Passion Novel - Volume 1 - Chapter 18

Jeong Taeui sighed and started walking. Tou, who had taken out a beer from the refrigerator and was chugging it down in one go, looked at Jeong Taeui and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“Um… I’m going to the bathroom too.”

If he said he was going to get something from his room, Tou would definitely insist on going with him or vehemently tell him not to go. Neither of those were what Jeong Taeui wanted, so he hesitated for a moment before giving what he thought was the safest answer. Tou then finished his beer and gave him some advice.

“If some bastard bumps into you, you immediately beat the crap out of him before the instructor shows up.”

“Oh… I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jeong Taeui waved his hand without looking back and left the room.

Indeed, the moment he stepped into the hallway, the menacing atmosphere pressed against his skin. He saw groups of two or three men standing menacingly here and there along the hallway. Some were from their branch, and some were from the other. The way they glared at each other and whispered was truly like a ticking time bomb.

“More animosity than I imagined… quite the lovely sight.”

Jeong Taeui muttered under his breath with a sigh and started walking.

The distance from Tou’s room to Jeong Taeui’s room was quite significant. A distance he usually didn’t think was that far felt much longer in this atmosphere.

“Yo, Taei. Where are you headed?”

One of the groups standing in the hallway greeted him. It was a guy from another team who usually wouldn’t even acknowledge him properly, let alone say hello. But with an external enemy looming, there seemed to be an automatic internal unity. They greeted him very warmly amidst the enemies scattered throughout the hallway. Aware of the fierce gazes of the unfamiliar faces standing a little further away, Jeong Taeui also casually raised his hand.

“Bathroom.”

“But the bathroom is right there.”

The guy who had spoken first asked back, sounding strange that he would say that while passing the bathroom right in front of them. Jeong Taeui shrugged.

“I can’t do my business unless it’s a familiar toilet near my room. I’m a bit sensitive.”

“Hahaha, what a weirdo.”

He laughed as if he couldn’t believe it, but didn’t say anything more.

Jeong Taeui lightly put his hand in his pocket and continued walking. He passed in front of the European branch guys who were gathered together. Just as Jeong Taeui was passing right by, one of them made a move to step forward, but then two or three guys from their branch who were watching from a short distance showed signs of approaching immediately. They looked ready to fight at a moment’s notice if anyone laid even a finger on their guy.

The European guy who had tried to approach Jeong Taeui seemed to hesitate for a moment, but after exchanging glances with his colleagues, he crossed his arms again and stepped back. Then, the colleagues who had been ready to help Jeong Taeui also stepped back.

Seriously… It’s one thing if I’m in danger, but having the risk of being a fuse, how can I walk around comfortably?

Jeong Taeui inwardly clicked his tongue. The camaraderie of colleagues he wasn’t even close to felt awkward, like they were wearing ridiculous clothes, and brought a forced smile to his face.

Only after experiencing such incidents a couple more times was Jeong Taeui able to reach his room.

Perhaps because it was located at the end of the hallway, the area near his room was deserted. Neither his own colleagues nor the guys from the other branch were visible. He saw one European branch member looking this way from a little distance, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of approaching and picking a fight. Rather, he was staring intently at Jeong Taeui with a very strange expression.

Jeong Taeui gave him a puzzled look and opened his door.

“Seriously…, a thorny path would be better than this.”

A sigh escaped him, and he clicked his tongue and muttered. At the same time as he opened the door, he braced himself inwardly.

The relationship was so bad that even just passing by in the hallway could become a reason for a fight. What would happen if they met in the same room? The territorial invasion that Tou had mentioned might become a real situation, not just a joke. Seriously, if things went wrong, he would really have to grab the book and run.

He wondered what kind of menacing-looking hulk would be using his room. With a slightly excited, almost expectant feeling, Jeong Taeui stepped into the room and stopped when he saw the person inside.

There was one person in the room.

The man was lying sprawled out on Jeong Taeui’s bed, flipping through a book as naturally as if he had lived there for a long time. When he heard the door open, he only glanced up and looked at Jeong Taeui.

That book you’re reading right now, it’s worth 3500 dollars. You shouldn’t handle it so carelessly.

But those words got stuck in his throat and didn’t come out. It was because he recognized the man at first glance.

Jeong Taeui’s gaze was fixed on the man’s face.

