Passion Novel - Volume 1 - Chapter 21

Fortunately, that unpleasant face wasn’t visible. Instead, there were his colleagues welcoming him with cheers that sounded almost like applause.

What a gutsy bastard, crazy bastard, loyal bastard, there were all sorts of descriptive words. Of course, that one was mixed in too. You thieving bastard who stole my precious darling! a lament.

Jeong Taeui barely managed to get two pieces of bread and a carton of milk in the makeshift temporary cafeteria, where not much decent food was left because he was late. He mumbled as he chewed and half-listened to his colleagues’ words.

For the next two weeks, the regular schedule would consist of general lectures in the morning and special lectures or special training in the afternoon. In other words, the real fighting would begin in the afternoon.

However, it was impossible for a little under a hundred people to receive training all at once.

“So, how are they going to divide the personnel for training?”

Jeong Taeui asked, chewing on his bread, and Ching explained.

“Same as always. They divide us into six teams, so fifteen of us train together. Of course, half will be from our side, and half from the European side. That will rotate randomly, so we’ll train with different teams each time.”

Jeong Taeui recalled the weapons engineering lecture he had attended midway. He mentally reviewed the unfamiliar faces mixed in the classroom.

“If it’s random—does that mean if I’m lucky, I might not meet a certain person at all for the whole two weeks?”

Jeong Taeui asked, clinging to a sliver of hope, but Ching shook his head. He looked sympathetic, as if he understood what Jeong Taeui meant by asking that.

“If you’re really lucky, you might meet a certain person less. But it’s just ‘less.’ You’ll inevitably have the same training at least once.”

“Yeah, yeah. Even if that weren’t the case, everyone participates in the endurance training simultaneously on the weekend.”

A colleague who had muttered that suddenly grabbed Jeong Taeui’s hand tightly and said,

“During the endurance training, everyone participates without exception in a survival competition, so you’ll get another chance. A chance to take that guy out for good.”

“…Sounds like the day I get taken out for good is coming.”

Jeong Taeui lost his appetite and put down the bread he was eating. He forced the food down with milk, but it got stuck in his throat and wouldn’t go down easily. At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to digest anything properly.

Then, Jeong Taeui suddenly muttered, “Huh?” and stared at the bread in his hand for a long time before tilting his head.

“Wait, weekend? …What training is there on the weekend? We’re supposed to rest. Wasn’t Friday afternoon from 5 PM to Sunday free time?”

Jeong Taeui asked, his face etched with disbelief, and a colleague sitting next to him retorted as if he had heard something strange.

“Didn’t you hear that we can’t leave the island during the joint training period?”

“What are you talking about? There’s no rest or anything for two weeks. It’s just continuous training. It’s actually better on weekdays because we only train during regular hours. On weekends, they release people into the forest from Saturday afternoon to Sunday noon for life-or-death survival training.”

“What is that! Then what about my walk?!”

Jeong Taeui’s face hardened, and he slammed the table, shouting. The milk sloshed and spilled, wetting the table.

His colleagues stared at Jeong Taeui in bewilderment, their expressions showing they didn’t understand.

“Walk? What walk?”

His colleagues all asked as if they couldn’t understand, but Jeong Taeui couldn’t even think of an answer and froze in astonishment.

Training on the weekend was news to him. Apparently, his colleagues thought it was so obvious that no one had told him. Even his uncle hadn’t mentioned that there were no holidays during the joint training.

I hope the weather is nice.

Suddenly, he remembered what his uncle had said with a smile earlier. Before that, Xinlu’s mutterings, “Did I misunderstand something?” as he tilted his head, also came to mind.

“Damn it… So that’s what it was.”

Jeong Taeui suddenly lost all his energy and slumped onto the table. His resolve to survive until the weekend, even if he only had two weeks left to live, felt futile.

“Hey, why are you crying? Well, I more than understand that feeling of not wanting to do endurance training.”

“Yeah. That’s probably when there’s the highest chance of dying… And if there’s someone you want to get rid of, that’s the best time to aim for.”

Gloomy words were exchanged above Jeong Taeui’s slumped head.

Just a moment ago, he had been able to pull himself together with the last shred of hope amidst despair, but that hope had vanished. All that remained was despair.

