Passion Novel - Volume 4 - Chapter 104

He felt a gaze.

Ilay was looking at Jeong Taeui, resting his chin on the back of the hand holding a fork. Very overtly—beyond that, he was just openly staring.

“…….”

Jeong Taeui pretended not to notice for a while, but when the gaze showed no sign of being withdrawn no matter how long he waited, he finally looked up. And with the same displeased expression, he stared directly at him.

“Is there something you need?”

“……No.”

Ilay met Jeong Taeui’s gaze for a moment, then slowly shook his head. Jeong Taeui frowned slightly. When someone stares so intently and then says no, it doesn’t leave a good feeling.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

Jeong Taeui said, glaring at Ilay. To anyone watching, it looked like he was picking a fight. In a corner of his mind, Jeong Taeui thought, I’ve really become bold. I’m just letting loose now, but somehow, he felt like he had nothing to fear anymore. If you want to kill me, just kill me, that’s the feeling. Ilay stared intently at Jeong Taeui again, and after some time, he pointed at Jeong Taeui’s plate with the tip of his fork.

“It’s nothing much, but that chicken leg you took, I had set it aside to eat.”

“…Should I give it back?”

Jeong Taeui stared at the half-eaten chicken wing for a moment, then shook it and muttered. Ilay suddenly seemed to smile faintly, then shook his head.

“No, it’s mine anyway… It’s fine.”

The moment Ilay finished his words, adding the kind explanation, “It’s my share of chicken, so you can eat it,” Jeong Taeui’s face subtly hardened. Seeing his expression, Ilay chuckled and resumed his meal.

“…….”

Jeong Taeui repeatedly touched the back of his hand to his face to cool it down, as it threatened to flush. But his head felt hotter than his face. A sudden rush of heat surged.

—You are mine.

He didn’t know how many times he had heard it last night.

That voice, whispered in his ear again and again, clung to his ears like a nail, refusing to leave. To the point where he wondered if he was actually trying to hypnotize or brainwash him.

‘It’s not you who recognizes it, it’s me,’ my ass.

That crazy bastard. He might as well smash that mirror the moment he gets back to his room.

Jeong Taeui suddenly lost his appetite and put down the half-eaten chicken leg.

Mine, my foot.

Jeong Taeui had no intention of letting his life be burdened by someone else. Just as he didn’t shoulder the lives of others, the reverse was also true. He didn’t want to, either by his own will or by the will of others.

His life was entirely his own. No one else could live his life for him. While a relationship walking on parallel lines might be possible, they could not advance on overlapping lines.

Ilay. Had he said he would torment him for life?

Jeong Taeui gritted his teeth.

Damn it. Just look away for a moment. Then I’ll run away again immediately. Let him try to chase me again if he wants.

But even as he said that, Jeong Taeui knew.

He couldn’t make a new ID now. The only identities he could use were Kim Youngsoo’s and his own, Jeong Taeui’s. And Ilay already knew both of them. Without an ID, he couldn’t work, fly, or even go to the bank, so no matter where he went, Ilay would now be able to find his tracks and chase him.

Jeong Taeui suddenly sighed.

What should he do from now on? What was Ilay planning? He smiled bitterly at the reality of having to consider what Ilay would do when planning his own life. But the reality he was in right now was this place, this reality.

As Jeong Taeui was thinking such gloomy thoughts and picking at a few vegetables, a phone began to ring somewhere.

It seemed to be a cell phone, as the sound came from inside the dining room, where no landline was placed. And it was near the table.

The owner of the phone was Kyle. He raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Excuse me,’ bowing slightly to the people sitting at the table, then answered the phone. His expression brightened, indicating it was someone close. Judging by him putting down his fork, the call might be long. Jeong Taeui silently continued eating. Then he glanced at Ilay, sitting opposite him.

He was no different than usual. His expression, gestures, movements, and aura were all the Ilay Jeong Taeui knew.

Sometimes, when Rita nagged, he would overtly frown and wave his hand—and Rita, who had changed their diapers and raised them, would still nag without a flinch—but at other times, he was the same as usual.

…Yes, exactly the same.

Jeong Taeui stared intently at him. He frowned slightly and tilted his head.

Ilay was exactly the same man Jeong Taeui had known at UNHRDO. He had looked so unstable just yesterday, but now he had regained his relaxed and composed usual self.

“…….”

Did something happen overnight? Jeong Taeui thought, and then tilted his head in the opposite direction too. But still, he couldn’t pinpoint anything.

It didn’t matter. A calm and cold madman was much easier to deal with than an unstable, trembling one. Jeong Taeui took a long drink of water and thought.

