PASSION Chapter 4 Part 22

Chapter 4 Part 22

Tae-ui looked up at the sky. The thick leaves blocked most of the view. However, the sky visible through gaps in the leaves had a hazy reddish tint. Hong Kong's night lights were erasing the sky's color. Come to think of it, it felt strange that such quiet nature existed almost adjacent to a sleepless metropolis.

He checked his watch. The night was deep. Looking around, he examined each sleeping person one by one. Even if he couldn't see faces buried in sleeping bags, he could tell who they were by their belongings. That was Qing, that was Carlo, that was Yuan Ho...

Then came the sound of the sea from far away. Whoosh, a soft sound awakening vague anxiety.

Come to think of it, he had gone on a trip to the night sea long ago. On the pitch-black night sea where nothing could be seen, only squid fishing boats floated on the horizon with dazzling lights, and waves crashing against rocks and pebbles on the beach sparkled briefly like scattered powder before disappearing.

Would it be like that now too?

Tae-ui looked toward where the sea sounds came from. He was fully awake now. Turning his head, he saw the other guard beyond the trees nodding off while leaning against a tree trunk.

"Maybe I'll go for a quick walk."

He smiled slightly. If someone woke up during this, they would later yell about why he wasn't at his post and how he was putting everyone in danger, but there was really no danger. He would bet his neck that there was no chance of the sleeping group over there drawing knives and coming over to stab each sleeping person here once.

Tae-ui gave a quiet "good night" to his sleeping colleagues and started walking.

The path to the sea wasn't properly paved. Like the way here, he had to avoid or step over roughly grown grass, branches, and sharp rocks stuck in the ground.

Actually, even direction was hard to gauge. Fortunately he had excellent sense of direction so returning on a path once taken would be easy, but with no proper path he couldn't tell which way would lead more easily to the sea. He could only rely on the fact that the sea sounds were gradually getting closer.

Rustle.

Tae-ui paused. He thought he heard movement somewhere. Standing still, Tae-ui silently turned toward where he thought he had heard something. There was only dark forest there.

"..."

The sea was already close ahead. The forest would open to reveal the sea after just a few dozen more steps. But here in this still dark forest, he had sensed someone's presence. Though he waited holding his breath, no more sounds came even after a while.

Then something seemed to move just a few steps away. Very close.

Tae-ui reflexively reached into his clothes while turning that way. His fingers touched the knife warmed by his body heat just as his eyes recognized the object.

It was a snake.

Strength left Tae-ui's body in that instant. It was a dark, plain-colored ground snake commonly seen in somewhat deep mountains. A non-poisonous, non-aggressive one. Even if it had some venom, it would only work on small mice - at most causing some swelling in humans.

Was that it? That presence?

Tae-ui sighed while putting away the knife he had half drawn. But that's when his eyes caught something whitish moving in the distance.

It was a person. Someone was moving through the forest somewhere with muffled footsteps. Though hard to make out their face clearly, they didn't feel familiar. Probably a European branch person.

The man seemed unaware of Tae-ui and was going in a different direction. His steps were careful and anxious, as if following something.

Tae-ui pondered briefly. No matter how he thought about it, this wasn't a natural situation. Someone following another quietly in the middle of the night couldn't be someone going to relieve themselves or enjoying a walk.

Should he follow that man? But the distance was awkward for that. Following rashly would likely get him noticed, but waiting longer to follow might lose sight of him. On the other hand, neither Tae-ui's sense of justice nor curiosity was great enough to risk following just because someone looked suspicious without knowing their business. It wouldn't be the first or second time he'd gotten into trouble sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

But still it was suspicious... as he pondered this, the need to ponder disappeared. Or rather, the room for pondering vanished. The man had gone behind some bushes and disappeared from Tae-ui's sight.

Tae-ui hesitated a bit longer but soon gave up and shrugged. The man wasn't trying to harm him, and didn't seem likely to do anything to his colleagues - he was heading in the opposite direction to start with. Then it was best not to be needlessly curious about others' business.

Tae-ui emptied his mind again and continued walking his original direction. And as expected with the water sounds getting closer, after not long the view opened wide and the sea appeared.

The night sea was pitch black. Without a single light, just pitch black - if not for the sound, one couldn't even guess there was a sea there, just black darkness opening its maw.

Pitch black darkness. Wave sounds. Sea smell. Damp wind. All of it wrapped around his eyes, ears, nose, and skin. That's why Tae-ui had always loved the night sea.

