“Why do you think Rick has to do such troublesome things even though he knows very well that they’re bothersome? At least no one in the Private Task Force is unaware.”

“Ha……..”

Not knowing how to respond, Jeong Taeui could only utter a meaningless sound.

Christoph tilted his head, sighed, and looked at Jeong Taeui with a puzzled expression before continuing.

“Though I also don’t know why he accepts doing such troublesome things……”

“Then just curse at him directly.”

Christoph tilted his head, looking at Jeong Taeui, and sighed.

“Do you like it that way? If you prefer direct cursing to indirect remarks, I can do that.”

“What other choice do I have……”

Jeong Taeui bowed his head to the ground.

“In such a harsh world, how can one live……”

Jeong Taeui was muttering to himself when he heard a sigh next to his ear.

“Hmmm.”

Christoph was looking at him as if observing a strange creature. His lips quivered slightly in confusion.

……Ah, there it is again.

Jeong Taeui looked at his lips.

As if not knowing what expression to make, he watched Christoph’s mouth seemingly twitch upwards and awkwardly scratched his neck.

What he meant was that he felt a bit……

That expression wasn’t cold or sad, it was like he wanted to convey something but couldn’t.

But then Christoph turned away as if nothing had happened, and Jeong Taeui followed him.

The dining room soon appeared in front of them.

After walking through the corridor on the first floor, Jeong Taeui saw a large door open. The aroma of food and the murmuring of voices filled the large room. Christoph still walked silently with an expressionless face, but then suddenly turned back to Jeong Taeui as if remembering something.

“Oh. Your name too.”

“Huh?”

“It’s an unlucky name. Get another one.”

“…… ?”

Jeong Taeui’s eyes were full of question marks. For some reason, hearing those rude words felt extremely familiar. Perhaps it was because when they met before, he had said the same thing.

‘That’s a really unlucky name.’

“But what about my name…… —”

He liked the name his father had given him.

But when Jeong Taeui was about to shout, Christoph raised his hand to cover his mouth.

“I think that name doesn’t suit this place anyway. It might bring bad luck, so choose another name.”

Jeong Taeui looked at him with an unhappy expression upon hearing the serious tone without blinking. The topic suddenly shifted to superstitions, and Christoph spoke with a highly confident face.

“Aren’t there many other Korean names? Well…… When I went to Bosnia the other day, I met a Korean reporter. What was her name again?…… Oh, right. Young Soo. That name sounds good too. Kim is the most common surname in Korea, right? How about ‘Kim Young Soo’? That’s decent.”

“……Have you heard Ilay say something?”

“Huh? Rick?”

Christoph asked back with a confused look.

Even though Jeong Taeui deliberately chose a common name in Korea, he didn’t expect it to be that popular. Was it fate?

Jeong Taeui scratched his head. He couldn’t understand why he had to use another name, but there was no reason to insist on keeping his own either.

Yes, after all, it’s just a name. It’s convenient for people to call you by.

“In that case, just call me Kim Young Soo here……”

Jeong Taeui sighed and muttered. Christoph looked at him with an indifferent expression, then turned his head and walked towards the dining room.

But his steps seemed extremely satisfied.

************************

Jeong Taeui heard that the relationships among the young people in Tarten were like a gang war.

Thinking back, this atmosphere might have formed over decades, so it wasn’t surprising that it was clearly displayed even at the dining table. Moreover, everyone seemed to know that, so they didn’t care about having a stranger dining with them in this house.

“I don’t want to get caught up in this strange atmosphere and become an idiot among them.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself while skillfully cutting a potato into four pieces with a fork.

“Huh? What did you say?”

Next to him, a man who looked like ‘a friendly neighbor’ was saying something to the man opposite him and then turned to look at Jeong Taeui. He responded that he was just talking about the potatoes and lightly shook his fork. The friendly neighbor said, “Oh, I see,” and put down his fork.

The atmosphere in the dining room wasn’t as gloomy as he thought.

This was a place where young people in The West Wing would have dinner together, so Jeong Taeui had mentally prepared for difficult situations. But surprisingly, there weren’t many people here. He heard that the dinner times varied slightly for everyone.

Additionally, they probably didn’t want to bring fistfights to the dining table. Though there were still fierce looks exchanged, at least no heated arguments occurred.

“The atmosphere is quite peaceful.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled while wiping sauce off his lips with his thumb and licking it. Past scenes flashed by like old memories.

How many years had passed?

When Jeong Taeui got entangled in his uncle’s plot – or should it be called threatened and dragged away? At the time, he was working at the Asian branch of UNHRDO and would have joint training sessions with other branches every three months.

When he first arrived, Jeong Taeui had to face the European branch members. The two branches clashed as if they had ancient grudges.

Even sitting down to eat comfortably was a challenge.

Of course, members of each branch would gather and eat together, but if another branch was at the next table, forks and knives would fly throughout the meal. This would be followed by conflicts and arguments, and finally, someone would flip tables and chairs, creating a chaotic atmosphere.

……Thinking back, who was the instigator? The person who grabbed a European guy, threw him onto the dishes, and caused all that mess…… Because they all looked alike, Jeong Taeui initially struggled to distinguish them. Let’s see……

“Oh right. It was Alta. Alta.”

So they had to listen to Kyoho’s nagging a lot. On the last days, every mealtime, Kyoho would make Alta sit next to him and eat together to keep an eye on him.

“Why have you been mumbling to yourself all this time?…… Are you okay?”

The friendly neighbor next to him glanced at Jeong Taeui but, seeing no reaction, lightly tapped his head and asked.

Yes. In cases where one’s head was tapped openly like this, a member of the European branch would surely feel insulted. In fact, there had been such incidents.