His face was so transparently pale that he looked sickly. His delicate features were clearly visible even behind thick-rimmed glasses. He looked like a diligent and gentle researcher who quietly devoted himself to his studies in some laboratory, but when Jeong Taeui met his slender eyes staring straight at him, a chill ran down his spine.

Jeong Taeui knew this man. The dark reddish-brown mark etched vividly in his mind.

Riegrow… It’s Rick.

The man who had stained the screen with blood while wearing that faint smile.

Jeong Taeui, dumbfounded by the sight of him, closed the door behind him. Only after hearing the sound of the door closing did he come to his senses and regret it. Why did he close the door? It probably didn’t mean anything, but still, if the door was open, he would have felt a little more at ease, feeling connected to the outside. Or it would have been easier to run away.

Now he understood the meaning of the strange look that European guy had given him when he entered this room. That guy already knew who would be staying in this room.

You damn bastard. Even if we’re Asian branch members you consider enemies, as fellow humans, you should have at least looked out for us when our lives were on the line.

Jeong Taeui, who had always just brushed off Tou’s and other colleagues’ countless rants against the European branch members, felt a fierce resentment towards them for the first time.

“Owner of this book?”

Just as Jeong Taeui was mentally cursing, Riegrow’s quiet voice reached him.

Jeong Taeui paused.

It was a low, quiet voice. That strange voice, which seeped into his ears like water, was a sound he had never expected or imagined. Moreover, he had never even remotely associated this kind of feeling with the voice of this man, Riegrow.

Holding up the book and asking quietly, he showed no signs of suddenly rushing at Jeong Taeui to slit his throat or cause bloodshed. Rather, the faint smile on his lips even made him look like he had a good impression.

“No… it’s a borrowed book. It’s a rare one, so I have to handle it carefully and return it. I came to get it.”

“You’re going to take it now?”

Riegrow asked back, sounding disappointed. A look of regret spread across his face, as if he had been reading a very interesting part.

“I think I can finish reading it in about two or three hours. Could you wait a little while?”

“…… It’s fine.”

Jeong Taeui replied with a strange feeling.

Somehow, it was different from what he had imagined. Talking to him like this, he felt like he was dealing with an ordinary person. Could it be that he misremembered the face of that crazy bastard? The video quality wasn’t very good, so maybe it wasn’t even his face. …No way.

Watching Riegrow smile broadly and say, “Thank you,” Jeong Taeui briefly doubted his memory, but his eyes had never been wrong about people before. Especially not about such an impressive figure.

“Well, he’s not a complete psychopath. Even if he’s crazy, he probably isn’t in full-on abnormal mode 24 hours a day.”

“Huh? What?”

Jeong Taeui, who had been muttering to himself, moving his lips in a voice so small even he couldn’t hear it, almost jumped at his question.

“Huh? What?” Jeong Taeui shrugged, feigning ignorance. Riegrow stared at Jeong Taeui for a moment and then smiled faintly.

“Come to think of it, waiting for two or three hours would be boring. Here, I’ll give it back.”

Riegrow closed the book and held it out to Jeong Taeui. He lightly shook the book, as if telling him to take it.

“No, it’s okay if I come back later. You can keep reading. It feels weird to stop in the middle.”

“I read it a long time ago, so I know the content. I was just nostalgic to see it again. It’s okay, take it.”

He said, shaking the book slightly again. His voice was languid and pleasant to listen to. But there was a precarious feeling somewhere in it. He felt as if he was being drawn into deep water, in a hazy, disoriented state.

Jeong Taeui felt it would be strange to keep refusing, so he shrugged and approached him. With each step he took, a subtle tension gathered at his toes. It felt like approaching a hungry beast.

“This author’s books are hard to find, right? Have you read any others?”

The moment Jeong Taeui took the book, Riegrow asked casually. Jeong Taeui paused and looked at him. Riegrow’s languid gaze softened as it met Jeong Taeui’s eyes.

“I know a very capable rare book dealer. The one he wrote after this one is more interesting, but it’s hard to find. That guy could probably get it for you, though it might take some time. I can introduce you if you want.”

“……The price would be considerable, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, I think it would be around two or three hundred dollars. Oh, or you could go to the German National Library in Berlin; they might have the English version in the foreign books section. I saw it there about five or six years ago.”

