Passion Novel - Chapter 82

Ilay, who had been whispering in Jeong Taeui’s ear, laughed and subtly shifted back. Jeong Taeui, who had swung his hand gripping the key at Ilay’s temple, glared at him with dumbfounded eyes. This guy seemed to be changing his profession from a madman to a pervert. However, Ilay lightly grabbed Jeong Taeui’s wrist and stood close to him. Ilay’s thickly bulging crotch touched Jeong Taeui’s front, who had the door at his back.

“This bastard, I knew he was really bad, but… Is that what you say to someone you’ve overpowered, you son of a bitch?!”

“You’d do well to listen. There’s no man who isn’t crazy about an exquisite instrument, so I’m advising you to be careful about who you play with. It would be troublesome if you planned for a light one-night stand and ended up with a stalker, wouldn’t it, hmm?”

Ilay, who had whispered with a smile, kissed Jeong Taeui the moment he finished speaking. It might be more accurate to say he tried to swallow Jeong Taeui’s mouth. He sucked vigorously at the base of his tongue, then intimately licked from his teeth to his gums, to his lips, before pulling away. He slowly rotated his hips, which were pressed tightly against Jeong Taeui’s, before stepping back half a step.

Ilay, watching Jeong Taeui rub his mouth with the back of his hand, his face overtly displeased, licked his own lips regretfully, then lightly squeezed and released his crotch once.

“I told you not to take it so seriously. It’s just a matter of lightly satisfying desires with someone’s help. You and I have done it several times already, haven’t we?”

“That’s only when you just ‘helped out.’ I almost died with my body split in two, so what kind of desire are you talking about? Is it enough if only you satisfy yours?”

When Jeong Taeui snapped back fiercely, Ilay laughed aloud. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he said, laughing for a long time at Jeong Taeui’s face, who then threw a punch that missed, and Jeong Taeui sighed like a groan.

“If anyone wants to satisfy their desires, they can find someone else, can’t they? As you said, there are plenty of guys I know who lightly satisfy their desires with colleagues.”

Then, Ilay suddenly stopped laughing. He blinked, staring intently at Jeong Taeui as if he had heard something new he had never considered before, then tilted his head and mumbled to himself, “Yeah, you’re right about that too.”

Thinking it would be hard to find someone as self-centered as this, Jeong Taeui shooed Ilay away frantically, then went into his uncle’s room and closed the door.

He felt uneasy. That damn bastard truly had a knack for digging up forgotten grudges.

He pulled out all ten or so cans of beer from the refrigerator and chugged them down at once, feeling a slight release. Instead, his stomach was full, and he had to roll around on the floor.

***

There’s no building that doesn’t have places where people rarely go. In the military, in the academy, in high school, in middle school, and even since elementary school, Jeong Taeui had made it his hobby to find such places. He knew that if he found such places well, he could use them handily.

In elementary school, it was a clearing surrounded by bushes behind the school. He used it to play with a few like-minded friends, avoiding adults or friends who bothered him by asking about his brother. In middle school, it was between the inner shelves of the old records storage room in the library. It was great for skipping boring classes and taking naps. In high school, it was the art room in the closed annex. It was perfect for an occasional cigarette. When autumn lingered, cold winds would blow in, making it just right for stashing a few cans of beer. It was a bit difficult transitioning from the academy to the military, given his status as a cadet and then an officer, and with patrols constantly circulating, but even then, he could always find a spot. He would find a secluded corner and enjoy a leisurely rest.

He got caught a few times and suffered severe punishments, but each time he enjoyed the thrill of finding a new place. That habit followed him everywhere. Even after being discharged and returning home, Jeong Taeui would occasionally bring a chair to the back of the water tank on the rooftop and go up there to relax by himself.

So, it was no different here. As soon as he arrived at the Asia branch, Jeong Taeui explored the building, casually looking around, and had found a couple of secluded spots. This was one of them: a small emergency staircase on the west side connecting the third and second basement floors. Few people used the narrow stairs, which were barely wide enough for two people to pass side-by-side. To the extent that the very existence of the stairs seemed questionable, Jeong Taeui had never seen anyone there during his time here. Besides Jeong Taeui, there seemed to be others who occasionally loitered there, as evidenced by discarded tissue papers, but he had never directly encountered anyone.

Jeong Taeui sat on the stairs, sipping beer, and let out a satisfied “Haa!” Everything tasted like honey when he was hiding in a corner like this, while others were sweating blood and suffering.

