The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 257

I am Son Yu-jin.

Ga-beop? Ha-beop?

My brother put it away too quickly, so I couldn’t read it properly.

I’ve been learning Chinese characters from Cheon Gil-rong, the heavy drinker, from time to time, but there are so many similar characters that they all look the same to Son Yu-jin.

– “Hehehe. Saying they all look the same means you don’t know them. The way you see characters is the same as the way you see people. It’s what those pathetic fools who don’t want to admit they don’t know something say when they’re trying to act all high and mighty to save their worthless pride. They value their petty pride more than the courage to say they don’t know. That’s not pride, it’s just being pathetic.”

I think he said that during the local elections. Cheon Gil-rong said that while scratching his side. He told me to admit when I don’t know something so I can learn it properly.

Anyway, it was a character that Son Yu-jin didn’t know.

My brother, who had carefully folded the strange exam paper and put it in the drawer, took out another exam paper and unfolded it.

This time, the letters were bigger and there weren’t as many of them.

Instead, there were a lot of numbers.

“Is it arithmetic?”

I asked, patting Jeong-won, who was scratching my back with his hand, not having fallen asleep yet.

“Yeah, it’s math.”

“Ah, math. Is math easy?”

“Yeah. It’s easy and fun.”

As expected, my brother is someone I can learn a lot from.

Son Yu-jin is also good at arithmetic, she knows her multiplication tables and can solve problems well, but the math that her brother is doing is full of not only numbers but also strange symbols, alphabets, and shapes, and he says it’s fun.

“What is this?”

“It’s called a rational function. A rational function is….”

He explains it in such detail, even though I don’t understand it. My brother is so kind.

Son Yu-jin couldn’t help but yawn. I think I’m going to fall asleep before Jeong-won.

Last week, I fell asleep while carrying Jeong-won on my back and my nose got flattened.

“Hmm….”

By the way, I need to tell him what I came here for, but it’s hard to say.

What Mom said about how it’s hard to say what you really want to say, even to the people closest to you, seems true.

“Hmm….”

I had no choice but to twist my body while carrying the baby.

If I do this, my brother will ask me what’s wrong.

“Our Yu-jin-.”

That’s right.

Ask me. Ask me if our Yu-jin has something to say.

“Do you need to pee?”

“No? I’m okay?”

My brother is as reliable as a big mountain, but as dull as an ox, just like Hong Su-jeong said.

He doesn’t have an ounce of sense.

“Aren’t you heavy? Jeong-won fell asleep.”

That’s not it!

My brother doesn’t understand me at all.

“Heeing….”

I couldn’t help but whine.

Life is so sad, so sad.

***

Jin-hyeok was preparing for a grand plan in his own way.

Since he had already drawn up a blueprint for his life, he just needed to follow the plan step by step.

It was like building achievements to keep the situation under his control without relying on the background of Hong Gi-jun.

“Heeing….”

But he can’t control unexpected situations like this.

What can he do when people’s hearts are the most difficult thing to understand?

“Yu-jin, what’s wrong? Are you sad about something?”

His younger sister is acting strange.

She likes Jeong-won so much, so it’s not strange that she’s wearing a baby carrier, and she follows her brother well, so it’s not strange that she came to his room, but it was unexpected for Jin-hyeok that she suddenly made a hurt expression.

“Tell me, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you? Did someone hit you?”

Yu-jin just shook her head with her head down and didn’t seem to want to open her mouth.

Jin-hyeok knelt on the floor and lifted Yu-jin’s cheek.

“It’s okay. Tell me.”

“If you promise to listen to me-.”

“Of course. Have I ever not listened to you?”

Except for making a boat.

That was postponed to a later time when he had time because the plan suddenly got bigger.

“Tell me. Is it some kind of difficult request?”

As if she had never been crying, her sister’s lips slowly curled up.

It was an expression that could be scary if you saw it at night.

“If you go to the Olympics, you’ll take an airplane, right?”

“Ah, does our Yu-jin want to ride an airplane? After I come back, let’s go ride an airplane together-.”

“I want to go to the Olympics-.”

Oh crap, this is a big problem.

I never even thought about it.

“Huh? Huh? Brother, huh?”

Once it’s difficult to bring it up, she does her best to express it after she reveals her purpose.

That tendency doesn’t seem to distinguish between children and adults. Maybe it’s like the effect of a desire that has been concretized by being spoken, which further fuels it.

“I can speak English too-. I am a boy. I am a Son Yu-jin-.”

“Yu-jin, sit on the bed for a second. Let me, let me think-.”

“I am a Son Yu-jin-! Heeheeing-.”

“No, let’s not think, let’s make a plan.”

He finally calmed her down and made her sit on the bed.

‘Oh man, what am I going to do?’

He never thought that this young girl would make such a big wish.

It was a disaster that he made a promise so rashly.

