The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 63

The Rhabdophis tigrinus [a type of keelback snake] is known to store venom in its body, mainly absorbed from toads it eats in the fall. This also meant that they were relatively less venomous in the summer. It was said that if one reacted calmly, even a small child wouldn’t be in a dangerous situation.

‘Easy for you to say!’

How could it be that easy? Could a child who was bitten by a large snake while picking flowers remain calm? The same went for the guardian. The person bitten by the snake was his precious little sister. Jinhyuk’s heart was probably beating faster than Yujin’s, who had been bitten by the snake.

Jinhyuk grew anxious. Still, he couldn’t just run off alone, so he carefully pulled Hong Sujeong towards the water.

After confirming that the toothless ‘Dojanggu’ [a nickname for Hong Sujeong, meaning ‘little badger’] was standing properly, he ran to Yujin.

Yujin was surprisingly calm. She had just sat down with wide eyes, but she wasn’t crying or making a fuss. She was always smiling, but it was amazing that she was staying calm even in this situation.

“Yujin! Stay still!”

Grrr- Whine!

Janggun seemed to be in a more urgent situation.

He had been bitten on the snout while shaking the snake’s tail. Even though the snake’s teeth were embedded in him, Janggun was still roughly shaking the tail, crunching it in his mouth. It was a fierce display worthy of a lion.

Jinhyuk rushed over and snatched the snake’s tail from Janggun’s mouth, holding it firmly. The snake’s texture was disgusting, and its pattern was eerie. But Jinhyuk wasn’t one to be intimidated.

The snake raised its head towards Jinhyuk.

However, Jinhyuk’s arm was stronger and faster than the snake.

‘Sorry, Rhabdophis, but you have to die.’

Jinhyuk swung the snake like a flail with a full swing.

Thud-! The Rhabdophis’s crown collided with the hard ground. The snake’s vital point. If you’re unlucky, even a slight graze can kill a snake. But with Jinhyuk’s monstrous strength, its head was crushed. The Rhabdophis, called ‘Yulmegi’ in Jinhyuk’s hometown, slumped like a deflated rubber and died.

“Yujin!”

Leaving Janggun, who was rubbing his nose on the ground in pain, he ran to his sister. Even though only a few seconds had passed from when he safely put Hong Sujeong down to when he ran to his sister, it felt like a long time to Jinhyuk.

As soon as he reached his sister, he checked her ankle.

“Let me see.”

Now, he would tie the area above the wound and suck out the blood…

Jinhyuk’s eyes were filled with bewilderment as he examined Yujin’s ankle.

‘There’s no wound?’

There were drops of blood on her ankle, and a clear liquid that looked like snake venom.

But there was no sign of a snake bite.

‘What happened?’

He looked at Yujin’s expression.

She was crying, but she was looking at her brother with clear eyes.

“Yujin, are you okay?”

“Yes, ehehe-”

This kid was even smiling at her brother. He wondered if he was dreaming, but no matter how many times he checked, Yujin was fine.

Jinhyuk approached Janggun. Janggun was sitting still, as if he had gotten used to the pain. He was breathing heavily, sniffing the snake’s corpse.

His snout was swollen as if he had been stung by a bee, but it didn’t seem to be affecting his breathing.

‘Is this how you do it?’

He pulled out a fang from the snake’s corpse and smelled it. He had extracted venom from venomous snakes during his military service. They said that venom itself had no smell, but if you concentrated, you could smell a very faint fishy odor.

Soon, Jinhyuk’s brow furrowed.

‘How can I tell if this is the smell of venom or just the fishy smell of the snake?’

It seemed that not all information could be applied to the field.

Even with his developed senses, he couldn’t be sure.

He threw the snake’s tooth away irritably.

The shock was so great that his mind felt numb.

“Yujin wasn’t bitten?”

“I wasn’t bitten? Ehehe-”

Seeing his sister’s bright smile, Jinhyuk finally felt relieved.

He could tell that much, and he had confirmed it with his own eyes.

‘Then why did she scream and cry?’

He was about to ask his sister but stopped. Children are easily startled by just seeing a snake, so it wasn’t a big deal that she had screamed. He also noticed Hong Sujeong, who was hugging Yujin tightly and tearing up. If he questioned her further, the little one would feel guilty.

Jinhyuk reconstructed the situation that had unfolded behind him.

Yujin, startled by the snake, screamed and fell.

Janggun bit the snake’s tail and shook it to protect Yujin.

Then the liquid on her ankle was…

‘Does the Rhabdophis shoot venom like a cobra?’

With a ‘Tss-‘

He encountered an obstacle in his reconstruction of the event.

Perhaps the liquid on Yujin’s ankle wasn’t venom but saliva or tears.

He put a question mark on it for now and moved on to the next step.

‘But whose blood is it?’

It didn’t add up.

It wasn’t like he could do a DNA test in the middle of nowhere.

‘I have no one to discuss this with, this is driving me crazy.’

For the first time in a long time, he felt lonely.

If he told his dads, they would start talking about aliens and all sorts of nonsense.

“It’s a relief you’re not hurt. Let’s go home.”

“Yes, ehehe-”

Hong Sujeong helped Yujin up. She sniffled as she brushed the dirt off Yujin’s clothes, checking if the palms of the younger child were scratched. She was a commendable little one.

Jinhyuk threw the snake’s corpse far into the reservoir and took the little ones home.

‘Ugh, I’m exhausted.’

He was completely drained.

His ragged breathing wouldn’t calm down. Even when he used violence, his pulse remained calm, but a single snake had almost made his heart explode. It was because his family was in danger, but still.

