Chapter 3 Part 6

‘Is Jeong Chang-in showering again? It seems you visit there often, nephew.’

“No, my uncle isn’t here. I just came to read. There are many books worth reading in my uncle’s room.”

‘Ah—. Jeong Chang-in has good hobbies.’

The white hand tapped the desk as if pleased. The glass-like, polished fingernails looked extremely cold. He wanted to trace them once. Those cool shards of glass attached to each finger.

‘Do you like my hands that much?’

“Hmm?”

‘Because you’re looking at them as if you want to devour them.’

He said with a voice mixed with laughter. Jeong Tae-ui also chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Was I that obvious? Well, I do covet them. But they wouldn’t suit me, so they’re just for admiration.”

He added this preemptively, wondering if Ilay League-row would again say he’d detach his wrist and give it to him after he died. Ilay League-row seemed to guess Jeong Tae-ui’s thoughts and laughed pleasantly.

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly tilted his head. They say you can somewhat tell a person’s life by their hands, but he couldn’t figure out this man at all. He didn’t seem to do rough work, nor did he seem to do desk work, holding a pen all day. Even an antiquarian book dealer would have their share of dirty work, but dirty work simply didn’t align with those hands.

“Ilay League-row…?”

Jeong Tae-ui opened his mouth. Come to think of it, this was the first time he had called the man by his name. The man, still with a laughing tone, naturally replied, “Hmm?”

“When I mentioned that name to my uncle, he seemed a bit confused. It looks like you have several names.”

‘Ahaha, is that so? Indeed, Jeong Chang-in doesn’t call me by my first name. I only have one name. I’m not doing anything bad, so there’s no reason to use multiple names.’

“Hmm—if it’s antiquarian book dealing, that would be true… but what do you do?”

Jeong Tae-ui trailed off for a moment, then asked. What kind of work would a person with hands like that do?

Then the man remained silent for a moment. Only the white hand tapping, tapping the desk was visible. Rather than annoyance, he seemed lost in thought, gazing intently at Jeong Tae-ui. A cool gaze from behind the lenses.

At last, as if he had finished his brief thought, he answered slowly.

‘Sometimes I help my brother with the family business. My brother will probably inherit it, so as for me… what will I do to make a living? I’ve never thought about it, but hearing that makes me worried.’

Listening to that voice, which showed no trace of worry at all, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly began to worry about his own future.

If he got out of here safely in six months, he would still be an unemployed bum. Of course, according to his uncle, just having been here would make it easy to find a job, but what kind of work could he really do to make a living? He didn’t even know what he wanted.

“I told you, I became a complete wreck after my discharge…”

He sighed deeply and muttered, and it seemed the sound carried all the way over.

‘Discharge? Were you a soldier? Indeed, some people go there after being in the military. But it’s interesting. Jeong Jae-ui’s younger brother is a soldier… Haha.’

The man muttered with a subtle nuance and laughed. Jeong Tae-ui subtly raised an eyebrow, looked at the white hand, and chuckled.

“Why? Is it funny that a brainy older brother has a brawny younger brother?”

Then the man truly laughed out loud this time. He laughed as if he had seen a great comedy, then slowly waved his white hand.

‘Not at all, that wasn’t what I meant. Besides, you don’t seem burly enough to confidently call yourself brawny, unless you mean brawny in a different sense. …My apologies.’

At the man’s laughter, Jeong Tae-ui made a wry face and said, “It’s fine.”

‘No, what I meant was that the combination of an older brother who develops weapons and a younger brother who is a victim of weapons is amusing. If you’re a soldier, you’re closer to being a victim than a user, aren’t you?’

Jeong Tae-ui paused, resting his chin in his hand. He ruminated once more on what the man had said so casually.

The latter part didn’t matter. What was important were the first few words.

The man seemed to notice Jeong Tae-ui’s expression turn strange as he stared intently at the white hand. And after thinking for a moment, he seemed to realize the reason, muttering as if embarrassed.

‘Oh. You didn’t know?’

“…Right. I didn’t know. My brother was involved in weapon development?”

‘Someone else knows more about what I don’t even know,’ he chuckled and muttered, yet Jeong Tae-ui felt a peculiar, ambiguous sensation.

Jeong Jae-ui and Jeong Tae-ui weren’t brothers with a bad relationship, but neither did they share everything; they were, so to speak, moderately close, ordinary brothers. Moreover, after Jeong Tae-ui graduated from high school, he rarely stayed home, and Jeong Jae-ui was frequently away, so they didn’t really know much about each other’s lives. It was only after coming here that he even heard that Jeong Jae-ui was a researcher given special treatment at UNHRDO’s Americas Headquarters.

But weapon development.

When did he do such a thing? If he did, was it at UNHRDO? But it could have been before or after that. After all, they weren’t interested in work-related stories, so they didn’t share much.

Weapons. So, weapons.

Jeong Tae-ui gave a bitter laugh. He knew it was a necessary evil, but Jeong Tae-ui had seen too much of its negative effects.

‘It seems I said something unnecessary. Those who know, know, but it’s still classified information, so I’d appreciate your understanding.’

“I don’t particularly want to say that my brother develops weapons with my own mouth either.”

‘Haha. It seems you don’t like it. Still, your brother is renowned as a genius in this industry.’

“Even if he’s a genius at making weapons, I’m not particularly happy about it.”

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been grumbling, suddenly raised an eyebrow. Then, after momentarily stroking his chin, he chuckled.

“Seeing as you mentioned ‘this industry,’ are you also involved in the weapons business?”

The man fell silent again. This silence was rather long. If not for the occasional movement of his hand, Jeong Tae-ui would have thought the call had disconnected.

At last, he laughed, almost like a sigh.