PASSION Chapter 3 Part 4

Chapter 3 Part 4

Tae-ui shifted his gaze, pulling the book slightly away from his face. Though his reflection wasn't visible from this position, there was a large mirror hanging beside the desk.

Tae-ui got up again and went over to press his face close to the mirror. A man with a calm face stared back at him in the mirror. Though not even halfway through life, he somehow looked a bit tired.

He traced his face on the mirror. The cold winter surface touched his fingertips.

While tracing around his eyes, nose, and mouth, the light blinked again. Almost simultaneously, the mechanical sound rang. Another call from the same number.

This time he answered the phone without waiting long. Calls that came repeatedly like this would just keep coming again soon if not answered.

"Yes, hello."

When he pressed the light, the monitor lit up. And inside it, the screen from across the line appeared.

Nothing was visible. Just a white wall. Only the corner of what seemed to be a picture frame was barely visible at the edge of the screen. What was depicted in that painting with colors hard to make out on the small screen was impossible to tell.

"──Haha. It's the nephew again."

A voice that seemed somewhat familiar spoke. Then hands appeared on screen, reaching forward to rest on the desk. If those hands, then he remembered them well. They were hands too beautiful to forget.

"Ah, hands."

When Tae-ui reflexively blurted out, a brief questioning "What?" came from the other side.

"Hands."

Though Tae-ui felt he had answered wrong for a moment, he tapped the white hands on the monitor with an unperturbed face. The hands in the monitor moved. He seemed to be looking at his own hands.

"Your hands are so pretty I'd recognize them right away."

'Haha, thank you. My hands must be happy hearing praise they've never received before.'

The man on the other side of the monitor laughed. Though still mechanical, his voice wasn't as grating as when first heard.

'Is Instructor Jung in the shower again? You seem to come there often, nephew.'

"No, uncle isn't here. I just came to read books. There are lots of good books to read in uncle's room."

'Ah─. Instructor Jung has good taste.'

The white hands happily tapped the desk. The glass-like gleaming fingernails looked very cold. He wanted to stroke them once. Those cold glass pieces attached to each finger.

'Do you like my hands that much?'

"Hm?"

'You're looking at them like you want to eat them.'

He said with laughter in his voice. Tae-ui also smiled slightly while shrugging his shoulders.

"Was it that obvious? Well yes, they are tempting. Though not suited for me, just for looking at."

He added that last part in case the man would again offer to give him his wrists after death. The man seemed to guess Tae-ui's thoughts as he laughed pleasantly.

Tae-ui suddenly tilted his head. They say you could tell something about a person's life from their hands, but he couldn't tell with this man at all. They didn't look like they did rough work, but also didn't seem like hands that held pens all day doing desk work. Though rare book brokers must do their share of rough work too, such work just didn't match with those hands.

"Ilay...?"

Tae-ui opened his mouth. Come to think of it, this was the first time calling the man's name. The man naturally answered "Hm?" with laughter still in his voice.

"When I mentioned that name to uncle, he seemed confused. Looks like you have several names."

'Ahaha, did he? Well, Instructor Jung doesn't call me by my first name. I only have one name. I'm not doing anything wrong, so there's no reason to use multiple names.'

"Hmm──though for a rare book broker that would make sense... what kind of work do you do?"

Tae-ui asked after trailing off briefly. What kind of work would someone with hands like that do?

The man was silent for a moment. Only the sound of his white hands tapping tok, tok on the desk could be seen. Rather than seeming displeased, he seemed to be staring intently at this side while lost in thought. A cool gaze through the lens.

Eventually, as if finishing a brief thought, he answered slowly.

'Sometimes I help my brother with the family business. Though he'll probably inherit that business so I wonder... what should I do to make a living? I've never thought about it but hearing you ask makes me worried.'

Listening to that voice that showed no sign at all of the worry it claimed, Tae-ui suddenly started worrying about his own future.

If he safely got out of here after half a year, he would still be an unemployed person without a job. Of course according to his uncle, just having been here would make finding work no problem at all, but what kind of work could he really do? He didn't even know what he wanted.

"I've become a complete bum since being discharged..."

He muttered with a deep sigh, and that sound seemed to have carried across.

'Discharged? Were you in the military? Well, there are occasionally those who go there after being in the military. But how interesting. Jung Jae-ui's brother being a soldier... Haha.'

The man muttered and laughed with a subtle nuance. Tae-ui slightly raised his eyebrows while looking at his white hands, then smiled wryly.

"What? Is it funny that below the brainy older brother is the brawny younger brother?"

At that, the man truly laughed out loud this time. After laughing as if he'd seen some great comedy, he slowly waved his white hand.

'Not at all, that's not what I meant. Besides, you don't seem muscular enough to call yourself brawny, though perhaps brawny in another sense... ...Pardon me.'

Tae-ui made a bitter face and said "It's fine" at the man's laughter.

'No, I meant it was interesting that below a brother who develops weapons is a brother who falls victim to weapons. As a soldier, you're closer to being a victim than a user, aren't you?'

Tae-ui paused with his chin resting on his hand. He mulled over what the man had said so casually.

The latter part didn't matter. The important part was those first few words.

The man seemed to notice how Tae-ui's expression became strange as he stared intently at the white hands. And after thinking for a moment, he seemed to realize why, as he muttered awkwardly:

'Oh dear. You didn't know?'

"... No. I didn't. My brother was involved in weapons development?"

Though muttering "Others know things about me that I don't" with a wry smile, Tae-ui felt at a loss for words.

Jung Jae-ui and Jung Tae-ui weren't brothers with a bad relationship, but they also didn't share everything - they were what you might call ordinarily close brothers. Moreover, since Tae-ui rarely stayed at home after graduating high school and Jae-ui was frequently away as well, they didn't know much about each other's lives. He had only learned after coming here that his brother had been a specially treated researcher even at UNHRDO's American headquarters.

But weapons development.

When had he done that? If he had, was it at UNHRDO? But it could have been before or after too. They hadn't really discussed work-related matters since neither was interested.

Weapons. Weapons, huh.

Tae-ui smiled bitterly. Though he knew they were a necessary evil, he had seen far too many of their negative effects.

'I seem to have said something unnecessary. Though those who should know do know, it is still classified information, so I'd appreciate your discretion.'

"I don't really want to say with my own mouth that my brother develops weapons either."

'Haha. You don't seem to like it. But your brother is known as a genius in this industry.'

"Even if he's a genius at making weapons, I'm not exactly happy about it."

While grumbling that, Tae-ui suddenly raised his eyebrows. Then after briefly touching his chin, he smiled wryly.

"From how you say 'this industry', are you also involved in weapons-related work?"

The man was silent again. This silence was somewhat longer. If not for his hand occasionally moving, one might have thought the call had been disconnected.

Eventually he laughed like a sigh.

'To be precise, my brother is involved in that work. Remember I said I sometimes help with the family business?'

"You're saying the family business is weapons-related?"

Tae-ui asked with an incredulous face. Then he soon realized. This man was no rare book broker. He was a broker, but what he dealt in wasn't rare books but weapons.

"So you make a living selling weapons..."

'Not me, my brother. --You seem to really dislike it. The rocket launcher your brother designed has consistently ranked in the top sellers these past few years.'

"Good grief. A world without war must be something dreamed up by residents of some lucky dream country... Brother Jae-ui. I'll give him a punch when I see him."

The man laughed. The man who had briefly but seriously stirred up Tae-ui's thoughts seemed completely unperturbed.