Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 75

Today was the day the distinguished guest, who had only been rumored about for days, was finally arriving.

They said he was from Riyadh.

Riyadh. The capital of Saudi Arabia.

He recalled Ilay’s subtle smile as he slowly drew out the end of his sentence, saying, “‘He’s a distinguished guest coming from Riyadh.'” He could immediately sense the annoyance in that smile.

Riyadh, huh. …Surely, an anti-terrorist capture team wasn’t suddenly coming.

“It’s the final negotiation for the loan repayment, so the highest-ranking people won’t come in person, and the ones just below them will come and try to figure out each other’s intentions, won’t they?”

And then they’ll report it to their superiors, who will then make the final decision, Johan muttered calmly, as if he had seen through Jeong Taeui’s worries, which he couldn’t possibly have.

Jeong Taeui tilted his head for a moment, then subtly asked,

“But Rick bombed Riyadh before, didn’t he? Is it okay for him to meet guests from there?”

“Ah—it’s a special situation now. The succession decision day is just around the corner, so how would outsiders reach out to someone who’s a VIP guest at Tarten? Even if they tried, they’d aim for the moment he leaves Tarten after finishing his business.”

Besides, they’re not sending special forces, and even if two or three loan-related officials come, could they even lay a finger on that guy? Johan waved his hand.

That’s true.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and sank deep into the couch.

“I hope those distinguished guests from the distant Middle East finish their business quickly and leave.”

“Even so, only the higher-ups are busy, it doesn’t concern idlers like us. Ah… well, if Chris gets busy, you’ll get busy too, won’t you?”

“Huh? Oh, not me. While he’s been sticking with Richard during the day lately, I’ve actually become quite free at home. I can’t exactly follow him around while he’s doing Tarten’s business, can I?”

Indeed, even now, Jeong Taeui, who would otherwise have been buried under a pile of chores Christoph had assigned, was leisurely idling like this. Moreover, if guests from the Middle East made them busy, Jeong Taeui would naturally become even more free.

With the two men who threw seeds of anguish from both sides, Ilay and Christoph, absent, the daytime was incredibly peaceful. This was quite nice.

“I wonder if Christoph is okay…”

Jeong Taeui muttered carelessly and opened his book.

As Johan had said, Christoph, who had joined the ranks of the busy higher-ups due to the arrival of the distinguished guest, had to get out of bed this morning even before the sun had fully risen.

Christoph, who had to follow Richard’s diligent and early morning schedule, looked like he was dying every morning. (Or trying to kill someone.)

Christoph, who suffered from low blood pressure and always struggled to get up late in the morning, at an ambiguous time between morning and noon, couldn’t open his eyes even today, despite Jeong Taeui clicking his tongue and shaking him awake beside the loudly ringing alarm clock.

The one who finally woke Christoph, who was sitting on the bed with a pale face, looking like death and unable to gather his wits, was Richard.

It had been like that for the past few days.

Richard woke Christoph much more easily and conveniently than Jeong Taeui.

It wasn’t difficult. He just had to burst into Christoph’s room, perfectly prepared for his outing.

The moment he stepped into the room, Christoph, even in his sleep-addled state, glared at him with an extremely displeased expression.

‘I never said you could come into my room. Get out now.’

‘If you don’t get up and get ready right now, I’ll step on your bed with my shoes and drag you out.’

‘…If you want to see blood this early in the morning, go ahead.’

While Christoph retorted to Richard, deeply furrowing his brow, he managed to get into a state where he could more or less get up.

When he got out of bed and walked weakly to the bathroom, Richard then left the room again with a cold expression. He didn’t forget to give Jeong Taeui, who was standing awkwardly, a kind smile and a morning greeting.

“He left with all sorts of grimaces again today, but he should be fine by now.”

Jeong Taeui shook his head, inwardly clicking his tongue, thinking that practicing smiling every night would be in vain if he kept making such faces.

From the seat opposite Jeong Taeui, Johan diligently underlined “Hot Beauties from Exotic Lands” and replied,

“He runs to your room every night and doesn’t come out for a while, so what if people wonder about him elsewhere?”

Jeong Taeui paused for a moment and looked at Johan with a sideways glance.

“Your way of speaking is quite suggestive. Anyone who hears it would think you’re practicing body language with ‘Hot Beauties from Exotic Lands’ every night.”

“Oh, wasn’t it?”

“Of course not!!”

“Then what are you doing?”

Jeong Taeui opened his mouth wide, unable to say anything to Johan, who asked as if genuinely curious.

Somehow, he felt reluctant to say that Christoph practiced smiling in his room every night.

