The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 234

Spring break is short, but it’s sweeter than summer or winter break.

“Why do you like spring break, Oppa?” Yoo-jin asked.

“Hah, hah-. No supplementary classes,” Jin-hyuk replied, panting slightly.

How big of a blessing is it to have an indoor gym available anytime?

A gift from Yoo Myung-sun that made Son Jin-hyuk the track and field athlete he is today.

Jin-hyuk was using that gift to forge a masterpiece.

Hah, hah-. Sweat poured down his arms from the grueling training that made his throat burn.

“Oppa, Dad said you don’t have to take supplementary classes, right?” Yoo-jin asked again.

“Mom told me to,” Jin-hyuk sighed.

With a pitiful look, Yoo-jin nodded her head with her eyes closed. Because in Son Yoo-jin’s house, if Mom says to do it, even Dad has to do it.

‘One one, two two, three three, four four-, … one hundred ten, one hundred eleven-.’ Jin-hyuk counted in his head.

Huff, huff-.

Yoo-jin squatted next to Jin-hyuk, who was exercising, in a ‘pooping position’ [a squatting position with knees bent and feet flat on the ground], and rested her chin on her hands. Her face was flushed like an apple.

Next to her, Jung-won was mimicking her sister’s pose.

“Oppa, what is that exercise?” Yoo-jin asked, curious.

“Unga, what are you doing? Daddy is a baboo?” Jung-won babbled, her vocabulary growing day by day. Her language skills, which had been slow to develop compared to her peers, had now surpassed them.

It would be annoying to have the little ones sticking to him like magnets when he was home, but Jin-hyuk answered sincerely every time his siblings asked.

“You could call it a mountain climbing pose?” he explained.

The junior members of the middle school track team called this pose ‘lying down leg raises’. It’s an exercise where you lie face down with your hands on the floor and alternately pull your legs towards your chest.

“I’m going to do it too,” Yoo-jin declared.

“Nuna baboo- ugh-!” Jung-won tried to follow her sister, but flopped onto the floor like a frog.

“Kyahaha-,” Jung-won giggled.

Even that was fun for the baby, who laughed and lifted her arms and legs off the floor as if skydiving. But her face quickly rubbed against the floor because of the weight of her head.

“Hah, hah-. My shoulders and arms hurt,” Yoo-jin complained.

“Huff, huff-. You have to distribute your weight to your feet too,” Jin-hyuk advised.

“Hah, hah-. Then what will get better?” she asked.

“Your legs will become sleek, your whole body will feel lighter, your butt will get more volume, and also-” He barely finished 200 reps and sat on the floor to let the blood that had rushed to his face drain. He wasn’t just resting, but sitting with the soles of his feet together and lowering his knees. Stretching the inside of his thighs like that also helps with hip joint flexibility.

When Jin-hyuk took the pose, Yoo-jin and Jung-won clumsily followed.

“Yoo-jin is doing well too,” Jin-hyuk praised.

“Hehe, am I good?” Yoo-jin beamed.

“Unga-ah-,” Jung-won echoed.

The children were flexible, so they could easily follow the pose.

Climbing Gubong Mountain would contribute more to improving his stamina, but during spring break, he chose to spend time with his siblings.

‘Jang-gun has a lot of friends, so he’ll understand if I take a few days off,’ Jin-hyuk thought.

On the weekends, I should try training by climbing the mountain on all fours.

***

It had only been a week of training, but Jin-hyuk could see the results of his exercise. It was entirely possible because of his young body.

‘Ooh-yah,’ he thought, admiring his reflection.

His calves had become thinner and boasted a smooth line, which made his legs look longer. His deltoids, biceps, and triceps looked like they were about to burst, but they also looked smooth like porcelain. A noticeable change from his previous bulky physique.

Kim Sang-ho, who had entered the shower room, opened his eyes wide like a rabbit.

“Oh-, Jin-hyuk, you look more like a track and field athlete now? Or maybe a basketball player…” he exclaimed.

“What did I look like before?” Jin-hyuk asked, curious.

“Before, you were kind of…” Kim Sang-ho pondered with his chin in his hand. He couldn’t think of a suitable expression.

“It was like you weren’t from this world,” he finally said.

‘So that’s how it was. Everyone sees things similarly,’ Jin-hyuk thought.

Even Jang Jin-nam, who was famous for his muscular build, had a disgusted look on his face when he saw Jin-hyuk’s naked body.

Jin-hyuk nodded and smiled awkwardly. He had already experienced the change in power when running. The feeling that the power that went down to the soles of his feet with his weight was not scattered on the ground, but rose vertically and pushed him up instead. It was a thrill that only those who had sprinted with a light body could know.

He couldn’t get precise measurements because Min Yong-rak wasn’t there, but Jin-hyuk felt that he had grown a step.

‘If I run now, I think I could get around 10 seconds flat?’ he mused.

It seemed like he could achieve a time close to the Asian U-20 record. That’s what his confidence was telling him.

