Passion Novel - Volume 5 - Chapter 120

Jeong Taeui sighed. The moment he pulled back the covers to get out of bed, the man, whose light sleep sometimes made him doubt if he was truly asleep, opened his eyes. Clear eyes, completely devoid of sleepiness, looked at Jeong Taeui. It was always like this. This man, even if he had just woken up from a deep sleep, always had cold, clear eyes.

“What time is it?”

“5:30.”

When Jeong Taeui answered, glancing at the clock, Ilay closed his eyes again and mumbled, “Sleep more.”

“No, I’m wide awake.”

Jeong Taeui got out of bed. Ilay opened his eyes again. He watched Jeong Taeui put on his clothes, then reached out from under the covers and fumbled for something on the bedside table. He picked up the water glass that Jeong Taeui had left more than half empty and drained it in one go.

Ilay sat up and looked at the clock again. Then, as if remembering something, he said, “Come to think of it, Hyung called last night. He asked me to send his regards.”

“Kyle? Hmm… I’ll have to call him later.” Jeong Taeui mumbled, putting his arm into his T-shirt. Then, he suddenly thought, Huh?

He felt strangely calm. Yesterday, Ilay had clearly left radiating murderous intent, and Jeong Taeui had been filled with resentment and utterly depressed.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Ilay. His indifferent expression was no different from usual. As if nothing had happened, he got up and went into the bathroom. Ilay seemed to be getting up too. The sound of water running could be heard. Jeong Taeui sighed and shrugged, thinking vaguely, He’s using my shampoo and my soap again, then quietly left the room.

He felt a bit drained. Ultimately, whether he was angry or depressed, it didn’t matter much to Ilay. Seeing his calm demeanor, Jeong Taeui himself felt drained.

Yeah, that’s how human relationships are. Can only good things accumulate between people? …Though with that guy, good things have been almost non-existent.

Jeong Taeui sighed and went downstairs. The light was on in the office, so the proprietress seemed to be awake already. As he headed for the front door, he passed the office, separated by a glass door. She was preparing to start her day, opening a locked drawer and taking out notebooks. When she saw Jeong Taeui, she smiled brightly. “You’re up early,” she greeted him, and they exchanged a few words.

She wasn’t the only one awake. The sound of a door opening and closing came from further down the corridor. And then, footsteps followed, walking towards the bathroom further inside—the rooms on the first floor didn’t seem to have their own bathrooms. Gable seemed to be awake already too.

My, what diligent people, Jeong Taeui thought to himself as he opened the front door and stepped out.

The day was hazy and overcast. It wasn’t very dark, but the absence of the sun suggested there might be fog. Dew-laden grass brushed against his shoes, dampening the tips. Jeong Taeui enjoyed the rustling sound of the grass underfoot as he stepped into the garden. A quiet, pleasant dawn stillness hung in the air. Somewhere in the distance, a faint creak of a gate hinge echoed. Was it the sound of a family’s eldest son heading to work in the early morning?

Jeong Taeui approached the hammock strung between the fruit trees. The hammock, loosely woven from thin straw, looked fragile enough to break at any moment, but it was surprisingly sturdy; it didn’t budge even when Jeong Taeui climbed onto it and lay down. However, at this hour, it was damp with dew from the night, thoroughly soaking his bottom.

“Oops,” he muttered, patting his damp trouser seat, but it was too late. Jeong Taeui resigned himself, thinking, Since it’s already wet, and sat back on the hammock, picking up a fruit that had fallen at his feet. It was a ripe, soft mango. After thoroughly kneading it with both hands, he bit off one end and sucked out the pulp, swinging the hammock like a rocking chair.

It was a tranquil and quiet dawn. Inside the house, occasional sounds of people stirring could be heard, but in the garden, Jeong Taeui was alone in the peaceful stillness.

Suddenly, he felt good. In this peaceful yet unpredictable new place, a new day was beginning.

Jeong Taeui lay down on the hammock. His bottom, back, waist, and head were all damp, but he didn’t mind. In front of him was the hazy dawn sky.

