The Genius Decided to Live an Ordinary Life (Novel) Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Three Lives (6)

***

One day, the wind grew colder.

Jinhyuk, as always, ran without stopping until he reached home.

“Jang Gun, your hyung is here.”

Jang Gun only perked up his ears, ignoring him. He was staring intently at his empty dog bowl, eyes downcast.

‘He’s deliberately avoiding me.’

He was being careful, maybe afraid that he would growl if they met.

Well, he should be. He had eaten so many fish guts. A well-mannered dog should naturally look down.

“I’m home!”

“Our Jinhyuk is here?”

His mother was groaning in the shed.

Worried, he ran over to see what was going on. She was trying to move the millstone. It was dangerous for someone as frail as her to exert herself. Jinhyuk quickly rushed to help.

“It’s so heavy! Let’s carry it together!”

“Oh, it’s too heavy. Even the two of us won’t be able to move it. Let’s ask Dad to move it when he comes back.”

His mother straightened her back, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Following her gaze, he looked at the beans that were neatly washed on the floor.

She must be making tofu.

‘Mom’s tofu is the best.’

The finished tofu was delicious, but the taste of the freshly curdled, soft tofu with just a bit of seasoning, scooped up with a spoon, was something else. Even without seasoning, the savory, slightly bitter, and salty flavor was perfect for a child’s palate.

He had missed that taste even in his previous life, and even after turning forty, he had searched for famous tofu shops, but he couldn’t find any that tasted the same.

“Mom made cornbread. Wait here.”

“Wow, it’ll be delicious.”

The cornbread looked similar to the ones sold on highways and in markets, but the taste was different. The cornbread baked in a cauldron after putting the dough on a tray was the best snack, something you couldn’t buy for money.

Jinhyuk, drooling, pretended to lift the millstone.

Clank-.

‘Why does that sound come from it?’

There were strange things happening.

Jang Gun suddenly stopped growling, and he was lifting the millstone with one hand…

If he told his mother that he had carried the millstone alone, she would be surprised.

Jinhyuk quietly lowered the millstone.

‘This is ridiculous.’

They said a young boy could lift a millstone, was I a young boy?

He had no need to use his strength in his previous life, when he was alone. Anyway, as far as he remembered, he wasn’t a strongman. He hadn’t had the chance to show his guts in his childhood.

“Jinhyuk, eat your bread.”

“Yes!”

Jinhyuk ran to the faucet and washed his hands and face first.

He didn’t want to catch a cold and worry his mother, so he decided to live cleanly.

He chewed on the cornbread, lost in thought.

The bright and cheerful Son Jinhyuk from the past had disappeared. He was the same as the middle-aged man who had lost his motivation and decided to retire. The personality inside Jinhyuk had become worn and faded, losing the excitement that only children could experience.

He sighed.

The same thing happened when he went fishing. If he were a real child, he might have acted spoiled, cried, and thrown a tantrum to get his way. But he acted maturely, unlike a child.

‘If I throw a tantrum, it’ll be embarrassing. I’m not a child anymore.’

He might look like a child in other people’s eyes, but since he knew his own soul’s age, he hesitated to act like a child.

Ah, I guess it’s because I’m old. Jinhyuk swallowed his thoughts along with the bread.

Boom-! A loud noise echoed from the shed.

His mother, startled, flinched.

“Oh, Dad! What was that noise?”

Oops, the millstone must have been placed crookedly.

*

Jinhyuk and Son Gwangyeon sat neatly on the floor, watching the mysterious process of tofu being made. They looked like new recruits in front of a female army officer.

At first, Son Gwangyeon grabbed the millstone. He volunteered to grind the beans, afraid that his wife’s delicate arms would get tired. But his sincerity was rejected when he was dismissed after turning the millstone exactly two and a half times.

Seeing her husband’s dejected look, Han Yuyoung raised the corners of her lips.

“You have to turn it with consistent strength and speed. That way, it will be ground finely, and the tofu will be delicious.”

“Yes, ma’am. I will correct it.”

“Help with something else.”

The two men moved quickly, following Han Yuyoung’s instructions.

Jinhyuk filled the cauldron with water and lit the fire in the fireplace.

Son Gwangyeon, in a corner of the shed, collected the brine that had drained from the sea salt and presented it to the officer.

“No, not here, by the stove…”

“I will correct it!”

Jinhyuk thought it was a good thing his father hadn’t gone to the army. He would have been beaten up a lot.

Han Yuyoung stirred the slowly forming tofu with a clean stick.

