Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 64

Jeong Taeui suddenly found it funny and amusing, and he let out a small laugh. Even after living so closely for so many years, there was still such a vast river of misunderstanding flowing between this man and himself. And no matter how he thought about it, that gap didn’t seem like it would ever close.

And yet. Even though he and Ilay were so different. Even though it would continue to be like this. Yet, Jeong Taeui and the man named Ilay Regrow would continue to walk together on parallel lines. This relationship, which perhaps most people were unaware of, suddenly became incredibly amusing.

“Rather than what?” Jeong Taeui prompted Ilay.

Ilay, who had been choosing his words for a moment longer, looking at Jeong Taeui’s eyes, which still held a hint of a smile, shrugged slightly and said, “It means that if the need arises, you shouldn’t hesitate to inflict great harm on him for your minor safety.”

“…That seems like a problem to decide after considering human decency.”

Jeong Taeui fell into thought. He wasn’t thinking about human decency. He was thinking about the relationship between minor safety and great harm. He wasn’t a fool. Ilay knew that too. …The conclusion wasn’t very pleasant. Jeong Taeui scratched his head vigorously.

“Ah—why are those guys making such a fuss fighting when they’re old enough to know better? What a mess…”

“Then why did you come casually crawling into the middle of the fight?”

Jeong Taeui, who had been tearing at his hair, looked up at Ilay, who was sitting cross-legged beside him, looking down at him. “I wouldn’t have come if I’d known this would happen…” he mumbled to himself, then abruptly rested his head on Ilay’s knee, which was right next to his face.

“Oh, I don’t know. You’ll protect me, right? I’ll just trust you completely.”

He couldn’t shake the slight feeling that he was rubbing his foot against an axe, but he couldn’t endure it any longer. He felt like he was going to die from exhaustion. He felt like he could sleep even on a blade now. He closed his eyes, resting his head on the dangerous knee, but nothing happened. Only a sharp gaze was fixed on his cheek.

Oh, whatever. This guy sometimes sleeps on my lap too, and my knee won’t wear out if I do it just once, so what? Still, just in case. He fumbled around, reaching for Ilay’s forearm and gently gripping it to be safer.

Suddenly, a low breath, “Hmm,” fell upon his head.

“Taei. You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Huh…?”

“You, you’re getting more and more—”

“…”

“…No, never mind.”

Thoughts like “getting more and more insolent,” “getting more and more fearless,” and so on briefly crossed his mind, but he decided not to think further. He was too tired to even think another word now, and the drowsiness pressing down on his eyelids was too heavy to disappear even if an axe were swung at his feet, and moreover, this hard knee was surprisingly comfortable. It was as if it was telling him that the long and difficult night was over.

“What are you doing? Looking so gloomy by yourself.”

“Hmm… just thinking about the permanence of time…”

Jeong Taeui replied gloomily, sitting alone in the spacious dining hall, blankly spread out a newspaper, and chewing on a hard black rye bread. Johan, who had come down scratching his disheveled hair as if he had just woken up, sat across from Jeong Taeui with half-closed eyes, pulled a cup closer, and tilted the teapot. Only the quiet gurgle of water echoed.

It was quiet and peaceful. Yet, in a way, that long and difficult night, which he thought had ended, was continuing. He had hoped it was all a dream when he woke up, but life didn’t seem that easy. Indeed, when had his life ever been smooth?

“You slept until noon, and now you’re finally awake? Tsk tsk, so lazy…”

Johan, who had gulped down the tea like water, chided Jeong Taeui, who was silently chewing his bread. And Jeong Taeui, with the same bread-chewing face, stared intently at Johan, who hadn’t even washed his face and still had sleep in his eyelashes. Jeong Taeui himself had fallen asleep at dawn and woken up late in the afternoon, so he couldn’t be called diligent, but to hear that from Johan, who hadn’t even washed his face, the phrase “the pot calling the kettle black” came to mind very clearly.

As if sensing Jeong Taeui’s subtle gaze, Johan frowned and waved his hand. “No, no. Believe it or not, I woke up at dawn, went jogging, then read the newspaper in the main hall, drank tea, and even greeted the elders of the family. The newspaper you’re reading right now, I brought it here after reading it in the main hall this morning. Well… then I went back to sleep though.”

