The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 243

Chirp chirp- tweet tweet-.

It was as if I had returned to kindergarten days that I couldn’t even remember now.

Because of the ceaseless chatter of Choi Mikyung, the nightingale, and Kim Eunjeong, the alien, beside me.

Choi Mikyung, the nightingale, nudged Jinhyuk’s side with her wing-like elbow.

“That friend, Seulchan, is the one with the strong dialect, right?”

“Yeah. Mikyung, you’ve seen him a few times too.”

If you were to just consider the accent, Jo Seulchan’s dialect would be even stronger than Yuk Seongchan’s.

It must be because he’s lived with his grandmother for so long.

“Jinhyuk, it’s a hospital visit, shouldn’t we buy something to take? When aliens visit someone in the hospital, they gift drinks made from the Milky Way, and if you drink that-”

Okay, that’s enough.

“There’s a store in the medical center.”

There was a medium-sized mart in the Sein Medical Center, so they had everything.

I chose two boxes of drinks and a fruit basket. I also paid for the Saekongdalkong [a type of sweet snack] and A-grade crackers that Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong had put on the counter while pretending to look away, the things they wanted to eat.

Jinhyuk, who was walking ahead with the gifts, stopped in front of the VIP ward.

“Huh?”

“Jinhyuk, what’s that?”

Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong reacted at the same time.

Murmur murmur-.

The entrance to the VIP ward, which should have been quiet, was blocked by students in drab school uniforms.

There was a student who looked quite neat and like a model student, a student whose hair was a strange yellowish color as if he had washed it with beer, a student who was leaning on one leg and shaking the other, and a student who had his hands in his pockets and was spitting a three-hit combo towards the flower bed between his clenched teeth. Spit, spit-, spiiiit-.

At a glance, there were about six or seven of them.

A security guard with a sturdy build, who was blocking the students, raised his voice.

“This is not a place where just anyone can enter. Only authorized personnel are allowed.”

The VIP room at Sein Medical Center was a place where even the president couldn’t enter without permission.

The VIPs registered were, in code order, Yu Myungseon, Cheon Gilyong, Son Gwangyeon, and Hong Gijun. Those who could enter were the VIPs themselves, their families, and those they agreed to allow entry. That’s why SSS security guards were stationed there.

“Aish, damn it…”

“Mister, we came because our friend is here-”

“Isn’t this too much of a professional blockade…”

“That’s right. It’s a dictatorship hospital-”

The students expressed their reactions according to their individual tendencies and intellectual levels.

However, they seemed to be refraining from violent language, intimidated by the security guard’s imposing presence.

“Mister, then will you at least pass this on? We’re Jo Seul’s friends-”

It was quite a touching sight for Jinhyuk, who had been watching quietly.

There was something he had asked Jo Seulchan when he was going to a different high school.

– “If someone bullies you or tries to hit you, run away. Run away and come to me. Whoever it is, I’ll stop them all. But before that, it’d be better to make a lot of friends. Make your own allies.”

Even though he seemed playful and cheerful, Jo Seulchan, who was shy and had difficulty making friends, seemed to have grown a lot. How much effort must he have put in to gather such a diverse group of people as friends?

My nose tingled.

The security guard’s eyes widened when he spotted Jinhyuk.

“Oh, you’re here? This way-”

The security guard, with a practiced motion, turned his back to the technical high school students and cleared a path for Jinhyuk’s group.

Only then did the technical high school students turn around, their faces contorted.

Their expressions were quite rebellious and dissatisfied, and Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong hid behind Jinhyuk. They were the type to become endlessly aggressive with close friends, but technical high school students were bound to be scary. That was because they had heard from other friends that those kids in those uniforms would get into fights at the town arcade, at the terminal, or drink alcohol in broad daylight and roam the market. Although, they hadn’t met anyone who had actually witnessed it.

The expressions of the technical high school students, who had been staring with dissatisfaction for a moment, changed in various ways.

It was partly because they were intimidated by the three large TaeYang High students filling the entrance to the ward, but…

“Whoa! Holy crap, you scared me!”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t that the person we saw on TV?”

“That’s right-, the person Jo Seul always brags about-”

“Hey! Even if Jo Seul lies, he doesn’t lie about this kind of thing-”

Jinhyuk briefly entrusted the gifts to Lee Seunghoon and Shin Woosung, who had tense expressions. Then, he approached Jo Seulchan’s other friends, who were awkwardly murmuring, and extended his hand.

“You’re Seulchan’s friends?”