“The speed of turning the millstone and the speed of stirring the cauldron are very similar. Is there a reason for this?”

Son Gwangyeon, a conscripted soldier with little experience in military service, asked politely.

Han Yuyoung chuckled, as if amused.

“No.”

“The steam from the cauldron is gathering on your face. Is that the secret to your beauty?”

“Oh my.”

His father might not be as good at housework as Jinhyuk, but his ability to flatter was exceptional. He would have been a formidable face-to-face soldier (a soldier who broadcasts to North Korea) if he had served in the DMZ. His audacity was enough to make the North Korean soldiers gnash their teeth.

Seeing his father flirting with his mother, Jinhyuk thought.

‘This is good.’

Slurp-, slurp-.

The three of them enjoyed the tofu, feeling the warmth from the fireplace.

“It’s so delicious…”

Jang Gun, seemingly enjoying the taste, buried his snout in his dog bowl.

***

The autumn school festival at the rural elementary school was held later than in the city. It was to show consideration for parents who couldn’t rest or enjoy themselves because of their busy farming work, and to encourage their participation. That’s why it was usually held after the harvest. Sometimes it was held right before harvesting rice, but for some reason, it was held late this year.

Later, he heard it as gossip, but someone had put in effort to hold the event in conjunction with the 1987 presidential election, the first direct election. It was a great opportunity to campaign for votes by gathering parents, who were voters. That’s why the rural school was pushed back in the schedule.

It was just a rumor, and he couldn’t confirm the truth.

Anyway.

The countryside was vast compared to its population, and many houses were far apart. It was a real festival, a chance to see neighbors he rarely saw, so he packed kimbap and bought fried chicken to attend the festival.

Merchants who usually sold toys and cosmetics, which were hard to find, also came from far away, not missing out on this opportunity. The small playground was packed with children and adults, leaving no room to stand.

‘Wow, this is a festival.’

In his previous life, he had hidden in the shade on festival days or school trips.

No one paid attention to Jinhyuk, and no one asked him to join them. Sometimes his friends would share their kimbap with him, but that was it. It was a time when Jinhyuk hid himself completely.

‘Haha, Mom and Dad seem to be having more fun.’

Jinhyuk’s heart fluttered as he watched his parents enjoying themselves.

To think he would be able to see this happy sight again in his second life.

However, it didn’t seem to look good in the eyes of the other adults in the village.

Country men. They looked at Jinhyuk’s parents, Son Gwangyeon and Han Yuyoung, with a great deal of discomfort. It was inevitable, because they were gruff and rough on the outside, even if their hearts were different.

‘Why are they holding hands?’

‘What are they doing, so embarrassingly?’

When they heard the couple’s conversation, they felt like their kimbap was coming back up. Why not? Even young children spoke in a rustic dialect, and there was no such thing as pet names between couples in this village.

“Oppa, it’s time for the dads’ tug-of-war.”

“Honey, it’s time for the moms’ ojemi game. Have fun.”

Unlike the men, the women looked at Jinhyuk’s mother with envious eyes. They didn’t know which couple it was, but they were creating a scene that you would only see in a youth movie.

Son Gwangyeon and Han Yuyoung held hands tightly and walked around the school.

The single-story rural school building looked quaint to Son Gwangyeon, who had only lived in Seoul, and Han Yuyoung, who had grown up under a strict father, was thrilled to be celebrating with her husband and son.

“Should we buy our Jinhyuk that toy?”

His father asked in a gentle tone.

“No.”

Jinhyuk frowned and firmly refused.

“Why? It looks fun. It’s a car, and it even shoots missiles.”

The toy his father pointed to was a miniature car with a rocket launcher, a military jeep. His father’s pockets were full, thanks to the good price he received for his beans.

‘This guy thinks I’m a kid?’

Besides, it’s not even a car, it’s a toy car.

Jinhyuk, who had accumulated billions of assets in his previous life, hadn’t even been interested in a real car. Now, with a forty-year-old man in a nine-year-old’s body, there was no way he would be interested in toys.

‘This is good enough.’

The past, or rather the future, had changed.

Just by saving his parents, Jinhyuk’s sad life had disappeared, and he only had one desire.

‘I’m going to live quietly and peacefully in this countryside.’

Future aspiration.

He had recently been asked about his future aspirations at school. Jinhyuk had written “farmer” and submitted it. The teacher and his friends all laughed. In an era when most children wrote “president” or “scientist,” the smartest kid in class said he wanted to be a farmer.

It didn’t matter if he didn’t become a farmer. He just wanted to live a long and happy life with his family. He had had enough of his own time alone.

