The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 233

‘Ah, Sung-chan is shining the flashlight.’

No wonder I can see so well.

Then I can’t hate him.

Even though he’s just standing there shining the light, when working in the dark, the role of shining a light is as important as any other task.

Yuk Sung-chan continued talking as he watched Jinhyuk divide the catch into his own icebox.

“Is the weight of a rock just a pound or two? If you keep lifting them, your legs will get stuck in the mud, and if your legs get stuck, you can’t use your strength. And if you drop it, your legs will be crushed. And then you’ll get buried. Who’s going to hear you if you shout in the middle of this sea?”

Even to Jinhyuk, it sounded like a plausible reconstruction of the incident.

Perhaps Kim Chun-oh had left the world at such a young age, holding onto his unfulfilled dreams with resentment. A moment’s choice had ended his life, so who could he blame?

Tsk-. The unfortunate situation made him involuntarily smack his lips.

If it happened on the mudflat, Jinhyuk was the one who would empathize the most.

“That’s too bad.”

“According to my dad, he was incredibly strong since he was little. That, what was it, the cow that Chun-shik’s uncle raised, the second uncle won it at the Beomsan Town wrestling competition on Dano Day [a traditional Korean holiday].”

It must have been Beomsan County back then. Yuk Sung-chan muttered as if exhaling, then took a moment to catch his breath.

“Even now, but back then, how expensive was a cow? If you look at that house, they’ve raised a lot of cows now, right? Eun-jung, she’s living like a princess thanks to her dad and uncles raising cows.”

To honor their brother who had passed away, the remaining Kim Chun-shik brothers started raising the cow that Kim Chun-oh had left behind. Usually, in the countryside, they would use cows to plow the fields and then sell them when the cows got old or when they needed money, but no matter how hungry or tired they were, they decided they could not sell or use the gift that Kim Chun-oh had left behind for farming.

‘I heard Dad helped them.’

Son Kwang-yeon didn’t show it, but sometimes when Kim Chun-shik had a few drinks, he would hold Jinhyuk’s hand and thank him.

The message that Son Kwang-yeon emphasized to Kim Chun-shik was simple. The price of cows fluctuates with the years, so he should secure a lot of calves when they are cheap and sell them directly at the livestock market when they are expensive. The price of feed is also affected by the market, so he advised him to stockpile it in large quantities when it was cheap. Furthermore, Son Kwang-yeon advised him to research and grow feed crops himself, which led Kim Chun-shik to grow corn and beans and ask his neighbors to buy corn stalks and bean stems at a low price.

To an outsider, it was an easy and obvious principle, but the reality is that it is difficult for a frog in a well with a narrow view of the world to take action. Jinhyuk, who had invested in stocks by looking at the market rather than the specific stock, agreed with his father’s obvious logic, but he thought that the eloquence that persuaded Kim Chun-shik to take action was more impressive than the logic itself.

‘Changing someone’s mind is harder than rolling a rock.’

In the end, everything was Kim Chun-shik’s choice, and accepting the results was also Kim Chun-shik’s, so the Kim Chun-shik brothers were truly brave people. They raised cows and sent their young sister to college in Seoul. She met someone in Seoul and her religious views became strange, so now her brothers sigh about it.

“Jinhyuk, there are snails over there too.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Yuk Sung-chan’s wildly shaking light broke Jinhyuk’s reverie.

“To win a cow in wrestling, that uncle was amazing at a young age.”

“Our town, back in the day, people farmed on dry land and lived off it, so everyone was strong. These bastards poured sand mixed with rocks to reclaim the land and told us to use it as farmland, but how could we farm there? The rocks and stones, our grandfathers and fathers all carried them away to make fields. They also poured water from the reservoir with buckets every day. To get rid of the sea smell.”

It was a land they had cultivated with their bare hands.

The fact that the land, which was more desolate than a desert due to the salt, had turned green was entirely due to the efforts of the residents. Knowing this, Son Kwang-yeon did not use the land he had bought at a low price for profit.

If outsiders who came with bundles of money to develop the land because of its beautiful scenery were to dig it up, how much pain would the residents feel in their hearts? He was acting as a watchman to prevent outsiders from coming in to develop it. He was receiving tax benefits for farmers, but he was also paying a considerable amount of property tax.

The reason why the height of the Se-in Training Center was limited and why it was arranged to blend in with the surrounding scenery, and why the use of eco-friendly construction materials was enforced, was for the sake of the locals.

“That, what was it, during the Korean War, dozens of guys with armbands came to our town from Jae-dong Village to catch young men, but they got beaten up and their heads cracked open, and there were more than a few who ran away. The older folks were in danger, so they were evacuated to the mountains, and then-?”

It was strange that a snippet of the story he had heard on the day Choi Mi-kyung’s grandmother passed away came out of Yuk Sung-chan’s mouth. This is how stories flow like water through time and are passed down to future generations. In the future, Yuk Sung-chan’s children would grow up listening to old stories from their father and develop an attachment to the neighborhood.