The work of pulling his feet out of the muddy tidal flats also had an unexpected training effect. The act of lifting his legs vertically from his knees to his feet and tightening his abs taught him how to exercise and how to relax and shape his calves.

After climbing the mountain on all fours every weekend, he planned to go to the sea and do thigh raises in the tidal flats. Because training in the tidal flats would be much more intense than just lifting.

‘The problem is my thighs,’ he thought.

When he did squats using weights, he had a bad habit of getting greedy and gradually increasing the weight, which acted as a stumbling block. Increasing the weight would strengthen him, but it had the opposite effect on the running style that Jin-hyuk was pursuing. It would cause him to push off the ground with his entire foot, which would lower his quadriceps and thicken his soleus muscles. Moreover, since he was so strong, the exercise effect was minimal even if he increased the weight.

So, he came to the conclusion that it would be better to improve his cardiovascular endurance and make his body sleek with bodyweight exercises.

‘What would be good for remodeling my thighs?’ he wondered.

He finished his shower and moved to the pool while continuing to think. The end of his workout was swimming. It was also important to spend time with his siblings, who only looked at him. Well, his parents were doing fine on their own.

“Okay, let’s start with Jung-won’s water massage-,” he said cheerfully.

“Cold-, water massage, good-,” Jung-won babbled, anticipating the fun.

He sat on the edge of the pool, dipped his legs in, and slowly poured water on his younger sibling’s body with his hands. Jung-won had also warmed up from running around everywhere, but the water was cold.

“Kyaa-!” Jung-won squealed.

“Hehe-. Stay still-,” Jin-hyuk chuckled.

The baby kicked her feet when the cold water was poured on her body, but she couldn’t escape because her brother was holding her waist. He gradually applied water, starting from the parts of his sibling’s body that were farthest from her heart.

“Nyan-nyan-nyan-,” Jung-won cooed.

Then, he noticed Yoo-jin, who was sitting like her brother and splashing water. Thanks to learning proper kicking from Kim Sang-ho, who used to be a swimming instructor, Yoo-jin’s swimming kicks showed a smooth, rhythmic movement. She relaxed her knees and kicked up and down using only her thighs, and her ankles fluttered, pushing the water.

‘I just use my strength because my swimming is unrefined,’ Jin-hyuk thought, observing her technique.

Yoo-jin, who had received early education, used her muscles and joints appropriately.

‘That movement only uses the thighs, right?’ he realized.

The kick of the swimming style called crawl. Jin-hyuk’s style was to forcefully lower his ankles and lift his legs above the water, while Yoo-jin moved her thighs and swung her legs like a whip, pushing the water with the tops of her feet. She didn’t put any force on the lower part of her knees. She was able to float and move forward at the same time.

“Yoo-jin, can you do a round trip with freestyle?” Jin-hyuk asked.

“Yes! I can do it twice. Kim Ho-jin and Lee Dong-ho get tired and grab that floating thing in the middle, but I do it twice without resting-,” Yoo-jin said proudly, pointing to the pool lane buoys.

“Can you show it to Oppa?” Jin-hyuk asked.

“Of course I can-,” she replied confidently.

Splash-.

Yoo-jin, wearing goggles, smoothly entered the pool feet first from her sitting position. Glub, glub, glub-.

She took a starting position while submerged. She straightened her arms and clasped her hands together, and her upper arms were placed behind her ears. At the same time, she bent her knees and placed the soles of her feet against the wall of the pool.

And then she started. Whoosh-.

‘Oh-, her dolphin kick is amazing too,’ Jin-hyuk thought, impressed.

She used her waist and joints to do a submerged swim like a wave while maintaining her starting position. She was flexible and powerful like a dolphin.

Whoosh-!

The baby dolphin finally came to the surface and started swimming.

‘Beautiful,’ Jin-hyuk thought.

“Kyaa-! Nuna is amazing-!” Jung-won, who was clapping her hands, seemed to think so too.

‘Right, if I don’t use the muscles below my knees, I can shape my thighs as I want,’ Jin-hyuk realized.

Maybe I can find the secret to remodeling my thighs in an unexpected place.

***

It was the first day of the second year, and I sat across from my dad at the table. Mom always ate with Yoo-jin and Jung-won, so it had been over two years since I had breakfast alone with my dad.

He was a person who did foolish things, but Jin-hyuk’s dad was a diligent person.

“Ugh-ah-ah-am-,” Son Kwang-yeon yawned widely.

Even while yawning widely, Son Kwang-yeon, who had already washed up and finished getting ready for work, waited for his son, who had gone to the mountain, to come down after getting ready for school. He couldn’t stand seeing his eldest son eating breakfast alone.

Thanks to Jin-hyuk, Son Kwang-yeon’s day had also become longer.

“You want to eat bracken and mung bean sprouts, right?” he asked.

“Hehe, yes-,” Jin-hyuk replied with a smile.

The father and son, who were talking as if for someone to hear, started eating, and then Han Yoo-young poured a cup of warm tea and sat next to her son.

“Mom, I will eat well,” Jin-hyuk said.

