Chapter 4 Part 26

No, I knew it. But I had forgotten.

Oh, right. It’s difficult to see Shinru privately without contacting him in advance.

Jeong Tae-ui hesitated for a moment. But since he had already decided he needed to go see him, a strong desire to meet him welled up inside him. …Yes, he had to go see him. There was no benefit in delaying his words only to suddenly break an appointment.

Jeong Tae-ui lightly waved at Morrer and then left the room. Morrer yelled, ‘Hey, you!’ but Jeong Tae-ui pretended not to hear.

The moment he stepped out the door, the prickly air stung his skin again, but there wasn’t any major problem. He had no intention of provoking anyone first, nor did he intend to respond to any taunts. No one bothered to stop Jeong Tae-ui, who simply walked past without reacting even to subtle provocations. He heard remarks like ‘Tch, coward,’ from behind him, but if it meant avoiding unnecessary fights, he’d hear those remarks a hundred times over.

His feet habitually stopped in front of the elevator, but he felt it wouldn’t be good to leave a trace indicating he was going to B1, so he turned to the stairs.

Since he went up and down so often, he could now easily climb six or seven floors using the stairs, but these stairs had unusually high risers. Stairs that looked to be twice the height of normal stairs stretched out. Naturally, the height between floors was considerable, and the ceiling seemed far away.

When he asked why the building design was like this, his uncle chuckled and casually replied, ‘To get some exercise.’

“Even without this kind of exercise, just living here is training enough, Uncle.”

Jeong Tae-ui grumbled to his uncle, who couldn’t hear him, as he climbed the stairs. Whenever he had something to grumble about, he would just vent it all to his uncle, whether he could hear or not. It always calmed him down a bit.

When he reached B1, he saw an unfamiliar sign on the iron door. “No Entry Except for Residents.”

Meaning, unless you live on this floor—in other words, members are not allowed.

Jeong Tae-ui pretended not to see it, opened the door, and went in. He’d half-expected the door to be locked, or for someone to point a gun at him the moment he opened it and growl, ‘It says no entry,’ but that didn’t happen.

With only a sign posted and no difference from the usual lax security in restricting entry, Jeong Tae-ui stood in the B1 hallway, scratching his head. Did it mean they were relying on the members’ consciences? This wasn’t a school; they should trust what’s trustworthy.

Since very few people ever stayed on B1 to begin with, he rarely encountered anyone else even if he wandered freely. Jeong Tae-ui was about to leisurely move on but then paused. He remembered that on this floor—and throughout the entire building, not just this floor—recording cameras were everywhere.

“…So, if I’m caught on camera, they’ll find me later and punish me severely, won’t they?”

Jeong Tae-ui sighed, “Hmm.”

But he wondered if that really mattered, as he generally knew where the recording cameras were. If Jeong Tae-ui knew, other members probably did too. He could easily navigate by sticking to the cameras’ blind spots.

However, reconsidering, when entering an instructor’s room, there was no way to avoid the blind spots completely. He would inevitably be recorded. Plus, there might be cameras Jeong Tae-ui didn’t know about.

Jeong Tae-ui fell into thought for a moment. Should he just go back? After all, he could just call.

But even though his mind told him that was the smarter option, his feet were already carrying him down the hallway. “Oh, whatever. Maybe it’d be good if I got caught and they threw me into Eoryeong. It’s just a prison; how bad could the facilities be?”

Jeong Tae-ui headed towards Shinru’s room. He hadn’t gotten lost again since his first time here. It was a relief that he at least didn’t forget a path once he’d taken it.

Shinru’s room wasn’t far from the stairs. It was a quick walk straight down the corridor and one turn. He thought about what excuse he’d make if he encountered anyone on the way, but no such incident occurred.

Tap, tap, he knocked on the door with his fingertips. He waited for a moment, but there was no answer. He wondered if the sound was too soft to be heard, or if Shinru wasn’t in his room, and knocked again a little harder.

“If he’s not in the room, I’ll just be caught on the recording cameras with no gain. That would be a disaster…”

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue, muttering to himself. Even if he were to meet him directly to state his business, he should have called first.

However, dispelling Jeong Tae-ui’s worries, the door opened a moment later. Shinru, who had poked his head out through the two-span-wide opening, asking, “Who is it?”, seemed surprised to see Jeong Tae-ui.

“Tae-ui hyung. What brings you here? You really shouldn’t be here right now… Please, come in.”

Shinru glanced around and pulled Jeong Tae-ui into the room. Only then did Jeong Tae-ui wonder if his visit might cause trouble for Shinru too, but it was too late for regrets. Besides, since he was already here, it was no use thinking about it now.

Most importantly, it was his first time in Shinru’s room.

There wasn’t anything particularly special about a person’s living space, but Jeong Tae-ui entered the room and looked around with curiosity. It was a clean and simple room. There were no unnecessary items, yet it didn’t feel too sparse.

“If someone else sees you, hyung, you’ll be in trouble. Why did you come so suddenly?”

Shinru brought out two cans of beer and asked worriedly. Seeing the beer in his hand, Jeong Tae-ui was momentarily surprised, but then he remembered that even if Shinru was lovable, he was an adult. Drinking beer was perfectly normal for his age. In fact, being surprised was stranger.

Jeong Tae-ui took the beer, thanked him, and then hesitated for a moment. Since it was a room for one, there was no need for a guest sofa, so Shinru, pulling a desk chair to sit in front of Jeong Tae-ui who was on the bed, quietly waited for him to speak.

“Um, about the weekend…”

“Oh, yes. I saw the weather forecast, and it said it would be clear on the weekend.”