“It could also be that the weaklings couldn’t survive in our town and all died or left for the city, so only the strong people remained.”

Looking at it, that was true.

None of the adults in Jinhyuk’s neighborhood had a frail physique, and no one was weak.

There were even families where the women were strong.

The first time he saw the mill owner’s wife, who had come from another region, in elementary school, she was a very beautiful woman in Jinhyuk’s eyes. She was a slender beauty who had come from a beauty pageant, but after getting married and working at the mill, her neck became thicker and her shoulders became broader.

Just the other day, he went to the mill to grind rice because he was out of it, and she was driving a forklift by herself. Well, her situation was different from the locals, and she became strong later in life, so it was a different case, but she was a person who fit in well with the neighborhood.

“Anyway, Chun-shik’s uncle’s brother must have relied on that strength and acted recklessly and died. But he wasn’t as strong as Jinhyuk, so he couldn’t handle it.”

Huh-, Hoo-oop-.

Even though Jinhyuk was the one who had used his strength, Yuk Sung-chan sighed and took a deep breath again.

He was talking about someone else’s business, but it must have been because his own heart was heavy.

“Hey? Jinhyuk, why aren’t you catching that one?”

“Where?”

“There, there, there-”

Yuk Sung-chan shook the light erratically.

“Th-, th-, can’t you see it?”

In the place where Yuk Sung-chan was shining the flashlight, a large box crab was flipped over and struggling.

Looking closely, it seemed that its claws were caught under the rock that had flipped over. If it were any other crab, it would have cut off its claws and run away, but it wasn’t easy for a box crab to do that.

“A hard shell is a burden at times like this.”

“Yeah. It seems that being tough isn’t always a good thing.”

The box crab’s shell was so thick and hard that it was not easy to break. The joints were tough, making it difficult to cut off its legs as well. Thanks to its toughness, it could dig under heavy rocks and swim through strong currents.

When Jinhyuk handed over the box crab that had been trapped under the rock, Yuk Sung-chan gladly accepted it and shined the light on it.

“Wow-, look at the pale flesh inside this guy. It’s like Hae-won’s wrist.”

Hey, you rascal.

Kekekek-.

Yuk Sung-chan bit his lip and laughed, as if he was dumbfounded by the dangerous level of his own joke.

“Ah, I shouldn’t be saying things like this. I’m just like this because I’m having fun with Jinhyuk. Who else but me would be doing haenyeo [female diver] with a friend who’s on TV?”

Still, it was a relief that he wasn’t a guy with twisted gender sensitivity. He admitted his mistake right away.

Because he had that kind of personality, he must have treated Lee Hae-won like a princess and made his ex-girlfriend come back.

“Shall we taste it?”

Yuk Sung-chan removed the shell of the crushed claw and sucked the exposed crab meat.

Chop chop-.

“Kuhh- this is the taste. It’s sweet, sweet. Yee-.”

Jinhyuk stared blankly at the box crab with its crushed claws.

‘A hard shell, huh…’

Both the Jinhyuk of his past life and the Jinhyuk of his current life were like box crabs.

In the past, a shell of the heart, and in this life, a mysterious power, was covering him like armor.

He couldn’t do anything about the past, but this time he had taken off his armor and become a human from a box crab.

‘Now, do I just need to train my inner self?’

Even though he had gone through a stage of weakening, he had no intention of being complacent with the fact that he had become a complete human. Eventually, he would climb the stairs of strengthening again and become a professional athlete with superhuman strength.

“Jinhyuk, it’s heavy, let’s go now. The tide is coming in too.”

Yuk Sung-chan moved a few large conches into Jinhyuk’s icebox. He paused for a moment, pondered, and then took out two octopuses as well.

“I have to give some to our Yujin too. If Yujin didn’t like octopus, would I be alive right now?”

He was referring to the high explosive incident.

Indeed, if you were a normal person, you would never forget the memory of that day when the earth shook.

Yuk Sung-chan, who was grinning, walked ahead.

He seemed encouraged by the fact that he could walk faster than Jinhyuk on the mudflat.

“Sung-chan, always be careful on your motorcycle.”

“Ah, what are you talking about? I’m the best crazy driver.”

“……”

Study a little too…

Not that he should do well, but at least he should be aware enough to keep a conversation going.

Because he was a dear friend with whom he shared childhood memories.

“Hah-! The wind is warm. This wind seems like it’s going to be really cold in March?”

That’s right, it seems like it will be very cold in March.

***

He gave the dead box crab as a gift to Janggun, who liked to eat things raw.

He also held it out to the other dogs who were working hard to protect the house and family, but the dog friends, including Hongsi, just sniffed and didn’t show much interest.

Even though it was late at night, all the lights in the house were brightly lit.

“I’m home.”

For some reason, his parents and siblings were all awake.

“Oppa-. What did you catch?”

“Eung-ah-. Baby, baby, daddy, baboo- eh-he-kk-yo?”

Jung-won, who had caused a nuisance by running around the hospital, didn’t seem tired and rushed to the entrance when her brother came in.

“Do you want to see it yourself?”