‘I’ll live in my hometown with my parents.’

He had earned enough money, and he had experienced firsthand how lonely and fleeting life was. He could invest in future information with the knowledge and skills he had honed to become a powerful figure in the business world, but Jinhyuk wasn’t interested in that.

‘I’ll make money when I need to.’

His father’s warm hand. Jinhyuk looked at his father’s warm hand holding his. Then he met his father’s eyes, and his father smiled brightly at his son.

Jinhyuk’s heart warmed.

‘Oh, this is so happy!’

He was someone everyone would acknowledge as the best father in the world.

Jinhyuk looked up at his father and smiled awkwardly.

Beep-.

The sound of the microphone captured everyone’s attention.

[The relay race, the last event of the school festival, will begin shortly.]

It was an announcement from the first-grade teacher, who was in charge of the festival.

“Wow, it’ll be fun. Let’s go watch the relay race.”

“The relay race is always the most fun. Ho-ho.”

The finale of the festival. Students from fourth to sixth grade sat in an oval shape, facing away from the track. It was just a track with a green nylon rope fixed to the ground with nails, but on that track, the sixth-grade male and female representatives would run in a relay race.

“Let’s see…”

Park Jaeseung, the PE teacher, mumbled as he crouched near the starting line.

He then rummaged through his pocket, took something out, and raised a hammer above his head.

“Ready?”

His gaze was fixed on the two athletes who had taken a standing start position at the starting line. It was embarrassing to be crouching at the starting line in front of hundreds of people, but the eyes of the tanned, rural school teacher shone professionally.

A brick on the ground, a paper firecracker on top of it. The hammer aimed sharply.

It was a last resort, as the gun had malfunctioned.

A gust of wind swept across the middle of the playground.

One of the athletes, extremely nervous, wiped his nose with his sleeve.

Park Jaeseung finally brought the hammer down with force.

Bang-!

Oops, he missed.

“Ouch! Ouch, again! Don’t go. Come here, come back here.”

There was no false start.

There was only a faulty signal.

“Whew-”

He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and this time, he brought the hammer down precisely.

Crack-!

The starting shot rang out.

“Blue team! Blue team!”

“White team, win!”

Jinhyuk’s mother and father cheered for the blue team. Jinhyuk was on the blue team. Jinhyuk grinned, watching his mother jumping up and down like a child, clapping her hands, and his father swinging his fist in the air.

“Our Jinhyuk will run in the relay race when he’s in the higher grades, right?”

Thump-.

Jinhyuk’s heart raced as he imagined his parents cheering him on.

‘Running…’

Even in his previous life, when he had nowhere to turn, he felt alive when he ran.

*

On the way home after the festival.

His father carried Jinhyuk on his back. His mother held the notebook Jinhyuk had won for coming in first in the running race in one hand and supported his bottom with the other, keeping pace.

“Mom, Dad.”

“Yes? Our son?”

“Yes? Our Jinhyuk?”

Could one answer bring such happiness?

Jinhyuk scrunched his nose and then smoothed it out again.

“I wish I had a wristwatch.”

His father was taken aback.

The son of the richest landowner didn’t have a wristwatch, which every other child had.

“Dad will buy you a beautiful and nice wristwatch when we go to town.”

“Yes, they say wristwatches are good for children’s brains.”

His mother chimed in.

But Jinhyuk had something else in mind.

“A digital watch. It doesn’t have to be expensive.”

Even the cheapest digital watch would have a stopwatch.

It would help him run.

“Okay, Dad will buy you a digital watch. One with lights.”

I’m going to wear a precious luminous watch, the kind I’ve only heard about.

It’s good that his father never tries to change Jinhyuk’s decisions.

“If you buy him one of those, he’ll stay up all night looking at it in bed…”

“Haha, that’s just a phase.”

It’s just numbers, how long can he look at it?

What a simple-minded couple.

They would faint if they saw a smartphone.

‘Maybe there’s a smartphone somewhere on my body.’

Jinhyuk searched his pockets just in case.

He found an acorn.

His mother, who put anything in the laundry bag without changing clothes, had put it in his next set of clothes.

‘Status window! System!’

This kid must have read too many web novels. The nine-year-old Jinhyuk muttered to the middle-aged Jinhyuk.

Other people were using all kinds of future information and opportunities to make money, but Son Jinhyuk had only come back with useless memories.

‘I’m the only one without a returner’s perk.’ 

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I like Korean novels (Murim, Dukes, Reincarnation, etc, etc, etc)

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