‘Wait. Is it a disaster? Isn’t it possible to go together?’

Yu-jin is different from Jin-hyeok.

When Jin-hyeok was Yu-jin’s age, school was the only place he had to go, and skipping school during exam period was something that required the determination to give up on life. To exaggerate a bit, that’s how it was, but the world’s perception wasn’t much different.

But the world has changed.

In a changed world, there is no reason to force my lifestyle or beliefs on others. This is not a matter of right or wrong.

There is no such thing as an official off-campus learning program yet, but going abroad for about a month might be okay for the child.

“Is it too much to ask?”

His heart ached at Yu-jin’s eyes, which were shining so earnestly. Even the crescent moon hanging on Gubong Mountain on a winter night wouldn’t be as cold as that.

‘…Is it too much to ask?’

Suddenly, he remembered when he was working at Sein Group.

When the overseas training in Australia was decided, a male team member in his mid-30s cautiously said something while looking at Jin-hyeok.

– “Um-, team leader. I know it’s impossible, but I have a nephew I’m taking care of….”

He said that he would pay the extra cost, but he was just asking if he could take his elementary school nephew with him because there was no one to take care of him, and he told him not to worry about it.

Then he notified that he would not be attending the overseas training.

– “Even if it’s a group tour, it’s impossible to bring a nephew to a company event.”

Of course, Jin-hyeok shook his head.

And he went straight to the head of the headquarters.

– “Ah… team leader, I would do anything else you say, but that’s really impossible.”

Executive Director Hong Su-jeong, who had a troubled expression, decided to allow the accompaniment.

Executive Director Hong Su-jeong contacted the travel agency directly and added more people. She said that it had to be done under the authority of the head of the headquarters so that there would be no complaints.

– “This training is too much.”

It was an event that was just a group package tour with the name of training attached to it. The other employees shook their heads and took care of the elementary school nephew. The boring tour and a glass of wine in the evening were the biggest joys, but they said that it was fun to go around the zoo with the child and take pictures together.

‘Later, it was revealed and Hong Su-jeong and I were both disciplined.’

Looking at that, Jin-hyeok and Hong Su-jeong were not normal people either. They were conformists but also had a rebellious streak. It must have been because they were greatly influenced by each other’s upbringing.

Anyway, that kid must have been about Yu-jin’s age.

“Haeng-un doesn’t play with me these days because she’s feeding her babies-. If you’re not here, who am I going to play with-.”

While patting the baby on her back with a cheerful rhythm, she said such a sad line, so it didn’t seem sincere, but her eyes were too sad.

No, what is she….

She’s making such a grand request with the look of the third of six siblings who came to borrow rice from the neighbors….

“Wait a minute.”

It’s not a problem for the family to go and cheer together, it’s just that the group can’t enter the athletes’ village. The only problem is that Yu-jin is too young.

And since the accommodations at the Atlanta Olympics athletes’ village were poor, Yu Se-ra had found other accommodations, so there wouldn’t be any accommodation problems.

“Let’s see-.”

“I am a Son Yu-jin….”

Yu-jin muttered strange English with an earnest expression.

Team Leader Son Jin-hyeok was not the type of person who would proceed with work after getting approval. That was the nature of his work, and he wasn’t a laid-back person. He would report that he would proceed after conducting preliminary research and feasibility studies, and after finding a partner or manager. It was a method of promotion that was possible because he had the chairman as a reliable backer.

‘There’s only one person who can help me in this situation.’

He had to push it through somehow, even if it was just because he felt sorry for his younger sister, who was anxiously dancing around with a baby on her back.

He picked up the phone right away.

Beep beep-.

***

Despite being forty years old, Yu Se-ra is always a cheerful and lively person.

Even when she was working on the weekend, she was still the same.

You might think it’s natural because she’s a chaebol [a wealthy family-owned conglomerate] daughter who inherited a lot and a boss who earns a lot, but it was her nature that she couldn’t help. Because of that kind of personality, she never blushed even in front of her brothers who called her a fool.

“Hello? Ah, hello-. I’m sorry to contact you on the weekend. I’m busy preparing for the Olympics during the weekdays….”

Of course, it’s a lie.

The Olympic preparations are handled by the federation and foundation staff, so what would the chairman of the board have to do?

“I’m calling to ask you to revise the proposal you sent us. There are so many sports equipment companies that are interested in our athletes. Ohohong-.”

Did I laugh too hard?

It’s not even a dry season, but the corners of my mouth felt stiff.

“Yes, yes. Of course, the athlete’s opinion is important. I’m just acting as a coordinator in the middle so that our athlete can get the best sponsorship deal.”

This is also a lie.

As an agency, she has a fair share of skimming, ah, a share of 30%.

“Yes, well, as you know, we have Sein, a global, huge, top-tier big company as our parent company, so wouldn’t it be better to talk to the headquarters? Ohohong-.”

