Passion Novel - Volume 1 - Chapter 27

Jeong Taeui broke out in a cold sweat. He instinctively knew that if he hadn’t turned his body, he would be seeing the afterlife by now. He had almost died trying to save someone.

Only after seeing the arrow embedded in the ground, quivering, did his mind regain a little composure, and then he lamented with a touch of regret. If he had just left things alone, he might have seen that vicious and dangerous man disappear from the world. Why did he help? Besides, maybe the man with the crossbow was trying to do what needed to be done. Come to think of it, Riegrow was much more likely to be the villain than that man.

But perhaps even if the same thing happened again—and even if the person was different—Jeong Taeui would have done the same thing. He just wasn’t the type to stand by and watch someone die in front of him.

While Jeong Taeui was consumed by a myriad of regrets and worries in the span of a few short seconds, Riegrow’s response was instantaneous. He unhesitatingly pushed the young man who was crouched between his legs away, picked up a suitable rock that was rolling on the ground, and, half-rising, swung it towards the head of the man on the rock who was clutching his wrist.

The rock flew accurately without the slightest error, and the man’s head broke open, spraying blood. He let out a low, short groan and collapsed on the spot as if he had fainted.

Not even glancing at the young man who had belatedly let out a startled scream and frozen, Riegrow picked up the crossbow that had fallen from the man’s hand. He then looked at the arrow that had flown from the crossbow and was embedded in the crevice of the rock. Finally, he turned his gaze to Jeong Taeui, who was standing beside it.

When Jeong Taeui’s eyes met his, he felt unnecessarily flustered even though he hadn’t been the one aiming at him, and he raised both hands. Riegrow’s gaze coldly descended to Jeong Taeui’s hands.

“It wasn’t me. …No, if you think about it, I actually helped you. There’s no reason for you to glare at me so coldly.”

Jeong Taeui muttered with a hint of injustice. Riegrow simply said, “I know.” Then, he clicked his tongue as if displeased and started walking. His footsteps approaching Jeong Taeui were relentless.

Facing him as he strode closer, Jeong Taeui instinctively wanted to step back, but the ground beneath him was all rocks, making it unstable, and he couldn’t retreat.

“I told you it wasn’t me. Besides, I don’t even know who that guy is. I didn’t plot anything with him.”

“I know, I know.”

Riegrow muttered, sounding dumbfounded, as he repeatedly heard Jeong Taeui’s insistent claims. Jeong Taeui glared at him with wary eyes.

Surely he wouldn’t suddenly attack the person who helped him. But why is he walking towards me? No, never mind that, can’t he at least put some clothes on?

Having the naked man approach him so uninhibitedly made Jeong Taeui very uncomfortable. However, Riegrow stopped only about four or five steps away with a nonchalant expression. Then he bent down and picked up the arrow embedded in the crevice of the rock. He examined the tip, tapped it a couple of times with his fingertip, and then chuckled.

“If I had been hit in the head with something like this, even I wouldn’t have been unscathed.”

Jeong Taeui frowned and muttered a correction. At that, Riegrow’s gaze, which had been on the arrow, fixed on Jeong Taeui’s face again. Jeong Taeui winced, his lips tightening, and repeated the same excuse for the third time.

“It’s none of my business… Ugh, seriously, stop glaring at me like that. I’ll have a heart attack after helping you.”

Receiving such a sharp gaze after helping him made Jeong Taeui suddenly feel a surge of anger, and he exclaimed discontentedly. Riegrow raised his eyebrows and smiled faintly.

“I wasn’t glaring, did it look like I was? I know who that man is. He’s one of our team members. I also know why he tried to kill me and that you have nothing to do with it, so you don’t have to be so on edge. —Besides, even if I were holding a grudge, do you really think I’d do anything to you in this situation where you just saved me?”

He chuckled as if it were absurd. But the sturdy arrow he was twirling between his fingers like a pen looked terribly dangerous, no matter what. Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue.

“You’re awfully calm for someone who almost died. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, is it?”

“Well, I experience something like this about once or twice a month,” he said casually, as if making small talk about everyday life. He tapped the arrowhead again and muttered, “If that bastard gets his head pierced with this, just like he tried to do to me, he might finally come to his senses.”

“Whatever, but I’d appreciate it if you’d avoid doing it in front of me. Preferably not even where I am… If I could ask for more, I’d prefer it if you handled it after you returned to Europe.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled with a sour look. He absolutely didn’t want to get involved in anything troublesome. He had no desire to be a witness at a murder scene.

Damn it. Why do I keep getting tangled up with this guy? I should have just pretended not to see him; I’m an idiot.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his arms slowly with his palms, feeling a sudden chill, perhaps from the cold sea breeze or because of the man in front of him. Then he felt a stinging sensation and looked down. A long, thin cut ran across his palm. Only when he saw the skin torn and blood flowing did Jeong Taeui realize for the first time that he was injured.

