The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 45

“The wrestling team will pay for the broken glass. Any objections?”

The guy who seemed to be the high school team captain shook his head.

Park Mansoo, the third-year middle school wrestling team captain, tried to recall what had happened.

He had come to the first-year middle school classroom to check on the situation after hearing from his third-year middle school teammates that they had been beaten by a freshman.

*

“Is it you?”

The freshman didn’t answer the question, just tilted his head.

“Hey, you!”

Park Mansoo, enraged by the young one’s disregard, reached out his arm. He had been wrestling for eight years. No matter how good a fighter someone was, just grabbing their shoulder would make them scream and beg for forgiveness.

But why did it suddenly feel like he was experiencing zero gravity?

“Whoa-!”

He had tried to grab the middle schooler’s shoulder, but the freshman seemed to spin, then dug his shoulder into Park Mansoo’s armpit. Suddenly, Park Mansoo’s body was lifted into the air and slammed onto the classroom floor. It was a clean shoulder throw.

The classroom ceiling spun, and his head and spine throbbed. He couldn’t figure out what was going on until he finally realized.

‘Ah! I came to catch the freshman.’

Cough-cough-.

It hurt, but he could breathe. The only thought that crossed his mind was the fear of the punches that would soon rain down on his face. He hadn’t fought or been beaten since he started wrestling, but from his memories of being bullied as a child, he knew that boys would often climb on top of someone they knocked down and start punching them.

But instead of punches, he heard a voice.

“Are you willing to try to resolve this through conversation again?”

“Uh, y-yeah.”

Park Mansoo looked up at the freshman with a bewildered expression. Even though it seemed like Park Mansoo had started the fight, this kid was suggesting a conversation. He had always thought that suggesting a conversation was something weaklings did.

‘Or maybe he’s just a nice kid.’

Park Mansoo took the hand Jinhyuk offered and got up. He could feel the freshman’s strong forearm. It was more than enough to support Park Mansoo’s weight.

“Let’s talk outside.”

“I have to eat lunch with my friend. And I think we’ll need witnesses, so let’s talk here.”

“Okay.”

Park Mansoo answered, rubbing his chest. He had fallen on his back, but his chest hurt. He thought the human body was amazing.

“How did you get here? This is the middle school building.”

“You beat up our guys.”

“Did they not tell you why they got beat up?”

It sounded sarcastic, but Jinhyuk was doing his best to be polite. He had already shown a lot of leniency by not beating up the guys who had barged in and used force.

“Hey, you third-years over there. You didn’t tell them the truth, did you?”

Jinhyuk asked, looking at the third-year middle schoolers standing behind him.

The guys avoided Jinhyuk’s gaze and fidgeted. They were already embarrassed about getting beaten up, and now they were being questioned in a first-year classroom. They wished they could disappear into a hole.

“They were trying to take money from my friends, weren’t they? They even tried to hit them. What do you think would have happened if I had been a high school senior?”

“Is that true?”

Park Mansoo wasn’t asking Jinhyuk.

The wrestling team members just rolled their eyes, avoiding eye contact with Park Mansoo. It would be strange if they said anything. With Jinhyuk, Lee Seunghoon, and Shin Woosung as witnesses, they couldn’t deny it. But they couldn’t admit it either.

“Why can’t these guys talk?”

Park Mansoo said, grinding his teeth.

But silence meant agreement, didn’t it?

It was good to help with the confirmation process in situations like this. Jinhyuk wasn’t some naive kid who had just started out.

“Seunghoon, Woosung. Did I beat up your wrestling team seniors for no reason?”

What could be more solid evidence than the direct testimony of eyewitnesses?

And not just one, but two.

“The class president is right. On the first day of middle school, they tried to establish their authority by making us do drills and told us to bring them money, even if we had to steal it from others.”

“That’s right. Waaah-.”

The soft-hearted Shin Woosung even shed tears of sorrow.

Grind-.

Park Mansoo gritted his teeth.

The wrestling team was full of talented but generally well-behaved guys. But recently, bad rumors about the wrestling team had been circulating. Or rather, strange rumors. He felt like he had finally found evidence.

“I messed up, man. I’m sorry.”

Park Mansoo was quite manly.

He put his shame aside and offered Jinhyuk a handshake. Jinhyuk took his hand, and only then did he turn his neck and start complaining.