Seeing Jeong Taeui slumped on the table, not moving, Tou patted his shoulder knowingly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. We’re here, aren’t we? Do you really think we’d just stand by and watch you die?”

“Yeah. If you’re in danger, I’ll snatch the Colt from Moro and shoot for you this time.”

Pushing aside Moro, who was yelling not to say such ridiculous things, everyone offered words of comfort. However, those words, far from being comforting, only foreshadowed an even gloomier future.

“Cheer up, Taei. How can you be so down already? The real bloodbath starts this afternoon.”

“Ah, yeah. Let’s loosen up this stiff body. It’s been a while since I’ve used a human sandbag.”

Suddenly, the voices around them grew louder, as if intentionally for others to hear. Then, the European branch members sitting across the room, who had been chatting noisily among themselves, began to shout roughly.

“Those who get beaten up right at the start and can’t even put up a fight have only learned how to bluff.”

“Do they only teach you how to fight with your mouths in the Asian branch? And even that’s terrible.”

Here it goes again. Jeong Taeui, slumped on the table with a gloomy heart, was soon forgotten as they started fighting like a pack of dogs. The two shouts directed at each other were getting closer and closer.

Jeong Taeui lifted his head with a depressed expression. Everyone was standing and hurling offensive insults and shouts at the European branch members, and the curses coming from the other side were equally fierce. Behind his colleagues lined up like a wall in front, Jeong Taeui looked at Moro, who was sitting behind him as well, and asked with a tired face,

“Does this mean every day for the next two weeks will be like today…?”

“Today’s actually milder since it’s the first time in a while we’re seeing them. As the days go by, it’ll be a real firecracker display, you’ll see.”

Moro still glared sullenly at Jeong Taeui but grumbled a reply. Jeong Taeui muttered sadly,

“And in the afternoon, we start sparring with those guys for real.”

“Yeah. Today is free individual sparring, boxing, judo, aikido, kendo, anything goes as long as you pick two and follow those rules, the rest is unlimited freedom.”

“What’s that? If you allow all the rules of two different martial arts, there’s practically no restriction. That’s not sparring, that’s just fighting.”

“Of course, it’s no different from a dogfight. If it were proper sparring under strict rules, would so much resentment have built up?”

“No, but still, training with other branches was similar, so why is it only like this with the European side?”

“Well, it’s my first time doing joint training with the European branch, so I can’t really say. But maybe if we get beaten up by those guys during training, we’ll understand a bit.”

“…”

Moro, who had some experience roughing it in other branches even though he had never experienced the chaos between the European and Asian branches, had a better grasp of the current situation than Jeong Taeui.

Leaving those two behind, the argument among the colleagues and the European branch members was escalating. Initially, they were just hurling insults and slander across the mess hall table. But gradually, they moved closer, intensifying their aggression, and now they were throwing spoons and forks. Any moment now, if they closed the distance by just a few more inches, they would be grabbing each other by the collar across the table and engaging in a full-blown brawl.

Rather than getting caught up in that fight, I’d rather be branded a traitor and slip away, but they were blocking the way to the door, so I couldn’t leave. And there were no windows behind me to escape through to the hallway.

They said this was still the milder form of their fights, yet I was already this exhausted. How much darker would it get in the future? Sighing, Jeong Taeui rolled up his sleeves. No choice. When they started fighting, I’d pretend to join in and then make a run for it.

However, just as Jeong Taeui made up his mind to feign participation and then bolt, a helping hand reached out from an unexpected place.

“You bastards! You wrecked the cafeteria, now you’re going to ruin this place too?! Don’t want to eat?! If you don’t want to starve, get out there and fight, you sons of bitches! You’re going to pay for all the broken tables, chairs, and equipment, you damn fools!”

If the mess hall staff, who had been silently clearing away the leftovers amidst their fighting, hadn’t been hit by a chopstick thrown by one of them and exploded in anger, banging the serving spoon against the food containers like crazy and snapping at them, the fight would have devolved into a physical altercation in less than a minute.

Those who bowed down more readily to the mess hall staff than even to the branch director or the headquarters chief had no choice but to lower their voices immediately and mutter to each other, “Just you wait until the afternoon sparring session, you brats. I’ll beat you until you cry your eyes out.”

