The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 44

In his previous life, Jinhyuk rarely got up from his chair except to go to the bathroom. But now it’s different. After sitting for a long time, he could feel the quadriceps near his knees relaxing and the muscles around his pelvis contracting.

It meant his legs were falling asleep.

‘It feels like my blood isn’t circulating properly.’

He had heard that if you sit in one position for too long, such asymmetrical tension in the thigh muscles could lead to the knees bearing the weight later on. It was ultimately a problem caused by having a lot of muscle mass.

‘I should loosen up my muscles during break time.’

And also look for his old friends, and the guys who would become his friends.

He strolled along.

Taeyang Middle School was connected to the high school.

The high school was located by the sports field, facing the main gate, and the middle school was behind it. There was a small sports field behind the middle school, which was mainly used for outdoor practical training or for secretly smoking.

If those big guys weren’t visible, they must be at the back of the school. Jinhyuk’s legs naturally headed that way.

‘There they are.’

In a shaded area, his two friends were standing at attention with their heads bowed. In front of them were four men who were bigger than his friends. If a stranger saw them, they might mistake them for wrestling team coaches.

‘They must be seniors?’

The wrestling coach at this school wasn’t that big. There were many athletes who were bigger than their coaches, and the middle school athletes were no exception.

As he approached his friends, he heard cursing.

“Hey, you little shits. You didn’t bring the money?”

“We’re sorry.”

“Sorry my ass! You should have taken it by force and brought it!”

The senior raised his hand, and his friends flinched.

It was an unfamiliar sight for Jinhyuk.

In his previous life, he could count on one hand the number of days he had walked around the school during break time, and he had never been robbed because he had nothing. There were no guys who would beat up Jinhyuk, who came to school with his face a mess almost every day. He had thought that Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon weren’t the type of friends who would get beaten up either.

‘I didn’t think that the seniors could bully them like this.’

It made his heart ache to think that those friends had been so kind to him even while being bullied like that.

‘This time, I think I’ll have to protect you guys.’

Jinhyuk deliberately dragged his feet to make a sound.

Thud-.

“Hey, what are you doing there?”

“Who are you? Are you a freshman too?”

“Yeah. I’m a freshman. Do you want money?”

Jinhyuk took out a few ten-thousand won bills from his wallet and waved them. His dad gave him too much allowance, and he had nowhere to spend it.

“Look at this punk? Talking back to a senior-”

The so-called senior reached out and pushed Jinhyuk’s head.

Thwack-!

At the same time, Jinhyuk used the bills to strike the guy’s chin upwards.

“What-.”

Everyone’s face was filled with shock.

The most surprised person was Jinhyuk.

‘Huh? I didn’t mean to do that.’

Oh my god. He hit someone with money.

***

“Oom-ma, oom-ma.”

“Aigoo-, my daughter. Do you want to eat?”

“Yee-hee-. Let’s go see oppa [older brother].”

“Oppa went to school-.”

“Went to school?”

It seemed that Yujin was curious about why her oppa, who had been with her all vacation, was not around.

Han Yooyoung sat Yujin on her lap and fed her rice.

“Let’s eat. Ah-.”

“Ah-.”

Her husband had started to go around busily to prepare for the year’s farming.

Han Yooyoung felt frustrated being alone at home with her daughter, who couldn’t communicate yet, and she was also worried about her son who she had sent out.

“Is it lunchtime now? I wonder if he’s made any friends.”

“Umma-, umma-. Oppa, oppa.”

Yujin also seemed to be worried about her oppa. She kept talking about her oppa even while munching on her food.

After a simple meal, she put Yujin in the stroller.

Janggun stayed by her side as if he was her escort.

“Yujin, look over there. The flowers have bloomed?”

“Flowers-!”

“The forsythias have already bloomed?”

“Forsythia-!”

The news of spring that the sky and earth announced together was always refreshing to see.

The clear stream flowing gently, the forsythias, and the new sprouts that had sprung up in the fields.

And even the spring sunshine that added to the feeling of fullness.

She plucked a forsythia flower and put it in Yujin’s hand and also in her hair.

“So pretty, my daughter-.”

“Ehehe-, am I pretty?”

She parked by the stream and looked at the stream with sparkling eyes. The stones in the stream were moving, so it seemed that crayfish were playing.

