Passion (BL Novel)

The young man Joo Hyuk had encountered earlier kept lingering in his mind.
"...Good grief. I'm not a teenage boy, so what is this behavior... Get a hold of yourself, Joo Tae-ui."

He rubbed his face, which was showing signs of getting red, and clicked his tongue. He even slapped his own cheek a couple of times to snap himself out of it.
What kind of place is this branch? Throwing a young, fragile boy into such a rough island. Still, considering he was on this floor, it seemed he wasn’t a member...
Joo Tae-ui’s thought paused abruptly.

This is the first basement floor. The members stay on my floor. The people on this floor... Could it be that the boy is actually a chief, a deputy, or an instructor...?
Joo Tae-ui’s face stiffened slightly. He was merely flipping through the pages of the book in his hand, but his mind went blank.
And then, a soft, faint mechanical sound pulled him back from his thoughts.

Turning toward the source of the sound, Joo Tae-ui saw it was coming from the phone on the desk. The quiet and soft mechanical noise persisted. The red blinking light on the lamp seemed to be signaling something, and the small monitor above it glowed with a dim, vague light.
Joo Tae-ui turned his head away. The sound of running water from the bathroom had stopped. He thought his uncle might be finishing up his bath, but soon he heard the light splashing of water, followed by a low humming. His uncle must be soaking in the tub.
The phone still didn’t disconnect, so Joo Tae-ui set the book down on the desk and stood up. He walked over to the bathroom and knocked gently on the glass door.

"Uncle—there’s a call for you."
"A call? At this hour? Ah, I know who it is. Take the call for me and make a note of it. I’ll stay in here for a bit longer."
His uncle’s voice, responding to Joo Tae-ui’s words, was completely devoid of surprise. He must have known the call was coming from the moment Joo Tae-ui entered the room. Despite coming in without a sound, it was clear his uncle wasn’t one to miss any subtle signs. Joo Tae-ui sighed inwardly.

"If you knew someone was coming, you should have thought to finish up your bath earlier, uncle."
A low chuckle echoed from inside the bathroom in response to Joo Tae-ui’s murmur.
"Why would I hurry when I know it’s you?"

Right, his uncle had always been like that.
Clicking his tongue, Joo Tae-ui returned to the desk, but in the meantime, the call had ended. "The call’s dropped, uncle." He shouted toward the bathroom before picking the book back up and sitting down.
Bathing... By now, that young man must have entered the bathroom too...

Joo Tae-ui’s face flushed again. His ears felt like they were burning.
The peach-toned, soft skin would likely have a warm, rosy glow from the hot water. The faint, soothing scent of soap or baby lotion might linger around him. It made Joo Tae-ui want to embrace him.
"…What’s wrong with me… I just brushed past him... Why do I feel like this? Joo Tae-ui."
Joo Tae-ui sighed and muttered, fanning his face with his hand. He wasn’t exactly in love with the young man, nor was he even attracted to him. He didn’t know him well enough to have those kinds of feelings. But the image kept coming back to him.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time today, Joo Tae-ui absentmindedly fanned himself with the thick book in his hand. Then, the faint mechanical sound returned. The lamp blinked again.
He was about to call his uncle when he realized it wouldn’t help. He thought about how he had no pen or paper to write down the message, and hoped the request would be simple enough to remember.
"Hello?"

As soon as Joo Tae-ui answered, the screen on the small monitor above the lamp lit up. A face appeared, presumably the person who had placed the call.
The angle of the camera wasn’t wide enough to see clearly, but it seemed to be a private room. White walls were visible, and a built-in wardrobe could be seen in the corner of the screen.
The screen also showed part of the body of the person on the other side. Due to the narrow angle, only a portion of their light blue shirt near their chest was visible. And from the sleeve, a hand holding a mug was visible.

The hand was white—delicate and fine, the kind of hand that seemed best suited for playing piano. It looked small holding the large mug, but its pale and beautiful appearance was striking. The fingernails were as pristine and translucent as glass.
‘Who is this?’ Joo Tae-ui thought, looking at the screen.
A mechanical voice interrupted his thoughts.

The sound, perhaps from the phone settings, was stiff and overlapped with an automatic message, like an answering machine.
The white hand in the screen set the mug down and lightly tapped its rim with a long finger.
‘Is this Jeong Chang-in?’

