Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 44

Hearing such words from a person whose emotions were so faint that it was hard to tell if he had any was a novel sensation, but Jeong Taeui was too stunned to savor it.

While Jeong Taeui stared blankly at Christoph, unable to utter a single word, Christoph looked at Ilay, who was just smoking nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.

“I never thought that guy would willingly accept celibacy, so I thought your relationship with him wasn’t that kind, but rather just an unusually close friendship. …It seems I was wrong.”

His voice was subtly sullen. Like a child grumbling in dissatisfaction, his lips twitched faintly.

His lowered eyelashes seemed to tremble slightly as he looked down. A melancholic shadow fell over them.

Without the leisure to ponder the reason for that melancholy, Jeong Taeui could only stare blankly at him.

Meanwhile, Christoph suddenly lifted his head, handed the medicine bottle he was holding to Jeong Taeui. Then, with his usual calm and cold face, he said,

“That, it makes bruises fade quickly, so apply it. It’s unsightly to see you bruised everywhere. If you keep walking around in front of me looking like that, it’ll bother my eyes.”

Christoph spoke coldly, then stood still for a moment. Jeong Taeui, having received the medicine bottle from him, remained frozen, still staring at him.

An inexplicably subtle silence flowed.

Christoph stared intently at Jeong Taeui – it felt like he was glaring, for some reason – then suddenly turned and walked away.

“I need to go and get some food. …I’d like both of you to leave my room before I return.”

It wasn’t his imagination. A cold wind blew through his voice.

Jeong Taeui wanted to say something, anything, but his frozen body wouldn’t budge.

In the meantime, the door closed.

Still, silence hung in the room.

The silence stretched longer than ever, and by the time Jeong Taeui could barely move his creaking body, several minutes had passed since the door closed.

“What did Christoph just say?”

Jeong Taeui suddenly asked, staring at the closed door.

“It seemed the main point was that there’s no love as pure and true as the relationship that blossoms between people of the same sex.”

Ilay answered with a tone of disinterest.

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at him, who had almost finished smoking his cigarette, then looked back at the door.

He felt as if the door would open any moment, and Christoph would reappear, mumbling, ‘That was a joke a moment ago.’

However, even after waiting a little longer, there was no sign of it, and no one seemed to be lingering outside the door.

“…”

It must have been sincere. It seemed he had said it seriously, not as a joke.

But, no way.

—I don’t have any particular prejudice against homosexuality.

His earlier words suddenly came to mind.

Now, Jeong Taeui could shout at him.

No, you have enormous prejudice.

“…How can he be like that?”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, barely supporting his body as if about to collapse. His eyes filled with shock again. He replayed the words Christoph had said earlier.

—Since the body can’t do anything, a same-sex relationship can only be maintained by the mind, which makes it purer.

—What are sexual relations between the same gender? Women don’t have anything to insert, and men don’t have anywhere to insert it.

“No, that’s absurd. This must be some unique Christoph-style joke. Otherwise…”

Jeong Taeui shook his head.

Yes, otherwise, at that age, in that environment, he wouldn’t think like that.

Jeong Taeui looked back at Ilay. He had already finished his cigarette and, seemingly pleased, was taking out a new one and checking its brand.

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay with skeptical eyes, wondering if he alone had misheard something. Then, as if feeling his gaze, Ilay put the cigarette back in the box, closed the lid, and gave Jeong Taeui an indifferent look.

“Why do you look so dumbfounded?”

“It sounded to my ears as if Christoph sees physical relations between men as entirely platonic.”

“What a coincidence. I heard the same.”

“…”

Jeong Taeui glared at Ilay, who looked unfazed and simply asked, ‘Why?’ Ilay lightly rotated his neck left and right, as if it was stiff. Thud, thud, his bones cracked.

“To think you see me as such a celibate person, thirty years of acquaintance have been in vain.”

Jeong Taeui grabbed Ilay, who was mumbling indifferently, and finally, unable to bear it any longer, he pleaded.

“Does this make sense, huh?! You were rolling around in the mobile unit for several years where it was crawling with only men, weren’t you? And when you were called out as a mercenary, weren’t you surrounded by burly guys, starved for women because of the environment?!”

“Ah. I suppose so.”

“And look at that guy’s face! That’s how he looks! The whole world isn’t going to appreciate art and just look at it reverently, so how can he be like that?! —No. Logically, it makes no sense. You couldn’t not know something like that even if you only watched TV these days.”

“That guy doesn’t watch TV. He probably doesn’t even watch movies.”

