The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 40

The lively Hong Su-jeong was gone from the babbling brook, replaced by a melancholic girl. She seemed out of sorts, so I tried to coax her into catching minnows while Yu-jin was napping. But Hong Su-jeong just hugged her knees, staring blankly at the clear stream.

“Su-jeong, let’s go catch fish with Oppa.”

“Uh-huh.”

What’s wrong with her?

Hong Su-jeong just stared at the stream with vacant eyes, not moving an inch.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

I thought it would be peaceful if the noisy one was quiet, but only my eardrums were at peace. So this is what it feels like to have emotions. Emotions are quite uncomfortable. Jinhyuk felt uncomfortable with the ordinary human emotions sprouting within him, yet secretly welcomed them.

Anyway.

‘It’s so unsettling to see the Great Mage like that.’

Jinhyuk, who had been standing in the stream up to his shins, sat down next to Hong Su-jeong. Seen from the side, Hong Su-jeong’s eyes reflected the sunlight from the stream, making them sparkle brilliantly. But her unfocused eyes and expressionless face were saying, ‘I’m sad right now.’

‘Looking at her like this, she does seem like her.’

Those were the eyes I saw in the past.

Hong Su-jeong, sitting alone blankly in the executive office. When Jinhyuk entered for a report or meeting, her eyes would quickly regain focus. Why was the Great Mage of the past sitting there alone with such sad eyes?

The Great Mage of the past is beyond help now, but the current Hong Su-jeong can be comforted by Jinhyuk. No, I wanted to comfort her.

“Su-jeong. If you don’t like playing in the water, should we go home?”

“……”

Hong Su-jeong was still resting her chin on her knees, silent.

The little one is acting like a puppy, making me wonder if she’s sick.

‘Could it be because of that kiss?’

Jinhyuk wasn’t stupid, and that was the only thing he could think of.

“Su-jeong, is it because Oppa didn’t ask you for a kiss?”

At the word ‘kiss,’ Hong Su-jeong turned her head sharply toward Jinhyuk. The focus that had left her eyes was back. Her gaze was slightly resentful.

Jinhyuk was secretly relieved. So that’s why she was like that.

“You shouldn’t talk about things like that when other people are around. It’s our secret.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Of course. It’s our precious and secret, uh… what should I say…”

Jinhyuk was at a loss for words, trying to explain something he didn’t even know.

I guess experience is important.

By the way, this feels like early childhood education. Is this how a tamer feels when training a Great Mage?

“Then, will you ask me when we’re alone?”

Forget taming.

She’s so bold.

“Uh, well, that’s…”

“See, I knew it. You don’t want to.”

“That’s not it.”

“It’s not? Then you like it?”

What kind of terrible teacher taught her such extreme logic?

Again, I was speechless.

Before Jinhyuk could reply, Hong Su-jeong’s face brightened.

Looking at her face, Jinhyuk was sure.

‘Isn’t it obvious that I’m the one being trained here?’

While Jinhyuk was lost in a strange question, Hong Su-jeong’s face came closer.

Ah, no. I’m not an Oppa [older brother], I’m an uncle! No, what am I even saying?

While Jinhyuk’s thought circuits were tangled, her cat-like eyes closed tightly right in front of his nose. Soon after, a clear ‘pop’ sound rang out.

‘Cough! I let my guard down!’

It was a shocking blow. The internal damage was that great.

The sound of the stream flowing was so loud, but the friction sound that hit my eardrums was even more intense. There was nothing to be excited or happy about. It was a familiar sensation because my younger sister, Yu-jin, often came to me for kisses.

If I had to compare, it felt a little uncomfortable because she was someone else.

‘What is this! I got owned by a kid!’

While I was flustered, not knowing who to complain to, the little Hong Su-jeong’s small hands grabbed Jinhyuk’s cheeks. It was a confirmation kill. The little one even made a smacking sound.

“Mmm-”

I can’t run away.

If I shake her off, the Great Mage will become the Great Mage again. But why do I feel like crying? I feel wronged, and also resentful. So, Seoul women are scary. Please, just let me go!

Jinhyuk’s legs gave way, and he collapsed, losing his balance.

Splash-!

He fell headfirst into the stream. I must have lost my footing without realizing it. My face, which had been flushed, cooled down in the stream. At the same time, a sense of relief washed over me. Now the Great Mage won’t be sad. I did my best.