They were Jo Seulchan’s friends, but since they were students from another school, it was right to use honorifics, right? Even in the military, soldiers use honorifics to soldiers from other units, even if they are lower in rank. And those young guys call each other ‘mister’.

The technical high school students took Jinhyuk’s hand one by one, bowing deeply.

“Oh my, my-”

“It’s, it’s an honor-”

“Goodness gracious, what’s happening here-”

“Oh my-, you’re more handsome than on TV-”

Anyone would think he was a politician. Choi Mikyung, who was peeking out from behind Lee Seunghoon, chuckled.

Jinhyuk had only lightly extended one hand, but the technical high school students were grasping it with both hands and bowing, so it was understandable why Choi Mikyung was acting like that.

After a brief greeting, I looked at the security guard.

“These friends will come in too.”

“Yes.”

The security guard stepped aside, and a crowd of about a dozen visitors, following Jinhyuk, entered Jo Seulchan’s hospital room.

*

The hospital room was bustling with noise.

Despite the doctor’s words that he needed absolute rest, Jo Seulchan and his grandmother looked very healthy.

“Aigoo-, our Jinhyukie, he skipped school to save his grandma, he must have had a hard time-”

“The hospital is good, isn’t it? My grandma’s knees, back, and neck were all bad, but look at her? She’s been like a goat looking for roots for hours now. The doctor said she can’t go outside the room, so she’s doing that-”

She was pushing the IV pole with the transparent packs hanging from it and circling the room, as busy as if she were possessed by the spirit of a patrol soldier.

Jinhyuk smiled inwardly at the sight of his grandmother.

‘Was that what being reborn meant?’

Just like Yu Myungseon, who Yujin had touched, his grandmother’s aged joints and nerves seemed to have regenerated. When I saw her before, she couldn’t even straighten her legs because her knees were uncomfortable, and she couldn’t fully straighten her bent back. But now, she was standing straight, taller than before.

I could understand my grandmother’s feelings without having to change my position. How excited she must be.

“I’m glad Seulchan seems okay too.”

“I didn’t know Woosung and Seunghoon would come too-”

Jo Seulchan greeted each of his other friends individually. He was shy and couldn’t make eye contact, but he also thanked Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong.

Jinhyuk sat at a distance to allow Jo Seulchan to talk comfortably with his friends from other schools. It was the right decision to give priority to the guests who had come from afar and arrived first.

Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong also sat on the sofa on one side and talked among themselves.

While munching on the Saekongdalkong they had extorted from Jinhyuk.

Perhaps because there was a grandmother and female students from other schools, the technical high school students were careful with the words they used.

“I have a friend I’ve been close with since kindergarten, and he said he wouldn’t meet his girlfriend because I was hospitalized-”

“Oh, oh-, so Jo Seul’s network is narrow…”

The guy who was about to say something was missing quickly shut his mouth and rolled his eyes.

“-isn’t it-”

“Of course, of course. Even a famous person came to visit-”

It seemed difficult for them, as half of the words they usually used were swear words, but at least they had the sense to be careful.

When Son Gwangyeon and Han Yooyoung came with the children, Jo Seulchan’s school friends awkwardly moved away.

“Excuse me-, can you sign something for us?”

“I will.”

When he readily agreed, the technical high school students opened their bags and took out notebooks and notepads.

Clatter-. Clang-.

As expected of technical high school students, steel rulers and set squares fell out of their bags. A monkey wrench and a folding saw also came out, and although I didn’t know why those things were coming out of their school bags, they seemed like kind kids, judging by how they were acting towards Jo Seulchan.

“Then, we’ll go now-. Seul, see you at school-”

“Okay-. Don’t go too far-”

The technical high school students, who had taken Jinhyuk’s signature like a trophy, left the hospital room with excited faces.

Looking around the fancy hallway that they hadn’t had time to notice before.

*

Son Gwangyeon explained his plan to Jo Seulchan and his grandmother in a gentle tone.

Being as careful as possible not to make them feel like they were being pitied.

“Seulchan, listen carefully too. This is a plan that our Jinhyuk made, and I was going to have him tell you directly, but since the opportunity arose, I’m telling you.”

“Yes, sir. Please speak-”

“It might be inconvenient to go to school, but bring your grandmother and come to our house for a while. I’ll take you to the terminal in the morning when I go to work. You’ve grown attached to that house, but it seems like it’s time to move. There aren’t any neighbors nearby to help you in an emergency. It’s a very old house, and there’s no guarantee that something like this won’t happen again.”

Jo Seulchan listened silently to what Son Gwangyeon was saying.

There would soon be an empty house in the company housing, so he was saying that they should stay at Jinhyuk’s house for the time being and then move in with his grandmother.

