Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 9

Jeong Taeui narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the man intently once more.

Even up close, this handsome man with a reliable impression didn’t have “pervert” written anywhere on him.

Ilay didn’t have “crazy bastard” written on him either, but that guy showed it as soon as he opened his mouth. This man, however, with his low, soft tone, gave no such feeling.

“It’s true that people who seem deceptively normal are scarier, but…”

If that were the case, he’d have to be wary of everyone in the world, and that would be an impossible way to live.

As Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself, the man, having apparently heard him, looked back with a curious expression. Jeong Taeui hastily waved his hand, saying it was nothing.

After proceeding for a while along the well-maintained tree-lined driveway, the car soon arrived in front of the mansion.

Seeing it up close, its sheer scale was hard to grasp, and his spirits somewhat deflated.

The man approached Jeong Taeui, who had gotten out of the car first and was looking around the mansion’s exterior. A butler-like person, who had been standing in front of the mansion’s main entrance, approached them from a distance. Seeing his solemn and stiff face, Jeong Taeui suddenly missed Rita.

Anyway, all he had to do was find the book quickly and leave.

Jeong Taeui looked at the man who had come right up beside him and was silently looking down at him. And he thanked this grateful man who had greatly helped him get inside without a hitch.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I got in comfortably. By the way, where can I meet Christina Tarten?”

The man quietly scrutinized Jeong Taeui’s face, as if trying to uncover some hidden lie. As Jeong Taeui scratched his neck, feeling awkward under the gaze, the man finally spoke quietly.

“If you enter the main building and inform the butler of your visit, he will be notified. If you have a close relationship, you may go directly to the West Wing.”

Jeong Taeui pondered for a moment.

Since he had never met Christina, he should originally go to the main building and meet the butler first. However, Kyle had said he would contact Christina in advance. And for all he knew, Kyle probably had quite a close relationship with Christina. So, would it be better to go directly to the West Wing and ask for her by Kyle’s name?

However, the process of going to the main building, formally seeking out the butler, and separately sending a notification felt incredibly cumbersome and annoying. Since contact would likely have been made already, going directly to the West Wing probably wouldn’t be rude.

“…I’ll go to the West Wing. You said that building was the West Wing, right?”

Jeong Taeui pointed to the building connected to the left side of the main building by a small tower and asked. The man was silent for a moment before nodding.

Soon, the butler standing in front of the main building approached and took some luggage from the man, who then gave him a few brief, formal instructions before turning back to Jeong Taeui.

Jeong Taeui, who had just stepped lightly towards the West Wing, felt his gaze and stopped.

Right, one last thank you, and then…

However, before Jeong Taeui could even open his mouth, the man asked first.

“By the way, what is the name of the person who came to see me?”

“Huh? Oh. …Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Are you a relative of Christina’s?”

He already knew the man’s name, but he hadn’t formally revealed it. Jeong Taeui smiled broadly and extended his hand to the man. The man feigned a slight look of surprise, then took his hand.

“Ah. Indeed. I am Richard Tarten. His cousin.”

“Indeed, a cousin,” Jeong Taeui mumbled, then tilted his head.

He didn’t know how this family was structured, but if this man was the cousin of someone Kyle rated as promising, he couldn’t be a very distant relative. Yet, when he asked about her, they initially couldn’t recall her name—

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to reveal his name, harboring a vague question, something suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision, galloping towards them at a terrifying speed.

“?!”

It was a horse.

Kicking up white dust, a white horse was galloping from the forest behind the West Wing towards the main building.

Its unrestrained charge, as if it would trample anything in its path, was directed precisely towards them.

“…!”

There was still enough distance to avoid it, but Jeong Taeui stared at the horse dumbfounded.

No matter how large the house was, this area in front of the main building, where cars and people came and went, surely wasn’t an equestrian course.

The man, Richard, standing in front of Jeong Taeui, glanced at the horse, showed no particular surprise, and stepped back a few paces. Only then did Jeong Taeui follow him back.

The horse, to be precise, wasn’t running directly at them. They were simply in the middle of the path the horse was galloping on.

When the horse, without slowing down and seemingly indifferent to whether they moved or not, came close, as if it would just brush past them, Jeong Taeui realized there was someone sitting on it.

A person dressed in riding attire as white as the horse was there.