“Pah-!”

I deliberately made an exaggerated motion and lifted my head out of the stream.

If I do this, the Great Mage will laugh her head off. A laughing Hong Su-jeong is more beautiful than anyone in the world. I mean the future Hong Su-jeong.

But there was no sound, no sign of her.

“Su-jeong?”

Hong Su-jeong was gone.

Could it be a dream that suddenly appeared because of my lingering feelings from my past life? Could it be an illusion created by my regrets?

Just as Jinhyuk was wandering between the boundaries of dream and reality.

“Mommyyyyyy!”

The little one’s voice was heard from afar. The sound was trailing off, moving away from Jinhyuk.

I turned my head in the direction of the sound. I saw the Seoul kid with short legs, sprinting towards the house.

“Mommyyyyyy! It’s a secret!”

That little… brat?

***

How much time had passed?

After staring blankly at the stream for a while, Jinhyuk dusted off his bottom and stood up.

The four-legged beast that had been watching Jinhyuk from the bushes also moved quietly. It tilted its head, its long tongue dangling.

Heh heh hek-?

Humans don’t lick their mouths? I was hiding, hoping to see something good.

Sigh-. Jinhyuk sighed. I thought I would be punished.

Hadn’t I done something terrible to a precious guest from Seoul? How scary would my kind parents be if they got angry? I didn’t even want to think about it.

With a guilty heart, I climbed the hill, and Hong Su-jeong’s voice, telling a heroic tale, filled the yard.

“Oppa did this, this, grabbed my face like this, and mmm-”

Hong Su-jeong was grabbing her mother, Yu Se-ra’s, cheeks and pretending to kiss her. Her bright red lips, turned inside out, looked like a wrinkled chicken butt.

Even in the midst of feeling wronged, Jinhyuk tilted his head.

It’s strange, I don’t remember using my hands.

“Oh my, really? So, did our Su-jeong like it?”

That woman?

I thought she would be dumbfounded, but Yu Se-ra was responding to her daughter’s playful reenactment with the brightest smile. Is it because they’re still kids, so there’s no need to see it with inappropriate eyes?

“Ah, it wasn’t a big deal, Mom.”

Really?

Even though she said that, she was putting her hands together and stretching them down, twisting her body. She must have been quite embarrassed. But seeing her grinning with a flushed face, Jinhyuk thought.

‘That’s a relief. She didn’t hate it.’

Sigh. To have my first kiss stolen so defenselessly. She’s not the Great Mage for nothing. Thinking about it again, it was an unpredictable surprise attack. I was sure Hong Su-jeong would do well even if she joined the special forces. Especially in rear disruption and key figure assassination missions.

Jinhyuk silently appealed to his mother with his eyes.

‘Mom, I’m wronged. I’m wronged.’

Although there were no words, the corners of the mothers’ eyes were down, and the corners of their mouths were up. At the end of their gaze was Jinhyuk with a bewildered expression. Jinhyuk decided it was his own fault rather than trying to explain and headed into the house.

‘I’ve become too soft-hearted…’

It was Jinhyuk’s karma for feeling and being faithful to his emotions.

I was strangely tired.

‘I should take a nap.’

In his sleep, Jinhyuk felt someone going in and out of his room on the second floor. And every time they went in and out, the Great Mage’s breath lingered on his lips and cheeks.

Pop-, pop-, smooch! Don’t forget the intense and clear friction sounds.

Deep in sleep, Jinhyuk thought in his dream.

‘Just eat me instead…’

Stop getting your spit all over me.

***

It was time for dessert after dinner on the porch, and we were eating watermelon.

Hong Ki-joon asked.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Jinhyuk?”

It seems like he asks this question every time we meet. It’s as if he has a desired answer, he’s so persistent.

“Well…”

Jinhyuk, who was cutting the watermelon into small pieces and feeding Yu-jin, scratched his cheek.

My dream is to live peacefully and happily with my family, just like now. He answered again in his mind. Even though his parents and Hong Ki-joon, including Yu Se-ra and Hong Su-jeong, were looking at him, waiting for an answer, the words wouldn’t come out easily. It seems that precious dreams are not something you want to show to just anyone.

“You’re good at sports, right? Do you want to go to a sports middle school? I’ll help you.”

“No.”

A firm answer came back to Yu Se-ra’s question, which she had thrown out for the first time in a while.

