Chapter 204

<Luck>

Hmm.

Jang Jin-nam nodded with a deep voice.

Son Jin-hyeok is an athlete who trains alone with the support of his agency, without a coach.

Although it wasn’t to the extent of grinding bones and spitting blood like Jin-hyeok, Jang Jin-nam had also repeated grueling martial arts training without a partner, so he could vaguely understand that loneliness.

“But, you know~. My brother said that breaking records isn’t easy.”

“Yeah. I heard this year’s results are similar to last year’s.”

Jang Jin-nam didn’t bother to correct Son Yoo-jin’s expression.

As long as she understood, that was enough.

Son Family.

This is the name Yang Gang-wook gave to the territory of the Son Kwang-yeon family, which has now become like a fortress. The SSS Agents call this place the Son Family among themselves.

Anyway, the fact that Jin-hyeok struggles to break records is something everyone in the Son Family knows.

Though he’s quiet and has sleepy eyes, Jin-hyeok is affectionate toward those around him. His cautious actions hide a strength that no one would guess, and a tenderness that seeps through.

That’s why it’s even more shocking.

The fact that he endures that hellish training alone, without anyone to nag or help him.

After finishing night self-study and returning late from school, Son Jin-hyeok sprints 3km at full speed and vomits what’s in his stomach. He pushes himself to the point of agony, as if his intestines are twisting.

He rinses his mouth with clean water, sprints another 1km at full speed, and then vomits the water he just drank.

After doing burpees—a repeated exercise of dropping into a push-up position and standing up—to push his breathing to the limit, he runs again. Until he collapses on the track.

He repeats this every day.

‘That’s the path of a pro.’

Even after all that running, there’s no sign of his record improving. Yet, when the day changes, Jin-hyeok’s face returns as usual. With stubbornly closed lips and sleepy eyes, he goes to school and plays with his siblings.

Even the SSS Agents, who have experienced superhuman discipline, don’t dare to go near Jin-hyeok when he’s training. They say just watching is painful. Even Kim In-rang and Kang Heon-chang, who used to run with him, are now deliberately avoiding him.

“Uncle, aren’t you lonely cooking alone like my brother?”

“With Yoo-jin here, I’m not lonely at all.”

Now that the molehill work has become familiar and simple, what Jang Jin-nam does is boil soup and fill the fridge with side dishes. The agents cook their own meals and eat separately.

He doesn’t spend much time at the molehill during the day anyway. When he goes to work, he explores the neighborhood like an adventurer, observing and collecting small things. There’s no reason to feel bored.

“Uh-huh, there is. Uncle In-rang said he’s going to fix up the house that Mr. Park Jae-soon abandoned and live there.”

“I heard. Earthen houses are good for the elderly. In-rang’s mother has bad joints, so if he fixes it up well, it should be fine. I’m picking these pine shoots to make enzyme for In-rang’s mother.”

Whoosh-.

When the sound of a bus was heard in the distance, Son Yoo-jin and Jang Jin-nam’s ears perked up as if they had made a promise.

“Ah! It’s my brother! Brother’s here!”

As soon as she turned her body toward the sound, Son Yoo-jin started sprinting out of the forest as if flying. As she ran toward Choi Mi-kyung’s house, five dogs that had been hiding in the forest jumped out and followed her.

Jang Jin-nam, who had been about to stop her, lowered his hand.

What kind of kid runs that fast?

“Hmm~. There are usually empty buses at this time, but what if her brother isn’t on it······.”

Jang Jin-nam, whose tone was normal when talking to himself, sent a worried look.

***

It’s sad not being able to see my brother when he goes to competitions, but it’s nice when he comes back. Seeing him after a few days makes me even happier, and my heart beats even stronger.

“Brotheeeer-!”

“Hey! My baby! How did you know I was coming?”

“My heart was beating on the bus!”

Yoo-jin, who was held high in the air by her brother, spread her arms wide and smiled until her eyes disappeared.

‘What does she mean by her heart beating on the bus······.’

I asked before, but Yoo-jin said she didn’t know what it meant and couldn’t explain. Thinking that even a smart kid like her has things she can’t express, I didn’t press further.

“Yoo-jin, Uncle’s here too. Ugh, I feel carsick.”

