The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 26

“Puhwaa-!”

He forcefully exhaled the air he had been holding in his lungs and pulled his knees up high.

He hadn’t had the opportunity to learn track and field properly, nor did he have time to practice.

However, Jinhyuk was confident.

He had been racing with Janggun every morning and evening, and he had played a game of throwing stones at the aggressive black chicken, Johnson, and running away. The explosive power he had honed while having his butt pecked by the black chicken was now shining brilliantly.

He also recalled the time when Kim Eun-jung’s Doberman had broken its leash and charged at them. The Doberman, breaking free from its chain and rushing towards Choi Mi-kyung, and Choi Mi-kyung, who had turned pale as if her soul had left her body. Jinhyuk had instinctively thrown a stone, drawing the Doberman’s aggression towards himself.

Remembering the moment he could have been bitten to death, he put even more strength into his legs.

“Hiss-hiss-”

In his previous life, he had watched a documentary about Usain Bolt with great interest. In the past, there was a breathing technique of holding one’s breath since it was ‘only’ a 100-meter dash, but in modern track and field, they take quick breaths to ensure a fresh supply of oxygen.

Jinhyuk opened his mouth wide, puffed out his cheeks, and then made them hollow repeatedly. He felt a slight dizziness. However, his arms and legs were full of energy. How many steps had he run? He was just getting into the rhythm, but the finish line was right in front of him.

“Puhwoo-!”

He puffed out his chest and stretched his arms back like wings. He had seen track athletes do this in sports highlights.

Click-!

Click- Click-Click-.

All four runners crossed the finish line.

The supervisor was momentarily stunned. The distance between first and second place was significant. This was a common occurrence in short-distance preliminaries where there was a large skill gap between the runners. Still, something was off about the fourth group. The runner who crossed the finish line first was too fast.

The timekeeper, who had been waiting behind the supervisor, urged him to come to his senses.

“Supervisor, please call out the times.”

“Yes? Ah, yes! I’ll call out the times. Starting with first place-”

The supervisor at the finish line called out the times in order.

His vision was blurry, whether from dust or from the shock.

After rubbing his eyes, he checked the stopwatch.

“The first-place time is-”

“Yes-”

The timekeeper, who was about to write it down, paused.

He looked up at the supervisor. The supervisor, who had been mechanically reciting the times, also realized that the numbers he had read were strange and quickly checked the stopwatch again.

‘12.09 seconds?’

He had been traveling to many schools for a long time, measuring running speeds on sand. This was a record he had never seen before.

He quickly checked the runner’s information in the file he held in his left hand. The preliminary record was 12.12 seconds. Preliminary records were bound to have errors. The only reason there were no disputes was that the same timekeeper had measured them.

‘The preliminary record is also decent.’

He examined the shoes of the runner who came in first.

They were ordinary sneakers. This meant he wasn’t a track athlete.

‘Is he a student who repeated a grade for about two years?’

His physique was too good.

No, that couldn’t be. The criteria for participating in the competition were based on age, not grade level. He had already checked Son Jinhyuk’s date of birth.

He checked the school name.

‘Eodong Elementary School?’

It was a school name he had never heard of before.

He was a suspicious runner, but there was nothing suspicious he could point out.

“Supervisor, is there something wrong with that runner?”

Kim Young-tae, a teacher from Taeyang Elementary School, who had been watching the supervisor tilt his head repeatedly, spoke up. They had become familiar with each other after several competitions. Kim Young-tae thought that the supervisor’s gaze had lingered on Son Jinhyuk’s runner information for too long.

Other school teachers who had watched Jinhyuk’s run also gathered, curious about his record.

The supervisor, having rechecked Jinhyuk’s runner information, cautiously parted his lips.

“No… Well, he’s average.”

This time, both the supervisor and Kim Young-tae tilted their heads.

Was the word ‘average’ such a strange word?

It wasn’t a strange word, but it sounded strange.

***

He wasn’t particularly attached to winning or records. He ran because it was fun, and running with other athletes made Jinhyuk even more joyful. He had simply run.