He let out a long sigh. His breath mixed with the wave sounds. Suddenly feeling good, a refreshed smile rose to his lips.

Next time should he bring Shin Lu? Though they said snakes come out dangerously in the forest at night, seeing today it didn't seem too worrisome if properly prepared. In this vast darkness, how nice would it be to hold another person's warmth in his hands. ...Actually, anyone would do, not just Shin Lu.

The footing was unstable. The beach piled with large rocks instead of sand was hard to walk casually like a stroll. Here and there were large holes and rock crevices making it precarious. But Tae-ui smiled while lightly tapping the rocks with his heel. When he was young, since his parents were busy he was often left at his grandmother's house by the sea. So his daily routine was running around on the beach rocks. Come to think of it, his brother was already going on about rock erosion processes due to high salinity seawater back then-

Walking on the rocks as if on flat ground, Tae-ui hummed softly. Both the pitch darkness and the cold damp wind felt good. Perhaps because childhood memories came up, he suddenly missed his brother. It would be nice if his brother were walking beside him now too. He would surely have enjoyed it too.

Tae-ui stopped walking with a regretful smile. A lighthouse stood in the distance. A couple streetlights lit up near the lighthouse. Though their light didn't reach here brightly, it dimly lit the surroundings.

Well then, time to head back? This is far enough. One more step and this pleasant darkness would end as dim light approached. If he ended the night walk here and slowly returned to his colleagues, it should about match his guard duty time.

Tae-ui looked at the sea a bit longer before turning around. He looked at the way he came and gauged a shortcut direction. Going diagonally right would be faster.

Having confidence in his sense of direction, he started crossing rocks slightly right of the path he came. One, two, crossing some quite large rocks while slightly adjusting direction on the return path.

But at some moment. At some moment, a small sound that could have been lost in the wind.

Tae-ui's steps slowed. Tilting his head slightly while gradually slowing his steps, he finally stopped completely. Because he hadn't misheard those intermittent sounds.

The sounds were coming from under the rocks. It was a huge rock - truly house-sized - blocking Tae-ui's path. From deep in that rock which formed a shallow cave with its ceiling open, concave inward, small sounds kept coming.

It was human presence. Someone was in there. Tae-ui realized a few more steps would bring him face to face with whoever was inside.

Maybe it was someone who came to the beach drunk in the middle of the night doing their business in a corner. But he knew well such possibility was unlikely. It was quite a distance from the forest where they were camping.

Or it could be that person glimpsed in the forest earlier. Recalling that person whose movements had seemed suspicious, Tae-ui internally clicked his tongue. Though he didn't know what, he didn't want to get caught up in troublesome matters. Maybe he should just quietly return like this.

While pondering briefly and listening to those movements, Tae-ui soon realized there wasn't just one person inside. No words could be heard. But the short single syllable sounds and movement sounds weren't from one person. Probably two.

Water sounds mixed with the wave sounds. At first Tae-ui thought it was water sounds. But soon he felt something off. Though similar to water sounds, it was different from sea sounds or puddle sounds in the cave. Those sounds were more sticky and wet.

"...-"

Rubbing his chin while tilting his head curiously, Tae-ui suddenly covered his mouth without realizing. A troubled look appeared on his face. He knew those sounds too.

Wet, moist sounds. More precisely, sounds of licking and sucking wet skin. And between those sounds mixed panting, crying breaths and low growling breaths. Occasionally short pleasure-filled moans could be heard.

...Oh dear. What bad timing. What energetic guys these must be. He never dreamed there would be guys coming all the way to the beach in the middle of the night to enjoy themselves. This wasn't some resort beach - who would be playing like that on the beach of an island full of only men.

Tae-ui scratched his nape awkwardly. Should he go back and take the long way around? It would be quite a detour but meeting eyes while passing would be awkward too. But to go around would mean climbing up behind that rock, which looked quite steep. Seemed too difficult to do barehanded without equipment. But going back the way he came and around below would be too far.

Tae-ui examined the path ahead lost in thought. Dark shadows lay in the rock crevices where the lighthouse light barely reached. There was a hollow worn away by waves. If he crouched and went through there, he might pass without being noticed. Well in this darkness, especially while lost in pleasure, they would have trouble noticing someone's presence. Besides... if worst comes to worst he could consider it getting a good show. Though probably wouldn't see anything.

Tae-ui went down into the rock crevice silently. Clack, a stone hit his toe but it was quiet enough to be buried in the wave sounds. It's fine, they wouldn't notice from just this much.