“Why did you wake up so early for once?”

He thought it was useless if he went back to sleep, but Jeong Taeui was too mentally exhausted to pick apart Johan’s words now. He had woken up around 3 PM. He hadn’t slept little. On the contrary, perhaps because he had slept excessively, he was dazed for a while after waking up, then finally shook his heavy head and got out of bed. And when he washed up and left the room, Jeong Taeui realized something unusual.

To be precise, it wasn’t anything unusual. The gazes of the people he passed by had simply become sharper than they were yesterday. Since they weren’t people who usually sent him friendly glances anyway, it wasn’t surprising, but those gazes were definitely special. Specially hostile. He didn’t even have time to wonder about the faces that passed him by, glaring as if they were looking at the murderer of their parents, barely suppressing their anger as if they wanted to knock him down right then and there.

It wasn’t just the Tarten family members. Even the servants, who had nothing to do with their internal disputes and usually went about their business calmly, had a very chIlay atmosphere. There was no need to wonder about the reason. Considering the devastation Christoph had caused last night, it would be stranger if the atmosphere remained unchanged. How many people were carried out almost dead from that place yesterday? And what about the shop, utterly ruined? Even within the family, specifically in Massa, several people were carried out. Perhaps more people bled from sunset yesterday to sunrise today than all the people who bled since Jeong Taeui came to this house combined. The atmosphere, which had been gradually worsening over time, had plummeted to its worst overnight. He could feel it on his skin. A needle-sharp atmosphere prickled in the air.

Just a moment ago, when he entered this dining hall, two men who were already sitting at a table discussing something saw him and spat, then left hostilely. If they had been a rougher sort, it felt like they would have punched Jeong Taeui right there. Jeong Taeui sat down with a heavy heart, casually flipping through the newspaper and chewing his bread, when Johan entered, still disheveled. Still, with Johan unchanged from yesterday, the killing intent in the air seemed to soften a bit.

Johan pulled the basket in front of Jeong Taeui, grabbed a piece of bread, and took a big bite, scratching his head vigorously. “I didn’t really want to wake up early either, but the outside atmosphere was so chaotic. Seven? Eight? Anyway, people were lining up to visit the house from the crack of dawn, coming and going, coming and going outside the window, it was so noisy.”

He grumbled that he wanted to go for a run in the forest, read the newspaper, and leisurely drink tea since he was up early, but the elders wouldn’t let him go once they sat him down. Johan finished the fist-sized bread in just two bites. And he reached for a second piece of bread.

“People came that much in the morning? I didn’t know, I was sleeping. Well, I was a bit tired last night… But why? Is today some special day?”

When Jeong Taeui asked, Johan chewed his bread and glared at him with narrowed eyes.

“Why are you asking me that? You were there too, weren’t you?”

“Huh? Where?”

“Where Christoph went to Richard’s shop and caused a ruckus.”

Jeong Taeui stopped eating his bread, his mouth open, and couldn’t say anything for a moment. And then, his mind finally started working properly.

“…He certainly caused a serious ruckus, but… was it such a major incident that people from the family gathered?”

“Two people died, four are unconscious, and seven are in critical condition. It’s no wonder the old men are making a fuss.”

The bread in his hand dropped. His face instantly hardened.

“Died? …They died?”

“Yeah, two. One from Massa, one from the shop. And one of the four who are still unconscious is on the brink. If he dies too, that’s three lives in one night. At least it’s quiet here. The main hall is in chaos with the old men. It’s so bad that I, an innocent bystander, was dragged along while drinking tea and suffered under the elders’ nagging.”

Jeong Taeui swallowed the bread that wouldn’t go down, facing Johan who was rubbing his half-closed eyes, asking, “Is it better now?” He had thought many people were sprawled out yesterday, but had people actually died? It was no wonder the air felt like a sharp blade.

“That… Christoph?” Jeong Taeui asked, pulling the empty cup in front of Johan closer. He felt like the bread would get stuck in his throat if he didn’t drink something.

“Huh? Well, he’s probably lying down, right? When the old men dragged him away this morning, it looked like he wouldn’t open his eyes for a while.”

