Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 20

Before the thought they really aren’t friends, are they? could fully form, Jeong Taeui first looked at them with a blank stare. If so, was the atmosphere always like this in that damn mobile unit—meaning the private mobile unit he was in at T&R before?

He felt like he understood the saying that they were a bunch of guys you shouldn’t associate with.

Jeong Taeui was debating whether to just run away from the spot right then and there.

Then, suddenly, his gaze fell on his cheek.

Five children were huddled on a bench about a dozen steps away, looking at them.

Teaching or whatever, it was all ruined, ruined, showing them this kind of scene.

“Can you two stop it, the children are watching?”

Jeong Taeui subtly shifted his position to block the children’s view and spoke, and all gazes flew to him.

“You must like children.”

It was Ilay who spoke to Jeong Taeui. Jeong Taeui was instantly silenced.

Come to think of it, this was taboo. This was a topic that shouldn’t be discussed here and now.

After enjoying Jeong Taeui’s flustered and struggling attempts to answer for a while—which clearly had an element of malicious intent—Ilay slowly curved his lips upward. The white canines visible between his lips were somehow chilling.

“First, let me clarify something here. You are currently seriously misunderstanding those children. They are absolutely not the ‘children’ you think they are.”

“…You two must be really close. Judging by how similar your words are.”

Jeong Taeui muttered, as if fed up.

Then, Christoph clicked his tongue. A slight wrinkle appeared on his usually expressionless face.

Frowning, he turned his body as if he no longer wanted to be there.

“Do as you please. Since Richard is the reason you’re here anyway, don’t interfere with me. I’ll stay quiet as long as that guy doesn’t bother me. It’s not like there’s even a month left anyway.”

Christoph turned and headed towards the West Wing. Jeong Taeui watched his back as he walked, back straight, never looking back, and then he too slumped his shoulders and sighed.

“Alright, then, since I seem to be on Christoph’s side for now, I suppose I should disappear at this point. —If fate allows, I’ll see you again later.”

Jeong Taeui, who had offered a half-polite, half-informal farewell to Ilay and Richard and given a slight wave of his hand, turned lightly and walked away. He wanted to escape this not-so-pleasant atmosphere as soon as possible. He just wanted to go back to his room, drink beer, and read a book…

“Kim Youngsoo—?”

Just then, when he had barely taken a few steps, he heard a voice calling him from behind.

Jeong Taeui paused, stopped his steps, hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned around. The one who called him was Ilay, with a clearly displeased expression that said, I just want to leave.

Their eyes met.

Through his glasses, endlessly dark eyes stared at him.

“…”

Jeong Taeui opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. He simply stared back at him.

Their gaze didn’t last long. Only a few seconds. Yet, the time felt infinitely long.

Finally, the black eyes behind the glasses narrowed. His lips curved gently.

“See you again later.”

The unexpected event happened that very evening.

That day, as usual, he had been toiling in Christoph’s study all afternoon, and by evening, he felt like his body was limp and he could barely drag himself out of the study.

He had asked a hundred times when he would return the books, but no answer came. Sometimes the only reply he got was, ‘If you want them back, just do as I say.’

In fact, what he was asked to do wasn’t all that difficult. After organizing the study once, breaking his back doing it, it was somewhat easier afterwards. He only suffered physically occasionally when they changed the layout of the study or rearranged the order of the bookshelves.

Other than that, it was mostly simple errands or ledger organization.

However, as with most things, hope with no definite promise of fulfillment only made one more exhausted.

“Ugh… I don’t know. He’ll give them back someday.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and brushed off his clothes.

Where did this damned dust keep coming from every day, even after he’d thoroughly swept it all away?

If he moved around the study a bit, his hands would be blackened by the time he left.

As Jeong Taeui closed the study window before leaving, his eyes met Christoph, who was slowly approaching from outside.

Christoph’s afternoon routine, when there was nothing else to do, was horse riding, and he was just returning from it today.

