PASSION Chapter 4 Part 11

Chapter 4 Part 11

Lowering his gaze, Shin Lu laughed awkwardly with a bright red face. Tae-ui also laughed "ehehe" with a similar face. The warm white fingers in his hand felt good. If they had been cold, that would have been nice in its own way too.

With warm faces, they stood facing each other awkwardly holding hands, and after staying like that for a while just holding hands without speaking, they only separated when Tae-ui felt a gaze and looked up.

His uncle was watching them intently as he came out of the instructor's office.

Tae-ui's eyes met his uncle's, who was silently staring over Shin Lu's shoulder.

"..."

"..."

When their eyes met, his uncle blinked slowly a couple times. He blinked slowly. Slowly, a subtle smile bloomed on his expressionless face. Was it just his imagination that it seemed to say "you two are having fun..."?

Though Tae-ui wanted to hold Shin Lu's hand even tighter and stay longer out of spite, feeling that any moment the words "how long are you going to stay there missing morning hours" would come flying - and that the Deputy Director would come out soon too - he regretfully let go of Shin Lu's hand.

Fortunately, Shin Lu who hadn't yet noticed that subtle smile behind him muttered hesitantly with a red face:

"Then Brother, when the weather's good..."

"Yeah. The weekend should be nice after the rain stops, let's meet then. Take a leisurely walk too."

When Tae-ui spoke, Shin Lu made a strange face briefly. Then tilting his head and muttering "Did I misunderstand?" to himself, he soon smiled brightly.

"Yes, Brother. Then I'll see you on the weekend."

"Yeah. Right. ...And, and if we can see each other before then too. Anyway, take care."

As Shin Lu lovingly said goodbye with "Don't worry Brother, you be careful not to get hurt too," his uncle slipped back into the instructor's office.

After Shin Lu went into the office, his uncle came out of the instructor's office again. Then seeing Tae-ui standing blankly in the corridor, he waved his hand.

"What are you doing not going? Skip class and you'll be rolling around the instructor's office all afternoon this time. Plus isn't weapons engineering what you should be in now? Weapons engineering means Instructor McKin right? Get caught by him and you'll have a headache for a long time."

As his uncle added that Rigrow who would only be here for two weeks wasn't worth mentioning, Tae-ui internally muttered wondering if he would even be alive in two weeks. But still, he wanted to live at least until the weekend when he could walk with Shin Lu.

"By the way... Shin Lu..."

His uncle fell silent for a moment, muttering as if thinking of something else. The nuance of those words was somehow strangely meaningful, making Tae-ui slightly furrow his brow and tilt his head. His uncle just raised his gaze briefly to look at the ceiling lost in thought, then finally waved his hand without saying more.

"I told you to go. This kid really doesn't listen when someone kindly gives advice. Among the instructors, getting marked by Instructor McKin is the hardest. Even if you've got less than two weeks to live, you shouldn't neglect planting tomorrow's apple tree."

"..."

When Tae-ui looked at his uncle reproachfully, his uncle suddenly smiled deeply.

"You're going for a walk with Shin Lu on the weekend? Hope the weather's good."

"...If the weather's bad we'll wear raincoats and walk in the rain."

Tae-ui muttered sulkily before turning to walk toward the elevator. He heard his uncle's voice kindly calling after him while softly laughing and thinking of something:

"I'll definitely burn the book with you too so don't feel too bad."

***

The moment he saw Tae-ui, Moller grabbed his collar and wailed:

"My baby! How are you going to take responsibility for my darling, you bastard!!"

The Colt he had forcibly taken from Moller was of course confiscated by his uncle and now sat quietly in the confiscated items storage room. He only got an explanation that he could get it back someday when leaving this branch.

His uncle seemed to guess who owned the Colt, saying meaningfully with a smile "Give my regards to your roommate too." Tae-ui thought his colleagues who had such a person as their superior were somewhat pitiful.

"Losing one Colt in exchange for saving someone's life is getting off light, what's the big deal"

"Ah, that was Moller's? No wonder, it seemed strange that Tae-ui who has absolutely no belongings would have something like that."

"Don't cry, don't cry. If I just get to Hong Kong I can get you a new one. I know a reliable fence. A Colt should be easy to get?"

