The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 29

Beep-!

The practice of passing the baton while wearing tires around the waist continued. It was training to improve the strength of the waist, abdomen, and legs, and to pass the baton at a relatively slow speed, until the motion of passing the baton and the timing of receiving it became ingrained in their bodies. Continuously.

‘Even if it’s tough, you have to master it! The basics are the most important! The foundation of a relay is the baton pass!’

Kim Young-tae scanned the athletes’ postures with sharp eyes.

Beep-.

Papat-!

When the whistle blew, the athletes’ arms cut through the air.

Thud-.

It wasn’t about dropping the baton. It was about pushing it into the next runner’s hand with the right amount of force. The next runner, with their eyes fixed forward, repeated running in place, and when they felt the solid stick in their palm, they gripped it tightly.

Beep-!

‘Seulchan! You have to lift your knees while receiving the baton! Don’t just stand still!’

That way, they could immediately spring forward. It was like a drag race car revving its engine in neutral. The children were inwardly surprised by the passionate side of their physical education teacher, Kim Young-tae, which they had never seen before, and focused on the training.

Beep-!

‘Aaaah-!’

Jo Seul-chan suddenly screamed and collapsed.

‘Seulchan! What’s wrong!’

‘Jo Seul! Are you okay?’

Kim Young-tae, startled by the sudden scream, rushed over.

Yeom Byung-taek, the runner in front of Jo Seul-chan, looked at his friend with worried eyes.

The competition was just a week away.

If anyone got injured, they would have to give up the relay. According to the competition rules, there were no reserve players. And more than anything, how much would Jo Seul-chan shrink if his injury prevented his other friends from participating? The moment he heard the child’s scream, Kim Young-tae’s thoughts went that far.

Jo Seul-chan, who had been touching the ground, stood up with a comical expression.

His face was full of disgruntled emotion.

‘Aigoo-, it’s too hard. Teacher, let’s take it easy-.’

‘Hahahaha-! Jo Seul was just faking it again.’

‘Aigoo, you rascal. You’re in sixth grade now, and you’re teasing your teacher!’

While the children laughed at Jo Seul-chan’s folksy dialect and caught their breath, Kim Young-tae couldn’t even get angry and just sighed in relief. Then, he chuckled too.

Beep-! Beep-!

Unfortunately, Jo Seul-chan’s show didn’t work. Kim Young-tae, who had been laughing like an uncle, blew his whistle even more fiercely. He blew so hard that droplets of saliva dripped from the whistle.

‘Faster! Engage your core! Shoulders back!’

When the training ended, all the children were exhausted.

The track and field training was notoriously known for being boring and tough. The waist felt like it was breaking, the thighs felt like they were bursting, and the heart felt like it was being squeezed. How fun could it be to run around the track pulling a tire?

Jinhyuk tilted his head.

‘These days, kids are so weak?’

Even though it was hard for the other kids, it was laughable training for Jinhyuk, who ran long distances every day and even managed his own workout program. Jinhyuk was just happy to sweat with his physical peers.

‘Let’s go with Jibeom for the start, Byungtaek for the second, Seulchan for the third, and Jinhyuk for the fourth.’

‘Yes.’

They had been training in that order anyway. It was just a matter of confirming it one more time before the competition.

‘You guys worked hard-.’

‘Thank you for your hard work!’

The sight of the children greeting their teacher in unison was also unique. It was powerful like a military unit, but their expressions were bright like children.

Everything was unfamiliar and fresh to Jinhyuk.

‘It’s a fun world.’

From right after lunch until 5 PM.

That’s how the relay training, once or twice a week, ended.

One might say that just practicing baton passes while wearing tires around the waist isn’t real relay training, but for Kim Young-tae and the Taeyang Elementary School athletes, it was the most serious training.

‘It’s a shame. It was fun having training partners.’

Jinhyuk smacked his lips, brushing off the yellow dirt on his spikes.

