PASSION Chapter 5 Part 15

Chapter 5 Part 15

But doing that even to family was extremely inhumane.

Tae-ui frowned learning an aspect of business he hadn't known about or been interested in until now. They weren't monitoring some ideologically dangerous person, so obviously life couldn't flow smoothly when even a child was being so visibly watched.

Of course, not everyone who experienced such a life would become personality-broken like this man, so it couldn't be blamed entirely on external factors, but Tae-ui felt regret about his childhood.

"The only friend who was nice to me then was a classmate who lived in the neighboring area. A very small and cute child. We went to the same school until high school, and that child remained slender and gentle until graduation. Perhaps that's why I prefer people who resemble him."

Ilay's soft voice sounded like reminiscing about some time in the past, like talking to himself.

Tae-ui's heart clenched painfully. It hurt to think that the friend who supported a lonely boy might have been his first love - a past unbelievable seeing him now. Who would have imagined? That he had such a past. That the him of the past would grow into such a person.

However, Tae-ui felt sorry for the influence of environments that imperceptibly change people's lives. Perhaps Ilay too could have become a more pleasant and approachable person. Yes, a person with only Ilay's aspects remaining, without Rigrow's.

"Are you still in contact with that friend?"

Curious about what this precious person who showed Ilay's human side was doing and where they were now, Tae-ui asked. Ilay quietly sighed and put down his book. Then he stared at Tae-ui with a truly pitiful face.

"Of course we lost contact long ago. After forcibly pinning him down and taking him multiple times throughout school, after high school graduation he either moved away or ran away, never showing his face again."

"...Hm?"

Tae-ui slightly furrowed his brow and tilted his head. Something felt like the story's direction suddenly twisted. As Tae-ui tilted his head, Ilay subtly rubbed his chin. The smile hidden by his hand slightly covering his mouth was immediately apparent.

"Tae-ui. You have a soft spot in strange places... Can't you quickly tell which parts are truth and which are lies when hearing someone's story? Really. Even with such an easily distinguishable story?"

Ilay looked at Tae-ui quite pitifully, with a face saying how will you survive in this harsh world. Tae-ui stared at him blankly before slowly understanding his words. Simply put, Ilay had calmly told jokes or lies to Tae-ui.

"------You bastard."

Tae-ui threw whatever he could grab nearby at Ilay. Easily catching the stainless steel cup that cut through the air with quite a sharp sound, Ilay laughed. He had been foolish to believe that hateful face had such a pitiful past.

"Were you like this in personality since childhood?"

"Well, though I'm not sure how much environment influenced it, my brother sometimes tells me. That I'm someone who never changed since childhood. He thought I was like that because I was young, that I'd get better when I grew up, but he scolded me recently saying it's terrible I grew up with that exact same personality."

"..."

At least that brother seemed to understand what proper humanity was, fortunately. But with this personality consistently since childhood, it was only natural other parents told their children not to play with him. Meaning that problematic unfortunate past was created by this personality from the start. Whether the unfortunate environment created the personality, or the personality created the unfortunate environment.

"This really is the chicken and egg."

Tae-ui sighed while scratching his head. Then he glared fiercely at Ilay. To lie about something like that, it was very displeasing.

Ilay chuckled. His face laughing after playing such a nasty joke on someone was very hateful.

"What about you?"

After laughing for a while, Ilay suddenly asked. Tae-ui continued glaring at him fiercely with a savage face.

"I've consistently been called a good guy from childhood until now. Except by one classmate from military academy. I lived an uneventful life."

As if to say unlike your eventful life, he added grumbling, when Ilay said laughing:

"But you had an extremely famous brother. If someone in your family, especially a twin brother, was such a prominent figure, you must have had quite some difficulties in your life too."

"Well..."

Though glaring at him with a fierce face, Tae-ui tilted his head lost in thought. Seeing this, Ilay laughed again, making Tae-ui's expression even fiercer.

There must have been difficulties. Jae-ui was a figure who stood out like an awl protruding sharply. Almost everyone except parents, uncle, and Jae-ui himself compared Tae-ui and Jae-ui at least once. But that's only once or twice - when something becomes too much like everyday life, naturally parts develop that you give up on. Moreover, Tae-ui had a good enough relationship with his brother to overcome such difficulties.