"Oh—he’s in the bathroom right now. If you have a message, I can pass it on."
Joo Tae-ui answered while still mesmerized by the beautiful hand, staring at it.
For a moment, there was silence on the other end of the line.

He was amazed at how that hand moved—it looked so lifelike. Just as he was about to speak again, the voice came back, almost whispering.
‘So, who are you? The one receiving the call from that room?’
Joo Tae-ui noticed that the voice seemed to soften, as though slightly confused. The mechanical sound had also lessened, and the beautiful hand slowly caressed the mug.

He wasn’t sure what to say but settled on the safest response.
"I’m the nephew of the owner of this room, enjoying his bath while ignoring the call. If you have a message, I’ll take it down. But I have no paper or pen, so I hope it’s brief. I have a bad memory."
After he finished speaking, a soft chuckle came from the other end of the line.

‘Ah, then you must be the second nephew. What’s your name?’
"…Jeong Tae-ui. And you?"
Joo Tae-ui quickly realized the man knew who he was. Or, more accurately, he knew about Jeong Chang-in’s family relations. He knew there were two nephews, one of whom was very well-known for his intelligence.

The fact that Jeong Tae-ui was Chang-in’s nephew was likely common knowledge in the branch, so it wasn’t surprising that the man knew.
There was a short pause on the other end, then the voice spoke again.
‘Ilay.’

Joo Tae-ui nodded. "Ilay," he repeated. It was an easy name to remember.
Ilay, after revealing his name, was silent for a moment. Another hand appeared in the frame, this time the left one, mirroring the right. Both hands clasped together.
Joo Tae-ui sighed involuntarily, remembering the image of those beautiful hands. Finally, Ilay spoke.

‘Why are you sighing?’
"No... Have you never heard someone say your hands are beautiful?"
‘Hands?’

Ilay responded, seemingly confused, as if inspecting his own hands. The hands in the screen uncrossed and moved, and the fingers bent in such a graceful way they could have been part of a painting.
He clenched his hands briefly before uncrossing his fingers again, speaking with a playful tone.
‘Well, that’s a first. You like my hands?’

"Yes, they’re beautiful."
‘Haha, well, then feel free to take them. But only after I die. You can replace my arms with yours. After all, it’s a shame for a body to have no hands.’
"…I’d rather not. My hands wouldn’t suit your body. They’d just float weakly around."

Joo Tae-ui furrowed his brow at the unsettling joke. Ilay laughed softly as though he found it amusing.
‘Well, I suppose they wouldn’t suit. Your face goes much better with your hands.’
Ilay’s voice, filled with amusement, echoed through the line.

Joo Tae-ui, realizing the camera on the other side was capturing more of his face than it should, lightly tapped the phone’s lens.
"It seems like this lens has a wider angle. It’s not bad just looking at your pretty hands filling the screen."
Ilay’s laugh echoed in response.

‘So, does that mean you’ve joined the Asian branch?’
Joo Tae-ui shrugged at Ilay’s question.
"Yeah, thanks to my uncle, I got in without any formal procedures."

‘Ah, a parachute entry.’
Ilay’s lighthearted comment made Joo Tae-ui chuckle. It was true, after all.
Just then, the sound of water running from the bathroom reached them. It seemed like his uncle had finally finished bathing and was rinsing off.

"It sounds like Uncle’s coming out soon. Should I wait, or do you want me to pass on the message? Or maybe you want to call again?"
Realizing he hadn’t even heard the message that was supposed to be passed on, Joo Tae-ui spoke again, but Ilay’s response came lazily.
‘He found the book he was looking for. Mythology by Laurent Gastié, 1925 edition. 3500 dollars.’

"Okay. Mythology by Laurent Gastié, 1925 edition, 3500..."
Joo Tae-ui paused as he repeated the details, then fell into a thoughtful silence.
He had heard of the book before and had wanted to see it, but this price was shocking.

"3500 dollars? For a book?"
Ilay, as if reading his thoughts, laughed out loud.
‘If you tell Jeong Instructor, he’ll be thrilled, thinking it was a bargain. You should tell him that. Maybe thank the seller next time you can.’

