Passion Novel - Volume 5 - Chapter 122

Jeong Taeui, whose upper body suddenly floated in the air after lying comfortably, raised his eyebrows. He was about to grumble, “Why?”

But before he could speak, a tongue filled his mouth.

“…?!”

There was no time to say anything. With one hand cupping Jeong Taeui’s cheek and ear, and the other still gripping his collar, Ilay kissed Jeong Taeui.

More accurately, it wasn’t the cute act of “kissing.” It was as if he was rummaging through his mouth, as if to penetrate his body and swallow him whole. His tongue, teeth, and lips mercilessly probed every part of his mouth, from tongue to teeth to gums, leaving him breathless. He tried to call out Ilay’s name, but even that word was swallowed by his mouth.

“I—, wait,… breath—”

He wanted to say that he was suffocating and to move away for a moment, but not a single word came out properly.

However, he seemed to have understood his words. Perhaps it was because he had swallowed those very words himself. Just when he thought he would suffocate and pass out, at the very moment his vision was about to blacken, Jeong Taeui was thrown onto the hammock. He barely managed to catch his breath, coughing a few times, then looked up at him.

He stood still in front of the hammock, looking down at Jeong Taeui. But the moment their eyes met, Ilay seemed to frown faintly. He soon turned and walked towards the house.

“…”

Clutching his collar and steadying his breathing, Jeong Taeui stared blankly at his retreating back. He soon entered the front door and disappeared into the house.

“…?! …”

Jeong Taeui blinked, looking at the closed door, then at the sky, then at the ground. Then he looked at the closed door again. More precisely, at the trace of Ilay who had disappeared beyond it.

Jeong Taeui lowered his head and rubbed his lower lip, as if tearing at it. His fingertips were slightly wet. Saliva, already mixed and indistinguishable whose it was, clung to his hand.

It was the first time they had kissed.

To be precise, it was the first time they had simply kissed without anything else happening. Had there ever been a time when he suddenly kissed him out of the blue, while talking about something completely unrelated—or seemingly unrelated—and then just disappeared? No, he didn’t think so.

“Oh…”

A look of bewilderment slowly appeared on Jeong Taeui’s face.

—Yesterday, I was wrong. I’m sorry.

“What was that? Wasn’t that something I misheard…?”

He slowly covered his face with his hands. His hands, rubbing his jaw and mouth, were anxious. “Oh, oh dear,” meaningless words escaped his lips. This can’t be happening. He shouldn’t show any human side. ‘I’m sorry,’ that’s not something he should say. He shouldn’t show an unexpectedly human side by saying something like that.

Jeong Taeui slowly covered his face with both hands. Heat, rising from his neck, flowed over his earlobes and cheeks, spreading across his entire face. He was probably completely flushed and red.

Jeong Taeui got off the hammock. And ran to the pool, plunging his face headfirst into the water. The cold water enveloped his face, head, and neck.

Gurgle, gurgle, his breath bubbled up to the surface. But he wasn’t out of breath. Not as much as before. Even after submerging his face in the cold water for a long time, his face hardly cooled down. It felt like the pool water itself might get hot.

This can’t be happening.

“…Phew—!”

He pulled his face out of the water just before he ran out of breath. But his face was still hot, so he rubbed it frantically with his hands. It felt as if a light had suddenly turned on in his head. Brightly, sparkling. Several things he hadn’t understood until now suddenly connected in a straight line. It was as if he had seen the beginning of that connection, which had been shrouded in darkness.

“That guy, surely, it can’t be, maybe, he… me…”

“…What are you doing?”

Jeong Taeui, who had been mumbling to himself blankly, suddenly looked up at the person standing tall a few steps in front of him, following the line of his shoetips. Gable, his hair wet as if he had just returned from the sea, looked refreshed and was looking down at Jeong Taeui, his eyebrow slightly raised.

“…That would be bad, wouldn’t it…” Jeong Taeui mumbled abruptly, like a lost soul. Yes, that would be a disaster. If, by any chance, the thought that had suddenly popped into Jeong Taeui’s head turned out to be true, it would truly be a disaster. Then he really couldn’t escape.

“What should I do…?”

“You don’t look well, are you alright?” Gable, hearing Jeong Taeui’s incomprehensible words, frowned slightly, then crouched down and placed a hand on Jeong Taeui’s forehead. He must have been concerned, seeing Jeong Taeui’s flushed, feverish face drenched in water.

But that didn’t matter. What was truly concerning was not that.

Jeong Taeui just rubbed his face, which refused to cool down from the sudden heat, and mumbled, “Ugh, what should I do?”

Seringe was vast. At least, it was too vast to find one person without making a big fuss about it. It might have been quite daunting if someone had just thrown him onto the island of Seringe and told him to find a person within it.

