The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 244

There are people who exude a sense of gravitas without trying to force it.

For Jeong Sangtae, Moon Seokil, his friend and leader, was one such person.

A man who lived a life stained with blood, yet showed no emotional change, simply calling it work. It wasn’t because he was the leader of the quartet or the training captain of the SAKDO unit [Special Assault and Combat Operations unit] that he made an effort to maintain his composure. It must have been his innate nature and the ups and downs of his life that made Moon Seokil that way.

But today, he was showing an emotional stir that even an observer could feel.

It wasn’t that he was angry.

It was because he had the excited look of Jeong Sangtae’s second son, who was wiggling his butt at a new toy.

‘Boss this and that, is it because of Jinhyuk?’

Still, his eyes, burning like a tiger’s, were scary. I wish he would wear sunglasses.

Jeong Sangtae and Kang Heonchang sat with their backs straight, staring at Moon Seokil. Kim Inrang, who was sulking and turned away, was excluded.

Moon Seokil, who had been tapping his temple with his index finger, opened his mouth.

“Heonchang, find out all the bastards involved in the local real estate development business, and Sangtae, start by investigating that Chinese cigarette shop. Sangtae will finish first, so as soon as you get a lead, join Heonchang right away.”

“Okay.”

They focused on why there were so many empty houses near Jo Seulchan’s house and why the already demolished lots had turned into vegetable gardens. The city was growing rapidly, and apartment complexes were springing up everywhere.

The apartments used as company housing by General Family employees had also been sold to the private sector for more than half, in response to market demand.

And according to the information given by Kang Heonchang, a smoker, there was only one store in town that sold foreign cigarettes.

“Hyung, what if something tiring happens in the middle?”

“Report after taking action.”

A cliché question with an obvious answer.

It was a procedure they always went through to avoid losing their focus.

It was about reminding each other of their duties by going through the agreed-upon routine.

“Inrang is…”

“What, what about me?”

Whether Kim Inrang was acting like a rebellious child or not, Moon Seokil, with his chin in his hand, was lost in thought.

Even without deliberately drawing attention, that bastard always made him tense. Because he might cause an accident.

‘That bastard is good for nothing but using his strength.’

No wonder he was only used as a porter when they were active as a quartet. The changed Chinese character of his name was actually not ‘郎’ (rang), meaning man, but ‘囊’ (nang), meaning bag. Isn’t it a name truly fitting for a porter? It’s just that he insisted that ‘rang’ sounded pretty in Korean, so they called him that.

It was a relief that he listened well, like a strong and docile donkey.

Ah, I should assign him the task that Jinhyuk asked for.

“Take care of Seulchan for a while. It’s a boss’s request—an order.”

“Okayyy.”

Kim Inrang answered casually, chewing gum.

“Do it properly.”

“Ah, yesss.”

Ha, that bastard is grumbling until the end.

“I’m going to meet the female detective, so everyone do your jobs and let’s meet here tomorrow morning.”

“Female detective? You’re meeting a woman? Is she pretty?”

Kim Inrang, who had been grumbling like a centipede putting on shoes, widened his eyes.

“Her name is Yeo Hyungman. Do you think Hyungman is a woman’s name…”

Moon Seokil, having reached the limit of his patience, explained calmly.

It had been more than 10 years of nagging at that blockhead Kim Inrang, and it was best to just leave him as he was.

Moon Seokil planned to get information from the police.

Since he had already laid the groundwork, getting the list wouldn’t be difficult.

“You’re not moving based on another strange hypothesis, are you?”

“It’s nothing like that.”

Kang Heonchang gave him a rather sharp look, but he denied it for now.

However, he couldn’t escape even Jeong Sangtae’s seasoned gaze.

“It’s something only those who have tasted blood would do. They’re not just ordinary guys. You guys be careful too.”

‘But it won’t be anything special.’ Jeong Sangtae muttered and lightly got up.

Moon Seokil saw his friend off with a smile, knowing his thoughts.

“Move right away.”

“I guess there’s no point in asking until when?”

Jeong Sangtae, who had put on a coat over his jacket, grinned.

“Don’t take more than three days. What would our reputation be if the boss had to step in because we were working too slowly?”

It didn’t seem like he would hand them over to the police like the dog thief he had caught himself…

The period that Jinhyuk had subtly mentioned to Moon Seokil over the phone from the hospital was three days.

There was one thing he had learned while dealing with gangsters.

Whether it was an act of loyalty or because of the illusion of duty, he wouldn’t let the boss get his hands dirty.

Well, most of the bosses were old, so they didn’t have the strength to do it anyway.

***

Jinhyuk sat on the sofa, holding Yujin, who was dangling her legs, looking listless. Even though she had many older brothers and sisters, Yujin didn’t show her usual lively self, perhaps because she was bored in the hospital.

Since everyone’s attention was focused on baby Jeongwon, Yujin wouldn’t be in high spirits. After meeting Haengun, she preferred playing with Haengun rather than hanging out with adults who were much older than her.

