Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 53

Christoph’s cold stare, silently turning his head to glare at him, met Richard’s gaze as he slowly turned around.

“That’s fortunate. It seems that mental illness, the one where you can’t even brush past others, has gotten better among your many illnesses.”

“…Ha.”

Christoph, who had been listening quietly to his words, let out a hollow laugh with his cool face. And then he slowly turned around and stood facing Richard.

Jeong Taeui, who was standing between them, sighed and took a step aside. It was quite uncomfortable to have their glares pierce through him while they stared at each other.

Jeong Taeui, who had moved aside to let the two people with bad relationships glare at each other freely without obstruction, also looked at Richard with a puzzled expression.

He hadn’t expected him to pick a fight first.

As far as Jeong Taeui had seen since coming here, Richard never picked fights first. He always dealt with others with a calm, smiling face, and acted as if Christoph wasn’t there. Unless someone else was involved and they got entangled.

Christoph was the same.

He basically didn’t have much interest in other people.

He didn’t even put anyone in his sight unless they picked a fight with him or caused trouble.

Mostly, he would overreact to the other person’s actions, drawing criticism and resentment, but he never attacked someone first without any reason.

Because of that, even though Christoph and Richard were mutually hostile in Tarten, Jeong Taeui had almost never seen them clash.

…Or perhaps there was still resentment left over from Oliver’s injury a while ago.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Oliver.

The children were gathered there.

The children were frowning worriedly, looking at Christoph and Richard standing in a standoff. Then Jeong Taeui suddenly met the gaze of the little girl from earlier.

“…”

Jeong Taeui winked at the girl. Pointing at Richard and Christoph.

The clever girl seemed to understand immediately. She seemed to nod almost imperceptibly, then cleared her throat a couple of times and shouted,

“Richard— You’re too late— Do we have to wait longer?”

When the girl shouted, the children subtly exchanged glances and then each raised their voices.

“I have to leave right after this class.”

“Ah— I’m tired of waiting.”

“They always do this when I’m busy.”

Jeong Taeui subtly turned his head and smiled, looking at the clever children who were all grumbling or complaining together.

Perhaps the children’s shouting had an effect, as Richard seemed to frown slightly, but then he smiled casually and looked back at them.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

As if to pretend nothing had happened, he turned and walked away.

As Richard walked towards the children, ignoring Christoph, Christoph let out a short, hollow laugh behind his back.

“Mental illness— Yes, even if I cure that mental illness, I’ll probably remain sick only to you. I don’t even want a single finger to brush against you.”

Richard seemed to slow his steps.

But that was only for a moment; he continued walking without looking back.

Finally, when he was close enough to the children to be a good distance away, Jeong Taeui sighed and shrugged.

“He must have really fought with his lover… He’s been in a bad mood for a while, and it seems it’s still the case.”

As he mumbled to himself and approached Christoph, Christoph looked at Jeong Taeui with a strange expression.

“Fight with his lover? With that woman? No way. No, he’s not the kind of person to get upset even if he fights.”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head as he followed Christoph, who scoffed and turned to go down the stairs again.

“Ilay said something similar, and now you’re saying it too. They must have a good relationship if they don’t even fight with their lover. Oh, right, they did seem to have a good relationship yesterday.”

“Not a lover, but a toy slave, to be used and discarded. Ah— thinking about it makes me feel bad again. Stop talking about that guy.”

Jeong Taeui’s eyes widened, saying, “Huh?” but Christoph waved his hand, as if even the mention of Richard’s name bothered him.

Suddenly, the words “perverted freak” that he had felt extremely uncomfortable with from the beginning flashed through his mind.

Jeong Taeui shrugged, thinking there must be something only those who knew would understand, and simply followed behind. In any case, he preferred not to know.

Jeong Taeui didn’t think he was particularly sensitive to other people’s gazes.

Sometimes he would feel a gaze and turn around to meet someone’s eyes, but it wasn’t always the case. There were often times when he wouldn’t notice someone staring intently at him until the very end. He even heard once that when he was in elementary school, his parents had come to see him during an outdoor class, and they had watched him from not so far away throughout the entire class, but he never noticed them.

Also, in a similar vein, even if he knew someone was looking at him, he didn’t care much. He would just think, Oh, that person is looking at me, and move on. Whether they stared so hard a hole would be drilled in his face—though that rarely happened in general—if it was someone he knew, he would ask if they needed something, but he hardly cared about strangers.

Once in school, he noticed a student sitting diagonally behind him staring intently at him—or his test paper—during an exam, but he didn’t care much, to the point where the teacher later suspected them of being a gang. He even almost got into serious trouble when he was almost kidnapped, because he just thought some man kept staring at him and ignored it.

Several times, he had almost gotten into trouble by not caring about other people’s gazes, but it seemed to be more a matter of nature than learning, as Jeong Taeui still wasn’t very sensitive to other people’s gazes.

However.

Right now.

Sitting on the sofa about three or four meters away from the bed where Jeong Taeui was leaning, there was a gaze intently fixed on Jeong Taeui.