Fortunately, the island’s population was divided into three or four main villages. One of them was a commercial area that was bustling during the day but became deserted at night. In other words, there were three populated areas.

One of them was where Jeong Taeui was staying. It was near the southwestern coast, the closest area to the small plane airfield that connected to the mainland. It was also the most crowded and densely populated area. More than half of Seringe Island’s entire population could be said to live here.

Another was a small street located on the western coast, primarily inhabited by indigenous people. Agriculture and fishing were their main sources of income, and younger people often went to other areas to work, returning home occasionally on holidays. It was also a place with poor security that outsiders avoided, but there were mostly petty thefts and pickpocketing, with almost no life-threatening crimes.

And finally, the last one. It was located along the southeastern coast. Its ocean color and the scenery of its underwater coral reefs were famous for their beauty, making it a lesser-known but arguably second-to-none scuba diving spot.

However, not many people had seen that beautiful scenery. This was because most of the beaches in this area were private, and not just anyone could enter freely. The magnificent villas lining the beachfront were also similar; their towering walls, impenetrable to any thought of climbing, had guards standing at every entrance.

These were villas owned by wealthy Arabs and Europeans. Of course, it wasn’t impossible to set foot in the area itself.

Anyone was free to walk the roads. However, the only place one could freely walk in that area was the roads themselves. There were no shops or restaurants. Just wide roads with high walls lining both sides.

‘Aren’t there parks or resorts… or even horse riding stables for the rich?’ Jeong Taeui had asked, bewildered, and the answer he received was this:

‘Everything is contained within the villa walls, so there’s no need to come out.’

He remembered being speechless for a moment at Gable’s calm reply. Jeong Taeui sat in the hammock, sucking on a mango, and looked at the map of the southeastern region he had obtained from Gable. He looked at it until he had memorized it.

But in fact, he didn’t need to memorize it so diligently. The map wasn’t serving its purpose as a map. The drawing on it merely showed individual houses in partitioned sections and long, branching lines representing roads between them.

Neatly divided into sections, only houses, houses, houses.

“What kind of map is this? Do they sell something like this for money?… Gasp, 3,000 shillings?! What thieves!”

Jeong Taeui flipped to the back of the map and was horrified to see “3000Tsh.” stuck on it like a sticker. Considering the cost of living in this country, and the content of this map, which was hardly a map, it was an exorbitant price.

“There’s nothing we can do. It’s an item that people rarely look for, so we should be grateful that map was even printed. Besides, that company has gone bankrupt now, so it’s not even being produced anymore.”

Splash, followed by Gable’s voice. Gable, who had been swimming laps in the not-so-large pool or staying in it for a long time, hearing Jeong Taeui, who had been staring blankly at the map, suddenly come to his senses and shout, “Did you drown?”, emerged from the pool with a refreshed look. He roughly wiped only the upper half of his body, which was dripping wet, and walked barefoot on the grass to sit on the bench.

It was a leisurely afternoon.

This was the third time today Jeong Taeui had seen Gable emerge from the pool: once at dawn, once in the morning, and now. Jeong Taeui folded the paper, which was barely a map, and said, “You really seem to like swimming.”

“Yes. …”

He answered briefly, then glanced at Jeong Taeui’s leg. He must have been about to suggest Jeong Taeui swim too, but then saw the cast on his leg and closed his mouth. Jeong Taeui, noticing his gaze, wiggled his leg and mumbled, “I’ll probably be able to take it off soon. At least before we leave Seringe. I definitely have to see that beautiful underwater world before I go.”

Jeong Taeui smiled, and Gable, for once, allowed a faint smile to appear on his gruff face. “Yes,” he replied briefly, his voice tinged with amusement.

He stood up, feeling light and dry, and gave Jeong Taeui a slight bow before walking towards the house. Then, he suddenly paused at the entrance and turned around.

“Taei.”

“Huh?”

Jeong Taeui, whose gaze had been captivated by his smile for a while, replied distractedly when he called his name. He quickly corrected himself to a proper “Yes.”

Gable remained silent for a moment, then let out a quiet sigh and said briefly, “Even if it looks peaceful, it’s not as safe as you might think, so don’t wander off on your own.”

Jeong Taeui looked at Gable. He met his steady gaze, then, after a moment, smiled and nodded.

“Thank you for worrying.”

“You’re welcome.”

Gable replied gruffly, yet not coldly, then turned and entered the house.

A bit disappointing. I was hoping he’d smile again.

It was rare for someone with such a bleak and cold demeanor to change so much with a single smile, and even rarer to see someone capable of such a genuinely joyful and gentle smile. It would be nice if he smiled more often.

