The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 76

Yujin, who is five years old, had been eating well lately, and her smell was seriously adult-like. Still, Jinhyuk took care of Yujin as if she were his own daughter, never once frowning. He was clumsy at first, but as they spent more time together, he became quite accustomed to childcare.

‘Our mom and dad must have raised me like this too.’

His nose tingled, feeling sentimental.

He was also grateful to his younger sibling.

‘If it’s just Yujin, I couldn’t ask for more.’

Without ever catching a cold, Yujin was doing her part by growing up healthy and strong.

“Yujin, come here. You need to wash with water to be clean.”

“Yesh-. Hehe.”

Hand in hand, Yujin, who had gotten off the toddler potty, awkwardly backed away towards the washbasin, sticking her bottom out towards her brother like a puppy.

“Oh my-, what a smell.”

“Achoo- it smells, right? Ehehe.”

Since the whole family used honorifics, five-year-old Son Yujin learned to speak in honorifics. It shows how important the environment is for growth. Yujin even uses honorifics with General [the family dog].

‘By the way, when will bidets become commercialized?’

That was the thought that came to him as he held his breath and washed Yujin. Of course, it was a concern for himself, not Yujin. Bidets from the Middle East were available in Korea, but there weren’t many products being sold, and they didn’t have a warm water function. It must be because warm countries don’t have cold water temperatures, so they use room temperature water as is.

‘Should I make and sell bidets?’

The operating principles of simple household appliances like bidets, water purifiers, and air purifiers were still in his mind thanks to his time at Sein Electronics. Of course, he was also aware of the practical problems.

‘It won’t be easy to find a parts manufacturing company right now.’

Even if he somehow managed to design it, the cost of making molds for each part would be more than the actual product. In the end, it was impossible without capital.

‘I should ask Hong Gijun for help.’

It was the grumbling of the regressor Son Jinhyuk, who had to wash with water every time for cleanliness and refreshment. In his previous life, he had bidets and it was convenient. His taste was from the 21st century, but his body was living in the 20th century, so there were many inconveniences.

“Oppa, let’s go outside. Let’s go play.”

“Is our Yujin feeling stuffy? Should we go gather chestnuts with Oppa?”

“Yesh, let’s go for chestnuts. Let’s gather them.”

It was still early September, but Jinhyuk knew a place where he could harvest chestnuts. It was a sunny spot on the back hill where he picked mushrooms, with lots of rotten wood and fallen leaves. Thanks to the fertile soil, the chestnuts tended to fall early. If you went too late, it would be hard to have fun because of the bugs. It was better now.

Jinhyuk put a bamboo basket over Yujin’s head to protect his younger sister from the chestnut burrs that could fall at any time. He lightly pinched his younger sister’s cheek as she looked at him with her bright eyes while wearing the bamboo basket.

“Aigoo-, so cute.”

“Giggle-.”

How could children’s cheeks be so soft and elastic? Watching children take their first steps and babble, he could understand his friends’ feelings of wishing they wouldn’t grow up any more.

“General, let’s go for a walk.”

“General, let’s go. Come on, come on-”

Heehee-heck-.

The guard dog, General, followed the siblings.

“Sparrow-”

“Chirp chirp!”

“Duck-”

“Quack quack!”

“Frog-”

“Ribbit ribbit!”

“Pigeon-”

“Coo coo!”

“……Huh?”

Ah, Yujin is truly a genius!

“Nyehehe-.”

The younger sister’s fool held his younger sister’s hand and headed to the back hill.

As they climbed the slope and crossed the bus route, they saw a luxury sedan parked on the side of the road in the distance, not obstructing bus traffic.

‘It’s been there a long time?’

It felt strangely unsettling. It had arrived in the morning and hadn’t left by late afternoon. There were no houses where the car was parked, only a bean field. They couldn’t have come to steal beans, and they seemed different from the poachers who had all left at once recently.

‘The poachers haven’t shown up since the holidays, as if they had made an agreement.’

That’s why he couldn’t investigate them.

Just by looking at them chatting with their hands in their pockets, they seemed very different from the poachers. The brown sunglasses and striped suit also felt out of place.

‘Suspicious.’

It felt like a crack was forming in the ice-thin, transparent, and dazzling peace. His nerves were on edge. It was a reaction of foresight, honed like a blade, beyond mere intuition.