As he hummed softly, feeling pleasant, footsteps approached from the path outside the gate. The sound stopped in front of the house’s door. Creak, the old wooden door opened with a non-jarring hinge sound. And through the gap, a familiar girl entered. It was the Black girl who worked at the house, whose eyes he had met when he looked down at the garden from the second floor last night.

She seemed to have run, breathing lightly and quickly as she entered. When her eyes met Jeong Taeui, who was lying in the hammock with a mango in his mouth, she stopped abruptly, startled. Shyness quickly appeared in her eyes.

Jeong Taeui sat up. The small girl looked around hesitantly, and Jeong Taeui, finding her cute, smiled and gestured to her. He wondered if she would flinch and run back into the house, but though startled, she hesitated and slowly approached Jeong Taeui. However, she stopped a few steps away. When he gestured for her to come closer, she took one more step and stopped again.

Her fresh eyes, cautious and shy yet not averse to him, were as lovely as a younger sibling’s. Jeong Taeui picked up a ripe mango that had fallen nearby, wiped the dirt off on his trousers, and lightly tossed it to her. The girl flinched but caught the mango.

“You came early,” Jeong Taeui said. But the girl seemed not to understand. Jeong Taeui thought, This is awkward.

“Is your house close? House.”

He spoke again, this time a little slower. This time, she seemed to understand. No, more accurately, she seemed to have understood at least one simple word from what Jeong Taeui said. The girl mumbled “house” and pointed vaguely beyond the distant wall. Her house seemed to be somewhere in that direction. Jeong Taeui chuckled and spoke again.

“Did you eat breakfast? Breakfast. Food.”

However, this time, she seemed not to understand, tilting her head. Jeong Taeui then mimed eating. The girl’s face brightened, and she nodded.

Is this what it feels like to have a younger sibling?

Jeong Taeui, who had only one older brother, looked warmly at the girl, who seemed to be at least a full cycle younger than him, and spoke a few more words. Even without a common language, simple communication could be conveyed through gestures.

The girl, who had been shyly watching Jeong Taeui, gradually broke into a more familiar smile. Jeong Taeui smiled back. Children were good for this reason. Their true feelings were transparent, making them easy to deal with.

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to say a few more words, the front door opened. The person slowly walking out was Gable. He saw Jeong Taeui and the girl in a corner of the garden, paused in silence for a moment, then quietly said something to the girl. Jeong Taeui couldn’t understand it, but the girl could. The girl chattered something with a smiling face, then waved lightly to Jeong Taeui and quickly ran into the house.

Gable, who passed the girl as she entered the house and came outside, stood for a moment in front of the entrance, then slowly walked down into the garden. Jeong Taeui, holding a wrinkled mango in one hand, its contents all sucked out, asked Gable, who was approaching him and then sat on a built-in wooden bench next to the pool, instead of a greeting:

“Would you like one?”

Gable shook his head. “Ah, yes,” Jeong Taeui mumbled, and continued sucking the wrinkled mango.

Silence fell.

Jeong Taeui was not one to find silence difficult or awkward with anyone, but at this moment, it felt as if a needle cushion had been placed under the single layer of the hammock. With the mango, now completely empty, still in his mouth, Jeong Taeui glanced at Gable. He could only see a profile, but that was enough to gauge his expression.

Just as he had seen yesterday, he was gruff and expressionless. However, his face wasn’t overly rigid. A moment ago, when he spoke to the girl, a faint smile had briefly appeared on his face, making him look quite gentle. In fact, even when he had seen him smile briefly yesterday, it was surprising, or perhaps unexpected. Few people’s faces change so much with just one expression.

If he smiled more often, it would be easier to talk to him, and he’d look much better, Jeong Taeui unconsciously blurted out the thought that had suddenly crossed his mind.

Gable glanced at Jeong Taeui. Then, after a moment of thought, he opened his mouth.

“When I smile, I often get underestimated, which is troublesome.”

