The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 310

The negotiation with Dugu Elil went down the drain.

It was partly because this contract maniac kept harping on about contracts, but…

【If you wish, I can recite a verse for free. Would you like to hear it?】

‘Yeah, please do. I need something to reference.’

【Oh, Aisac Eueu Awizu Ineu Eungnau Oyom-.】

What is he even saying?

It sounds like Jeongwon straining when he’s pooping.

【Aah-, Ekal Anije Ayatagis Albak-.】

‘That doesn’t sound like your language. I can’t understand it.’

【Oh, row your boat, my dear. My heart is a lake-. Ah, my beloved has sailed away.】

Jinhyuk’s face contorted like someone who was overworked.

【Isn’t it truly moving?】

‘Why are you doing this….’

It’s obviously plagiarism and a mashup, you idiot!

【I didn’t think you’d notice, but you’re quite sharp.】

‘Hey-!’

【Don’t forget. Plagiarism is the mother of creation.】

What the heck is he talking about?

‘Hey…. Hey-.’

Actually, there wasn’t even time to negotiate.

‘Hey. Did he really leave?’

Did the connection get cut off because it was weak?

*

There are many books at home.

Dad’s martial arts novels, law books, and other specialized texts.

World children’s literature collections and picture books for the kids.

Mom’s essays, poetry collections, and so on.

Could I get some help? I rummaged through the study.

Efficiency enthusiast Jinhyuk fixed the genre to poetry.

‘Poems have fewer words.’

It was a very simple logic.

However, the fact that it was a challenge Jinhyuk had never tried before was a problem.

‘I don’t know how to approach it. Should I write it like I’m summarizing a thesis or a report?’

Yujin, who had shortened Dad’s underwear and dressed Ajji Bear in it, also chimed in to help her brother.

“Oppa, how about this one? It’s by Hans Carossa.”

“It doesn’t really resonate with me. It’s too sentimental.”

“Then how about this one? El, Elle-, Eluard?”

“When a piece is too well-written, I want to copy it. Plagiarism is bad.”

He also considered translating a foreign poem in a unique way.

Like the shameless Dugu Elil.

‘No. That’s a bad thing to do.’

As time passed, his worries only deepened.

*

He was someone who went on adventures.

I’m talking about the person Jinhyuk lived as for 300 years.

He was called a hero and punished thugs in dirty alleys.

He spent nights in the cold, relying on just a cloak.

He even faced ferocious monsters that made him think it would be easier to fight machines.

Nevertheless, the hero and his friends were happy.

‘I think I felt happiness for the first time when I lived with that guy.’

Perhaps Jinhyuk was a sentimentalist who thirsted for deviation.

It was the vague desire of a human being who lived in a highly systematized world, fulfilling their duties as a cog in the machine, and keeping their place.

Even while dreaming of a deviation to leave everything behind or turn it all upside down, they were bound by the invisible shackles of ethics and the principle of good faith, unable to do either.

It wouldn’t be a delusion unique to Jinhyuk.

Wouldn’t those who are tired of living in the 21st century have dreamed of it at least once?

Adventure.

Now, every day is an adventure.

Even playing trivial games with his siblings and friends is always new and thrilling.

Getting on a car or plane to go to a strange place for a competition is also an adventure.

The small incidents and accidents that happen at home or at school can be seen as adventures visiting.

“Aoooh-! I’m gonna die!”

But this darn poem felt like an invincible enemy that he couldn’t subdue.

Since he didn’t know how to break it, it was truly an impregnable ultimate technique.

But he couldn’t back down here.

He was going on an adventure.

That silly hero also grew in many ways by meeting various people during his adventures.

“Janggun, let’s go.”

Heheheh-.

With his best party member as his companion, he set out on a journey to find the best teacher.

“Grandfather.”

“Ohoho-. What brings Jineki here today?”

Heheheh-.

“Yes, yes. Janggun is here too.”

He asked directly.

“Do you write poetry?”

