Chapter 4 Part 25

Ilay League-row readily accepted the writing instruments. Soon, the scratching sound of a pen flowed out like flowing water.

Jeong Tae-ui recalled his uncle’s words, “Anyone who helped will also have to hand-copy ten volumes separately,” and for now, pushed away the thoughts of the increasing burdens that would fall on him. Even if it meant his own suffering, there were opponents and situations he wanted to make suffer.

“Go on, you try it too. And let’s try to reduce the time we meet.”

Indeed, Jeong Tae-ui now deeply understood his colleagues, who, from the time he first arrived on this island, had been fussing about conserving their strength and building up their physical conditioning in preparation for the joint training.

To say a day felt like a thousand years would be a slight exaggeration, but he was at least ten times more exhausted than from normal training.

When training with colleagues from the same branch, he could at least participate in sparring, fundamentally keeping in mind that the opponent wouldn’t genuinely try to harm him. But now, even for the most minor sparring session, he had to be incredibly alert and tense. There were simply too many guys whose intent to break an opposing branch member’s arm under the pretext of an accident during sparring was practically written on their foreheads.

He couldn’t even relax during break times. Since the resting areas were shared with them, he constantly had to keep his guard up, wondering if a stone might fly at him at any moment, or if he was unlucky, if an air gun might be fired.

The only time he could truly rest comfortably was after finishing his regular schedule, returning to his room, entering it, and locking the door. Even then, if he left the room to go to the bathroom or toilet, he had to either skillfully avoid or skillfully parry the sparks of conflict scattered everywhere, until the moment he returned to his room.

Even that was too troublesome, so Jeong Tae-ui, who had made sure to visit the bathroom on his way back as soon as the regular schedule ended, immediately collapsed onto the bed upon entering his room. Even then, his mind was not at ease. It was because he had to bear the full brunt of Morrer’s resentful gaze.

“Fine, I was wrong, I was wrong. That damn Colt, later I’ll empty my bank account and buy you hundreds of them…”

Jeong Tae-ui, sprawled on the bed, muttered to himself. Even speaking aloud was tiring.

While exuding a chilly atmosphere, Morrer was still engrossed in a puzzle, and Tou, having gone to the bathroom and showing no sign of returning, seemed to be either fending off sparks of conflict or creating them himself somewhere. Their stamina, constantly causing endless disputes, big and small, day after day without tiring, was truly admirable.

“Hey, you got a call.”

Jeong Tae-ui, lying face down and half-asleep on the bed, heard Morrer’s grumbling voice informing him. Jeong Tae-ui, who only ruffledly lifted his head, glanced at the pager/communicator he had thrown on the desk, then buried his face in the pillow again. Even checking it was bothersome. However, a moment later, Morrer’s voice was heard again.

“Hey, it came again.”

“…Where’s it from?”

As Jeong Tae-ui groaned and muttered curses like, “What bastard is calling when I’m dead tired?” Morrer picked up the pager/communicator and checked the number. And he said indifferently.

“It’s number 114.”

“114… Why is directory assistance looking for me…?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? It seems a message came with it, you should check.”

Morrer threw the pager/communicator. That small device landed precisely next to Jeong Tae-ui’s pillow. Jeong Tae-ui, still lying face down, opened his eyes halfway and glanced at the pager/communicator. Seeing the blinking indicator light below the LCD screen, it seemed a message had indeed arrived, just as he said.

Checking anything is bothersome. It’s probably just another notice to submit something, or about some warning period, that sort of announcement.

“114, where the hell is 114? Is it room number 14 on B1? What was there? Ah, there were instructors’ rooms. And support staff. If it’s number 14, it’s the lowest among the support staff…”

Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes flashed open, and he abruptly sat up. As the person who had been sprawled like a dead body suddenly sprang up, Morrer, who had been burying his nose in a magazine a short distance away, was startled and glanced back repeatedly.

“If it’s the youngest among the support staff, it’s Shinru.”

“Huh? Uh, right. Why suddenly that?”

Morrer asked, sighing with relief. His face suggested he thought Jeong Tae-ui was suddenly sleep-talking.

Without even thinking of answering, Jeong Tae-ui quickly checked the message. As he thought, the person who made the call was Shinru. The message content was nothing special. It was a message to take care of his health. Even with that unremarkable message, Jeong Tae-ui’s face was full of gloom, but the moment he checked the second message, his expression darkened.

“‘Then I’ll see you on the weekend. Have a good night.’ Weekend. Hearing those words, he remembered. Now that he thought about it, he still hadn’t told Shinru that they couldn’t meet on the weekend. He hadn’t had time to go to the office, nor had he run into Shinru by chance.

“I, I have to say it… that I can’t go…”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered gloomily. And he stared blankly at the internal phone placed at the head of his bed. He harbored a shred of hope that perhaps some enormous circumstance would arise, leading to weekend training being canceled and everyone having free time. But if such a situation did occur, naturally neither Shinru nor he would be able to comfortably take a walk.

“…Ugh.”

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue and sprang up. Morrer, clutching the puzzle magazine, looked at Jeong Tae-ui with strange eyes.

“I’ll go to Shinru for a bit.”

Jeong Tae-ui put the pager/communicator in his pocket, headed towards the door, and said briefly. He could have called and said it, but something like this, he felt, should be conveyed in person, face to face.

“Shinru? It’s past office hours now, so he won’t be in the office, will he?”

“Then I’ll just go to his room, what’s the problem?”

“During the joint training period, B1 is off-limits to members. Because meeting instructors personally is forbidden. Support staff rooms are also on B1, aren’t they?”

Morrer’s words, muttered in a tone that asked ‘what stupid thing are you doing?’, hit Jeong Tae-ui like a sudden blow to the back of the head. Jeong Tae-ui paused, then turned back to Morrer with wide eyes. Morrer frowned, asking, “Didn’t you know?”