“…”

No, his appearance is naturally neat, so when he smiles, he does look quite gentle, but he definitely doesn’t have an atmosphere that would make him underestimated, Jeong Taeui thought, chewing on his mango. But come to think of it, if he worked with James, this man—though his exact age was unknown—must have started working at T&R at a very young age. Perhaps he had worked there since he was a fresh-faced rookie with downy hair on his earlobes. Then there was certainly a high possibility that he had dealt with people who underestimated him because of his youth.

As Jeong Taeui thought about the sad past this man must have experienced, he nodded. Suddenly, something flew past his vision. He instinctively caught it, and it was a perfectly ripe, yellow mango. Thwack, it burst in his hand, leaving sticky juice.

“You can eat as many as you want of the fallen, ripe ones. Just throw the ones you’ve finished over there.”

Gable said gruffly. Jeong Taeui alternated his gaze between the plump mango Gable had thrown and Gable himself, then chuckled. “Thank you,” he said, and bit into the new mango.

“Rick is…” Gable suddenly opened his mouth as if to say something. However, he stopped, having uttered an ominous name. For a moment, the taste of the mango dropped. Jeong Taeui paused, the mango still in his mouth.

He remembered. Gable had seen it yesterday.

Jeong Taeui tried to avoid recalling the memory and mumbled, “He’s showering now, so he’ll probably come out of his room soon. If you need anything, you can go to my room.”

“No, I don’t particularly need anything. Just… Is he in Taei’s room?”

“Huh? Oh… yes. He says my bathroom’s shampoo and soap are fresher.”

Jeong Taeui relayed the bizarre explanation, kneading the mango. The sweet pulp oozed out.

Gable’s strange gaze fell upon him. Of course, he would be taken aback by talk of shampoo and soap freshness. But Jeong Taeui wished he would remember that it was Ilay who said it, not him.

Jeong Taeui thought he couldn’t bear to be wrongly accused and added, “Ilay said that.” Gable nodded. No more strange glances came his way, and Ilay was no longer brought up in conversation.

Yes, he’s not a very good topic of conversation.

Jeong Taeui sighed lightly, thinking of Ilay, a person about whom there was little to say besides gossip and curses. Then, he suddenly turned his head.

“Come to think of it, do you know who that Middle Eastern magnate is who might be holding Hyung captive?”

He recalled that this man had found Jeong Jaeui’s whereabouts. This man before him was the one who had unearthed the clue to Jeong Jaeui’s mysterious disappearance. And Jeong Taeui knew almost nothing about that. All he knew was that someone from the Middle East, who owned a villa on this island, seemed to be holding Jeong Jaeui captive.

He wondered if Gable was withholding information, thinking it shouldn’t be revealed to outsiders yet—even though Jeong Taeui was his biological brother, he was still an outsider to them. However, Gable opened his mouth without any apparent hesitation.

“There’s a man named Rahman Abid Al Saud. Do you know him?”

Jeong Taeui briefly searched his memory. But he quickly shook his head without needing to search long. He didn’t know anyone from the Arab world to begin with. The only times he might have heard such names were in news or newspapers, but such long and unfamiliar names were hard to remember.

“Then do you know Al Faisal?” Gable asked again, but Jeong Taeui shook his head once more. Gable then nodded and began to speak.

“Currently, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is Prince Bandar Al Fahd. He is a wise man, but his health has not been good since birth. Because of this, Prince Rashid and Prince Ali are now vying for diplomatic leadership. Prince Al Faisal is Ali’s younger brother, born of the same mother, and they are very close siblings. He withdrew from the power struggle early on and established a business…”

Gable, who had been speaking slowly, suddenly fell silent. He realized that Jeong Taeui, despite listening intently with a frown, still had a face that showed he couldn’t quite follow the lineage and power struggles.

He paused for a moment, then continued concisely.

“Al Faisal is the guardian of his deceased half-brother’s only son, who died a decade ago. That only son is the man named Rahman. He is said to be frail since birth and does not appear much in public. However, Al Faisal sometimes brings him along when he attends official and important events with his family.”

“Ah—” Jeong Taeui drew out the end of his sentence. He still didn’t quite understand, but to summarize…

“So Hyung got caught up in a sibling rivalry, is that it?”

