The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 246

Hehehe-.

Kang Heonchang, chuckling like a fool, caught up with Moon Seokil.

“Seokil-hyung.”

“Hmm?”

“You know, right?”

It was a cautious question, yet it felt like an unexpected interrogation.

White breath puffed out from Moon Seokil’s mouth.

“Where did all those thugs disappear to? They’re at the Yeouido site, right?”

Kang Heonchang’s brain was as quick as his movements.

If he had studied, he would have been called a prodigy.

“We have to give them a way to live.”

Those guys are digging and building buildings.

That was also Jinhyuk’s idea.

“We carefully selected them. We pay them well too. The fat ones, the ones with shifty eyes, the junkies, etc. We threw those guys to the police…”

It meant that if you’re going to do construction, do it right.

Chwit- Phew-! Jung Sangtae, whose nose was stuffy from the cold weather, blocked one side of his nose with his thumb and forcefully exhaled.

“Hmph, what’s the reason for being so lenient?”

“Something about standing on their own, about self-reliance. He said that true rehabilitation isn’t about locking them up and beating them, but about helping them realize they can earn a living on their own.”

Now that I hear it, it makes sense. Kang Heonchang nodded.

There are three people here who have turned their backs on the past because they don’t have to worry about making a living.

They’re people too, so they must feel something. If they survive.

“Did the Chairman say that? He doesn’t seem like such a generous person?”

At Jung Sangtae’s question, Moon Seokil shook his head.

“Ah… It must have been the boss.”

“Yeah. He said that even if we can’t change the past, we should give them a chance to come back. But, he gave the choice to them. Those who refused were thrown away.”

“That makes sense. I used to be a hoodlum, but I came to my senses after going to the army. If it’s the Yeouido site, it’ll be a good place to work.”

Moon Seokil raised the corners of his mouth.

Because Kang Heonchang only knew one thing and not the other.

‘He doesn’t seem to have noticed that we also put them in the Sado seabed [a reference to a place where people are sent for hard labor].’

Most of them were sent there.

“Hyung, but why did you throw these guys to the cops?”

“He said that one chance is enough.”

They were guys who threw away the chance they were given and couldn’t break their old habits.

Even if they were given a second chance, they wouldn’t sincerely accept it.

“We seized the chance we were given.”

At Jung Sangtae’s words, Moon Seokil also nodded.

The more he thought about it, the better the choice was.

***

Jo Seulchan and his grandmother, who had been discharged from the hospital, decided to stay in the mud house for the time being.

It’s called a mud house for convenience, but it’s on a different level from the traditional mud houses built by mixing mud with straw. The foundation and frame were strengthened during reconstruction, and it was finished with loess [a type of silt], maintaining a comfortable environment at all times. Because of this, Jinhyuk, after finishing his workout, would light a fire in the mud house’s fireplace and relax his muscles while steaming himself. He cleaned and maintained it whenever he had time, so it was ready to live in at any time.

At first, he had considered a dugout, but it was a decision made out of consideration for his grandmother, who would feel suffocated.

“Why don’t you just stay at our house?”

“That’s something I can’t do to Grandma.”

His mother, with a kind smile, shook her head and spoke to Jinhyuk, who had a puzzled expression, as if to persuade him.

“Do you think Grandma would be comfortable? If she stayed at our house, she’d try to wake up before Mom and do all the cooking and cleaning, wouldn’t she?”

“Ah…”

“She wouldn’t be used to sleeping in a bed, and the stairs would be uncomfortable for her.”

Now that he heard it, it was true.

She would try to help with something because she felt indebted. There would also be an invisible burden from habits that weren’t ingrained in her.

As expected, his mother was the greatest elder and sage in the family.

*

They packed the moving items from Jo Seulchan’s house in Jo Ilheon’s truck, who had volunteered to help.

Jo Seulchan tried to persuade his grandmother to buy some new household items, but how could the old folks throw anything away? His grandmother took every dented aluminum pot without fail.

“I heard Mom is giving you all the household goods.”

“That house has a lot of them, so even if they’re used as dog bowls, it’s fine.”

“We even have dog bowls that have never been used.”

Even when Jinhyuk tried to stop her, his grandmother was adamant.

‘Let’s just use my strength.’

Without Jo Ilheon and Jo Seulchan’s help, Jinhyuk alone strode across the field and loaded the luggage.

Even though his grandmother had packed so carefully, the moving items didn’t even fill half of the truck’s cargo bed. It showed how frugal the two grandparents and grandchildren had lived.

His grandmother rode in Yoo Taehwa’s sedan that his mother had sent, and Jo Seulchan and Jinhyuk sat in Jo Ilheon’s truck.

