The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 90

It seemed that the only one in this house who didn’t take Sun Kwang-yeon lightly was General [the family dog].

Sun Kwang-yeon looked up at his son, stroking General’s belly as he lay sprawled out.

“Dad really doesn’t know. It’s unfair.”

Even if it wasn’t a genuinely wronged expression, he had no choice but to believe it.

The intense reaction from the top of his head indicated as much, and so did the stories his father had told him.

‘There’s nothing suspicious about him.’

Wouldn’t Jinhyuk have obtained various documents after becoming an adult? He had checked them more meticulously than anyone else and managed them carefully. His existence was due to names that existed only in print. How many times had he babbled ‘Mom,’ ‘Dad’ while caressing those names all night?

Sun Kwang-yeon continued his story calmly.

“Your grandfather passed away when Dad was in your grandmother’s belly.”

“Yes…”

Jinhyuk nodded, as it was information he already knew from the documents.

It occurred to him that Sun Kwang-yeon wasn’t a relative of a conglomerate, so it wasn’t a fight over inheritance.

“I only know that he died at some hill during the armistice [the end of the Korean War]. It seems the country didn’t recognize him as a person of national merit because it couldn’t be confirmed in his military records. There were so many student soldiers and unknown heroes back then. So, your grandmother suffered a lot on her own. She was probably barely twenty years old…”

Even as he spoke, his hand stroking General moved at a steady pace.

“It seems that Mr. Park Woon-chul took care of Dad for a while because your grandmother couldn’t raise him alone. He worked at a merchant association or something? They gave rice as a salary, and that’s where they met. I think he said he would make her an actress. That caused a misunderstanding, and that man’s wife stormed into the house, grabbed your grandmother by the hair, scratched her, and hit her. Because of that, your grandmother cut ties with them for Dad’s sake.”

Sigh-, Sun Kwang-yeon sighed.

He didn’t reveal the speculation that his mother, Son Moon-ye, had an accident one night, and that Park Woon-chul’s wife might be behind it. It was just speculation, after all. It was the same with the idea that they, who never let go of their suspicion, had been tailing him.

Looking at his son’s shining eyes, it seemed he could guess that much without needing an explanation.

“When I was in college, that family’s daughter came to see me, calling herself my older sister, and bought me a few meals. But no matter how I looked at her, we didn’t look alike. Not at all. I’m not a Park.”

Sun Kwang-yeon’s eyes, shaking his head, became moist. The hand stroking General’s belly was also trembling slightly.

‘Wouldn’t a paternity test solve this? Ah, they didn’t have that back then.’

Jinhyuk briefly ignored his father’s sadness. What was important now was the present and the future.

It was unfortunate, but he couldn’t find out about his grandparents’ affairs. There would be no remaining records or witnesses.

If that was the case, he had to focus on the present, but in the end, it was like wandering in a fog until he found out who was behind it. That was neither productive nor efficient.

Jinhyuk stopped asking further questions.

It wouldn’t take long for Moon Seok-il to return. After all, he was someone who had declared himself the best without any rivals.

However, he couldn’t just wait for Moon Seok-il to return.

Waiting idly didn’t suit his temperament, so he had to do what he could.

“Dad, shall we play Go [a strategic board game]?”

Sun Kwang-yeon’s expression brightened instantly.

‘My son is trying to comfort his sad father!’

‘We should be starting a constructive conversation, but catching fleas while doing it is a bit much.’

Jinhyuk’s thoughts seemed different.

***

Although he had brought it up, Jinhyuk refrained from speaking for a while.

There were several reasons for this. First, he had seen his father flinch too often because of Jinhyuk’s direct way of speaking. Second, he was worried that his mother would be anxious.

Third, he also needed time to organize his thoughts on how to bring up the story.

‘We can’t live separately with secrets anymore. Everyone needs to know. I need evidence to persuade them.’

For that, he needed Moon Seok-il. He desperately needed the decisive evidence that Moon Seok-il would bring.

There wouldn’t be any problems until he finished his treatment and contacted them. The person who had commissioned the task would also be waiting for Moon Seok-il’s contact. He had also given Moon Seok-il instructions on how to act. It was important that they returned unharmed.

Click-.

A white Go stone gripped the nape of Sun Kwang-yeon’s large group of stones.

The forces that Sun Kwang-yeon had struggled to save were in a hopeless situation.

“Huh? They say a large group of stones never dies? Oh my, what should I do?”

Sun Kwang-yeon, whose face was tired from not having recovered from his trip, grabbed the back of his neck.