***

In rural farming communities that grow rice, rice planting is done in early May.

Depending on the weather, amount of sunlight, and average temperature, some regions do it in April, and the timing is also determined by the variety of rice seeds. When rice planting was done by hand, it was done later, but after the mechanical rice transplanter method became fully established, the rice planting schedule was kept similar every year, as long as there were no abnormal low-temperature phenomena.

‘Shall we go see where Oppa [older brother] and Dad are?’

‘Ggo, ggo.’

Jinhyuk involuntarily cringed at Yujin’s aspirated sounds.

He muttered, ‘I told you, you don’t have to do that.’

‘Aish, trauma.’

He held his younger sister Yujin in his arms and headed to the rice paddy. Janggun followed closely behind.

The warm spring sunshine, the spring breeze carrying the smell of mud and water from the rice paddy, made him feel excited.

‘I didn’t know it before. It’s such a nice smell.’

Hugging her brother, his younger sister, with her dark eyes, looked around the world, and her soft hands touched her brother’s face, adding to his happiness.

‘Ehehe-.’

Now four years old, Yujin was curious about everything, playing with clods of dirt, and poking around with a stick. Her hair, tied up like an apple stem with a rattle hair tie, was adorable.

Son Gwang-yeon carried around a paper-like bundle on a wooden board, writing or checking something, but he didn’t go into the rice paddy himself. The neighbors initially looked at Son Gwang-yeon with strange eyes.

– ‘Why is that farmer making others do all the work?’

They said that, but their true feelings were different. They meant that the farmer wasn’t farming and was wasting money by hiring people. Son Gwang-yeon was aware of their true feelings, but he just smiled. Son Gwang-yeon only worked directly on the crops for his family, and he hired people for the rest of the fields.

‘Jinhyuk, do you know why Dad farms like this?’

His father asked as he carried his daughter Yujin, who had fallen asleep in the spring sunshine after playing happily, back home.

‘Is it because you hire people?’

‘Yes. The neighborhood uncles and aunts look at Dad strangely, don’t they?’

Soon, all rural areas will change like that. It’s not because they’re rich landowners like Dad and hire people, but because there won’t be anyone to work. But I think I know why Dad farms like this. Dad is managing, isn’t he?

He couldn’t say that.

‘I think it’s because you want to spend more time with Mom, me, and Yujin. If you’re exhausted from farming, you can’t do that.’

Jinhyuk made up an excuse, thinking of his friends from other families. How else would the other kids say that the time they spend with their fathers is ‘when they help with farm work’?

‘That’s right.’

Eh?

It was like catching a mouse with a cow’s hind leg [using an unnecessarily large effort for a small task].

‘Dad… didn’t have a family.’

‘……’

Jinhyuk held his breath, sensing that his father’s family history, which he rarely talked about, was about to come out. His father usually evaded or changed the subject when he asked about it.

He expected a detailed explanation, but his father didn’t elaborate.

‘That’s why I love living like this with my family so much.’

Son Gwang-yeon smiled at Jinhyuk.

Son Gwang-yeon looked around the rice paddies, mountains, and fields that surrounded the reservoir and the sea. It had been 14 years since he had come to the reclaimed land, which was filled with the smell of salt and mud, empty-handed. Nearly 200,000 pyeong [approximately 66 hectares] of land was now in his possession.

‘Have you heard the word ‘management’? Dad is managing.’

Jinhyuk nodded.

With a look that said, ‘See, I was right.’

‘You have to allocate time and resources efficiently. And you leave the practical work to those who are good at it. If Dad bought a tractor and drove it himself, he would save on labor costs, but he would have to spend a lot of money to buy the tractor, and he would have to spend all day working to cultivate all these fields. Dad just needs to calculate the rough farming schedule and the manpower and machinery to be used.’

Because he had money.

Because he had lived desperately with his bare hands to gather that money.

