Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Self-Defense or intenstional?
Jeong Taeui’s lightly punched his aching shoulder to relieve tension and shook his head back and forth. He had just completed one book yesterday and wondered when he would finish copying the remaining nine volus. Taeui sighed; he had no choice but to open a new notebook and start writing the first lines.
"Regulations of the United Nations Human Resources Developnt Organization, Article 1: Organizational Structure..."
"You’re having a tough ti, huh? Looking at those remaining notebooks, it seems you still have to write nine more, right?"
It was at that mont a slow voice whispered behind him.
Startled, Jeong Taeui’s hand slipped, and his pen drew a line across the written lines. He bit his lip and cursed softly - "Damn it."
Jeong Taeui turned around. This was a dangerous situation. If the person behind him wanted to stab him in the neck, he wouldn’t be able to avoid it. He hadn’t even noticed the person getting close behind him.
Jeong Taeui tensed for a mont, then slowly relaxed his shoulders. There was no avoiding this situation. If he tried to dodge, he would be stabbed.
Alright, if you want to kill , then kill ...
Jeong Taeui continued writing next to the errant line and calmly said - "There’s no interesting book here to read."
On reflection, this man had a bad reputation but a rather peculiar taste in books. Could there be a book in this library that suited his taste?
"Yeah, there are more interesting books in your room."
Despite saying that, the man seed to have found a suitable book. He sat down a few squares away from Jeong Taeui, holding a book in his hand.
Jeong Taeui looked at him with surprise. Although he didn’t want to get into a fight, he
thought that the next ti he t this person, there would certainly be trouble.
The man - Riegrow - looks no different from the morning or the previous night when Jeong Taeui had t him. The only change was his attire; his calm deanor and bright, pale face showed no signs of fatigue.
Riegrow sat down and opened the book as if ignoring Jeong Taeui. He quietly turned each page, his gaze through the glasses focused solely on the book.
Had he forgotten about this morning when Jeong Taeui pointed a gun at him?
Jeong Taeui stared at Riegrow suspiciously. Sensing the gaze, Riegrow looked up. Their eyes t. Riegrow quietly looked at Jeong Taeui for a mont, without any intention of avoiding Taeui, as if he was pondering sothing. He then closed the book.
"What’s up? Want
to help you?"
Riegrow gesture as if ready to help, asking for the notebook and pen.
"The punishnt for violating the ban on personal weapons is this, huh? Quite mild. It seems Officer Jeong favors his nephew."
Riegrow’s tone, neither laughing nor angry, made Jeong Taeui frown.
"It seems you want to say I’m receiving special treatnt. If that’s the case, I have a question too. If I’m favored because I’m the officer’s nephew, who are you and what connections do you have that allow you to brutally beat soone without any punishnt?"
Riegrow laughed and shook his head.
"You don’t need to get angry. I just think Officer Jeong is very fond of his nephew. Even if you aren’t punished, I have no complaints. I’m just stating the facts."
"...Has the relationship between
and my uncle spread to the European branch?"
"News about the person who dared point a gun at
spread quickly. In less than a day,
everyone knew about the righteous soldier Jeong Taeui, who joined the Asian branch less than han a month ago because his uncle brought him in."
Obviously, he hadn’t forgotten. But why was he so quiet?
Jeong Taeui looked at Riegrow suspiciously. Riegrow raised an eyebrow as if finding it
amusing.
"Why are you looking at
like that? The one who should be angry is ."
"....."
"Or do you think that every ti I see you, I will jump and bite your neck?"
"Exactly."
Jeong Taeui replied displeased. Riegrow laughed.
"That could be true, but right now I’m not in the mood. Wait a little longer."
Saying that, Riegrow opened the book again and continued reading as if he didn’t want to be disturbed.
Jeong Taeui looked at the man for a while, then turned back and continued to move his pen. While writing chanically, he slowly pondered the man’s words. The last sentence was what he thought about the most.
"Currently, I’m not in the mood. Wait a little longer."- Taeui imdiately realized that ant: ’Not right now, but whenever I’m in the mood, I’ll bite your neck off.’ That could happen the next minute or on the last day of the training.
It would be better to act right now. This situation was no different from being tense for two weeks straight.
Suddenly feeling angry, he gripped the pen tightly, causing the notebook page to tear.