“Ouch, I thought my neck was going to break. You’re really strong. Have you ever thought about wrestling?”

“No. I have a younger sibling at home.”

Jinhyuk shook his head with a serious expression.

It was always difficult for Jinhyuk to refuse someone’s offer. How many times had he turned down Director Hong Sujeong’s offer to eat ramen? Every time, he felt uneasy.

But Park Mansoo seemed to have taken it differently.

“I see…”

Park Mansoo’s eyes flickered with pity at the mention of a younger sibling. He seemed to have misunderstood something. He was a giant, over 190 cm tall with a neck that seemed almost nonexistent, but his eyes were kind.

“Okay, let’s meet again for something good next time.”

“Take care.”

He had saved Shin Woosung and Lee Seunghoon from the bullies.

Jinhyuk thought he had handled it well and took out his lunch box.

Chae Gyuho, who had been waiting for his partner while holding his chopsticks, also opened his lunch box.

At that moment, a loud crash echoed from the hallway.

It was accompanied by a vibration as if a bison was running towards them.

Jinhyuk also turned his head towards the sound.

Thump thump thump thump-.

‘Jumanji?’

It was a sound effect that naturally made him think of an adventure movie.

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

Choi Taeyang burst in.

He was late because he didn’t know which class it was and had to search from the back.

“Ugh-! I’m so tired-.”

Jinhyuk tilted his head, holding his spoon, as he watched Choi Taeyang, who was out of breath with his hands on his knees.

That look, that gagging… Where had he seen it before?

“Ugh-!”

Jinhyuk thought he smelled cow dung somewhere.

***

After school, Jinhyuk went to the newspaper distribution center.

It was the same place he had delivered newspapers in the past.

“Can I work until the summer vacation?”

“Yeah, sure. Are you a high schooler? You’re not wearing a uniform, so you look like a middle schooler?”

The distribution center manager, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, asked. He looked unsure, seeing the youthful face despite the large physique.

“I’m a middle schooler. Is that not okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Do you have a bike?”

“Yes.”

He had a steel TB bike that his dad had bought him when he entered middle school.

His dad had said he would buy him a more expensive one in Seoul, but Jinhyuk had said that as long as it rolled, it was fine.

The distribution center manager, with his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, asked.

“Can you do two routes? We’re short on people these days. I’ll pay you more.”

Jinhyuk barely suppressed a smile.

How could the lines be exactly the same as before? He used to do three routes, but he didn’t need to now. He wasn’t going to make a fortune delivering newspapers anyway.

“I’ll just do one route. I have a younger sibling at home.”

“I see…”

The distribution center manager also looked at him with pity, as if he had misunderstood something.

To Jinhyuk, it looked like the kind eyes of a good person.

‘I just need to make enough to buy five chickens for home.’

There were five family members, including Janggun.

Jinhyuk wanted to earn money with his own hands and have a chicken party with his family.

Now that he was in middle school, it was time to put it into action.

With his bike, it would only take 30 minutes to deliver one route.

***

Several days after the start of middle school, the hallway was noisy.

Rumors about Son Jinhyuk and the wrestling team’s exploits had spread from middle school to high school. It wasn’t even an exploit, just a surprise event. But somehow, the story had been exaggerated to the point where it was said that he had taken down five high school wrestling team seniors with one punch.

Jinhyuk buried his face in his desk and scratched the back of his head.

‘Aaaah, a normal life. A normal life.’

Taeyang High School wasn’t fully co-ed, but it was semi-co-ed. Anyway, there were also classes with only female students. A bizarre scene unfolded as even high school girls peeked into the classroom to see the middle school freshman who had beaten the wrestling team captain.

Jinhyuk, who was desperately avoiding the gazes pouring in from the hallway, spotted a familiar face among them.

‘Is that Gayoung noona [older sister/female friend]?’

It was his aunt’s second daughter, Hwang Gayoung.

She was three years older than Jinhyuk, and in his previous life, she had come to Jinhyuk in her underwear.

She was the woman who had nipped Jinhyuk’s interest in the opposite sex in the bud.

Thinking about that day, his face flushed with embarrassment.

“Kyaaa-! He’s so cute!”

It wasn’t their fault that his face was red.

Misunderstandings were free, but Jinhyuk couldn’t think of a solution when they came in droves and misunderstood. Was there even a solution?

‘Aaaah, should I transfer schools?’