“Jinhyuk’s dream is to live with his mom and dad in the same house for a long, long time.”

“Ehh-, is that your dream?”

Yu Se-ra laughed as if she was dumbfounded at her father’s explanation. But it wasn’t an unpleasant laugh, and Yu Se-ra’s reaction was understandable. Isn’t it the age to dream of becoming a scientist, a politician, or even a rich person or an athlete?

“If you say you’re going to live with your parents, no woman will marry you, you know?”

“I have no intention of getting married.”

This woman is trying to threaten me with something that won’t work. If I get married, I will, but for now, I just want to live with my family. Adults have a bad habit of skipping several steps at once. Jinhyuk also had the soul of an adult, but this kind of conversation made his chest feel tight.

Despite Jinhyuk’s somewhat bold and blunt tone, the adults’ faces showed no signs of discomfort. They probably thought Jinhyuk was going through puberty.

But Hong Su-jeong was different.

Watermelon juice dripped from the little one’s mouth, who had the expression of someone who had lost their country.

“Hey, you bad guy!”

Hong Su-jeong threw a watermelon rind at Jinhyuk and ran off into the dark road.

Wahhhhh! I’m going to go astray!

The little one with short legs disappeared into the darkness in an instant.

‘Ah, that’s not what I meant.’

It was like the stone thrown by the mother hit the daughter.

Jinhyuk, the person who bounced off that stone, felt guilty again and went to find the little one.

“Su, Su-jeong-. That’s not what I meant-”

Because of the memories of my past life, I had decided to be good to Hong Su-jeong, even though she was still a little kid.

Jang-gun followed behind, not wanting to miss her.

The adults’ cheerful laughter decorated the summer night.

“Heh heh. It seems like my daughter thinks of him dearly.”

Hong Ki-joon’s mumbling, like an old man’s soliloquy, was buried in the laughter.

Hong Su-jeong was sobbing at the dark bus stop, saying she would tell her grandfather. The sassy Seoul kid only returned on Jinhyuk’s back after he gave her a kiss.

“Oppa, you promised me, right?”

“……”

The short legs of the child on Jinhyuk’s back were dangling.

In the past, Hong Su-jeong’s memory as an executive was not very good.

Jinhyuk relied on that and made a marriage promise. They even hooked their pinkies.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“Uh…”

She’s a persistent little one.

Maybe she’ll remember it for quite a while.

‘Peace like a river to me.’

***

“Oh my, the touch-me-nots [Impatiens balsamina] are blooming so beautifully. Should we dye our Su-jeong’s nails with touch-me-not juice?”

“Tch-, Mom uses expensive nail polish, but you want me to dye my nails with touch-me-not juice?”

Hong Su-jeong pouted her lips.

She was in a bad mood after going back and forth between heaven and hell the day before due to the kiss and the declaration of not getting married.

“If this doesn’t fade until the first snow, your first love will come true, you know? Don’t you know that?”

Hong Su-jeong’s cheeks flushed red, like they were dyed with touch-me-not juice.

Then.

“Oppa!”

She went into the house and dragged Jinhyuk out.

“Quickly, quickly come out!”

Jinhyuk, who had been coloring with Yu-jin, was dragged out without knowing why. He could understand the reason when he saw the meaningful smiles of the mothers and the touch-me-not flower being placed on his pinky finger.

‘Hmm-, it seems like I’ve been caught by the Great Mage.’

But who cares?

It’s only for a while.

‘Isn’t she going to study abroad in middle school?’

Hong Su-jeong will go abroad to study soon, and her taste in men will change as she grows up. It’s not difficult to play along for a while. Besides, aren’t they precious guests who come to visit every vacation and make Mom and Dad happy?

“Oppa, you can’t cut your nails until the first snow, okay?”

“The kids at school will make fun of me…”

“Can’t you endure being teased for Su-jeong’s sake?”

“Uh, okay. Should I?”

It felt strangely like I was being nagged.

I decided to give in one more time for the little one who was putting her hands on her hips as if she was angry. There’s no one who would make fun of Jinhyuk unless they were crazy.

“Oppa, bye-. Yu-jin, I’m leaving-.”

Hong Su-jeong, who had become an elementary school student, no longer cried when she left after her vacation.

Instead.

She held up her red-stained fingers through the car window as she left, smiling brightly.