Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 78

“Jeong Jaei, huh… Even after joining UNHRDO, he still receives endless offers from various places, they say.”

Ilay muttered.

Jeong Taeui, thinking that this man probably knew more about his brother than he did, casually retorted, “Really?”

“Among them, there are some pretty dangerous ones mixed in. Those who will be a nuisance for a long time if you get involved, and those who will cling to you for a long time if you don’t.”

“A genius isn’t that great either, with those kinds of guys clinging to him,” Ilay added, and Jeong Taeui, lying behind him, scratched his cheek.

“A genius that those kinds of guys cling to” wasn’t new to him, as it had been that way since childhood, and the word “dangerous” didn’t feel very threatening.

Jeong Taeui had never worried about Jeong Jaeui. Jeong Jaeui was the kind of person who could handle himself.

“He’s supposed to come to Frankfurt soon, I hear.”

Jeong Taeui muttered that, then suddenly looked at Ilay.

Come to think of it, this man had told him not to go. To promise to meet again another time.

The day Jeong Jaeui was coming was not far off. It seemed to be around the same time as the succession, only a few days apart.

“Can’t I go? I want to see him after a long time.”

Jeong Taeui subtly mumbled.

Then, an indifferent answer immediately came back.

“The timing’s not good.”

“……”

Ilay, who had an earphone-like device in one ear and was operating a machine, glanced back when Jeong Taeui fell silent. He thought for a moment, then frowned.

“Do you really want to go?”

“If possible, I’d like to go, but it’s not a ‘must.’ I’m just thinking about what you said, that the timing isn’t good.”

Connecting Jeong Jaeui’s visit to Germany with his current situation, Jeong Taeui sighed.

Indeed, that was it.

“I have no intention of risking myself or others. I’ll just call him, and when I finish work in Dresden, let’s hurry back to Berlin.”

Jeong Taeui said, shaking his head lightly.

If only he himself were in danger, it might be different, but if there was a possibility of others being in danger, that was a separate issue. He had no intention of taking such a risk.

It was a pity, though.

He had thought he could meet his uncle and brother in the same place for once.

Jeong Taeui shrugged his shoulders and sighed quietly. Can’t be helped, he muttered to himself.

“Hmm,” Ilay, who had been tapping the device for a moment, looked back again. Two or three wrinkles were etched on his forehead, as if annoyed.

“If you really want to meet him, wait. I’ll take you to Berlin after this is over.”

At his words, spoken with a click of his tongue, Jeong Taeui said, “Huh?” and opened his eyes wide, sitting up on the bed.

“Will he have time after the forum in Frankfurt?”

In that case, Jeong Taeui wouldn’t have to go to Frankfurt; Jeong Jaeui could just stop by Berlin.

He usually had a tight schedule, so Jeong Taeui had thought he would leave soon after the forum, or even if not, he wouldn’t have time to come to Berlin.

“Okay, then after the forum, my brother can come to Berlin—”

“It’ll be difficult. His flight to New York is scheduled for the night of the forum.”

Listening to Ilay, who added, “He’ll probably have a research meeting at headquarters the very next day,” Jeong Taeui’s brightly smiling face fell. Then he blinked a little blankly and muttered, “Oh.”

“Then, when you say you’ll take me to Berlin… ah, next time?”

Jeong Taeui nodded, understanding on his own.

Even so, it couldn’t be helped. It was a bit disappointing, though.

“I’ll take you this time, so get rid of that face that looks like it’s about to sink into the ground.”

“Huh?”

“We can just intercept him before he goes to the airport on the day of the forum and bring him over.”

Jeong Taeui stared intently at Ilay’s back, who spoke nonchalantly. As he said, his “face that looked like it was about to sink into the ground” had already disappeared. Instead, a face that looked like he was standing before the gates of hell appeared.

It wasn’t a trip with just one or two attendants and bodyguards.

In such a situation, if he were to take one person—and even the most important person—before they went to the airport after the forum.

It certainly wouldn’t be an ordinary method.

“Haven’t you ever thought that even being wanted for terrorism is already a serious and grave crime, perhaps?”

When Jeong Taeui asked seriously, Ilay just chuckled.

“No, no, let’s just see him next time. It’s better to just call him. Thanks for thinking of me.”

Jeong Taeui quickly patted Ilay’s back and said. Otherwise, he felt like something absurd would happen soon.

Then, he suddenly glanced over Ilay’s shoulder at his fingers, which were flicking the switches on the device one after another.

“But what have you been doing for a while?”

Jeong Taeui, who was sitting behind Ilay, rested his chin on his shoulder and looked at the object he was fiddling with.

