Chapter 13

"Ugh!"

A scream suddenly rang out and then stopped, fresh blood gushed out in a stream.

"Ah!"

Alta, who was holding his nose, closed his eyes for a few seconds. Then he looked down at the blood flowing down his palm and glared irritably.

"This bastard is up to no good again!"

"The one who falls into the trap is the fool….. …."

Alta wanted Jeong Taeui to confront him head-on and test his strength, but Jeong Taeui knew he would lose so he had no intention of facing him head-on like that. After all, this wasn't a test where they had to compete fairly and score points based on their skills, they wouldn't care about the process but only the result.

So, after dodging one of his attacks, Jeong Taeui took the opportunity to punch him right in the face, and then everything became the mess it is now.

Hearing Atla grumble, Jeong Taeui immediately rummaged through his pocket and handed him a handkerchief. Suddenly, a huge hand that looked like a pot lid flew out from somewhere and hit Jeong Taeui hard on the back of his head.

"Ouch!"

Jeong Taeui held his sore neck, tears welling up in his eyes as he looked back at Carlo. He had just finished a round with Alta, and was now standing there watching the fun with a half-interested, half-angry expression.

"Every time you use a trick, you get beaten up. Do it properly."

"...Ah…..I've heard that five times already. This is the sixth time. It's because everyone keeps falling for it."

Jeong Taeui muttered as if he was being unfairly treated. Immediately after, Alta came right next to him and barked loudly.

"If I had known, I don't know who would have been defeated!"

"Even if it's a frontal attack, if you know your opponent's moves in advance, you can dodge them all."

Jeong Taeui countered with a very reasonable argument. But Alta still shouted angrily. Jeong Taeui could only soothe him, 'I know, you said so.' and then took a few steps back from him, only to bump into someone standing behind him.

"Ah, sorry."

"Where are your eyes and nose going? Also, deal with that guy on your team who's making a lot of noise."

The person who was hit immediately frowned and shouted loudly. It was a member of the other team. Jeong Taeui raised his eyebrows and looked at him speechlessly. The man then lightly brushed the part of his shoulder that was hit and walked away.

"Who is that?"

Jeong Taeui asked Carlo.

"That's a man under Officer Golting. The unlucky guy."

"Do you two know each other?"

"I know the face and name, but if you're asking about personal relationships, then no."

Carlo shrugged and shook his head. The bleeding had stopped, and Alta returned the handkerchief, complaining, 'What a terrible attitude.'

"Is something wrong with the other team? Why does everyone look so upset?"

"There's nothing bad about it, but there's nothing happy about it either. That's just the way it is."

"Originally?"

"There is more competition than cooperation, so nothing good can come of it."

".....This place is too dark…."

Jeong Taeui shook his head. The relationships between members in other branches were not good, and the relationships between teams in the same branch were also bad. If he stayed here for long, his humanity would soon be eroded.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and looked down at his wooden sword. Then he was hit on the head a second time.

"Whoa!"

This time, it was lighter than the last time Carlo hit him, but because he was hit in the same spot, the pain was doubled. Next to Jeong Taeui, who was holding his head, Alta had the same fate.

"No one would rest in the middle of a fight like that. And Alta. You're his sparring partner, right? If he sits down to rest like that, you should beat him up."

The person who was speaking and smiling friendly was his uncle - the one who had given up his humanity a long time ago.

Jeong Taeui muttered, glaring at him with teary eyes.

"W...…, why is Officer Jeong here? Don't you have other classes right now?"

But he received no reply.

He should be lecturing on strategy in the West 3rd lecture hall right now. He walked up to the instructor standing in front of him. It was the second martial arts instructor. He said something, probably work-related. Then another man glanced at Jeong Taeui, silently curled his lips, and followed his uncle.

"Ah… it's that driver."

Jeong Taeui suddenly muttered.

It was the same person who had accompanied him when he came to Hong Kong and to this island. He was wearing a uniform now, so the impression was a bit more rigid than before. But he was sure he had not mistaken him.

"Driver? You mean Lieutenant Kang? He also drives for Officer Jeong, right?"