However, after staying here for a few days, Jeong Taeui realized when this man, Gable, primarily smiled happily. It was mostly when talking about water or the sea. He loved water so much that it was as if he had been a fish in a previous life; if he wasn’t seen in the house, he was either out on an errand or at the sea.

“Come to think of it, they say the sea here is so beautiful,” Jeong Taeui had asked him once, and Gable had instantly dropped his indifferent expression, smiling faintly. He then told Jeong Taeui that the particularly beautiful beaches on this island were mostly private and inaccessible to outsiders, but he knew of a wonderful hidden spot. He then promised to guide Jeong Taeui there once his cast was off.

“…”

Come to think of it, Ilay’s narrowed gaze beside him had seemed unusual when he was talking about that. Jeong Taeui chewed on the map, thinking. Damn it. My face is going to turn red again.

Jeong Taeui fanned himself frantically with the map.

After returning from his outing in the morning, Ilay had holed up in his room. Even though it was a five-week vacation, it wasn’t a proper one—which was natural, considering who would actually give him real sick leave—and work was constantly arriving via fax. When the fax was quiet, his email inbox seemed to be overflowing.

But surprisingly, that ominous, evil spirit actually handled his assigned tasks properly. He wasn’t a completely useless scoundrel. At least, professionally. In fact, Jeong Taeui knew that he handled work very efficiently and without unnecessary fuss. It was something he had keenly felt while serving as his adjutant. If only his personality were a bit more human, he would be a very useful person to the world.

However, thinking that, Jeong Taeui fanned his face frantically again.

“Oh, I’m in trouble, I’m in trouble…”

Jeong Taeui muttered to himself, then abruptly stood up. Rather than sitting still and thinking useless thoughts, it seemed better to just take a walk.

He glanced back at the house. Occasionally, there were signs of people moving, but no gaze was directed outside. Jeong Taeui quickly stepped out the main gate. Whenever Jeong Taeui tried to go out into the garden, Ilay would invariably frown and say, “Don’t wander off on your own.”

But he couldn’t be confined forever, nor did he intend to stay quietly inside the house. Moreover, above all, Jeong Taeui liked this street.

Stepping out of the wooden gate, the exotic street unfolded before his eyes. On both sides of the wide, unpaved alley, where no cars passed, stretched continuous mud or stone walls, and within them, houses of unfamiliar architecture were nestled one by one.

As he walked along the unorganized, maze-like path, he occasionally felt the gaze of passersby, and Jeong Taeui met their curious glances with an indifferent smile.

If he went far to the right along this path, the alley would widen into a large market street. If he went left, short trees would appear sporadically along the dirt path, and then the path would open up to a sandy beach.

“Which way should I go…”

His feet hesitated for a moment, then, recalling the cold face that had told him not to wander off, he grumbled and turned left. It was the same path he had walked that morning, though only halfway.

In the morning, he had gone to the southeastern coastal area, where the magnates’ villas were located. He had turned into an alley leading to a road in the middle of this path, then taken a waiting car and driven for about 40 minutes.

After enjoying the relaxed and leisurely atmosphere of the street from the car window, they arrived at a place with a different atmosphere from the paths Jeong Taeui had traveled so far.

It was as if a piece of an Islamic city had been cut out and brought there. No, only the luxurious houses from that city.

Thinking about it now, it was exactly like the map.

There was nothing but houses along the road. Even those houses had high walls that prevented anyone from looking inside. Only the turret-like structures protruding from each corner of the houses beyond the walls were visible. Moreover, there were few people walking around on the streets.

It was a place where time seemed to have stopped in silence.

‘This way… I can’t even sneak in.’

Jeong Taeui muttered, and Ilay glanced at him. Feeling his gaze, Jeong Taeui shrugged and added, ‘If necessary, I was planning to climb over the walls of each house and peek in to see if Hyung was there.’

‘Don’t. If you get caught, it’ll be a headache. What kind of people are Muslims?’

Ilay spoke decisively. Jeong Taeui briefly searched his memory. Though he hadn’t had long conversations or formed close friendships, there had been a man from the Middle East on another team when he was at UNHRDO. But he didn’t seem particularly different. Aside from religious peculiarities like praying at designated times according to their law or observing Ramadan, he was an ordinary man who smiled easily, ran well, and was easy to communicate with. At least, he didn’t seem like someone who would immediately try to behead him for getting caught sneaking in.

Ilay clicked his tongue, as if he could read Jeong Taeui’s thoughts.

‘Those guys have very distinct areas where they are flexible and where they are not.’

‘So, sneaking in is one of the inflexible areas, I guess.’

‘Yes.’

Ilay cut him off. “Really…?” Jeong Taeui scratched his neck. He tilted his head, thinking they seemed quite generous and flexible.

‘Their laws, of course, and matters related to responsibility and rights should not be touched.’

