The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 323

It had already been a month since I settled into the rooftop mansion in Yeouido.

Having somewhat adjusted to the work and living environment, Jinhyuk took a taxi early in the morning towards Bongcheon-dong.

‘Huh?’

Jinhyuk, retracing old memories to find a secluded alley in Bongcheon-dong, wore a dumbfounded expression.

Right here, there used to be a restaurant that opened before 6 AM.

Back when he lived in a rooftop room nearby.

Spicy dried pollack soup with plenty of red pepper powder, savory pancakes with the vibrant textures of fresh ingredients, fried eggs, stir-fried anchovies with chili paste, and stir-fried pork, among other things. Just thinking about it made his mouth water.

But the restaurant was nowhere to be seen.

– ‘My husband collapsed from a stroke because of the IMF crisis [1997-98 South Korean financial crisis]. I have to earn money for my daughter’s college tuition and send my second child to tutoring, and I’m the only one who can make money. I only know how to cook, so I opened this restaurant. Come often. I’ll give you plenty of food. By the way, would you like to meet my daughter? She’s two years older than a student, but she’s pretty and kind.’

‘Sohui’s Restaurant’

Because he could eat home-style meals to his heart’s content at a low price, he had breakfast at that restaurant almost every morning.

But now, that sign remained as a silhouette flickering in his memory.

Fwoooosh-.

Instead, a very old laundromat was spewing steam like a dragon’s breath.

Though he’d never seen a dragon, anyway.

‘I guess they’re doing well.’

The laundromat hadn’t gone out of business, and it seemed Sohui’s dad was healthy.

He missed Sohui’s mom’s cooking, but he felt a sense of pride.

What if peace isn’t eternal? Like a natural cliff that slowly weathers and shows off its beauty, the slow world, like the Elephant Rock on the back hill that always warmly welcomed him when he visited, felt welcoming.

‘Right. They say it’s a blessing to live as you always have, without big changes.’

But this is a problem.

‘I have to eat to go to work, right?’

The enormous metabolism that would make a steam locomotive cry would worry any athlete about muscle loss. And not just muscle loss? 20% of a human’s basal metabolic rate is used by the brain. Jinhyuk, who uses his brain more than others, could experience early brain shutdown if he didn’t eat. It means he becomes stupid when he’s hungry.

Stepping onto the sidewalk next to the two-lane road, he saw a cutlassfish specialty restaurant.

‘Braised cutlassfish sounds good.’

Even fishy food is okay in the morning.

Go, go, go-.

***

At the Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand in December, Jinhyuk won three gold medals.

Men’s 100m, 200m, and 400m relay.

The relay team consisted of Jin Seon-gyu, another athlete from a corporate team, and a high school athlete. Jinhyuk broke the tape, achieving an Asian record with a lead of more than two seconds over Japan, who came in second.

It was only natural that praise poured in for the young CEO who swept all the men’s short-distance track events at the Asian Games. However, Jinhyuk focused on observing and controlling his inner self to avoid getting carried away.

It seemed that there would be no more growth stress, as there were no changes in height and weight on the full-fledged adult stage. All he had to do was focus on managing his condition and muscle mass.

Regarding the development of spike shoes, he mainly exchanged opinions with General researchers through phone calls or emails. It was difficult when he was a student, but now that he was a working adult, he had more time to communicate.

Three months after shedding his trainee label, it was quite natural for him to sit in his comfortable headquarters manager’s chair and make calls.

‘It would be better if the outsole of the forefoot was a little harder. I still feel the cushioning, and the force is being dispersed. Oh, it’s not that I couldn’t set a world record at this competition. I just wanted to be satisfied with the competition record. Goals need to be visible to provide adequate motivation. That’s how other athletes sharpen their knives. It might sound arrogant, but that’s the truth. Yes, yes. I’ll ask you to do that.’

As someone who manages two research institutes and leads the projects of the Future Strategy Headquarters, he monitored the progress of projects during work hours. He simplified reports and had the progress of each project updated on a situation board that took up an entire wall of the headquarters manager’s office. He had considered installing a large wall-mounted monitor, but it seemed like unnecessary spending. So, the employees frequently visited the headquarters manager’s office and fiddled with the situation board.

There were also those who would subtly touch his side or waist while having work conversations. They forgot that the headquarters manager was there. Hormones must be blinding.

‘You fools. Do it all you want…’

Since the headquarters manager could be away for competitions, they created a new position of deputy headquarters manager and appointed Kim I-do. There wasn’t enough work to justify a permanent deputy headquarters manager system, so it was essentially an honorary position, and he also served as the head of the Strategic Planning Department.

‘You’re saying there’s a problem with the headquarters project plan for next year that I approved in November?’

‘Yes. The lift generator that Steve proposed and our department wrote a report on? I’ve had several meetings with Chief Researcher Sakdo, but according to feedback from Sakdo’s best project team, it’s impossible to implement…’

The lift generator, which was temporarily named, was an engine designed for a low-noise small aircraft that could carry about four to six people. Everyone thought it was a fantasy, but the technical recipe was already uploaded to the Sakdo Research Institute server. Hong Gijun, who had received Jinhyuk’s request, had translated and uploaded the dragon skin.