To exaggerate a little, that gaze had not left Jeong Taeui for a single moment, except for the time he blinked.

It was staring so intently, as if to drill a hole in his face, so persistent and tenacious.

“…”

Jeong Taeui was sitting propped up against the headboard of the bed, reading a book.

Christoph’s study had several rare books that Kail didn’t possess. He had found and pulled out one that he had wanted to read for a long time.

The book was incredibly interesting. The content, written by the author who had entered a remote area where almost no one had set foot 50 years ago and lived with the people there, was even more fascinating as it contrasted directly with the present state of the same region, which he had just read about.

Although it was a very thick book, he had read half of it in a couple of hours last night and was about to read the rest today. And, about two hours had passed. He hadn’t even read a quarter of the remaining half.

“…Christoph.”

Finally, Jeong Taeui closed the book.

He had had a nightmare last night and hadn’t slept well, so he had planned to just read and go to bed early today, but it seemed that plan was ruined.

Even now, he felt sleepy and his eyes kept closing, but that unwavering gaze continued without a moment’s rest.

After dinner, for some reason, Christoph had come to Jeong Taeui’s room, sat on the sofa, and had been there ever since. Jeong Taeui had tilted his head a few times, wondering why he was doing that, then decided to just go about his business. He figured Christoph would stop eventually.

…But he didn’t stop.

“I usually don’t care if other people look at me, but…”

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to seriously scold him, saying, “Two hours is a bit too much, isn’t it?”

The phone on the side table rang.

Jeong Taeui stopped the finger he was pointing and looked back at the phone with an “uh.” Calls to Jeong Taeui’s room were rare. Even when a call did come, it was usually an internal line from the man sitting there now. The only other man who might contact him preferred to come directly if he had something to say.

Yet, if a call came, there was only one person who would call.

“Yes, long time no see, Kyle.”

He answered without even checking who it was, and after a brief silence, a familiar voice came through the phone.

‘Does he just assume it’s me without even asking who it is?’

“You’re the only one who’d call, Kyle. I’m out here in the sticks; who else would look for me?”

Jeong Taeui laughed. He could hear Kyle’s laughter from inside the phone.

A while ago, when he called, Jeong Taeui had absolutely laid into Kyle for not telling him beforehand that Ilay was here. It seemed that was the first time he’d ever snapped at Kyle.

“No, that’s classified, you see,” Kyle had stammered an apology, and after that, he’d called two or three times with an apologetic air. Now, things were pretty much back to normal.

‘Why? There must be people who could call him, even if it’s just an internal line.’

“Ah. Ilay, just like when he was there, comes directly if he has business. Christoph is right in front of me now.”

Jeong Taeui glanced at Christoph, who was still staring intently at him, and spoke. Christoph had been staring even more fixedly since Jeong Taeui answered the phone.

‘Chris was there? No wonder he didn’t answer when I called. That guy, sitting in someone else’s room, that’s unusual.’

“Ah. Do you want me to put him on if you have business?”

‘No, no. That business is with you anyway.’

Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly.

“No, I haven’t received it yet.”

‘That bastard, really…! When did he say he’d give it to you?’

“Well…”

Jeong Taeui trailed off.

He had no idea when he would get the books back, and it had been impossible to know from the start, but lately, it was even more impossible. No, it was even hard to bring up the topic of returning the books.

—If you like me, give me those books back.

In his eagerness to get the books back quickly, he had elaborately hinted at something to that effect. He thought it was petty and childish himself, but he had to get the books back, didn’t he?

But it was not something he should have said.

Christoph had replied even more pettily and childishly.

—If you abandon Riegrow and stay with me.

He couldn’t bring himself to answer that.

In the end, every time he brought up the books after that, Christoph would just stare at him with a silent, meaningful gaze, so lately, he hadn’t been able to bring it up much. He had dug his own grave.

However, he couldn’t tell Kyle that, so he kept quiet. Kyle just thought Christoph was stubbornly refusing to give them back—which was also true.

‘How’s Ilay doing?’

“Ah. Ilay’s doing well. Is he the kind of person who can’t get by anywhere? He seems to be strutting around Tarten like some hotshot new lawyer.”

‘Hahaha, you said he was a budding entrepreneur before, so his style must have changed. Still, he looks more human dressed like that, doesn’t he?’

“He always looked human enough on the outside, though…”

‘Right, right, is that why you were fooled?’

“…”

No, even before I saw him in person, I knew he was extraordinary. There were all sorts of records and videos circulating within the branch, evidence that I shouldn’t get close to him, even before he arrived.

But if he said that, he felt a regrettable silence would follow, as if to say, ‘Knowing all that, why did it turn out this way?’ So he kept his mouth shut.

‘That’s right. He should be arriving soon, have you received it yet?’

“Huh? What?”

‘You haven’t received it yet, it seems. I bought some local specialty beer, limited edition, when I was on a business trip recently. It tastes quite unique and good, so I thought of you and sent a few cans. I happened to have something to send to Ilay, so I sent it along with that; you should get it from him.’

“Oh… thank you.”

