Passion Novel - Volume 2 - Chapter 35

“I don’t know what makes you think I have a certain idea in mind, but in what way is it different?”

“For example, a doctor will come in the evening. After all, the organization prides itself internally and externally on diligently addressing the welfare of its members. Even if they are inside the disciplinary facility.”

“Welfare…….”

Jeong Taeui repeated his words. He briefly pondered whether it was this man or himself who misunderstood the meaning of the word welfare.

“I think discussing welfare in a place like this underground prison is absurd……. I guess the food must be delicious.”

After thinking for a while, Jeong Taeui murmured quite seriously, and Ilay burst into laughter.

“Haha, ahahaha. Yes, that’s right. The food is very delicious. That’s the most important issue. Well, secondarily, a doctor comes regularly to check our health and they even consider the environment, although.”

“This kind of environment is one where you can’t even use the word consideration.”

Jeong Taeui said sadly. It made him think about the kind of environment this man had lived in. Perhaps this man’s destructive personality stemmed from an unfortunate background.

“Does having a weapons dealer as a profession make life that unfortunate……?”

There was a significant difference from the reality he knew, and as he tilted his head and muttered to himself, Ilay laughed again, having heard him. He chuckled quietly for a long time, as if something was very amusing.

Meanwhile, Ilay skillfully tended to the wound on his shoulder by himself, to the point where Jeong Taeui wondered why he had even asked for help. As he stood there dumbly, holding only the unfolded bandages in both hands, Ilay finally extended his shoulder after finishing treating the wound.

“Bandaging is a bit of a hassle, though the other things aren’t too difficult to do alone.”

“Watching you unwrap it earlier, you seemed like you could bandage it well on your own too.”

“I could if I had to, but why bother when there’s someone to help?”

There’s a point to that, Jeong Taeui nodded. And with practiced movements, he began to bandage the wound. Seeing it up close, the injury was quite severe. The flesh was completely torn, and it looked like it would scar even after it healed.

“……”

Jeong Taeui, who had finished bandaging without a word, suddenly grabbed Ilay’s upper arm. He had been surprised anew while bandaging. He had thought Ilay was slightly slender for his height, but seeing his bare torso, he was more muscular than he had thought. Moreover, his arm muscles weren’t very prominent, but they felt as solid as steel.

Well, if this monstrous man had a body that was as slender and weak as he sometimes appeared, that would truly be an unparalleled mystery.

As soon as Ilay finished bandaging, he looked down curiously at Jeong Taeui, who was suddenly rubbing his upper arm and staring intently. Then, he offered his arm as if telling him to play with it as he pleased.

“I told you, I’m not just monstrous for no reason…….”

Jeong Taeui muttered. Ilay murmured, “Oh dear,” sounding genuinely regretful.

“Goodness. You must have been quite hated. Now you’re even calling a perfectly normal person a monster.”

“It doesn’t seem like I’m the only one who thinks so. My uncle told me not to associate with you.”

“Instructor Jeong? You don’t say. After all the affection we’ve built up over time.”

Having slightly distorted the truth, Jeong Taeui muttered inwardly, Uncle, consider this much revenge as just a bit of playful teasing. He even tried to justify it, thinking that his uncle experiencing the feeling of being betrayed, which he himself had felt several times since coming here, might be quite helpful in his long life.

But when he thought about it, it wasn’t entirely a lie, so his guilt was lessened. At least he hadn’t conveyed the words “It’s best to just not get involved with that crazy guy” exactly as they were, thus preserving the flimsy friendship that might exist between his uncle and Ilay.

“Have you known my uncle for a long time?”

Jeong Taeui thought, He’s still injured, and while putting the medicine box back on the shelf – in the process, he bumped his head on the shelf while getting up and muttered a curse, asking for the lights to be turned on if they were going to talk about welfare – he asked nonchalantly.

Ilay was silent for a moment, then replied slowly, haltingly.

“Well……. We met quite a while ago, but we haven’t actually been in contact with each other for very long.”

“Hmm, how do you two know each other?”

“You could say we’re book buddies.”

Looks like they plotted something with my uncle. Then he would definitely say something like, “To be precise, your uncle is an acquaintance of my brother.” Anyway, he hadn’t asked because he was particularly curious, nor did he expect to hear an answer that would satisfy his questions.

“……”

Jeong Taeui suddenly chuckled at a thought that popped into his head. Hearing his laughter, Ilay asked briefly, “Why?” Jeong Taeui shook his head, saying, “No, it’s nothing.”

