Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 74 - Rumors and Truth

An framed picture hung on the innermost wall of the study.

Inside the exquisitely carved, antique wooden frame, a young noblewoman smiled gracefully in her portrait.

“I wonder if noblewomen back then had so little to be happy about, or if there was a rule against smiling broadly when having a portrait painted.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself, tracing the noblewoman’s lips on the painting. Behind him, Christoph, who was sitting at the desk wrestling with a mirror, spoke curtly without looking his way.

“Boucher, 1753. It’s genuine.”

“…”

Jeong Taeui quietly withdrew his hand, which had been idly rubbing the painting. For someone like him, who had little knowledge of art, the weight of the word “genuine” from an artist he knew was clearly immense.

“Can such a valuable painting just be hung casually in a corner of a study like this, where the temperature and humidity aren’t even properly controlled?”

When Jeong Taeui spoke sullenly, Christoph silently pointed towards the door. There, a hygrometer and thermometer hung, which, like the frame, he had often passed by in the study without ever paying close attention to.

Humidity 55%, temperature 20°C.

“…Wasn’t this just a dusty study?”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and scratched his head. Then he turned his gaze back to the painting.

He looked at the woman’s face in the painting, wearing a haughty smile that seemed to both smile and not smile, then shifted his gaze to Christoph, who was glaring at the mirror beside him.

They resembled each other.

Christoph’s expression, as he glared at the mirror, struggling to lift the corners of his mouth, greatly resembled the noblewoman in the painting.

A subtle, stiff, unnatural smile, born of a noble lineage that made him appear refined even when still, yet somehow subtly rigid.

In the sense that they seemed to have never once laughed out loud with their mouths wide open since birth, the woman in the painting and Christoph were strikingly similar.

“Still weird?”

“No… it’s not weird.”

With his face still in the practiced smile, Christoph turned his head from the mirror to Jeong Taeui and asked. Jeong Taeui crossed his arms, looked at him, and shook his head.

It was unnatural, stiff like an amateur model, but not a strange face. At least it wasn’t like his first attempt, where it was hard to tell if he was smiling or frowning.

“It looks like a haughty, noble princess giving a polite smile to her suitors.”

At Jeong Taeui’s assessment, Christoph immediately wiped away his smile and furrowed his brow.

“What’s that? You’re saying it’s an unpleasant face.”

“I can’t help it. I can’t even say it’s a warm and bright smile, even as a white lie!”

“…Is it that strange?”

“I said it’s not strange. It suits you well.”

Jeong Taeui waved his hand.

It wasn’t a white lie; that smile, which seemed to look down on people slightly yet exuded nobility, was perfect for Christoph. With a little more practice, the unnaturalness would disappear, and it would fit him as if it were an expression he was born with.

The only problem, perhaps, was that it was considerably far from the image of a smile Christoph himself imagined and desired—a kind and cheerful look.

“Is it still the eyes that are the problem? Yes, when I see people who smile well, their eyes always seem to narrow like this. Let’s see…”

Beside Christoph, who was mumbling to himself, glaring at the mirror like Snow White’s stepmother, Jeong Taeui let out a silent sigh.

He had never thought that smiling would require practice.

But clearly, it was better not to smile than not to be able to smile, and better to smile than not to smile. And if one was going to smile anyway, it was better to smile brightly enough to make the viewer feel good.

“…I guess a smile is essential for sales.”

“Since that guy mostly deals with people anyway, facial expressions aren’t that important for me, but I don’t want to hear him say, ‘Because you have such a grim face, even well-progressing negotiations fall apart.'”

Christoph suddenly paused mid-sentence, as if remembering the moment he heard those words from Richard, and his eyes flashed with irritation.

Jeong Taeui quickly noticed him about to throw the mirror and firmly grabbed it, then smiled broadly.

“Now, now, if you don’t want to give him an excuse, smile, smile.”

As Jeong Taeui spoke with a wide smile, Christoph glared at the mirror resentfully, then let out a frustrated sigh, and finally softened his eyes again.

For the past few days, Christoph had been out of the house for almost half the day.

After agreeing to help Richard with his work, he always accompanied him whenever he went out.

Jeong Taeui didn’t know exactly what Christoph was doing, but judging by the stories he ranted about to Jeong Taeui every night, it seemed he wasn’t really helping with anything but rather sticking by Richard’s side, as if flaunting their “friendly relationship.” He heard that Christoph always attended major business meetings related to Tarten’s affairs with Richard.

In the midst of all this, Christoph would burst into Jeong Taeui’s room every night. And he would practice, glaring intently at a small, notebook-sized mirror. Practicing smiling.