When her brother opened the icebox lid, Yujin stepped aside so that Jung-won could also see the contents.

“Ooh! There’s a lot of stuff-. Oh yeah! Octopus!”

“Kkaaa-!”

Yujin cheered, and Jung-won clapped her hands, whether she knew what was going on or not.

It was a relief that she didn’t seem to be shocked even after experiencing a shocking event during the day. Seeing her youngest sister smiling brightly, Jinhyuk once again breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, all that was left was for his mother to be okay.

“Yujin, where did Mom and Dad go?”

“Third floor. Study.”

“At this hour?”

“They said they were looking for something.”

What were they looking for that they had left the children in the living room and gone to the study at this hour?

“It will hurt if it bites you, so don’t touch it. Yujin, take good care of Jung-won.”

“Yeees-, ehehe-.”

“Eung-ah eung-ah. Did it hurt? Daddy baboo-!”

“Ahaha-, okay. I’ll go to the study for a bit.”

After patting Jung-won’s cheek, who was babbling as if her vocabulary had increased, he headed to the third floor.

As he climbed the stairs two at a time, his knees, which had suffered from the mudflat, ached.

He used to live without knowing pain, but the human body sends appropriate pain signals at appropriate times even in everyday life. Perhaps that’s why it’s easy to manage. If you receive the signal and go to the hospital, you somehow live again. That’s probably how the saying ‘live a long and frail life’ came about.

‘Oppa, did you find it?’

‘No. Everything else is here, but Paradise is missing.’

After hearing his parents’ conversation at the entrance of the study, Jinhyuk quietly took a step back.

‘I don’t have to worry about Mom’s mental state.’

Since he had put it where his hand could reach, not where it originally was, it wouldn’t be visible to his father. He wanted to tell them where it was and save them the trouble of looking for it, but no. If he told them where the videotape was, his parents would be disappointed.

‘I’ve only watched it five times.’

〈Paradise〉 starring Phoebe Cates.

It was a great movie with a wonderful setting and story.

There were no other impressions, even if there were. Anyway, he didn’t know.

In a situation where videos were being distributed on CDs, he had no attachment to videotapes.

He scratched his head and headed to the kitchen, leaving his parents, who were diligently searching the study, behind.

“Yujin, wait a little bit.”

“Yes! I’ll be playing car games with Jung-won. Oppa! Let’s play hide-and-seek again tomorrow.”

“Eung-ah- baboo-.”

“Okay.”

He would have to be the seeker again, but he would do the Ganggangsullae dance [a traditional Korean circle dance] if it was for Yujin, who giggled and enjoyed seeing her brother searching for her.

He filled a pot with water, turned on the gas stove, and picked up a toothbrush.

It was to remove impurities from the shells of the conches and box crabs with a toothbrush.

Chwa chwa chwak-!

Kkaduk-. He was bitten by the struggling box crab.

“Ouch-. This guy bit me.”

“Hoo-uh! Oppa, are you okay? Were you very surprised?”

It sounded like a line he had heard somewhere.

When her brother’s answer was delayed because he was frowning, Yujin even started shaking his leg.

“Huh? Does it hurt a lot?”

“Eung-ah- a-ko, it hurt?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Oh, his finger hurt, but he was more worried because of his siblings.

Still, he had to finish what he was doing.

Chwa chwa chwak!

He scrubbed so fiercely that the shells of the box crabs and conches turned into gold medals with the plating peeled off.

Now, he put the conches and box crabs in the pot, and also put in the octopuses that he had rinsed after rubbing them with salt like laundry. If he left the lid slightly open to let the steam escape, the non-seasoned seafood stew was complete.

“Don’t you put in salt?”

“Eung-ah, not yet?”

“They just came from the sea, so the water will get salty as they cook. But if it’s still bland, you can add it later.”

His siblings, who were supposed to be playing with cars, were following Jinhyuk around and bothering him.

Still, this was the fun of living with young siblings.

“Okay-, Yujin first-”

He cut off the most appetizing of the red-cooked octopus legs and handed it to Yujin.

Yujin didn’t like it when it was cut short. That’s because she was a Tyranno Yujinus who enjoyed holding and tearing it apart whole. Fortunately, she had evolved since she was a baby, so she didn’t carry a whole one around. When she was little, she used to run around with an octopus like a kite.

Tang tang tang-.

He put the finely chopped octopus legs on a plate for Jung-won.

Even though she could tear it apart and eat it on her own even if he gave her a big piece, it was to be careful because of what happened during the day.

“Umm-! It’s delicious!”

“Eung-ah-, yum-yum-, yummy-.”

Jung-won sat down on the kitchen floor and bounced her butt.

Seeing his siblings tearing apart the lightly boiled octopus, a happy smile naturally bloomed on his face.

‘Hoo-, I’m tired.’

His stamina gauge was flashing red after being battered by the sea breeze and mudflat.

His face, which was covered in salt, also stung.

‘Still, I’m proud.’

Because it was a life he had chosen himself.

Hehe.

By the way, when am I going to work out?