PASSION Chapter 4 Part 4

Chapter 4 Part 4

Feeling the cold sensation fitting snugly in his hand, Tae-ui glanced at Moller. Moller, with his back turned diagonally to him, was still deeply absorbed in his puzzle.

Personal weapons were prohibited within the branch. At most they turned a blind eye to knives or non-lethal guns. Sometimes gun enthusiasts would secretly hide guns and when caught would futilely insist they were toys, but the feel in his hand was real.

Tae-ui gripped the Beretta and lightly tapped the grip against his other palm a couple times. The magazine was loaded too. It could be fired immediately just by releasing the safety.

Just then Moller casually turned his head while spinning his pen. And he saw it. The Beretta in Tae-ui's hand.

His expression changed instantly. With a flustered face he jumped up and rushed over trying to snatch the Beretta from Tae-ui. Tae-ui reflexively stepped back.

Slowly Moller's face changed as if he had bitten a bug. Tae-ui went "Ah" internally and smiled broadly.

"Is this yours? This is a violation of weapons laws."

"Give it back, man! That model was hard to get!"

Moller shouted with a sullen face and thrust out his hand.

Come to think of it, he had briefly heard from Tou before. That his roommate was a gun maniac who kept model guns stashed all around the room.

Since someone like Tou wouldn't mistake a real gun for a model gun, it seemed he really did keep model guns stashed around too. This must be the gun enthusiast he had vaguely heard rumors about. For someone who had been buried in puzzles, it was an unexpected hobby.

"You should remove the bullets at least, the bullets."

Tae-ui obediently handed him the gun.

This was how it was. This place was full of subtly dangerous people everywhere. No wonder he worried about surviving here.

Tae-ui suddenly yanked Moller while grumbling. Then he reached inside his vest and felt around. Moller let out a strange cry and hunched his body.

"Hey! Where are you touching!"

"What's the big deal between men, just stay still. ...Aha."

"Hey, hey! Come to think of it, I heard you've got designs on Shin Lu! Hey, don't touch me, I'm pure! I don't have those kinds of interests in men!"

"I don't have the slightest desire to do anything with you either... More importantly, what's this?"

Tae-ui pulled out a small piece of metal that Moller had kept in a specially made pocket inside his vest, grinning all the while.

"Oh ho, a .22 caliber Colt... How cute. What were you planning to do carrying something like this around?"

"Give me back my baby! Why do you keep messing with my kids!"

Moller snatched the Colt from Tae-ui's hand irritably. While letting him take the gun back easily, Tae-ui clicked his tongue.

It seemed there was always one of these types wherever you went. Before, one of his classmates had been obsessed with guns and decorated his whole house with model guns. When he had asked admiringly "How do you not get caught with these?" the guy had flashed his eyes and threatened "As long as you don't go telling anyone, I won't get caught," so he had decided to keep his mouth shut.

Regardless of actual use, Tae-ui had seen about two people in the past who were so captivated by guns themselves that they couldn't escape their allure. And now he had found another one here.

"You're Instructor Jung's nephew, right?"

Moller glared at Tae-ui with fierce eyes. Tae-ui went "Hmm" trailing off before smiling.

"If I told uncle that my roommate was crazy about guns, you'd probably shoot me before he could burst in here?"

"Of course! I'll kill you if you tell anyone!"

While making an obviously empty threat, Moller tucked the Colt back inside his clothes.

"Do you always carry that... You'll get caught."

"Just keep your mouth shut!"

Moller shouted before returning to his desk. His hands roughly opening the puzzle magazine after glaring once at Tae-ui were clearly irritated.

Tae-ui smiled wryly and resumed unpacking. However, what little unpacking there was finished in an instant, making the word "unpacking" seem excessive.

Tae-ui sat on the bed and looked around the room. Unlike his room which he used alone, this room was filled to its capacity of three people. Moreover, compared to Tae-ui's room which had almost no belongings since he disliked keeping things to begin with, this place was so full of miscellaneous items it would be no exaggeration to say it was packed.

Tae-ui suddenly smiled. Rather than feeling unfamiliar, it felt nostalgic.

Whether at military academy or in the BOQ - Bachelor Officers' Quarters - in the military, he had shared rooms with classmates and colleagues. Then too, there were times when the room was full of things because one of his roommates couldn't throw anything away and kept everything. Eventually that time, another colleague couldn't stand it anymore and yelled at him to throw some things away, which led to some discord before being resolved.

