PASSION Chapter 4 Part 7

Chapter 4 Part 7

His voice muttering as if to himself was barely audible, buried in the chaos. Amid the tumult where surroundings could hardly be distinguished, he raised the pipe with a bored yet irritated look.

And simultaneously.

--CRACK.

Even amid the pandemonium, that sound rang out particularly loud.

It seemed not just to Tae-ui alone.

That chilling silence, perhaps louder than screams, continued as the steel pipe mercilessly struck down several nearby men two, three times without a trace of mercy, making horrific sounds in succession.

The sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking followed one after another.

"Coming all this way is annoying enough, why make such noise?"

Breaking the silence was Rigrow's languid and quiet voice.

Blood dripped thickly from the end of the pipe that had been swung indiscriminately regardless of friend or foe. It seeped into the navy gloves creating black spots. As the spots spread, the gloves gradually turned pitch black.

"That, that bastard..."

Someone suddenly muttered. The end of their words trembled faintly. But that voice became the starting point.

As if wanting to shake off the fear that had instantly spread through the air, shouts and cries covered the corridor.

"Kill him! That demon, die!"

However, despite the screams bursting out everywhere, no one approached him first. Rather, even the European branch members stepped back several paces from him with anxious faces.

Swoosh. Rigrow spun that large heavy pipe as if it were a pen. Then he smiled slightly, and leapt.

What followed was hell.

At the end of the corridor covered in layers of corpse-like bodies, Tae-ui blankly stared at Rigrow's back.

After wondering where such a madman had suddenly sprung from, he realized a moment later.

That man was the same person as the charming man who had been smiling gently while discussing books just earlier.

***

"What a sight, what a sight indeed..."

Tae-ui muttered clicking his tongue the moment he entered the cafeteria.

If nothing else, taking meals no matter what was a common trait of the men in this branch, and the cafeteria equipped to match the number of people was packed full. It seemed like ages since yesterday and the day before when the cafeteria had been unusually empty with half the branch members gone.

The European and Asian branch sides sat divided like a knife's edge. Even if seats opened up on the opposite side when their own side was full, they never sat there, choosing rather to eat standing.

But that wasn't what made it such a sight. That much had been more than expected.

Every single man was injured somewhere. Among them were guys with bloodied bandages wrapped around their cracked heads, and guys with patches big as pot lids stuck all over their shoulders and necks. In severe cases, there were even occasional guys with splints on their arms or legs.

To be in this state before training properly began - the future wasn't just promising, it was daunting.

Only a few who hadn't joined last night's fight or happened to be away then and had no chance to get hurt walked around unscathed. And Tae-ui was one of them. The path before him had been scorched earth, making it impossible to join the fight even if he'd wanted to.

"Man... the breakfast atmosphere is really something."

Moller, who entered the cafeteria behind Tae-ui, muttered as if disgusted. Moller also had patches stuck on his wrist and various places. He had stuck his head out wondering what the noise was about and got lightly hit after nearly getting caught up in it. Though he had no intention of joining the fight, he wasn't the type to just take a hit quietly either, so after beating up his opponent, he had ended up quite injured himself.

After selecting a few items from the self-service options and turning around, Tae-ui stared blankly at the forks and knives in the utensil holder before sighing and taking out only a pair of chopsticks.

"I don't think forks and knives have ever looked so ominous to me before."

He couldn't shake the thought that everyone in the cafeteria was holding weapons.

However, as Tae-ui was about to turn around to find a seat with only chopsticks on his tray, he flinched seeing a man picking up a fork a few steps behind him with a tray containing only toast, salad, and coffee.

"By that logic your chopsticks are the same - come to think of it, things that can't be used as weapons are rarer in this world."

The words "How would you know, sir who doesn't need weapons with just one thumb" rose to the tip of his tongue, but Tae-ui barely swallowed them back.

The man glanced at Tae-ui's tray with just rice, some vegetables, and a few pieces of meat, then spoke familiarly:

"Will that be enough? Haven't you heard you should eat breakfast like a king?"

"I have heard that, but perhaps you haven't heard of the pot calling the kettle black?"

When Tae-ui spoke while staring intently at the man's tray, he laughed out loud. His low quiet laughter sounded pleasant. This man who could be called the source of countless men's countless injuries was spotlessly uninjured himself. Not a single part of his neat attire was disheveled.

"Hmm. Empty seats are hard to spot. ...Ah. There are two seats empty over there. Shall we?"

He gestured to Tae-ui very naturally. Slightly flustered, Tae-ui turned around thinking to use Moller as an excuse to refuse, but Moller, who disliked getting involved in incidents as much as Tae-ui, had already retreated far away and was sitting at another table.

Tae-ui remained silently quiet for a moment, but it seemed ridiculous to say "I can't eat with you because you're European branch" and he couldn't reveal his true thoughts by saying "I want to stay far away from a dangerous rock like you since I don't know when I might get hurt," so he quietly followed behind.

This wasn't good, this was not a good sign.

His uncle had advised him. Just absolutely don't catch attention, and Tae-ui had of course taken that advice to heart. Even without that advice, it was what he wanted himself.

Last night he had unfortunately run straight into it not knowing that man would be staying in his room, but he thought that would be it. Thankfully it had passed without incident - though the men making noise in the corridor had major incidents - and he had been thinking with relief that from today he would really live treading only in corners and shadows, but.

"Does it bother you a lot?"

He hadn't expected this man smiling broadly before him would deliberately speak to him. He had thought yesterday's events would naturally pass as yesterday's events, and today would be today's events, but.

Tae-ui gruffly asked the man sitting across from him while scooping rice with his chopsticks:

"What do you mean, does it bother me?"

It wasn't an answer meaning nothing bothered him. There wasn't just one or two things bothering him, but he couldn't tell which aspect the man was asking about. Whether it was the fact that the worst person to watch out for had spoken to him first, or the somehow seemingly friendly way he was speaking, or the cold gazes of the people sitting at the six-person table occupied by European branch members.

The man heard Tae-ui's answer and smiled.

"I thought you must be quite gutsy to sit right in the middle of a table of European branch members."

At those calmly smiling words, Tae-ui looked at him disapprovingly with chopsticks in his mouth.

"You're the one who suggested coming here. And there weren't any other empty seats."

Though saying this, Tae-ui was far from comfortable. Not just at his table but all the surrounding tables were full of European branch members. Arrow-like gazes poured down like rain. Though it seemed like someone should say "Go sit somewhere else with your friends," the fact they didn't was probably eight or nine out of ten because of this man sitting before him.

The men at the same table closed their mouths flinching when Tae-ui and this walking weapon, Rigrow, sat down. At that moment, Tae-ui could well guess what kind of treatment this man received even from people of his own branch.

...Come to think of it, maybe he hadn't beaten them up because they were Asian branch members, but because he beat up anyone who annoyed him regardless of who they were.

"Surely he doesn't act the same way within his own branch too...?"

When Tae-ui muttered to himself while eating, Rigrow seemed to hear and asked back:

"Who?"

At that moment Tae-ui's chopsticks paused very briefly, but he soon picked up vegetables as if nothing had happened.

Ah, no, no good. Must absolutely not catch attention. Whether in a good or bad way, just not catching attention is best. Should just eat and quickly disappear, never appearing before this man again.

Beside Tae-ui who was silently shoveling rice, the European branch members at the same table got up and flowed out like the tide, perhaps having finished eating. Though four seats emptied at once, no one came to sit there.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard your name yet."

Rigrow's casually muttered words reached his ears. The moment Tae-ui heard those words, his heart dropped.