Not a small amount for one book, but it feels incredibly light compared to 3500 dollars, Jeong Taeui thought, while also looking at the man with a rather strange feeling.

Something was different from what he had imagined. It wasn’t that he had imagined a bloodthirsty killer who would grab and kill anyone he saw, but he certainly hadn’t thought of him as someone who would casually—or perhaps a little maniacally—talk about books. Moreover, the eerie and chilling feeling he had gotten from the video was nowhere to be found; he was just a pleasant and neat young man. His social skills in talking comfortably with someone he had just met were also excellent.

Looking at him like this, he was quite ordinary, and if he hadn’t had any preconceived notions, he could even be seen as a rather likable and attractive young man.

“Riegrow…, right?”

Jeong Taeui asked hesitantly. Then he looked slightly surprised and nodded with a chuckle.

“That’s right. I’m the only one with that name in our branch. Looks like you’ve heard something about me somewhere?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Haha, I’m curious what kind of rumors.”

“I think you probably know yourself.”

When Jeong Taeui said that, Riegrow closed his mouth. And he stared intently at Jeong Taeui. Black eyes. Those unfathomable eyes gazed steadily at Jeong Taeui, and then, at some point, he burst into a cheerful laugh.

“More or less. But rumors are usually exaggerated, aren’t they? Don’t you think?”

“Seriously, this is troublesome,” Riegrow said, shaking his head and clicking his tongue with a bitter look. This was truly a pitiful, well-meaning young man suffering from baseless rumors.

White and clean, an attractive impression. A voice that seeped in. Smooth speech. He lacked nothing.

“…… Well, he wasn’t like that in the video I saw, but I’ll admit that rumors can be very exaggerated.”

Jeong Taeui muttered uncomfortably and sat down on the empty bed across from him. He didn’t seem like a completely crazy guy, and they could probably have a decent conversation. Moreover, his skill in leading the conversation pleasantly was something not everyone possessed. He still had his guard up, but as he concealed that wariness, a smile flickered across Riegrow’s white and clean face.

“Video? Ah, come to think of it, there was a camera we tore off back then. Yeah, the recording would still be there. Seriously, why do people film things like that and make someone look like a weirdo?”

Watching him mutter to himself as if he understood, Jeong Taeui realized again, “Yeah, this is definitely that guy.”

Looking at him like this, he seemed quite normal and easy to talk to. Did his personality change completely only on the battlefield? Or was he perhaps bipolar? Or maybe he had just gone temporarily crazy and rampaged when he was caught on video?

Jeong Taeui rested his chin on his hand and gazed steadily at him before sighing.

Either way was fine. As long as it didn’t threaten his comfortable life for the next six months. Besides, maybe he wasn’t such a strange person after all.

“Ah. And there’s a book with a very different perspective on that. It came out after that one, and Charles Campbell wrote a book criticizing it six months later, which caused a huge fight at the academic conference back then.”

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to get up, Riegrow pointed at the book and said casually. Jeong Taeui paused and sat back down.

“Are you perhaps talking about ‘1337, The Beginning of Flanders’?”

“Oh, you’ve already seen it? It must have been hard to find.”

“No, I haven’t seen it. I’ve only heard the title. How is that book?”

“It’s interesting. The content itself isn’t very fresh if you read it now, but it’s kind of funny to see him constantly nitpicking at Joey Moyers in various parts. It’s worth reading, though. If you want, I can get that one for you too, though it might take some time.”

Watching Riegrow say he could get it for him anytime he wanted to see it, Jeong Taeui inwardly admired him. Seriously, this guy was quite the maniacal literary youth. Jeong Taeui himself had been stuck with Jeong Jaeui since childhood, so he had no choice but to get used to flipping through books—though he was still less than Jeong Jaeui—but doing that while being in this line of work wasn’t easy.

However, thinking of his uncle, Jeong Taeui changed his mind. No, there might be surprisingly many.

Jeong Taeui suddenly felt happy. It wasn’t easy to find someone in a place like this who he could have this kind of conversation with. Maybe he could even become a pleasant friend.

Jeong Taeui smiled and opened his mouth to say something.

But just before he could speak, a tremendous noise erupted from the hallway. It was a loud sound as if a door was falling off or a wall was being deliberately broken.

“I was being nice because I felt sorry for you weaklings!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, look at these bastards barging into another branch and causing trouble!”

“Hey, everyone out here! Looks like these guys need a good beating to quiet down!”

