Passion Novel - Chapter 138

Jeong Taeui, who had joked about it and then briefly imagined it, quickly shook his head.

Ilay, who had been looking down at Jeong Taeui, burst out laughing, as if he hadn’t expected such a remark.

“Hahaha, Jeong Jaeui and that woman? Never. That woman pours all her affection into the son she bore. Ling Huolong’s youngest son, whom he publicly declared he loves more than his own eyes. Even that old man, who is so terribly harsh that even his own family secretly curses him, is utterly devoted to that mother and son. Why else would the youngest son be called ‘young master’ when there are so many older brothers, barely countable on two hands?”

“—”

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at Ilay. Suddenly, something clicked. A faint suspicion, gnawing and squirming in his mind, suddenly struck his chest.

“That, son…”

As Jeong Taeui blurted out, the elevator arrived and the doors opened. Receiving the light from inside the elevator as a backlight, Ilay looked at Jeong Taeui. His slightly narrowed eyes seemed to lick every corner of Jeong Taeui’s face.

“You seem to have forgotten his full name, haven’t you? That kid will cry. No, he’ll probably get angry.”

“Ling—Xinlu…”

Jeong Taeui muttered, dazed. No, it truly felt as if half his mind had left him.

—Besides, that guy has a very good lineage. He’s the son of a prominent, wealthy family in the Chinese business world, known by name alone.

—Indeed, his family itself is very greedy. But I never thought he’d try to get his hands on the Goddess of Fortune.

—He was originally the son of an old, rich family, so his family would set up a company or he’d figure things out on his own, so why worry about someone richer than me?

Brief words from his uncle, Ilay, and Moro mixed together and surfaced in his memory. Xinlu. Ling Xinlu. That lovely, adorable child. He had forgotten. He had forgotten. He had completely forgotten him since meeting this man again.

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at him. He was truly dumbfounded. How could he have forgotten? How could he have lived without ever thinking about that lovely child, completely forgetting him?

“—!”

Jeong Taeui turned around. And frantically began to retrace his steps.

He hadn’t seen him for a long time. They said Xinlu had left UNHRDO right after Jeong Taeui left the island. And naturally, contact was lost after that.

Would he resent him? He had left without a word. Was that why he resented him, and that’s why he told someone to bring him? If so, he only had to say one word. That Xinlu was looking for him, then Jeong Taeui would have obediently followed.

However, as Jeong Taeui hurried back to the lobby, a strong hand from behind grabbed him and stopped him. Jeong Taeui flinched, his steps halting at the fierce grip on his shoulder. He looked back anxiously to see Ilay holding him with an indifferent expression.

“That guy’s probably already gone to the hospital or somewhere, and even if he’s still there, he’s not in a state to take you to the Ling family.”

“Where is that?”

Jeong Taeui immediately asked back. But no answer came. Instead, only a cold gaze. After a slight pause, a slow voice came.

“Going?”

“…”

Jeong Taeui didn’t answer. And slowly, under that cold gaze, he recalled reality. The emotions that had momentarily overwhelmed his mind gradually subsided.

If he went. If he met Xinlu again. Would anything have changed? It didn’t seem likely. Xinlu would still be the Xinlu Jeong Taeui knew, and Jeong Taeui himself would be the same. So, ultimately, nothing would change.

But he felt like he had something to say. Something he hadn’t said yet, something left unsaid. What was it? Jeong Taeui thought, silently meeting Ilay’s gaze. Suddenly, he thought he heard Ilay click his tongue briefly.

“Honestly… He loses his mind the moment he hears a name. Jeong Taei. Let me tell you something. I guarantee you, if you go into that family, you’ll never come out. Not until you’re a corpse.”

The hand gripping Jeong Taeui’s shoulder seemed to loosen slightly, then those neat fingers slowly tapped his shoulder. As if coaxing a disobedient child.

“I can’t not meet him.”

He had to meet him once. And he had to say something. Staying in this ambiguous state like this wouldn’t do. Even if decades passed, human relationships were like that. If they weren’t concluded in some way, the situation would continue indefinitely.