‘Because I spend a lot of money to hire people every time, it might seem wasteful to others. They think it’s a waste of money, so they farm themselves.’

And then they get sick.

They get tired and eventually give up and leave the countryside.

‘Thanks to hiring people, Dad was able to study farming at the broadcasting university and learn about crop cultivation methods by visiting the rural guidance center. I can go to the real estate office in town and find out where good land is available and where land is cheap. And I can talk to Jinhyuk like this and play Go [a strategy board game].’

He couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘And make a younger sibling in the middle of the day.’ That was the best part, but it wasn’t something he could brag about to his son. Unless it was time to throw out a writing prompt, Son Gwang-yeon kept his boundaries.

‘Dad is truly a genius.’

Or a natural businessman.

He had graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Korea University, but it seemed he wasn’t just good at studying. In his previous life, he had lost this father so meaninglessly and lived in sorrow.

‘Thank you.’

Jinhyuk bowed his head in his heart to the being, whoever it was, who had sent him back. And he vowed never to live carelessly. Because this was a precious life given to him again. He vowed to live for his family, stroking the head of his younger sister who had fallen asleep on his father’s back.

‘Dad, shall we play Go?’

‘Sure. How many stones will you give me?’

His father was so confident in asking for a handicap game.

Jinhyuk, speechless, stared at his father, who was now a beginner with shining eyes. His eyes were full of anticipation.

‘Where is a handicap game in a match?’

‘Aish-, Jinhyuk-ah-.’

The dignified father was gone, and only a silly person remained.

He was afraid of mudskippers but liked them.

He was afraid of sparrows but drooled, saying they were delicious.

He struggled with matches against Jinhyuk but was happy just to be together.

‘Aish, really-. Jinhyuk-ah-. I’ll give you ten thousand won [Korean currency] for each stone-.’

Son Gwang-yeon followed his son closely, making Yujin’s head bounce on his back.

‘Should I let him win today? But I don’t know how to lose.’

It was a world where he had to learn a lot to live an ordinary life.

Hehehe-.

Jinhyuk threw a mysterious smile and increased his speed.

Just happy that someone was running with him.

***

Several days passed.

‘Our son. Do Mom and Dad not have to go? Will you be okay without motion sickness medicine?’

‘You have to see Yujin too. It’s far from here to Gongju.’

When else could he receive this kind of love?

His body had already surpassed that of a middle schooler, and his soul had lived for over 40 years. But in his parents’ eyes, he was still a child. Jinhyuk didn’t dislike his parents’ love. No, the love he hadn’t received in his previous life made Jinhyuk happy.

Today, Jinhyuk’s father was behind the wheel as usual.

It was the day before the competition, and they were to gather at Taeyang Elementary School.

‘Jinhyuk, enjoy yourself. Don’t dwell on the results.’

I know our son runs well, but he’s not an athlete, so how well can he do? That’s what his father’s eyes seemed to say. And then he took out his wallet.

‘Buy something delicious with your friends.’

His father gave him some bills. He still had the ones he had given him last time. If he saved a little more, he could buy a precious MTB bike. Jinhyuk, feeling a lump in his throat, got out of the car and slung his bag over his shoulder.

Drrr-.

He bowed towards his father’s departing car when the sliding door of a van opened behind him. Then, Yeom Byung-taek raised his voice.

‘Jinhyuk-ah-!’

He wondered why a gray van was parked in the schoolyard. It was one that Taeyang Elementary School had borrowed for the competition. His friends were smiling brightly and waving their hands. He hadn’t even hung out with them much, but seeing how happy they were to see him, he thought that the saying that you make friends faster when you’re younger was true.

‘Jinhyuk, you sit in the passenger seat.’

It was a consideration from Kim Young-tae for the ace. Jinhyuk sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt, and the van carrying Jinhyuk set off for the Gongju Public Stadium.

Finally, tomorrow.

The national junior sports festival representative selection, which also served as the provincial competition, would be held.