‘No, Christoph isn’t even doing sales, so why does he need that kind of sales smile?’

On the first day, when Christoph threw a tantrum because he couldn’t smile as he intended while glaring at the mirror, Jeong Taeui watched him from a distance and asked, bewildered. Ilay, who happened to be flipping through an evening newspaper in Jeong Taeui’s room, replied without looking up.

‘If you’re talking about dealing with people in general as a form of sales, then Christoph is doing sales too.’

‘Wasn’t Richard the one who handled most of the people when dealing with Tarten’s business?’

‘Ah… for example.’

Ilay finally looked up. He briefly cast an uninterested glance at Christoph, who was wrestling with the mirror with a ghostly expression, then took off his glasses and set them down.

‘Among the people Richard met this afternoon, there was a broker who used to be involved with SIS. And that broker was acquainted with Christoph. Nothing major, just saw him a few times during private contract cases when Christoph was in the mobile unit, but that man recognized Christoph next to Richard and greeted him.’

‘Oh…’

‘And that guy, as always, just gave a slight nod with that grim face, so the atmosphere became desolate even before the negotiation properly began.’

Jeong Taeui, who had been leisurely resting his legs on the armrest of the sofa and reclining on Ilay’s thigh, sipping beer just before Christoph burst in without warning, narrowed his eyes in displeasure and badmouthed the absent person.

‘But to make him practice smiling? Isn’t that too much, Richard?’

‘No way. He’s the kind of guy who gives up on impossible things from the start. Christoph is probably just secretly trying hard because he doesn’t like hearing unpleasant things from that guy. Well, it doesn’t seem to be helping much, though.’

Ilay, who had replied indifferently, held a beer can to his mouth and briefly looked at Jeong Taeui, who was staring intently at Christoph, then rubbed his chin. Realizing Ilay’s gaze, Jeong Taeui asked, ‘Why?’ Ilay waved his hand, saying it was nothing.

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay suspiciously, then soon frowned and muttered, ‘I get it. I don’t care. I don’t.’ He pretended not to hear Ilay’s chuckle, saying he was quite quick-witted.

But in the end, after making all sorts of faces in front of the mirror and occasionally turning to Jeong Taeui to ask seriously, like a goblin showing his teeth, ‘How about this? Does it look better if I smile like this?’, he couldn’t stand it anymore, threw down his beer can, and ran to the mirror.

Even Ilay seemed to think that Christoph’s seriously made “smiling face” shouldn’t be left as it was. He pretended not to see Jeong Taeui pulling Christoph’s cheeks wildly and shouting, ‘Smile as if you’re pulling these muscles, these muscles!’

And after several such nights of endurance, Christoph’s smile finally began to look quite plausible.

That smile, like a noblewoman in any portrait, wasn’t a light and natural expression suitable for casual settings, but it was no longer indistinguishable as a smile or a frown.

Jeong Taeui watched Christoph for a while, as he tried to create an eye-smile by pressing down on the corners of his eyes with his finger, then sighed and sat down in the opposite seat. He picked up the half-finished beer can he had left earlier and sipped it, watching Christoph.

“Still, I was worried about you sticking around with Richard, but it seems you’re doing surprisingly well. No news of any incidents after a few days.”

“Hmm…? Oh, one of the guys in the secretary’s office hasn’t shown up for a few days… but it’s nothing major. Just a few broken finger joints so he can’t casually stroke other people’s thighs again.”

“…Richard isn’t bothering you?”

“Why would he bother me when I’m helping him with everything he wants?”

Christoph stopped trying to make an eye-smile with his fingers and glared fiercely, shouting. “Uh, right,” Jeong Taeui quickly trailed off.

Indeed, he wouldn’t put thumbtacks in his shoes, or douse him with mop water, or trip him, like in old cartoons. No matter how much he disliked him, he wouldn’t bully him so childishly…

“Speaking of which, I waxed the soles of his shoes just for the hell of it, and he almost slipped down the stairs. Hehe… maybe I’ll put thumbtacks in tomorrow.”

“…”

It seemed he had chosen the wrong person to worry about.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head, thinking, “Indeed,” as he looked at Christoph, whose eye-smile finally seemed to come alive, seemingly quite amused.

What Richard wanted was the very fact that Christoph was under his control and obedient.

He couldn’t have expected practical abilities from Christoph, who had long since left Tarten. It was more likely that he wanted to symbolically display his negotiation skills or dominance in getting what he wanted from someone he disliked—and who disliked him—especially with the succession looming.

And that had achieved some results.