Jeong Taeui thought of the unlucky Lieutenant Kim. When news about Jeong Taeui’s involvent in a stabbing at a gay bar spread. Lieutenant Kim was the first to hear about it. At that ti, Kim mocked Jeong Taeui, saying - "This won’t spread quickly" - as if wanting others to hear.
Were all unlucky people the sa? No! But Lieutenant Kim was just unlucky, not dangerous like this man. Compared to him, Lieutenant Kim was easier to deal with, albeit only slightly.
The angrier Jeong Taeui got, the faster he wrote, and soon he had finished copying the second book and pulled out a new notebook. He began again: Article 1 of the United Nations Human Resources Developnt Organization Regulations.
The advantage and disadvantage of this monotonous work were that while his hand moved continuously, his mind only thought about the dangers awaiting in the next two weeks. Perhaps because it was related to his life.
"Nothing has changed. It’s best to stay hidden, only showing up when unavoidable and always sticking with teammates. At least I’ll stay alive."
Even if called cowardly, as long as it was safe, Jeong Taeui was willing to stick with the instructors for two weeks. Surely, they wouldn’t kill soone in front of the instructors.
While muttering and writing, Jeong Taeui suddenly felt soone watching him and looked up.
His faint muttering was surely inaudible, but at so point, Riegrow had been watching him with interest. When their eyes t, Riegrow smiled as if saying - ’Go ahead, say more.’
"If you kill soone in front of the instructors, what happens?" - Jeong Taeui stopped writing and asked while maintaining eye contact with Riegrow. He might see through his intentions, but now wasn’t the ti to hide. Riegrow laughed and pointed at Jeong Taeui’s hand.
"Didn’t you see while copying? There’s a detailed description of the penalties."
"There is a section on penalties for killing, but nothing about killing in front of instructors."
Jeong Taeui muttered discontentedly. In reality, the section on killing was very vague. In short - [Handled according to the situation] - was described in three pages.
Riegrow pondered for a mont, then shook his head and said "Well. I’m not sure because no one has killed in front of the instructors. But there was one case where soone killed an instructor and was detained for 8 months."
Once again, Jeong Taeui’s pen slipped off the line. He stared at the torn page, silent.
Damn it. If he dared to kill an instructor, dragging
away from my teammates to kill wouldn’t be difficult. His plan suddenly beca aningless.
"Moreover, that ti it was considered legitimate self-defense, similar to this morning."
Riegrow added. But he probably shouldn’t have said those last words.
Jeong Taeui twirled the pen in his fingers, feeling bitter. He wondered if he misunderstood the aning of ’legitimate self-defense,’ but on second thought, it was probably Riegrow who misunderstood.
"One thing to add is the dictionary definition of legitimate self-defense is an unavoidable
action causing harm to protect oneself or others from imminent and unlawful harm."
Riegrow hadn’t misunderstood. Jeong Taeui found it shaless for him to call his actions
’unavoidable.’ He wanted to say that, but the words got stuck in his throat.
"If we’re talking about this morning, the harm inflicted on the attacker seed excessive."
Finally, Jeong Taeui couldn’t hold back and said a sentence. But Riegrow shook his head.
"You heard him. He told
to shoot. He’s the type who would try to ambush
if I let him go. To prevent future threats, I had no other choice. Anyway, he’s still alive, even if he’s locked up sowhere."
"So what about killing the instructor?" Jeong Taeui asked. Riegrow smiled slightly. After a
mont of silence, he answered briefly.
"Yes, that’s true. In reality. I almost died. Even I wouldn’t kill an instructor unless pushed to that point. And I deeply regretted it after doing it."
Jeong Taeui looked at him with regret, intending to say- "My mouth is dry" - but ultimately swallowed those words.
In the end, although he didn’t know the exact reason, it was clear this man would kill even an instructor or perhaps the Deputy Director or Governor - if he had a reason or a suitable
excuse. So using people as shields to stay out of his sight was useless.
The conclusion was it was best to always stay hidden. Although unsure if it was possible.
"Why am I so unlucky these days?"
Jeong Taeui threw the pen down on the notebook and muttered. Previously, he had been unlucky, but since coming here, things had worsened.
"I heard Jeong Jae-ui is very lucky; aren’t you the sa?"
Riegrow suddenly asked, hearing Jeong Taeui mutter. Jeong Taeui just looked at him. He intended to mutter about the fast-spreading news here but thought it wasn’t surprising in this branch.