“Strictly speaking, yes. The Middle East, both internally and externally, considers military supplies a very sensitive matter. Jeong Jaeui’s research would undoubtedly provide a significant advantage.”

“…”

Jeong Taeui took the mango out of his mouth. He had truly lost his appetite.

This is just great. His younger brother got caught up in the personnel struggles of an international organization and suffered terribly because he met the wrong person, and his older brother is now imprisoned, caught in the power struggles of a foreign royal family. What a fine sight, these two brothers side by side.

Clicking his tongue bitterly, Jeong Taeui threw the mango peel into a small, woven straw wastebasket and wiped the mango juice from his lips with his thumb.

“So, he’s being held captive in that sickly prince’s villa, is that it?”

“It’s not certain, but it’s highly probable.”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head. Even if he was kidnapped and imprisoned, there wouldn’t be a proper reason, but he didn’t know why he got caught up in such a strange situation. Come to think of it, he wasn’t much better himself.

“When I left for UNHRDO with my uncle, I never dreamed I’d run into a guy like Ilay Riegrow.”

I didn’t even know such a person existed in the world, Jeong Taeui mumbled with a sigh.

Gable quietly looked at a large fruit tree on the far side of the garden, then suddenly asked, “If you’re Jeong Jaeui’s younger brother, then Instructor Jeong Changin is your uncle, correct?”

“Ah… yes, that’s right. Do you know my uncle?”

“No. He was close with the boss, so he occasionally visited in the past, and I only saw his face. …Then, did you meet Rick at UNHRDO, or were you introduced through the boss or Instructor Jeong Changin?”

“Ah. At UNHRDO.”

UNHRDO, which countless people in the world yearned for, that was the beginning of his misfortune. Jeong Taeui looked up at the sky with distant eyes.

Come to think of it, this man was asking foolish questions. Kyle or Jeong Changin would never introduce Ilay to Jeong Taeui. If he had met him through an introduction, they would have had to be prepared to hear complaints for the rest of their lives.

Jeong Taeui thought about that, then looked at Gable. To Gable, who was nodding with an indifferent expression that revealed nothing of his thoughts, Jeong Taeui asked with a bitter smile, “You’re surprisingly curious about such things. I thought you wouldn’t be interested in other people’s affairs.”

After speaking, he realized it might have sounded sarcastic, so he quickly added, “Oh, it’s not that I’m displeased or anything.” It was simply, truly unexpected. He was so taciturn and had such an indifferent face that Jeong Taeui had thought he wouldn’t care at all how others came to know each other.

Gable remained silent with a subtle expression, then shrugged.

“My apologies. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that Rick… isn’t the type to get along well with people, so I was a bit curious.”

Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. There were too many points to address in that statement, so many that he couldn’t quickly open his mouth.

This person must be of the same ilk as Kyle. He was speaking of Ilay Riegrow in a very softened manner. He wasn’t just “not the type to get along well with people.” Moreover, for him to say that implied that Jeong Taeui seemed to get along fairly well with Ilay, and Jeong Taeui himself was simply curious as to how anyone could possibly see it that way.

…Or perhaps what he meant by “getting along well” was sexual? Considering what happened yesterday, it could have that meaning. But even if he tried to interpret it that way, it didn’t make sense. “Not the type to get along well with people”—he couldn’t imagine there was another human being in this world who was so sexually unrestrained.

Jeong Taeui seriously pondered for a long time how to interpret Gable’s brief words, but ultimately, he reached no conclusion. So, he gave up trying to understand, sighed, and opened his mouth.

“Well… he’s not that unsociable or evil.”

Muttering that, half-sincerely and half-out of politeness, Jeong Taeui reflected on his own words. It wasn’t entirely a lie. When necessary, he knew how to attract people—though his methods might have been problematic—and despite having very significant personality issues, Jeong Taeui didn’t really think he was entirely bad.

Gable nodded indifferently at Jeong Taeui’s words.

“Indeed, even a serial killer would have at least one person who would feel sorry for them when they die.”