But as expected. It was 10%, no, 20% short of what current humans could implement.

‘I’ll find a way. It was unreasonable to make it a short-term plan in the first place. Let’s take it step by step. Mr. Kim, please make sure there are no problems with other department project plans. Don’t hold back on supporting the PMs [Project Managers].’

‘Yes.’

Jinhyuk went straight to Hong Gijun and asked for the dragon skin.

‘Are you sure? It won’t be damaged, but it would be a terrible loss if it were lost.’

‘I’ll return it to you.’

‘Are you going to take it to study? Are you going to study with the annotated version I gave you?’

‘Yes. That’s what I plan to do.’

He deliberately didn’t mention that he was going to show it to Yujin.

‘Okay. Who else would I trust but you?’

‘Ah, right. Please mark where it starts and ends.’

Hehe-. Jinhyuk, who couldn’t read it, smiled awkwardly.

Hong Gijun pouted his lips and blinked his eyes like a calf.

‘Why don’t you just make a copy?’

‘You can copy it?’

Hong Gijun’s eyes briefly flashed a look that said, ‘Is this guy an idiot?’

‘You can copy it if you spread it out like this and put it on the scanner glass.’

‘Wow-.’

Jinhyuk couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw the unfolded dragon skin.

It wasn’t a brown color like other animal hides, but a subtle gray.

‘They say this is the skin of a magic dragon.’

‘A magic dragon?’

‘Yeah. They say they’re tainted by evil and turn gray or black, and the skin is tough, and the gray ones are good for recording like this. Since the background is similar to white, you can copy it. If it were other leather, the copy would come out black, wouldn’t it?’

‘Wow-. It seems like an incredibly rare item…’

‘Of course, of course. I spent days and nights trying to get this. It’s not something you can get easily.’

Hong Gijun’s secretary, who was wiping a cup in the pantry, tilted her head.

Is that the kind of conversation that people in high positions should be having?

Magic dragon skin items and being tainted by evil.

The secretary pondered for a moment and then nodded.

‘Men are like that…’

She had played a game called Diablo with her boyfriend at a PC cafe last weekend.

This is Seoul, South Korea, at the end of the 20th century.

‘Magic dragons are stronger than dragons.’

‘Wow-. Because they’re tainted by evil?’

‘That’s right. Isn’t it like mental enhancement? Like special forces soldiers who have had their emotions removed.’

Indeed, it was a conversation befitting the end of the century.

***

The changes in a company are dramatic from the outside.

This is because information is blocked except for what is received through media such as TV commercials.

Then, what does it look like to someone who has stepped inside?

Even though changes are being made at a pace that is by no means slow, salarymen who live each day to the fullest, breathing and flowing like water, do not easily perceive the changes, whether they are following orders from above or leading proactively.

‘It’s the place where we spend the most time each day.’

‘But they’re still surprised when you post a notice, right?’

‘I told them in advance, and they had enough time to prepare their minds while preparing together, but they still do. When I show them in text or in a diagram, that’s when they say, ‘Ah! The time has come!’ That’s the power of a notice. The reality they were whispering about comes before their eyes.’

Woo-oong-.

Hong Su-jeong nodded.

She thought that the company stories her prison-bro [a term of endearment for an older brother figure] told her were more interesting than military stories.

‘Dad says that the employees all like you, oppa [older brother].’

‘I sign autographs well, don’t frown, and try to smile a lot.’

Hong Su-jeong was proud of Jinhyuk.

The way she looked at Jinhyuk, the way she spoke, proved it.

For Jinhyuk, that was enough.

Because she didn’t avoid him, feel uncomfortable, or feel embarrassed.

On weekends or during school breaks, he would visit Hong Gijun’s house to play with Hong Su-hyeok and help Hong Su-jeong with her studies.

Every time he visited, he would tell Hong Su-jeong stories about the company, and Hong Su-jeong liked it even more because she could hear stories that were difficult to hear from her dad or mom.

‘Is Su-jeong going to a girls’ high school?’

‘Yes!’

‘Didn’t you say that the co-ed school in the next neighborhood was better?’

‘What does the school district matter? The girls’ high school is close to home. It’s a five-minute walk.’

Because it’s close.

She was a carefree kid, like Yu Se-ra.

‘What does it mean to me if the school is doing well or if the alumni are doing well? I have to do well.’

Still, she had a clear sense of her own values.

‘They say J Foreign Language is Spanish.’

‘Did you do any pre-learning?’

‘No? They don’t do that these days. How many things are there to do in that time? Exercise, watch performances, read books? The school wants that too. They give awards for writing good reflection papers. You have to write service activity reports carefully too. There are kids who got warnings for writing false reports. Ah, from the second year of high school, you can fill your service points with blood donations-.’

He was worried that she might be difficult because it was a sensitive time, but Hong Su-jeong chattered on about her life. Because the smile never left her face, because she was free of worries, Jinhyuk was satisfied with that alone.

