PASSION Chapter 4 Part 20

Chapter 4 Part 20

Though Tae-ui shouted as if about to jump up and down after a few more words, there was no response from others. Only after seeing their attitudes suggesting this was nothing surprising having experienced it several times already did Tae-ui acutely feel this was reality, not a joke.

Tae-ui had done plenty of camping out too. Sleeping under stars, in dew, even where snakes and centipedes rustled. But those snakes weren't poisonous, and the people camping together weren't enemies constantly aiming for his throat.

"Ah, right, you had reason to guard your life well. But... looking at the notebooks you gave me, I saw unfamiliar handwriting. Whose writing is it?"

His uncle suddenly spoke with a subtle smile. Tae-ui closed his mouth. Though he could say "it's that guy" and add the weight of ten handwritten copies to reduce their meeting time, it felt somewhat awkward to tattle so openly. However, just as Tae-ui was about to open his mouth to increase his own safety even slightly, his uncle spoke first:

"But Tae-ui. Though that guy's free time and your life span might have some correlation, didn't you think your life might end up in more danger as a result?"

Tae-ui closed his mouth again. It wasn't surprising that his uncle had recognized the handwriting's owner. He was no longer surprised by what this uncle might know, given his ability to instantly sort and process mountains of documents.

However, his uncle's words were something Tae-ui had slightly worried about too. That when the small help Rigrow had given him turned into poison against him, it might have a reverse effect.

"Think wisely and give me your answer by the time we return to the branch tomorrow."

His uncle said smiling. Tae-ui tasted bitterness in his mouth. At this rate he would have no choice but to either insist it was his handwriting or silently accept the burden of writing ten more copies.

The forest grew increasingly dense. The sound of colleagues ahead breaking branches while saying "Damn, wish we could just burn all these trees down" kept coming. Branches seemed to scratch their faces every time they stepped where proper paths didn't exist.

Thinking he had done well to stay in back, Tae-ui walked silently before quietly asking:

"By the way, that man, I heard he killed an instructor too?"

His uncle, walking right behind Tae-ui, answered casually:

"Mm. Early last year. That instructor made a stupid mistake. His younger brother was also a member in the same branch and ended up bedridden for life by Rick's hands. Since it happened during training there was no basis for punishment so it was let go, but he thought that wasn't enough. Well, though that instructor probably didn't intend to kill Rick, but as a result--"

His uncle stopped at a point where one could guess the rest without hearing it. Tae-ui frowned. Though he knew laws and regulations were generally made with loopholes to slip through, he felt this man's case was extreme.

However, at the same time, he recalled how European branch members treated Rigrow.

It wasn't how one treated a close colleague. Fear, terror, and anxiety were greater. Mixing his personality with such stories, it seemed Rigrow was a man with many internal enemies too.

Yet thinking of that man who freely wielded his killing ability and strutted around without caring at all, Tae-ui's face hardened unconsciously.

"Without some incredible backing, how could he..."

As Tae-ui tilted his head muttering to himself unable to understand, suddenly the column stopped. From the front of the column that had stopped as if encountering some obstacle, almost simultaneously short unpleasant shouts burst out. The shouts quickly doubled, tripled.

"Oh dear. Seems an unwanted though expected situation has occurred."

His uncle muttered from behind Tae-ui before moving forward. Even without his uncle's words, the rough sounds from ahead were more than enough to guess. They had encountered another marching team, and a European branch team at that.

There had been one rule from the start. Teams that met along the way would march together. So everyone had hoped if they met anyone, it would be a team from the same branch. People had even openly shouted that marching with European branch bastards would mean three or four necks flying by morning.

Tae-ui leaned against a nearby tree since it seemed they would stay put for a while. After resting his bag against the tree, he lowered his body slightly to reduce the weight of his luggage. His shoulders felt a bit lighter.

After a while, the commotion from ahead died down. At the unnaturally sudden decrease in noise, Tae-ui turned his head that way. Though he couldn't see ahead due to the thick fog and many obstacles blocking vision, he wondered if something had happened.

However, even after waiting a bit longer no more ominous sounds came, instead rough grumbling though quieter than before could be heard sporadically.

"What's going on? Is someone fighting up ahead?"

When Tae-ui asked Qing who had been standing ahead of him, he who had gone forward and returned with a grimacing face while opening his water bottle shook his head.

"That guy is here."

"Huh?"