“Ah… right, I guess so.”

Even Jeong Taeui had been unconscious for a full half-day before waking up. If Christoph was already up and moving around, Jeong Taeui would have immediately fled this monster-filled house. Silently quenching his thirst with the remaining tea, Jeong Taeui glared at Johan, who was emptying the bread basket at an astonishing speed in front of him.

Christoph was already unwelcome in Tarten. He wasn’t treated favorably even by those who weren’t hostile to him. Everyone feared and found him difficult. And now, even more so.

“A guy who gave up succession and practically cut ties with the family comes back after ten-odd years and causes a ruckus in family matters. This time, the old men have every right to be furious. They used to shield him when the elders talked about doing something about him, but this time, they won’t be able to just let it go without a word.”

“…Richard must be very happy.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, sipping his tea, and Johan scoffed.

“Where does that guy have time to be happy? He’s also suffered a lot of damage from yesterday’s incident. …My appetite isn’t great since I just woke up, I guess.”

Only after emptying half of the basket full of bread did Johan push the basket to the center of the table and brush off the bread crumbs from his mouth. And he gave Jeong Taeui, who was staring intently at him, a casual look.

“The successor decision is less than a month away, and at this point, he shouldn’t have fought, no matter how Christoph provoked him.”

“Hmm… I don’t really want to defend him, but considering the devastation yesterday, it would have been hard to just watch. Moreover, if people even died, wouldn’t it be more of a problem to just stand by and watch?”

“Then he should have just shot him in the head instead of engaging.”

Jeong Taeui stopped swallowing the tea in his mouth and stared silently at Johan. Johan, who was picking up a piece of pecan that had fallen among the bread crumbs, wasn’t joking. He looked at Jeong Taeui with a face that wasn’t overly serious but wasn’t empty words either. He even made a gesture of shooting a gun with his finger along with the words, “should have shot him.”

This guy, he keeps showing unexpected and unusual sides…

“Isn’t it a bit much for someone who’s going to be the head to casually shoot and kill a relative?” Jeong Taeui said awkwardly, but Johan scoffed again.

“That also depends on the opponent and the situation. In this case, no matter what, no matter the outcome, it was a fight Richard would win. Any excuse would work. But he, for no reason, got involved in a fight, got hurt all over, what was he doing?”

Jeong Taeui frowned slightly in front of Johan, who was grumbling that it had caused an emergency in the family, made his ears ring, and was generally bad. Just shoot and kill him without getting involved. Johan might be right. Unless one can overwhelmingly crush the opponent, Richard made a mistake that someone in a leadership position shouldn’t have made. Already, people had died, he himself was battered, and he couldn’t even definitively suppress his opponent. In many ways, he made a losing deal.

“Still… there won’t be any problem with the succession, right?”

Jeong Taeui mumbled that there wasn’t really any strong rival, and Johan shrugged.

“Well, in conclusion, there won’t be much change, but the timing isn’t great. The succession decision date might even be postponed if things go wrong.”

“That could happen?”

“Well… the key is how they conclude talks with the guests who will arrive soon, but who knows.”

Johan mumbled indifferently, casually flipping through the newspaper. Guests, huh. Indeed, many people would visit as the succession date approached. Jeong Taeui nodded, and his eyes briefly caught a small article in the economics section. It was a short article that discussed the ripple effect of rising oil prices, along with Ali, who had taken office as Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister at the end of last year, succeeding Van Dar Al-Fahad, and his ambiguous remarks on oil policy.

As if noticing Jeong Taeui’s gaze lingering, Johan followed his eyes, skimmed the article, and mumbled, “Ah, this uncle seems to be doing very well after surpassing Rashid and becoming minister. Well, his younger brother is providing strong support.”

“Younger brother?”

Jeong Taeui asked again, thinking the name sounded familiar but Middle Eastern names were hard to remember. Johan also furrowed his brow, as if he couldn’t recall immediately.

“You know, that person. The one who stepped out of the power struggle early and turned to business management. Al… Al…”

“Ah, what was it,” Johan mumbled, repeating “Al, Al,” then shrugged as if giving up. Then he sighed. “I had hoped Rashid would win, but things don’t always go as planned.”