“Tae-yi.”

Then he heard Kyle call his name.

Jeong Taeui quickly swallowed the water in his mouth, put down the cup, and seeing that Kyle was still holding the phone, he gestured with his head, asking what was wrong instead of answering. Kyle then smiled and handed him the phone.

“It’s Changin.”

“…Yes?”

Jeong Taeui blinked, wondering what he had heard, then asked again. Talking to his uncle in the morning. He had no such memory.

As Jeong Taeui muttered bewilderedly, “When did I…?”, his uncle laughed again.

‘You called me suddenly this morning, what time was it… anyway, a little before regular work hours started.’

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth.

Even if he replayed his memories, nothing like that had happened. Calling someone when everyone else was asleep was rare in itself, and besides, ‘this morning’ was still ‘this morning’ now…

Thinking that, Jeong Taeui suddenly remembered the time difference. His uncle seemed to have realized it at the same time, adding, ‘Ah, it must have been the middle of the night there.’ However, even if the time difference was clarified, Jeong Taeui still couldn’t pinpoint anything. It was rare to call someone in the middle of the night, and if there had been a reason to call his uncle, he would remember it.

“Uncle. But I don’t remember calling…”

Jeong Taeui said cautiously, and his uncle laughed.

‘That’s why you don’t remember calling me this morning, I said. Hmm—… It was around 8 AM, so what time is it there, 1 AM? The call came around then while you were crying.’

“…….”

His uncle was not someone who would lie about such things. Moreover, it didn’t sound like he was lying. He even provided circumstantial details. While crying. Just hearing his uncle’s words, it really sounded like he had called. Jeong Taeui sighed.

“I didn’t call. It’s not like I’m a sleepwalker or anything…”

Jeong Taeui, who had said that much, gradually trailed off. Something was subtly bothering him.

—Please take that guy away.

A sentence that had fleetingly crossed his mind earlier on his way to the dining room. The expression vanished from Jeong Taeui’s face.

Oh, damn it. I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t?

Jeong Taeui glanced at Ilay. Ilay raised an eyebrow, puzzled, as Jeong Taeui looked at him. Jeong Taeui quickly averted his gaze.

“…I… think I remember…”

Jeong Taeui muttered reluctantly. Then his uncle laughed again.

‘You were really funny today. When I answered the phone, some guy suddenly started bawling, and I wondered what kind of wailing it was.’

“…I did that?”

‘Hmm. You did.’

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. Although he couldn’t blame others, in such cases, he wished that a grateful heart would emerge, one that would say, ‘It wasn’t really like that,’ out of beautiful consideration for others’ feelings. There were truly many people in the world who made him gloomy.

However, while thinking such thoughts, he recalled that if he traced the cause back, he himself was somewhere in the causal food chain, and Jeong Taeui sighed.

“You really didn’t seem to be in your right mind. Come to think of it, you were like that when you were little too. When Jaeui did something wrong but you were misunderstood and punished instead, your aunt said you’d be sleeping soundly at night, then suddenly wake up and cry, sobbing, ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.’”

She was worried it might be sleepwalking, but it wasn’t. Hearing his uncle say, “I don’t know why, but I feel strangely happy to see that odd childhood habit still remaining,” Jeong Taeui didn’t feel happy at all. On the contrary, hearing such stories from his childhood made his face burn with embarrassment.

Jeong Taeui was suddenly worried, as he seemed to have made a call last night while crying, but he couldn’t remember exactly what he had said.

“Did I happen to call—…and say anything strange?”

His uncle hummed for a moment, smiling, then chuckled and said.

‘You didn’t say much. You just cried your heart out, saying, “Please take that guy away, please, please take that guy away,” sobbing so desperately. It hurt my heart a little to hear it.’

Jeong Taeui was silent.

He had certainly been very tired, both physically and mentally, yesterday. He had sworn he would never meet that monstrous guy again, but he had run right into him. Moreover, that guy had fired an anti-tank gun, and he had almost died. And that guy had set the forest on fire, and he had almost died again. And at night, that guy, who had been rambling incomprehensible words, had just fucked him without warning, and he had almost died again. At this point, he would understand if he developed sleepwalking due to stress.

Suddenly, he felt sorry for himself.

He had lived his life never feeling sorry for himself, but how had he ended up in this situation?

“I was just… a little tired… Please understand, Uncle…”

Jeong Taeui’s voice was gloomy. His uncle laughed lowly. He seemed to see his uncle nodding slightly through the receiver.