"That bastard we should tear apart. They say we have to march with his team. Damn it, are they crazy? What horrible sight are we supposed to see in the middle of the night with a madman like that..."

At Qing's words, Tae-ui's face crumpled sharply. Amid words about being done sleeping for today and one guard not being enough, Tae-ui kept his frowning face while looking ahead. Up front, it seemed talks had settled somewhat as they showed signs of departing again. And unfamiliar faces walked toward the back, mixing here and there among the groups. Of course, they too had faces like they'd bitten bugs.

"Better to enter a snake pit than run into these bastards of all people..."

"Hah. With guys more poisonous than snakes, at least snakes won't come."

Sharp conversations passed back and forth everywhere. As European branch members mixed in with murderous faces, Tae-ui pulled his hat down low. He raised his collar tight and lowered his head too.

The column began walking again. Looking back while walking toward the rear, he saw a chilling back of a head barely visible through the fog ahead. That head a full head taller than others felt incredibly vicious the moment he saw it, and he knew instantly.

Further back, further back, as he slowed his steps while thinking this, Tae-ui eventually drifted to the very rear of the column. Though mixed, Asian branch members mostly walked in the front and middle of the column, while European branch men grouped toward the middle and back.

Though Tae-ui realized most men walking around him now were European branch members, he just kept walking as he had no desire to move forward anyway. Hardly anyone paid attention to him as he walked almost hiding his face off to the side anyway.

At this distance, that murderous head's position was hidden in fog. The way it appeared and disappeared hazily in the fog made the atmosphere even more eerie.

Come to think of it, wasn't this situation a perfect opportunity for that man?

The fog was thick. Deep in the forest. They would spend the night here too. Moreover, it wasn't completely in enemy territory. In other words, if he wanted to, he could kill someone without anyone knowing and bury them in the forest, pretending not to know.

"Damn it. Got stuck with Asian bastards. We have to spend the night with those filthy bastards?"

"Don't joke. Anyway we'll have to divide areas to sleep. How can we sleep mixed with those bastards? Even walking several meters apart like this makes me sick."

"Such bad luck. Nothing good has happened since coming to this damn Asian branch."

Voices of European branch men walking nearby could be heard muttering. Tae-ui couldn't help smiling. He had already heard exactly the same words once before, just with "Asian" changed to "European." Everyone seemed similarly uncreative even in cursing.

"But I'm more worried about Simon than the Asian bastards... Is that really okay?"

One of them suddenly muttered. A voice tinged with vague anxiety and worry.

"Right. Hey, I don't see him. Where did he go?"

"He was heading to the front earlier. Behind Rick. Is it okay to leave him like that? I'm really worried."

"Hmm... But surely. Even he knows his place, what could he do?"

"You never know. When people snap they can do anything. If he suddenly loses it and stabs him in the back, game over."

"Nah. Even with a surprise attack, as if Rick would get stabbed. It'd be amazing just to graze him."

"Even if stabbed, would the blade go in? Might not even draw blood. Has anyone ever seen Rick's blood?"

"Need blood to flow to see it, that guy probably doesn't even have blood flowing."

Though speaking like jokes, they didn't laugh. At most they twisted their lips up bitterly. As if careful and anxious that just talking like this might bring bad luck.

The same anxiety and subtle impatience they felt spread through Tae-ui's chest as he walked a few steps away listening to their words.

He could soon tell who they were talking about. That man who inspired awe and anxiety not just in people from other branches but in his own branch members too. Rigrow, otherwise known as Rick.

"Ah, shit. I don't care if Simon cuts Rick or not, just hope he doesn't do it where Asian bastards can see. What good would come from showing our internal problems to those bastards?"

"That's right. But if I were Simon I would want to kill Rick too."

"I don't like that bastard even though I'm not Simon. What's the point of being on the same team with a guy like that? Just see horrible sights every day. Ah damn, can't we change teams?"

"Since being on the same team with that guy, I can't look at meat normally. Going to become a vegetarian unintentionally."

"Honestly we're lucky to be in the same branch and team. Imagine unluckily meeting him as a sparring opponent or enemy in joint training."

Tae-ui felt a subtle bitterness at their muttering words. It felt like he had starkly realized what kind of person Rigrow was. A person who floated alone, unable to mix even within his own team. Everyone felt both relief and anxious fear at the fact he was on their team. He was someone they never wanted to get close to, yet couldn't have as an enemy.