Passion Novel - Volume 2 - Chapter 53

The guy who had recited that predictable line was approached by another, who seemed to have a bit more sense than his friend. He looked at Jeong Taeui with a disgruntled expression and then abruptly asked, “Taei, I don’t know you well since you’re from a different team, but you don’t seem like a weirdo and you seem pretty decent. Why the hell are you going around attending to that crazy bastard?”

He was too tired of it to even want to talk anymore. The fact that he hadn’t volunteered to be the adjutant.

Originally, the adjutant selection was heavily influenced by superiors, but it first required the individual’s application. When a new officer was appointed, applications were accepted from the unit members in that branch, and then a selection was made from among them. There had never been a case where someone with absolutely no interest in being an adjutant was randomly chosen.

Yes, never before. Never before.

The signs had been ominous ever since his uncle had called him to the officer’s room. Back then, he didn’t know anything about being an adjutant or how the system worked. He just thought that if superiors ordered him to do something, he had to obediently comply. If he had known that his own will was the priority, he would have never backed down there. … Though, even if he had insisted to the end, he didn’t know if his uncle would have easily agreed.

Jeong Taeui let out a long sigh. The second guy who had spoken to him furrowed his brow, seemingly understanding the implication.

“Everyone has their own circumstances in life, but still, why did you have to take a position helping that kind of guy?”

This guy probably thought that Jeong Taeui had some kind of weakness or a similar reason that forced him to be Ilay’s adjutant. He’d be grateful if that’s what they thought. At least they’d pick fewer fights.

Just as I was thinking this petty squabble would pass without much trouble, as the second guy had softened his stance and backed down a little, the third guy poured cold water all over that thought.

“Jo, you’re wrong. This guy isn’t doing it because of some other reason. He was just on that crazy bastard’s side from the start. You know, right? When Instructor Kippenhan and Karl died, the only one at the scene besides that lunatic was this guy. And isn’t it weird that he was the only one who survived? There’s no way that crazy bastard would have let him live in that situation if he wasn’t on his side.”

The third guy was treating Jeong Taeui like an accomplice to murder from the get-go. Jeong Taeui stood dumbly in front of them, blocking his path, and silently listened to their words. He’d already been accused of this before. Not only accused, but he’d heard it countless times from guys who picked fights with him in this similar way. In severe cases, he’d even heard truly humiliating insults like, “That bastard is just like that crazy lunatic.” To be treated as the same kind of being as that monster who could even evade the Cluster.

He’d let other insults go in one ear and out the other, but he still couldn’t forget how mortifying that particular insult had been.

Jeong Taeui glanced at the wall clock above them. Lunch break was slowly coming to an end. These guys would need to hurry up and borrow their books if they wanted to get to their afternoon duties, but were they planning on picking a fight here until the end of lunch break?

“Aren’t you going?”

Jeong Taeui said curtly. They seemed to have misheard him, as they went, “Huh?” and asked him again. Jeong Taeui spoke a little slower.

“I asked if you weren’t going. Maybe take a look at the time.”

Jeong Taeui gestured towards the clock with his chin, but they didn’t look at the clock—only one of them did. Instead, they seemed to have taken Jeong Taeui’s short words in a twisted way, and their expressions turned fierce.

“Ah, so you’re telling us to get lost?”

Humans were truly twisted creatures. How could “Aren’t you going?” sound like “Get lost?” to them? Well, a disliked person’s every action and word probably looked and sounded hateful.

Jeong Taeui glanced at the second man. With an unpleasant and uncomfortable look on his face, he was glaring at Jeong Taeui. Just as gloomy as the guy looked, Jeong Taeui also felt gloomy.

If nothing had happened, he would have definitely become a pretty decent colleague with these guys. Even these guys who were picking pointless fights, if you dug a little deeper, it was often the case that a close friend or colleague had been severely injured or even killed during joint training with the European branch. So, there weren’t many crazy bastards who would pick fights over something that had nothing to do with them.

