PASSION Chapter 3 Part 2

Chapter 3 Part 2

"Now it's your turn to take some hits."

Speaking calmly while rolling up his sleeves, Tae-ui began striking the man with an expressionless face. Though the man quickly got up even while being hit, he took twice as many hits during that time as he had given earlier.

When the man fully stood up, Tae-ui stopped hitting him and had to listen to him shouting with a red face while massaging his forearms and thighs.

"Hey, you ignorant dirty bastard! Don't you know how to fight properly?!"

"What do you mean? You just experienced it."

Tae-ui blinked with a calm face. Beyond him, Alta—who seemed to have already forgotten getting hit similarly himself—was shaking with laughter.

The man with the red face charged at Tae-ui empty-handed, without his wooden sword. Seeing the man grab his collar and clench his fist to strike his jaw, Tae-ui slightly furrowed his brow and lightly jabbed the man's throat with his wooden sword.

"Ugh..."

"When you clearly see your opponent holding a weapon, why would you charge in empty-handed... You should think about your body too."

Tae-ui spoke slowly with a concerned frown. The man grabbed his throat with one hand while still not letting go of Tae-ui's collar and staggered back a couple steps, in the process ripping Tae-ui's top.

"Hey, look at him talking. Says to think about your body, think about your body. Just like a cat thinking about a mouse."

"What a vicious guy. If there's an ugly internal incident next time, the victim will definitely be him."

Whispers could be heard from the colleagues behind him.

Tae-ui stared blankly at his now exposed chest before glaring fiercely at them at those words.

"I can hear you."

"Well of course you can hear if there's nothing stuck in your ears. Oh, oh boy, we can see everything. My, what cute pink nipples."

"..."

This is why I don't associate with middle-aged men and only like cute young men. If I heard words like that from someone who shared my orientation, how disgusted would I be? If it were a sweet young man, I might willingly offer up a hundred nipples as bait to catch that whole body, but hearing such things from middle-aged men brings no pleasure.

Tae-ui frowned deeply while roughly gathering and tying his torn clothes. The guy who had been jabbed in the throat by Tae-ui's wooden sword must have been hurt quite badly, as he was still standing frozen like a statue clutching his throat and breathing heavily.

"Why are your clothes in that state? The budget manager will be angry."

His uncle, who seemed to have finished his business and was heading back out, looked Tae-ui up and down and said with a slight smile.

"What's wrong with clothes getting worn and torn during training? It's natural."

"Those clothes weren't worn out and torn naturally though. Anyway, while it's quite a sight, the stares are embarrassing. Go to Shin Lu and ask for new clothes. You can show off your figure while you're at it."

His uncle left with a subtle smile.

Behind him, spiteful voices snickered things like "Now you can see Shin Lu's face too", "Just change right there in front of him", "We'll understand if you take a while."

Though Tae-ui could maintain an almost perfect poker face for most things, he had no ability to hide his feelings when it came to Shin Lu. Seeing how his face instantly flushed red and his hesitant attitude, it would have been unreasonable to expect anyone not to notice. Thanks to that, there wasn't anyone on the team who didn't know that Tae-ui had feelings for Shin Lu. Shin Lu himself probably knew too.

Regarding that matter, Tae-ui felt not just relief but even a kind of gratitude.

At first his colleagues had tilted their heads seeing Tae-ui's attitude around Shin Lu, then eventually asked tentatively "Could your preferences be that way?" At that time Tae-ui had briefly considered denying it. The memory of his time in the military came to mind.

The memory of having more than friendly feelings or physical relationships with the same sex being a serious handicap. It was also the reason his relationships with colleagues hadn't been smooth.

However, he had no intention of hiding such things and didn't think he could anyway, so Tae-ui had nodded. Looking at them with a serious face.

But his colleagues' reactions had been anticlimactically bland. Just a couple words of "Oh, so that's how it is" and that was it.

'Having rolled around in this rough place for years, that much isn't even surprising. Just don't make it too obvious. ...Ah, and since I like women, don't like me!'

Seeming to understand Tae-ui's bewildered expression, Carlo had muttered boredly before warning with a pretend serious face. Then suddenly he smiled deeply and drawled:

'Sooo, you like Shin Lu. Hmm---. You know romance within the branch is forbidden right?'