Seeing him, Richard called out in a voice that wasn’t loud but was certainly audible,

“Christoph. You have a guest.”

“Eh?”

Jeong Taeui turned to Richard, pointing to himself with his thumb, asking, “Me?” Richard was looking up at the horse.

The horse, which had been bearing down on them, right in front of them, suddenly reared up the very next moment.

Almost no deceleration.

That abrupt deceleration, which would be extremely difficult even for a highly trained rider, occurred smoothly, like flowing water. Right before his eyes.

The rider, who had displayed horsemanship impressive enough to make Jeong Taeui, with almost no riding experience, admire it, stopped in front of them.

The splendid white horse, rarely seen, casually moved a few steps in front of them as if it had never galloped like that. If its breathing hadn’t been rough, one might not have even known it had run.

From above Jeong Taeui, who met the horse’s jet-black eyes, which were wary and scrutinizing the unfamiliar face, a languid voice came down.

“Looking for me…?”

Along with that voice, the rider flicked the reins a couple of times. The horse shifted slightly. Only then could Jeong Taeui see the person sitting on the horse.

Gleaming platinum blonde hair. Bright blue eyes filled with melancholy and boredom. A tall and slender body.

Jeong Taeui knew this young man, who had such a distinct impression that one could never forget him after seeing him even once.

He had seen him just the other day. In Berlin, about 200 kilometers from Dresden. In that desolate cathedral, trapped in heavy rain.

The young man seemed to remember Jeong Taeui as well. A slight glimmer of surprise flickered in his languid eyes.

“Oh… you’re…”

The young man leaned forward from the horse and scrutinized Jeong Taeui from head to toe. As if checking if he had misseen something.

“You said you hadn’t met him, but it seems you’re already acquainted.”

Richard said from beside him. Jeong Taeui turned his head away from the young man, who was only shifting his eyes to look at Richard, and smiled ambiguously.

“Yes, we ran into each other briefly a while ago… but, Christina Tarten, perhaps…”

Jeong Taeui, seeing the unexpected person suddenly appear before him, briefly forgot his manners and pointed a finger at him.

As soon as the words left Jeong Taeui’s mouth, the young man’s expression suddenly changed.

His indifferent and bored face instantly turned as cold as ice. A chillingly expressionless look stared down at Jeong Taeui.

Jeong Taeui instantly realized his mistake. He didn’t know what the mistake was, but he understood that he had made one.

The young man looked at Jeong Taeui with a ghostly, expressionless face, then suddenly muttered to himself,

“Ah, yes… yes… yes… that’s right. It was. Indeed, that’s how it is. So…”

However, listening to his muttering, which was utterly incomprehensible no matter how many times he replayed it, Jeong Taeui was reminded anew of this young man’s peculiarity, which he had also witnessed in the cathedral.

“You came for the book, didn’t you?”

The young man suddenly blurted out. Jeong Taeui raised an eyebrow.

“…Uh. But Christi—”

“I took it. …So they said they’d send someone else, and it was you.”

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at the young man in front of him.

All circumstances indicated that this young man was the problematic book thief, Christina. However, he was not of the gender that would befit the name Christina, and he was being called Christoph here.

“…? You?”

Jeong Taeui asked skeptically. With the sudden appearance of an unexpected person, the credibility of the entire situation dropped considerably.

Was this man really the person he was looking for? What Kyle had said about the person named Christina was clearly—

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to rack his memory.

The sedan that had been standing right below the main entrance stairs of the mansion pulled away, and another car followed to take its place. It was the young men he had seen earlier in front of the iron gate of the outer wall.

Handing their car keys to the butler, they poured out of the car and, seeing Jeong Taeui, the young man, and Richard standing opposite each other, approached with aggressive looks, though they appeared slightly puzzled.

“You’ve been back for a while, so you must have forgotten where the riding course is.”

“If you really don’t know, then go play in the stables instead of blocking the way here.”

Their hostility was no longer directed at Jeong Taeui. They spoke mockingly, looking up at the young man sitting upright on the horse.

Richard, next to Jeong Taeui, who was silently observing the situation, frowned slightly.

“Stop it.”

“But look, ever since this guy came back, the atmosphere’s been ruined. Why does someone who’s no longer involved keep sticking their nose in?”

One of the young men stepped forward. It was the one who had been driving. He was probably their eldest brother.