"Brothers don’t always share the sa fate. I’m just an ordinary person. In fact, now it’s worse than usual."
"Aha..."
Riegrow smiled vaguely but said nothing more.
Jeong Taeui thought of his brother, whom he hadn’t seen in a long ti. In this situation, if it were his brother - though his brother surely wouldn’t encounter such a situation - maybe this man would have had to leave the island due to an unexpected accident or be bitten to death by a sudden swarm of venomous snakes.
Jeong Taeui muttered seriously, pointing at Riegrow.
"You should feel lucky I’m not my brother. Otherwise, your fate would be very bad now."
Riegrow laughed. He seed to understand exactly what Jeong Taeui ant.
"Thank you for that. So today I won’t do anything to you; don’t be too tense."
"If you can do that for two weeks, it’d be good."
"Well... I’m not good at controlling my emotions, so I can’t promise."
That ant he would handle the matter before the two weeks ended. Looking into his cold eyes, Jeong Taeui knew it wasn’t just a feeling.
Jeong Taeui bitterly picked up the pen again. Anyway, the only way to resist was to try to
minimize the ti spent with him.
Jeong Taeui suddenly stopped writing. He looked at Riegrow - who had returned to his book - and gently asked.
"Earlier, you said you would help
copy the book, didn’t you?"
Riegrow raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised by what Tacui said. Looking at Jeong Taeui’s notebooks and pens, he shrugged.
"If you ask, I’ll help. Copying isn’t hard; Officer Jeong will recognize the different
handwriting."
Knowing this, he still offered to help. It ant he wasn’t just saying it.
Jeong Taeui smiled and handed Riegrow a blank notebook and pen.
"No problem, as long as it ets the quantity. I only need you to write one book."
"Hmm... Alright."
Riegrow took the pen and began writing smoothly.
Jeong Taeui recalled his uncle’s words "Even the helper must copy 10 volus"-and decided to put aside thoughts about future difficulties. Sotis people are willing to endure hardship to trouble others.
Let’s see how he endures. And that also reduces face-to-face ti.
Jeong Taeui understood why his teammates spent so much ti preparing physically for the joint training since he arrived on the island.
Saying one day feels like a thousand years was an exaggeration, but it was indeed much more tiring than usual.
When training with teammates in the sa branch, at least you could be assured they didn’t intend to seriously injure you. But now, even in small matches, you had to be tense because many people were ready to break your arm under the excuse of a ’match mistake.’
Even during breaks, you couldn’t relax. Sharing a resting space with them ant always being on guard for any flying stones or soone using a blowgun.
The only ti you could rest was returning to your room after work and closing the door. But if you left the room to use the bathroom or shower, you faced the risk of conflict and had to avoid or handle it until you got back to the room.
Even that was too troubleso, so right after finishing work, Jeong Taeui would stop by the bathroom on the way back to his room, then collapse onto the bed as soon as he entered the room. But even upon returning to the room, he didn’t feel comfortable. It was because he had to endure Morer’s resentful gaze.
Alright, it’s my fault, my fault. I’ll empty my account to buy you hundreds of Colt guns...
Jeong Taeui muttered into his pillow, too tired to speak out loud.
Morer was still engrossed in a puzzle ga while Tou hadn’t returned since going to the
bathroom, likely involved in or causing a fight sowhere. His stamina was truly admirable, causing daily argunts and fights without end.
"Hey, there’s a summons."
Half-asleep on the bed, Jeong Taeui heard Morer’s displeased voice. Lazily, he lifted his head to look at the pager on the table, then buried his face back into the pillow. He was too tired to check. But then Morer spoke again.
"Hey, another summons."
"...From where?"
Jeong Taeui grumbled, annoyed at being disturbed while exhausted. Morer picked up the pager to check the number and casually said.
"114."
"114... why is soone looking for
from the guide number..."
"What are you saying? There’s a ssage too, check it."
Morer threw the pager accurately next to Jeong Taeui’s pillow. Lazily, he opened his eyes to look at the pager. The indicator light under the screen was blinking as Morer said; there was a ssage.
Check what? So annoying. It’s probably another notice or reminder about sothing.
114, 114, where is that? Room 14, basent 1? What’s there? Ah, the instructors’ rooms.
And the dical staff. Room 14 is....
Jeong Taeui suddenly opened his eyes wide and sat up. Like a person suddenly revived from the dead, he sprang up, startling Morer, who was focused on a magazine nearby.
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