Perhaps he really did regard this man as extraordinary. Beyond the usual meaning of extraordinary. Thinking that this man had a brother felt somehow very strange. It was like, while he could accept that Ilay had a brother, the idea of Riegrow having a brother felt bizarre.

Yes, when he thought about it, even someone like Adolf Hitler wasn’t just dropped from the sky. He would naturally have parents, and might have siblings. Depending on the time, he might even have had children. Yet, because he became such a uniquely evil person, so far removed from humanity, it was impossible to even imagine him having a family.

“You said your brother is a weapons dealer.”

“Hmm. My father used to do it until a few years ago, but now he’s retired and my brother took over. Until my father retired, my brother was a relatively ordinary businessman. He dealt with books. He mainly did old book restoration, which made him bankrupt but gained him several maniacal book buddies.”

Jeong Taeui nodded at Ilay’s words. Indeed, he felt like he understood the relationship between his uncle and his brother. He could also understand the saying that his uncle and this man were book buddies in a similar context.

“From dealing with old books to weapons dealing…… That’s quite a leap in professions.”

“My brother basically knows how to do business. Someone who knows the skill of selling things is bound to succeed in business. In that respect, it’s the same whether it’s a local corner store or a multinational corporation.”

“But you said he went bankrupt doing old book restoration.”

“Ah, that was a hobby. He had a separate real job. He still does other things while selling weapons now.”

There was no reason to ask in detail, but this man’s brother seemed to have a tumultuous life as well. Yes, it felt like it had to be that way to find the characteristics befitting this man’s brother.

As Jeong Taeui nodded, Ilay stretched, feeling stiff. He tapped his neck, arms, and knees, then got up from his seat. Jeong Taeui looked up at him while sitting. He looked very tall like this. In reality, Ilay was surprisingly tall when standing next to him, but because of his build, which looked thinner than it actually was, he didn’t seem that tall at first glance. But occasionally, at times like this, Jeong Taeui would recognize that he was quite tall.

“Being in here, you can spend your time leisurely in its own way, which is good, but not being able to move properly makes my body feel really stiff. It feels like there’s a fog in my body, so I don’t feel refreshed.”

“So, are you planning to run a 100-meter dash in here?”

Ilay chuckled at Jeong Taeui’s joke. He then turned to face the wall, keeping a moderate distance.

“If you circle this space about ten times, it’ll be roughly a hundred-meter dash, but if you want to exercise, jogging would be better. If you run about ten kilometers, that’d be a thousand laps.”

“My head would spin first.”

As Jeong Taeui spoke, Ilay gauged the distance from the wall, then suddenly planted his hands on the ground and flipped upside down. He lightly pressed his toes against the wall to support himself. Jeong Taeui, who had been leaning against the wall, made eye contact with him upside down.

“Shall we do a light hundred? One. Two—”

Watching him do push-ups while inverted, Jeong Taeui’s face contorted.

“Hey, stop it. What are you doing with that bad shoulder? Even if the doctor comes in the evening…”

“Thank you for your concern. That’s why I’m barely putting any strength in my right arm, so it’s fine. I’m also leaning on the wall for balance. Five—…”

Ilay spoke calmly, showing no signs of strain, and continued counting. Jeong Taeui stared at Ilay with a look as if he were seeing a monster. The same thought echoed in his head. That monster, a madman in the head and a monster in the body, truly a formidable opponent.

Jeong Taeui could understand a part of what Ilay meant by ‘welfare’ when the duty officer—he had only thought of him as someone who handed out medicine in the infirmary, but it turned out he was a fully licensed doctor—came in the late afternoon.

The officer grumbled as he entered the cell, “I really don’t like coming here. It feels like sticking my head into a cage of wild beasts.” He then fumbled somewhere near the wall-mounted intercom. At the same time, a light illuminated the cell. Not the entire cell, though. A door in one corner was faintly glowing. Now that he looked, there was a semi-opaque glass door there.

Jeong Taeui’s eyes, accustomed to the darkness, found the faint light sufficient to illuminate the dark cell, but the officer didn’t seem to think so. “The facilities here are really ridiculous,” he grumbled again, opening the door. Inside was a combined bathroom and toilet. There were partitions inside, but they were made of glass, rendering them meaningless.

“I’m really curious what that old man was thinking when he made this…”

Jeong Taeui muttered incredulously. He then glared at Ilay with displeasure. If Ilay had clearly seen Jeong Taeui fumbling around in the dark and bumping into everything, wouldn’t it have been nice to say something? Or at least turn on the light? Even if he couldn’t light up the entire cell, just turning on the bathroom light would have made it easier to see around.

