy! I’ll play with him and take him with me.”

She picked up her younger brother and bowed politely to the caregiver.

“Nuna, I’m going to school soon-”

“It’s vacation, so you don’t have to go to school.”

“No school- Tturyeogi ttottururu buaaa-.”

“Ahahaha-.”

From the sounds and inaccurate pronunciation that only a baby can make, to his puffing lips.

Hong Sujeong, who had forgotten what she was doing, smiled like a fool while holding her younger brother in her arms.

Yoosera, who was peeking from the second-floor landing with narrowed eyes, clenched her jaw.

‘She’s definitely my daughter. She’s like me,’ she thought.

‘Who else would she be like?’ It was a strange realization.

She’s curt with her mother and father, but Hong Sujeong is very friendly to the household staff.

Furthermore, seeing how she treats her younger brother, she’s like an angel.

To outsiders, her behavior would never be seen as that of a teenager, but to an experienced mother, it was different.

‘Indeed, it’s definitely puberty. How can she be so cunning with puberty? Is there another fox like her?’ she thought.

‘She’s my daughter, but women are truly complex creatures,’ Yoosera thought.

She glared at the mirror on the wall like an enemy, maintaining a standoff, and then quietly stepped down the stairs, afraid of being caught by her daughter.

***

Min Yongrak called out to Jinhyuk, who was looking around like a thief in front of the phone installed at the bear gym.

“Jinhyuk-ah-. It’s training time.”

“Ah! Yes, sir!”

‘I shouldn’t make anyone wait because of me. That’s just being a nuisance,’ Jinhyuk thought.

Jinhyuk, who was wondering what to press and what to say, just pressed four numbers again today and quickly hung up.

‘Leaving a voice message is still embarrassing,’ he thought.

‘I wondered if there was a need for other means of mobile communication when there are cell phones. But it’s different for friends. It would be useful to use in case of an urgent call,’ Jinhyuk thought.

‘It would also be essential for those who are secretly-openly dating, like Choi Mikyung and Lee Seunghoon,’ he thought.

「The world is going slow for you. Read and delete.」

Hong Gijun had hinted that the pager distribution was still faster than in the past world. ‘Was it about 2 years?’ Jinhyuk wondered.

At first, he was reluctant to spread the benefits of civilization that were born from his efforts and sweat because of his hatred for humanity, but he also meant for Jinhyuk to experience a world he had never experienced before.

‘Well······, I’m grateful,’ Jinhyuk thought.

In the past, when he had no ties other than the dormitory, he used a pager for emergency contact.

Jinhyuk received many coded pages like ‘38317’ and ‘00235’, and he had no choice but to ask his school friends for their meanings in order to decode them.

At that time, he didn’t understand the guys who were coding.

‘Hehehe-. It’s fun,’ Jinhyuk thought.

Like when making prank calls, or playing the ssarbori game [a Korean game similar to tag], there’s a subtle thrill that makes your heart pound. Now, I only remember a few easy codes, which is a bit disappointing.

‘Since codes aren’t popular yet, will Jinhyuk become a pioneer of pager codes?’ he wondered.

‘Sujeong will know that it’s me who sent it, right?’ he thought.

‘She hasn’t replied at all,’ he thought.