PASSION Chapter 2 part 1
- HoshiMiya
- Apr 7
- 11 min read
Updated: Apr 8
2. White Hand
Whack! A fierce and fast sound rang out. Immediately following, crimson blood streamed down.
“Argh!”
Alta, clutching his nose, squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Then, seeing the blood flowing over his palm, he glared and burst out in irritation.
“This son of a bitch used cheap tricks again!”
“It’s because the one getting tricked is an idiot…….”
What Alta had wanted was for Jeong Tae-ui to meet his attack head-on and engage in a test of strength, but Jeong Tae-ui had no desire to do that when he knew he would likely lose. This wasn’t a test to fairly assess skill through a proper match, and in actual training where you get hit and beaten, why would I willingly take a clean hit?
So, he’d slightly parried Alta’s attack, deflected it, and in that motion, landed a blow right on Alta’s face, and now Alta was throwing a tantrum like this.
Barely listening to Alta’s shouts and howls, Jeong Tae-ui rummaged in his pocket to offer him a handkerchief. Suddenly, a hand as big as a pot lid flew in from behind and harshly struck the back of Jeong Tae-ui’s head.
“Ayak!”
Clutching the back of his head that had been struck with a thud, tears welling up in his eyes, he turned around to see Carlo standing there. Carlo, who had finished his own match, wore a face that was half amused and half genuinely angry.
“If you keep using cheap tricks like that, you’ll get seriously hurt someday. Fight properly, properly.”
“…Ugh…. I’ve heard that same thing five times already, and this is the sixth time these stupid losers fall for my ‘cheap tricks’.”
Jeong Tae-ui muttered as if feeling wronged. At that, Alta immediately stepped closer, right beside him, and yelled.
“If someone had known beforehand, who do you think would fall for it!”
“If you know beforehand, the usual tactics won’t work against you either.”
Jeong Tae-ui offered a very reasonable defense, but Alta was still seething with anger and kept shouting.
Jeong Tae-ui muttered, "I know, I get it," and stepped back a few paces from him. Then, he suddenly bumped into someone standing behind him, and stopped walking.
“Ah, sorry.”
“Watch where you’re going. And do something about that noisy guy in your team.”
The person he had bumped into, from the opposing team, frowned as he spoke.
As Jeong Tae-ui raised his eyebrows and stared blankly, the man brushed off the shoulder that had bumped against Jeong Tae-ui and walked away.
“What’s with him?”
“He’s from Instructor Golding’s team. A real pain in the ass.”
“Do you know him?”
“I know his face and name, but if you're asking about personal relations, then ‘no’.”
Carlo shrugged and shook his head. Alta, who seemed to have mostly stopped the bleeding, returned the handkerchief, grumbling, “His attitude is really stiff.”
“Did something bad happen with their team? Why is he so aggressive?”
“Nothing bad. But nothing particularly good either. It's always like this.”
“Always?”
“There are more times we compete than cooperate, so why would we be friendly?”
“……Wow, this community is, this… bleak……”
Jeong Tae-ui shook his head. Relations are bad with other branches externally, and even internally, teams don't get along. What kind of human relationships are these?
Staying here much longer, I'll ruin my personality.
Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue, propped his wooden sword, and squatted down. Just then, he was hit on the back of the head a second time.
“Ack!!”
This time, it was weaker than Carlo's hit, but being hit again in the same spot doubled the pain.
Next to Jeong Tae-ui, who was clutching his head again, another thwack sound rang out, and Alta also clutched his head.
“Who sits down to rest in the middle of a sparring match? And Alta, aren't you his sparring partner? If he sits down to rest, you should take that opportunity to beat him mercilessly."
The one saying this with a grin was my uncle, who seemed to have abandoned his good nature long ago.
Tears welling up, Jeong Tae-ui glared at him with blurry vision and muttered.
“Unc……, Instructor Jeong, why are you here? It’s not even your class time right now.”
But there was no answer.
As Jeong Tae-ui said, his uncle, who should be discussing strategy in lecture hall #3 in the West Wing right now, must have come for other business. He walked over to the instructor in charge of the 2nd Martial Arts training, standing at the front. Behind him, a man glanced at Jeong Tae-ui, smiled silently, and followed his uncle.
“Ah, the driver.”
Jeong Tae-ui blurted out.
It was the man who had driven the car when I came here with my uncle, from when we arrived in Hong Kong to when they reached this island. He was wearing an indoor uniform now, making him look a bit more rigid than before, but it was definitely him.
“Driver? Ah, you mean Chief Officer Kang? Well, I guess that guy does drive the Instructor’s car.”
“Chief Officer is another thing entirely.”
“He’s a member just like us, but to put it simply, he’s the instructor’s head secretary. He drives, helps with work, and is also a bodyguard.”
The hierarchy that I thought was simple just keeps sprouting new things as I dig deeper.
As Jeong Tae-ui muttered, “Is it a cornucopia or something?”, he overheard other colleagues murmuring.
“Recently, there’s been sparks flying between instructors. I heard Chaeng fought with Golding not too long ago.”