“Yujin, do you want to go home?”

“Yesss. The hospital smell makes my head hurt. Haengun must be cold. I need to go open the window for him. And I need to brush Ajjigom’s teeth too.”

Ajjigom, stained with the marks of time, had no mouth, but the area under his nose was pure white. It was because Yujin had become obsessed with playing hospital after visiting the dentist. Under the nose, somewhere around there must be his mouth…

“Let’s stay here a little longer and go home with oppa [older brother].”

“Okayyy…”

Jinhyuk soothed Yujin and observed the people coming and going in the hospital room.

Friends who were smiling subtly, Jo Seulchan who was smiling brightly, the grandmother who was beaming at Jeongwon, and the hospital director who had come to show his face for the VIP’s visit. As always, he felt most comfortable and at ease watching from a step away rather than being in the center of the action.

Jo Seulchan decided to follow the doctor’s recommendation to focus on recovery while staying hospitalized for three more days. He wanted to demand to be discharged, saying he was ready to run out at any moment, but he couldn’t go against Son Gwangyeon and Han Yooyoung, who were backing the doctor.

“Hiami? Baby daddy babuuu aewwttau? Tteoo-, tteoo-. Mamma-”

“That’s right, that’s right. Yes, yes. Okayyy-”

The grandmother laughed so hard that she made a choking sound as she looked at Son Jeongwon offering her rice cakes.

She said she felt the joy of being alive again after a long time, looking at the baby. He wondered how hard and tough her life must have been to make her like that, but sitting in the market all day, rubbing her knees and shoulders, probably wasn’t very fun.

“Oh my, how can a boy be so pretty? When I look at him from this side, he looks like his mom, and when I look at him from this side, he’s the spitting image of his dad.”

Hahaha-!

The people in the hospital room couldn’t hide their laughter.

Because the voice was the grandmother’s, but the way she spoke was exactly like Jo Seulchan’s.

They had lived together for their whole lives, so it would be strange if they didn’t resemble each other.

‘Anyway, it’s a relief.’

Jinhyuk patted Yujin’s back, whose eyelids were going up and down, and listened to his friends’ conversation.

“…Wow. It felt like I had come back from the dead, you know?”

“What does that feel like? You know, you need to be more specific when you talk, I think.”

Lee Seunghoon’s way of speaking had been the same since his past life, and it still annoyed him every time he heard it.

It was a way of speaking that subtly looked down on people and got under their skin.

Lee Seunghoon and Shin Woosung had even fought because of that habit.

Even Shin Woosung, who was close to him, was like that, so he wondered how others must feel. But Jo Seulchan seemed to be a more oblivious friend than Jinhyuk, so he didn’t seem to mind much.

“Then, why don’t you listen to me?”

Jo Seulchan squinted his eyes, putting a lot of strength into them.

It was similar to the expression of Jo Ilheon when he gathered the children and told scary stories.

“It was a completely white world, neither cold nor hot, and you know, like in movies when the screen is all white and then you gradually start to see things. When you wake up in a spaceship after fainting, it’s like that. It was exactly like that, you know?”

Oh no.

Jinhyuk thought that Jo Seulchan had said something he shouldn’t have.

Sure enough, Kim Eunjeong swallowed the tangerine she had been munching on and glared at Jo Seulchan as if she would devour him.

“Hey, you. Is your name Jo Seul?”

“Is? Is, is…”

“Tell me in detail. That UFO story. I think we have something in common.”

Kim Eunjeong, narrowing her eyes and flaring her nostrils once, sat on Jo Seulchan’s bed. Choi Mikyung and the other friends moved away on their own. It was because they knew that their minds would be devastated if Kim Eunjeong started talking.

Watching that, Jinhyuk sighed, avoiding Yujin’s face.

Sigh-.

‘Seulchan needs to rest.’

While Jo Seulchan was stammering, Kim Eunjeong urged him on, offering a carefully peeled tangerine.

“Jo Seul, what kind of experiment did you undergo?”

Eunjeong-ah.

That’s not it.

***

Late afternoon, two days later.

Moon Seokil visited a real estate development company nearby.

It was a polite and quiet visit.

Crash-!

Upon entering, a person was impaled on a steel cabinet.

“You punk!”

A man in work clothes and safety shoes grabbed a folded steel chair with both hands and swung it with all his might. Of course, if you’re from the Land of the Rising Sun [a reference to Japan], you have to swing with both hands when you meet someone for the first time.

Whoosh-.

He had strength, but lacked accuracy and speed.

Shinhyung, who was at the target point, blurred for a moment, and the chair cut through the air where Sangtae’s upper body had been.

Sangtae, having straightened his upper body, twisted his waist like a tiger.

Thwack-!

“Guh!”

With a crisp thud, Sangtae’s left fist struck the man’s right jaw, and the man, with his neck twisted and head turned, fell to his knees with a short scream.

Black blood flowed from the fallen man’s mouth, staining the floor.