“What is there that this old man can’t do? But why poetry?”

Jinhyuk explained the whole situation.

Cheon Gillyong, with a serious expression, stroked his chin with the back of his hand.

“Hmm-. Whether it’s verse or prose, you have to write a lot to improve. It’s not something you can do just by suddenly coming and asking for it. Has Jineki never written before?”

“Yes….”

“Didn’t you write a diary or participate in a writing contest?”

“I write in my diary about the weather and what I did that day, like ‘I did this, it was like that,’ you know. During the writing contest, I just thought about it and time passed.”

Tsk tsk-.

Cheon Gillyong clicked his tongue.

“Still, since you have a brain, you should be able to come up with a basic structure. But-.”

But?

Jinhyuk perked up his ears.

“Putting your heart into it is a separate issue. Look over there-. That, that- what is it-.”

Cheon Gillyong pointed far to the northeast with his pipe.

“Gubong Mountain?”

“No, you idiot. Those guys who live in Seoul, what do they call them-. Ah, I can’t remember all of a sudden-. Those writers.”

“Authors?”

“Not that, you idiot. In the newspaper-.”

“Ah, reporters?”

“That’s right. Reporters. It’s not a name I use often, so it didn’t come to mind quickly.”

“Why reporters?”

“When I look at the newspaper, those guys write very well.”

Jinhyuk nodded.

There would be few people who write better than reporters.

“But you know what? There’s no emotion, no emotion. Do you know why?”

“Isn’t it because they deal with facts neutrally?”

“That’s nonsense. If the facts are moving, then any dog should be able to write it movingly. But those reporters don’t have that heart, that heart. The point is-, it’s because they write it in a way that’s just mechanically put together. When I asked Chairman Yoo, he said that these days they teach the same thing at those newspaper broadcasting academies-.”

“That’s a difficult thing to say.”

“What’s difficult when you understand everything?”

The old man’s cheek dimpled as he gave a meaningful smile, as if he knew everything.

He was such a sly old man that pretending to be innocent didn’t work anymore.

“Well… it sounds like you’re saying it’s dry.”

“It’s affection, affection. If you try to show off your writing skills without affection for people, things, and phenomena, you won’t feel the heart in the articles that deal with incidents and accidents. It’s not that the reporters are bad, but that’s how the water is in that field, where they get used to writing like that.”

“You’re saying I should put affection into it?”

“Of course, of course. Look at a single blade of grass, a single bug with affection. The pattern drawn on the leaf, the wrinkles on the body. That’s where you put your heart. Like Yujin. Would it help if this old man wrote a poem for you? It would only make your eyes and head dizzy, wouldn’t it?”

That was also true, and he naturally lowered his head.

Lately, while devouring poetry collections, he had unknowingly started to imitate them.

But when he tried, he only spewed out dry and rough sentences like a storm.

‘Affection, affection.’

Cheon Gillyong, who had stirred the charcoal in the brazier a couple of times in the chilly room, spoke in a subtle voice.

“Jineka.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

Cheon Gillyong’s atmosphere had changed.

He was always a grandfather who hid seriousness within his wit, but he was more calm and heavy now.

“Do you know how a great man is born?”

Because of the changed atmosphere, it was difficult to speak lightly, so Jinhyuk just bowed his head.

How would I know that? Yujin would have said that.

“When this old man was young, I lived for the fun of making mincemeat out of the Japanese bastards and the police. One day, while I was hanging out with the young women in town, I saw that the teachers at the elementary and normal schools were wearing swords while teaching. In front of the little kids. Wouldn’t I have been furious at the age of eighteen?”

Just hearing about it made his blood boil, so how must Cheon Gillyong have felt when he saw it himself? Jinhyuk quietly closed his eyes and controlled his breathing.

“Didn’t this old man and my brother learn some martial arts? We broke their heads, fractured their legs, and took their swords, then exchanged them for candy and gave them to the kids. Even though we caused such a ruckus, those guys couldn’t catch me. They couldn’t do it with strength or running.”