Ilay, who had gone to the bathroom doorway and sat down, feigned ignorance, his face suggesting he knew exactly what Jeong Taeui was thinking. The bathroom light was a stark white, like natural daylight. Jeong Taeui’s eyes, accustomed to darkness, were dazzled by the light, so he sat in a corner where the light was less intense for a while to let his eyes adjust.

After that, he looked around. As expected, it looked desolate compared to the cell Jeong Taeui had been in. This was because there was no furniture like a bed or wardrobe, only a low table and a small storage unit. The bathroom was the same; it had proper facilities but no small items. However, in reality, it was quite excellent for a prison.

“Indeed, if this is what they call ‘welfare,’ then it can be considered well-provided.”

It was still far from the generally understood meaning of welfare, but it was true that the environment was good. It had only the essentials, but those essentials were good quality items that were convenient to use.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, Jeong Taeui approached Ilay. The officer was unwrapping the bandages to examine the wound. Seeing the wound under the light, Jeong Taeui frowned. He had seen it faintly under the dim light earlier, but seeing it clearly under the light, it was severe. It looked as if someone had shallowly and repeatedly gouged his skin with a teaspoon. It was a wonder it hadn’t festered.

“It’s not easy for a person to be walking around normally after this…”

Jeong Taeui muttered with a sigh. For a moment, he even wondered if Ilay wasn’t human. Or if he was, he was definitely a different species from himself.

Upon hearing those words, Ilay subtly smiled, while the officer next to him nodded in agreement, making an “hmm-hmm” sound.

“Well, in my opinion, you seem like you could endure this much if the situation demanded it.”

“Thank you for seeing my patience in a good light (although I actually saw you as a beast), but I’m terribly weak when it comes to pain. I can’t stand it. Besides, no matter how I think about it, I don’t think I’ll ever be in a situation where I have to do handstand push-ups nonchalantly even with an injury like this.”

“What? He did that?!”

The officer, who had been listening nearby, shouted. Ilay turned his head and said nothing, leaving the officer to grumble alone. Jeong Taeui felt sorry for the officer. In many ways, there probably weren’t many patients who gave so little reward for treatment. Besides, what had he said when he came in earlier? Didn’t he say it felt like sticking his head into a cage of wild beasts?

He must be worried that the beast would bite his head off with every word he spoke, yet he was still nagging like that, so he had a certain amount of courage, one couldn’t deny.

The treatment ended quickly. In fact, before coming here, the places that needed stitching had been stitched, and the places that needed bandaging had been bandaged. What was needed was aftercare, but this inhumanly healthy man didn’t even seem to have his wounds worsen. Hearing the officer murmur in surprise, shaking his head, “But your recovery is really fast…” Jeong Taeui became even more certain of his own thoughts. He had thought this man was only a failure as a human in terms of personality, but his recovery, stamina, and health were all equally sub-par for a human.

To put him in the same room as a non-human creature, he resented the old man as expected. Jeong Taeui asked the officer, who was about to leave the cell after saying he would come again tomorrow and to call the intercom if anything happened,

“By the way, when will the old man come here?”

“Which old man? There’s more than one old man here.”

“The instructor old man who put me in here.”

“Ah— He probably won’t come unless it’s to put someone in or take them out. The deputy handles all the inside work. Didn’t the deputy bring your meal earlier?”

“He did. But… So, does that mean I have to stay here with that inhuman creature until I get out?!”

Jeong Taeui grabbed the officer’s collar and shouted in a low voice. Even though the cell wasn’t large, so everyone would hear, he still had a sliver of guilt about shouting openly.

The officer looked sympathetic, as if he understood Jeong Taeui’s feelings, but he just shook his head.

“What can you do? It’s all your fate. It won’t be long anyway. Just endure it. There are even children who grew up drinking wolf’s milk in the mountains, you know.”

The officer, comforting Jeong Taeui with a strange analogy, left the cell. The way he deliberately locked the door again looked particularly annoying. As the officer was about to leave, saying he would see him again tomorrow, Jeong Taeui suddenly had a thought and urgently grabbed the bars of the cell.

“Xinlu!”

“Huh?”

“Xinlu. Is he doing well?”

Even if they were in charge of different areas, as fellow officers, they would see each other every day. Just as members of the same unit got along, the officers were connected to each other. The duty officer in front of Jeong Taeui spent almost the entire day in the medical unit, but there was an officers’ meeting in the evening, so he would see Xinlu at least once a day.

The officer stopped leaving and looked at Jeong Taeui with a complicated expression. Jeong Taeui flinched, meeting his gaze as if asking why he was looking at him like that.

“You met Xinlu last night too, didn’t you? I saw him at the evening meeting yesterday, but I haven’t seen him today yet. You met him more recently than I did. I should be the one asking. Is Xinlu doing well?”

