Passion (BL Novel)

After a 5-minute break, it was time to switch positions and resume training.

The men came out of the restroom, and soon those who had been running around all this time started to enter one by one, drenched in sweat.

Jeong Tae-ui, exiting the restroom, felt dejected as he thought. He had been saying his luck was bad lately, but it seemed endless. If he had to hear words he would have been better off not hearing, he would have rather spent the entire hour running around and swinging a rubber baton against the wall.

There is a crime called "aiding and abetting." It's a crime that occurs when one helps someone else commit a crime.

Jeong Tae-ui, while pulling out an ion drink from the vending machine, tried to recall memories from his studies.

Though he couldn't claim to have lived a perfectly clean life, he thought he had followed the law reasonably well, but now it seemed like he was veering off the right path in this way. And what's worse, aiding and abetting could even be considered manslaughter. It wasn't strange to call this branch of operations a lawless state, but thinking about manslaughter made Jeong Tae-ui even more despondent. He picked up his ion drink gloomily.
During the 5-minute break, the people recharged. Those who were being chased took the chance to satisfy the desires they couldn't fulfill while being chased, preparing to go after others, while those who had been chasing stayed a safe distance away and moved to a different spot. Of course, some remained unfazed, thinking, 'It doesn’t matter who chases me; I'll just fight back.'

Jeong Tae-ui, if he had to put it that way, was of the latter type. He wasn’t good at fighting enough to think he could just face it, but it seemed like it didn’t matter where he went. The only difference would be how many minutes the start of the running game would be delayed. Either way, he would have to fight off those enemies swinging clubs at him.

He had briefly walked around the building during the past hour, but as expected, there were no good hiding spots. Running away was actually difficult. If enemies attacked from both front and back simultaneously, it would be a disaster. Plus, since he wasn’t like Carl Lewis, it would be difficult to outrun them completely.

So the method that seemed best among the options was...

"Dead ends, dead ends... where would there be a narrow dead-end alley?"

As he drank the ion drink from the vending machine, he walked with steady steps. After thinking about the building's layout for a moment, a suitable place came to mind.

The fifth basement floor, a narrow hallway between the library and the west stairs, where a water dispenser was placed. It was the perfect size for someone to pass by to get a drink. The only downside was that it was right next to the stairs, where people often passed by, but on second thought, it would be easy to escape to that direction in an emergency.

All he had to do was hold out for just one more hour. Then, he could rest for an hour—unless someone earned his ire during the next hour, in which case he would be chasing after them for revenge instead of resting—but even if things went poorly, he'd likely only get beaten up for an hour. It was unlikely he’d actually die. Aside from being ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ a member of the Asian branch, he had never earned any personal, special grudges with any of the European branch members. Just one troublesome guy had noticed him, though.

Thinking about that person made him feel even gloomier. Rather than feeling depressed, it was more of a vexed feeling.

Knowing that someone else was scheming to do something bad while allowing it to happen was bound to make anyone feel this way, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant. Even if the person was someone Jeong Tae-ui himself had desperately wished would disappear from the world.

While he was thinking this, the 5 minutes passed. As Jeong Tae-ui reached the fifth basement floor, he could already hear the distant sounds of chaotic shouting behind him as he ran towards his destination.

No one was around the water dispenser next to the library. It was in such a corner that very few people came here. Jeong Tae-ui entered directly in front of the dispenser. In the narrow, long path that could only fit one person, he crumpled the empty ion drink can in his hand.

The voices of the people grew closer and then faded away. He could hear the sounds of fighting and shouting not too far off. Jeong Tae-ui lightly swung the baton in his hand.

It would be great if, for the next hour, no one passed by here and he could hide, but it didn’t seem likely. Occasionally, shadows of people could be seen going up and down the west stairs through the translucent glass. If anyone opened the glass door and came in, they would make eye contact with him immediately.
How much time had passed?

Just when it didn’t seem like much time had passed, the situation Jeong Tae-ui had hoped to avoid finally occurred. The glass door suddenly swung open, and two or three men barged in. Unfortunately, they were the ones chasing him—the European branch members.

