Passion Novel - Volume 1 - Chapter 19

“Quite a sight, quite a sight…”

Jeong Taeui muttered with a click of his tongue the moment he stepped into the cafeteria.

If there was one thing that the men of this branch had in common, it was that they would absolutely not miss a meal, no matter what. So the cafeteria, equipped to accommodate their numbers, was packed. It felt like ages ago that the cafeteria had been unusually deserted yesterday and the day before, when half the branch members had left.

The European branch and the Asian branch were sitting strictly separated, like a knife had cut them apart. Even if there were empty seats on the other side when their own side was full, they would never go and sit there, preferring to eat standing up.

But that wasn’t the real spectacle. That much was more than expected.

Every single man had some part of him busted up. Some had blood-soaked bandages wrapped around their heads, while others had patches the size of pot lids plastered all over their shoulders and necks. In severe cases, some even had splints on their arms and legs.

This was the state they were in even before officially starting training. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of utter bleakness for the future.

Only a few who hadn’t been involved in last night’s brawl or had happened to be away at the time were walking around unscathed. And Jeong Taeui was one of them. The path in front of Jeong Taeui had been completely devastated, making it impossible for him to join the fight even if he had wanted to.

“Wow…, the atmosphere for breakfast is just fantastic.”

Following behind Jeong Taeui, Moro entered the cafeteria and muttered with a look of utter weariness. Moro also had patches stuck on his wrist and various other places. He had poked his head in, wondering what all the commotion was about, only to be almost swept away and lightly punched in the process. He had no intention of getting involved in the brawl, but he wasn’t the type to just stand there and take a hit, so he ended up throwing some punches himself and, before he knew it, had gotten quite a few injuries.

Jeong Taeui, having chosen a few of the self-serve dishes, turned around. He stared blankly at the forks and knives in the cutlery container, sighed, and then took out only a pair of chopsticks.

“I don’t think forks and knives have ever looked this ominous before.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone in the cafeteria was holding a weapon in their hands.

However, just as Jeong Taeui was about to turn around to find a seat with only chopsticks on his tray, he flinched at the sight of a man a few steps behind him picking up a fork while holding a tray with only toast, salad, and coffee.

“Looking at it that way, the chopsticks you picked up are no different. When you think about it, there are fewer things in this world that can’t be used as weapons.”

Oh, you know everything, don’t you? A person who doesn’t even need a separate weapon with just one thumb, the words rose to the tip of Jeong Taeui’s throat, but he barely managed to swallow them down.

The man glanced at Jeong Taeui’s tray, which held only rice, a few side dishes, and a couple of pieces of meat, and then spoke to him in a friendly manner.

“Is that all you’re going to eat? Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Eat breakfast like a king’?”

“I have heard it, but have you perhaps heard the saying, ‘Tit for tat’?”

As he said this, staring intently at the man’s tray, the man laughed out loud. His low, quiet laughter sounded pleasant. This man, who could be called the source of the countless wounds of so many men, himself looked completely unscathed. His neat attire wasn’t disheveled in the slightest.

“Hmm. Empty seats are hard to come by… Ah. There are two empty seats over there. Shall we go?”

He gestured to Jeong Taeui very naturally. Slightly flustered, Jeong Taeui looked back, thinking of using Moro as an excuse to refuse, but Moro, who disliked getting caught up in incidents as much as Jeong Taeui did, had already moved far away and was sitting at another table.

Jeong Taeui remained silent for a moment, but it would have been ridiculous to say, “You’re from the European branch, so I can’t eat with you,” and he couldn’t bring himself to say what he really felt: “If I stay with a sharp stone like you, I might get hit by a stray rock any time, so I’ll stay far away from you.” So, he silently followed after him.

This isn’t good. This is a bad omen.

His uncle had advised him. Just try not to be noticed, no matter what. Of course, Jeong Taeui had taken that advice to heart. Even without being told, that was what he wanted anyway.

Last night, he never imagined that the person staying in his room would be that man, so he had run into him head-on in an unlucky way, but he thought that would be it. Fortunately, it had passed without any major incident—though the men who had made a racket in the hallway had suffered quite a bit—and he was relieved, thinking that from today on, he would really try to live only in secluded, shadowy places.

“Are you very bothered?”

He never expected this man, who was smiling brightly right in front of him, to deliberately speak to him. He had naturally assumed that yesterday was yesterday’s business, and today was today’s, and they would just move on.