Though this room had a lot of things, it was better than then. This level could be called appropriately lived-in.

Even as Tae-ui was slightly lost in nostalgia in the unfamiliar room, noisy and fierce sounds continued unabated outside. Occasionally there were also sounds like cans colliding or metal being kicked. It wouldn't have been strange at all if a fight broke out at any moment.

Eventually the unsettling sounds in the corridor seemed to die down briefly, perhaps as the European branch members went into their assigned rooms. Though they shared the men's quarters on the same floor, perhaps not wanting to create unnecessary sparks for fighting, the instructors had appropriately divided the areas, assigning the side near the east stairs to this branch's members and the side near the west stairs to European branch members.

So Tae-ui had thought there would be fewer chances for conflict since they used different bathrooms and toilets, but that thinking seemed naive. The atmosphere was such that even meeting at opposite ends of the corridor would lead to pointing fingers and shouting before losing control and rushing to tear at each other.

There should have been someone to stop them but relations were so bad that there was hardly anyone who would even pretend to stop them. At most the instructors or officers made a formal show of stopping them, but if serious fighting broke out it seemed it would be unstoppable.

"Just have to be careful not to get caught in the crossfire between whales..."

Tae-ui muttered to himself clicking his tongue. Hearing that, Moller glanced at Tae-ui. He nodded his head largely as if agreeing before becoming absorbed in his puzzle again.

Tae-ui smiled wryly. Though he had seen enough of simple men's tendency to burn with desire to cooperate and defeat a common enemy to be tired of it and didn't dislike such atmospheres, he had rarely actually participated. At most perhaps in light events like sports days. So naturally it was natural that he had no desire to participate in this fiery atmosphere where there were actually casualties.

Full joint training would start tomorrow but things were like this from first sight - how promising.

Tae-ui scratched his head recalling his uncle's words that were more like a curse than blessing saying "you probably won't die."

Well, since they said the most deaths in any joint training was six people, calculating six out of ninety total would be 1/15, or about 6.7%. Rounded up to 7%.

Though they say "what if" kills people, surely he wouldn't be among those unfortunate six or seven. Plus since that was the historical worst, it would be less than that.

Tae-ui tapped his increasingly heavy stomach area. Then turning his gaze, he looked at the bookshelf filling one corner of the room. He had heard rumors that Tick Nat who shared the room with Tou - now gone to the South American branch - was a bookworm, and indeed there were quite a lot of books. The bookshelf in Tick Nat's portion was densely packed with books two and three deep. He wouldn't be bored for lack of reading material while staying in this room.

"...Ah."

Right then, Tae-ui suddenly muttered with a slight frown.

Why had he forgotten until now? Of all things to forget - seeing the books reminded him. He had left the book he borrowed from his uncle in his room. That $3,500 book - though his uncle had said he wouldn't pay up to $3,500 for it, in Tae-ui's mind all the books on his uncle's shelves had already become $3,500 books.

He had left it on the desk last night while reading. Though it probably wouldn't get damaged mixed in with other books, still it was the most valuable thing among his belongings, and the weight of responsibility was heavy since it wasn't his possession.

"Oh no... I should go get it."

Tae-ui scratched his head and clicked his tongue.

Though there probably weren't people free enough to mess with books, still he felt uneasy thinking about something that wasn't his being abandoned for two weeks. Moreover, it was $3,500 that he couldn't take responsibility for and would be hard to find again even if paid for.

Though he didn't know what kind of guy would be sitting in his room, surely they wouldn't pick a fight just because he briefly returned to his room. No matter how bad relations were between branches, surely it wouldn't go that far. Besides, it was originally his room.

Though Tae-ui felt somewhat uncomfortable recalling Tou's words about territory violation and the fierce atmosphere that transmitted perfectly even through walls, he stood up trying to think positively. If anything happened he could just grab the book and run. Surely they wouldn't follow him to this room to cause trouble. That would definitely lead to a brawl - he could only hope they weren't stupid enough to cross such a dangerous bridge.

It wouldn't be like that. Though he often - or rather almost always - forgot this fact, these men who had entered UNHRDO were originally gentle elite personnel.

As Tae-ui patted his chest a couple times to reassure himself and rose to return to his room, there was a sign of the door opening. Tou was coming in. Following that, a thunderous sound rang out as the door slammed shut hard enough to break.