Starting with his words, from then on all his colleagues were like that. It was truly material to tease him about for a hundred years.

Tae-ui had felt relieved at his colleagues' non-serious attitude, recalling memories of the past.

However, of course he still felt upset hearing them drawl and tease like that.

"If you're jealous, why don't you tear your clothes and go too? Though who would want to show those uncool bodies."

Tae-ui looked at his colleagues with a shameless face and spoke proudly. Then his colleagues who had just been snickering and teasing him simply got angry and started acting up.

"Uncool?! Uncool?! Look at these magnificent muscles!"

"This beautifully tanned skin! This inverted triangle body! Women all drop dead over it!"

"But it just looks brutish, the proportions are off. ...And you don't have cute pink nipples as a charm point like me."

Tae-ui looked them all over with an openly mocking gaze before snorting derisively and walking away.

He could hear his colleagues shouting behind him but it wasn't the first or second time hearing it, it was no different from the buzzing of flies.

***

Looking back, Tae-ui had never once experienced what could be called romance.

Though there had been times his heart fluttered looking at someone, that person had disappeared before he could properly recognize his feelings, and though he had numerous experiences sleeping with others, it was hard to call those romance.

The young man he had hung out with for a while and slept with—the protagonist of that knife incident—had insisted, though incomprehensible given his later actions, that they weren't in a dating relationship. So actually, Tae-ui had been somewhat hurt in the early days of associating with that young man. Thinking that perhaps he was fated to only form shallow relationships with anyone.

After that he hadn't met anyone who struck his heart directly, and moreover his military life became difficult leaving no room for other thoughts.

So these feelings were very unfamiliar. But they weren't bad. Even if it was just one-sided love, it felt good. The experience of feeling happy just from looking at someone.

"Excuse me---"

When Tae-ui spoke while entering the office, there were four men inside. Three Support Staff and one Deputy Director.

Tae-ui straightened his posture and gave a light bow upon seeing that Deputy Director, whom he had formally greeted the day after arriving here. The man seemed to have just finished his business as he nodded to acknowledge Tae-ui's greeting before brushing past him on his way out.

Rudolf Gentil. The man who was his uncle's direct superior.

Though they had only briefly exchanged formal greetings, so Tae-ui didn't know much about him, from what he heard from others, he seemed to be someone who appeared soft but couldn't be taken lightly. When Tae-ui had suspiciously asked if that meant he was black-hearted, he had only received ambiguous answers.

It didn't matter either way. As long as he was a superior who would look after Tae-ui's life for half a year, Tae-ui didn't care if he was black-hearted or even completely rotten inside.

"Brother Tae-ui? What brings you here... Why are your clothes like that?"

Tae-ui, who had been staring at the Deputy Director's retreating back, turned his head at the familiar soft voice.

Shin Lu, who was sitting at the desk closest to the door, looked slightly surprised at Tae-ui's appearance.

"Hm? Ah. It happened during sparring. I came to get new clothes, is that okay?"

Tae-ui smiled awkwardly while fidgeting with his torn clothes. Shin Lu answered "Of course" and stood up to go into the inner room attached to the office to get new clothes.

"Thanks. What should I do with these clothes? Should I take them off and bring them back, or just throw them away?"

"Hmm... Since they're torn like this it would be awkward to repair them. I think you can just throw them away. ...You're not hurt anywhere are you?"

"Getting hurt is an everyday occurrence, it's nothing. I'm fine, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying."

When Tae-ui smiled shyly, Shin Lu also smiled slightly and whispered "Please be careful."

Shin Lu, the youngest person in this branch, had frozen his face in surprise upon seeing Tae-ui appear before him again less than an hour after their encounter in the bathroom that day. However, that was only briefly, and after meeting and talking several times, he seemed to have let his guard down as he called Tae-ui "brother" and followed him around closely with familiarity.

"..."

Shin Lu's crown was visible right below his eyes as he touched the torn collar while assessing if it could be repaired. The scent that brushed his nose was a faint soap smell. He wanted to touch him.