"There wasn't much of that, but I was envious of his good luck. If I had received even half my brother's luck, I wouldn't be here like this now."

He only muttered internally that he would never have encountered someone like this either.

"But thinking about it, it's not like I'm particularly unluckier than others - though I've been questioning that lately - and that luck was rightfully needed by my brother. Because of his talent, many dangerous people gathered around him. He was kidnapped several times."

Of course thanks to that outstanding luck he was never harmed by such incidents. Extreme luck always saved him - in severe cases, like when kidnappers driving him suddenly had heart attacks in front of a police station causing accidents that immediately brought police. He always survived that way.

Though they said his brother often fell ill and nearly died when young, since Tae-ui too was so weak in childhood he frequently needed hospital care - unimaginable seeing him now - he didn't remember much from then.

"Yes, certainly Jae-ui is famous for having extremely good luck. Perhaps that luck is even more famous than his incredible brain. No one here doesn't know Jae-ui."

Ilay spoke with a subtle smile. Though unclear where "here" meant, his brother being famous wasn't anything new. Tae-ui nodded.

"But haven't you ever been curious? How can someone be lucky to such an extreme degree?"

Suddenly Ilay asked in a faintly lowered voice. Tae-ui couldn't help smiling.

"How can you find reasons for being lucky? He was born that way. Even if you examine our fate and fortune, my brother and I have the same birth date and time down to blood type. You'll never find a rational reason no matter how much you think."

"Though fundamentally there may be no reason for being lucky or unlucky. But if there's a situation, there must necessarily be a cause that becomes its reason."

Tae-ui frowned and scratched his head. It felt quite strange hearing this man talk about fate. He hadn't seemed like someone who would enjoy talk of luck following or not following. Come to think of it, he had talked in this context once during a previous call too.

"If people could know that reason, everyone would be desperate to find it."

Tae-ui muttered boredly. Stories that reached no clear conclusion and ultimately ended up just being "I'm envious" or "lucky bastard having all the luck" weren't interesting.

"Your brother might know that reason."

However, this uninteresting story seemed interesting to Ilay. Tae-ui tasted bitterness as if bored.

"Well, I've never asked. Like 'Brother, why are you so lucky?' I'll ask him once for reference next time I see him and let you know."

Tae-ui tossed and turned lying down as if tired of this topic. Perhaps noticing his mood, Ilay said no more. After running his gaze down the stone wall once, Tae-ui turned just his head to look at Ilay and smiled slightly.

"Like when we talked on the phone before, you seem really interested in my brother. You said you've met him, is he that fascinating? He's just ordinary, just with a much better brain and much better luck. If you expect something special you'll be disappointed."

"Expect something special? I don't expect anything. He's already special with that luck and brain. Whatever personality Jung Jae-ui has, he can't be ordinary."

Ilay laughed. Tae-ui thought "is that so" while briefly thinking of his brother. Well, perhaps being always together as family made him not feel his brother's extraordinariness as much as reality. Though to his eyes his brother was ordinary just doing his work, to others he might seem like someone from another world. But it felt strange hearing his brother's name from a man who seemed so uninterested in others.

"Well, I'll tell my brother later. That a man named Ilay Rigrow was very curious about him."

Only after speaking did Tae-ui wonder if it might be dangerous. His uncle had repeatedly said not to get involved with or catch the attention of the madman. By that standard his brother was already too late. Being someone who had caught the world's eyes, there was nothing new about it. It was only fortunate that his innate luck covered that danger.

"Anyway... though it's nice being in here like a vacation without getting hurt, it certainly gets a bit boring after several days. My body feels stiff. I'd rather run a full marathon, that would feel better."

"A full marathon, huh. Running along the walls of this room would be about 20 meters - about 10 meters keeping a proper distance from the walls - so about 4,200 laps would do it. I'll count for you if you want to try running."

This time he threw a water bottle. Again Ilay caught it easily. But seeming to feel unrefreshed too, he got up and walked close to the wall. After clearing things from the shelf made by embedding iron rods deep in the wall at about head height, he tapped it lightly a few times. Then he flipped into a handstand, hooked his feet on that shelf and started doing sit-ups upside down.