The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 221

< Sprint (2) >

***

Perhaps, there wouldn’t be a single athlete who trains like Jinhyuk.

Not even an Olympic medalist in track and field.

That was Jo Shin-young’s thought after watching the grueling training.

“How can he run like that?”

Standing behind Min Yong-rak, Jo Shin-young, who couldn’t close his gaping mouth, shook his head.

He had come to the gym with all sorts of medical supplies, thinking he might support Jinhyuk’s solo summer training, but the guy didn’t seem to need any medical assistance.

No, any kind of support seemed meaningless.

That thought hadn’t changed even now, as the vacation was coming to an end.

Jo Shin-young hadn’t even had a chance to spray a single pain reliever.

He was doing full-speed sprints of 400 meters, then 500 meters, with only short breaks in between. Jo Shin-young, also a UDT [Underwater Demolition Team] veteran, had completed all sorts of tough training. But he couldn’t even imagine training like Jinhyuk.

“Maybe it’s because he’s young, his recovery is amazing.”

Min Yong-rak, who had become immune to the shock after watching him every day, swallowed the cola he had been sipping and said nonchalantly.

“To be this good without a physical therapist, does he have a secret?”

“Since he was young, he’s been doing strength, endurance, cardio, and recovery training all on his own. After training, Jinhyuk goes to the sauna and alternates between cold and hot baths, which helps with muscle relaxation, and also…”

Min Yong-rak flipped through his notebook for a moment.

He had a desk, but it seemed more comfortable to keep it on his belly.

“Ah, here it is. It says it helps with cardio endurance.”

“Hmm.”

If he’s been doing it since he was young, his body would move on its own and his recovery would be exceptional. There’s no weapon more powerful than something ingrained in the body. Jo Shin-young, pushing up his glasses, nodded.

“But who’s that guy? He doesn’t look like he’s from around here.”

Min Yong-rak’s gaze followed where Jo Shin-young had gestured with his chin.

There, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was sitting on a bench, doing an exercise where he lifted his folded legs.

“That guy is the head of the public health center. I think his name is Yoo Jae-woon?”

Min Yong-rak, turning his eyes back to the monitor, said indifferently.

“Public health center? That’s far from here.”

“He came to check on Chunma last time, and I guess they became friends then. He comes to exercise by bike every day.”

“Why is his leg like that?”

Yoo Jae-woon’s right calf was fitted with a removable half-cast.

“Ah, he was exercising in the public health center’s empty lot to get in shape, and then, what was it…”

Min Yong-rak frowned, unable to recall the word he wanted to use.

“Flounder? Sole?”

“Gastrocnemius?”

“Yes. That’s it. He ruptured his gastrocnemius muscle, so that’s why.”

Jo Shin-young nodded.

“If he came all the way here, it doesn’t seem too serious.”

Even with a gastrocnemius rupture, you can still ride a bike.

If you press the pedals with your entire foot instead of just your toes, the load is placed on your thighs instead of your calves.

“The public health center here is pretty laid-back. It’s a village where even the old folks fly around, and they only give flu shots in the winter. They say they treat livestock more often than people. Still, why would he exercise so recklessly that he gets hurt?”

Chewing non-stop on snacks, Min Yong-rak went on a tangent.

“These wafers are good, want some? Oh, that guy’s house is in Oksu-dong. Isn’t that where you live, Chief Medical Officer?”

Stop stuffing your face. And don’t talk with your mouth full. Jo Shin-young, with his mouth tightly shut, nodded. His face was unconsciously contorted.

“That’s some dedication. Coming all the way here to get in shape with that leg.”

“It’s much closer than downtown.”

As if saying, ‘Don’t you even know that?’, Min Yong-rak shrugged.

Ha-yu. Jo Shin-young quietly sighed.

That wasn’t what he meant.

‘Aish, you little punk.’

He wanted to smack him, but he had to hold back.

He was said to be a confidant of the group chairman, so he couldn’t just hit him because he was annoying.

The public health center doctor was so diligent.

Someone lived within spitting distance, surrounded by exercise fanatics, yet he hadn’t seen him lift a single dumbbell.

That someone still didn’t notice the snack crumbs that had fallen on his belly.

That someone…

He heard that his wedding was unilaterally postponed by his girlfriend.

Because of his belly fat.

Yet, that someone was still jiggling his belly, saying it didn’t matter since he hadn’t booked the venue yet.

He turned his gaze to Yoo Jae-woon, who was diligently exercising.

He was a much fresher figure than the tadpole who was inhaling cola and snacks without breathing, as if he was about to become a frog. The shiny gold-rimmed glasses also made him look sophisticated and intellectual.

‘My glasses frames are similar to his.’

And they were even from the same hometown.

He had never understood why people from the countryside were so happy to meet someone from their hometown in Seoul, but now that he had met someone from the same Oksu-dong in a rural area with a small population, he felt strange.