She’s second to none in the world when it comes to the skill of laughing and putting down the other person.

“Of course. Our athlete is not the type to discriminate against foreign companies or ask for more money.”

She’s been lying a lot.

Jin-hyeok was reluctant to receive sponsorship from Japanese companies. Sports clothes, shoes, even sports towels.

But if he had to receive it, he emphasized that he should receive more than companies from other countries. He said that he had to rip off the Japs as much as possible.

– “It would be good to sign a contract in dollars. It’s a fixed exchange rate, but there may be variables soon….”

There was a significant difference in temperature between the actual version and the content that Yu Se-ra remembered, but she believed that he said it with that meaning. Well, people believe what they want to believe.

“I don’t think this is something we should talk about over the phone. If you revise the proposal, I’ll review it and then negotiate with the headquarters in Atlanta- Yes, yes. That’s right. Ohohong-.”

Click-.

“Oh my, that was hard.”

As the president of the department store and hotel, she only made important decisions. She recruited experts from overseas and requested consulting, and actively accepted their opinions. She didn’t focus on acting like a president and didn’t raise her nose, and she didn’t just push her own opinions because she was an international student, so she was able to get good reviews.

“I feel like I fell for Hong Gi-jun’s trick.”

But the way the foundation and agency were run was very different.

One or two negotiation cases that were difficult to entrust to employees piled up.

For example, she couldn’t entrust the power struggle with the federation to an employee.

Now, sponsorship proposals for athletes were starting to come in, and the scale was beyond imagination.

Rustle-.

She turned the cover of a proposal from an American sports equipment company.

“How much is this? Ten million dollars is, oh my-!”

The fixed exchange rate made it easy to calculate.

It wasn’t a full cash sponsorship. It was a cash payment, support for training and competition participation, training, and equipment sponsorship. The period was five years.

‘Besides cash, the incidental expenses can be converted into cash.’

Of course, the sponsorship conditions were that they would work as advertising marketing models.

Anyway, the items that she had envisioned when she first established the foundation were taking shape one by one. If she had been covering the costs with Sein Group’s money, now she could run the business with the money that the athletes were earning.

‘It’s thrilling. This is why I do business.’

Although it was a foundation that started with group assets, the sense of accomplishment from inheriting something and building a business with her own hands was clearly different.

“Oh my-, I need to study English.”

She’s pretty good at reading and writing, but there’s a language that strangely doesn’t stick to her tongue. For Yu Se-ra, it was English, and she heard from a doctor friend that it seemed like a kind of language disorder. She thinks it’s because she hated the English teacher at the middle school she attended before studying abroad.

Anyway, her friends who studied in Germany and Italy together were also good at English, but Yu Se-ra strangely couldn’t get English to stick to her tongue. Her brothers called her a fool for that too.

‘You idiots.’

Ahem-, cough!

Even though her entourage will follow her, she can’t be ignored alone on a trip without a husband who speaks English well.

“I wonder if you could tell me your suggestion? Suggestion? It’s definitely easier than German, but it’s difficult.”

When she was talking to herself in a way that no one could understand, the phone rang.

Ring ring-.

The proud lioness Yu Se-ra does not answer external calls that have not gone through the management department.

Ring ring-.

The phone rang twice and then stopped ringing.

“Oh oh? My athlete?”

***

If disappointment spreads, it leads to frustration, and a child’s frustration lasts a long time.

That was the wisdom she learned from observing Yu-jin.

Beep beep-. Beep beep-.

Click-.

Yu Se-ra doesn’t answer direct calls right away.

She answers after it rings twice and then stops, letting her know it’s Jin-hyeok.

External calls on weekdays must go through the foundation operations team, and when she’s at home, they must go through the helper. She doesn’t know why she does that, but she has her own style, so she has no choice but to accept it.

He called again.

Beep-.

– Wassup-, Jin-hyeok?

She’s been studying English conversation these days, so she always shows it off like this.

She was fluent in German and Italian, but she wasn’t familiar with American English, and Jin-hyeok didn’t think she was very good at British English either.

“I am a Son Yu-jin! I am a Son Yu-jin!”

“Yu-jin, be quiet for a second-.”

“Yes, ehe….”

He had to say it directly before Yu-jin started crying.

“Director, no, Mother.”

– Oyeah-, um… Anything you do, do you need?

She’s so dull that she wouldn’t know if she had a pimple on her face unless she touched it, but she was aware that Jin-hyeok was calling her Mother when he was feeling something was lacking.

– Um-, please, speak English um- because um-, I’m studying English now. Okay?

She’s doing all sorts of things, really.

Then, instead of asking for permission, he should make a request. Sometimes it’s easier to speak directly in a foreign language.

“I wanna go to Atlanta with my sister, Yu-jin.”

– Huh? What did you say? Can you say it again?

Why are you suddenly speaking Korean?