The beautiful hands in the screen gave a slight nod, and the phone call ended.
Joo Tae-ui stared blankly at the now dark screen, exhaling a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair.
He had known rare books were expensive, but this? He didn’t realize they went for that much. Looking around his uncle’s room and the house, he realized it was a treasure trove. No wonder the place had been robbed by book thieves.

As he wondered how much the book on his desk might be worth, his uncle came out of the bathroom, drying his hair, and approached, patting him on the shoulder.
"Why are you staring at the books? If you want to read them, you can borrow them. Just be careful with them,
they’re hard to come by."

"3500 dollars? I’m not brave enough to borrow a book like that."
"3500 dollars? That’s not how much I paid for it. Who told you that?"
His uncle wrapped a wet towel around Joo Tae-ui’s neck and threw on a robe.

 
As he removed the wet towel, Joo Tae-ui sat back in his chair and tilted his head back, lazily speaking to his uncle, who was visible upside down.
"Seems like someone who could be the owner of an old bookstore... Their hands were really beautiful."

"Hands? Who are you talking about?"
Joo Tae-ui raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. He thought his uncle would understand with just that much information. Was it just him who thought those delicate, white hands were beautiful?
"He apparently got The Mythology by Laurent Gastié. The 1925 edition. They said it’s 3500 dollars."

"What? The Mythology by Laurent Gastié?"
His uncle’s face lit up immediately. His eyes widened, and a broad smile spread across his face as he moved closer to Joo Tae-ui, even his hands seeming to glow with joy as he adjusted his robe.
"Uncle… These books, did you collect them with such huge sums of money? If there was ever a fire, you’d be crying blood."

"What are you saying? The 1925 edition of Mythology at that price is a bargain. A bargain. So, who’s this nice middleman? I should call them and thank them."
"Illei."
When Joo Tae-ui said the name of the hand’s owner, his uncle froze. Then, with a very strange expression, he stared at Joo Tae-ui. For a few seconds, his face showed confusion as if he hadn’t recognized the name, but it seemed to have clicked, and he nodded with a sound of recognition. However, the next moment, his uncle stared at him even more strangely.

"...Who?"
"Illei, I think. I didn’t catch the full name. They seemed to be someone you knew well. When I mentioned I was his nephew, he immediately knew I was the second one."
"Illei... He said that?" His uncle’s face suddenly became even more perplexed.

"That’s what I heard... But now that you mention it, I’m not sure. Maybe it was the mechanical sound on the phone that made it hard to hear. Do you have any idea who he is?"
Joo Tae-ui added, "I’ll call back using the caller ID, so don’t worry about the book."
His uncle shook his head. "No, I know who he is. It’s just that I hadn’t heard that name in a long time, so I had forgotten about it."

"Does he have multiple names?"
Joo Tae-ui muttered, half-joking, "Isn’t that a sign of a con artist?" But the calm, smooth voice and the image of those elegant, beautiful hands made it hard to link the word "con artist" to him. The image of a rare book dealer did fit, but it was hard to say if the voice and hands alone could define a person.
"His hands were truly beautiful."

As Joo Tae-ui murmured this, his uncle, who had been opening a bottle of wine, looked at him with a complicated expression.
"Hands... Hmm, I never really noticed, but now that I think about it, they might have been quite beautiful."
"Maybe it’s just me. He also said he’s never heard anyone mention his hands being beautiful."

"That makes sense."
His uncle said it with such an obvious tone that Joo Tae-ui briefly doubted his own aesthetic taste.
His uncle, with his usual calm face, smiled faintly and turned the corkscrew with his fingertips. It didn’t take long before he removed the cork and mumbled to himself.

"If it was a scary hand, I’d understand, but he’s probably never heard anyone say his hands were beautiful."
"Yeah, his fingernails were neatly arranged like pieces of glass... It was a scary kind of beautiful hand."
His uncle didn’t respond to Joo Tae-ui’s words and just smiled.

"So, this is where Tow taught you? Since it's close to the elevator, it wasn’t hard to find, right?"
His uncle changed the subject. For a moment, as Joo Tae-ui recalled the white hands, the small grudge he had toward his uncle came back to him. He had been cursing his uncle earlier for the confusing building structure. Then, the image of the cotton-candy-like young man from the communal bathroom popped up again.
Once again, his face turned red.