Inside the rather large, black iron bag, complexly intertwined circuits were neatly arranged. On the control panel below, a small frequency band was displayed. The number even exceeded 400. On the opposite side, a ham radio receiver occasionally flickered.

And an earphone, connected by a thin cord, stretched out from beside it and was plugged into one of Ilay’s ears.

Jeong Taeui’s expression, which had been casually looking into the bag, gradually became heavy and dark.

“…Hey… somehow, this looks like…”

“Ah, just be quiet now. He’s out of the bathroom.”

“Who is it?! Where are you eavesdropping?!”

Jeong Taeui shrieked, startled.

He knew that this man was closely associated with crime—no, he wondered how many things related to this man were unrelated to crime—but seeing the scene of the crime and the device so vividly before his eyes gave him a fresh perspective.

Regardless of Jeong Taeui’s pale and serious shouts, Ilay pressed a button on the control panel once, then twice, and then finally muttered, “Good,” with satisfaction. Beside him, Jeong Taeui glared at Ilay with a fish-eyed stare, then sighed.

Well, it wasn’t surprising anymore. What more was there to say?

Just as Jeong Taeui sighed and turned his back on him to lie down on the bed again.

Ilay took out another earphone, connected it, and put it in Jeong Taeui’s ear.

“…?!”

“He probably knows it’s installed anyway. Sometimes people pretend not to know even when they do.”

“What? Who is it?”

Jeong Taeui raised an eyebrow in confusion, then, unable to resist the temptation of crime, leaned his ear into the earphone.

“Christoph. Were you trying to blind me?”

Gasp.

As soon as he heard that voice, Jeong Taeui realized who it was and looked at Ilay with a stunned expression.

He had assumed it would be installed in the guest’s room who came today, but this was an unexpected person.

“No, why would you install a bug when you’re always together…? Are you upset if you’re apart for even a moment?”

“Aha, I’ll remember that joke, Jeong Taei.”

“Gasp… No, no, it was a joke, a joke.”

Jeong Taeui quickly waved his hands. It was scary when this man said he would remember something. Even if years passed and he thought he had forgotten, he never knew when it would suddenly resurface and trip Jeong Taeui up.

Judging by the sounds coming from the earphone, it seemed only Richard, the owner of that unpleasant voice, and Christoph were in Richard’s room.

It was natural that Christoph would be there, since he had happily followed Richard, wanting to see him cry his eyes out, but a chuckle escaped Jeong Taeui when he remembered Christoph, who had until recently not even looked at Richard’s room, calling it an ominous place.

“Christoph, too, has a certain cuteness about him, doesn’t he?”

Jeong Taeui said, pointing to the earphone. Ilay merely raised an eyebrow slightly, as if it was hard to agree. Meanwhile, voices continued to flow from the earphone.

“Speaking of which, he smiled quite well. They say he’s holed up in that guy’s room every night and doesn’t come out. Does a pleasant body make for a pleasant mind?”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head at Richard’s displeased voice. Wait, this doesn’t sound good at all…?

“Holed up in that guy’s room every night and doesn’t come out, who? Whose room?”

To Christoph’s clearly displeased retort, Richard’s answer followed.

“You. Kim Young… no, that’s not right, that man named Jeong Taeui’s room.”

“……”

Ilay’s silent gaze flew to him.

At that moment, Jeong Taeui almost jumped up, sat upright, and shook his head wildly.

“No, no, no, no, you know why Chris came to my room! Th-that’s right, you saw the result today, that smiling face!”

Ilay, who had been staring intently at Jeong Taeui with narrowed eyes, ignoring Jeong Taeui’s frantic excuses, finally chuckled and turned his head away only after Jeong Taeui’s expression crumpled as if he was about to cry.

“I’m not imaginative enough to think that late-blooming idiot would drag you into bed every night.”

“…!! You were playing with me just now!”

“Well, if it’s just touching your crotch and flirting, it might be possible. I do think you have that much learning ability, Taei.”

Ilay cast a glance. Jeong Taeui immediately clamped his mouth shut and nodded wildly. He even broke out in a cold sweat.

Suddenly, a not-so-distant past came to mind, and his lower body ached. It was almost terror rather than pleasure. This man sometimes picked a day and utterly devastated people if things went wrong.

Jeong Taeui quickly changed the subject with a gloomy face.

“It really does sound better when you get the frequency right… But when did you install it, anyway?”

He was amazed by its excellent performance, which captured even footsteps and faint sounds quite precisely.

“The day before I officially entered here.”

“…You’re quite skilled, aren’t you…”

Jeong Taeui muttered, half-exasperated. Then his eyes suddenly widened.

“Surely there isn’t one hidden in my room too?!”