He was heading towards the large stables located behind the West Wing and the main building. When his eyes met Jeong Taeui’s, he stopped his horse.

Jeong Taeui was impressed to see the horse stop obediently without Christoph moving his hands at all, or seemingly moving his feet or putting any force.

“Does he talk to horses or something?”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, resting his chin on his arm on the windowsill. Christoph merely shrugged slightly.

Jeong Taeui closed the window, roughly washed his hands in the restroom, and then left the study.

After dusting off his clothes, he decided there was no need to change, so he headed straight for the dining hall. After all, the atmosphere there wasn’t exactly convivial, so he figured it didn’t matter if his clothes were a bit rough.

As he went downstairs, Christoph was just entering. He was taking off his riding gloves as he came in, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw Jeong Taeui standing on the stairs.

“Have you rearranged everything?”

“Uh, pretty much. Just need to slightly organize the order by shelf.”

“Alright, then finish it after dinner.”

This devilish bastard, he grumbled inwardly, glaring at Christoph. He just walked on with an indifferent expression.

“It’s torn. Throw it away.”

Saying that, he tossed the glove, which Jeong Taeui easily caught. He examined the dark brown leather glove. The leather was slightly torn, perhaps scratched by a rose thorn.

“Hmm… what a waste.”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and mumbled. Christoph glanced at Jeong Taeui.

“Then fix it and use it.”

“No, I don’t really wear gloves. Besides, I’m used to throwing gloves away.”

Jeong Taeui folded the glove and put it in his pocket, thinking he’d throw it away when he saw a trash can later.

He hadn’t had to do it in the past few years, but when he was Ilay’s cadet at UNHRDO, he threw away gloves constantly. Jeong Taeui had thrown away countless perfectly good gloves on Ilay’s behalf. The problem was that they were all stiff with dried blood.

At first, he thought about washing them and reusing them, but he gave up. No matter how much he felt it was a waste, the number of gloves discarded daily was not just one or two, and he didn’t know what kind of grudges might linger in them, so he just threw them away.

“…Come to think of it, he was wearing gloves again.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled as if he had just remembered.

He had been so surprised by Ilay’s sharp and refined style that he hadn’t noticed it, but he belatedly realized. The fact that he was wearing gloves on his hands.

“Still, he must take them off at home.”

Christoph said, hearing Jeong Taeui’s muttered words. Jeong Taeui shrugged.

“Hmm, it’s been a long time since I saw him without gloves.”

So he had almost forgotten, but it seemed he still wore them when he went out for work.

He thought his personality might have improved, but it seemed not.

“Given his personality, it’s not like he’d be soft on family, but he must have been living peacefully lately.”

Christoph mumbled abruptly. Jeong Taeui softly hmm-ed, glancing at him. Realizing his gaze, Christoph asked with his eyes, Why?

“You said you and Ilay are friends. Childhood friends.”

“Who said that?”

Christoph instantly frowned. Even though he frowned, his expressions were usually subtle, so it wasn’t very noticeable, but compared to his usual blank face, a very clear look of displeasure was overtly present.

“No? You said you often played together when you were kids.”

“We didn’t play. We just happened to run into each other when the adults gathered for family matters. —Ah, right. If throwing an axe at annoying people counts as playing, then I guess we played.”

“…”

Jeong Taeui had heard Kyle gravely say that Ilay had a rather peculiar personality since he was young, but…

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and smacked his lips.

“Well, not all friends are friends. Just because you hung out together as kids doesn’t mean you’re friends. If that were the case, you’d be friends with Richard too.”

No sooner had he spoken than Christoph frowned fiercely again. His eyes sharply narrowed, as if he had heard something truly displeasing.

“I told you we’re not friends!!”

“…Listen carefully. I said we’re not friends too.”

Jeong Taeui quickly said, unconsciously stepping back a pace. Christoph, his face contorted in a deep frown, glared at Jeong Taeui, then clicked his tongue and resumed walking.