“? Why? Was he a moderate?”

“No, with Ali gaining power, it’s like giving wings to a tiger over there, so that’s a bit… Oh, I don’t know. That’s a problem for the elders or Richard to worry about. I’ll just open my mouth under the persimmon tree.”

As if he had gotten bored of talking, Johan waved his hand and leaned back. Jeong Taeui mumbled, “Hmm,” and dropped his gaze to the newspaper. There were no particularly unusual or important articles. Rising oil prices, huh. Now that he thought about it, his brother said he received an oil field as a gift, so his brother’s pockets must be getting fatter. Though he was the kind of person who wouldn’t care what was growing in his pockets.

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment. Something was gnawing at him, like a mouse nibbling in his head, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. In this complex and multifaceted situation, all Jeong Taeui could do right now was—.

“…Should I go see if Christoph is dead or alive first?”

In this hostile situation, he felt he should first check on the man who was the party involved yet was peacefully in a coma by himself. He needed to confirm, albeit a bit belatedly, if the man who had been carried into the mansion like a corpse last night was still alive. Leaving Johan alone, who chimed in that he had been dragged along with the furious old men this morning and it seemed like Christoph wouldn’t wake up for a while, Jeong Taeui dragged his heavy legs and left the dining hall.

Christoph lay buried in the bed alone. Except for a couple of tubes extending from a pack hanging on the hook above the headboard and connected into the bed, he looked as if he was merely sleeping as usual. Christoph lay there, as if peacefully asleep with the blanket pulled up to just below his chin.

Jeong Taeui looked down at his still pale face for a while, even in the daytime, then slightly pulled the curtain by the bed. Sunlight entered the dim room only as much as the curtain was drawn. A yellowish ray of sunshine fell on Christoph’s feet. It was much better. He looked a little warmer with even just a bit of sunlight on his feet, rather than lying like a corpse in the dark curtain’s shadow.

“Christoph. …Are you asleep?”

He quietly spoke to the sleeping person. No answer came back. Jeong Taeui pulled a chair from beside the table and sat next to him. Still, last night he was practically a corpse, but now, though still pale, he at least looked like a living person.

“Hey… Your elders are in an uproar because of you, and you’re sleeping so peacefully? After turning the house upside down.”

It wasn’t a one- or two-day affair, but this time it seemed quite serious… Jeong Taeui sighed, mumbling to himself words that Christoph couldn’t even hear.

Last night, when Richard carried Christoph up the riverbank. Jeong Taeui was momentarily speechless at the sight of the two men, soaked and covered in blood. The sight they presented in the dark of night was indescribably powerful. Jeong Taeui stood speechless for a moment in front of Richard, who had called his name precisely, then just as he was about to help Richard support Christoph, Ilay quietly reminded him from behind, ‘It hasn’t even been a few minutes since I told you not to forget your promise.’

Jeong Taeui instinctively stopped awkwardly the moment he heard that low voice, and Richard watched him from two or three steps away. The streetlights shining obliquely from behind were dim, so his expression wasn’t clear. But Jeong Taeui knew that his eyes were very peculiar. Like looking at something rare and strange, wary, cold. …Cold.

Jeong Taeui vaguely knew that Richard didn’t particularly favor him. Richard was a man who smiled kindly at everyone, but Jeong Taeui wasn’t foolish enough to mistake that for affection. But what should he call that feeling? It was as if he was looking at a stranger, someone different from the person he had known all along, and Jeong Taeui just stared at him silently.

As if noticing Jeong Taeui’s gaze, Richard briefly looked down at his feet, then lifted his head again, smiling as usual. He casually threw Christoph down as if shaking off a grotesque snake crawling on his shoulder. Jeong Taeui, who barely managed to support Christoph just before he hit a stone and fell, glanced at Ilay.

‘Helping him is fine, isn’t it? Just helping him.’

Even if it wasn’t Christoph, helping anyone who had fainted and was about to fall was simply a matter of human decency. When Jeong Taeui argued that, Ilay shrugged almost imperceptibly, but didn’t stop him.

‘Mr. Jeong Taeui.’