It wasn’t that he was offering the house for free.

Son Gwangyeon was the type of person who believed that generosity that the other party couldn’t handle was only possible anonymously.

“It’s not free, so don’t feel burdened. I looked into it, and I heard that vocational high schools have internships in the third year? Don’t go to a difficult or challenging place, there are many internship positions, so come to my company next year. If you get your draft notice while working, you can work as a research assistant or in production management at my company.”

In Jo Seulchan’s case, he did not qualify for a military service exemption due to financial hardship because he did not have three or more family members to support. He also did not qualify for a military service exemption as an orphan because he had not been protected in a child care facility for more than five years.

Since he had not yet received a physical examination, it was unclear whether he was subject to conscription, but he was healthy enough to have done track and field until middle school, and there were no other physical abnormalities, so it seemed clear that he would receive a Grade 1 in the physical examination.

It was an impossible task, but even if the country were to consider Jo Seulchan, it was the duty of a manager with a broad perspective to prepare for all possible scenarios.

The companies, including General Farm and the research institute, collectively known as the General Family, had completed the application for designation as a military service exemption company. This was done at Jinhyuk’s request.

Jinhyuk planned to reveal these plans to his friends one by one when the time was right. This was because he was worried that if he revealed it in advance, they might rely on their friendship with Jinhyuk and not study properly. However, due to Jo Seulchan’s incident, Son Gwangyeon decided to step forward himself. He judged that it was necessary to hold on to them so that they wouldn’t waver or have a hard time.

Because he was an adult.

“Study hard and get a lot of certifications. It means that you should build your skills so that no one can say you’re getting special treatment. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

He was the type of guy who couldn’t ask for help when he needed it. As someone with the means, as an adult, it was right to reach out first.

“I’ll do as you say, sir…”

Fortunately, Jo Seulchan was someone who knew how to gratefully accept kindness.

Jo Seulchan, with his eyes reddened, bowed his head deeply.

Sometimes, one gesture is more powerful than ten words. Son Gwangyeon simply encouraged him by patting him on the back.

***

At that time, Moon Seokil, who had remained in the office to wait, greeted his colleagues who had returned after completing their investigation.

The first investigation was about Jo Seulchan and his grandmother, and it focused on any actions that might have caused resentment, such as non-payment of debts. However, due to his personality of disliking to be indebted to others, he had never even borrowed a single briquette or a piece of tofu, and there were no neighbors near his residence, so they couldn’t even gather trivial information about him fighting with anyone.

Now that the investigation of the target was complete, it was time to investigate the suspects in earnest.

Moon Seokil was about to start speaking after listening to all of his colleagues’ words, but Jeong Sangtae smacked his lips.

“Hey, doesn’t Jinhyuk seem to be taking after the chairman?”

“Could he be a hidden son or something-, Ack!”

Kang Heonchang’s knuckle hit Kim Inrang’s head, who had taken the bait and blurted out nonsense.

“You, man, try to be a little serious.”

“My hyungs and even my friend hate only me, damn it-”

Moon Seokil chuckled at Kim Inrang, who had turned away as if he was sulking. It wasn’t just because the foolish Kim Inrang was funny.

‘He is becoming more and more similar.’

The decisiveness that Jinhyuk had shown today was the appearance of an authority figure who was properly aware of and using the power he held in his hands.

If he had asked carefully in the past, today he had given orders as if it were natural.

– “Stop!”

…I almost peed my pants.

Jinhyuk had brushed it off as a mistake, but Moon Seokil and his group had all internally stood at attention at the sound that had struck their eardrums.

I once asked Hong Gijun.

What exactly should I do by Jinhyuk’s side?

– “Do what he asks or help him. Report only the things that you don’t understand. When he realizes his own potential, you don’t have to report anymore.”

Hong Gijun had put them there not to monitor Jinhyuk, but because he wanted him to grow properly. Rather than acting like a crazy person while talking about being ordinary, he meant to do it openly.

It seemed that I no longer needed to report Jinhyuk’s movements to Hong Gijun.

He had finally begun to put on the clothes of a boss.

‘A swordsman only needs to be good with a sword.’

It didn’t matter now what kind of person Hong Gijun was, or what kind of vessel Son Jinhyuk was.

Beyond the heavens. People who played in a realm that even the talented Moon Seokil could not approach, not stepping on the clouds they walked on, was the best way to survive as a swordsman.

Now that I had regained my composure and was aware of my position and role, it was time to convey the next plan to my colleagues.

“Listen carefully. We’ll proceed with three things simultaneously.”