Crack-!

Elsewhere in the office, Kang Heonchang’s knee, having launched off a desk, struck another man’s jaw.

The man, with his neck snapped back, couldn’t even scream and lost consciousness.

“Keeeeeak-!”

From another direction, a mournful scream echoed.

Moon Seokil’s dagger had flown and embedded itself in the wrist of a man who was resisting with a fire axe. It was punishment for swinging it carelessly with one hand. With tendons and bones gone, he wouldn’t be able to hold a spoon with that hand in the future.

Soon after, those who heard their colleagues’ screams rushed in chaotically, but Sangtae’s fist, waiting at the entrance, was faster than their dynamic vision. [Dynamic vision refers to the ability to see moving objects clearly.]

The large, heavy body absorbed the impact, only intensifying the pain. They were either spinning like ballerinas and falling over or doing face-first slides, effectively clocking out for the day.

Thud-.

The last person to appear did a backward fall with the back of his head.

“Aigoo-, that’s gonna hurt-” Sangtae, who had used the clumsy dialect he learned from Jo Ilheon, frowned and shook his hands.

Click-.

Kang Heonchang, confirming that no one else was coming, locked the door.

“I was told to be tense, but it was nothing much.”

Moon Seokil nodded at Kang Heonchang’s words, who was yawning from boredom.

They were nothing special.

It was just that the sins they had committed were severe compared to their weight and abilities.

Well, a needle thief doesn’t just steal needles.

The important thing is…

“These guys were unlucky.”

It meant they had messed with the wrong people.

Sangtae, having opened a new pack of gum, sat on the desk.

They had dared to touch Son Jinhyuk, whom Hong Gijun cherished, and a friend whom Son Jinhyuk cherished.

And what about their underlings?

Kang Heonchang flipped up a man’s collar, revealing the back of his neck.

“Sangtae-hyung, isn’t this guy’s tattoo familiar? It looks like a custom tattoo.”

“It is. Tough guys. I wondered where they had gone.”

The gangsters they had previously taken down had scattered and were now pretending to be real estate developers. They were either hooked on drugs or construction, it seemed they couldn’t live without some kind of high.

“A dog can’t quit eating shit.”

“Even a general doesn’t eat shit, though-”

Heh heh-.

As Kang Heonchang’s shoulders shook at Sangtae’s silly remark, Moon Seokil wiped the blood off his dagger and said,

“There will be no interrogation.”

“Yes, sir.”

A person who was endlessly cold and dry during missions.

Moon Seokil’s words were law to his companions.

They had already confirmed what their purpose was. What was so important about that apartment that they would try to kill someone over the last remaining house and compensation issues?

They had tried to compensate an old woman at a low price for a house and a small piece of land. It was a ridiculously insufficient amount to find a decent house in this small province. They were trying to drive her out of her beloved home with a pittance.

It wasn’t even great information.

According to Detective Yeo Hyungman, it was a common tactic often seen in areas where redevelopment or large-scale apartment construction was planned, whether in the city or the countryside. There was enough circumstantial evidence, but the arrest rate was close to zero due to a lack of proof.

“Gather them.”

After giving the order, Moon Seokil took out a notebook and began to write something, while Kang Heonchang and Sangtae dragged the men by their collars and gathered them inside the office.

Scribble scribble-.

Moon Seokil frowned and tilted his head as he focused on his notes.

Heh-. Sangtae, who was peeking from the side, chuckled.

“Seokil-ah, let me write one too.”

“Write it big, big.”

Moon Seokil handed the notebook to Sangtae and gestured with his chin towards Kang Heonchang.

“Wake them up.”

In times like these, an ice massage, which could even wake up a student who had passed out from cramming, was especially effective. Kang Heonchang rubbed fist-sized ice cubes on the men’s foreheads and the back of their necks, and one by one, they woke up, their eyelids twitching.

“Uhhh-.”

Without exception, those who woke up knelt and bowed their heads to the floor.

As expected of gangsters, their ingrained movements were natural and smooth.

“I’m ordering.”

Moon Seokil opened the notebook.

He didn’t read it aloud.

Tear-.

The torn notebook fluttered down like a fallen leaf.

The kneeling men rolled their eyes and read the words written in the notebook.

[The crime of ordering murder.]

Tear-.

[The crime of plotting and carrying out murder.]

Tear-.

[The crime of disguising a dirty deed as an accident.]

Tear-.

[The crime of revisiting to destroy evidence.]

Tear-.

[The crime of wielding weapons against three innocent citizens who visited politely.]

Tear-.

[The crime of those chink bastards smoking.]

Tear-.

[The crime of acting recklessly like rodents.]

Tear-.

[The crime of smearing black on the wall.]

The last page was written by Sangtae.

Moon Seokil, having put away the notebook, stepped down from the desk.

His movements were as light as a feather, proving his skills as a SAKDO [Special Assault and Combat Doctrine] training captain.

However, the words he spoke were not light at all.

“Death penalty.”