The atmosphere here isn’t good either. It’s bad, really bad.

Jeong Taeui watched the fire from across the river, hoping it wouldn’t reach him. The way they were picking a fight didn’t seem like an atmosphere that had formed overnight.

One of the younger men among them approached and lightly kicked the horse. His gaze flickered past Jeong Taeui.

“What was it again? Christina? Ha, yes, his appearance is good enough to be called Christina. Christina—”

Just then.

The young man sitting on the horse, who had been looking down at them coldly, stared intently at the young man and abruptly spat out.

“You guys, it seems you’ve forgotten who I am, after being gone for so long.”

He ended his sentence casually, without seeming angry.

At the same time, a sharp sound sliced through the air, chillingly echoing.

Smack!! —A dry sound followed. Red drops of blood scattered on the floor.

It happened in an instant.

Without even a scream, the young man whose flesh had been torn by the whip merely fumbled at his face blankly, as if he didn’t know what had happened.

And before he could collect himself, the dry thud sounded twice in a row. This time, a scream erupted.

The young men, whose faces were torn before they could even counterattack, instantly stared wide-eyed at the blood streaming down their necks and soaking their shirts.

“You shouldn’t forget what you shouldn’t forget even after ten, twenty years, but it hasn’t even been ten years since I left this house, and you’re already like this? What good is that head for? Fine, why don’t you call me by that name again? What was it?”

The young man muttered calmly, without getting agitated. His slightly slow tone even sounded bored.

“Hmph…” Jeong Taeui belatedly clamped a hand over his mouth. That name must have been forbidden.

Kyle, you should have told me beforehand! My flesh almost got whipped off!

However, fortunately, the young man, who seemed to have no intention of punishing Jeong Taeui with a “Come to think of it, you called me that too earlier?”, gracefully jumped off the horse and landed on the ground. He casually tied the whip he was holding to the saddle, a familiar gesture.

At that moment, it seemed one of the young men had attempted a counterattack. Why “seemed”? Because he seemed to have tried to counterattack, but the young man easily dodged, so his fist only cut through the air.

“It’s not just your head that’s useless. …Good grief.”

The young man sighed in disbelief. Putting his hands in his pockets as if he had lost all will to fight, he mercilessly kicked the young man’s knee with his riding-booted foot.

A horrifying sound echoed. Jeong Taeui closed his mouth, watching a person’s bones twist into a grotesque direction right before his eyes. The young man still hadn’t even flinched an eyebrow.

That’s right. Kyle had said it. About that person, Kyle had said this:

Ilay’s childhood friend. A former colleague from the T&R Mobile Unit days.

He suddenly realized.

When they met in the cathedral just recently. At that time, this young man had been on his way back after stopping by Kyle’s house and taking the book.

Suddenly, his vision went dark. Life was a hurdle race.

Jeong Taeui, who had been dazed, thinking that someone who could nearly beat a person to death without even a hint of excitement was truly fitting of his friend, only came to his senses when he heard another rough scream.

No matter how much it was someone else’s family matter, he felt he should intervene. No, but why was no one coming out when a semi-massacre was happening right in front of the main building’s entrance?

Jeong Taeui, approaching them with a bewildered expression, however, soon stopped in his tracks.

Richard, who had approached from behind, had grabbed the young man, who was continuously striking blows, making it difficult to intervene.

The young man, whose forearm was seized, flinched and stopped. The young man’s eyes, which had been languid even while beating the young men so mercilessly, began to gleam a terrifying blue.

“Let go?”

His growling voice, as he turned to Richard, was like that of a beast ready to tear out an opponent’s throat.

Richard obediently let go. And, as if truly dealing with a wild beast, he spread his empty hands and stepped back a few paces.

The young man glared at him ferociously and nervously rubbed the forearm that had been grabbed. He rubbed it furiously, as if he wanted to tear off the flesh from his arm, and eventually cursed.

“Before you stop me, you better manage your subordinates well, Richard. Otherwise, these idiots will die every time they act like fools around me.”

“I’ll remember that well.”

Richard replied quietly, nodding his head. The young man glared at him roughly, then spun around. He strode towards the West Wing, shouting at Jeong Taeui without turning his head.

“You there. Follow me.”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue, looking at the bloody figures lying on the floor, then silently moved. On his way, he didn’t forget to give a slight nod as he passed Richard.