“Oh,” he murmured, bewildered, then quickly realized it was a wound from the arrow that had narrowly missed him earlier.

“Wow… that’s something. It just grazed me, but it’s this bad, so if it had hit me properly, I would have been completely screwed… That guy will have to copy the International United Nations Human Resources Development Agency’s Disciplinary Regulations ten times for illegal weapon possession.”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and muttered. The blood wasn’t stopping easily; the cut must have been quite deep.

Hearing those words, Riegrow suddenly burst into laughter. His low but cheerful laughter continued for a while. When Jeong Taeui looked at him with a displeased expression, Riegrow gradually stopped laughing and said,

“Ahahaha, right. As you say, I should make him copy the disciplinary regulations ten times before dealing with him. Understood. While we’re here, I’ll have him copy the regulations, and I’ll deal with him after we return to Europe. Since the person who saved my life is telling me to, well, I have to obey.”

Riegrow chuckled softly for a while longer, then grabbed Jeong Taeui’s arm. He examined the wound.

“It’s a deep cut, but not too serious. Once the bleeding stops, there shouldn’t be any particular worries… Here, use this to wipe it.”

Riegrow said this as he took off the glove he was wearing. Jeong Taeui winced. Surely he wasn’t telling him to wipe his wound with that glove that must have been soaked in countless people’s blood. If he used that, it felt like the grudges of all those people would cling to him.

“You’re really the opposite of your brother. Even for fraternal twins, it’s rare to be this different. But well, fine. That’s not bad either.”

Riegrow whispered in a tone that still held amusement. Jeong Taeui hesitantly took the glove he offered, then paused suddenly. It was a phrase he had heard somewhere before. It was slightly different, but he had definitely heard words to that effect recently. And he had heard it from—.

Seeing Jeong Taeui just holding the glove and staring at him without moving, Riegrow tilted his head, then took the glove back and used it to wipe Jeong Taeui’s wound. His bare hand holding the bloodied glove was very white. Under the hazy moonlight as the fog began to clear from the sky, his hand looked particularly pale.

Fingernails that shone neatly like glass. Long, delicate fingers. A white, beautiful hand.

It was a familiar hand. So familiar that it looked more familiar than Jeong Taeui’s own hand.

Riegrow, who had finished wiping Jeong Taeui’s wound, seemed to notice his gaze fixed on his hand. He suddenly raised his eyebrows and muttered, “Oh dear,” as if embarrassed, then clenched and unclenched his hand. That movement was also familiar.

“Do you like my hand that much?”

He asked Jeong Taeui, who couldn’t take his eyes off his hand. Jeong Taeui looked up. And he stared intently at the man who was smiling faintly in front of him.

Damn it. What is this?

That was the only thing that came to mind. His head was blank, and no thoughts came to him, until suddenly, a surge of anger welled up.

“If I say I like it, are you going to cut it off for me?”

Jeong Taeui said bluntly, and Riegrow laughed out loud. The tone of the electronic voice and laughter he had heard recently overlapped. Thinking about it, even his way of speaking was similar.

“If you want. Your own hand would suit you better, but if you want it, I’ll cut it off for you. After I die.”

“I don’t need it. I said I didn’t need it until recently, there’s no way I’d ask for it now.”

Jeong Taeui’s voice grew increasingly unpleasant. His mood soured as much as his voice.

Riegrow was smiling in front of him. The smile in his eyes subtly looked down at Jeong Taeui. Jeong Taeui glared at his hand again.

There couldn’t be two such hands. Such beautiful hands.

“Which is the family name and which is the given name?”

Jeong Taeui asked sullenly. A question he had never thought about before suddenly popped into his head. Riegrow smiled subtly, looked at Jeong Taeui for a moment, and then replied,

“Riegrow is the family name.”

“I see… Which one do you prefer to be called by?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Right. But either way, I don’t feel much like calling you by either, Ilay Riegrow.”

Jeong Taeui said, openly displaying his displeasure. The man in front of him simply chuckled.

Another reason to resent his uncle had been added.

***

Saying it’s off-limits doesn’t mean they changed the locks.

Jeong Taeui lay on his uncle’s bed, jingling the keychain on his finger.

Come to think of it, he had done something foolish. Even though his uncle had told him not to come, it wasn’t a strict order. If Jeong Taeui had forced his way in and insisted on staying, his uncle would have eventually let him do as he pleased—of course, if his uncle had truly wanted Jeong Taeui not to come, he would have schemed something to prevent it—.

Currently, with ominous figures from Europe pervading the branch, the safest place in this building was none other than here. The instructor’s private room, an off-limits area.