Could it be that all the running he had done since he was young, rain or shine, was finally paying off? Or was it that he had a natural talent for running, but he hadn’t been able to show it when he was younger because he didn’t eat well and lacked strength? Come to think of it, he had gained quite a bit of strength in high school, and he had built up steel muscles when he joined the Special Forces. That body had been with him until the last moment of his previous life.

As Jinhyuk rested his hands on his hips, lost in thought, he heard the supervisor’s announcement.

“The finals will be held in 30 minutes. Son Jinhyuk, Park Ji-beom, Yeom Byeong-taek, and Jo Seul-chan. Those are the four.”

He had to run one more time. Jinhyuk relaxed his wrists and ankles, lightly shook them, and walked to the starting point. The other runners who had been called followed behind him. One of the boys approached Jinhyuk.

“Wow, you’re incredibly fast!”

It was a boy named Yeom Byeong-taek. The three boys, except for Jinhyuk, were all wearing blue uniforms with ‘Taeyang’ marked in white on the top.

He had gone to the same school in the past, so he should have been familiar with them, but there were so many students and classes that their faces were vaguely familiar.

“I’m Son Jinhyuk.”

Jinhyuk extended his hand.

Yeom Byeong-taek looked awkward for a moment, then took Jinhyuk’s hand. Well, it would be funny for elementary school kids to shake hands and introduce themselves on their first meeting. Still, there was no better way to greet someone.

“I’m Park Ji-beom.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jo Seul-chan.”

He shook hands with the other boys as well.

The finalists sat down on the ground to rest.

‘What do the elementary school athletes of my time look like?’

They would probably be walking around the track to loosen their legs, or a dedicated coach would be next to them, massaging their tight muscles. Jinhyuk realized that he was the only one who had come alone as he watched the Taeyang Elementary School kids loosening each other’s shoulders and legs. Then, a large, rough hand landed on his shoulder.

“I didn’t know our Jinhyuk was so good at running. Why don’t you rest a bit and then run one more time, and then let’s go eat jajangmyeon [black bean noodles] together, okay?”

“Yes.”

A simple, rural elementary school teacher.

It was a touch he had never experienced before. There were teachers who had patted his head for getting good test scores, but a massage for running once? It seemed like he was being treated differently after coming back to life.

“Are your legs okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

It was just like his usual running. He didn’t feel any fatigue from a single full-speed run. Even his breathing quickly stabilized. Still, Jinhyuk massaged his calves and thighs with both hands. He also stretched his upper body by moving his arms and shoulders.

‘I should meditate and breathe too.’

He didn’t need to sit in a lotus position.

He released the air that hadn’t been fully exhaled due to the rapid breathing. Then, he slowly filled his lungs with fresh air. A shiver that started from his waist traveled up through his chest and neck, tickling his cheeks.

The Taeyang Elementary School kids tried to say something to Jinhyuk, but they turned away after seeing an unknown murderous aura in the eyes of Park Jae-seung, who was protecting Jinhyuk. It wasn’t easy to deal with adults at that age, and that man from the countryside looked like a Vietnam War veteran with his dark face.

‘Since his coach is so scary, that’s why he runs so well. He must have been through a lot.’

Jo Seul-chan whispered, and the other two boys nodded with serious expressions.

They didn’t forget to send Jinhyuk a sympathetic look.

Then, they were dumbfounded when they saw Jinhyuk’s ordinary sneakers.

The Taeyang Elementary School runners were all wearing spiked shoes.

***

He finished the final race normally.

“The short-distance representatives are Son Jinhyuk and Park Ji-beom. The 400-meter relay team will be Yeom Byeong-taek and Jo Seul-chan.”

Jinhyuk’s final time was 12.05 seconds.

It was unofficial, but it was said to be a new record for elementary school students in Chungcheongnam-do. The supervisor also added that no one had broken the 12-second barrier yet.

Park Ji-beom, who was said to be the ace of Taeyang Elementary School, had a time of 13.03 seconds, which showed how fast Jinhyuk was. The other runners must have gritted their teeth and run, watching Jinhyuk’s back as he went far ahead. Or maybe they were looking at his butt. The three chicken Johnsons.