A group of hot-headed people with flowers blooming in their minds were making a ruckus somewhere. The voices of his colleagues joining in could also be heard. It had been several days since the joint training began, and that noisy mix of exclamations and shouts could be heard everywhere, regardless of the time. On the day the South American branch members arrived at the Asia branch, a free-for-all brawl immediately erupted, as if it were an initiation ceremony. The hallway became a mess, and several pieces of equipment were damaged. However, it wasn’t the grim fight of the European training, which had seemed to carry even the light of not regretting even killing someone. If the European training was about “I’m going to kill you,” this case was about “You’re going to get it.”

On the first night, the Asia branch members and South American branch members, after a brawl, got together and had a drinking party. It was a rare sight in joint training between competing branches. Jeong Taeui thought the reason for this was about 90% due to the fact that Ilay was the instructor who stepped in to mediate the fight.

“Being an instructor is inconvenient. I have to go easy on those dog-like bastards,” Ilay had said, looking annoyed, after seeing the fight on the sixth basement floor. Then he picked up an iron pipe, wrapped his shirt around it, and muttered, “With this, even if they get hit, they won’t die instantly,” and stepped into the fight. The rest was self-explanatory.

The Asia branch members and South American branch members, who had been fighting each other by their collars, saw Ilay’s demonic figure slowly advancing from the end of the corridor, creating a blood spray, and were terrified, rushing at him. Even groups that originally didn’t get along would naturally band together when a common enemy appeared.

Jeong Taeui saw that political dynamic with his own eyes that day. Before Ilay had even advanced halfway down the corridor, other instructors ran over to pull them apart and calm the situation, but that alone was enough for Ilay, who was widely known throughout all UNHRDO branches and headquarters, to become a common enemy.

“It’s not easy to sow so much resentment, not easy at all…”

In a way, Ilay was truly an outstanding individual. Jeong Taeui shook his head and sighed. This place was also quite something for making such a guy an instructor instead of chasing him away. Where could they possibly send the talent cultivated under such an instructor?

“Ah. Or perhaps to cultivate a strong spirit and sturdy constitution that doesn’t falter under any hardship…”

Jeong Taeui, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly fell silent, feeling depressed. If he were to ask if he himself had become stronger in spirit and more resilient through those hardships, he would say it wasn’t the case.

Just then, the pager in his pocket vibrated. Jeong Taeui shifted his beer can and took out the pager to check the message.

‘Taei hyung, I’ll be there soon.’

He didn’t even need to check the sender’s number. Jeong Taeui put the pager back in his pocket. With the joint training having started, it became very difficult for the adjutant and adjutant, who were busier than usual, to meet. He had been thinking that he needed to talk, to meet and say something, when last night, Xinlu called him on the internal line. So, they had decided to meet briefly this afternoon when they had some free time. In this secluded spot that Jeong Taeui had once told Xinlu about.

Jeong Taeui took another sip of beer. What should he start with? As he was lost in thought, a thunderous shout erupted from the training ground some distance away, as if someone had suffered a spectacular defeat. Just a moment ago, Jeong Taeui had been among them. Although a adjutant was always attached to an instructor, when the instructor wasn’t engaged in regular duties and was staying in their office, the adjutant would participate in duties with other members.

Today, Ilay had no schedule until 3 PM. So, Jeong Taeui, as usual, had been attending lectures in the morning and engaging in free sparring in the afternoon. In about 30 minutes, he’d have to head to the instructor’s office, but until then, it was sparring time. And if he didn’t slack off now, there would be no other time to slack off. In the one-on-one free sparring scheduled for the afternoon, Jeong Taeui’s turn was early.

As he walked forward to the sparring area, wondering how to get hit less painfully, his sparring opponent, who had already stepped out before Jeong Taeui, tilted his head upon seeing him.

“I think I’ve seen you somewhere.”

The man, who looked more Middle Eastern than South American, eyed Jeong Taeui with a skeptical expression. Jeong Taeui, pondering how to get hit less and end the sparring with this man, who was a head taller than him, replied, “Hmm.”

Of course, the man had seen Jeong Taeui before. Jeong Taeui remembered him. But if he told him straightforwardly where they had met, there was a high probability of getting hit twice instead of once. He was the first one to be hit by Ilay’s iron pipe and knocked out on the first night they arrived at the Asia branch. Jeong Taeui had dragged that man, who was rolling his eyes and drifting in and out of consciousness, and laid him down neatly at the edge of the corridor. And next to him, he had dragged and laid down the continuous stream of fallen men. He had definitely gotten a good weight training session that day.