Then Ilay, who had glanced at Jeong Taeui for a moment, turned his head away again.

Seeing him not answer, Jeong Taeui’s eyes widened in alarm, and he shouted, “Hey, hey!” but still, no answer came.

Damn it, when he got back to his room, he’d have to run a detector immediately.

Jeong Taeui was muttering to himself, trying to recall places in his room where a microphone might be hidden.

“The final negotiation is still pending, but you must have an idea of what their final offer will be, Christoph. …What will you do if they demand their custody?”

Richard’s voice pierced his ear.

He could immediately guess who ‘they’ and ‘their’ referred to. And he soon realized that this was the story Ilay wanted to hear.

Since Ilay had said that the other side probably already knew about the bug, he wouldn’t be expecting much, but there were often cases where subtle clues were picked up from things other than the words themselves.

Jeong Taeui held his breath, even though there was no way his voice could be heard by them.

Christoph’s answer didn’t come. He seemed to be silent.

If they—the Saudi side—demanded custody of Jeong Taeui or Ilay.

What would Christoph do then?

He imagined Christoph’s blunt face, silent and unable to answer. He could almost picture what kind of expression he was making now.

At the end of that silence, Richard’s words continued.

“That’s why it’s difficult for you to be close to that Jeong Taeui. …Too bad, Christoph. He’s the first person you’ve liked enough to make contact with.”

A voice with a faintly cruel glint.

Jeong Taeui frowned.

“Is talking like that a problem with his humanity, or a problem with their relationship?”

“Which do you think it is?”

“Both.”

“You know well.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and clicked his tongue.

Still, for the past few days, Christoph had been helping Richard, so he thought that even if their relationship was bad, they could somehow get along. But hearing those words, it didn’t seem like a relationship where affection would blossom by being together.

“Have these two ever worked together before?”

Jeong Taeui asked abruptly, without much expectation, but surprisingly, Ilay nodded.

“Ah, it was a long time ago, but they did a project together once. As part of their candidate training, before Christoph gave up his succession and left.”

“It was to assess their collaboration skills, so it wasn’t something that could be done individually,” Ilay added, and Jeong Taeui’s eyes widened.

“Really? What happened?”

“It failed. Clearly, like never before.”

“……”

“It became an excellent example that clearly showed how even if individual abilities are good, if there are problems in the cooperative relationship, the whole thing breaks down.”

“I see,” Jeong Taeui muttered, then fell silent. He scratched his cheek and tilted his head.

“Even if it’s Christoph, I thought Richard was the type to perfectly carry out his assigned tasks regardless of the relationship, so that’s surprising.”

“Ah, that’s right. Richard did his part properly, but Christoph broke the whole thing by saying he would never accept his help.”

“…Christoph…”

Jeong Taeui had seen many people with clear likes and dislikes, but no one was as distinctly divided as that man.

“Richard must have been grinding his teeth.”

Jeong Taeui sighed deeply and muttered, and Ilay smiled faintly. His smile contained an unspoken sentiment, as if to say, Need I say more?

Jeong Taeui smacked his lips and leaned his ear into the earphone again.

If Saudi Arabia demanded their custody—that topic was clearly interesting enough to listen to, even knowing that eavesdropping was a dubious act.

After a long silence, Christoph’s sudden voice was soon transmitted through the earphone.

“Hand over Rick. He’s the one who bombed them anyway.”

“……”

I see. This guy has enemies planted everywhere, in this way.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Ilay. Ilay was listening to the words with a nonchalant expression.

The situation wouldn’t be easy for Tarten either.

If they had to hand over Jeong Taeui and Ilay according to their demands—though the compensation demand wasn’t finalized yet—it would crack the relationship between the families that had lasted for hundreds of years.

But they couldn’t refuse the compensation demand either.

In fact, for Tarten, if the matter ended with handing over Jeong Taeui and Ilay, it would be much better. Their friendship wouldn’t be damaged, and they could keep their promise.

So Richard would probably be hoping for that, but Christoph said, “Just hand over Rick.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and chuckled, clearly picturing the expression on his face when he said that.

Richard didn’t seem to like Christoph’s answer. His voice lowered slightly.

“Are you planning to interfere? With that inhuman glass heart of yours, just by blowing a little breath on it and blurring it slightly, you’re so lost in thought that you look ridiculous to others. …Don’t deceive yourself by getting unnecessarily excited, and live like yourself. You can’t really do that anyway, can you?”

His heart felt like it was sinking heavily.

What kind of face he was making when he said that, and what kind of expression Christoph had listening to those words.

—I’m empty somewhere. From birth, or perhaps even before, from some fundamental source, it’s missing. Empty and unfilled.

That quietly flowing remark came to mind.