“Hmm, so that’s why. Promotion to Director General. They say he’s moving to headquarters.”
“Then it’s understandable that they'd be fighting over achievements now. It won't make much difference to us who becomes Director General or Deputy Director though.”
“Don’t be so quick to laugh so comfortably……. Remember when the South American branch got turned upside down? I heard people even died in the fierce behind-the-scenes power struggles back then. If things get serious here, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“Hey, stop it, you’re scaring me. We should just look after our own lives.”
“……”
Jeong Tae-ui rested his chin on the hilt of his wooden sword, staring silently at his uncle. Listening to conversations like that, I felt more and more resentment towards my uncle. Even if only one member here were to die, considering fighting skills and brute strength, I would be among the weakest. I might as well have the number one spot on the death list.
“As expected, the only thing to rely on is luck……. Jae-ui-nim, Jae-ui-nim, please share some of that luck with me…….”
Since coming here, sighing seems to have become a habit.
Jeong Tae-ui let out another long sigh, and then stood up with a “Heave-ho”.
Alta moved on to the next turn, and a new sparring partner returned. Because they were doing team-mixed sparring, his opponent wasn't always from his own team. He sparred a few times with unfamiliar faces.
This time, the new sparring partner who returned was the man from Instructor Golding's team, the one he had bumped into earlier. That opponent also seemed to recognize Jeong Tae-ui, as he frowned. Jeong Tae-ui mumbled awkwardly, "Huh……", scratching his head.
I didn't want to become acquainted like this, he sighed and gripped his wooden sword again. Even though it was a wooden sword, if you got hit by that tree stick, which was adjusted to be heavier than a regular one, it hurt terribly even with protective gear on, so you couldn't relax for a moment. If you were unlucky and got hit wrong, it was straight to the infirmary.
It hadn't even been a week since he arrived here, but Jeong Tae-ui had already visited the infirmary more than ten times. Four of those times were to support and take on a sparring partner who had collapsed, and the rest of the time he had collapsed and had to go himself. The infirmary was also located on the 2nd basement floor, where the lecture halls and practice sparring grounds were, and now he could find it with his eyes closed.
He was gradually getting used to the system of how the branch operated. He had become familiar with his colleagues, and even if he didn't know everyone's names, he had become familiar with the faces of the guys from other teams. Well, there were only about 100 people in total, and during regular course hours, we were constantly face to face, sometimes becoming people who beat each other up, so even if it was to retaliate for getting severely beaten, I couldn't help but become familiar with their faces.
The martial arts training they were doing now had a theme for each hour, and today it was wooden swords. The fact that there were no regulations other than to use the wooden sword efficiently was creating sparring that was infinitely close to brawling.
Jeong Tae-ui looked for openings in the man rushing towards him. As the wooden swords collided head-on, a sharp sound rang out. At the same time, a stinging pressure went through his wrist. This man also seemed to have immense strength.
"Alright, in that case……."
Jeong Tae-ui suddenly grabbed the other man's collar. And then he turned sharply.
The opponent, momentarily faltering, noticed Jeong Tae-ui's opening and ruthlessly struck him with the wooden sword. It feels like I’m going to die from the pain. He was not only incredibly strong but also hit without any restraint.
Jeong Tae-ui swallowed curses under his breath, endured the barrage, and threw away the wooden sword he had been holding in his other hand. Then, grabbing the opponent's collar with both hands, he executed a shoulder throw, sending him crashing down.
It was worth it to have endured the beating and charged unarmed. The opponent, who briefly resisted and staggered, eventually fell onto his back on the floor.
As the man lay sprawled on the ground, Jeong Tae-ui picked up the wooden sword he had thrown away and straightened his collar. Astonishment flashed across the face of the opponent who was just trying to get up from the floor.
“Hey, you don’t mean to tell me you’re going to------.”
“Well, now it’s your turn to get hit a bit.”
Speaking casually and rolling up his sleeves, Jeong Tae-ui began to beat the man with an indifferent expression. The man quickly got to his feet even as he was being hit, but in that brief moment, he was hit at least twice as many times as he had landed.
When the man stood up completely, Jeong Tae-ui stopped hitting him. He had to listen to the man's shouts, who was massaging his forearms and thighs, face flushed crimson and veins bulging in his neck.
“Hey, you ignorant and underhanded bastard! Don’t you even know how to fight?!!”
“What are you talking about? You just experienced it yourself.”
Jeong Tae-ui blinked with a placid expression. Beyond him, Alta—already forgetting how he had been hit in a similar way earlier—was shrugging and laughing.
Face completely red, the man charged at Jeong Tae-ui with his bare hands, wooden sword or not. Seeing the man grab his collar and clench his fist to punch him in the jaw, Jeong Tae-ui slightly frowned and lightly struck the man’s neck with the wooden sword in his hand.
“Cough…….”
“Knowing full well that your opponent is armed, why would you charge in with bare hands……. You have to think of your body.”