Most of the people who said, “Just you wait, you brats, I’ll beat you until you cry your eyes out,” kept their word. They lined up in order, glaring at each other with predatory intent even before the starting signal for the sparring. As soon as the signal was given, they charged at their designated opponents. And they fought, literally, as if their lives depended on it. They all succeeded in beating their opponents until tears and blood flowed freely.

In other words, they all got beaten that badly.

Jeong Taeui, who was relatively late in the order, repeatedly watched his colleagues and the opposing men being dragged out, covered in blood, and he became completely sick of the situation.

“Aren’t they all crazy?”

Jeong Taeui rubbed his chin and said very seriously, and Wienho, who was standing behind him as he was next in line, nodded very gravely.

“That’s right. For crazy bastards like that, only a beating will do. Giving them a good thrashing at times like this is for their own good too. Otherwise, where else would they learn?”

“…….”

I always thought he was a pretty normal guy, acting so cheerful and refreshing, but this one’s gone mad too… Turns out it’s not that he’s a bad person, it’s just that his neighborhood has bad water. It’s a society that pushes drinking.

Jeong Taeui looked at Wienho with pity for a moment and then turned his head. Even now, two men were locked in a dogfight in front of him, biting and tearing at each other. The instructor seemed only to be watching to make sure they didn’t violate the rules of the martial arts they had each chosen, regardless of whether the floor was soaked in blood. Then, when one of them indicated defeat or when it was clear to anyone that the outcome was decided, he would stop them.

The infirmary will be packed today. There won’t be enough beds, so they won’t be able to lay them all down in the infirmary, and judging by the looks of them, if they were laid down side by side, they’d probably still throw things at each other and fight even while lying down. They’ll run out of medicine.

What good does making them fight like this do? Jeong Taeui was filled with doubt, wondering if there was really a need for such a joint training exercise. But as the sparring progressed, he put those thoughts aside.

After each round of sparring ended, the instructor would point out one thing that would be good to note from the previous match. For example, when the left arm was swung from this direction to that direction, the opponent blocked it by raising their right leg at a near right angle. Listening to him, Jeong Taeui felt not just surprised but almost creeped out by how accurately the instructor saw and remembered everything. Even when they replayed the recording to double-check, the instructor’s words were never wrong.

What was also surprising was that the men who stood around cheering wildly as if they couldn’t tell front from back while their colleagues were fighting actually properly understood what movements influenced the outcome and what each person’s strengths and weaknesses were.

It was a dogfight, but it was becoming excellent research material for the spectators. And the spectators were also outstanding enough to recognize that material.

Jeong Taeui scratched the back of his neck and muttered to himself. Yeah, it’s something I only feel once in a blue moon, but even though these guys are crazy bastards, from the outside, they’re considered top-notch elites. Even that colleague who was just beaten to a pulp and dragged out, covered in blood, was someone who was registered with the Military Intelligence Agency and had obtained special permission under the name of two years of job training to learn at the branch from last year until the end of this year. There were also many people from other public institutions who came in the form of training to further their self-development.

……Why do such talented guys risk their lives over such trivial things? I just can’t understand it.

Jeong Taeui shook his head and sighed.

“Don’t sigh. You won’t die. If things get tough… I can’t bring myself to say surrender… if things get tough, just faint and get carried out. But make sure to land at least one good hit on that bastard.”

Wienho said from behind, firmly gripping Jeong Taeui’s shoulder. It seemed this friend had completely misunderstood Jeong Taeui’s thoughts. When Jeong Taeui sighed, he probably thought it was because his turn was coming soon and he was nervous.

Jeong Taeui thought, ‘Well, it’s true I don’t want to get hit and I am a bit anxious,’ and looked towards the opposing side. Then he examined the opponent he would be fighting.

He looked strong at first glance. Jeong Taeui wanted to hope that he just looked ferocious but was actually ridiculously weak, but it was too obvious that those muscles were built through real combat, not in a gym, and his gaze and expression were incredibly calm.

Just by looking, he seemed to be one of the top two strongest guys in that group… I really have terrible luck.

After the previous sparring match ended and the instructor finished summarizing the key points and the members’ discussion concluded, Jeong Taeui’s name was finally called. He stood up with a feeling like he had a bug in his mouth.

