The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 259

I received a call from Jin Seon-gyu.

When I heard his voice over the phone, I was worried that he might be calling to complain, feeling offended.

It was an unnecessary worry.

— Thank you. For thinking of me.

“It’s nothing. I was worried I might have overstepped. That’s why I asked the chairman to make the suggestion carefully.”

— Hahahaha!

Jin Seon-gyu laughed heartily, so loud it hurt my eardrums.

I had said it out of genuine concern, but his reaction was completely unexpected.

Is this guy okay?

— When I got a call from Chairman Yoo Se-ra, I couldn’t think straight. It wasn’t even through the federation.

Wow, I had specifically told them to make sure neither the athlete nor the federation felt bad, but she contacted the athlete directly. A person you can never predict, that’s Yoo Se-ra for you.

No wonder Mr. Hong Ki-jun calls her a lioness every chance he gets.

— But as I listened, I felt good. She said, aren’t we on the same national team? How about we eat, sleep, and train together? She spoke so openly and comfortably that I didn’t even have to think about it. We only spent a day or two at the athlete’s village because our schedules didn’t match.

Jin Seon-gyu was a good person.

He’s making it sound like I stayed for a night when I left the village, giving it a nice spin.

It wasn’t so much that our schedules didn’t match, but that the facilities at the athlete’s village weren’t any better than the gym, and I was only there for formality due to school and exams. It was also to save face for the federation.

“So, you’re coming with us?”

— Yes. I think I can learn a lot by watching you train.

He’s even humble.

He’s an elite athlete who went through physical high school and university and is now part of a professional team. How many people would say they want to learn from a junior who is so far behind them?

He called to tell me he was joining us, but Jin Seon-gyu also told me a lot about himself.

He said that he would probably join the Armed Forces Athletic Corps next year when his contract with the professional team ends. It was the path most male athletes in Korea, professional or amateur, take.

— You can do it. Whether it’s the Asian Games or the Olympics, you’ll be on the top of the podium in the 100-meter event. My heart is pounding like it’s my own race.

He said that his form would decline when he was around thirty, when he would be serving his military duty, and that he wanted to become a physical education teacher after retiring, as he had always wanted. He enjoyed teaching and interacting with children, so he majored in special education at university.

— As you know, managing your condition is the most important thing. Take good care of yourself, and I’ll see you at the airport.

But did Jin Seon-gyu go to the Olympics in my past life?

It’s a distant memory I have no interest in, so no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember.

‘He was the Korean record holder before I woke up, so maybe he did.’

Not only that, but Jin Seon-gyu was also a gold medalist at the East Asian Games.

‘I hope this guy does well too.’

By the way, I still can’t get used to calling him ‘hyung’ [older brother, a term of respect for older males].

Despite the nine-year age difference, he doesn’t feel like an older person.

If anything, he seems younger than Jin-hyeok.

‘Anyway, it’s hard for everyone to do well, as much as I’d like them to. The Olympics is a tough place.’

A place teeming with monsters… I muttered, looking out the window.

***

I lay diagonally on the wooden platform, using a sack full of rice husks as a cushion.

The cushion was comfortable, but the rustling sound of the rice husks inside the sack strangely stimulated my nerves, helping me calm down. It also helped me concentrate. So, I wrote a trendy name in big letters with a black magic marker.

「MC-Rustle Husk」

Rustling husk, what a straightforward name.

But Dad criticized my sense, asking if I didn’t have a more interesting name.

‘Dad doesn’t know me at all.’

What kind of sense would I have when my life is so boring?

Anyway, it’s not comparable to the expensive concentration aid MC-Square that’s on the market, but this is as good as it gets in the countryside.

Peace is sweet.

It’s probably even sweeter because it doesn’t last long.

Maybe it’s short because if it lasted too long, all my teeth would fall out?

“Jin-hyeok oppaaaaa-?”

Choi Mi-kyung, the sly fox, is here.

Ah, that’s not it.

“Hey, get lost. I’m invoking my right to remain silent.”

“You stingy jerk. Hope you eat well and live well!”

Look at her, getting all tough with her mouth now that she’s grown a bit taller.

The fist bump she throws is bigger too.

Anyway, thanks for the well wishes.

“Mi-kyung, you ate poop.”

Choi Mi-kyung didn’t even look back, pulled her too-small tracksuit pants away from her butt, and strode away.