“He reads books, though.”

“What he enjoys reading are philosophical humanities books. The only books he’s seen with homosexual themes would be a few aesthetic works, at most.”

Jeong Taeui fell silent.

He was so incredibly surprised, but this man was remarkably calm.

His attitude, as if it could be, was quite bizarre.

“…What about the mobile unit? Were there no people who tried to approach Christoph? Were there no people there with that kind of taste?”

“No, there were a few.”

“And?”

When Jeong Taeui asked, Ilay sighed, “Hmm,” and tapped the air with his index finger, falling silent for a moment.

Jeong Taeui, partly by choice and partly by necessity, had spent a lot of time in situations with many men.

From middle school to high school, it was an all-boys’ school. The only women were teachers, student teachers, or cafeteria ladies. Moreover, after that, he went to a military academy.

Although it accepted female cadets, it had only been about 10 years since that started. While there were a few more women now, they were overwhelmingly fewer than men.

From there, he went directly into the military for a few years, retired, and then a few months later, was dragged by his uncle to the UNHRDO Asia branch. Other branches had female members, but the Asia branch had none at all.

If Jeong Taeui hadn’t been predisposed to only be attracted to men, it would have been an environment worthy of despair.

Because he had gone through such situations, Jeong Taeui found Christoph’s ignorance on that matter to be nothing short of a lie or a miracle.

Moreover, with such an eye-catching appearance, there were bound to be people who would try to approach him. In some worse cases, there were even guys who would try to rape him.

So, naturally, even if the victim wasn’t himself, he couldn’t help but learn about such things through disturbing rumors he heard indirectly.

But. A pure relationship maintained only by the mind. Celibacy.

To Jeong Taeui, who was almost lost in thought, mumbling, ‘No, how could that be possible, no matter what,’ Ilay, who had been silent for a while, deep in thought, slowly opened his mouth.

“But, think about it.”

“What?”

“What about you, then?”

“Huh?”

“He comes back from one field mission covered in blood from head to toe, sometimes throws a fit and turns everything upside down, and his personality is like that. Plus, he has contact aversion. So, what do you think? Would you dare to touch him?”

“…”

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at Ilay again.

His scattered, white thoughts slowly gathered one by one.

Yes, now that he thought about it, it was true. That temper, his reluctance to let people into his room, and his contact aversion that made him uncomfortable even when his clothes were touched. He even had excellent ability to slaughter people.

“…Ah.”

Only then did Jeong Taeui realize why Ilay had been perplexed earlier, and then at some point had the expression that it could be so.

Now Jeong Taeui was fully convinced. It was unbelievable, but given that man’s personality and environment, it might not be impossible.

“…But he knew about heterosexual relationships, right? He wouldn’t be a virgin, would he?”

Jeong Taeui unintentionally mumbled about someone else’s sexual matters, then was surprised by his own words and closed his mouth.

However, after speaking and thinking it over slowly, he realized that it could indeed be possible. That contact aversion wasn’t only directed at men.

“…”

“…”

For a while, only silence flowed in the room.

It was a public holiday.

For Jeong Taeui, who was constantly tormented by Christoph and helping with his work, there was little difference between a public holiday and a weekday.

However, the atmosphere in the house was different; above all, there were more people than usual in the main building, east wing, and west wing.

Many of those who would normally have gone out to work had chosen to relax at home for a rare holiday, instead of going out to the suburbs or for recreation.

Therefore, Jeong Taeui, who was relatively free today regardless of whether it was a public holiday or a weekday, was secretly annoyed.

Even if he wanted to lounge around on the makeshift tower or in the courtyard, it felt more crowded than usual.

In fact, there were usually so few people that even today, the absolute number of people wasn’t that many, but since he was used to a situation where there were almost no people, even seeing one or two people on the usually deserted makeshift tower rooftop made him feel like it was crowded.

“People shouldn’t get so used to this luxury…”

Jeong Taeui shook his head and went outside the west wing. He thought he would go to the forest.

People mostly used only the forest’s riding course. He had never even encountered another person on the separate, well-maintained walking paths inside.

There, he thought, there would probably be almost no people today either.

He didn’t particularly dislike people, but when he wanted to rest, he couldn’t relax comfortably if he was in the same place as strangers.

While walking to the forest, he caught glimpses of two or three people on horseback at the edge of his vision, but it didn’t matter. After all, the riding course and the walking path were separate. Whether the riding course was crowded or not – and checking the number of horses absent from the stable, it wouldn’t be crowded enough for people to flock – was none of Jeong Taeui’s business.

