How should I put it, he really is an incomprehensible person. Jeong Taeui glanced at the young man, puzzled inside. He didn’t know why he had been hearing such incomprehensible things these past few days.

But, to be fair, with looks like that, he could easily be a movie star or a famous model. It wouldn’t be surprising if there was a long line of fans waiting for him wherever he went. Yeah, that must be it.

Jeong Taeui concluded to himself, then bowed his head and looked at the young man once more. He felt very satisfied as his conclusion seemed quite reasonable.

“You don’t look like someone who would come here to pray in such rainy weather.”

After observing the church for a while, the young man spoke again. His words sounded a bit rude, but since Jeong Taeui wasn’t particularly religious himself, he just nodded calmly in response.

“I’ve been here since the morning, but because I dozed off and when I woke up it was raining, I got stuck here until it cleared.”

“Why would you come to a place like this when it was already windy early in the morning?”

Those aren’t the kind of words someone who just walked in the rain should say…… Jeong Taeui looked at him worriedly. The young man was casually looking around, but when he felt Jeong Taeui’s gaze on him, he turned his face back.

Never mind. If I can’t confess, at least I can vent to someone, right? Who knows if some deity in the sky took pity and sent a messenger to me.

“I must have committed some grave sins in my past life for my life to be this difficult now…… I came here to think about that, why I have to endure these things……”

“Because you committed your sins foolishly. Those who do bad things smartly are living very well without any trouble.”

Before the reply that was given immediately without any consideration. Jeong Taeui just fell silent.

What can I say? This guy, his face clearly looks like an angel from a painting or some kind of sculpted statue, but somehow……

“…………..Why did you come here in the rain?”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and asked back. The young man was looking up at the stained glass windows glowing in the darkness, among those frames was an image of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. How lovely. The young man murmured without taking his eyes off it.

“Somebody was following me.”

“Huh?”

“I was walking on the road and someone kept following and bothering me. So I looked for a place to shelter from the rain and hide from them.”

Jeong Taeui nodded at the young man’s words. Even though he didn’t know the exact situation, he could roughly understand it. And then Jeong Taeui came to a similar conclusion as before. The young man was definitely a famous artist.

Although it might be an exaggeration, Jeong Taeui thought that with such outstanding looks, even if he had to go through such troublesome situations, there seemed no other way.

“Your life must be difficult.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and murmured as he glanced at the young man. But the young man had already shifted his gaze to the stained glass window. It seemed like he really admired the image of the Virgin Mary on it.

At that moment.

The church door suddenly burst open.

The sound of cold rain and moist air rushed in simultaneously.

In that rain, Jeong Taeui turned to look at the tall man who had just appeared in front of him with a foreboding feeling.

The large man was standing there, panting heavily. Discovering the young man quietly looking up at the stained glass a few steps away from Jeong Taeui, he shook his shoulders and yelled like thunder.

“So you’re here, you bastard!”

The omen of a brawl rang like a bell in Jeong Taeui’s head. He glanced at the young man. He couldn’t have missed that loud shout, but he just quietly looked toward the glass, not bothering to glance this way even once. As if he had placed his entire soul into it.

The man quickly advanced this way. The heavy and rough footsteps sounded like they were about to shake the floor. The distance was rapidly closing.

Looking again, Jeong Taeui noticed one eye of the man was bloodied. Not just a small injury, but the white of the eye was bright red as if the blood vessels within were about to burst. So much so that he wondered if those eyes could still see normally.

The rather unkempt man seemed to have lost all reason in his rage that had peaked. His hand clenched into a fist as if ready to smash someone’s face immediately. Could this man be the one the young man had mentioned was bothering him? Why does the atmosphere feel so odd? Jeong Taeui pondered whether to move away. No, if things continued this way, a murder might occur. He couldn’t just stand by and watch the beautiful young man be cornered into a deadly situation……

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to step in between the two men, the young man quietly spoke up.

“Today I’m in a very good mood because I’ve finally gotten something I’ve wanted for a long time……. So I tried to ignore it and pretend I didn’t notice……. You’d better know when to back off. But even if I say that, you probably won’t listen, will you?”

Should he mention that the young man’s indifferent gaze didn’t quite match someone in a very good mood? Or should he comment on how incomprehensible the young man’s words sounded?

“This bastard suddenly punches someone, runs away, and then spouts some nonsense? Do you think a few words will settle things smoothly? Today’s your unlucky day, boy.”

The man scoffed at the young man’s words, rolling up his soaking wet sleeve and advancing closer to him. A brawny, muscular arm was revealed, seemingly powerful enough with just one hit to shatter this beautifully sculpted young man.

No, before figuring out who was right or wrong, he had to prevent any bloodshed to that work of art.

As the man was just a few steps from closing the distance, Jeong Taeui hurriedly stepped in between them without thinking. Almost simultaneously, as the man reached the young man’s face, only then did the young man turn to look at him with annoyance.