"What is a lieutenant again?"

"He is also the same rank as us, to put it simply, he is like the officer's secretary. Driving, protecting and doing whatever the officer asks."

I thought the hierarchy here was simple but it seems it's not. The titles keep popping up one by one as I dig deeper.

Jeong Taeui muttered. 'What the officer asked for?'. Hearing that, the other colleagues immediately chimed in.

"The officers are like fire and water these days. I heard that Officer Jeong and Officer Golting had a conflict not long ago."

"Oh, is that so? I heard the current governor has moved to the headquarters."

"If that's the case, then from now on everyone will be fighting for achievements. As for us, no matter who becomes governor or vice minister, it won't make any difference."

"You can't just laugh like that… The South American branch was also torn apart in the past. There were a few people who lost their lives because of the fierce conflict that was going on underground. You wouldn't know what would happen if this branch started a fight too."

"Hey, stop, I'm scared. Just take care of yourself."

".... …."

Jeong Taeui rested his chin on the hilt of his sword and silently glared at his uncle. As the conversation continued, his anger grew. If one of the members who was likely to die, Jeong Taeui would be one of the worst in terms of both fighting skills and physical strength. It was like receiving a ticket number 0 in the death order.

"It really is all about luck….. Jaeui-nim, Mr. Jaeui, please share some of your luck with me….."

It seemed that sighing had become a habit since he came here.

Jeong Taeui sighed again and stood up.

Alta switched to training with a new opponent because another round of fighting had begun. The opponent wasn't just someone from their team, Jeong Taeui had fought unfamiliar faces a few times.

This time, the new opponent was the man he had bumped into on Coach Golting's team. He also frowned at him as if he had noticed it too. Jeong Taeui could only scratch his head in confusion.

He didn't want to get to know him this way. But he could only grab his wooden sword once more. Even though it was made of wood, it had been adjusted to be much heavier than normal. Even if he was wearing armor, being hit by it would still hurt so much that it would be difficult to breathe… If he was accidentally hit in a vital spot, he would have to line up to get a death certificate immediately.

Jeong Taeui had been here less than a week but he had already been to the infirmary more than 10 times. Four of those times were to help bring his opponents there, the rest were just to roll around there. The infirmary was located on the second basement floor where the lecture halls and various practice rooms were, but now he could get there with his eyes closed.

Now, he was very familiar with the structure of this building. He also knew the members of his team and remembered the faces of the members of other teams even though he didn't know their names. Oh, there were at most 100 people. They were people he often met in the courses, sometimes he also knew from fights. Even if he got beaten up, he had to try to remember their faces to repay his debt.

Martial arts training has a different theme every day with different weapons, but today it's a wooden sword. Training with a sword helps improve close combat skills.

Jeong Taeui glanced at the man pressing against him. There was a hard sound as the wooden stick made direct contact with the man's wrist. But this man was not an easy target.

"Okay, then…."

Jeong Taeui grabbed his opponent's wrist and twisted it around. But the man quickly found his weak point and mercilessly attacked him with a wooden sword. Jeong Taeui was in so much pain that he wanted to die. He gritted his teeth, swallowed the curses in his mouth, endured it, and threw the sword in his hand away. He grabbed his opponent's collar with both hands. The unprepared opponent quickly stumbled and fell on his back, finally falling to the floor.

As the man lay sprawled on the floor, Jeong Taeui grabbed the man's collar once more. The man stared at him in surprise.

"Hey, are you planning to — —- —-"

"Well, now you have to take a beating too."

Jeong Taeui said seriously then rolled up his sleeves and started punching the man mercilessly. The man tried to stand up but was beaten twice as hard.

As soon as the man stood up properly, Jeong Taeui stopped when he heard the scream with a red face, massaging the man's biceps and thighs.

"Damn it! You stupid bastard! You don't even know how to fight properly!"

"What are you talking about? I've always been like that."

Jeong Taeui narrowed his eyes with an innocent face and said. Alta, who had just been hit by similar moves by Jeong Taeui, looked towards his hand and shrugged with a smile.