He was just about to reach the entrance of the forest, expecting a leisurely walk…

He saw two people approaching from the path that connected from behind the main building.

This path was a single track, so he couldn’t expect them to diverge elsewhere. In other words, they seemed to be intending to walk the same path.

This is the first time I’ve run into someone here. Anyway, the path splits into several branches halfway, so I can just take another route, Jeong Taeui thought, looking in their direction. Then he let out a short, “Ah.”

It was Richard.

Dressed in a comfortable cotton shirt and cotton pants, walking with a relaxed gait, he looked exactly like someone enjoying a stroll in the forest on a rare holiday.

And next to him was someone he had never seen before.

It was a woman, a head shorter than Richard.

Since he had never seen her before, even fleetingly, it seemed she wasn’t a relative residing at the Tarten mansion.

…Ah. That’s right.

Jeong Taeui nodded.

Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered hearing that Richard had a girlfriend. He had heard through the grapevine in the cafeteria that she was a small and lovely woman.

Jeong Taeui looked at her with fresh eyes.

As the rumors said, she was a small and cute-looking woman. Her eyes were exactly like a deer’s. She had a delicate and fragile impression, as if tears would pour down if you lightly poked her cheek. But her shy smile next to Richard was very sweet and lovely.

Like a candy.

That thought suddenly came to him.

She seemed like she would melt in his mouth, leaving only a sweet lingering taste and then disappear.

As Jeong Taeui stared at her, she seemed to feel his gaze and lifted her head.

When her eyes met Jeong Taeui’s, she widened them in surprise, then slightly retreated behind Richard and whispered something to him. Then he looked in their direction.

“Ah… Mr. Kim Youngsoo.”

Richard’s eyes widened briefly in surprise when he saw Jeong Taeui, but he soon smiled calmly and raised his hand.

Jeong Taeui, who had been contemplating entering the walking path first, had no choice but to stand there and wait for them, giving a slight nod and raising his hand.

Richard approached Jeong Taeui immediately. The woman followed shyly, hesitant, right behind him.

Looking at them like this, they truly were a well-matched pair.

A tall, affable, handsome man and a lovely, beautiful woman like a candy.

Suddenly, a bitter feeling welled up in his chest.

One of the two people whom others considered rivals had such a beautiful lover, a handsome son, and immense wealth and power that would soon come into his hands.

But the other had contact aversion, making a lover unimaginable, was a pure virgin who hadn’t even attempted to make a son, let alone have one, and even had enormous debts to repay to his family.

Could they be this contrasting?

“Christoph. I’m on your side, emotionally.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself while smiling amiably at Richard, who had approached him.

“You seem to be resting for the holiday. Is this your girlfriend?”

Jeong Taeui asked Richard, giving a friendly nod to the woman as well. Richard smiled and nodded.

“Are you here for a walk? The riding course here is more beautifully maintained, so people usually ride a lot… Why don’t you get a horse from the stable and look around?”

“Oh… I can’t ride a horse.”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and said awkwardly. Richard nodded, and assuming Jeong Taeui had rarely been there, he explained the walking paths.

“There are largely four main branches to the walking path. Each branch has a few side paths, but basically there are four. If you like water, go to the rightmost path at the first fork, and you’ll go up along the stream and come back down… Oh, come to think of it, this wouldn’t be your first time. You’ve been here quite a while.”

Richard explained kindly, then suddenly stopped and asked Jeong Taeui.

“Yes, I’ve been here sometimes. But I don’t know the paths well yet… Thank you for the explanation. …Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t interrupt your date. Which way are you going?”

Jeong Taeui deliberately avoided looking at her, who was hiding almost behind Richard, with a flushed face, as if she was very shy, for fear of burdening her.

After asking Richard’s destination, he quickly said goodbye and left the spot.

Let’s see, they said they were going to the middle left path. Then I’ll go right. The stream sounds good too.

Jeong Taeui walked steadily without looking back, and at the first fork, he took the leftmost path.

He had been on this path a couple of times before. If you walked about ten minutes down this path, as Richard had said, a small stream would appear on the right.

Jeong Taeui walked a few steps, then re-tied his shoelaces under an oak tree that almost blocked the middle of the path. He glanced back and saw the two people, who had been following much later than Jeong Taeui, matching the woman’s pace, turning onto another walking path as Richard had said.

“What a well-matched pair, they look very good together.”

Jeong Taeui sighed, watching the two people who appeared and disappeared intermittently through the trees from a distance. Then he took a step forward.