That’s why he didn’t bring up the story of the gift Hong Su-jeong gave him on his first day of work.

Office workers don’t have school breaks.

Hong Su-jeong was always sad to see Jinhyuk, who couldn’t stay for even a day because he had to go home and meet friends using the short weekends.

Whenever he left, she would always give him 10,000 won for spending money, and she said she was saving it up.

‘She’s a unique kid the more I get to know her.’

Why would she do that for such a small amount of money?

Choi Mi-kyung, a college student, frequented Yeouido with Kim Eun-jeong.

When he asked why she came instead of hanging out with her friends, she surprisingly used logical reasoning, saying, ‘Aren’t you my friend?’

On Friday evenings when her classes ended early, she would come to the company and protest, demanding that he buy her drinks.

‘Son Jinhyuk, come out!’

‘Come out-!’

[Beep-beep-beep-.]

‘Yes, this is Son Jinhyuk.’

– ‘President, ah, Steve. This is Shin Ju-hee at the lobby reception desk. Those friends of yours are here again?’

‘What are their expressions like?’

– ‘They’re smiling?’

‘Haa-, I’ll go down.’

On those days, he would leave work on time. Because he was embarrassed.

There weren’t many things Jinhyuk, who didn’t drink alcohol for health reasons, could do with his friends.

‘Son Jinhyuk! Stop eating the snacks! We’re just eating corn!’

‘Mi-kyung, this isn’t corn, it’s called macaroni.’

‘Hey guys, order more snacks.’

‘Can we eat a lot?’

‘Mi-kyung, I want to eat spicy chicken feet soup.’

Choi Mi-kyung, the college student, hadn’t changed at all since she was a child.

Perhaps she had changed, but because they had grown up together and met often, he didn’t notice it.

Every other 5-day work week.

Ring-ring-ring-ring-.

On Saturday mornings when he didn’t go to work, the phone would ring without fail.

‘Hello-. Oh, it’s Mi-kyung.’

– ‘You didn’t go to the countryside on the weekend?’

‘I’m planning to go in the evening.’

– ‘Okay! I’m coming! Wait right there!’

Ha-.

She said she was coming, but he couldn’t tell her not to come…

When hanging out with friends on weekend mornings, the hottest PC cafe in town was a must.

[Whirring-whirring-whirring-.]

[Nuclear Launch Detected.]

‘Hahaha! Son Jinhyuk, open your mouth! The nuke is going in!’

‘Mi-kyung, that’s my base.’

‘Oh my god! This mini-map is confusing!’

Well, it didn’t seem like it was the mini-map’s fault…

Choi Mi-kyung, who teamed up with Kim Eun-jeong to fight Jinhyuk 2:1, frequently launched nukes at Kim Eun-jeong.

Jinhyuk endured his yawns and focused only on building up, for the sake of his friends’ enjoyment. He waited until they made nukes and battlecruisers, and he took the hits as they came.

‘Son Jinhyuk! Stop defending so much!’

‘Don’t attack, don’t defend… Should I just die?’

‘Jinhyuk, fill up two hundred population with workers.’

It was easier to just let the two crazy girls win when they were trying so hard to beat him.

Since a celebrity was playing games with college girls on either side of him at a PC cafe, the customers would peek around or stand behind them and watch openly. It was a rare sight. Those who had built personal homepages using HTML and domains even asked for Jinhyuk’s permission to upload the photos, and the response was explosive.

Even if it wasn’t a personal domain homepage, online communities were already active. Because of this, photos of Jinhyuk getting hit by nukes from Choi Mi-kyung were circulating around the world. Not long ago, Jonathan from the US called and teased him, asking why he was getting hit by nukes when he wasn’t even a punching bag.

‘Star takes too long for one game. We’ve been playing for two hours.’

‘Mi-kyung, it’s because we’re bad.’

‘It’s because this guy only defends. If he gets Zerg, he just lays down sunkens and spores, if he gets Protoss, he makes a cannon field, and I hate Terran just thinking about it. Crazy turrets, crazy bunkers, crazy ghosts. Stop using lockdown so much. It’s like playing against a computer.’

Hehe-.

What is she talking about? I can’t just stand there and get hit.

If he were a general, he would have said this.

‘It’s just about understanding the characteristics of the units and using them in the right place. Isn’t that the basis of management? Management and military command are essentially the same. Efficient strategy execution starts with understanding available resources and capabilities-.’

Ha, this guy is talking about something that makes my head hurt again. Choi Mi-kyung, the college student with a Buddha-like expression, shook her head.

‘Mi-kyung, our heads hurt too, let’s do a three-on-three.’

‘Okay! I’ll make the room!’

[Thump-. Thump-!]

Tada-da-dak-.

Connecting to Battle.net, entering the room name. Choi Mi-kyung showed off a performance where her fingers were almost invisible.

‘Hunter Beginner College Girls 3:3’

Ugh-, that’s terrible.

It was a room title that made him cringe.

‘Wow, why are you making me a college girl too…’

Beep-.

Beep-, beep-.

‘Ohoho-. It’s filling up really fast.’