Since then, he had occasionally heard this man grinding his teeth and cursing Ilay when they passed each other in the cafeteria or corridor. In this situation, if he had acted familiar and said, “You and I met on the first day. I’m Riegrow’s adjutant,” the sparring would have easily turned into a bloody battle. However, Jeong Taeui’s efforts were shattered by his colleagues’ betrayal.

“That’s Rick’s adjutant. Don’t let your guard down!”

The giggling voices shouting belonged to Carlo, Ching, and James. Damn them. He hadn’t expected anything, but did they have to block his path like this? When Jeong Taeui glanced back and glared fiercely, loud whistling even erupted.

“…Ah, ha. You’re that damn bastard’s adjutant? Well, it’s good we met. Let’s really go at it today.”

In an instant, the man’s eyes glinted menacingly, and he approached Jeong Taeui. Meanwhile, the instructor on one side was calmly giving the start signal.

Jeong Taeui stepped back a couple of paces. He appealed to his meager reason, even though he thought it would be useless.

“Wait. Why are you fighting me? If you have a grudge against Ilay, go settle it with him directly.”

“Who’s that?”

“…Riegrow. If you have a grudge against him, you should go settle it with him, why are you bothering me, an innocent bystander?”

When Jeong Taeui paused and corrected himself, the man laughed as if he had found a good excuse.

“If you’re close enough to call him by name, you should have stopped him. That’s aiding and abetting. Just thinking about that rotten bastard makes my teeth grind—”

At “makes my teeth grind,” the man grabbed Jeong Taeui by the collar. It was an astonishingly quick movement. Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue in surprise and shouted,

“Hey, but who was it who gently dragged you to the side and laid you down neatly when you collapsed? Aren’t you even grateful for that?!”

It was the moment that sentence fell. Jeong Taeui, who was sent spinning once in the air by the man’s throw, instinctively tried to perform a breakfall, but the expected impact didn’t come. Very lightly, as if the air had cushioned him, his body seemed to float slightly before his heels softly touched the ground with a thud.

“Huh? You did that? Wiped the blood with a wet towel?”

In front of him, the man, still twisting Jeong Taeui’s collar, looked down at him skeptically. Jeong Taeui, in an awkward posture that would make him lose balance and tumble to the floor if the man let go, sullenly nodded.

“Yeah. I laid you down, wiped you off, and even put the first-aid kit next to you guys.”

“Ah. That was you? Yeah, yeah, I was grateful for that. I didn’t even know where the infirmary was back then.”

The man nodded, making “Hmm, hmm” sounds. The grim aura on his face completely vanished as if it had never been there. And with a wide grin on his face—which, frankly, still looked menacing to a stranger—he righted Jeong Taeui and patted his shoulder.

Jeong Taeui breathed a sigh of relief, secretly patting his chest. If things go well, this will pass smoothly. This is why people should do good deeds in their daily lives. Jeong Taeui smiled back at the man. The man even gave Jeong Taeui a pitiful look, consoling him by asking how he ended up as the adjutant for such a guy. Jeong Taeui nodded, thinking, I thought UNHRDO was full of weirdos, but there are surprisingly kind ones too.

However, not everything went well for Jeong Taeui. The man laughed heartily and said, “Shall we have a proper spar again then?” rolling up his sleeves. A few seconds later, Jeong Taeui was indeed thrown out of the sparring arena.

“Damn it, couldn’t you have thrown me more gently?” Jeong Taeui muttered, but the man said, “Sorry, sorry,” still laughing heartily with an utterly unapologetic face. Thankfully, the sparring ended without escalating into a truly grim situation that would make his mood even worse, and Jeong Taeui came back to his spot, rubbing his back and shoulder.

Even from a distance, the man would mouth, “Hey, friend,” and smile brightly whenever their eyes met. Jeong Taeui understood Carlo’s words in a slightly different way now. So that’s why he said a flower bloomed in their heads. During one of the sparring rounds, when people’s attention was focused on the front of the arena, Jeong Taeui subtly glanced around and slipped out of the sparring area, muttering, “Just going to the restroom.” And still rubbing his creaking back, he found this secluded resting spot.