“Oppa, let’s go. Let’s go.”

Yujin urged her brother, who was hesitating for a moment, gently shaking her brother’s hand in hers.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Monitoring the annoying outsiders was important, but his younger sister came first.

He let Yujin walk on the well-trodden paths, and carried his younger sister when the path was overgrown with bushes. General was a dog, so he followed along well on his own.

It seemed it was still too early; there weren’t many fallen chestnuts.

“Wow-, there are chestnuts here.”

“Wow-. There are chestnuts, right?”

“Ouch, I got poked by a chestnut burr.”

“Ouch-. It hurts, right?”

“Yujin, look, there’s a squirrel over there.”

“Ooh-. It’s cute-”

Children are good at being amazed. They imitate adults and express amazement even at trivial things. Jinhyuk used somewhat exaggerated language and behavior to help his younger sister Yujin’s emotional development and to help her with various expressions.

Even without that purpose, it’s an unwritten rule of the human world that adults speak like babies when they’re with young children. Like how the whole family babbles in a house with a baby, using short, lispy sounds.

He picked up a few chestnuts that were gleaming inside their fresh green, spiky shells. Even though it was still early to harvest, there were too many to fit in his pockets, so he put them in a plastic bag.

“Yujin, should we go home now?”

“Let’s go-, let’s go now.”

Ah, that’s right. Jinhyuk suddenly changed direction.

“Yujin, let’s go see the mushrooms.”

“Yesh, let’s go. Let’s see the mushrooms.”

After eating only greasy food sent from various houses for Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving], he was craving a savory soybean paste stew. His mouth watered at the thought of making soybean paste stew with chanterelle mushrooms, tofu, and zucchini.

To get to the place where the mushrooms grew, he had to push through thick, tall bushes and undergrowth. Most of the bushes were azaleas, greenbrier vines, and oak trees, and these guys were so resilient that they wouldn’t even allow a small path to form. Since Jinhyuk was the only one who went there, there was no way a path would form.

Jinhyuk picked up his younger sister and went deep into the forest.

Heehee-heck-.

General followed behind with his tongue hanging out.

“What’s that?”

“A chipmunk.”

“What’s that?”

“A woodpecker.”

“What’s that?”

“A wild grape.”

Yujin had a wide field of vision and didn’t miss anything, even things up in the trees.

She pointed and asked, as if trying to learn everything.

“What’s this?”

“A hazelnu-, no, a hazelnut.”

“What’s that?”

“A wildcat……”

A wildcat was looking down from a tall tree.

According to Jo Ilheon, they were the kind of creatures that would pounce on people like they were doing a high-altitude assault and bite their necks. They especially targeted the small and weak, like the elderly and children.

‘Ugh-, you cat bastard. If you attack, I’ll make sure you regret it!’

Jinhyuk glared back at the wildcat with the same intensity and quickly moved away from the tree where it was. Even if a bloody fight broke out, Jinhyuk would win, but he didn’t want to show his younger sister such an ugly sight.

Pushing through the still-green undergrowth, they finally reached the deep place where the mushrooms grew.

“What’s that?”

“A wild-?”

Jinhyuk quickly inhaled when he saw where Yujin was pointing.

‘That’s……’

Why is it here?

Thump thump-.

***

As her son Jinhyuk had said, Hawaii in September was truly wonderful.

She didn’t know what it was like at other times, but it was a good place. Han Yooyoung, who had climbed up the Windy Hill, held onto her fluttering clothes and marveled. She pressed her hat down with one hand to keep it from flying away.

‘It’s so wonderful. Next time, I have to tell our son and daughter to come with us.’

She was overwhelmed with emotion at having taken an airplane, something she never thought she’d do, and coming to a tourist destination like Hawaii. There was no way she wouldn’t think of her children back home.

Son Kwangyeon was a constant presence by his wife’s side.

“Wow! The wind is so strong. It feels like I can’t breathe.”

“Honey, honey! This is a hill also called Windy Hill, and it’s because of the trade winds.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“They’ve decorated the cemetery here like a park.”

“Honey, it’s because of American culture and sentiment-”

“Oh, really? It’s peaceful and nice.”

“The mountain looks like a picture from a calendar.”

“Honey, that’s a mountain called Diamond Head-”

“Oh, do they find jewels there?”