Janggun also sat down, following his owner.

“Ah-, this is nice.”

Although her life wasn’t long, she looked back on her past lives.

Her mother, who had been taking care of her father in prison, had quietly passed away in her sleep when Han Yooyoung was nineteen. Since Han Yooyoung was a late child, it was an ambiguous age to call it a premature death.

Her father, who had already passed seventy and had served time in prison, also followed her mother soon after.

‘I miss my mom and dad.’

The affluent life of a rural landowner was all spent on her father’s prison care and bribes for his release, and in the end, only Han Yooyoung was left. The woman who had come in as her father’s concubine and her stepsister had taken all the remaining property.

Her brother-in-law had even threatened Han Yooyoung with a knife when she resisted. The nearest neighbor was more than 200 meters away. Unable to ask for anyone’s help, Han Yooyoung had to cower in a corner, trembling with fear.

‘Thieving bastards, may you be struck by lightning, you bitches, you thieving bitches.’

Han Yooyoung, who couldn’t utter curses, raised her resistance to the maximum and cursed inwardly. She didn’t even go to the market, let alone buy her favorite snacks, in case she ran into her stepsister and her husband who ran a teahouse in town. It was the same even after she got a car.

Her father was strict, but whenever he went to the market, he would buy hairpins, skirts, and fried food and give them to his daughter. Now her husband was doing that role.

‘I endured because I had oppa.’

He was the one who had helped Han Yooyoung, who had no parents or property, get back on her feet.

After meeting Son Kwangyeon, Han Yooyoung was able to wipe away her tears. She didn’t tell her husband a single word about the twists and turns of her short life, afraid that her sadness would be conveyed.

Han Yooyoung sighed for no reason.

She had been happy ever since she met her husband, but she had become worried again after Jinhyuk entered middle school.

‘Sigh, my son, who is weak and tender-hearted. There must be a lot of bad kids in town, I wonder if anyone will bully him. I wonder if he’ll be teased because of his bald spot.’

She didn’t know what criteria she used to evaluate him like that, but…

To a mother, her child was someone she worried about no matter where they were.

‘What if he gets scolded for being like an old man because of his personality?’

That’s why Han Yooyoung was worried a lot today.

And so.

Squeak squeak-.

She didn’t even see Janggun biting and holding onto the stroller that was about to roll into the stream.

Grrr-.

I’ll protect my subordinate!

***

“Huh? Look at this punk?”

The senior who was hit with money looked utterly dumbfounded.

Jinhyuk was just as flustered.

‘Ah, this is a problem.’

His hand had gone up without him realizing it. He had just intended to end it by giving them money. If he could buy his friends’ freedom with a few bucks, he would have done it. But it was already water under the bridge. It wasn’t a situation that could be resolved nicely, and Jinhyuk knew that.

“You little-!”

Whoosh-!

A powerful sound rose from the hard ground. It was the sound effect created by the footwork of a heavy body honed by wrestling. But that was it.

Thud-.

The senior’s fist was caught in Jinhyuk’s hand. So easily.

Jinhyuk spoke quietly, but clearly. Looking straight into the other’s eyes.

“Listen carefully, think carefully, and answer.”

“Ugh-! Won’t you let go?”

The guy struggled.

He tried to pull his fist out, but the more he struggled, the more the freshman’s grip tightened. The freshman in front of him was tall for a middle schooler, but he couldn’t understand why he was losing in strength when he was older and had done a lot of exercise.

“Ughhh-.”

He couldn’t help but groan.

The pain on the back of his hand, which was being crushed by the freshman’s fingers, was unusual. It was because of the terrifying grip that was being applied to an area that couldn’t be trained.

“Are you going to keep bullying my friends?”

“Eek-.”

“Answer me.”

“Fuck off!”

Jinhyuk couldn’t help but be surprised. How did he know he hadn’t?.

‘He has quite the insight.’

What a great eye. Is that what it means to be a senior?

“You little shit!”

The guy’s left fist flew at him.

It was a fairly nimble movement, but their time was too different.

To Jinhyuk’s eyes, the opponent’s movements looked too slow. As if he was begging him to dodge.