Min Yong-rak, with his tadpole belly, staggered.

“They say if you feel nauseous, you should drive. People who drive don’t get carsick.”

“Right. If only I could get my license······.”

He’s smart enough to pass the written test with no problem, but that darn practical test keeps tripping him up.

Even though the SSS Agents have been helping him, Min Yong-rak’s spatial perception is hardly at a human level. Even the kind-hearted Jang Jin-nam shook his head and said, “I’d rather teach Jang Gun-i how to drive.”

“What were you doing, my baby?”

“I was playing in the mountains with Uncle Jin-nam~.”

Jin-hyeok carried Yoo-jin in one arm and headed home.

“Brother, were you really lonely?”

“Ahaha~. It’s fine. Once it’s over, it feels like it went by quickly. I was away for four days, but it feels like only one day passed.”

Four days. The grass on the roadside grew taller, and the spring sun grew hotter.

Yoo-jin, who went to school without her brother, became even more mature.

‘I’m still the same.’

Though I repeat the tough training just because it’s fun, I feel like I’ve hit a wall.

Whether I run when I’m full of energy or when I’m exhausted, the record only changes by 0.1 seconds.

Even though I’ve reached a level that no one can follow, the feeling of an invisible chain restricting my sprint isn’t exactly pleasant.

Maybe it’s a physical limitation.

The so-called “Asian limit” that everyone talks about.

Jin-hyeok wasn’t the type to believe in such things.

He believed that the human body could grow as much as needed for its purpose, and that there were no limits to human ability. After all, he was living proof of that.

‘Do I have to accept the limits of my body······.’

It’s a lonely and powerless realization, but there’s nothing to regret.

With Yoo-jin pinching my cheek and looking at me with sparkling eyes, what more could I want?

“Brother, why didn’t you talk into the microphone yesterday?”

“Yeah. Soo-jung’s mom blocked the reporters.”

Whether Hong Ki-jun pressured the reporters or not, many came, but Yoo Se-ra blocked their access under the pretext of protecting the athletes, saying there were still games left. Jin-hyeok ignored the invisible battle between the couple with a calm heart.

He seemed to understand Hong Ki-jun’s intentions, so he just thanked Yoo Se-ra and focused on the competition.

“But Yoo-jin, your hand-. Ew- sticky-.”

“Hehe~. It’s not sticky~. It’s just gooey.”

“Right.”

The tension of the competition faded, and fatigue set in. The golden weekend slipped away, but spending time with Yoo-jin itself was a break.

“Brother, you should rest if you’re tired, right?”

“Huh? Why?”

Jin-hyeok, noticing his sister’s seemingly disappointed expression, soon spotted a pine shoot clenched in her tiny hand.

A pine shoot?

Suddenly, a good idea came to mind.

“Yoo-jin, do you want to go boating with me?”

***

Pine shoots.

They start to appear in late March, warmed by the sea breeze and spring sun.

By April, they grow longer than an adult’s finger, and by early April in some areas and late May in others, they scatter pollen across the land. While city folks might see them as unwelcome guests, country folks just accept them as part of nature. After all, they’re messengers of the season.

If the pine shoots do well, the pine trees grow lush, and those trees become firewood, tools, and more. Some interpret them as a sign of a good harvest, and for that reason, they’re also seen as a symbol of luck.

In years when too many pine shoots dry up and die, some believe many people will die, and they treat them as sacred.

Tap-, tap-.

In one hand, Jin-hyeok held Yoo-jin’s hand, and in the other, he gathered a handful of well-grown pine shoots.

“Brother, are you making enzyme too?”

Yoo-jin’s eyes widened.

This brother said we were going boating, but we came to the mountain!

He said it was gooey, but he picked so many pine shoots!

“We’re going to use these for boating.”

“How?”

Yoo-jin’s eyes, now even bigger, were filled with wonder.

He seemed to be on the edge, but now it looks like he’s finally gone crazy.

“Come on, let’s go to where there’s water.”

Showing her is better than explaining.

With so many things to play with, it’s no wonder Yoo-jin is puzzled that I haven’t shown her this fun activity before.

We moved to a spot by the waterway with wide steps and settled down.

“Watch closely. If you gently place this on the water-.”

When Jin-hyeok floated one shoot on the water.