Still, it seemed like his relationship with the wrestling team, which could have turned into a bad one, had been resolved well. He was convinced that the third-year students who had been dragged away by the captain would never bully his friends again. He just hoped that time would pass quickly and they would forget about it.

He quickly erased the thought of Hwang Gayoung.

It wasn’t like he could erase it just by thinking about it, but he needed to at least try to forget. The silhouette of her naked body in the dark attic was trying to unpleasantly dominate Jinhyuk’s head, which was full of youthful passion.

‘But she was still nice.’

His mouth felt bitter as he remembered what had happened to her in the past.

Hwang Gayoung didn’t know who Jinhyuk was or what their relationship was.

It meant that she wasn’t someone who would intentionally hold Jinhyuk back.

But he was worried.

‘What if she comes to our house someday?’

What would he do then?

They were people he didn’t want to see.

Most of all, he was worried about his mom.

***

The distance from school to home was 10 kilometers.

He had thought about running, but if he ran like that every morning and evening, he would be too tired to do anything else.

‘It’s refreshing-!’

So he commuted by bike.

The course had a good mix of uphill and downhill sections, which helped improve his strength and cardiovascular endurance. The fast speed was a bonus.

On rainy days, he took the bus with Choi Mikyung and Kim Eunjeong, who had gone to the girls’ middle school in the town, and other friends.

He had no intention of learning wrestling.

When he arrived at school, he warmed up in the area where the wrestling team trained.

Thanks to the newly built wrestling team training facility, which had a large shower room, he was able to use it freely. Thanks to that, he could sweat in the morning, shower, and change his clothes.

“Hiss-puff-.”

He climbed the rope every day without fail. It was a piece of exercise equipment with several thick ropes hanging from a tall iron bar.

Jinhyuk used only his arm strength to climb the rope about 10 times, then carefully climbed down. It was a very good core exercise that could train his wrists, shoulders, and even his back muscles.

“Hey, I’m telling you to wrestle, aren’t I?”

“I’m not interested.”

Wrestling coach Sung Buhyun stuck to him.

There was a middle schooler who could climb the rope 10 times without stopping, using only his arm strength? At first, he didn’t believe it.

‘Boys are so full of hot air. It seems even worse in the countryside.’

But all the wrestling team members testified that such a monster existed. So he came out early in the morning to see for himself.

For days and weeks, the middle school freshman Son Jinhyuk repeated the exercise. The time it took him to reach the top was also getting shorter.

‘He’s a real monster?’

So he stuck to him.

He would show him what a leech was. As a player, he had used the strategy of sticking to the bodies of bigger players to drain their strength, even though he was small. He didn’t have many memories of winning, though.

“I’m telling you to wrestle, aren’t I? I’ll buy you meat every day.”

“I have a younger sibling at home.”

Jinhyuk answered, tightening his shoelaces.

He was expecting the answer ‘I see’ to come out.

“Bring your sibling too.”

Was he crazy?

Jinhyuk looked at him as if he was looking at a madman. Was he telling him to carry his younger sister, who wasn’t even 48 months old yet, to school every day? The wrestling team captain Park Mansoo, the newspaper distribution center manager, and now this coach also seemed to have misunderstood something.

The coach, who had received a pathetic look from a middle schooler, froze for a moment.

‘Is that really the look of a child?’

His eyes were shining, but they had a dignity that was hard to describe, something beyond intelligence. It was a look that made him feel like he was losing his pride as a man. Because of that, Sung Buhyun took a step back without realizing it.

Anyway, Jinhyuk had to go home early and play with his younger sister, Yujin.

She was talking a lot these days, and the joy of watching his sister’s antics made all the fatigue of the day disappear.

“Ah, just wrestle a little…”

The coach smacked his lips as he looked at Jinhyuk’s broad shoulders and ripped back muscles.

Jinhyuk glanced at Sung Buhyun as he ran around the field.

‘He’s someone I’ve never seen before.’

In the past, when he had come to join the wrestling team, there had been a dark-faced, rough-talking, mountain bandit-like man. Now, there was a pale, young coach. His tone was so soft and cautious that it was almost like a scholar.

‘It’s the same world, but different.’

The wrestling team’s dormitory had also gotten bigger, and there were more players.

But what did it matter? It was already a different world.

He shook his head to get rid of his random thoughts.

But it wasn’t just the wrestling coach who was sticking to him.