It was an episode he had heard several times, but there was a strange power in old stories, especially when told by the person who experienced them.

“You were like a Gaksital [a masked hero].”

It was a sincere admiration, but Cheon Gillyong’s expression remained calm.

“Then my brother found out and I got a scolding.”

He said it was something only a reckless fool would do-. Jinhyuk anticipated the next part.

“He said it was something only a reckless fool would do.”

Puff puff-.

Cheon Gillyong puffed on his already burnt-out pipe.

“I wasn’t scolded for beating up the Japanese bastards. He said that if I relied only on my strength without thinking, I would get caught someday. He said I needed wisdom. So, I studied hard in both the East and the West. And I gained wisdom.”

Cheon Gillyong often referred to this as the shock of enlightenment.

He said that a thug had become a decent human being.

“I started teaching kids when I was twenty. In the beginning, I wanted to show off. Look, is there anyone wiser than me in the world- that was my mindset-. Ehehehe-.”

Cheon Gillyong scanned the room with the eyes of a young man showing off, a attention seeker enjoying the attention.

This was a story he hadn’t heard before, so Jinhyuk quietly listened.

“After teaching like that for ten years, I realized. Ah, it’s not that I’m good that I’m teaching them-. It’s that they’re good that they’re helping me grow more.”

What does that mean?

Jinhyuk’s brow furrowed cautiously.

Cheon Gillyong patted his chest.

“The heart, I’m talking about the heart.”

“The heart….”

Is it humility? Jinhyuk made a small sound.

“How do you think I felt when the kids who used to come every day with rice, barley, millet, rice cakes, and alcohol grew up and left?”

“I think you would feel sad and empty.”

“Yeah, I thought I had lived with something called affection. It was then that I wrote my first poem with that regretful feeling. Do you know what my brother said when he saw it?”

Jinhyuk looked at Cheon Gillyong as if urging him to answer. His eyes resembled Yujin’s.

“He laughed heartily and said that my younger brother had now met all the conditions of a great man.”

“You must have written it very well.”

“Well written, you idiot. My brother tore it up-. He said that even a dog’s tail could write better than that.”

“Then….”

“He meant that I had learned to give my heart, put my heart into something, and show my heart. So-, ahem!”

Cheon Gillyong cleared his throat, perhaps because he had talked a lot in the dry weather.

“He told me to keep going-. He didn’t teach me anything, didn’t show me anything. He said, ‘Do it as your heart leads you.’ ”

“Give your heart, put your heart into it, and show your heart….”

Why didn’t he teach him….

Cheon Gillyong, who was looking at Jinhyuk murmuring with a satisfied face, asked.

“Are you someone who learns, or someone who masters?”

“Mastering is easier.”

“Would it be useful if someone like that came to learn?”

“Still, I learn a lot by listening to what you say, Grandfather. There definitely is.”

Cheon Gillyong tells immersive and interesting stories. Within those stories, he melts down wisdom that cannot be heard or obtained from anyone else. It was an ability that Jinhyuk, who was used to expressing only the main points concisely, did not have. In Cheon Gillyong’s stories, there were phrases hidden that could become a guiding light in life if pondered and digested over a long period of time.

To Jinhyuk, Grandfather Cheon Gillyong was a teacher.

“So, I only tell you what you need to hear.”

“Thank you.”

Cheon Gillyong, who gave Jinhyuk a warm smile, looked out through the half-open door.

In those clear eyes, he would see the road and village stretching down, and the blue sky.

Jinhyuk knew it by guessing.

That Cheon Gillyong, who was old in body but young in heart, thought of his brother whenever he looked at the sky.

Soon, the words that Cheon Gillyong had said would flow from that old man’s mouth.

“My brother called it ‘opening the flesh,’ ‘opening the mind,’ and ‘opening the world.’ A great man.”

“Opening the body, opening the mind, and opening the sky, no, the heart-.”