Jinhyuk used the guy’s right fist, which he was already holding, as cover and turned to the guy’s right. The guy’s fist cut through the air far away from Jinhyuk. He let go of the fist he was holding and grabbed his wrist. At the same time, he pressed his right thumb into the inside of the guy’s elbow.

“Aaaah-.”

Even if he was big and strong, he was still a teenager. When he heard a scream that was no different from a child’s, Jinhyuk chuckled.

He applied force to the inside with the hand holding his elbow and to the outside with the hand holding his wrist, and then he kicked the guy’s leg, making him fall.

Thud- The sound and vibration befitting his size rose from the ground.

“Uwaaaah-.”

Another big guy rushed at him.

This was going to be annoying.

Bang bang-!

That was the sound that the kids nearby heard.

The big guy who was rushing at him fell like a doll with its strings cut. No one properly saw Jinhyuk’s fist hitting the guy’s philtrum [the vertical groove between the base of the nose and the border of the upper lip] and chin in succession.

‘He’s not dead, is he?’

Looking at the guy who had fallen, he was shaking his head and trying to regain his senses.

He was relieved inside, but he glared at the other wrestling team members who were still standing.

“Hey, you guys.”

When Jinhyuk called out, the other two hesitated as if they had no intention of fighting.

“If you bully my friends, you’ll get in trouble.”

The guys didn’t show any reaction.

Silence meant agreement.

He reached out his hand to his frozen friends.

“Let’s go. Woosung, Seunghoon.”

Shin Woosung and Lee Seunghoon decided that it was better to leave the place for now, and they followed without a word. They looked worriedly at the two seniors who were sprawled out.

‘It would have been better if we had stayed in the classroom.’

He wondered for a moment if he had meddled unnecessarily. It could have a negative impact on his friends’ future. But was it really the right thing to do to ignore injustice for the sake of their future, when he had the power to stop it? Jinhyuk wanted to live as a selfish person, but he didn’t want to be a coward.

“If anyone bothers you, tell me right away.”

Jinhyuk said, turning to his two friends.

Because his expression was serious, Shin Woosung and Lee Seunghoon just nodded.

‘It might get a little noisy.’

He thought he had done the right thing by stepping in, but he felt uneasy for no reason.

Because even if they were scolded by a senior or an adult, they would be resentful for being scolded by a junior.

Jinhyuk was also a boy with a body full of hormones, who could explode at any time. So there was no way Jinhyuk wouldn’t know their psychology.

And sure enough.

When the fourth period ended and it was lunchtime, a guest came.

Slam-! Bang-! Crash!

The back door was opened roughly, the door fell to the floor, and the glass shattered, sending shards flying.

“Who’s the one who messed with the wrestling team!”

***

Choi Taeyang, who had become a third-year high school student, was taking a nap using his math textbook as a pillow. He had eaten his lunch early to sleep during lunchtime.

There was no better pillow than a book. The cool sensation cleared his mind. He took off his jacket and covered his head with it.

But then a junior came to him in a hurry.

“Senior! Senior Taeyang!”

“Slurp-, whamma?”

“Mansoo hyung [older brother] went to punish a middle schooler!”

“What are you talking about-? Mansoo is here-.”

Wait, where did this big bear go without eating?

He had disappeared as soon as lunchtime started, so he thought he had gone to buy ramen.

“But what middle schooler are you talking about?”

“A middle schooler is a middle schooler. What other middle schooler is there?”

Choi Taeyang jumped up.

He didn’t know what was going on, but for the wrestling team captain to lay a hand on a middle schooler.

Wait, but that gentle Park Mansoo stepped up?

Slap slap-!

Choi Taeyang slapped his cheeks a couple of times to wake up and clear his mind, and then he sat back down. It was because he couldn’t grasp what the situation was at all.

“What’s the reason?”

“A freshman knocked out a third-year middle school member…”

A first-year beating a third-year? And a wrestling team member?

Choi Taeyang burst out laughing.

“Nuhuhut-. Kid, that doesn’t make any sense-.”

Wait, he knew one guy who could do that.

Choi Taeyang nodded quietly.

“What’s the name of that freshman?”

“Son…, what was it- Ack!”

Choi Taeyang pushed his junior away and ran out of the classroom.

Thump thump- The corridor echoed as the giant sprinted.

“Aigooo-! Mansoo-yaaaa-! He’s not the one you should mess with!”