Sometimes there were people whose inherent personalities just didn’t mesh well, but even those people wouldn’t fight like this.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed. Even though he was leaving in six months, he at least wanted to get along well with his colleagues during that time. Whether they were on the same team or not, he wanted to finish his workdays with a pleasant feeling and build solid relationships, just like he had with his comrades in the same platoon in the military, before his discharge.

And yet, it was just his rotten luck to get entangled with that crazy bastard and have an uncle like that.

Uncle. Even if I leave in six months, I will never forget that you threw me into a death trap for those six months. I hope you savor my resentment, deep as a serpent’s, for a long, long time. … Though, even if it’s as deep as a serpent’s, it’s not like I’m going to retaliate, so it’s all useless anyway.

“Taeui. I’m saying this for your own good, but you should break ties with that guy quickly. You haven’t been in UNHRDO for many months yet, so you probably don’t know. That guy is really crazy. You’re very likely to get hurt just by being next to him. He’s the kind of guy who would calmly harm even the people he keeps by his side.”

The third man still seemed to feel quite sorry for Jeong Taeui and gave him sincere advice.

It was this man he felt sorry for. If it weren’t for this situation, he would have become a very good colleague with this kind of man. In the military, men like this had always been good comrades.

It was a shame. It was both a shame and regrettable.

Jeong Taeui, not wanting to argue any further or get involved, nodded.

“Alright. Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”

It was times like these that were exhausting. When he felt that his colleagues were no longer trustworthy and friendly people, but rather bitter and wary individuals. If it was neither a situation he could resolve nor one he could avoid, exhaustion was inevitable.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to intend to keep picking a fight and drag it out, and Jeong Taeui didn’t want to deal with them either. Dealing with each one of them would be endless.

Just as they were about to grudgingly step aside and leave, their faces suddenly turned deathly pale, as if they’d seen a ghost, and they froze stiffly. One of them even took a step back.

Jeong Taeui also stopped moving. He realized that the place their gazes were fixed on was right behind him.

“Jeong Taeui, your interpersonal relationships are getting narrower and narrower. How are you ever going to be useful like that?”

A slow, seemingly amused male voice came from right over his shoulder. Judging by the sound, it was less than a hand’s breadth away.

Jeong Taeui frowned. Come to think of it, something like this had happened before. It wasn’t when he was caught up in a squabble like this, but during joint training with the European branch. He’d been quietly alone in the library when someone had suddenly come up behind him and scared the living daylights out of him. Just like now—though he hadn’t shown it.

“Ilay…… how long have you been there?”

Jeong Taeui mumbled unhappily. He’d been wondering where that monster was terrifying someone during this peaceful lunch break, and it turned out it was here.

Ilay reached an arm around Jeong Taeui’s waist. Then he picked up the encyclopedia Jeong Taeui was holding and lightly snatched it away. He flipped through the pages to the one with the bookmark, the one Jeong Taeui had been looking at just a moment ago, and then murmured with a subtle “Ha-ah.”

“Gil Sang-cheon, huh… this picture is too ugly. I wouldn’t even get hard looking at a woman like this.”

Ilay muttered playfully and then returned the encyclopedia to Jeong Taeui. Then, he suddenly turned his gaze to the few men standing stubbornly in front of him, glaring.

“What? Do you have some business with me?”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue as he looked at the men in front of him, their expressions stiff and their glares fierce as they stared at Ilay. He stepped aside and turned to Ilay.

“They had business with me. It’s none of your concern.”

Then Ilay lowered his gaze. His eyes, looking at Jeong Taeui as if he were ridiculous, were cold.

“If that’s true, then so be it, but if they had business with me, then it’s none of your business. I told you before, didn’t I? Don’t interfere. Do you want us both to get annoyed?”

His face was the same as always. In a way, he even seemed to have a faint smile, as if he was in a good mood. To an outsider, it was a face that seemed approachable and clean-cut. He’d probably look exactly the same even after ten or twenty years. And there was one more thing that would remain unchanged like that: that cold and desolate look in his eyes would never change.

Jeong Taeui inwardly clicked his tongue.