Then, instead of pointlessly running away and sticking to the shadows, he should have just come straight here after finishing his regular duties and stayed put.

“I was too rigid… If Uncle tried to stop me, I should have sneaked in and hid under this room’s bed.”

Jeong Taeui shook his head and muttered to himself. He briefly considered doing that from now on, but it was already too late. He had already been marked by the one who was going to mark him, and his bad luck had fallen as far as it could. There was no further to fall, and no one else to mark him.

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue and tossed the keys up and caught them, just as the door opened and his uncle walked in.

His uncle, who was unbuttoning his uniform jacket as he entered, looked surprised when he saw Jeong Taeui lying on the bed. “What are you doing here right now? I told you not to come until the joint training is over.”

“I finished reading the books, so I came to return them.”

Jeong Taeui shook the book in his hand lightly. His uncle took off his uniform jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, looking intently at Jeong Taeui. This quick-witted uncle seemed to be trying to figure out why his nephew, who wouldn’t come just for something like that, had come to see him.

“You could have taken your time reading them. Well, anyway, since you’re here, go ahead and borrow any books you want to read. But even if you finish them, don’t bring them back until after the joint training period. –Do you want some green tea?”

His uncle took off his shirt as well and started boiling water in the pot. When Jeong Taeui shook his head, he took out a teacup for himself. Cracking his neck from side to side as if his body was stiff, he sighed lightly.

Jeong Taeui put the borrowed books back in their original places, his eyes scanning the bookshelf. It hadn’t been that many days since he was last here, so not much would have changed, but there were about a few new books on the shelf. Jeong Taeui gently ran his fingertips over the spines, then stopped on a book with a familiar title.

“This… it was supposed to be sent by ship, but it looks like it arrived already. Mythology.”

“Ah, it arrived yesterday. A brand new, hot-off-the-press book. I haven’t read it yet either, but if you want to, read it first. I probably won’t have any time to read for a while anyway, and I have other books to read.”

“Hmm… then I’ll take this. I’ll bring it back when I come again after the joint training.”

His uncle nodded as if to say yes. He took a long breath as he drank the pale green tea from his cup.

He never showed any signs of exhaustion, but even if he wasn’t a superman, his uncle couldn’t possibly be unaffected by the current situation. However, when his uncle’s eyes met Jeong Taeui’s, who was looking at him intently, he tilted his head slightly with the same usual expression.

“You seem very tired these days. You don’t even have time to read books. Besides, I thought this was a book you really wanted to read, Uncle.”

Jeong Taeui said, lightly tapping the spine of the new book he had taken out. His uncle chuckled and shrugged.

“That’s right. My original plan was that if I sent it by ship, it would arrive around the end of next week, roughly coinciding with the end of the joint training, so I could leisurely read it right away.”

“But it arrived much earlier than I thought,” his uncle muttered, and Jeong Taeui nodded, understanding. “Ah, so that’s why.”

“Indeed. You intentionally asked for it to be sent by ship so you could receive the book after the joint training was all over? Since it was coming anyway, you could have just received it directly from Ilay, so I wondered why you bothered sending it by mail.”

The hand his uncle was raising to his lips with the teacup paused for a moment. His uncle held the teacup near his mouth, looked at Jeong Taeui for a moment, and then smiled slowly. He had the look of someone who now understood why he had come. He took a sip of tea and then put the cup down again.

“That guy mentioned me with his own mouth? Well, now… It was unconventional enough that he told his name to someone he just met. It seems that guy likes you quite a bit.”

I don’t think so… If he liked me, would I have been so anxious and sticking to the shadows all this time?

Jeong Taeui muttered inwardly, but it was ridiculous to insist, “He doesn’t like me,” so he decided not to say anything.

Besides, even if he did like him, nothing would change. For that man to like someone was different from how ordinary people liked someone. For that man to like someone meant he considered them an interesting object. It was far from the usual meaning of liking someone as a person you felt affection for or cherished.

That’s the kind of person he was. And there was no way his uncle didn’t know that.

Thinking about it made his mouth taste bitter. In the end, whoever he was, whether a weapons dealer living somewhere in Germany or a mad brawler registered in the European branch, nothing changed. Jeong Taeui sat on the bed, smacked his lips, and asked sullenly,

“I have no desire to pry into other people’s affairs, Uncle. But since I have to take good care of my own life for the next six months, even the slightest thing that seems off makes me anxious.”

“I suppose so. And?”

“What’s your relationship with that lunatic?”

Jeong Taeui’s question was concise. It was also clear who he was referring to. However, his uncle remained silent for a moment, only looking at Jeong Taeui with a subtle smile. He had a thoughtful expression.

“Well… I suppose you could say we’re book buddies.”