His son had suggested playing Go after a long time, so he thought he would go easy on him, but this kid had thrown the three fundamental principles and five moral disciplines [Confucian principles] into the mud. He was attacking an elder who deserved respect without mercy.

“No matter how large the group is, it can’t stop a war that has been prepared for a long time, can it?”

Jinhyuk spoke as indirectly as possible so that his father wouldn’t feel intimidated and his mother wouldn’t understand.

Sun Kwang-yeon laughed strangely at his son’s clumsy imitation. He really wished he wouldn’t do that. His wife sometimes imitated him too, but it didn’t feel good when anyone other than Yujin did it.

“They say to prepare for war secretly for a long time and to prepare overwhelming power. And once a war starts, it should be ended quickly.”

“That’s right…”

Sun Kwang-yeon nodded absentmindedly.

He didn’t know what that had to do with anything right now. This kid was definitely his son, but he talked like an old man. He was a fascinating son to watch.

“They also said that even if the world is peaceful, if you forget about war, you will surely become endangered.”

“That’s true too. That’s why they’re expanding military spending. To do that, economic power must be supported.”

“They say that visible enemies are not dangerous.”

“Right. That’s why we prepare for invisible enemies.”

Sun Kwang-yeon, who had been staring at the Go board, finally looked up at his son.

“Jinhyuk, do you have something to say to your dad? Why are you beating around the bush so much?”

“You said you get scared when I speak directly.”

No, this kid was equating speaking gently with speaking in riddles. Was it because he took after his mother? When Han Yu-young wanted something, she usually just nudged him, rarely saying it directly. It seemed like that was the case.

Was it because he grew up in the countryside?

Hot air puffed out from Sun Kwang-yeon’s widened nostrils.

“Jinhyuk, is it because of what happened during Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving]? If it’s about that-”

Sun Kwang-yeon glanced at his wife.

She seemed to be engrossed in drawing with Yujin using colored pencils and wasn’t listening.

“There are a lot of uncles around, so it’ll be okay.”

“No. It’s not about that.”

Sun Kwang-yeon’s eyes stretched horizontally.

The two men’s gazes clashed in the air.

Jinhyuk’s voice was low, and his tone was calm.

“You can’t protect anything by cowering. Not the land, nor the family.”

Only then did Sun Kwang-yeon realize what he meant and rubbed his forehead.

He quietly let out a sigh that had risen inevitably.

‘My plan to live quietly farming for the rest of my life is over.’

It is said that the closest distance between people is laughter.

Sun Kwang-yeon was the one who knew that best.

He deliberately forgot about his dignity and acted like a screw was loose, danced his butt off in front of his wife, and laughed like a fool even when Yujin grabbed his hair. He liked seeing his family laugh, and their laughter made him happy.

…He hoped that even if he were to fall one day, his family would not be sad but would laugh, relying on those memories.

Sun Kwang-yeon, who had lowered his gaze back to the large group of stones trembling in encirclement, opened his mouth.

His low voice emphasized his dark expression.

“How should we prepare for war?”

He had no choice but to admit it. That he had been complacent, and that he had to approach reality differently now.

“We should use it. Use the system and utilize connections.”

“The system… That’s right, once you leave the Go board, you are no longer qualified to be a Go stone.”

Sun Kwang-yeon grabbed his chin. At this moment, his son, who was as tall as him, was no longer a teenager. He was no longer a foolish uncle either.

Jinhyuk nodded. The invisible enemy was throwing stones from outside the Go board. Just because the opponent was acting dirty didn’t mean they had to act dirty too. Just like the person who smiles at the wandering thugs who are cursing wins, he planned to become the winner while following the rules. Responding in the same way was no different from a dogfight in the mud.

“People are also important. If you look at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms [a classic Chinese novel], they first seek out the heroes they have built friendships with before raising an army.”

“Connections are a bit of a problem. I’ve never donated to any politicians.”

“There’s the most famous person in Korea, isn’t there?”

Ah, Hong Ki-joon was there.

He had always been teasing him for being stupid, so he had forgotten how successful he was.

However, if he relied on connections without his own power, he would be no different from a freeloader. Knowing that, his son was probably stimulating him with the desire for his father to raise an army.

One corner of Sun Kwang-yeon’s mouth quietly rose as he looked at Jinhyuk.

Was this how Sun Jian felt when he looked at Sun Ce [father and son figures from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms]? Sun Kwang-yeon thought it was time. His son, who had grown up, was firmly supporting him from behind, so he could worry less about his family.