“Ooooh-!”

Yoo-jin jumped up and down, cheering.

The pine shoot began to slice through the water like an arrow.

It wasn’t just floating—it was propelled forward by the resin from the cut surface reacting with the water.

“How does it do that?”

“See the resin flowing from the cut part?”

“Yeah yeah~.”

I see it.

Yoo-jin often claps her hands and bows when she sees something amazing, just like when she gets formula from her brother.

“This acts like oil, pushing the water. They don’t mix.”

“Really, really? There’s a rainbow color on the water!”

Squeak squeak-.

Yoo-jin kept squealing as she watched the rainbow-colored oil trail left by the pine shoot boat on the water.

If the pine shoot had just moved forward, it would have been ordinary, but the visual effect it left as it passed was just as mysterious.

“Brother, how did you know about this?”

“I used to play like this with Mi-kyung when I was little.”

“Aha! Now I want to try it too~.”

How could a curious kid stay still? Yoo-jin rushed at her brother as if to snatch it.

“Brother will give it to you. Your hands are too small to hold them all.”

Jin-hyeok handed the pine shoots to Yoo-jin one by one.

After all, this was for his sister, so just being the assistant was enough.

“Hehehehe~! Brother, look at that! It overtook you! It’s as fast as you!”

Jin-hyeok just sat on the steps and watched.

His sister, jumping around and having fun.

When the sixth pine shoot boat floated from Yoo-jin’s hand.

Splash!

“Eek!”

One of the shoots, which had gone far, hit some aquatic plants and disappeared.

More accurately, it seemed like something in the water had swallowed it.

Yoo-jin, startled by the violent noise, fell on her butt but luckily didn’t fall into the water.

“There’s a monster in the water!”

Oh my, my ears hurt.

Stop screaming, kid.

“Maybe it’s a snakehead.”

“A snakehead eats pine shoots?”

“Maybe······ it’s trying to protect something?”

Jin-hyeok isn’t an ecologist or a fisherman, so he doesn’t know much about their habits.

But he heard from Jo Il-hun that snakeheads, around May, protect their eggs by lurking near the surface and swallowing anything that passes by.

It’s not May yet, but maybe some early birds are already doing it.

Or not.

“Maybe someone released a bass.”

The long waterway.

Though it’s private property, it’s open to everyone.

While no one comes near the house, fishermen appear upstream and downstream.

He heard that bass, brought from America, are as voracious as snakeheads, so maybe it was one of them.

Son Kwang-yeon told the SSS Agents to keep an eye on the waterway to prevent accidents but asked them not to control the fishermen. On weekends, he and his wife, along with bodyguards, walk along the waterway picking up trash instead of taking a stroll.

‘Probably means not to drive people away.’

It’s obvious what Dad’s intention is without needing to explain.

Anyway, since we don’t know what’s in the water, it’s reasonable to assume it’s one of the predators.

“Brother, what’s a bass?”

“It’s an invasive species. A fish brought from another country.”

“Did it immigrate?”

“Sort of.”

How should I explain it to this endlessly curious kid?

Since people brought it, forced immigration?

“They’re called ecosystem disruptors, but-.”

Jin-hyeok stopped mid-sentence.

‘Ecosystem disruptor······.’

It sounded like a description of himself.

Even though he hides his strength and doesn’t use it, his physical abilities alone are far beyond the norm, making it plausible.

Sigh-.

He grimaced at the bitterness.

“Ecosystem disruptor. That’s hard. Is that bad?”

“Well······. It’s not that the bass is bad, but the people who brought them in and irresponsibly managed them are the bad ones, right? They’re living beings too, and indiscriminately killing them to protect native fish doesn’t seem like a mature attitude to me. After all, we end up eating the native fish too.”

“Which country did the bass immigrate from? Can we go there and disrupt their ecosystem?”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

A kid’s logic is simple and easy to understand.

“Probably the snakeheads are already doing it······. They don’t have any natural predators there.”

They’re probably wreaking havoc over there?

An eye for an eye, a bass for a snakehead.

Smart kid. What’s the other term? Tit for tat?

“Wow~. That’s cool.”

Yoo-jin seems very satisfied with the snakehead’s revenge.

The situation escalates.

Her growing mouth has reached the level of a snakehead.