Chapter 3 Part 11

Closing his book, Jeong Tae-ui pulled the Pager from his pocket and tilted his head at the unfamiliar number. It was an internal Branch line, but the number was new to him. He was generally familiar with the numbers of Instructors who had called him so far.

“If it’s 07, where is it?”

As Jeong Tae-ui, holding the Pager and staring at it with a serious expression, suddenly spoke, “Huh?” Qing leaned in from beside him to look at the Pager. Though there was no reason to hide it, Jeong Tae-ui instinctively pulled his body back and put the Pager away, to which Qing grumbled, “What’s the big deal?” and replied.

“07, let’s see. If it’s number 7 on the ground floor, that would be the Office.”

“The Office? Why would they call someone from there…”

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been muttering with raised eyebrows, suddenly closed his mouth. He then blinked, staring intently at Qing. Qing, perhaps feeling burdened by the gaze, subtly retreated.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…No… Could you put this back where you found it?”

Jeong Tae-ui sprang to his feet, thrust the book at Qing, and immediately darted out between the bookshelves. He heard a few shouts of “Hey, wait!” from behind, but pretended not to hear and ran out of the Library.

What a stupid memory. Right, if the call didn’t come yesterday, it’d naturally be today! Had he already forgotten that he’d gone to sleep last night soaked in disappointment, Jeong Tae-ui?

The elevator was stopped on the first floor, and he couldn’t bear to wait for it to descend, so he sprinted down the stairs. He didn’t even realize he was out of breath running from B5 to the ground floor.

Having reached the ground floor in one breath, Jeong Tae-ui patted his pounding chest and walked towards the Office. Regular hours were already over, so usually only the on-duty Support Staff would be left inside the Office.

After taking a deep breath in front of the door — not dreaming that his uncle would later clutch his stomach with laughter upon seeing the scene captured by the recording camera — he knocked. There was a sign of movement inside, and the door opened.

Shinru was alone in the Office. He smiled brightly when he saw Jeong Tae-ui.

“Tae-ui hyung, you’re here.”

“Yeah. …Are you alone?”

“Yes, I’m on duty today. …Were you busy?”

“No, I had too much time on my hands so I was reading a book in the Library. I was just getting annoyed by an interruption when the call came, so I ran right over. If you’re on duty, you can’t go out, I guess.”

“Yes. It was originally Kippenhan’s turn to be on duty, but he suddenly got an upset stomach, so we switched. So, I don’t think a walk will be possible today. I’m sorry, hyung.”

Shinru bowed his head apologetically and whispered. Jeong Tae-ui said, “No, it’s fine. Is Kippenhan very sick?” but was secretly disheartened. So that was it. It was a cancellation notice.

Even though he tried not to show it, Jeong Tae-ui’s face seemed too obvious. Shinru hesitated, watching Jeong Tae-ui’s expression, then continued with an awkward smile.

“But anyway, there’s not much work today, I’m just holding down the fort… Would you like to sit down and have some tea? Vice Director-General Rudolf Gentil brought some good tea when he came back recently. If you’re not busy, please sit for a while, hyung.”

“Oh, really? I’m not busy. …Yeah, what kind of tea is it?”

“Keemun. Do you like it?”

“Never tried it. Green tea?”

“No, it’s black tea… I love the aroma. I’ll get it for you right away, so please try it.”

Shinru diligently went into the inner room. From inside, the sounds of water and clattering dishes could be heard.

Jeong Tae-ui hesitated, peering through the open door of the inner room, then noticed the recording camera, inevitably installed in the corner of the Office, and quietly took a seat.

Right, there was no particular reason to go for a walk. It would have been nice to go outside, walk along the beach, and look at the sky and the sea, but what was more important was being with Shinru. If they could just be together, what did it matter if they were indoors? If they could quietly drink tea and chat.

Soon after, Shinru emerged from the inner room carrying a tray. The tray with the teacups seemed a bit precarious, so Jeong Tae-ui quickly stood up and took the tray. Shinru’s smiling face as he said, “Thank you,” was also lovely.

Perhaps his uncle was right, and his tastes truly hadn’t changed. The second person since his birth to make his heart pound was once again such a lovely and gentle young man.

“Have you adjusted to this place a bit now? It must be very hard, right?”

Shinru spoke, sitting across from Jeong Tae-ui. Jeong Tae-ui, who had adapted almost too well, paused, wondering what he meant, then realized Shinru was referring to the fact that it had only been a few days since he arrived. “Ah, right,” he nodded.

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t hard. In fact, once the regular work hours from 8 AM to 5 PM were over, he was free to do whatever he wanted. There was no one to bother him whether he drank, smoked, or stayed holed up in bed. So, in terms of time structure, it was much more relaxed than when he was in the military.

However, the work during regular hours was quite strenuous. It felt like he had to compress and solve tasks that would normally take twice as long into less than half the time. There were all sorts of processes to learn, and the colleagues he competed with in the process were all top talents from outside, so competing with them was no easy feat.

Carlo Sagisawa, whose posture was always askew; Tou, with his simple thought process and constant smirk; Alta, quick-tempered and always faintly smelling of alcohol—all considered top talents… And, thinking further, even that crazy man he saw in the video yesterday was a top talent…

Jeong Tae-ui stopped thinking for a moment, cleared his head, and quietly sighed. What was this world coming to?

“Are you very tired? I have some honey-glazed dried fruit, would you like some?”

Suddenly, Jeong Tae-ui flinched, realizing Shinru was leaning towards him, speaking with concern.

The young man’s face was suddenly right in front of him. Soft, white downy hair shimmered on his earlobes. His cheeks were round, making him look like a young boy.