“Seeing you, I understand. A great man is not an outstanding person. It means an ordinary human being who has all three.”

“I will strive to have all three.”

“Jineki already has all three. You just need to find the method-. Execution, execution. You’ve already given your heart to school, to your friends, and to your life, so aren’t you taking an exam that you don’t even need to take? It’s to be faithful to the life you’ve given your heart to. Now, it seems like you just need to find the method that is visible on the outside.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“When is the exam?”

“I’m taking it next Wednesday.”

“Jineki will be leaving soon. I’ll see you a few more times before you leave.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Watching Jinhyuk and Janggun go down the hill after saying goodbye, Cheon Gillyong stood on the porch with his hands behind his back. That was how Cheon Gillyong saw someone off with his heart.

“A healthy body, a bright brain, and an affectionate heart… You need to have all three to be a great man… That is what ordinary is. I’ve left behind a famous saying. Hehehe.”

Before entering the room, he muttered while looking at the sky.

“I also know that such humans are rare. That’s why the human world is a mess. I think I see as much as you do now.”

If that guy had farmed as planned, he would have ascended to heaven right away and played Go with his brother-. Since he’s leaving, he’s going to live on earth for at least another 20 years.

***

Cramming doesn’t suit his personality.

But if he needs to, he has to, what can he do?

Even on Sunday when he couldn’t go outside because of the winter rain, he scribbled verses.

Not with his head, but with his heart.

「I’ll sing a sad song like the winter rain at this moment…」

Eeeek-! Rub rub-.

He nervously played with the eraser.

He had just scribbled song lyrics without thinking, and a disaster had occurred because he had emptied his head instead of opening his heart.

‘What is this….’

Drrrrr-.

He wrote poems while watching his siblings ride their bikes.

「Looking at the towering peaks of Gubong Mountain, 3 sets of chest exercises

To keep the arginine from drying up like the stream of a waterway, I’m working out my lower body…」

Ya! Rub rub rub-!

A never-before-heard gym bro sensibility popped out.

It seemed like he had opened his heart too much this time, and the phrases were familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere.

“Hoo hoo-. Again, again.”

Excitement raises brain pressure, which lowers eyesight and judgment.

He needed to calm his breathing and write again.

‘Heart, put my heart into it….’

He moved his pen.

「Whether sitting or standing… Squats」

Aoooh!

Rub rub rub!

Even until the deadline, he was suffering with his notebook and pen at school.

While all the other friends were wrestling with their mock college entrance exam papers and workbooks.

「Our dog is a silly mutt, Janggun the fluffy…」

Eeeek!

Rub rub rub!

After much deliberation, he went to the 2nd-grade girls’ classroom.

「2-2」

It was the class where his junior, who was the editor-in-chief of the school magazine, was.

As he hesitated in front of the door, the students who were passing by and the students who were in the classroom surrounded Jinhyuk.

Sparkling. Although their eyes were all filled with admiration, the number of them made him shrink.

What is it, scary. Go away.

Isn’t the feeling of a wolf surrounded by a pack of rabbits this absurd?

Still, they’re interesting guys.

They keep a certain distance as if they had made a promise.

As they stood in a position similar to attention, his junior appeared in a flurry.

“Kyaaaak-! Oppa! You could have just called, why did you come in person?”

“Well, that thing-.”

Jinhyuk, scratching the back of his head, confessed with the feeling of a criminal.

“You know, the thing about contributing to the school magazine. I was going to submit a poem, but I wonder if I should have chosen an essay, but no, I think a poem would be good, but I’m the type of person who has to do what I’ve decided, but no, I haven’t written it yet… So, what I’m saying is-.”

I wonder if it would be okay to skip it for a year or so. Ehehe-.

His junior, who had been listening to Jinhyuk’s mumbling, smiled as mercifully as an angel.

“The submission deadline was set arbitrarily, so you don’t have to worry about it. Please give it to me after the college entrance exam. Definitely. Okay? Hehe-.”

Wow, no mercy.