It was a more intense reaction than Ilay’s. To be someone he disliked being called a friend more than Ilay, Richard must hold a significantly, albeit negatively, important meaning to Christoph.

Well, what’s the difference between a friend and an enemy? If you’ve built up good feelings over a long time, you’re friends; if you’ve only built up bad feelings, you’re enemies.

“You’ve known each other since Oliver’s age, right?”

Jeong Taeui asked, counting on his fingers. That would make it roughly a twenty-year relationship. If they had only accumulated unpleasant memories during that time, it wouldn’t be strange for them to be mortal enemies by now.

Christoph, walking half a step ahead of Jeong Taeui, spoke bluntly, not bothering to hide his displeasure.

“Since even younger.”

“Wow… then you’ve known each other for quite a long time. …Oliver looks exactly like Richard when he was little, doesn’t he?”

Christoph glanced at Jeong Taeui. His rugged face, which looked as if a slight touch could cause serious harm, softened ever so slightly. His lips twitched for a moment, as if he didn’t want to praise the son of someone he disliked, but he finally clicked his tongue and said,

“His face is quite similar, but his personality is different. His true nature is different. That son is actually quite decent. …He resembles his younger sibling more.”

The last part was so low that it was hard to catch.

Jeong Taeui dimly thought he heard something about resembling a younger sibling, so he rolled his eyes and asked,

“Richard had a younger sibling?”

It’s not surprising for someone to have siblings. Jeong Taeui had an older brother, and Ilay had both an older and younger sibling.

Given how similar he looked to his son, his blood must be strong, so if he had a younger sibling who resembled him, they would also be handsome or beautiful.

However, Jeong Taeui, who was trying to imagine a woman resembling Richard—assuming it was a younger sister—suddenly realized Christoph had stopped walking and quickly halted his own steps. He almost lost his balance from the sudden stop, but fortunately, he didn’t bump into Christoph and stood safely in place.

Even if they had accidentally touched, Christoph would probably have given him the evil eye and thrown a punch.

Jeong Taeui, who had stopped just a few centimeters away and slowly retreated, tilted his head and looked over Christoph’s shoulder. He wondered why Christoph had stopped so suddenly, but there was nothing in front of them blocking their way.

“Christoph?”

Jeong Taeui called him, puzzled. But no answer came.

Christoph stood motionless before the central staircase. He was staring intently at the middle of the empty stairs, as if seeing some past memory reflected there.

Suddenly, his lips turned blue. A thin tremor ran through him. Perhaps he wasn’t even aware of it; his expression was no different from any other time, but only his lips trembled thinly and intermittently.

“Chris!”

Jeong Taeui called his name a little softly, but clearly.

When Jeong Taeui shouted his name right into his ear, Christoph slowly turned his head to look at Jeong Taeui after a brief pause. His lips were no longer trembling.

“…Quiet.”

“I’m hungry.”

Jeong Taeui said, staring directly at him. He hadn’t intended to, but perhaps due to a lack of energy, his voice sounded a little subdued.

Christoph, who had been looking at Jeong Taeui with a faint frown on his brow, seemed utterly surprised by Jeong Taeui’s sudden remark. For a moment, he looked at Jeong Taeui as if he had forgotten everything else.

Jeong Taeui suddenly found that unexpected expression on Christoph’s face amusing, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. When Jeong Taeui laughed, Christoph’s expression turned fierce again.

“Just go to the dining hall.”

Christoph clicked his tongue, snapping back at him, and began to climb the stairs. “Oh,” Jeong Taeui exclaimed, holding onto the railing and shouting after him.

“What about you?”

“After I wash up.”

“It’s not even that dirty, what’s the big deal?”

Christoph paused briefly, turning around on the landing. Jeong Taeui looked back at him, Christoph frowning down, then he looked at the riding attire Christoph was wearing.

“…Right. Go wash up. I’ll eat first.”

He wondered what would happen if he ate dinner in riding clothes, but Christoph would probably never do that. He was the kind of person who—to exaggerate a bit—spent an hour glaring into his wardrobe every morning.