Yeah, the second guy—was his name Jo? You were right. This guy is the kind of bastard who would calmly harm even the people he keeps by his side. Even if it’s his own adjutant, someone he spends more than half the day with, or even a friend he plays territory games with, if the situation calls for it, he’s the kind of bastard who would snap their neck without hesitation.

So, as I’ve said repeatedly, getting involved with this bastard was never my intention, the words welled up in his throat. If possible, he wanted to broadcast it throughout the entire branch. I’m only doing this because I was forced to, so please, don’t pick fights with me, he wanted to say.

But there was also a reason why he couldn’t openly claim, “Go bother him instead.” One way or another, Ensign Jeong Taeui had the goddamn duty to stop anyone from picking a fight with or trying to harm Instructor Ilay Regulus.

While Jeong Taeui was stuck between three men and one monster, worrying about the near future, the men who had caught Ilay’s gaze remained silently still. Then, the first man spoke with a somewhat sarcastic tone.

“Business, huh? Originally, we should have business with you, but since you’re the esteemed Instructor-nim, well, how could we possibly pick a fight with a lowly Ensign?”

He wanted to praise their guts, but provoking an opponent you couldn’t win against wasn’t courage, it was recklessness. From Jeong Taeui’s perspective, the first man acting like that towards Ilay was just asking for a trip to the hospital.

Only then did Ilay smile. He’d had his usual expression, where it was hard to tell if he was smiling or not, until now, when he finally showed some emotion. But Jeong Taeui knew. The emotion that smile conveyed was different from a normal person’s smile. These utterly unlucky and incredibly stupid bastards.

“I don’t dislike all the guys who pointlessly pick fights with me. Sometimes it’s fun, so I like it. I also like that they have the guts that I don’t have.”

Ilay took a step forward and smiled faintly. His slow and quiet tone made it sound like he really liked those men. It was even bordering on gentle.

Jeong Taeui decided to stand by and watch. There was no point in getting involved anyway. The guys over there would curse him for stepping in to fight instead of that lunatic, and Ilay here would give him an even more dangerous time than a curse for making things unnecessarily troublesome. Getting involved would only bring harm, not benefit. He certainly didn’t have a hobby of satisfying his sense of justice in such situations.

But just as he took a few steps back, intending to stand by, ridiculously, the second man over there stepped forward.

Jeong Taeui scrunched up his face. He’d expected the first guy, the one with the lively mouth, to step forward, but he hadn’t expected the second one. No, maybe he had expected it to some extent. That’s how things usually went in the world. The person who went out of their way to create trouble would disappear when it came time to deal with it, and someone with little responsibility for the matter would be forced out to handle the dirty work. He sometimes wondered where fairness existed in the ways of the world.

“Maybe fairness is just a fantasy created by people who yearn for communism……”

Jeong Taeui muttered unhappily. Then he tightened his lips.

He actually kind of liked the second guy. He’d probably feel a little bad if that guy ended up beaten to a pulp. But even so, Jeong Taeui had no intention of interfering in front of the smiling Ilay, so he could only sigh and wait for the unfortunate future.

That was when it happened.

A short signal tone rang out, indicating the end of lunch break. Since the library didn’t have its own broadcasting system from the start, the sound flowed in from the hallway outside the door.

The men paused. Ilay simply glanced outside, showing no particular reaction. Jeong Taeui looked at the clock and then subtly looked at Ilay.

“Not that I’m trying to interfere or anything,”

Jeong Taeui mumbled nonchalantly, idly fiddling with the worn corner of the encyclopedia. Ilay’s gaze as he glanced back at Jeong Taeui was not friendly. It was a look that asked if he really had to stir up unnecessary trouble.

“Ilay. Instructor McKen is very persistent, so once he targets someone, they’ll have trouble for a long time. It’s not something I experienced myself, but my uncle told me.”

Ilay looked at Jeong Taeui with a puzzled expression. His face seemed to ask what he was suddenly talking about.