"Hey, found one!"
"What? Hiding in a corner like this? But it’s right next to the stairs. He must have known he'd be found, why was he here?"
"Yeah. A water dispenser, too. Good. Let’s deal with him quickly and get a drink. I was thirsty."
"It's troublesome, really troublesome."

As Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue and swung the metal pipe, he saw a familiar face ascending the stairs beyond the glass door. Even from behind, there was no mistaking who it was. It was Ilay Regrow.
Just like in the video from that day, he was casually climbing the stairs with no weapon in hand, still wearing his dark gloves. Every time his hand touched the railing, small black handprints were left behind where his gloves had made contact. The gloves were still soaked in blood.
He didn’t notice Jeong Tae-ui and continued climbing with a face that seemed intrigued by something, looking up toward the upper floors. The top floor of this building, the 4th floor, was off-limits and locked, while the next one up was the 3rd floor, which contained the martial arts room.

Suddenly, Jeong Tae-ui remembered the conversation he had overheard from the men earlier.
─ "I'll push him into that place somehow, and we'll finish him off in there."
─ "But will it be okay? If we use a cluster bomb, the whole martial arts room will be blown away."
─ "It won't be easy to kill him without doing that... that's the only place to get him."
Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue. Perhaps Ilay was heading there. Or maybe not. But the men's words weren’t lies, and they had been planned in advance. Ilay was heading there.

Should he have warned him? But if he did, it was likely that Ilay would annihilate the men who had schemed this. Still, he couldn't just watch someone he was familiar with walk straight into danger.
A faint sense of guilt bloomed within him. Seeing him in person only made the looming danger grow more vivid, turning into black regret deep in his chest.
Yes, maybe he could go after him now and change the direction he was heading in. If he could prevent Ilay from going to the martial arts room on the 3rd floor, that would be enough. No need for any more words. The plan itself would have to be disrupted.

Suddenly, he felt an urgency. The man holding a knife blocking his path was becoming more bothersome.
"Hey, I’m sorry, but can you move out of the way for now? Something urgent came up, and I need to get going."
"What the hell are you saying, you damned Asian bastard!"

But the man didn’t seem willing to listen. His grip on the knife tightened.
Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue again. While this was happening, Ilay was probably still heading upward. Was he passing the 4th floor and on his way to the 3rd? Or maybe he was already walking into the martial arts room?
His mind became restless. He had to drag this man away to another direction. But if he started running now, would he make it in time? If the men's plan went as intended, it would be hard for even this man to survive. No, he wouldn’t survive.

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue. It felt like he was being forced to give up his flesh and carve away his bones. He had briefly thought of this earlier, but it had been more of a joke in his mind, never something he had wanted to happen in reality.
He sighed and aimed the metal pipe at the man's neck. The man frowned and tightened his grip on the knife. If he had to sacrifice his own flesh to crush the man's throat…
He shook his head, dismissing that thought, and rushed forward. As he charged, he aimed for the man’s neck. The man jerked back, quickly dodging. The pipe missed, but that was expected. Now the real problem began... where exactly should he offer his flesh?
The length of the weapon was to Jeong Tae-ui's advantage, but the narrow space he was in worked against him. The man with the knife could move more efficiently, while Jeong Tae-ui, wielding a long stick, found it difficult to maneuver.

The man in front of him wasn’t a fool. As soon as Jeong Tae-ui started to move, the man began exploiting the advantage. Jeong Tae-ui’s metal pipe could only be swung in a vertical or near-vertical arc, so the man aimed for his side, taking advantage of his limited range.
“Tch… If I give my side, it’s going to be painful for a long time…”
Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue again. If he had to, he would give it up, but not the side. A wound to the torso would make it difficult to move for a long time. With at least another week of this struggle ahead of him, he couldn’t afford to get incapacitated now.

He couldn’t even avoid it. In such a narrow place, both Jeong Tae-ui and the man would find it hard to dodge. Jeong Tae-ui barely managed to deflect the knife with his pipe, his mind racing. He couldn’t defeat the man in this space, and all he would accomplish was wasting time.
His plan had been to wait until the shift in attack times, but that wasn’t an option anymore. He had to move now. But the bastard kept aiming for his body. Of course, the man knew where to strike for the most damage.
What should he do? While he pondered, time passed. His anxiety grew.