“Yeah, let’s fill up the infirmary with you guys this time!”

Behind Jeong Taeui, separated by only one wall, loud shouts and violent impact sounds followed one after another.

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth, which he had opened, and just blinked slowly, looking at Riegrow. Riegrow also just looked back at Jeong Taeui with a calm smile.

He had forgotten for a moment. In fact, his relationship with this man was no different from that of enemies. It was a relationship where no one would find it strange even if they started fighting right here.

“Hmm… you thinking of joining in?”

The object, “that fight,” was omitted. He wanted to quietly wait for that violent time to pass in this room.

However, Riegrow, who had been silent for a moment, betrayed Jeong Taeui’s expectations.

“It’s noisy.”

The gentle light vanished from his slightly annoyed face. The moment he wiped off his smile and spoke coldly, his impression changed shockingly.

Cruel and ferocious.

Leaving the momentarily stunned Jeong Taeui behind, Riegrow abruptly stood up and strode towards the door.

As Riegrow’s hand grasped the doorknob, Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and stood up.

The moment that door opened was the battlefield. If he was unlucky, he might have to grapple with the man closest to him, which was not something he desired. What to do about this?

Sighing and clicking his tongue, Jeong Taeui shook his wrists to prepare his body to move. Anyway, even if he got hit, he should loosen up a bit so he wouldn’t get hurt unnecessarily.

Thinking that, Jeong Taeui followed him out the door, but unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—there was no place for him to step in.

Riegrow, who stood blocking Jeong Taeui’s path, silently watched the hallway for a moment.

The hallway was already a mess. Members who had poured out of every room were punching and kicking each other indiscriminately, and there were more than a few guys rolling on the floor, engaging in a chaotic dogfight.

He wondered if the instructor would come down again, but seeing this scene, it wasn’t a situation where they would obediently stop fighting even if the instructor shouted.

Riegrow glanced at a metal pipe that had flown from somewhere and rolled to his feet, then kicked it up and caught it in his hand. The metal pipe, only slightly thinner than a baseball bat, fit perfectly in his hand, as if it had been made for him. It was impossible to imagine that hand had just been holding a book.

Suddenly, Jeong Taeui’s gaze stopped on his hand.

Whether it was a habit or not, he was still wearing gloves. But they were different from the ones in the video. The thin, dark blue cloth gloves had a neat and composed sheen.

That metal pipe in his hand looks so out of place—the moment he thought that.

Riegrow moved. And his gaze locked onto two men in the middle of the chaotic fight in front of him, unfortunately relatively close to him, who were grabbing each other’s collars and slamming each other against the wall, making the loudest and most disruptive noise.

“Noisy…”

His muttered words were drowned out by the commotion and couldn’t be heard properly. In the indistinguishable chaos, he raised the pipe with a bored and irritated look.

And at the same time.

—Crack.

Even amidst the tumultuous noise, that sound stood out particularly loudly.

It wasn’t just Jeong Taeui who heard it.

That eerie silence, perhaps louder than any scream, continued as the metal pipe, without any mercy, struck down several guys nearby, making terrifying sounds again and again.

The sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking followed.

“Coming all the way out here is annoying enough, why do you have to be so noisy?”

It was Riegrow’s languid and quiet voice that broke the silence.

The end of the pipe he had swung indiscriminately, without distinguishing friend from foe, was heavily stained with glistening blood, which dripped down. It seeped into his dark blue gloves, creating black spots. As the spots spread, the gloves gradually became completely black.

“That, that bastard…”

Someone suddenly muttered. The end of his sentence trembled faintly. But that voice became the starting point.

As if wanting to shake off the fear that had spread through the air in an instant, loud shouts and screams covered the hallway.

“Kill him! That devilish bastard, die!”

But even with the screams that erupted like cries everywhere, no one dared to approach him first. Rather, even the European branch members took several steps back from him with anxious faces.

Whirl. Riegrow swung the large, heavy pipe as if it were just a pen. Then he chuckled and leaped forward.

The aftermath was hell.

At the end of the hallway, where corpse-like bodies covered the floor in layers, Jeong Taeui could only stare blankly at Riegrow’s back.

He wondered where such a madman had suddenly appeared from, and only a moment later did he realize.

That man was the same person as the charming man who had been smiling gently and talking about books just a little while ago.