“This afternoon, McKen also has no classes. That means the only people in the officer’s room this afternoon will be you and McKen. It probably wouldn’t be good to give the impression that you were out playing somewhere else and came back late. I’m saying this for your own good. Not that I have any desire to interfere.”

Jeong Taeui didn’t forget to add the last part. Ilay slightly raised an eyebrow and stared intently at Jeong Taeui. Then he briefly turned his gaze to the men. After looking at them silently for a few seconds, Ilay smiled faintly, a strange kind of smile.

“Goodness… you really try to create troublesome situations… Taei. If you interfere, you’re the only one who will get hurt in the end. Either way, the guys I’ve been planning to deal with from the start, I’ll deal with them no matter what you do, and then you’ll just end up exhausted too.”

Oh dear, he’d stepped on a landmine.

Jeong Taeui took another step back. With a placid face, he pretended not to notice Ilay and said, “Then do as you please,” before nonchalantly swinging the encyclopedia as if he was about to put it back on the shelf and walking towards it.

Damn it. If he was unlucky, today was going to be tiring. Trying to smooth things over with that bastard was a stupid move.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and slowly walked back to where he’d taken the encyclopedia from. Having decided not to interfere, it seemed better not to witness the gruesome scene at all. He decided to let them sort it out themselves and stay out of it. He’d actually done that all along.

After placing the encyclopedia back in its empty spot, Jeong Taeui remained there, idly tapping the bookshelf with his fingertips, intending to leave only after a suitable amount of time had passed.

Come to think of it, Jeong Taeui had never properly fought that man. Of course, if they really fought, he’d be knocked out in one blow, but they’d never even had a light sparring match. When Ilay had come for joint training when he was in the European branch, there might have been such an opportunity, but the first week passed without them even encountering each other during sparring training, and the second week he’d been locked up in the confinement cell the whole time, so they’d never formally sparred.

Well, they had bickered quite a bit out of boredom in the confinement cell, though. Even if Ilay had moved as if he was just playing around.

A few times, even just lightly testing each other’s skills like a game, not in a proper fight, had been enough to know. Jeong Taeui was well aware that he couldn’t beat Ilay in a fight. It was only natural. He wasn’t particularly good at fighting to begin with, and he wasn’t especially outstanding within this branch either.

What should he do if he ended up fighting that man?

“……”

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with an answer. It was either run away unconditionally or get beaten to a pulp and quickly faint before dying, one of the two.

After that bastard finished his warm-up with those guys, he’d probably ask Jeong Taeui why he’d interfered and made things troublesome for both of them. His mouth tasted bitter.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue.

“It’s better to just faint before dying. Surely he wouldn’t beat up someone who’s already fainted… No. Knowing that bastard, he might just cleanly slit my throat before I even get a chance to faint.”

Just as he was muttering to himself with a sigh, worried about the future, Ilay’s carefree voice came from right behind him, across the bookshelf.

“Who are you talking about?”

Jeong Taeui paused. He stopped the hand that was brushing over the books. Across the bookshelf, through the empty space above the books, he could see Ilay standing. Only his chin and the slight curve of his lips were visible, hidden by the books.

“Did you already knock them all out? I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Well, you were worried about McKen for my sake, so I was thinking of following your advice.”

“……, you just let them go?”

Jeong Taeui asked suspiciously, not really believing his words. Through the gap above the books, Ilay’s lips curved into a smile. His white teeth flashed briefly before disappearing behind his lips.

“You liked the guy in the middle, didn’t you?”

He suddenly asked. Jeong Taeui tilted his head, but then realized he was talking about the men from earlier and recalled them. The one in the middle was the second man. The one who had picked a fight, but in the most humane way among them.

“Ah……, he was the best of the three. How did you know so well?”

“He seemed like the type who would get along well with you if the situation were right. Jeong Taeui, who’s practically an outcast within the branch right now.”

Ilay said with a chuckle and slowly walked around the bookshelf towards him. Ilay’s figure appeared from the other side of the bookcase. As he entered the narrow space between the shelves, it felt like the space became crowded.