Jeong Taeui mumbled awkwardly, then suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he asked, prefacing it with, ‘Since we’re on the subject.’

“When are you returning…?”

He couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘When is that guy leaving this place?’ with Ilay right there, so he only used key words. But even with just that, his uncle seemed to have fully grasped Jeong Taeui’s meaning. His uncle laughed and said.

‘That guy left without even properly submitting a leave request. He probably can’t stay that long. He’ll have to write a stack of reports when he gets back too. Well… maybe three or four days at most?’

Three or four days. That wasn’t such a long time.

Although he didn’t know what this man would do to him after three or four days, this ambiguous situation wouldn’t drag on for long. Jeong Taeui felt relieved, even though it wasn’t thanks to his uncle, and said, ‘Thank you, Uncle,’ bowing deeply. Then, as he was about to talk about Ilay, something suddenly came to mind, and his expression changed completely.

“Uncle. Has Moro returned there?”

‘Moro? Ah, yes. He’s back. He said he went to Germany during his vacation and saw a truly beautiful child, and he was ecstatic.’

“…What do you mean, ‘saw’? He took it.”

By selling me out.

Suddenly, that thought made his blood boil. He had intended to find his brother and leave once his ankle healed, but putting aside his brother whose whereabouts were unknown, he even thought of going back to the UNHRDO Asia branch—since he was already caught by Ilay, what else could be scarier?—and finishing that guy off.

His uncle laughed aloud. His uncle also knew that Moro wouldn’t be satisfied with just ‘seeing’ that ‘truly beautiful child.’

“Please raid his room and confiscate his weapons.”

‘Ahaha, it’s probably too late already.’

Jeong Taeui was frustrated but had no choice but to agree with his uncle’s words. The first thing Moro, who had bolted to Hong Kong before Jeong Taeui returned to this house, would have done was probably to hide his “beauties.”

A groan escaped him involuntarily. The next time he saw that guy, he would definitely not let him off easy. He would find a truly rare and beautiful firearm, disassemble it piece by piece right in front of him. And he would flush all those disassembled pieces down the toilet. Right in front of him. Jeong Taeui recalled and imprinted an effective revenge method in his mind.

‘But you, too… you haven’t been gone that long, and you got caught so quickly.’

Suddenly, his uncle clicked his tongue over the phone. Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. Right beside him, Ilay was staring intently at him. Jeong Taeui silently met his gaze and muttered to his uncle.

“Tell me about it…”

He added, muttering, That’s why I hold a grudge against Moro.

‘But unexpectedly…’

His uncle was about to say something but stopped midway. Jeong Taeui tilted his head. His uncle paused, seemingly wondering whether to say the rest.

Jeong Taeui, examining the context of the conversation, suddenly thought of something and sighed.

“Unexpectedly, I seem to be fine, don’t I…?”

‘Ahaha. You’re quick-witted.’

Jeong Taeui silently nodded, neither affirming nor denying. Though his uncle couldn’t see it, he nodded to himself, inwardly wondering the same thing.

It was an unexpected situation.

Jeong Taeui had certainly thought that if he met Ilay Riegrow again, he would either die on the spot or face a situation equivalent to death. And that thought had persisted until their eyes met in that forest, amidst those flames.

“…….”

He didn’t know. What this man was thinking.

Jeong Taeui quietly inhaled. He had no choice but to watch how the situation unfolded. Worrying about something for which there was no way to predict or prepare was worse than not worrying at all.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Ilay. He was drinking the black tea Rita had brought him, quietly looking at Jeong Taeui. He hadn’t taken his eyes off him since earlier.

From UNHRDO onwards, Jeong Taeui had never been able to understand him. Sometimes he thought he understood him, but he always went beyond the realm of understanding at crucial points.

As Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly and spoke, his uncle was silent for a moment. Is he disappointed that he couldn’t find his brother? No way, that couldn’t be it, Jeong Taeui waited for his uncle’s next words. His uncle finally opened his mouth slowly, delivering unexpected news.

‘A clue has been found regarding where Jae-ui is—or might be.’

“…Oh, really? Where?”

Jeong Taeui’s eyes widened.

It was his brother, whom he hadn’t been able to find all this time. While it was natural that Jeong Taeui, who wandered aimlessly, couldn’t find him, even his uncle, who oversaw all sorts of intelligence agencies, had said it was difficult to find even a single clue. But now, a clue had finally been found. Jeong Taeui involuntarily pressed the receiver closer to his ear. It wouldn’t make the words clearer, but his heart suddenly became anxious. Even though it was just a single clue, his heart was already racing to the place where his brother might be.