Then, it happened. A loud explosion came from above.
Startled, both Jeong Tae-ui and the man paused for a moment. Another explosion followed. Then faint screams and shouting echoed through the building.
“...!”

Jeong Tae-ui clenched his teeth. His heart sank.
“Damn it. It’s because you idiots blocked the way that this happened! Get out of the way, you idiots!!”
Jeong Tae-ui shouted in anger, his chest burning with rage. It was an anger that could be directed at anyone, or perhaps, at everyone. The reason was unclear.

He swung the pipe with all his might, aiming to crush the man’s head. The man quickly bent down to avoid it. As he did, he dove into Jeong Tae-ui’s arms and swung the knife.
Jeong Tae-ui offered his arm. The knife tore into his upper arm, spraying blood and sending a searing pain through his body, but he didn’t care. The man’s knife tore his arm open, and in that instant, Jeong Tae-ui slammed the pipe down onto the man’s skull. The man cried out and fell to the ground.
As the man crumpled, two others approached from behind.

But the narrow corridor was now at an end. There was nothing left to limit Jeong Tae-ui’s movements. And in his hands, he now had the perfect weapon.
He didn’t like fighting, and would usually avoid it if possible, but now was different. Even if one had fallen, the other two wouldn’t back down.
Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue and swiftly sliced through the necks of the two men. A sharp sound echoed as the strike hit its target. While Jeong Tae-ui took a blow to his side, it was nothing compared to the fatal strike the other man took to his solar plexus.

"This would have been easier if you had just moved when I asked, you idiots."
Jeong Tae-ui spat out harshly as he wiped his bleeding arm carelessly and rushed toward the stairs. The stairs were right next to him, so he quickly reached the 3rd basement floor. Moreover, the martial arts room was just a short distance from the west stairs. Jeong Tae-ui turned the corner at the stairs and ran toward the martial arts room, cursing under his breath.
Damn it. It didn’t matter if that bastard got hurt or even died—hell, if he died, it would actually make Jeong Tae-ui feel relieved. So why was he going through all this trouble, getting hurt in the process?

No matter how much he thought about it, the conclusion was always the same. It was all his uncle's fault.
Thankfully, the wound didn’t seem too deep, but the blood wouldn’t stop flowing, perhaps because a blood vessel had been damaged. Of course, running like this with his arm swinging around, not even bothering to tend to the wound, was a sure way for the bleeding to continue.
He might see something horrifying when he reached the martial arts room. The entire room could be destroyed, with torn flesh sticking to the walls, and human shapes so mutilated that they couldn’t be recognized, just like those videos he saw back when he was trained at the school.

That day, he couldn’t eat. Many others ran to the bathroom and vomited. Jeong Tae-ui wasn’t that bad, but he gave up on eating that day and couldn’t bring himself to eat meat for a while.
If he had to see that scene again—and if the victim was someone he knew…
"......"

Jeong Tae-ui cleared his mind of the complicated thoughts and just kept running. The mere thought of it made his back cold, and his chest chilled.
As he approached the martial arts room, no one was in sight. It seemed no one had arrived yet. But since a huge explosion from two floors below was audible even with the thick walls of this building, it wouldn’t be long before people started arriving.
The surroundings were a mess. The walls were charred black, and shards of debris scattered everywhere. One of the walls of the martial arts room had completely been blown away, and nothing inside remained intact. Not a single thing was moving.

Complete silence.
Jeong Tae-ui clenched his cold fingers into a fist and approached. The crunch of broken stone pieces under his feet filled the air. The inside of the martial arts room gradually came into view.
There was nothing inside. The shattered debris and pieces of objects that were now unrecognizable lay everywhere, with nothing intact, no living beings. The walls were both blackened and stained a deep red. It looked as though black blood streaked down the walls, as if dark red paint had been poured over them. There were chunks of flesh scattered here and there.