Jeong Taeui picked up some rice with his chopsticks and retorted curtly to the man sitting across from him, “Bothered by what?”

It wasn’t an answer that meant he wasn’t bothered. There were so many things bothering him that he didn’t know which one the man was asking about. Was it the fact that the worst person to watch out for had spoken to him first? Was it the somehow friendly way he was speaking? Or was it the cold gazes of the people sitting at the six-person table occupied by the European branch members?

The man laughed at Jeong Taeui’s reply.

“I just thought you had guts, sitting right in the middle of a table full of European branch members.”

Jeong Taeui, with chopsticks in his mouth, glared at him disapprovingly at his casually spoken words.

“You were the one who told me to come here. And there weren’t any other empty seats.”

Jeong Taeui felt quite uncomfortable as he said that. Not only the table he was sitting at, but all the tables in the vicinity were filled with European branch members. Glances like arrows rained down. They could have very well said, “You should go sit with your friends somewhere else,” but they didn’t, and it was almost certainly because of the man sitting in front of him.

The men at the same table, who had flinched and shut their mouths when Jeong Taeui and this walking weapon, Riegrow, sat down, did so again. At that moment, Jeong Taeui could easily guess how this man was treated even by members of his own branch.

…Come to think of it, maybe he didn’t beat them up because they were from the Asian branch, but because he just beats up anyone who gets in his way.

“Surely he doesn’t act the same way within his own branch…?”

Muttering to himself while eating, Riegrow, who must have heard him, asked back, “Who?”

At that moment, Jeong Taeui paused with his chopsticks for a very brief moment, but then picked up some vegetables as if nothing had happened.

Ah, no, no. I absolutely have to stay out of sight. Whether it’s in a good way or a bad way, the best thing is just not to be noticed. I should just eat and disappear quickly and never show up in front of this man again.

Next to Jeong Taeui, who was silently shoveling rice into his mouth, the European branch members who had been sitting at the same table finished their meal and left like a receding tide. Four seats became empty at once, but no one came to sit there.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve heard your name yet.”

Riegrow’s casually muttered words reached his ears. The moment Jeong Taeui heard them, his heart sank.

Damn it. The omens were getting worse and worse. It was natural for a new acquaintance to ask for his name, but coming from this man’s mouth, it didn’t sound ordinary.

“Um—can I ask you something?”

Jeong Taeui didn’t answer the question. Instead, he moistened his lips with water, pretending to be nonchalant, and asked back. At that, the man slightly raised his eyebrows as if to say, “Go ahead.”

“Are you usually the type to ask for other people’s names?”

He had thought this man was someone who had no interest in others. But thinking about it, even Jack the Ripper might have asked a prostitute, “What’s your name?” when he first met her.

Riegrow gave a faint, amused smile at those words.

“I am that type. It’s inconvenient if I don’t know their name when I need to call them, isn’t it? Don’t you think so?”

“I only ask the names of people I’ll be meeting often enough to make it inconvenient if I don’t know them.”

Whether Riegrow understood the meaning behind Jeong Taeui’s roundabout way of speaking or not, he nodded his head and said, “Ah.” Jeong Taeui chewed his rice, not knowing what it tasted like, and stared blankly at him.

If he had seen him outside, he would have thought, What a handsome young man. Even if he were mixed in with the crowds of a busy street, he would stand out for his neat and likable appearance. Depending on how you looked at him, you could even call him beautiful.

This handsome young man, who looked like a picture even as he carelessly bit into a piece of toast, letting crumbs fall, looked a bit younger in person than he had appeared in the video. He might even be a year or two younger than Jeong Taeui. …Or, considering the rumor that bathing in blood makes you younger, he might actually be quite old.

“How old are you?”

Jeong Taeui, who was rudely leaning on his elbow on the table and staring intently at him, asked an equally rude question without any hesitation.

Riegrow looked a bit taken aback by the unexpected question, but he answered with amusement.

“Are you usually the type to ask other people’s ages? Or is it because you think I’m someone you’ll be meeting often enough to make it inconvenient if you don’t know my age?”

Jeong Taeui didn’t ask any further questions to Riegrow, who responded with an amused look. He just felt increasingly gloomy. Maybe if we run into each other again, since we know each other, he might go easy on me if we face each other in training.

But his uncle had said. Just try not to be noticed, no matter what.

It’s already too late, Uncle. What should I do? If I die, please burn my books with me, don’t forget.