When his uncle slowly opened his mouth, Jeong Taeui frowned slightly. He looked at his uncle silently for a moment, then shrugged. If he didn’t want to talk about it, there was no need to press him.

“Yes. Well, I’ll just take good care of my own life.”

“I know his brother. To be precise,” his uncle continued. Jeong Taeui closed his mouth again. His uncle spoke calmly, his face showing no hint of falsehood. When their eyes met, the slight smile on his uncle’s face confirmed that his words were entirely true. Just not the whole truth.

“…I see. I don’t know why someone like that is holed up in the UNHRDO branch, but you never know with people’s lives.”

Or rather, shouldn’t he say he didn’t know why someone in the UNHRDO branch had such a family history?

Jeong Taeui shrugged. In fact, even if his uncle had given him a heads-up beforehand, nothing would have changed. It might have just added to his vague prejudices. Or he might have made a ridiculous mistake and thought that the man named Riegrow was the Ilay he had seen on screen.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head.

“Okay. I should get going now. Well… I probably won’t have much time to read either, so by the time I finish this, the joint training will be long over.”

“Hmm… alright. That’s one I haven’t read yet, so don’t give it back too late.”

“But you told me to take my time.”

“I never said that about that book. I just said if you wanted to read it first, you could.”

“What’s the difference? You said you had plenty of other books to read,” Jeong Taeui grumbled as he headed towards the door.

Ugh, tomorrow’s a precious weekend, but I won’t get to rest; it’ll be training again. They called it extreme training, I wonder what it’ll be this time, Jeong Taeui sighed inwardly as he reached for the doorknob, but suddenly his uncle called out from behind him.

“Tae-eui.”

“Yes?”

Jeong Taeui turned around, his hand still on the doorknob. His uncle was looking at him with a subtle expression. It wasn’t the face of an instructor, but the pure face of an ‘uncle’.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of guy he is. If you were thinking of Ilay and Riegrow as separate people, then the one you were mistaken about wasn’t Riegrow, but Ilay.”

Jeong Taeui looked at his uncle without a word. What he meant was crystal clear. He was saying that the image of Riegrow he had encountered face-to-face was closer to the truth than Ilay, the person he occasionally chatted with on the phone.

Jeong Taeui paused for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head.

“Not at all, Uncle. I couldn’t possibly have known Ilay well.”

Even from the moment he just showed his hand, that guy was someone you couldn’t read, Jeong Taeui added, spreading his hands out. At this, his uncle chuckled softly.

“Alright, then go on now. Try not to let people see you.”

“Hmm… wouldn’t it be impossible not to get caught? With recording cameras everywhere here.”

“…Right. I forgot about those. You’ll have to copy the disciplinary regulations about ten more times later.”

Jeong Taeui’s face scrunched up dramatically. His uncle said with a pitiful look, “See? Why did you have to get caught by the recording camera? Try to be more careful from now on,” but it was already too late.

Jeong Taeui knew next to nothing about Riegrow. All he knew was that he was incredibly dangerous and someone to stay away from. But that didn’t mean he knew anything about Ilay either. He had only talked to him a few times on the phone. He could say he was a little better than others at figuring out what kind of person someone was after talking to them a few times, but you couldn’t define someone based on a few phone conversations without ever seeing their face.

However, like most people who have had several conversations with someone they don’t know, Jeong Taeui had a certain impression of Ilay. A vague image of what kind of person he might be. Someone reasonably easy to talk to, someone who could make your heart heavy but also make you feel pleasant while talking to them, yet someone who occasionally gave off a cold, chilling feeling.

Come to think of it, some of that seemed to fit. Though how much did he really know about either of them?

Jeong Taeui rubbed the back of his neck as he walked down the hallway, not caring whether he was caught by the already recording cameras or not. Tsk, he clicked his tongue with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Damn it. This is a scam, a scam. How can such a beautiful hand be attached to a bastard’s wrist like that?”

It was a hand so beautiful it involuntarily drew your gaze. Even seeing the bare hand without the glove at the beach hadn’t changed that feeling. No, it was even more beautiful than when it moved on screen.

But Jeong Taeui knew. He was someone who could nonchalantly swing that fist at Jeong Taeui too. The fact that he would sever Jeong Taeui’s neck the moment he felt like it also remained unchanged.

Didn’t he feel it during their last call? That no matter how many times they talked, not just a few times but dozens or hundreds of times, that man would never think of him as anything more or less than a mere stranger.

Yeah, thinking about it, Ilay and Riegrow were definitely the same person.

“Seriously, it’s a scam… Even if it doesn’t suit me, should I just ask him to cut off that hand and attach it to mine? It’s too beautiful to be wasted on that bastard.”

However, thinking about that clean, neat, white face, it was a face that perfectly suited the owner of that hand. Still, the problem wasn’t the hand or the face, it was the personality, the personality.