Something squishy squelched under his feet. Jeong Tae-ui lowered his face, his complexion draining of color. There was a piece of flesh, burnt and severed, underfoot. It was unrecognizable. A piece of flesh the size of a child's fist was crushed against the floor, leaving a trail of blood.
This was a fragment of Ilay’s. Now it was a tiny piece that couldn’t be recognized, and it was almost too horrific to even touch.
He didn’t feel nauseous. There were torn chunks of flesh scattered all over, but he didn’t feel like vomiting. It felt as if his mind had stopped working.

"......Ilay."
Jeong Tae-ui muttered softly. No answer came. Staring at the piece of flesh beneath his feet, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly erupted with a surge of anger and shouted loudly.
"Ilay!!"

Just then, a dull thud reached his ears. Jeong Tae-ui froze, stopping his movement.
From a distance, it seemed like people were coming closer. But the sound from earlier was not like this. The closer sound came from...
Then, another thud rang out. This time, he definitely heard it. To the side, in the room next to the martial arts room. It was a small break room. He could hear something moving from there.

Jeong Tae-ui immediately dashed over. He leaped over the collapsed wall, rushing into the break room, where the door, surprisingly, remained intact compared to the martial arts room. He flung the door open.
And he saw it.
Inside, a man stood. He was drenched in blood from head to toe. There was not a single part of him that was unharmed. He stood there, holding the body of a man with one hand. With every squeeze of his hand around the neck, chilling cracking sounds could be heard. The neck was already twisted at an odd angle, with red blood trickling down the bone that had pierced through the flesh.

The man slowly turned toward Jeong Tae-ui. He casually tossed the already-dead body he was holding aside. Jeong Tae-ui recognized the body. It was one of the men he had seen earlier in the restroom.
"Did you call me? Do you have business with me as well?"
The man whispered softly. As he spoke, blood droplets from his nose and lips entered his mouth. His mouth became stained red.

He looked like someone who had just emerged from a sea of blood.
It was Ilay.
With his red hair, red hands, and red body, there wasn’t a single place on him untouched by blood. He took a step toward Jeong Tae-ui.

Ilay tilted his neck slightly, stretching it, and began to approach slowly.
Jeong Tae-ui immediately understood. That blood wasn’t his. In fact, his own blood might have been mixed in with it, but most of it was the blood of others.
Not just one person—three or four, or even more.

Only now could Jeong Tae-ui see behind Ilay’s broad shoulders and large frame, revealing more bodies lying on the floor. There were at least two more, besides the one just discarded. They were also already dead, their bodies dismembered in such a brutal way that they were barely recognizable, lying in pools of blood.
Jeong Tae-ui recognized one of their faces and frowned slightly.
Kieffen. The instructor he had seen several times and who had lectured him. Kieffen was dead, probably the first to have orchestrated this situation, but it seemed he hadn’t predicted such an outcome.

"Did you call me, Tae-ui? Did you come to find me for the same reason as these others?"
Ilay whispered. Jeong Tae-ui, who had been staring at Kieffen’s face, lifted his gaze.
Ilay had a faint smile on his face. It was a face Jeong Tae-ui had seen many times. It looked as calm and ordinary as always. He stood before Jeong Tae-ui with the same attitude he had shown a few hours ago.

"Is your business the same as theirs, hmm?"
Ilay asked again. And at that moment, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly realized.
He had said before that he didn’t want to fight now, that the time wasn’t right. But his fickle mind could, at any moment, pull out Jeong Tae-ui’s heart if he felt like it. And now, that moment had come.

If Jeong Tae-ui said yes, Ilay would smile and stab his throat without hesitation.
"...No. I came to see if you were dead or not."
Jeong Tae-ui said bluntly. The fickleness of the human heart was truly wretched. Just a moment ago, he had thought he needed to get this man out of this hellhole, but now that he saw he was still alive, regret surged over his actions. Especially after seeing the corpses of several people.

"You called my name. So, you must have known I was here."
Ilay spoke again. His voice, oddly cheerful, sent a chill down Jeong Tae-ui’s spine. Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue. If he stayed like this, there was a good chance his neck would be sliced off, misunderstood. The best move would be to speak plainly, though, of course, he couldn't avoid the accusation of pretending not to know.
As he thought about this, he felt anger rising. He had no intention of facing such a situation. Why should he have to confront it, just because he happened to overhear it?