To calm his startled heart and reassure his sisters, he sang a song.

“Toothless Dojanggun, don’t go to the stream-”

“The crucian carps are playing-”

Hong Sujeong, who had been startled by the snake attack, sang along.

But what did ‘Dojanggun’ mean? It was a song his mom used to sing to him when he was a child with missing teeth, but he didn’t know the meaning. He didn’t even know if it was ‘Dojanggun’ or ‘Dojangu’.

‘Who cares.’

Jinhyuk looked at Hong Sujeong and Yujin, who were each holding one of his hands. They were startled, but they weren’t having a fit and were walking bravely behind their brother. They were so admirable.

“What will Oppa be?” [Oppa is a Korean term used by younger females to refer to an older brother or male friend]

Dojangu asked, looking up at Jinhyuk’s face.

Jinhyuk chuckled, looking at the little one who was still shaken.

Normally, he would have ignored her, but since she had been through a lot, it would be good to be kind to her.

“Are you curious?”

“Uh-huh. Dad said that Oppa is a genius, so you can do anything.”

“I’m going to do everything I can while living an ordinary life. Our dad says that living an ordinary life is the hardest thing to do.”

Jinhyuk had a family and lived without any shortages, so he didn’t have any particular desires. He didn’t bully anyone, nor was he bullied. He thought that a life of cultivating a garden, exercising, and fishing wouldn’t be so bad. Peacefully.

“You decided to live an ordinary life?”

“Yes, Sujeong.”

“Then I’ll live like that too.”

Here with Oppa. Hong Sujeong muttered to herself.

Jinhyuk looked at Dojangu when he heard a nasal sound from her. Her eyes were still teary. It was probably because she was reliving what she had experienced as the tension eased. Or maybe it was because she felt sorry that it had happened because of her summer vacation homework.

She was a commendable little one in many ways.

Sujeong and Yujin were growing up through experiences like this.

“Sujeong, don’t feel sorry.”

Hong Sujeong nodded silently.

Looking at the little one’s small head, Jinhyuk felt sorry.

‘She’s always showing me interest.’

Jinhyuk had never given her proper attention, either in the past or now. Even if it was because he had lived a life without paying attention to others, shouldn’t he treat Seoul Dojanggu specially?

What should he ask in this situation?

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

“Ehee-”

Dojangu showed a goofy gummy smile.

She seemed embarrassed to answer herself, but Jinhyuk seemed to know the answer.

Should he change the question?

“What kind of person do you want Oppa to be, Sujeong?”

“Uh, uh. I know. A famous person. Uh-huh, and rich.”

Hong Sujeong’s dream was simple.

She just wanted this brother to be famous so she could brag to her friends, and someone who could give her more allowance than her mom, Yuse-ra, had taken. She hoped he would make a lot of money and be someone who would readily give her ten thousand won bills.

Jinhyuk frowned and tilted his head roughly.

‘Famous?’

Maybe he wasn’t compatible with her…

He thought that maybe that was why he had kept his distance in his past life, so she couldn’t get closer.

Yujin was walking well, and Hong Sujeong was still sniffling from the shock.

Jinhyuk just patted the little one’s head to comfort Hong Sujeong.

‘Protecting someone is hard.’

It seemed easy to bully someone though.

Heuk-heuk-.

Janggun’s breathing sounded bad.

His snout was swollen, and it was funny and worrying at the same time.

‘Is it snake venom or a bacterial infection?’

The swelling was gradually moving upwards, and it seemed like it was making it hard for him to see.

“Yujin, do you want to touch Janggun?”

“Yes. Like this? I touched him?”

“Yes. That’s enough.”

He hadn’t given up on the ‘Yujin’s hand is a magic hand’ theory, so he had checked one more time, but it was just an ordinary baby’s hand. Even when she patted and stroked him, Janggun’s swelling remained the same.

Jinhyuk felt sorry and worried, so he picked up Janggun.

Wheesh-wheesh-. Janggun made a wind sound like a snake.

Whine-. He also made occasional groaning sounds.

‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve seen Janggun in pain.’

He was a guy who would bare his teeth and stand up to a Dosa dog [a type of Korean fighting dog], even if he couldn’t beat it.

Janggun was also a life that Jinhyuk was responsible for.

But he hadn’t protected him properly.

His steps towards home were as heavy as his heart.

***

Back home, he checked on Yujin, who was taking a nap, several times. There was still no sign of a wound, and her complexion was the same as usual. She was sleeping so soundly that she was breathing softly and even drooling.

“Should we spray some pesticides?”

Son Gwangyeon, who had heard about the snake attack, had a serious expression that was rarely seen. When he first settled in the countryside, he had been so startled by leeches that he had collapsed, and when he had encountered a snake, he had experienced the terror of the blood draining from his head. Now, he was used to seeing them, but when he recalled the shock of that time, his hands still trembled.

“Jinhyuk, where are you going?”

Son Gwangyeon, who was recalling bad memories, snapped back to reality at his wife’s voice calling their son.

Jinhyuk, wearing a straw hat, was holding a bucket and a net.

“To the stream.”

Son Gwangyeon jumped up as if he had been startled.

“The stream? To catch snakes? Are you going to make snake wine?”

…It seemed like it wasn’t just because he was startled.

It didn’t take long to read Jinhyuk’s intentions.

Hong Sujeong, wearing flower-patterned boots, quietly took Jinhyuk’s hand.

“Fishy.”

“Heuk! Sujeong wants to catch fish.”

Jinhyuk squeezed his abs to hold back his laughter at Hong Sujeong’s pronunciation.