If anyone asked who the leader of mansplaining was, they should look at Son Kwangyeon. Why was he doing that when the guide was explaining everything?

Hong Gijun shook his head as he watched Son Kwangyeon, who was chattering away while sticking close to Han Yooyoung. He also didn’t like how they were holding hands and never leaving each other’s side. He was such a quiet friend in college, but he had changed too much. What was that behavior for a family to do?

‘Ah, those two are practically on their honeymoon.’

Then he noticed Yoo Sera, who was looking at the scenery with her arms crossed. Her expression wasn’t bright. She had been tormented ever since she misspoke about Son Kwangyeon in front of her father, and she still seemed to be bothered by it.

Hong Gijun, feeling something as he looked at the contrasting images of the brightly smiling Han Yooyoung and Yoo Sera, quietly approached and put his arm around Yoo Sera’s shoulder.

“Honey-?”

“Ah, what is it? It’s hot.”

“Oh, right? It seems a bit hot here. I guess it’s summer in Hawaii.”

He was rejected.

He had put aside his busy company work and come on this trip, also giving the security team a vacation.

Hong Gijun was sad.

***

He learned for the first time that when embarrassment passes, it turns into sadness.

The happy holiday drama he was having with his younger sister had turned into a horror movie.

A large beast was digging into the ground with its snout, making strange noises, guik guik-.

Grrr-, General quickly bared his teeth, but quickly closed his mouth at Jinhyuk’s outstretched hand.

‘Why is a wild boar here?’

Deer, badgers, and hares were common in the neighborhood, but he hadn’t heard of wild boars appearing. And the back hill was a forest surrounded by a reservoir, rice paddies, and cliffs, so there weren’t many kinds of wild animals. Most importantly, wild boars were creatures that lived in deep mountains with few people, weren’t they? It was still September, and there would be plenty of food on Gubong Mountain, so why would it be here?

Jinhyuk didn’t know that wild boars roamed around, sniffing the ground for food. It wasn’t important information at this moment anyway.

‘Let’s just go back.’

He was about to turn around when-

Squeak-!

The wild boar, having spotted Jinhyuk, was startled and tensed its four legs. The wild boar seemed to have the same thought as Jinhyuk, sending a look that seemed to say, ‘Why are there people here?’ Its red, bloodshot eyes were eerie.

It had only come this far following the scent of the mountain carried by the wind, so it must have been surprised to encounter a person. It hadn’t seen any people at all while coming here from Gubong Mountain.

Grrr-grrr-grrr, this sound was not good. He instinctively knew that it was a warning sound from the wild boar, even though no one had told him. Not just a warning sound, but a warning of an attack.

The wild boar began to tense its hind legs, getting ready to charge.

General, who was less than a tenth of the wild boar’s size, reflexively blocked the way.

‘It’s coming.’

Jinhyuk was holding Yujin in his left arm.

He could run away, but the forest path was too rough to escape together. He couldn’t leave his younger sister and General behind and run away alone.

He carefully put Yujin down while keeping his eyes fixed on the wild boar.

Yujin seemed to have guessed the situation, and she quietly stepped back.

“General, go home with Yujin first.”

Would he understand?

Whimper-, General tilted his ears and looked up at Jinhyuk, then grabbed the hem of Yujin’s dress and pulled. When Yujin didn’t move, he whined and pushed her leg with his head.

Yujin wasn’t crying, just opening and closing her mouth, as if she wasn’t scared of the wild boar she was seeing for the first time. Or maybe she was just stunned.

It was a relief that she was being pulled along little by little as General led her.

Jinhyuk looked around and then swallowed a low groan.

‘Damn it.’

He needed to buy time. It was a small forest, but because of the densely packed trees, it was a mountain where people didn’t come. There was no way there would be any metal objects.

He clenched his fist tightly to forget his sense of despair.

The black plastic bag in his right hand cried pitifully.

‘Even if I get bitten by a wild boar, if I just keep my wits about me-.’

There seemed to be a saying like that……

But the red-eyed wild boar, which had no manners or mercy, didn’t give him time to think about such things.

Squeal-!

The wild boar charged.

The ground shook and leaves fell, indicating its massive weight.

Whoo-oop-, Jinhyuk inhaled and quickly bent his body like a wrestler to prepare for the impact.

Grrr-!

It was a split second.

The wild boar, having changed direction in front of Jinhyuk, charged at Yujin.