His uncle was silent again for a moment. But this silence wasn’t very long. With a slight laugh, his uncle said.

‘It’s better to ask Kyle about that than me. He’s the one who found it.’

“Kyle…”

Jeong Taeui turned his head to the person sitting diagonally next to him. The man, surprised that his name was mentioned, also looked at Jeong Taeui.

‘Yes, you didn’t know. Well, even if he’s his brother, it’s not the kind of information one would casually mention without being asked.’

His uncle laughed.

Jeong Taeui stared intently at Kyle. Kyle knew. Where his brother was.

“Then…”

‘Regarding that, you should decide your own path. Now that a clue has been found, UNHRDO will probably devise their own methods to find him. …But if you plan to go find him, please contact me from time to time.’

His uncle spoke as if joking, then ended the call. Jeong Taeui exchanged brief greetings with his uncle and then handed the disconnected phone back to Kyle. And he stared intently at Kyle. Kyle calmly took the phone, looking at Jeong Taeui with a puzzled expression. When Jeong Taeui didn’t speak first even after a little more waiting, he smiled and spoke first.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

“…Jaeui hyung.”

Jeong Taeui spoke briefly. At the mention of that name, Kyle was silent for a moment. And after staring intently at Jeong Taeui, he nodded, as if he roughly understood what kind of conversation he had had with his uncle. Kyle seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly asked Jeong Taeui, as if something had occurred to him.

“Come to think of it, the person you were looking for, was it Jeong Jaeui?”

Jeong Taeui nodded. The person I was looking for was my brother, and the person I had to run away from was your brother, he muttered inwardly, knowing Ilay already knew.

I see, Kyle slowly nodded. He seemed lost in thought. Then Ilay, who had been listening to their conversation from the side, opened his mouth.

“What do you intend to do after finding Jeong Jaei?”

Jeong Taeui frowned at Ilay’s question.

“What reason is there to find my brother? He’s my brother, and I haven’t seen him in a long time, so I miss him and I’m going to find him.”

“Hmm… So, you’re going to find Jeong Jaei?”

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. And he looked at Ilay for a moment.

“Then, will you interfere?”

Jeong Taeui’s voice lowered slightly. Ilay stared intently at Jeong Taeui.

If he were to interfere.

Then Jeong Taeui was willing to fight Ilay. He knew he couldn’t win a physical fight. But whatever form the fight took, Jeong Taeui intended not to be hindered by him. Ilay seemed to have understood Jeong Taeui’s intention. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Jeong Taeui. He seemed, at a glance, displeased. Perhaps it bothered him that Jeong Taeui intended to push through with his plans, even if it meant fighting him. Or there might be some other reason for his displeasure.

Ilay opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again without a word. And then he seemed lost in thought.

“Is it a difficult place to go?”

“No. It’s not difficult. Anyone can enter that island itself.”

Kyle shook his head and said. Jeong Taeui waited for the words that would follow. Kyle tapped the table with a troubled expression and then opened his mouth.

“That island has always been a place where Arab royalty and wealthy people built villas and occasionally used them, but by custom, like their mansions, there seem to be parts where outsiders cannot set foot. Moreover, it’s quite secluded, so external affairs cannot be known from the outside.”

“…Jaeui hyung is inside there?”

“Well… that’s not certain. But there was talk that it’s possible. It’s the only clue we have right now.”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head with a bewildered expression. He thought for a long time but still couldn’t understand. So he looked up and asked suspiciously.

“Why would my brother be in an Arab royal or wealthy person’s villa?”

Then Kyle fell silent.

He was someone who would say if he didn’t know, so he seemed to have some idea. It didn’t seem like he was going to avoid talking about it altogether. He just seemed to be choosing his words, wondering how best to bring it up.

“It seems to be related to an internal power struggle within an Arab tribe… I heard that Jeong Jaeui was kidnapped and confined to ask him to develop weapons.”

When Kyle finished speaking, Jeong Taeui said nothing. He couldn’t think of anything else to ask.

If he wanted to ask, there were countless things he was curious about, but if not, those words alone were enough. In fact, nothing else mattered. As long as Jeong Jaeui was there.

“Where is that place?”

Jeong Taeui asked quietly. The place where his brother might be. His brother, whose news he hadn’t heard for months and who hadn’t contacted him, might perhaps be there.

Kyle looked at Jeong Taeui for a moment, then finally opened his mouth.

“Serengeti. It’s on the East African coast. A small island, you fly in from Dar es Salaam on a light plane.”

End of Volume 4. Continues in Volume 5.