Jeong Taeui, chewing on his grumbled last words along with his rice, suddenly saw Riegrow’s hand picking up a coffee cup. A neat, dark-colored glove was unmistakably covering his hand.

“You seem to really like gloves, seeing as you always wear them.”

“Hmm?”

Riegrow looked at his own hand as if it were something new. He made a few fists, opened them, and shook his head.

“Not particularly. They’re rather more cumbersome than bare hands, if anything.”

“Then why do you always wear gloves?”

“I don’t like getting blood on my hands. It’s sticky, and once it dries, it’s hard to wash off.”

“No, but why would you get blood on your hands coming to the cafeteria to eat—”

Jeong Taeui, who had started speaking with a dumbfounded expression, couldn’t finish his sentence.

Suddenly, the cafeteria door burst open, and a man rushed towards them.

The man, who was from a different team than Jeong Taeui and someone he had never spoken to, had a terrifyingly hardened face and glared at Riegrow with bloodshot eyes, immediately charging at him.

“Riegrow! This is Kroy’s gun that you killed him with!”

In his hands, raised as he shouted those enraged words, was a .50 caliber revolver.

The color drained from Jeong Taeui’s face in an instant. That crazy bastard! Who brings such a terrifying weapon that could easily wreck a whole cafeteria from the morning?!

“If you want to die, you should die alone, you son of a bitch…!”

Having not even a sliver of loyalty that would compel him to stand in front of Riegrow, Jeong Taeui muttered a curse under his breath and quickly stepped aside. In a situation where someone was about to fire such a high-recoil weapon with their bare hands, with the likely outcome being hitting someone else or, at best, not shooting themselves in the forehead, the cafeteria descended into chaos.

Jeong Taeui swiftly retreated behind a thick pillar right next to him and anxiously examined it.

A pillar like this would probably break apart after four or five shots from that thing. No, but it’s a six-shooter, so he probably won’t waste too many shots on the pillar. Besides, there’s no reason for him to target me.

Even though it wasn’t perfectly safe, Jeong Taeui, having at least concealed himself, reflexively patted his pockets. But only dust flew from within.

“Damn it,” he clicked his tongue and turned his head, only to suddenly see Moro crawling under a table a few meters away.

“Moro!”

Jeong Taeui immediately dashed towards him. Following right after, BANG!! A gunshot, close to an explosion, shook the air. Something shattered behind him, and stone fragments struck Jeong Taeui as they flew past. His ears were ringing from the gunshot. Damn it, you crazy bastard! If you survive this later, you’re going to get a beating from me!

Jeong Taeui crawled to Moro’s side, who was looking around in bewildered panic, and grabbed his collar. Whether Moro screamed or not, Jeong Taeui forcefully pinned down his struggling form and reached into his chest pocket. As expected, there was the cold feel of metal that he always carried.

Turning his head, Jeong Taeui saw Riegrow standing alone nonchalantly amidst the chaotic cafeteria. And a man aiming a gun at him a few meters away.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before his eyes.

The six-person dining table, made from a whole piece of cedar and requiring at least four strong men to move, was effortlessly toppled and stood upright by Riegrow, who wore an indifferent expression. Then, without much effort, he kicked the table, which now blocked his front like a shield.

BANG!!!

Another ear-splitting gunshot rang out. The thick table flying towards the man was shattered by the bullet, turning into ragged pieces, and splinters of wood that bounced off Riegrow’s slightly shifted body rained down.

“You’ve got four bullets left now, right?”

Riegrow muttered calmly, ducking behind the pillar next to him as if sidestepping, and then toppled the table beside it. He grabbed the leg of that table and threw it forcefully at the man. Again, an ear-shattering sound echoed as the table splintered into pieces. This time, even the fragments were blocked by the pillar and didn’t reach Riegrow.

“Three shots left. If you can’t hit me with those, you’re dead.”

Riegrow seemed amused. A cheerful smile hung on his lips. Jeong Taeui, who was being tugged on the arm by Moro beside him, whining, “Give me my gun back, our precious one, hurry up and give it to me,” shook him off and ran with a lowered stance. While running towards the man’s back, two more consecutive explosions rang out.

“You crazy bastard, why start a fight you can’t win, risking your life like that!”

Jeong Taeui muttered through gritted teeth.

One bullet left. The surroundings were already a desolate ruin.

The distance between the man and Riegrow was only about four or five meters.