‘It seems like I’m getting faster when I run with other people.’

It seemed like the other person’s running speed also had an effect. Jinhyuk realized the importance of a running mate. The reason why they were doing the finals one more time, even though the final four runners had already been decided, was no different. They were putting the four fastest runners together to get better times. And if they didn’t pass the standard record, they wouldn’t be able to go to the provincial competition.

After the elementary school competition ended, the middle school runners’ competition followed.

Jinhyuk shook his head after watching the first group’s race.

They were runners who were three years older than him, but there was nothing to learn from them, and they weren’t faster than him.

Kim Young-tae, the physical education teacher at Taeyang Elementary School, found Jinhyuk.

“We need to practice the relay, can you come to Taeyang Elementary School every Friday afternoon?”

“Yes.”

It was unusual for Jinhyuk to answer, but it was a situation where he couldn’t not answer.

If Choi Mi-kyung had seen it, she would have patted his butt and said he did well.

The tourism development boom was slowly starting.

The roads had been expanded and paved beyond recognition in the past few years. Even in Jinhyuk’s village, six buses were scheduled per day. All the neighborhood kids were now taking the bus to school, so Jinhyuk was feeling the change firsthand. Of course, Jinhyuk was still running.

Anyway, it had become a world where you could get to the town center in about 30 minutes by bus.

He needed to practice on his own too.

It was a bit disappointing that he didn’t have a running mate. It seemed like Choi Mi-kyung and Yuk Sung-chan, the troublemaker, didn’t like running because they weren’t motivated.

‘Janggun is fast, but he cheats too much.’

When he felt like he was struggling, he would cut across the rice paddies, and when he pretended to be hurt and whimpered, Jinhyuk would run over to him, and then he would suddenly run away.

It was like he had fed his sense of fair play to the dogs.

Well, it was hard to expect sportsmanship from a mutt.

‘A thug.’

Janggun had many nicknames.

***

Jajangmyeon. In his previous life, he had only been able to taste it when a friend bought it for him in high school. He had eaten it when he came to the market with his mother when he was six years old, but it was a difficult food to get when he lived in the attic.

“Our Jinhyuk, do you want a double portion?”

Park Jae-seung’s grinning smile was starting to feel familiar. When he smiled, his white teeth contrasted with his dark face, making him look even scarier, but now that he knew he had a warm personality, even that looked endearing.

“I’m fine with a regular portion, teacher.”

“Why? You’re a big guy, you should eat a lot when you’re growing!”

“Then I’ll have a double portion.”

He readily ordered a double portion, grateful for the teacher’s kindness.

The smell that filled the Chinese restaurant stimulated his appetite. His stomach was protesting as if it had been waiting for this day. It was clamoring that it would tear through his belly if he didn’t immediately feed it jajangmyeon with the smoky flavor, pork fat, and black bean sauce.

Slurp-slurp-.

The chopsticks danced over the jajangmyeon.

The noodles and sauce, which were so glossy that they looked radiant, mixed together.

Slurp-.

‘Kuh, it’s amazing!’

Was it because his body was different? The taste was so different from what he had eaten when he was an adult.

Chomp-chomp-chomp-.

He focused only on eating, regardless of whether sauce was smeared on his mouth.

“Jinhyuk, do you want some danmuji [yellow pickled radish] too?”

“Yeth-”

He answered with his mouth full of jajangmyeon.

Jinhyuk’s family was rich enough that they couldn’t be found anywhere else in the region. However, Jinhyuk had refused to transfer to the town school, so he continued to live in the countryside. And because his mother was afraid of going to the town, they couldn’t easily eat out like this.

‘It’s so delicious.’

His mother, Han Yu-young, was a good cook, so he hadn’t had any desire to eat out, but how tired he had been of eating restaurant food when he lived alone in his previous life. But now his thoughts had changed. He pushed the jajangmyeon down as if he were drinking it.

‘Can Yujin eat jajangmyeon now?’

He wanted to go to the market and have picnics with his parents and younger sister. Son Jinhyuk, who had lived in his own world because he had so much time alone, now wanted to go out with his family.

Out into the world.