The colleagues around Moller each offered their words. Watching Moller lament that it was all useless with slight embarrassment, Tae-ui scratched his head and muttered:

"I don't know any fences... Right, how about a one-year puzzle magazine subscription?"

At that, Moller exploded and came charging wildly, and Tae-ui slowly retreated behind his colleagues.

Though it was an urgent situation, he had no defense having forcibly taken and lost someone else's property. Another gloomy matter had arisen for the next two weeks.

Entering the weapons engineering lecture late, then being called by the instructor afterward to receive both bitter and harsh words, by the time Tae-ui was finally released, lunch break was already more than half over.

Though not even half the day had passed, it felt like thousands of years had gone by leaving him mentally and physically exhausted. When Tae-ui trudged to the cafeteria, the doors were naturally firmly closed. Seeing the red letters saying "Temporarily closed due to accident" posted on the door made him feel needlessly frustrated even though it wasn't his fault, but seeing the small text added below "Third Self-Study Room temporarily serving as cafeteria until repairs complete" he quickly left that place.

When he went to the self-study room, colleagues who had already finished eating and were sitting there chatting welcomed him. Of course European branch members were there too so the atmosphere was still as ominous as the morning, but having destroyed the cafeteria in the morning, neither side seemed to be thinking of causing more chaos at lunch.

As soon as he entered the self-study room, Tae-ui reflexively looked around quickly. Checking if he might run into any faces he didn't want to see. Though he couldn't avoid meeting during joint training anyway, he planned to try his best to avoid it as much as possible.

Fortunately that concerning face wasn't visible. Instead, there were only colleagues welcoming him with something like cheers.

The descriptive words were various - this gutsy guy, this crazy guy, this loyal guy. Of course that other phrase was mixed in too. The lament of "You thief who stole my darling."

In the hastily arranged temporary cafeteria, where decent food barely remained having come so late, Tae-ui barely got two pieces of bread and a milk, chewing them while half-listening to his colleagues' words.

The regular schedule for the next two weeks was to have general lectures in the morning and special lectures or special training in the afternoon. Meaning full-scale battles would begin in the afternoons.

However, it wasn't possible for just under a hundred people to train all at once.

"Then how do they divide people for training?"

When Tae-ui asked while chewing bread, Qing explained.

"Same as usual. Since we're divided into six teams, fifteen train together. Of course half will be filled with our side, half with Europeans. That will rotate randomly so each team trains with different teams once."

Tae-ui recalled the weapons engineering lecture he had entered partway. He remembered each unfamiliar face mixed in the classroom.

"If it's random -- does that mean with luck you could go two weeks without meeting certain people at all?"

When Tae-ui asked holding a thread of hope, Qing shook his head. Then he made a sympathetic face as if understanding why Tae-ui asked such a thing.

"With good luck you might meet certain people less. But it's just 'less' - you'll inevitably have training together at least once."

"That's right. Even if not, everyone trains together in endurance training on weekends."

The colleague who muttered that suddenly grabbed Tae-ui's hand and said:

"Since everyone participates in endurance training without exception for survival competition, another chance will come. A chance to definitely finish off that bastard."

"...That sounds more like the day I'll definitely be finished off is coming."

Tae-ui lost his appetite and put down the bread he was eating. Though he forced it down with milk, it got stuck in his throat and wouldn't go down well. This wouldn't digest well either.

Then suddenly Tae-ui went "Huh" and muttered. After glaring at the bread in his hand for a while, he tilted his head.

"Wait, weekend? ...What training on the weekend? We should rest. Wasn't Friday 5 PM to Sunday free time?"

When Tae-ui asked with his face cracking, the colleague sitting beside him asked back as if saying what nonsense:

"Didn't you hear we can't leave the island during joint training?"

"What are you talking about? There's no rest or anything for two weeks. Just straight training. Rather weekdays are better since training is only during regular hours - on weekends they release people into the forest from Saturday afternoon to Sunday noon for survival training betting your life."

"What's that! Then what about my walk!"

Tae-ui's face suddenly hardened and he banged the table shouting. The milk splashed over and wet the table.

His colleagues looked at Tae-ui in bewilderment, showing they had no idea what he meant.

"What walk are you talking about?"