A public health center director…

Since he had a medical license, they would have a lot to talk about, and it would be easy to get various medicines if they became friends. It would be more fun than hanging out with the exercise-averse tadpole. Should he try to get closer by giving him some exercise guidance?

Jo Shin-young left the pot-bellied Min Yong-rak and went to Yoo Jae-woon.

“Hey, Doctor, straighten your back, your back. Posture is important. If you round it like that and push, you’ll hurt your back.”

“Ah, is that so?”

He settled right next to Yoo Jae-woon and started giving him guidance.

He touched here and there with his hands to correct his posture.

“If it’s hard to straighten your back, try tightening your back. Open your chest wide, and think of pushing your abs down by putting strength in your stomach. That’s it, that’s it. Breathe out as you lift your leg, too! Good job. Hold it for a moment with your leg up. Squeeze your abs. Good job. You’re better than the tadpole.”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Focus, focus. Forget about the tadpole. Now, empty your lungs while squeezing. Squeeze your lungs and muscles together, okay?”

“Yes, yes.”

“When you lower it, tap the floor with your toes and come right back up. Your calf is also sore, so don’t keep it down for too long. It’s good to lift your foot completely, but you might hurt your back if you do it wrong, so let’s go slowly.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Good, good, you’re doing great. Phew, empty it out. Just one more! Good, you’re almost there. Just one more!”

Just one more, just one more. More, more, more.

He had planned to do other exercises.

Unable to even speak, Yoo Jae-woon, who was focused on his abdominal training, couldn’t straighten his back on his bike ride back to the public health center.

Creak-.

The rusty pedals cried out mournfully, as if representing Yoo Jae-woon’s feelings.

“Hey, buddy! Come again tomorrow!”

Creak-.

His abs hurt more than his ruptured calf.

“I’ll come get you if you don’t!”

Creak-.

Even if he made up an excuse about going to church tomorrow, it wouldn’t work.

Ughhh-.

He couldn’t even speak anyway.

‘I have to run.’

Creak-.

He repeated his bike’s nickname with a desperate heart.

Run, Thunder Storm.

Creak-.

***

The next day, the day after that, and the day after that.

Jinhyuk repaired Yoo Jae-woon’s bike and removed the rust by applying anti-rust oil to the rough frame.

‘Is this model the ancestor of rice bikes [a term for old, basic bicycles]?’

It was a bike gifted by a resident near the public health center, but it was in such a state that even a junk dealer would cry and throw back the candy if you gave it to him.

After removing the rust, he applied a thin layer of oil-based paint. It was like an anti-oxidation film.

Once the black oil-based paint dried, he added the name ‘Thunder Storm’ in white.

‘It’s amazing that the pedals still turn.’

Then, he generously applied lubricant to the moving parts.

He even had a reasonable suspicion that Yoo Jae-woon’s gastrocnemius rupture might have been caused by riding the stiff bike too hard, rather than from exercising.

If that was the case, he was a very easygoing person.

“Is the salary for a public health center doctor very low?”

“It’s low, but enough to buy a bike.”

Yoo Jae-woon, who seemed to understand the intention of the question, answered quite smartly and added awkwardly.

“It was a gift. I have to cherish it.”

He’s a really nice person. Jinhyuk nodded silently.

He had felt it when he treated Chunma, but he was a man who approached everything with sincerity.

But how could someone who cherishes his bike not know how to take care of it?

He didn’t want to say anything unpleasant to someone with such a kind heart, so Jinhyuk held back the urge to scold him.

“How’s your leg?”

“It’s all better. When you’re young, you recover quickly.”

Is it really because he’s young?

It was probably thanks to Yujin touching him when he briefly fainted during his personal training with Jo Shin-young yesterday.

Yoo Jae-woon, who had woken up from his faint, had removed his half-cast and sprinted on the track.

With a somewhat possessed look in his eyes.

He even let out occasional screams.

***

He spent his days without intentionally refilling the power he had emptied once.

It didn’t make sense for someone who wanted to become human to carry an alien power within him.

Even without that energy, his strength didn’t decrease, nor did his concentration decline.

“Stand it up straight, you rascal!”

“Yes, yes!”

After supplementary classes, he would rush to Grandpa Cheon Gil-ryong’s house to help with setting up the bamboo. Or rather, he set them all up by himself.

Anyway, since he had caused an accident, it was only right to take responsibility.

“Hah, hah. Oh, it’s hard.”

“Ah, you’re strong, why are you slacking off? Why are you panting?”

A smile crept up his face as he thought of his reply.

‘It’s because I’m human now.’

Jinhyuk, who only answered in his mind, was afraid of the bamboo pipe that Cheon Gil-ryong was swinging like a sword, so he put all his effort into pushing the bamboo.