His uncle, who was taking two glasses out from the cupboard, observed Joo Tae-ui with a curious look, a hint of amusement in his eyes. It seemed like he found it entertaining to watch the sudden shift in Joo Tae-ui’s expression, from an angry face to one of flushed embarrassment.
"Why? Did something happen? ...Did our team play a prank on you? They tend to do that sometimes. They’re not bad, but when a new member arrives, they get excited and play silly pranks. It’s like how little kids play tricks on the ones they like."
His uncle, imagining some situation, comforted Joo Tae-ui as if to say, "Don’t worry about it, it’s just boys being boys."

Joo Tae-ui wondered if what his uncle imagined was actually a worse situation, but he shook his head and replied, "I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I had no problems with the team. I did get hit a bit, but that was mostly my fault."
"Really? Then what’s the problem? Tow must have /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ been with you, so you would have run into those guys right away. So the problem must have come up after you separated from them."
The sweet fragrance from the golden liquid his uncle was handing over made Joo Tae-ui click his tongue bitterly.

"Uncle, you said the guards live on this floor, right?"
"That’s right. Other members, including the guards, are on the 6th floor below. Why? Do you want to move up? Then get promoted."
His uncle laughed as he made a joke. His eyes were focused on Joo Tae-ui, probing for the reason behind his sudden comment.

"...I got lost while trying to find the elevator, and I ran into someone."
Joo Tae-ui casually began speaking, but the moment the person crossed his mind again, he felt uneasy. His uncle observed Joo Tae-ui’s changing face, waiting for him to continue.
"That person seemed like they were about to enter the bathroom, but they helped me find my way."

"...Ah, I see. Who was it? Didn’t you ask for their name?"
His uncle, with a faint smile, asked again. Joo Tae-ui shook his head.
"No, I just asked for directions. They looked pretty young. Depending on how you look at it, they might not even be an adult yet. Soft, fluffy-looking... They looked a bit Western, but maybe they were of Chinese descent."

"Ah, they look young? Tsk tsk, your tastes never change. I had a feeling."
His uncle tilted his head, recognizing something, and Joo Tae-ui glared at him, his face heating up again.
"So, are you saying there’s a minor here?"

"No, there isn’t... And so what if there is? You just wait patiently for a while, then take care of them once they grow up. Kids grow up in the blink of an eye."
"Uncle, that’s not what I mean... So, who is that person?"
Joo Tae-ui asked grumpily, already knowing that his uncle would know exactly who the person was.

His uncle, despite turning away and pretending to be indifferent, glanced at Joo Tae-ui’s flushed face. He tilted his head and looked at him with an amused expression before breaking into a quiet laugh.
"...You innocent fool. From what Jae-i told me, I heard their romantic life was pretty complicated. And yet, here you are, reacting like this. There’s even been a knife fight between two men over you."
"Did my brother really say that?"

Joo Tae-ui frowned, clicking his tongue.
It was true. There had been a time when he had casually shared a bed with a guy he thought was cute, but the guy turned out to have an overly picky and stubborn personality.
But they never became a couple. The guy had even said so himself: "We’re just friends who share a bed when we feel like it."

And Joo Tae-ui had believed him without doubt. But it turned out that it wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
Joo Tae-ui had no idea why, but he was somewhat popular at certain clubs, so not long after, another person had approached him. And... chaos had followed.
This new person wasn’t average either, and what happened next was a bloody mess.

Thanks to that, Joo Tae-ui was even called in for questioning at the police station, and the rumors about him even spread to his school, where he had been a cadet at the time. His life had been a series of unfortunate events ever since.
"So, who is this person?"
Joo Tae-ui muttered, a bit more bluntly. His uncle smiled and shrugged before speaking.

"You’ll probably meet him again soon. He’s a staff member in charge of welfare and internal affairs."
"...Shin Lu? Is he living on this floor too?"
"Yeah. Everyone else, except for the members, stays on this floor. Even if outside guests come, they stay on this floor. When people from other branches come for joint training, they stay on the same floor as you."