“Go and win!”

“Smash him, smash him!!”

“I believe in you! Master of tricks!!”

None of the shouts pouring in from around him sounded pleasant. The best one was “Win!”, but he had no confidence whatsoever in meeting that expectation.

He wasn’t confident in winning, but he was reasonably confident in reading people. Jeong Taeui looked at the man standing in front of him and thought bitterly. He couldn’t defeat that man.

In that case, the best way was still that.

“Getting hit with less pain is the best I can hope for.”

Jeong Taeui muttered to himself and took a deep breath. Soon, the instructor gave the starting signal, and he began to engage with the opposing man.

He was someone who had formally and systematically learned various types of martial arts, step by step, from the basics. Moreover, he was flexible and skillful. It would be difficult to win against such a person by facing him head-on. It would be difficult even to withstand him, let alone win. The best strategy was simply to avoid him.

But in this situation where even avoiding him wasn’t possible, all he could do was try to get hit with less pain.

If Jeong Taeui had one skill in fighting that he was slightly better at than others, it was that: getting hit with less pain.

It was a survival skill that involved some trickery in its own way, but it was actually very useful and he used it often when he was in the military. There were several methods, but the most basic and the one Jeong Taeui used easily was to move very close to the opponent when they swung their fist and then step back slightly at the moment of impact—a method that others would probably scoff at if they heard about it. However, when used well, it was a surprisingly effective technique.

But even so…

“It still hurts, damn it.”

It was natural that it would hurt if he got hit with a flurry of blows, not just one or two. Even if he got hit with less pain, it was just slightly less painful; the pain didn’t decrease by half or become almost imperceptible.

As an aside, while getting hit, Jeong Taeui would look for opportunities once or twice to land a punch or kick on his opponent, all the while repeating “This hurts like hell” in his mind.

However, the man fighting Jeong Taeui also seemed displeased with the ambiguous feeling of his punches, and his expression grew increasingly grim. Whenever he was hit lightly even once or twice, his complexion would worsen.

Judging by that look, if I get hit properly even once now, I’ll definitely be carried off to the infirmary.

That was when Jeong Taeui thought that. The man finally threw a punch straight at him with a furious look, and Jeong Taeui, who had briefly considered just taking that one hit and falling down, was struck squarely by the fist that came much faster than his thoughts could keep up with, leaving him no time to dodge.

“Keuk…….”

Not even a proper scream escaped his lips. The moment he was hit by that fist, Jeong Taeui realized, ‘So I really have been getting hit with less pain until now.’ It hurt so much that his breath caught in his throat, and it felt like his insides were about to spill out of his mouth. And on the other hand, thinking it was for the best, he quickly collapsed.

He desperately wanted to end it like this, and in fact, he was in so much pain that it was difficult to stand upright.

As Jeong Taeui lay flat on his back, indicating his defeat, the opposing man seemed even more agitated. He looked displeased that he hadn’t been able to have a satisfying fight and his opponent had already gone down. Seeing that expression, Jeong Taeui gave a refreshing smile despite the pain.

You damn son of a bitch, I’ve been hit this much, how much more do you want?

Whether that meaning got through or not, fury blazed even more fiercely on the man’s face, but the instructor had already given the order to stop. The man reluctantly stepped back, exhaling a frustrated breath.

Jeong Taeui, still lying down, hoped that one of his colleagues would come and carry him out on their back, but all he got in return were cold words telling him not to exaggerate and to quickly make room for Wienho.

Tch, what useless colleagues. Jeong Taeui grumbled and slowly got up and walked out.

Behind him, Wienho, who was the last to go, was beaten mercilessly, just like most of the others, but he also hit back just as mercilessly. It took quite a long time for him to finish his sparring and be dragged out, and by then, the time had already exceeded regular working hours.

The time each person fought wasn’t that long, but the time the instructor spent pointing out things about the fight and the members spent discussing it was several times longer, so even though there were only about seven or eight sparring matches, it took a considerable amount of time.

Even though they had been fiercely cursing and jeering at the opposing side, by the time their work was finished, exhaustion was written all over their faces. Just watching and analyzing was tiring, and having to go in and fight once in a while must have been even more draining.