As soon as Choi Mi-kyung disappeared, the alien from the literature department appeared.

“Hey, Jin-hyeok?”

“Oh! There’s a UFO!”

“Where, where!”

“It went towards the training center.”

Whoosh-!

Kim Eun-jung was really serious about UFOs.

I felt pathetic for thinking that Kim Eun-jung was pretending to be spacey because of her serious demeanor during the meeting.

‘Peace like a river.’

I feel quite pleased that I managed to chase away the teenage Choi Mi-kyung, who charged at me like a wild boar with ulterior motives, and the alien Kim Eun-jung by waving my legs. How dare those brats try to leak exam questions?

“Aaaah! This zelkova tree is so nice!”

I feel a bit sentimental at the thought of leaving this cool wooden platform, which is like a mountain valley even in summer.

I heard Atlanta is very hot, I hope it’ll be okay?

Rustle-.

I was about to turn a page in my book, trying to enjoy a moment of leisure before leaving.

Brumm-.

‘Why is Dad coming at this hour…’

*

Son Gwang-yeon got out of the car and patted Yang Gang-wook on the shoulder, who got out of the passenger seat.

“Prepare well. Don’t feel pressured, think of it as a trip.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I thought he came early to give Yang Gang-wook time to prepare for the trip. It’s a month-long trip, so Yang Gang-wook must have a lot to check.

But Son Gwang-yeon was holding a large shopping bag.

“Whee-, is our son reading?”

“Yes, you came early.”

“Let’s see-, Montesquieu, Hobbes, Rousseau, The Prince, why are you reading such boring books?”

“They’re interesting.”

Son Gwang-yeon smiled awkwardly.

This kid is always unique.

How can he find philosophy books, which college students don’t even read these days, interesting?

I saw a few books that Son Gwang-yeon had read in college.

There’s no way he’d read them all in one day, but it’s ridiculous that he brought them all out.

Still, it’s good if he finds them interesting.

“Try these on.”

“The shoes are already out?”

Was it a month ago when I visited the lab last time?

Those engineers must be crazy about their work. How did they come out so fast?

Son Gwang-yeon took out three boxes and opened one of them.

A sleek shoe in a deep blue color, symbolizing the Sun Group, appeared.

“I don’t really know the material. They explain it, but it’s a combination of synthetic leather and synthetic fiber, and the friction is so good that if you kick a soccer ball with it, the ball will curve like crazy.”

“Those are track spikes.”

“Oh, right. They say it sticks to your feet like that. The material is so thin it’s almost transparent. That fiber, they layered it on top of the leather, and the weight is significant-.”

“Wow-.”

They were incredibly light.

The outsole was good before, but it looked even more improved.

It felt like they added elasticity to the previous model.

I bent the spike shoes so that the instep area folded.

“I can’t see the stitching.”

The stitching was done evenly with thin thread, but you had to look closely to see it.

“Since it’s not made of a solid material, it’s not a full upper. And sewing isn’t something anyone can do well just because they have a machine.”

“But it’s still so amazing?”

“That’s why you need a manager. If researchers have knowledge and development know-how, managers have negotiation skills. How lucky are we that there’s a company in Korea that makes such amazing shoes?”

“Ah, so the trip to Gyeonggi-do last time was…”

“Yeah. I went to Hoseung and asked them to make it.”

He was saying that he had negotiated with a professional shoe manufacturing company to complete the prototype.

“Try them on.”

Jin-hyeok took off his socks and shoved his feet into the spike shoes.

Unlike mass-produced shoes, the ankle part stretched when you put your foot in and then tightened to wrap around your foot. Like a rubber band.

“How is it?”

“Wow… It feels like I’m not wearing anything?”

Thump, thump-!

I kicked the ground hard with both feet and lifted my knees.

I would have to run on the track after assembling the studs, the metal spikes under the spike shoes, to be sure, but the fit was much better than the existing mass-produced products from domestic companies. It was absurd to compare them. These shoes were made to fit my feet.

“What’s that?”

“One is a spare set of spikes, and I made these red. And the other one is-.”

They were running shoes.

“Our son’s sneakers wear out too quickly, so I made one by combining a new material with a mass-produced sole.”