"Ah..."
Joo Tae-ui muttered absentmindedly.
Right, he hadn’t thought of the staff member. When he thought about it, the guy didn’t have much muscle, nor could Joo Tae-ui find any scars. Such a body couldn’t belong to a member; he wasn’t a tough officer who had been through rough times either. The only option left was Shin Lu. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

Joo Tae-ui scratched his neck, deep in thought, then suddenly remembered the smooth and soft skin of that person, which made his face redden again. As he noticed his uncle staring at him, Joo Tae-ui shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts, but it didn’t help.
"Living this long, I get to see all these sides of you. Guess that’s what happens when you live a long time."
His uncle said in a tone of surprise—yet it was clear he was enjoying the moment, shaking his head with a smile.

Joo Tae-ui glared at his uncle in frustration, but then he suddenly remembered the reason he had come here.
"But really, Uncle. You’re being too much. I just thought I’d safely hang around for six months, but now it’s like some kind of survival game."
"Mm?"

"During joint training, people die all the time, and the injuries are countless. I didn’t expect you to drag me into this kind of situation."
Though he hadn’t heard it said that dramatically, Joo Tae-ui exaggerated slightly, and his uncle gave him a dismissive look.
"Yeah, sure. Some minor injuries or a hospital trip might happen, but it’s rare that anyone dies. Don’t worry about it."

"Yes... But you know, Uncle, that if I get seriously hurt, it’s a problem."
"Yeah, I know. If something major happens, I’ll take you to the best hospital. Don’t worry, I didn’t bring you here to kill you."
His uncle laughed lightly as he spoke. Joo Tae-ui sighed.

His uncle was right—if something happened, his uncle would immediately handle it. It wasn’t about love for his nephew, but rather a sense of obligation to do what needed to be done, and he had never been negligent about it.
So Joo Tae-ui didn’t worry too much about that. He was more concerned with the ominous signs he was seeing for the future.
And the truth was, Joo Tae-ui couldn’t afford to get seriously hurt.

Of course, it was the same for anyone, but Joo Tae-ui’s body didn’t react well to surgery. No matter his will, his body was tricky and had a much higher rejection rate for foreign materials than normal. He had once been injured while defusing a mine, and when they inserted pins to fix broken bones, he had such a violent rejection that he had to undergo another surgery.
"Well, I’ll head out now before it gets too late. You should rest too, Uncle."
"This book, didn’t you take it out to read? Take it with you if you want to read it."

His uncle, seeing Joo Tae-ui stand up, took the book from the desk and handed it to him.
Joo Tae-ui stared at the book for a moment. Though it was carefully preserved, the passage of time had made it slightly yellowed. The thought of the 3500-dollar price tag made him hesitant to touch it.
"No... I’d rather read it here. It’s such a rare book, I’d feel guilty taking it."

"Really? I don’t mind, but if that’s easier for you, then sure. When you get the room key from Shin Lu, ask him for the spare key to my room as well. I’ll let him know. Then you’ll go right away to get the key and the guidelines, right?"
At his uncle’s words, Joo Tae-ui froze.
He had indeed planned to go to the office after leaving this room to get the key and so on. He had also intended to ask the person on duty to call the responsible officer.

But right now, that officer would be in the bathroom. Even if he tried calling, there was no guarantee the message would get through, and if it did, it would just make things more complicated.
What should he do? As Joo Tae-ui nervously scratched his head, his uncle, noticing his thoughts, spoke up.
"If it’s Shin Lu, he’s probably done with his bath and is working in his room. His blood pressure is low, so he doesn’t stay in the bath long, and he’s a bit of a workaholic. He’ll be working, so you won’t be bothering him if you call."

Joo Tae-ui, locking eyes with his uncle, let out a deep breath and shook his head, trying to clear his mind. However, it didn’t work.
Right, he was drawn to Shin Lu. Even if he didn’t recognize it as love, he definitely wanted to see him again, learn more about him. What was that?
Joo Tae-ui became a little more shameless. It wasn’t something to hide; he was interested in him.

His uncle noticed Joo Tae-ui’s expression and smiled a little wistfully before shaking his head and calmly saying:
"Falling for someone is a wonderful thing. To love and be loved—that’s the foundation of the world."
"…Uncle, sometimes you say things that make me feel embarrassed."

Joo Tae-ui muttered, neither offended nor particularly happy, as he looked at his uncle, and then left the room, leaving his uncle’s laughter behind.