Indeed, when news spread that Christoph was quietly accompanying Richard and even pretending to help with his work, more than one person reacted with near shock. And the conclusion of those reactions was usually an exclamation of “How did Richard manage that?”

Such a reaction just from getting along with one person; their relationship must have been truly terrible.

“Well, it might even be a good thing in its own way.”

Jeong Taeui sipped his beer and muttered to himself.

At least the biggest seed of trouble had been somewhat resolved. No more unfortunate incidents would occur due to their hostile relationship. It was a good thing for Jeong Taeui as well, as he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, there was just one problem…

“You like to smile.”

Just as a dark cloud of trouble was about to loom, Christoph suddenly blurted out. “Huh?” Jeong Taeui turned his gaze. Christoph, still not taking his eyes off the mirror, hesitated a little before speaking.

“I’m not good at smiling, but you like smiling faces. So I thought, maybe I should smile for you.”

At his words, mumbled in a gruff voice as if he were angry, Jeong Taeui stared blankly at Christoph for a moment. Then he unknowingly asked,

“Are you practicing smiling because of me?”

Christoph didn’t answer, just glared at the mirror. But seeing his lips pout slightly, it seemed to be true. Was it his imagination, or was there a slight flush on his cheeks? He hoped it was his imagination.

Jeong Taeui couldn’t say anything, so he quietly swallowed his beer.

This was not good.

There was no way he wouldn’t be happy with someone’s kindness, but this was not good.

It wasn’t that he disliked Christoph. On the contrary, as facets of him he had never imagined before began to emerge, he had grown to like this man very much.

But precisely because of that, it was even worse.

Jeong Taeui’s affection was not the same as this man’s, and he had no room to even politely return that affection, let alone accept it.

—If another bastard touches your crotch and you stay still, I’ll get rid of that bastard first, and then I’ll make sure your thing can’t be used by anyone but me for the rest of your life.

Because the man who had threatened him like that was right there, close by.

“It’s troublesome to have someone who thinks touching a crotch means deep intimacy, but a guy like that is also very troublesome…”

Suddenly, the beer tasted terribly bitter. Still, he drank the last drop and put down the can, clicking his tongue.

Right. That was also a problem.

One of the headache-inducing problems Jeong Taeui was currently facing—though he wasn’t the direct party—stemmed from the man glaring at the mirror in front of him.

It was commendable that he hadn’t caused a major incident with Richard, but behind the scenes, a situation was secretly unfolding that had made Jeong Taeui almost faint for about five seconds when he first heard about it.

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

Jeong Taeui let out a surprised exclamation upon finding Johan almost buried in the sofa. Johan, not particularly surprised, echoed his words as if answering him.

“What brings you here, reading a book?”

Jeong Taeui sat on the single couch opposite the sofa where Johan was leaning, and spoke.

The places where he encountered Johan were almost fixed.

The dining hall or the lounge in the basement. Or very occasionally, just passing by in the hallway.

As far as Jeong Taeui could remember, he had never met him in this communal study.

Although called a communal study, it was more accurate to call it a lounge with a few more bookshelves than a private study, with comfortable couches placed here and there among the shelves.

In fact, the number of people who came here to read books was similar to the number of people who gathered on the soft couches to chat and pass the time. So, even now, two or three people were sitting a few shelves away from Jeong Taeui’s spot, chatting.

It wasn’t a particularly good atmosphere for reading, but it was nice for lounging comfortably and flipping through books to pass the time. Moreover, perhaps because of the atmosphere, there were quite a few popular novels that couldn’t be found in Christoph’s private study.

Even now, Jeong Taeui held a popular novel that Johan had left in the dining hall a while ago, which he had picked up and flipped through a few pages, eventually looking for the next volume.

And Johan was sprawled on the sofa, holding a book with a bizarre title he couldn’t tell where he had gotten it from.

“‘Now You Too Can Speak the Night, Body Language – Hot Beauties from Exotic Lands.’ …What kind of book is that, anyway?”

“If you want to have a fruitful next vacation, you have to prepare in advance. Don’t you know ‘prepare for the unexpected’?”

He was extremely curious about what kind of preparations and how, but he decided not to ask. Instead, he chose to smoothly change the subject.

“By the way, are you allowed to be here? Everyone’s bustling around because a distinguished guest is coming this evening.”

When Jeong Taeui asked, Johan wrinkled his nose in annoyance and waved his hand dismissively.

“I’m fine. Only the guys in the higher positions are busy.”

Johan hummed a carefree tune, thinking, “If I have to be busy running around at a time like this, then there’s no point in having given up on the succession in the first place.”

Jeong Taeui inwardly thought that this lazy man was perhaps truly living the life of a sage, then nodded in agreement.