Suddenly, the hand tapping Jeong Taeui’s shoulder stopped. Ilay’s gaze also halted.

“Right…”

Ilay released Jeong Taeui’s shoulder. And with a light sigh, he stepped back slightly. He shrugged lightly, as if to say, Well, nothing I can do about it.

“I guess I’ve been living a bit frantically these past few days, so my head’s cleared up a bit. Spouting useless words.”

He clicked his tongue once, “Tsk.” And with a somewhat regretful expression—yet in an utterly cold tone—he said,

“To put it simply: you can’t go.”

You can’t go, those were his last words.

He seemed to have said a few more things after that, but Jeong Taeui couldn’t understand. He only barely understood that Ilay’s fist had plunged into the center of his abdomen, and that was several seconds after he felt the pain.

“—”

No words came out. Vomit surged up from his stomach. Jeong Taeui instinctively covered his mouth and collapsed on the spot, and Ilay lightly supported him with one arm.

His vision went black. A ringing echoed in his ears, and his back was drenched in cold sweat. He felt as if all his internal organs had shattered into pieces.

If he lost consciousness now, he would surely die and never open his eyes again. Jeong Taeui, half-unconscious, stared blankly at the swaying ground before his eyes, as if looking at a slide projected through a hole in a blackout curtain. While Ilay carried Jeong Taeui over his shoulder and returned to the elevator, Jeong Taeui couldn’t move a single finger.

It hurt terribly. No, it was beyond the sensation of pain. This was truly a feeling that made death palpable.

It was only when he felt the heavy sensation of the elevator starting to ascend to the room that Jeong Taeui could barely move his lips.

“That guy earlier… he really got the short end of the stick…”

He felt somewhat amused saying this, even though he himself had just been hit, but that thought was the first to come to his mind. He’d rather die in one blow.

Jeong Taeui relaxed his body and slumped. It hurt more than running on a broken ankle. He wished he could faint to make it easier, but even that wasn’t within his control. Sway, sway, slumped over Ilay’s shoulder, he muttered inwardly, This guy’s a monster. A monster…

When Jeong Taeui finally regained some consciousness and felt he could move a little, he was in front of his room. Ilay casually put his hand into Jeong Taeui’s pocket, who was still clutching his bruised stomach, rummaged for the card key, opened the room door, and entered.

Jeong Taeui pressed his throbbing stomach with one hand as he slowly followed him in. Then he went to the bed and simply collapsed onto it.

Ilay, oblivious to Jeong Taeui’s presence, went to the window, took off his suit jacket, and hung it on the back of a chair. He then loosened his tie and draped it over the jacket. He walked past the slumped Jeong Taeui to the mini-bar and took out a beer.

“…”

When he tried to move, his stomach throbbed like muscle pain, but if he lay still, it was fine. Jeong Taeui decided to remain still for a while.

By the way, he was strangely silent. He wasn’t usually very talkative, but in situations like this, he would usually throw in a word or two. What was he thinking about, remaining so silent?

Jeong Taeui rolled his eyes around, then slowly lifted his head. And lightly rubbed his stomach. Damn it, he hit me pretty hard. He must have thought that if he just told him to stay put, considering his situation, he wouldn’t understand, so he personally resorted to punching him.

Jeong Taeui glared fiercely at the back of Ilay’s head, who was holding a beer can and looking out the window. Meanwhile, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad for himself, as he didn’t forget to subtly watch out for the moment the guy might suddenly turn around.

It was then. Ilay, who seemed to have quickly emptied the beer can and placed it on the windowsill, suddenly kicked the chair next to it. CRASH!—With a furious sound, the large wooden chair flew through the air and crashed into the desk. The mirror on the wall directly behind the desk shattered into countless pieces.

Jeong Taeui, who had been rubbing his stomach on the bed, froze, his eyes wide.