“How should we utilize the system?”

“Even if it’s a rule of law or democracy, in a capitalist country, the most powerful thing is money. You can buy people with that money too.”

There was no more certain and legitimate way to build power than to earn money within the boundaries of the law.

Sun Kwang-yeon realized that his son’s thoughts were no different from his own.

By the way, this kid definitely took after his mother. Sun Kwang-yeon had struggled to memorize English sentence structures like S+V+C when he was fourteen, but the level of thinking was different.

“War is not good, can’t we solve it through dialogue?”

He asked once, even though he knew the answer.

He couldn’t help but have lingering feelings for the peace that was too precious to give up.

“Dialogue is the amusement of the powerful. The weak are desperate, and the strong don’t care. Dialogue without a balance of power cannot be truthful, and promises cannot last long. The words of a general and a soldier, the words of a president and an employee, cannot have the same weight. There is nothing more foolish than trying to have a dialogue with an enemy who is making anti-systemic and anti-social provocations.”

Oops, he had spoken directly again at the end.

However, Sun Kwang-yeon only nodded slowly and didn’t feel intimidated.

“Hmm. Then, should we move?”

Sun Kwang-yeon’s eyes were filled with regret.

He had grown fond of this rural village after living here for 15 years. The food from the mountains, fields, and sea were things that were hard to find in the city. He also felt sad at the thought of having to sell the land he had cultivated so far.

Jinhyuk shook his head.

“Transportation will become more convenient, and communication will develop rapidly in the future, so I don’t think location-based services will be as important as they used to be. You’re not going to be doing anything directly anyway. You should leave the work to the experts. Now, you can communicate in real-time with just a phone or fax.”

It was a shame that the internet wasn’t widespread, but as long as Hong Ki-joon was around, high-speed internet would be available faster than in his past life. The flow of history would naturally accelerate. Jinhyuk had decided to ride that wave.

He didn’t say anything about how the world would change in the future. It wasn’t necessary, and he was confident that his father would be able to predict the world as much as he did.

‘A rural area with fewer eyes is also good for me to operate in.’

If necessary, he could cut off the intruder’s breath to defend himself.

He was avoiding dogfights, but he had to prepare for them, and the end of a dogfight was to bite the other’s neck.

Sun Kwang-yeon nodded while still staring at the Go board.

There was no need to ask again what his son was trying to say.

“Let’s see. Then what should we do? To gain power, it’s important to make use of the characteristics of the foundation I’ve laid. That’s trust, and it’s an intangible contract with the world. It will act as persuasion in sales.”

“Aren’t they going to build an industrial complex or something?”

It wasn’t a question. It meant to make it happen.

Small-scale complexes would be built within a few years anyway, but what about bringing it forward a few years? And greatly increase the size of the complex. They would soon establish diplomatic relations with China, and trade would increase, starting with agricultural products. They could also take advantage of the geographical advantage of being the shortest distance, with many people with Chinese surnames living in the town.

‘Well, China is just something to use for a while.’

Even if they traded, he knew what kind of people they were, so it was better to use them appropriately and cut ties before getting backstabbed. In his past life, Jinhyuk was recognized for his ability to minimize losses by quickly pushing for the withdrawal of Chinese and Japanese corporations.

Hooh-, Sun Kwang-yeon made his mouth round.

“I guess we can start with that. I should meet with Congressman Song tomorrow. He’s been dying to meet me anyway. I’m going to be very busy.”

“What item are you going to use?”

“There are many. To be honest, we could sell earthworms. Everything that comes from the land can be sold. They say that one day we’ll have to buy water with money, so crops will be even more so. The population of farmers is decreasing, and everyone will buy food. They call it urbanization in textbooks these days, right?”

So, he was planning to focus on processing agricultural products.

Jinhyuk nodded, thinking it was a good choice. Whether the money earned became military funds or the cost of building a kingdom. Whatever it was, it was important to start and expand the power.

“It will be insufficient.”

“If the process is solid, the end will be great.”

“It will take a long time.”

“It won’t be boring.”

“It’s different from farming.”

“It’s just that the tools you handle and the theories you apply are different.”

“It will be very difficult.”

“Where is there an easy job in the world?”

“It’s something that anyone can’t do.”

“There’s nothing that people can’t do.”

Of course, the busiest person would definitely be Sun Kwang-yeon.

Nevertheless, Sun Kwang-yeon’s lips didn’t seem to want to come down as he talked with his son while looking at the Go board.