Every time he shifted gears, Jo Ilheon’s hand hit his leg, but Jo Seulchan enjoyed the gear shift shock, saying that the truck was comfortable.

“Where is Seulchan from the Jo clan?”

“Pungyang Jo clan.”

“What branch?”

“Hanpyeonggun branch, I think.”

“Aheoi-.”

Tsk tsk-.

Jo Ilheon clicked his tongue strongly.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Aren’t they the ones who did the politics of power?”

Was that so? Jinhyuk hadn’t studied that far, so he pretended not to hear it.

Tsk tsk tsk-.

Those useless bastards-. Jo Ilheon shook his head while driving and looking ahead.

“Ah-, is that so? What branch are you from, mister?”

“Call me hyung, you punk-. I’m from there too-”

“…”

“But what generation are you?”

The two, who were tracing their family tree, realized that Jo Seulchan’s generation was higher, and they became awkward.

Jo Seulchan was from his grandfather’s generation.

‘Why did I bring up that family tree…’

That’s the problem with Koreans.

If they see even the smallest commonality, they try to connect it somehow.

Jinhyuk thought that there were too many objects of worship for people in this small country.

“Is that family tree accurate…?”

“Yes…”

You two sort it out yourselves.

*

“Eunjeong brought some beef and made some porridge.”

Jang Jinnam made a whole pot of porridge at the news of the new family member. She said that people who had been hospitalized had weakened muscles and fascia [connective tissue], making it difficult even to walk, so she had spared no good ingredients to help them recover their energy.

“I’m also planning to learn the elder’s recipes when Grandma comes.”

She seemed to have some personal desires as well.

Yoo Jae-woon, who had been sharing the situation in real-time on the day of the incident, also felt concerned and visited Jinhyuk’s house on his bicycle, carrying his doctor’s bag. It was something that was possible in the countryside. In a city with a large population, they wouldn’t even pay attention to the people living next door.

Yoo Jae-woon whispered quietly to Jang Jinnam, who was handing kimchi broth to his grandmother.

“Teacher Jang, there’s no evidence that kimchi broth is good for carbon monoxide poisoning. And the poisoning is over now-”

Jang Jinnam widened her eyes and puffed out her nose like a mare in heat.

“What are you talking about? I’m giving it to her because she asked for more.”

“Ah…”

She had only given it to his grandmother to cleanse her palate after she had finished her porridge.

Just as the idea that ‘kimchi broth is good for carbon monoxide’ was not befitting of an intellectual, the train of thought that assumed it was because of carbon monoxide poisoning after seeing her handing over kimchi broth was also not the thinking of an educated person.

*

The people who looked happy weren’t just his grandmother and Jo Seulchan.

In addition to his mother and Jungwon, Yujin, who had more people to talk to, went to see his grandmother after school. Thanks to that, the time she used to run out of the house was replaced by the time she spent on the floor of the mud house.

“What’s your name, Grandma?”

For several days, his grandmother stroked Haengun’s head and spent the afternoon with Yujin until Jo Seulchan returned from school.

“My name is Park Maksoon-”

The more time Yujin spent talking to various people, the wider her world became.

“Are you from the Bang clan? The Bang like in Bangsil?”

“Not Bang, but Park. Park clan-”

“Ooh?”

If it was the Park clan, it was a familiar surname to Yujin.

“Are you from the Gangnam Park clan? Did a swallow bring you?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Well, if they talk, they’ll understand each other and the world will expand.

“I’m from the Miryang Park clan-”

“Ah, that’s right. There are three people in my class who are from the Miryang Park clan. But they weren’t born in Miryang. Isn’t that amazing?”

“What are you talking about…”

It seemed that it would take some time for his grandmother to adapt to her conversations with Yujin.

*

After sorting out the complicated and chaotic matters, March was already coming to an end.

Now, all that was left was the issue of compensation for the house where Jo Seulchan had lived, but since he had entrusted it to Moon Seokil, it would be handled smoothly and satisfactorily.

Such things can be controlled with skill.

However, people’s hearts couldn’t be forced, so he was more concerned about them.

“Will Grandma be okay?”

He was worried that she might be bored when Yujin wasn’t there, or that she might be lonely while Seulchan was at school. She was someone who used to spend her days at the market, but now she was left in the countryside.

“She’ll be more comfortable here. Mom will take care of her during the day so she won’t be lonely, so our son should study hard at school. You have to exercise too. The competition is coming up in April, right?”

“Yes. It’s less than two weeks away.”

“Still, I wish you would take it easy. Last time, you were groaning in your sleep because you were tired.”

“I’ll take it easy on the weekends.”

Now, he felt his body getting heavy if he skipped exercise for even a day.

The heaviness of his body meant one thing.

‘My body must be fully grown.’