Jeong Taeui awkwardly closed his mouth, mumbling, “There’s something… but it’s not like that…” and vaguely trailing off. Johan looked at Jeong Taeui with a pathetic expression and clicked his tongue.

“That’s why the rumors are so rampant about you…”

Jeong Taeui, unable to let that remark pass, asked, “What about me?” Johan just clicked his tongue and pretended not to know, until he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and shaken, then he finally opened his mouth.

“I heard you, Christoph, and Richard are in a love triangle.”

“What?”

“Christoph and Richard, whose relationship has suddenly improved greatly after discovering a forbidden connection. And you, like licorice, are stuck in between.”

“What is that?!”

Jeong Taeui shouted with wide eyes, but Johan quickly turned his head and began to pore over his book again. With one hand, he underlined important passages in “Hot Beauties from Exotic Lands,” and with his mouth, he clicked his tongue, giving advice like a dog covered in shit, “One shouldn’t be loose with one’s lower half.”

Jeong Taeui stared at him dumbfounded.

He had already heard the first part of that rumor.

It was also Jeong Taeui’s main headache.

Somehow, the words Christoph had complained about so seriously earlier—that he had “committed an unnatural act with Richard”—had leaked out (the source of the rumor would be easy to find), and now everyone in the West Wing knew about that rumor, which had spread half-jokingly, half-seriously, except for the parties involved.

Christoph had started the rumor himself—though he had no intention of spreading a rumor, merely complaining about what he believed to be the truth—but whenever Jeong Taeui saw Richard, who knew nothing and greeted them with a good-natured smile, his heart ached. Especially when Richard, in front of others, treated even Christoph with polite deference, as if he were affectionate.

Don’t do that. The more you do that, the more those baseless rumors gain credibility and spread widely…

However, he couldn’t bring himself to say such a thing to Richard himself.

So Jeong Taeui was just fretting over the rumors, feeling sorry for them.

Then Johan suddenly dropped a bomb on him.

“For the sake of my innocence, let me tell you, I have absolutely no physical relationship, however unspeakable, with them whatsoever!”

Jeong Taeui once again felt keenly how terrifying rumors were when only the parties involved were unaware of them, and solemnly defended himself to Johan.

Johan narrowed his eyes, looking at Jeong Taeui, as if deciding whether to believe him or not.

“Speaking of which, I heard you and Rick were ‘at it’ when you burst into Richard’s bar, following Christoph.”

Gasp, that rumor spread too…?

That wasn’t a baseless rumor, so he had nothing to defend himself with.

Johan seemed to have discerned the truth from Jeong Taeui’s expression, looked at Jeong Taeui with eyes that seemed to say, “How promiscuous…”, then subtly cut off their gazes with his book.

“Hey, I said no!!”

“What? I heard testimony from several people that Rick ‘drilled’ you. Is that not true?”

“No, …that’s not it, but… I, …I’m maintaining a pure and innocent relationship with Christoph!”

“Really? Then I guess so. Anyway, I never thought you’d be like that with Christoph from the start. Your face doesn’t even match. Does a thousand-gulden tulip even suit your face?”

“You’re discriminating against people by their face—no, that’s not it, if you knew it was a baseless rumor, you should correct it!”

“Why should I? They wouldn’t believe me even if I corrected it without evidence, and rumors usually die down within three months anyway.”

Jeong Taeui felt a momentary urge to kill Johan, who shrugged his shoulders irresponsibly.

Suddenly, all the strength drained from his body, and Jeong Taeui leaned back on the couch, almost lying down, covering his face with the book. Johan’s murmuring voice could be heard beside him.

“By the way, Rick and ‘at it’… It’s amazing you weren’t hospitalized. You must be tougher than I thought.”

Or maybe I don’t know because I haven’t tried it, but the human body is mysteriously made, so maybe that thickness goes in easily? —Jeong Taeui quietly stood up and approached Johan, who was muttering carelessly and chuckling, holding a 1.6-liter beer bottle upside down that had been leaning against a nearby trash can.

“Why don’t you try it on your own body? I’ll help you.”

“Huh?” Johan, who had turned to look at Jeong Taeui, instantly stiffened his expression upon seeing the bottle in his hand.

“Hey… you’re not saying it’s that size, are you?”

“Oh, the psychological pressure is similar. The physical pressure, well, if you think of it as all the same once you cross the limit, there won’t be much difference. Come on, come here.”

Jeong Taeui was smiling with a half-dazed expression. Temporary personality loss due to stress—that was the thought that flashed through Johan’s mind at that moment.