The man with a red face fiercely charged at Jeong Taeui with his bare hands. He frowned when he saw the man grabbing his collar and trying to knock him out from the chin up.

"Ouch...!"

"You know your opponent is holding a weapon, but you still rush in like a moth to a flame… …You should think about your body."

Jeong Taeui frowned, pretending to feel sorry for him, and said. The man immediately grabbed Jeong Taeui's neck with one hand and grabbed his collar with the other, glaring at him. As a result, Jeong Taeui didn't hesitate to tear his shirt to escape the man's handcuffs, causing him to stagger back a few steps.

"Hey, look at what he just said. What about thinking about your body? It's like a cat playing with a mouse.

"What a cunning bastard. If there is an insider who causes trouble within the organization in the future, it will definitely be him."

Jeong Taeui could hear the other members whispering behind him. He stared at the torn shirt that exposed one side of his chest and glared at them and said.

"My ears are not deaf yet."

"If my ears weren't deaf, I would have heard it. Oh, hey, I can see it all now. Aigoo, what cute pink nipples."

"..."

That was why Jeong Taeui didn't associate with men like his uncle, but only liked handsome, cute, and adorable young men. If he heard such words from someone with the same sexual orientation as him, his mood would plummet to rock bottom. If it was an immature and sweet young man, he could release this nipple 100 times to bait all those little fish. But if he had to hear such words from a man like him, that was a different story.

Jeong Taeui frowned and covered his shirt. The person whose neck was pierced by Jeong Taeui's sword was still standing still like a stone statue, hugging his neck and sobbing.

"Why is your shirt in such tatters? The budget officer will be furious for sure."

Maybe he was done, he glanced at Jeong Taeui as he walked out and smiled.

"It's only natural that you'll wear out your shirt after practicing."

"That's not worn out. Even though it's a beautiful sight, it's not a good look for others. Go to Xin Lu and ask him for a new set. 'Let's go show off our bodies while we're at it.'

He lowered his voice on the last words, smiled subtly, and went out.

Then, the hateful, mocking voices began to ring in his ears.

"Now I get to meet Xin Lu."

"By the way, change your clothes in front of him."

"We will understand even if you come back late."

With a burst of laughter. At first, his colleagues saw his attitude towards Xin Lu and asked suspiciously, 'Is that your hobby?'. At that time, Jeong Taeui was about to deny it for a moment, because it reminded him of his bad memories in the military. In that environment, it seemed that having feelings for someone of the same sex or having physical relations with people of the same sex had become a serious defect. So the relationship between his former colleagues was not very smooth.

However, he had no intention of lying or hiding his sexual orientation anymore, so Jeong Taeui nodded and looked straight at them with a serious face.

However, the reaction of the colleagues here was unexpectedly bland. 'What, is that really so.'

That's all there is to it.

"I've been rolling around on this wooden floor for a few years now, and that's nothing surprising. But don't be too obvious about it... ah, I like women, so don't like me!"

Perhaps understanding Jeong Taeui's puzzled expression, Carlo muttered boredly and gave a serious and sincere advice. Then, he suddenly smiled and spoke softly.

"Well, Xin Lu is really good. Hmm.... you know that dating a minor is forbidden, right?"

Starting with his opening words, all the other colleagues followed suit. It felt like if he stayed here for another second, he would be teased endlessly.

Faced with his colleague's unusually normal attitude, Jeong Taeui felt relieved as he recalled the dark memories of the past.

But of course, hearing all these teasing around isn't very pleasant.

"If you're that jealous, then you guys should tear off your clothes and follow me. But I wonder who you guys can show that not-so-liberal body to."

Jeong Taeui said with a proud face, shamelessly. The people who had just teased him now became angry and started to shout.

"I'm speechless! Absolutely speechless! Look at my firm muscles!"

"This sexy tan! This inverted triangle body! All the women are crazy about it!"

"It just makes you look big and stupid, unbalanced…. You don't have cute, attractive pink nipples like me."

Jeong Taeui looked around at them with blatant mockery in his eyes, then laughed loudly and ran away.

The screams of his colleagues behind him followed him to the end of the long hallway.