While fencing, Jeong Taeui had lightly sprained his wrist, causing him to drop food a few times while eating. Immediately, a European guy leaned over and sarcastically said, “Are you so scared that your hands are shaking? Make sure to eat well.”

At that time, Jeong Taeui casually replied, “Ah, thank you for your concern,” and calmly continued eating, while Carlo stood up and threw a plate in the guy’s face. He still remembered the difficult times eating when not only bowls and dishes but also forks and knives flew around like a bloody battlefield. Even eating was tough.

Jeong Taeui sighed and smiled, recalling those now fond memories. He smiled at the ‘friendly neighbor’ who was worried about him.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“That’s good. You’re new here, so it might be tough, but hang in there.”

As his name implied, the genuine worry in the voice of the friendly man sitting next to him was touching. He nodded strongly and patted Jeong Taeui’s shoulder.

The friendly neighbor was one of the few who supported Christoph – or more precisely, he didn’t like Richard.

Most people here implicitly divided their seating. For instance, Christoph sat in the chair at the head, which was implicitly reserved for him.

Not belonging to any faction, Jeong Taeui hesitated a bit before choosing a random empty seat. Fortunately, by chance, he sat next to a kind guy – a friendly ally.

“So, how did Christoph catch you and make you sit here? Where are you from?”

The friendly neighbor asked while eagerly eating two palm-sized pieces of grilled fish. He introduced himself as Johan, Christoph’s cousin. Jeong Taeui remembered Richard was also his cousin, so he wondered how many grandchildren this family had. The man answered that there were nearly 20 if counting those officially in the household registry.

Indeed, the elders understood that nothing was more important for development than the number of minds.

The man sitting opposite Johan laughed proudly and said if they counted maternal relatives or children not in the registry, the number would double.

Not only the atmosphere but even the family relationships here were vague. Jeong Taeui quietly glanced at Christoph sitting far away.

In a place where everyone dined and chatted with one or two around, Christoph just sat silently, moving his silver knife and fork.

He heard that for a beautiful lady, silverware at a meal was no different from accessories. Christoph was like that. Wasn’t there a camera filming the young man right next to him?

Jeong Taeui put down his fork and wiped his mouth with the napkin beside him without much gentleness.

“Sometimes it can feel uncomfortable, but you can resolve it with words. Just say his nature is bad, and it’s done…… What did he do to be so isolated?”

“Huh? Who?”

Johan, still holding the fork in his mouth, followed Jeong Taeui’s gaze towards Christoph and frowned.

“Christoph? You think he’s isolated? It’s because he’s crazy that no one wants to be near him. Even I don’t support him from the bottom of my heart; I just prefer the quiet around him over the chaos around Richard.”

“Well, I don’t think he’s that crazy.”

Jeong Taeui wondered but didn’t bother to argue. After all, Ilay Riegrow lived almost normally at home, so he might be wrong again.

Jeong Taeui silently listened to Johan’s enthusiastic theory about Christoph’s madness, nodding as if understanding, though everything went in one ear and out the other.

He felt he could vaguely understand the atmosphere. Though he wasn’t pleased or interested, at least he could understand.

Most young people here showed intimidation or anger in front of Christoph – but all feared him. Beyond liking or hostility, they wanted to disturb the calm waters. Perhaps his lack of social interaction was partly why.

“If he doesn’t care about that, it’s fine.”

Jeong Taeui spoke while nodding at his salad.

No matter the situation, how you live your life, or how others perceive you, as long as you’re satisfied with it, what others say doesn’t matter. He just hoped he wouldn’t become pessimistic about reality.

Yes, thinking about it, people like Ilay are truly living well. Though criticized or hated, even having a gun pointed at their head while eating. He wasn’t sure, but such people aren’t normal.

Ilay wasn’t pessimistic or depressed about a dark reality and lived well. To be precise, if others showed such behavior, – he didn’t know – but they surely didn’t understand remorse. There’s no way Ilay would suddenly feel remorse and pain for his past actions decades later.

“…… I heard he was a colleague of Riegrow too, so you understand.”

“Huh?”

Feeling he heard a familiar name, Jeong Taeui looked up at him.

While he was lost in distant thoughts, Johan continued affirming Christoph’s madness. He shrugged, looking at Jeong Taeui as if seeking agreement. Seeing Jeong Taeui’s dumbfounded expression, he frowned.

“Didn’t you know? Crazy Rick?”

“Huh? Ah?…… Isn’t he talking about Ilay Riegrow?”

“Who else…… Anyway, most people here played with him as kids. So when we were children, we could be friends with him…… though many crazily deny that now. No one thought about working with him.”

Johan didn’t leave a parsley leaf on his plate; he placed his fork on the empty plate and picked up a napkin. Though friendly and cheerful, he shook his head, saying he couldn’t understand that man’s personality.

“Chris may be crazy, but he’s not inherently bad. If you don’t bother him, he won’t harm anyone. Also, I like his intelligence. His actions make him seem spoiled, but he’s well-educated and naturally talented. But why did he build such a dangerous relationship – he’s truly crazy.”

Johan concluded after a long lecture, wiping his mouth with a soft napkin.

Jeong Taeui also put down his fork, feeling down. He didn’t understand how Ilay had such a strong reputation.

There was still a bit of salad left, but Jeong Taeui’s stomach was full. It was best to leave soon as the atmosphere wasn’t good.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his stomach, looking at Christoph. His plate still had quite a bit of food, but it seemed he was almost done.

So, let’s go then.

Jeong Taeui thought and prepared to stand up. Suddenly, the dining room became unusually quiet.

The large door was still open, and Richard was slowly walking in.