“…”

Jeong Taeui looked at Gable with a momentarily bewildered expression. But Gable’s face was calm, as if he hadn’t even realized what he had said.

“Um… you two don’t seem to get along very well with Ilay, do you?” Jeong Taeui asked with a feigned smile, but Gable merely shrugged indifferently, as if there was nothing to like or dislike. Jeong Taeui just nodded.

He might be a more extraordinary person than he seemed.

However, apart from the context of the conversation, the statement itself wasn’t wrong. Even a serial killer reviled by the whole world, a heinous criminal or traitor, or a figure like a Nazi monster who massacred millions, even knowing all that, there would be at least one person who would pity them. Just as Jeong Jaeui would comfort Jeong Taeui, no matter what Jeong Taeui did or where he went.

But even for a man like Ilay Riegrow, knowing his cruel and brutal nature completely, there would still be at least one person who would ultimately caress him. Thinking, He’s definitely a bad guy, but I can’t hate him.

“…Hmm…?”

Jeong Taeui suddenly tilted his head. Something had just crossed his mind, a fleeting thought that felt somewhat unsettling, but what was it?

There was a thought tickling at the edge of his mind, almost grasping it, but it wouldn’t quite materialize. Jeong Taeui rubbed the frown lines on his forehead and mused, “Hmm.”

However, before he could grasp the thread of that thought, an interruption occurred.

“Are you two having a pleasant conversation?”

A low, ordinary voice approached from the entrance. Without even turning his head, Jeong Taeui knew whose voice it was, and it was getting closer.

Jeong Taeui didn’t turn his head, but only glanced with his eyes. Ilay, wearing only trousers and bare-chested, was walking slowly with his hands in his pockets. Ilay’s gaze went from Gable to Jeong Taeui, then back to Gable, before he sat down on the bench next to Gable.

“I thought I heard my name…?” Ilay said slowly. Before Jeong Taeui could say anything, Gable replied expressionlessly, “I was asking how you met. Nothing much was said.”

“Hmm, really. That’s unusual. Gable, for you to speak first, you must have quite taken a liking to him, haven’t you?”

Gable was silent. It seemed more like he was deep in thought than affirming. However, after a few seconds, as if he had reached a conclusion, Gable shook his head.

“We’ll be working together to find someone, so I just thought it would be good to know some basic things about each other. That’s all.”

Gable, emphasizing “That’s all,” paused briefly, then added, “Besides, there’s nothing strange about me being here at this hour.”

Ilay glanced at the small pool a few steps ahead, then nodded.

“Right… You still swim every morning, I see. Taei and I must have disturbed you. Don’t mind us, swim as much as you like.”

“No. You two continue your conversation. I’ll be going to the beach, which is about a 10-minute walk away, so please tell Anna if she looks for me.”

Gable readily stood up and began to walk. Following his retreating figure as he disappeared down a small path, almost hidden by bushes, that wound around the pool into the garden, not towards the main gate, Jeong Taeui vaguely thought, I guess there’s another gate there.

“He must like swimming.”

“He’s always gone into the water every morning, unless something special came up. Seems he still does.”

Ilay mumbled casually. Jeong Taeui nodded and looked towards Gable again. His figure had already vanished from sight.

“Swimming, huh… No wonder he’s so lean and well-built, he must have worked out.”

As Jeong Taeui nodded and mumbled, Ilay beside him chuckled.

“Being in the military, being in UNHRDO, there aren’t many people you’ve dealt with who haven’t worked out.”

Come to think of it, that was true. “Indeed…” Jeong Taeui agreed, then tilted his head, feeling something was amiss. After agreeing, he felt it was a bit different.

“No, not everyone who works out gets a body like that.”

Come to think of it, swimming might not necessarily help build an impressive physique. He had a friend who competed nationally in swimming, and while he was well-built, he was more burly than lean and handsome.

Jeong Taeui, lost in thought, reminiscing about his friend who enjoyed showing off his muscles, suddenly turned his head.

Ilay, sitting loosely with his arm draped over the bench back, was staring at the pool. No, more accurately, he was just casting his gaze idly, rather than looking at anything specific.