Jeong Taeui’s face immediately brightened as he thanked him. Kyle’s voice, laughing “What for, what for,” sounded unusually gentle today.

In truth, Kyle, who had committed many sins in his own way, then finished the call with a perfunctory “Please take care of the books.” Jeong Taeui put down the phone, his heart swelling with anticipation for the beer that would soon be delivered to him.

“What are you thanking him for? He’s probably giving you a present.”

At that moment, Christoph, who had been sitting on the sofa, staring intently at him, opened his mouth. He hadn’t said a word, just watched quietly while Jeong Taeui read the book, so this was the first thing he’d said since sitting there.

“Oh, he’s sending me some specialty beer.”

“Beer. Now that you mention it, you seem to drink a lot of beer. Do you like beer?”

“Hmm? No, not really. I just drink it if it’s there.”

Jeong Taeui lied with a nonchalant smile. However, he himself was unaware that it was a lie. In his own mind, it was the truth.

“Hmm,” Christoph mumbled, then shifted his arm to prop up his chin.

Though that gaze had bothered him greatly just a moment ago, Jeong Taeui’s mood quickly improved at the news of Kyle’s gift. He hummed a tune and sat back on the bed.

“Ilay…”

Christoph suddenly mumbled.

Jeong Taeui lifted his head at the unfamiliar sound.

Christoph mumbled “Ilay” once more, his lips twisting slightly.

“An unlucky name…”

That guy, he thinks every person’s name is unlucky…

Jeong Taeui, who had inadvertently become Kim Youngsoo in this household, glared at him with a disdainful look. But Christoph didn’t budge, just sighed, “Hmm.”

“I thought only the people in that house called him that.”

Jeong Taeui retorted sullenly to him, who spoke with great surprise despite his indifferent demeanor.

“You wanted to call him that too, didn’t you? Then call him.”

“I’ve seen more than one person become unlucky by calling him that name without knowing better.”

He mumbled that when he was young, at every gathering, there would always be one or two such people, and the truth of those words was more than evident.

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. Christoph didn’t stop there and continued.

“A name is just a designation anyway, so why make such a fuss about calling it whatever you want?”

Even in his casual words, sharp thorns of displeasure were tightly embedded.

This man, who used to have neither positive nor negative interest in others, why is he suddenly backbiting?

He didn’t particularly want to take Ilay’s side—in fact, Christoph was right, what’s wrong with calling someone by their name if it’s not a bizarre one?—but a sudden impulse to say, ‘Christina is a pretty name too,’ welled up inside him.

However, a quick glance at Christoph’s face didn’t seem to invite being provoked, so he decided to keep quiet and let it pass.

“You met Rick at that UNHRDO?”

“Oh, yeah. You know him well.”

“Ah, Jeong Taeui was famous.”

His own name came out right after a completely unexpected remark, and Jeong Taeui looked at him bewildered. Then he chuckled.

“You got the name wrong just now. You mean Ilay was famous.”

“Ah—there’s no need to even mention him.”

Christoph pulled a stool from a little distance away from the sofa and put his feet on it. His voice quickly became languid, as if he was about to comfortably fall asleep.

“Ever since that guy joined UNHRDO, there was a lot of talk about whether they hired people without personality tests.”

Everyone thinks that…

“But that mobile unit of theirs is also rumored to be a den of madmen.”

“Yeah. We hired people without personality tests.”

“No, I don’t think it’s a matter of whether or not they do personality tests, I…”

Jeong Taeui spoke quite seriously, but Christoph didn’t seem to care much. He mumbled with distant eyes, reminiscing about the past.

“Even when I heard he was promoted from UNHRDO and went to the Asia branch as an instructor, everyone doubted UNHRDO’s legitimacy and ethics. They wondered what kind of human resources they were trying to cultivate.”

“Even if it’s a den of madmen, most of them must have had their sanity intact. Seeing as they don’t protect their own.”

If he were to greatly praise Ilay for becoming a UNHRDO instructor, just because he was “one of their own,” he would surely deserve the condemnation of all.

However, Christoph merely snorted again.

“Protecting their own? It was a collection of internal divisions, that place.”

“…Why… still, you terrorized together harmoniously, didn’t you…”

“They contacted the extremists first and even paid them. …Indeed, the guys who joined in the terrorism back then were madmen who worshipped Riegrow in their own way.”

‘Wow, that’s truly crazy,’ Jeong Taeui thought, nodding his head. Christoph, who had been silent for a moment, staring into space after saying that much, eventually turned his gaze back to Jeong Taeui.

“At that time, another rumor was circulating. That he must have been given a terminal diagnosis, to needlessly step forward and become a wanted man, thus restricting his actions indefinitely, with no apparent gain. There were countless people who rejoiced when that rumor spread.”

“…”

“Amidst countless such rumors, he suddenly became a celebrity. The Asian man Riegrow had tucked under his arm when he entered Kyle’s house.”

“…I was famous for that?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

He didn’t know.

No one had intentionally told him such things, and he had hardly ever left Berlin anyway. He had almost always spent peaceful days at home.