“…….”

How did he know I met Xinlu last night…? Jeong Taeui wanted to ask, but then he remembered that this officer was in the room next to Xinlu. He might have heard the noises from the hallway. Last night’s conversation… Thinking about how much he might have heard, Jeong Taeui’s face suddenly flushed. Still, the soundproofing was good, so he probably didn’t hear much detail. At most, he might have just distinguished the voices.

“I was trying to go back to my room after my bath, but you were standing there in the hallway, so I couldn’t pass. Well, anyway, hang in there, Jeong Taeui, who must want to get out of here as soon as possible. Fighting.”

The officer encouraged Jeong Taeui with a blank face and then turned to leave. Jeong Taeui, still clutching the bars, couldn’t move and just glanced sideways as the officer departed.

Damn it. He heard everything. And he didn’t even pretend to know. Did a hundred-year-old serpent take up residence in his belly, that man? Well, he kept forgetting repeatedly, but this was still a proper branch of a somewhat prestigious talent development institution. That man must be highly valued outside.

Jeong Taeui’s perception of the elite, a minority in society, had changed since coming here. He had held a slight admiration and expectation that those who could be called elite would be somewhat extraordinary, but as these human aspects were revealed one after another, those admiration and expectations had no chance of remaining.

Jeong Taeui sighed and turned around. Then, his eyes met Ilay’s, who was still sitting by the still-lit bathroom, steadily looking this way, and Jeong Taeui flinched.

“Xinlu, huh? Looks like things are going well with that cute young man.”

Jeong Taeui frowned and closed his mouth. Instinctive wariness surged again. Since both of them were in this place, there was no immediate need to be on guard, but whenever Xinlu’s name came out of this man’s mouth, Jeong Taeui’s nerves would slightly sharpen.

“Since I’ve decided not to interfere in your affairs, you shouldn’t interfere in mine either. That’s only fair.”

“It’s too unfair for me to use the word ‘fair.’ When I get out of here, the joint training will already be over, so I’ll be returning to the European branch immediately.”

I see.

Jeong Taeui’s expression softened slightly. It was a fact he knew but had forgotten. Ilay was right. There was no way Ilay would be released sooner than Jeong Taeui, who was stuck here for ten days. If such a situation were to arise, Jeong Taeui was fully prepared to meet with the Vice Minister and even the instructors to protest, even if it ultimately did no good.

Jeong Taeui nodded and muttered to himself.

“That’s right. Once I get out of here, there’s no reason for me to stay. And with that beast-like recovery of his, his wounds will heal quickly, so he won’t be staying here for convalescence either.”

Hearing those words, Ilay gave a wry smile.

“You’re too much. Treating a person like some kind of wild beast.”

“I don’t remember treating you like something as cute as a wild beast.”

Jeong Taeui replied sternly to Ilay’s complaint. If this man were locked in a cage with a wild beast, he would surely survive. And if he got hungry, he might even beat that beast to death with his bare hands and make raw meat out of it.

Ilay chuckled and tilted his head to the side once, then said no more. He tapped the firmly wrapped bandage on his shoulder a couple of times as if checking its condition, then stretched and got up. He went to the place where a mattress was laid out, seemingly as a substitute for a bed, leaned against it, and picked up a book that was on the table.

Although the light from the bathroom illuminated the surroundings enough to distinguish things, Jeong Taeui tilted his head, looking around the rather dark room, which was not bright enough for reading a book. It wasn’t even easy to read the title of the book Ilay was holding.

“You’ll ruin your eyes reading like that in here.”

Even this man was human, so his eyesight would probably deteriorate. Although vision supposedly stabilized in adulthood without major changes, reading a book in such dim light with a furrowed brow couldn’t be good for his eyes.

Ilay calmly felt around the corner of the wall near the mattress. Then, a small light, inconspicuously embedded in the wall at the head of the mattress, turned on. It was a small, bright light, perfect for reading, like a substitute for a lamp.

Jeong Taeui stared with a look of exasperation and then asked,

“Here…, besides that, are there any other lighting fixtures or necessary living facilities that I don’t know about?”

“That’s probably all the lighting there is. As for other necessary living facilities… well… there are air conditioning and heating systems, but they’re centrally controlled, so they’re not very useful. But you never know. I didn’t install the facilities here, and the person who designed it might have hidden other necessary devices somewhere.”

At his words, Jeong Taeui once again inwardly called out to the old man. What a truly eccentric old man. He even wondered if the reason the old man hadn’t been promoted wasn’t because he didn’t want it, but because he was so bizarre.