Ilay’s expression as he turned from the window was no different from usual. Indifferent, and somewhat languid. He walked towards the broken mirror and the chair lying on the floor, then stomped on the chair frame as if striking it. Crack, the thick wooden frame broke like a rotten branch. Crunch, crunch, the sound of mirror pieces clashing was heard. Jeong Taeui raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had seen this man’s abnormal behavior countless times. No, his very existence was abnormal. Hadn’t he just beaten someone like a butcher a moment ago? If he could beat a person like that, what was so great about breaking some objects?

But Jeong Taeui had never seen Ilay unleash violence on objects like that, as if taking out his anger, without a specific purpose—for instance, breaking a table leg to hit someone with it, or pressing someone who attacked him with a weapon under a table.

If he at least broke objects out of anger, that would be more human, but he wasn’t the type to do that. If he got angry, Ilay was the kind of person who would simply kill the source of his anger on the spot.

“…”

He seemed to be in a good mood just a moment ago, so why is he suddenly kicking things around?

Jeong Taeui sighed, glaring at Ilay with a strange expression, who, despite creating menacing sounds, showed no change in his usual demeanor.

“Why are you taking out your anger on objects? It doesn’t suit you.”

Jeong Taeui realized his mistake only after muttering to himself. It was a remark that could easily be misunderstood. No, I definitely didn’t mean for you to take it out on me, he quickly added.

But then again, what did this guy have to be angry about? Jeong Taeui hadn’t even tried to escape and find Xinlu. In fact, just a moment ago, even without the punching, if he had just used words—since he wasn’t confident he could win anyway—he would have had no choice but to obey him.

It seemed that his sudden change of mood was because Jeong Taeui had said he wanted to meet Xinlu. That meant he didn’t like Jeong Taeui meeting Xinlu. If so, the reason was that he liked Jeong Taeui or Xinlu…

Jeong Taeui stared blankly into space, lost in thought for a moment, then came up with the simplest hypothesis. But as soon as he thought of it, he immediately shook his head vigorously.

No, that couldn’t be. That was absolutely not it. He wasn’t the kind of person to have such human emotions. Moreover, that emotion was the kind most distant from this man’s true nature among the countless human emotions. It would be easier to understand if you linked a goldfish with space shuttle development.

If so, then there must be some reason why he shouldn’t meet Xinlu. What could it be? Or if not that…

“Ah.”

Jeong Taeui, who had been racking his brain, arrived at a very simple and easy-to-understand conclusion.

Perhaps he meant that he shouldn’t even contradict him. If he was annoyed because Jeong Taeui wanted to go back to the lobby when he told him to go to the room, then yes, that would make perfect sense.

That guy’s temper, Jeong Taeui grumbled. Ilay, who had been standing on the broken mirror pieces, staring blankly down at Jeong Taeui, suddenly spoke.

“Doesn’t suit me…? Haha, does it not suit me to do this? Then what does suit me?”

He muttered in a voice that was half-laughing, half-not, then slowly took a step. One step, two steps, approaching the bed where Jeong Taeui was sitting. Jeong Taeui inwardly clicked his tongue. Damn it, I stepped on it. I gave him an opening.

“Perfect timing. I need to ask you something. I, too, haven’t known what suits me lately. I’ve been quite confused recently. I never had that before, but lately, what this says… and what this says… are different.”

His index finger, which had been touching his head, moved down to his heart. Ilay paused his hand on his chest for a moment, smiling as if troubled. Perhaps he truly was troubled. That subtle smile vanished the moment he stopped in front of Jeong Taeui. And with an expressionless, doll-like, indifferent face, he stared intently down at Jeong Taeui.

“Taei. You sometimes do incredibly foolish things, but you’re quite intelligent. So let me ask you one thing. The counsel of the head and the counsel of the heart. Which is right?”

“…”

Ilay’s face was right in front of him. Bending at the waist, he leaned over Jeong Taeui’s head, whispering quietly and stroking Jeong Taeui’s neck. That hand, which had been soaked in blood just moments before, was incredibly smooth.

Jeong Taeui frowned.