Gable, who was sitting in the passenger seat, interjected into their conversation.

‘Responsibility and rights…’

‘In other words, it should be duty and responsibility, and rights. If duty is the law they must uphold, responsibility is their family and friends whom they must protect, and rights are their personal dignity. If you sneak in, there’s a possibility of violating the aspect of responsibility.’

Jeong Taeui thought that laws, or values, family and friends, and personal dignity were areas that shouldn’t be touched even by non-Muslims, but he didn’t say it aloud. However, Gable seemed to have noticed even his expression through the rearview mirror.

‘It varies depending on the case and situation, but the reaction can be very violent. Moreover, anyone who owns a villa here would possess both wealth and power, so it would be best not to provoke them.’

“Ah-ha,” Jeong Taeui finally understood. Indeed, he knew how troublesome a violent reaction could sometimes be. He also knew how dangerous it was to provoke someone who possessed both money and power. Without looking far, there was such a person sitting right next to Jeong Taeui.

“But if I could jump over that wall, I’d really like to see what’s inside.”

Hearing Ilay’s calm voice, Jeong Taeui followed his gaze. To exaggerate a little, a wall so high that even birds couldn’t cross it surrounded the place like an iron fortress.

“That’s why I said I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t,” Jeong Taeui mumbled sullenly. Ilay glanced at his sulking face and chuckled.

He had come to look around the place, hoping to hear news of his brother if he was lucky. But now that he was here, it felt bleak.

There were hardly any people walking around the streets. Only cars passed by. When the grand gates of the palace-like villas opened, cars, not people, emerged. Moreover, they were all darkly tinted, so he couldn’t see inside.

‘In movies, it’s common, isn’t it? Like, you grab a servant who’s out shopping and bribe or threaten them to get information.’

‘Delivery trucks go in every morning, so if you can hitch a ride on one of them, try to get in.’

Ilay’s voice, as usual, calmly replied to Jeong Taeui’s words. Jeong Taeui stared at him with wide eyes.

‘Do you even intend to look for him?’

‘If he were someone who could be found by simply looking, Gable wouldn’t have had such a hard time tracking him down.’

I wish I could punch that lazily mumbling neck… Jeong Taeui thought regretfully, yet sighed. His words were right. If it were a situation where any attempt would work, countless people wouldn’t have been helpless until now.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue. That was why he had come here. He had come relying solely on luck. Fortune, that was all he could hope for.

But as for luck or fortune, Jeong Taeui wasn’t the one who had it. It was Jeong Jaeui. Unless Jeong Jaeui wished it, Jeong Taeui wouldn’t be able to meet him, even if he entered the master bedroom of that villa, let alone Seringe.

Jeong Taeui sighed and scratched his head. Beside him, Ilay—showing no particular enthusiasm for the search—spoke casually.

“Just relax for five weeks and then go back.”

“You might be able to relax for five weeks on vacation and then go back, but I didn’t come here for a vacation. I came here because I wanted to meet my brother…!”

Jeong Taeui suddenly burst out, stopping in his tracks.

Two women walking ahead of him flinched and slowed down. Clutching the ends of their hijabs, they looked at Jeong Taeui with wary eyes. A strange foreigner suddenly stopping in the alley and throwing a tantrum made them feel uneasy to pass by.

Seeing them whispering to each other, Jeong Taeui felt awkward. There was no way to convince them that he genuinely had no intention of threatening them, not even a tiny bit, and it seemed unlikely they would believe him. After all, a foreigner was both a source of curiosity and suspicion.

Their eyes met. The women stopped completely. It became even more awkward.

If Jeong Taeui took a step, they would flinch and back away, and turning around to go home would be ridiculous. Since they couldn’t communicate, he couldn’t reassure them by saying, “I’m just passing by.” (Even if he said that, they wouldn’t believe him, having already marked him as suspicious.)

What should I do? Should I just dash past them? But I feel like screams would erupt the moment I run. Should I just go home?—If Ilay found out about this, he’d burst out laughing and say, ‘I told you not to go out on your own,’ damn it.

After intensely deliberating for a short time, Jeong Taeui, who generally tried to be gentle with women, decided to go home and save his neighborhood stroll for later. Just as he was about to turn around.

“If you’re going to the beach, this path also leads there.”

A hesitant, unfamiliar voice with broken English came from a narrow alley to the side. He turned his gaze in that direction and saw a Black boy he hadn’t seen before. He looked three or four years older than the Black girl who helped with housework at the house.

“Ah, right. Thank you.”

Jeong Taeui greeted him warmly and entered that alley, avoiding the women’s suspicious gazes. The stinging gaze on the back of his head was obscured by the stone wall. Soon, he felt their hesitant but quick footsteps pass by behind him. When he glanced back a moment later, they were already far away.