The back of the man’s neck was soaked with sweat. And in front of him, Riegrow was faintly smiling with a nonchalant expression. He lightly caught a forearm-sized piece of wood that had bounced off him, tossed it up and down a couple of times, and then playfully threw it at the man. But it was no game; the wind whistled from the piece of wood as it grazed just above the man’s instinctively ducked head. If it had hit him, he would have at least been knocked unconscious.

That was the moment.

Jeong Taeui instinctively knew it was that moment.

The moment when a person’s life hung by a thread was right then. The instant he felt it, Jeong Taeui moved.

As the man lowered his head, Riegrow lunged forward. It was almost simultaneous with him throwing the piece of wood.

The man, with a joyful smile on his face, must have seen the devil rushing towards him like an arrow.

BANG!!!

The ground seemed to shake. Jeong Taeui, who was in close proximity, flinched and closed his eyes at the deafening sound. A short groan escaped his lips.

And the moment he opened his eyes, he saw it.

Riegrow, having plunged under the man, grabbed his wrist and twisted it to the side, breaking it. Stone fragments and dust rained down from the ceiling where the bullet had struck. And Riegrow, with his other hand, casually choked the man, pressing firmly on his carotid artery.

“Oh… missed.”

Riegrow’s smiling murmur echoed in the deafeningly silent space.

When those words spread, everyone present could realize it.

Riegrow had intended to grab the arm holding the gun and twist the muzzle towards the man’s own head. He was nonchalantly deciding the man’s death.

The man was staring at Riegrow with wide, terrified eyes. The hand on his neck lightly caressed it.

“Let’s meet again in the next life.”

Riegrow’s eyes softened into a smile. His low voice whispered like a song. Strength flowed into his large, eerie grip, which looked like it could easily snap a person’s neck with bare hands.

At that moment.

“Let go of that hand.”

A quiet voice rang out.

Jeong Taeui, standing behind Riegrow, had the muzzle of his Colt resting on Riegrow’s cervical vertebrae.

Riegrow, still gripping the man’s neck, froze. He tilted his head back slightly, pressing his neck against the gun muzzle, and muttered with a calm smile, “If you shoot this close, your wrist won’t be safe either.”

“Don’t move. I think a broken wrist is a hundred times better than losing my life.”

“…I must have misjudged you. I absolutely detest meddling fools who throw away their lives righteously over something that’s not even their business.”

“I said, don’t move.”

Strength entered the hand holding the Colt. Without even blinking, Jeong Taeui focused on Riegrow’s every small movement. At the same time, he cursed himself inwardly.

What does it matter if one stupid bastard dies? Why am I sticking my nose in? I might as well dig my own grave, cover it with sod, and lie down in it.

Jeong Taeui, who had acted on pure instinct without a second thought, wanted to bite his tongue out over the current situation. But what was done was done. He was prepared to see it through to the end. Somehow, he was terrified by the feeling that even if he smashed this monstrous man’s head, he would probably still move like a zombie.

Riegrow chuckled. His shoulders moved slightly up and down with the low laughter.

“Haha, well, this is a predicament…”

Muttering as if in a quandary, Riegrow slowly relaxed his grip on the man’s neck. Perhaps due to excessive tension, Jeong Taeui flinched involuntarily at the movement of Riegrow’s hand.

What should I do? He didn’t need anyone to explain the meaning of those words. They meant, How should I deal with this newly appeared pest?

Jeong Taeui’s hand tightened on the Colt.

Just one moment, just one moment of letting his guard down would be his last.

When Riegrow completely released the man’s neck.

At that moment, the man, who had been on the verge of losing consciousness, instead glared fiercely and began to shout.

“Shoot! Just shoot, I tell you! Shoot him!”

At that shout, Jeong Taeui, who had been on edge, his every nerve strained at Riegrow’s slightest hand movement, almost pulled the trigger.

Seeing the man before him, oblivious to the favor of being rescued even at the risk of Jeong Taeui’s own safety, shouting such nonsense, Jeong Taeui felt a surge of anger.

“…You two must be a match made in hell, both completely insane. You wanted to die, and I got in the way, is that it? You little brat, you’re going to get a beating from me later—if I’m still alive.”

Just as Jeong Taeui was grinding his teeth and speaking, Riegrow, who seemed to have released the man, slightly lifted his heels off the ground with a faint smile.

In that instant, a black premonition washed over him.

Then,

“What in the world are you all doing?”

An icy voice descended from above. Several sets of heavy footsteps approached rapidly from the direction of the door. Jeong Taeui, who had almost pulled the trigger of the Colt, stopped moving and turned towards the sound.