When he was growing, it seemed that his body used even fatigue as fuel to grow. But now, fatigue was just fatigue, it only accumulated and didn’t become a driving force for growth.

It wasn’t just because he had withdrawn his energy.

It was literally the end of his physical growth.

“Would you like to go to Dr. Jo’s house? Mom asked you to do something.”

“Yes. I’ll go as a form of exercise.”

He came out into the yard, rotated his shoulders, and turned towards the mud house.

I should go with Seulchan.

Chatter chatter-.

‘Huh? Are those two together again?’

Kim Eunjeong came to play at the mud house on Saturdays and Sundays when there was no self-study.

She brought precious Korean beef. She said that she was especially concerned about his grandmother’s health, but in Jinhyuk’s eyes, it seemed that it was because she had a friend who would react with a fuss to her UFO stories.

“Th-, th-. What’s next? What happens next?”

“A light that seems to blind you pours out. Jo Seul, you have to close one eye if a UFO shines a light on you. Otherwise, you could go blind.”

Ah, Eunjeong. Don’t you ever get tired?

It wasn’t very relatable to him that she would put aside all the other topics and play like that, but…

‘Still, I’m grateful.’

It wasn’t Jinhyuk, but Kim Eunjeong who was helping Jo Seulchan adapt to life in the neighborhood.

Jinhyuk didn’t have any conversation topics to share with Jo Seulchan like Yeom Byeongtaek.

It’s far away, so I can’t hear it well, should I listen closely?

It’s only to encourage their healthy interaction.

Jinhyuk muffled his footsteps and approached the mud house.

*

When he was with the boys, Jo Seulchan was endlessly hasty and clingy. But when he was alone with a female friend, he was as cautious as a student who had been called to the student affairs office.

Even now, Jo Seulchan was sitting quietly at the edge of the floor.

It was in contrast to Kim Eunjeong, who was occupying the center of the floor as if it were her own house and had her legs crossed.

“Do you close only one eye? What if the other eye goes blind?”

“You can save the eye that’s closed.”

Ah? Jinhyuk, who was eavesdropping, tilted his head slightly.

It was something that seemed logical but wasn’t logical, but it sounded plausible coming from Kim Eunjeong’s mouth.

“Can’t you open it like this, like this a little?”

Jo Seulchan almost closed his eyes like a person with poor eyesight.

“That’s not enough. Even if you open it as small as a pinhole, your retina will be damaged.”

“Ah-, then I won’t be able to see properly?”

“That’s why people don’t believe me. If I had seen it properly, I would have been on TV.”

“Does Eunjeong want to be on TV?”

“Look at that guy.”

Where Kim Eunjeong gestured, Jinhyuk, with a sullen expression, was peeking out.

Oops, the newly built mud house didn’t have a gate.

He was hiding behind the gatepost and eavesdropping, but he was so engrossed in the conversation that he unknowingly stuck his head out.

“At school, even if that young one just walks down the hallway, the girls throw their panties at him.”

Hey, don’t lie. There were girls who threw flowers, but no underwear flew.

Kim Eunjeong had grown up in an environment with many men, from her father to her uncles, so she had a tough personality and her expressions were exaggerated.

Jinhyuk turned around and called Janggun with a hand gesture.

He was going to go for a walk with Jo Seulchan, but he should just take Janggun.

Hehehe-.

As if he had been waiting, Janggun ran up to him.

“Oppa! I want to go too!”

Yujin, who was inside the house, hurriedly followed her brother.

Even as he left the house, Jinhyuk’s ears perked up at Kim Eunjeong’s whispering.

“You wouldn’t know how it feels to have a guy who’s been all over the media at the same school as you.”

“I went to middle school with him too-”

“Weren’t there no girls there?”

“Yeah. It was an all-boys school.”

“That guy is an idol.”

“An idol? What’s that?”

“Jo Seul, you need to develop your humanistic knowledge. It means an icon. The middle school juniors are exercising while looking at that guy. They want to be like Jinhyuk. The ssireum [Korean wrestling] club guys go crazy when they see him. They’re like fanatics.”

“When I went to school with him, Jinhyuk was that kind of person too-”

“Jo Seul, a man should keep his mouth shut.”

“Okay…”

At the words not to argue, Jo Seulchan folded his legs and sat demurely.

He was still shy, but seeing Jo Seulchan talking comfortably in front of a girl, it seemed that Kim Eunjeong was playing a positive role in Jo Seulchan’s socialization.

“Jo Seul, where did Grandma go?”

“She said she was going to Inrang’s uncle’s house. There are a lot of wild chives there-. She said she was going to dig wild chives with that house’s grandmother…”

“That’s good.”

“Huh? What is?”

“Why are you sitting so far away? Come over here.”

Jo Seul, you bastard, fighting!