From the start, his body had exceptional strength, and he hadn’t used his energy for physical labor even before. It was because he didn’t know how to use it, but anyway. It meant that it didn’t affect his daily life at all.

If he slowly applied force so that it wouldn’t break, the fallen bamboo would stand upright towards the sky.

‘This is good exercise.’

The elasticity of the bamboo, with its roots fixed, was amazing. It wasn’t just blindly strong, nor did it give way weakly. If you pushed it steadily, your biceps were stimulated along your forearms, and your triceps, which were struggling to hold on, were squeezed like a rag.

Maintaining a straight line from his arms to his waist, he evenly distributed the stimulation to his deltoids and trapezius muscles. The erector spinae muscles showed their strength against the physical force that traveled down his scapula. When the force finally reached the quadratus lumborum on either side of his waist, he let the bamboo’s recoil flow along his gluteus maximus to his quadriceps to avoid overloading them.

Focusing on the tension of his hamstrings to prevent cramps in his thighs, he stretched his gastrocnemius muscles wide, and finally, he stretched his plantar muscles wide to relax them. Then, the bamboo’s resistance, pushing against the ground, traveled back up Jinhyuk’s body.

‘I always have to keep my core engaged.’

It was something he always emphasized to his juniors.

With his chest open, he squeezed his abs, and his ripped rectus abdominis and obliques screamed as they supported his upper body.

It was a perfect full-body workout.

Jinhyuk, who had completely set up one bamboo, awkwardly smiled, sweating profusely.

“Hehe. They’re phototropic plants, so if you leave them alone, they’ll stand up on their own if it rains a bit…”

“If they were just ordinary grass, they would stand up on their own, but these are no ordinary grass.”

“Ah, yes…”

If they’re not ordinary grass, are they extra-large grass? They just look like ordinary bamboo, but he’s being awfully fussy. Still, he had done wrong, so he kept his mouth shut. He also felt that if the old man said so, then it must be so.

Squeak, squeak.

He was strong enough to lift a wild boar, but seeing how hard it was to push the bamboo, it seemed like they weren’t ordinary grass.

Tsk, tsk.

Cheon Gil-ryong clicked his tongue, looking at the bamboo that was tilted as if its roots were about to be pulled out.

‘What a strange thing.’

Cheon Gil-ryong, who had visited the bamboo forest as soon as he returned from Seoul, had heard the whole story from the tearful grim reaper, Chang-rim, and had burst into hearty laughter. He clapped his hands, saying, ‘You guys have finally met your match.’

‘The harmony of yin and yang can harbor evil spirits, and also drive them away.’

Just like the principle of shade and sunlight.

He said that some weak evil spirits couldn’t withstand it and were swept away, and that even Chang-rim, who had been crossing between this world and the underworld for over a thousand years, couldn’t hold onto the swept-away spirits because he was having trouble taking care of himself. He sighed.

When he asked what that young punk had done, Chang-rim replied that he didn’t know either. It was a phenomenon that even he, who had crossed between this world and the underworld for over a thousand years, had witnessed for the first time.

Even Cheon Gil-ryong could only vaguely guess.

‘He has the Honghwang universe in his body, so that’s the energy of yin and yang. It’s not sorcery.’

He slowly took a step and exhaled the smoke from his pipe.

He kept repeating it while walking around the bamboo forest.

It was a ritual to see off the departed spirits, even if it was belated.

‘It would have been nice if they had left in style, even if they had to go…’

Ascending to heaven wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for them. It was a world full of evil spirits who couldn’t ascend even if they wanted to. But the end of those who had clung to this world was both pitiful and comical.

Swept away by a whirlwind of a storm that reached the sky, whoosh-.

‘It can’t be helped. That’s their fate, and that’s where our relationship ended.’

He couldn’t punish that tall, clueless kid. After all, he had no choice but to value the living more than the ghosts who were already dead.

*

For a few days.

Residents in the neighborhood who had witnessed the dragon-like phenomenon occasionally asked about Cheon Gil-ryong’s well-being, but they were just asking about the old man’s well-being. It was a place where strange things often happened, such as thunder and lightning during the day, so the residents didn’t pay much attention to the bamboo forest.

“Such things are what always happen when yin and yang meet. You’ve all seen your children, so you know the truth, don’t you?”

He could say that you all had sparks flying when you just looked at each other in your prime. Jinhyuk expressed his inner admiration at the words he heard, even though they weren’t intended for him.

The residents, having confirmed that Cheon Gil-ryong was safe, readily retreated.

It was also largely due to the fact that they had been brainwashed by Cheon Gil-ryong’s explanation that strange incidents were frequent in the area because it was a muddy place where the yin energy of the protruding cape and the recessed tidal flat met.

“Hehe. It’s almost time for school to start.”

“You have to finish what you were doing, you rascal.”

“Yes, I was thinking the same thing.”

Hehe.