“Hey, hey, what kind of nonsense is that…? But why are you coming towards me? Hey, don’t come any closer. Do you know you look like Jason with a chainsaw right now?”

“Stop talking and take off your pants.”

“N-no, hey, don’t… K-kyaaaah! I’m sorry! Save me!!”

“Take them off! Take them off!!”

When the men chatting on the other side of the bookshelves rushed over, startled by the sudden screams and shouts, Jeong Taeui was pulling at the belt buckle of Johan, who was struggling and resisting.

And so, another rumor sprouted.

The distance from Jeong Taeui’s room at the very end of the West Wing to the main hall of the main building was quite far. One could tell people were coming and going, but couldn’t discern their faces in detail.

However, when two black sedans and several medium-sized wagons stopped one after another in front of the main entrance, and two men who clearly looked like distinguished guests got out of the first sedan, Jeong Taeui, who had been watching since the car pulled up, knew at least that they were not the man he had encountered before.

For some unknown reason, that man, the owner of the Seringe villa, seemed recognizable even from a distance where faces couldn’t be distinguished. His presence was that extraordinary.

“Well… since it’s someone else, I feel a bit relieved for now.”

Jeong Taeui patted his chest and sighed.

After all, he had left the house completely destroyed, so it would be very awkward to meet the owner again. He would have to immediately bow his head and apologize, saying, “I’m sorry for ruining your house like that.”

Seeing Richard and Christoph—who could be roughly recognized even from a distance where their faces were indistinguishable—standing side by side, guiding them into the entrance, Jeong Taeui stepped back from the window.

It was slowly getting dark. The sun had already set, and only a faint trace of reddish-purple twilight remained. It would be dinner time soon.

Anyway, since the distinguished guests had arrived, they would probably be dining in the main building or the East Wing tonight. Then the dining hall in the West Wing would be quieter.

Thinking that he could enjoy a relaxed dinner for the first time in a while, Jeong Taeui left his room.

He dreamed of a pleasant night: eating leisurely, returning to his room, lounging on the bed, casually drinking beer and reading a book, and then falling asleep happily. With such thoughts, Jeong Taeui walked lightly towards the dining hall.

Since the distinguished guests, who had been rumored for days, had finally arrived, everyone would be busy with them for at least today, so no one would bother him, he thought.

However.

Nevertheless.

Less than an hour later, Jeong Taeui found himself sitting in a spacious and comfortable reception room on the first floor of the East Wing.

“…”

“Why do you look so pale? Are you feeling unwell?”

The person who kindly showed concern was Richard, who could never possibly have any affection for Jeong Taeui.

Ilay, who should have been the most attentive to Jeong Taeui in terms of their relationship, seemed indifferent to Jeong Taeui’s ashen face, and Christoph, who had confessed to Jeong Taeui in a gruff manner, sat beside Richard with a cold expression.

And across from them, in the seats of honor, were two unfamiliar Arab men.

Their attire, a thobe with a ghutra, seemed somewhat out of place in this setting, but their unique presence prevented them from looking awkward.

They were scheduled to stay here for four days and then return. Upon arriving at the mansion, they immediately met with the elders of the household, including the patriarch, and then planned to enjoy a simple tea, followed by a late dinner.

And now, before dinner was prepared, they were enjoying refreshments with Richard, who would be hosting them for several days and would be their final negotiating partner.

Jeong Taeui just sipped his tea, utterly unable to understand why he had to be there.

He couldn’t even tell the criteria for selection.

He understood why Richard and Christoph, along with the two central Arab guests, were sitting there. Conceding a step, he could also understand Ilay being there, in his position of observing and evaluating the succession candidates.

But why he himself had been dragged there, he couldn’t figure out no matter how much he racked his brain while drinking tea.

“You seem uncomfortable.”

The person who echoed Richard’s words was the man on the right, who seemed to be of higher rank among the two Arab men.

His features were sharp and strong, giving off an intimidating aura just from his appearance, but his affable, smiling eyes softened that intensity considerably.

“Ah… I was enjoying a leisurely and delicious meal when I was dragged out, so I guess my digestion isn’t working well…”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, rubbing his chest.

“Oh dear. We are diligently preparing dinner, however humble, so this is troublesome. Should I prepare some digestive medicine for you?”

Jeong Taeui waved his hand at Richard, who offered with concern.

Meanwhile, Jeong Taeui constantly felt a gaze.

Across from him, the Arab man was quietly looking at Jeong Taeui.

Not overly blatant, but direct enough to be noticeable, he was carefully observing Jeong Taeui.

Should he pretend not to notice? …But then, he would surely be the only one feeling uneasy.