"I overheard it in the bathroom. They were talking about killing a man who had piled up a mountain of grudges. So I came, albeit a step too late, to help out... You killed Kieffen too. I thought you’d pretend to be ignorant after just giving them the cluster, but you came all the way here."
What a fool.
He hadn’t felt any fondness for Kieffen, but seeing him lying there as a corpse made Jeong Tae-ui feel deeply uneasy. And the anger bubbled up again. He felt it for the few bodies lying on the ground, the man standing before him, and for himself, caught in such an unlucky situation.

"Yeah... that’s fortunate. If you had actively participated in killing me, it would have been very sad."
Ilay muttered lazily, as though relieved. Jeong Tae-ui scoffed and frowned.
"When did you start believing in me like that?"

"No, no. It’s not about trust. I’d be sad if you died."
Jeong Tae-ui made a face like he’d just bitten into something rotten. A murderer who kills people while saying they’d be sad about it... he almost wanted to see that. He’d probably die while watching. But this man wouldn’t be sad if he killed Jeong Tae-ui.
Jeong Tae-ui muttered, "What a waste of time," and started to turn away, but Ilay sighed, as if he had just finished a thought.

"Then you can be my witness."
Jeong Tae-ui, who had half-turned, stopped and looked back at Ilay with a suspicious gaze. It took a few seconds before he understood what Ilay was saying.
"Are you talking about being a witness to self-defense?"

"Of course. This time, I was in quite a bit of danger. I nearly ended up lying there like those pieces next to me. Luckily, I had good instincts..."
Ilay shrugged and rubbed his arm. Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with unease, seeing that he was soaked in blood. Whether his instincts were good or not, it didn’t change the fact that this man was a monster.
Then, suddenly, he raised an eyebrow. Among the bloodstains that had already begun to dry, the area around Ilay’s right shoulder was still damp, with thin red bloodlines slowly dripping down his arm. Was that…?

"Did you get hurt?"
Jeong Tae-ui asked, thinking it was unlikely, but still wondering. When Ilay saw the disbelief in his eyes, he chuckled a few times in amusement.
"Do you think I wouldn’t get hurt with a cluster bomb exploding right in front of me?"

Jeong Tae-ui didn’t respond to that. It wasn’t a matter of whether he would get hurt—it was about whether he would survive at all. Any normal person would feel the same. This guy, though, had gone beyond normal, beyond human levels.
Jeong Tae-ui suddenly felt drained. The depression that returned made him feel as though the weight of the world had settled on him. He looked around at the corpses again. To think he would have to prove Ilay’s self-defense while surrounded by these bodies... It felt like a betrayal of his own will.
But he had no right to refuse, and no ability to do so. As he stood there, helpless amidst the carnage, people who had come rushing in after hearing the explosions gathered around. There was no way to escape anymore.

The only consolation for Jeong Tae-ui was that, immediately after, the training for that day was called off.
The incident was unprecedented.
During joint training between branches, casualties from mistakes were common—but there had never been a case where explosives were used to kill someone deliberately. Especially with an instructor involved.

The reactions of people varied.
The European branch wanted to hold the Asian branch responsible for the planned murder. But that was the official stance. The Europeans, who usually despised the Asian branch, couldn’t openly criticize them so boldly, considering the gruesome state of the dead bodies.
The Asian branch expressed regret over the instructors and members causing such an incident, but in reality, it was the Asian side that suffered more. Part of the building had collapsed and would need repairs, and it was the Asian branch that had actual casualties. Moreover, seeing the state of the corpses, there was no shortage of ethical condemnation.

After the headquarters received the report, they quickly concluded. Both sides were dissatisfied, but there was little else to say.
It was ruled to be self-defense, though excessive force was used, and the culprit was sentenced to a short time in confinement.
Many felt that four people had died, yet the punishment was too light, but the investigation revealed that the cause of the incident had been the deceased’s actions, so there was little room for strong backlash.

In an organization that operated under internal discipline, far removed from regular civil law, the matter was concluded as such.
Those who had witnessed the event firsthand, and had encountered those involved, all agreed that "the only ones to pity are the dead," though no one actually voiced that opinion. However, while the dead were to be pitied, they had no reason to feel wronged.