“Ohh…”

The durability of the outsole would be limited since it used a mass-produced product, but the upper that wrapped around the foot was incomparably tougher than mass-produced products. It felt like I could run wildly without putting any strain on my toes or the edges of my feet.

“But how did you negotiate?”

I was curious.

It was also an opportunity to learn the know-how of Son Gwang-yeon, the manager.

A person who manages a company wouldn’t just barge in, would they?

“I barged in. I told them, if my son goes to the Olympics and wins a medal wearing your shoes, wouldn’t that be good for your company too? Hahaha! You know your dad has a thick face, right?”

Son Gwang-yeon shrugged as if it was nothing.

***

It was a trip that would last almost a month.

Han Yu-young checked several times to make sure nothing was missing.

“Yu-jin’s clothes, Yu-jin’s shoes, Yu-jin’s hat, Yu-jin’s sunglasses, Yu-jin’s slippers, Yu-jin’s sandals, Yu-jin’s hair ties, Yu-jin’s-.”

Yu-jin, Yu-jin…

For someone like Jin-hyeok, who packs his own things, attention can be toxic.

In the past, during an elementary school competition in Gongju, she packed her son’s luggage while still half asleep for an early morning departure and ended up packing his dad’s underwear. As a result, Jin-hyeok spent the night at the inn without underwear. It was a funny story her son told her, but it was a blood-draining experience for Han Yu-young. How embarrassing it must have been.

After checking Yu-jin’s suitcase, she checked the list of items to put in the other suitcase.

“Jin-hyeok, I’ll put the rice that I sealed and froze right after cooking it here, so you can eat it when it thaws. It’s brown rice, so it’s best to eat it three hours before the competition.”

Mom’s knowledge of nutrition and energy was a great help to her athlete son. If I had to pick one factor that had a positive impact on Jin-hyeok’s record improvement, it would definitely be brown rice.

Eating right before a competition makes you feel uncomfortable and weak, and eating too much too early means you have to run while feeling heavy. Brown rice digests slower than white rice, making it a great source of energy for growing athletes whose stomachs empty quickly.

“Gochujang [Korean chili paste], dried squid, seaweed, castor oil… Oh my goodness! I almost forgot the kimchi.”

Jin-hyeok silently focused on his own tasks.

Chairman Yoo Se-ra had rented a mansion near the training facility and hired a chef in addition to security guards, so they could cook most of the food there. Still, I couldn’t imagine how his mother felt, wanting to pack even one more thing.

‘If I tell her not to, she might cry.’

The side dishes were all cooked and packaged, so there shouldn’t be any problems at the local airport. If they confiscate it, there’s nothing I can do.

“Oh my, when did our daughter grow up so much that she’s going to America…”

Because Mom was trailing off, Jin-hyeok turned his head towards her.

This mom is catching a sentimental fish again.

She often gets sentimental watching her children grow up so fast. It was an unimaginable sight in my past life, but now it’s a familiar sight for Jin-hyeok.

With her eyes bloodshot and her nose as red as Rudolph’s, she was looking at Yu-jin, wondering what was so touching.

“Ajjigom [a stuffed animal], your sister is leaving the day after tomorrow. Take good care of the house, and brush your teeth well? If you don’t brush your teeth, you have to go to a place called the dentist.”

Whether she understood her mother’s feelings or not, Yu-jin was hugging Ajjigom tightly and rubbing her face against it. They must be sharing a moment of farewell.

“You have to speak English in America. I am Son Yu-jin. Like this. But Ajjigom can’t speak English, so he can’t go.”

The superficial reason was language, but the real reason was the risk of losing it.

Even though I told her to take it to America with her, Yu-jin shook her head, worried about losing it.

“Now that I’ve said goodbye to Ajjigom, I have to go say goodbye to the other houses.”

Yu-jin jumped up and ran to the front door.

Sniffle-.

Mom finally wiped her eyes with her fist.

At times like this, the reliable eldest son has to comfort his mother with a few words.

Jin-hyeok was now a teenager who had learned a thing or two about life, so he knew that too.

“Yu-jin, now you’re going to live in America by yourself. You won’t be able to see Mom the day after tomorrow. You have to say, ‘Mom, thank you for raising me all this time.’”

“You, you little-.”

Jin-hyeok, who had successfully provoked her, nimbly tilted his upper body to avoid the knuckle sandwich Mom swung from behind.

See?

She’s fine now.