Jeong Taeui was the same. The moment the instructor said that work was over and left the sparring room, he collapsed onto the desk. Next to him, his colleagues were starting to bicker again, just like they had in the cafeteria at lunchtime, but Jeong Taeui had neither the energy nor the inclination to stop them, then or now.

After arguing loudly for a while, Tou drank a gulp of water and then approached Jeong Taeui, seeing him like that.

“You got beaten up pretty badly earlier, are you all out of energy? Go to your room and get some sleep.”

“You’re the one who looked like you were covered in blood from head to toe, but now you look perfectly fine.”

“What do you expect when those bastards can make even a stone Buddha lying down jump up?!”

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. It seemed that was the wisest way to protect himself here.

Just like at lunchtime, they were gradually raising their voices and arguing. It was only because they were completely exhausted after the day’s work that they weren’t already grabbing each other by the collar and rolling around on the blood-soaked floor.

Jeong Taeui staggered to his feet. Then he turned towards the back of the sparring hall, where curses and slander were flying, and headed for the door. Wienho, who was still wiping the blood that was slowly trickling down his forehead, asked Jeong Taeui where he was going.

Jeong Taeui looked at him with a tired face and replied in an even more tired voice.

“I’m going to get punished for violating the clause that prohibits the personal possession of weapons within the branch.”

“What? Wasn’t getting called to the instructor’s office earlier the end of it?”

“He didn’t look that lenient… He wants me to handwrite ten volumes of the United Nations Human Resources Development Agency’s disciplinary regulations.”

“Handwrite… … … Should I help you?”

“He said if the handwriting is different, he’ll make the person who helped also write ten volumes separately.”

“Hmm… Well, good luck. My heart is with you, cheering you on.”

With Wienho’s pitying gaze on his back, Jeong Taeui waved his hand lightly and left the sparring hall.

He desperately wanted to go back to his room and collapse onto his bed, but his uncle had not only assigned him the punishment but also kindly specified the deadline for submitting the ten handwritten volumes: by the morning of the day after tomorrow. He had to give up all his break time.

Finding the United Nations Human Resources Development Agency’s disciplinary regulations wasn’t difficult. Without needing to wander through the numerous shelves in the library looking for classification codes, the books related to UNHRDO were on a separate shelf next to the door.

Jeong Taeui sighed as he pulled out a booklet about the size of a notebook. The size and thickness were just like a notebook. It wasn’t too thick to copy. However, the moment he opened the booklet and saw the densely packed, tiny letters, he couldn’t help but sigh again.

By the morning of the day after tomorrow. Should I be thankful that I at least have time to sleep? I’ll have to work on it whenever I have a spare moment, during lunch breaks and rest periods, but at least it seemed like I could finish it while still getting some sleep.

Jeong Taeui fanned himself with the booklet and turned to head towards the loan desk. But just as he was about to turn, a sign attached to the side of the bookshelf caught his eye.

‘Not for Loan’

“What is this?”

Jeong Taeui abruptly stopped fanning himself with the book in his hand and muttered in astonishment. If it can’t be borrowed, where am I supposed to get it to copy? Where would they even keep such a useless booklet?

However, no matter how many times he held it up to the barcode reader of the automated loan system, the booklet, as the sign said, couldn’t be recognized for borrowing. He briefly considered just grabbing it and running, but then the recognition system at the doorway would surely go off, and the alarm would blare throughout the entire floor.

“Oh. Books related to the organization can’t be borrowed externally. It’s internal material. If you want to see it, you have to look at it inside the library. Or you can borrow it with the warden’s permission.”

The man who had been waiting in line behind Jeong Taeui had been peering over his shoulder, wondering what was taking him so long, and kindly informed him when he saw the book. “Oh, thanks,” Jeong Taeui said, stepping aside, but he just stood there blankly, holding the book.

Internal material that can only be borrowed with the warden’s permission. There’s no way his uncle wouldn’t know something like that. The point is to hole up in the library whenever he has free time and just copy the book.

“…….”

Sighing and fanning himself with the book, Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and turned around. If that’s the case, he’d have to bring a blank notebook and copy it here. Come to think of it, while he was stuck here transcribing, he wouldn’t have to deal with those other guys, so maybe it would actually be better as there would be fewer chances of getting caught up in trouble.