Jeong Tae-ui spoke calmly, frowning as if concerned. The man, even while clutching his neck with one hand, didn't let go of Jeong Tae-ui’s collar and staggered back a couple of steps. As a result, Jeong Tae-ui’s top was ripped.
“Hey, listen to what that guy’s saying. ‘Think of your body,’ he says, ‘Think of your body.’ He’s as considerate as a cat is to a mouse.”
“Vicious bastard. If there's a nasty internal crime next time, the victim will definitely be that guy.”
He heard his colleagues whispering from behind.
Jeong Tae-ui stared blankly at his chest, now exposed, and then glared fiercely at the whispering colleagues.
“I can hear you, you know.”
“Well, yeah, unless you’ve got something stuffed in your earholes, you should be able to hear us. Ooh-ooh, hey hey, it’s all visible. Oh my, pink nipples, how cute.”
“……”
This is why I don't associate with guys like them and only like cute and lovely pretty boys. If I had heard those words from someone with the same inclination as me, how much more disgusting would I have felt? If it had been a honey-sweet pretty boy, I might have willingly offered a hundred nipples as bait and hooked his whole body, but hearing such words from an old guy like that is no fun at all.
Jeong Tae-ui grimaced and roughly gathered his clothes, tying the torn edges together. The guy whose neck had been struck by Jeong Tae-ui’s wooden sword seemed to be in quite a bit of pain, still standing frozen like a statue, clutching his neck and panting.
“Why is your uniform in that state? The budget manager is going to be angry.”
As his uncle, who seemed to have finished his business, was heading out again, he scanned Jeong Tae-ui up and down, then chuckled and said.
“It’s only natural for uniforms to wear out, fray, and tear when you’re training, what’s the big deal?”
“But that tear wasn’t from wear and tear. Anyway, even if it’s a spectacular view, it's embarrassing for those looking. Go to Xinlu and ask for a new uniform. While you’re at it, show off your physique a bit.”
His uncle smiled subtly and left.
Following that, unpleasant voices chuckled and snickered, saying things like, ‘Looks like you’re getting to see Xinlu’s face this time,’ ‘While you’re at it, just change right in front of him,’ ‘Even if you’re a bit late, we’ll all understand,’ and so on.
Jeong Tae-ui, who could maintain a perfect poker face in almost everything else, was uniquely unable to hide his feelings when it came to Xinlu. Anyone could tell that he harbored feelings for Xinlu from my flustered attitude and blushing face. Thanks to that, there was no one in the team who didn’t know that I had a crush on Xinlu. Xinlu himself probably knew as well.
Regarding that matter, Jeong Tae-ui felt not just relief, but even a kind of gratitude.
At first, his colleagues tilted their heads, puzzled by Jeong Tae-ui’s attitude towards Xinlu, and then, vaguely suspicious, they cautiously asked, ‘Hey, is your taste by any chance… that way?’ At that time, I momentarily considered denying it. It was because memories from my time in the military flashed through my mind.
The memory of having feelings beyond platonic affection for someone of the same sex, or having sexual relations, being a serious handicap. It was also a reason why my relationships with colleagues weren’t smooth.
However, as expected, I had no intention of hiding it, nor did it seem like I could hide it. So, Jeong Tae-ui nodded. Meeting their gazes with a serious face.
But his colleagues' reactions were anticlimactically bland. A couple of words like, ‘Oh, really,’ was all they said.
‘We’ve been rolling around in this rough world for years, that kind of thing isn’t even something to be surprised about. Just don’t make it too obvious. ……Ah. I like women, so don’t go liking me!’
Perhaps understanding Jeong Tae-ui’s bewildered expression, Carlo muttered in a bored tone before offering advice with a seemingly serious face. Then, suddenly, he wore a sly grin and spoke in a drawling voice.
“So, you like Xinlu, huh. Hmmm… You do know that in-house romance is forbidden, right?”
Starting with his words, from then on, all of his colleagues were like that. It was material for teasing that would last a hundred years.
The nonchalant attitude of his colleagues, in contrast to his past memories, brought relief to Jeong Tae-ui.
However, even while feeling relieved, listening to their teasing and drawling comments still made him bristle.
“If you’re so envious, why don’t you guys rip your clothes and go with me? Though, I doubt you have bodies ugly enough to show to anyone.”
Jeong Tae-ui spoke confidently, looking at his colleagues with a brazen face. At that, the colleagues who had been teasing Jeong Tae-ui just moments ago, in a simplistic manner, quickly became furious and started ranting.
“Ugly?! Did you say ugly?! Look at my magnificent muscles!”
“This wonderfully tanned skin! A reverse triangle body! Women are crazy about it!”
“All that does is make you look uneducated. You’re not balanced at all. ……And it’s not like you have cute pink nipples as a charm point like me.”
Jeong Tae-ui swept his gaze over them with openly mocking eyes, then snorted audibly and walked away.
He could hear the voices of his colleagues shouting and yelling from behind, but it wasn’t the first or second time he had heard it, and it was no more than the buzzing of flies.
***
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Tâmago
Comentários