Under the light that only illuminated the table, the sight of the steaming dried pollack soup filled with tofu, eggs, bean sprouts, and green onions always warmed his heart.

Kimchi made from cabbage grown directly in the garden, seasoned bean sprouts made from bean sprouts grown in a homemade bean sprout grower, fried duck eggs from the ducks, stir-fried mushrooms and seasoned vegetables made from forest products gifted by neighbors, and braised cod sent by Kim Eung-nyeo filled the breakfast table.

There were no more than four or five side dishes, but for Jin-hyuk, there was no more abundant table than this.

“Didn’t we get some dried seaweed from Ho-jin’s house last time?” Han Yoo-young asked.

“Ah-, look at my mind,” Son Kwang-yeon said, realizing he had forgotten.

Han Yoo-young quickly went and took the seaweed from the top of the refrigerator while standing on tiptoes. Then, she cut it with scissors and put it on the table with soy sauce.

“They say the price of dried seaweed is good these days, should we go scrape some?” Son Kwang-yeon joked.

Pfft-!

Han Yoo-young, who was drinking warm cassia seed tea, put on a powerful whale show [a humorous way of saying she spat out her drink].

Why would she go through all that trouble to earn a few bucks? Especially someone who doesn’t have enough hours in the day because she’s running a business.

Jin-hyuk brushed his surprised heart. ‘Thank goodness,’ he thought.

Because Mom was sitting next to me, the spray went towards Dad.

“Oh my-, what should I do,” Han Yoo-young said, feigning concern.

“Hahaha-, I shouldn’t have said that,” Son Kwang-yeon chuckled.

Fortunately, there were no solids. Son Kwang-yeon, who was joking, wiped his face with a towel.

“Whenever I see dried seaweed, I think of the time when we first settled in this neighborhood, so I just said it,” he explained.

Back in the old days, in winter, Son Kwang-yeon went to scrape dried seaweed with Choi Jang-hwan on a crude boat made of sheet metal. It was a good way to earn some income during the winter when there was no work.

“You went through a lot back then,” Han Yoo-young said softly.

“Oh my, what do you mean by going through a lot,” Son Kwang-yeon replied, downplaying the hardship.

They didn’t have proper winter clothes or gloves to use for work. It was a pathetic story that those who lived in warm houses in a bustling world would never imagine or sympathize with, but it was a precious memory for Son Kwang-yeon.

Thanks to that hardship, he was able to feed and clothe Han Yoo-young and his baby during the winter when food was scarce. And that baby was already a second-year high school student.

His height had already surpassed his dad’s in middle school, and now he was similar to Choi Tae-yang. Not only that, but he was also good at studying and sports, and he was the Korean record holder for the 100m and 200m track and field events. He even had the character to donate all the prize money he received from the federation and sponsors. It was a decision made after consulting with his family, but still, that large sum of money at once- ah, that’s not it.

“I also gained the courage to start a business thanks to our son,” Han Yoo-young said.

“Really?” Jin-hyuk asked, surprised.

“Actually, I had thought about making a lot of money before. But I realized that I shouldn’t sell the land,” she explained.

Jin-hyuk nodded. He knew his dad’s anxiety that the land might be dug up and handed over to someone else the moment it was sold.

“You made money from farming without selling the land,” Jin-hyuk said.

“Yah-, that wasn’t nearly enough,” Son Kwang-yeon waved his arms as if he was talking nonsense.

Then, he used his unique humor to start a monologue. “Looking at you and Yoo-jin eating, I thought that if you grew up a little more, there wouldn’t be anything left even if I farmed-. Yah- this is, you’re my kids, but I think you eat too much, ah- I was just in the dark. If you grow up like this, I thought I might have to take out a loan to feed you-”

Pffft-! Pfft-!

Han Yoo-young’s second whale show was more powerful than before. The bean sprout head that Jin-hyuk shot also joined in.

*

“Are you going to be class president again this year?” Son Kwang-yeon, who had already changed his clothes, looked at his son with a grin.

“It would be weird if I didn’t now,” Jin-hyuk replied, smiling.

“Well, who would object to Son Jin-hyuk being class president? Unless Jang-gun objects-, oh oh! Don’t spit!” Son Kwang-yeon teased.

This was the dad who started every morning with a joke. He didn’t brag about his knowledge while flipping through the newspaper, nor did he talk about how the country was or how the world was. He said that solemn expressions were for those who were soft on the inside or had something to hide, so he deliberately made a mischievous face.

– “How long do people live? If you don’t like someone or don’t get along with them, you don’t have to see them. It’s best for us to live together with a smile, right? What makes people happy and brings them closer is laughter.”

That’s why he pretended to be a fool, with the hope that his family would laugh a lot and cherish each other.

That’s why I respect my dad even more, Jin-hyuk thought. He was a person who acted like a transcendent being even though the weight of being a head of the family and the responsibility of being a business owner must have been enormous.

“I’m off to school!” Jin-hyuk said.

It was still dark, and I left the house through the early March air that felt like a winter wind.