At that moment. Something flashed before Jeong Taeui’s eyes.

Instinctively, without thinking, Jeong Taeui urgently grabbed a frightening hand that was flying by at a terrifying speed, just before it could break a bone or do some other damage to the person opposite. His heart skipped a beat in horror.

“……!”

“Uh…….?”

Jeong Taeui, standing between them, quickly realized something was off. The slender wrist he was holding was clearly not the hairy, burly arm he had seen earlier.

“Huh?…… What?”

But each joint of the fingers on that slender wrist seemed to be made of iron. Ahead, the beautiful face, like a perfectly sculpted artwork, was also staring intently at him.

Jeong Taeui cautiously turned his head to look behind him, and the large man was also looking down at him with fiery red eyes.

It seemed that the man had not realized the truth that he was nearly crushed by an iron fist; he looked at Jeong Taeui furiously and then directed his gaze to the iron-like fingers that perfectly fit the young man’s hand.

Jeong Taeui swallowed hard and then bewilderedly turned back to look at the young man in a daze.

At the same time, the young man roughly jerked his hand away as if shooing away an insect, then shook his wrist and stared coldly at Jeong Taeui. Jeong Taeui heard an annoyed click of the tongue. But before the young man could say something to him, the large man, who had been staring at the young man’s hand, seemed to have grasped some of the situation. Finally, his face turned beet red with anger.

“This arrogant little…… What the hell are you, get lost!”

The man did not hesitate to deliver a strong blow to Jeong Taeui’s head even though Jeong Taeui had just tried to prevent him from being flattened by that iron fist. Immediately, Jeong Taeui’s vision flashed with stars.

Ouch. Jeong Taeui cried out reflexively and looked at the man with a sense of injustice. Indeed, no good deed goes unpunished……!

However, as soon as he saw the man trying to charge at the young man and ignoring his warnings, Jeong Taeui once again stepped in between them without thinking as he saw the young man calmly adjusting those iron joints again. A sense of danger continually drummed in his ears.

This time it was not an impulsive act, but his reason was sounding an alarm bell that the real danger was not the rude, burly man. He immediately stood facing the young man and blocked the man behind him.

Just as the young man was about to step forward, he frowned upon seeing Jeong Taeui in front of him, his eyes immediately darkened.

“If you don’t want to end up like that guy, you’d better stop meddling and just quietly sit in a corner, golden monkey of the East. I won’t let it go this time.”

It had been a long time since Jeong Taeui had heard such racially discriminatory remarks. However, before he could realize that those words had come from those beautiful lips, his mind and vision went blank due to the shocking impact that came from under his chin.

For a moment, perhaps a few seconds, it seemed he had lost consciousness. By the time he came to, everything was over.

His memory stopped at the moment he stood blocking in front of the young man. But when he woke up, he found himself sprawled on the ground. Jeong Taeui sat up and blinked, looking at the scene before him.

The man was unconscious on the floor. His face was down, and his limbs were spread out in all directions. His eyes were rolled back, foam frothing from his mouth.

Seeing the foam mixed with blood, Jeong Taeui quickly stood up.

The young man removed the iron fingers from his digits and put them in his pocket, then took out a pristine white handkerchief and nonchalantly wiped his hands. As if nothing had happened, he continued to indifferently gaze up at the colorful stained glass once again.

Jeong Taeui looked at the young man with astonishment and then down at the man, carefully tearing open the man’s shirt.

“Where did you hit him……”

“Below the collarbone, it won’t kill him. Just a broken rib.”

The young man said smoothly without looking back.

Jeong Taeui stared wide-eyed at the young man and then at the exposed abdomen of the man. The impact site was very clear, it wasn’t hard to see where he had been hit.

“Ambulance, we need to call an emergency…… Damn, I don’t have my phone. Here, give me your phone.”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and reached out his hand to the young man. The young man blankly stared at the hand held out before him and then coldly said.

“Why should we call an ambulance?”

“You’re asking why? There’s a man dying here!”

“What of it?”

“…….”

“Oh, no, not really. He won’t die from that.”

Although he corrected himself to say he wouldn’t die, Jeong Taeui could clearly sense the sincerity in each word when the young man asked ‘why’.

Really, whether he dies or not, what does it matter?

Jeong Taeui stared at him, bewildered, forgetting the lingering pain on his chin.

“……..”

Is the water in this neighborhood that bad? Otherwise, why would another madman appear here just after Ilay left for a while?

Jeong Taeui intended to run out into the rain to call an ambulance. But he turned back to look at the man and carefully observed the skin around him. It wasn’t blue but left a frighteningly dark bruise. He glanced at the unconscious man and then slowly pressed on that area. It seemed the man groaned something, but he couldn’t hear it. So he decided to ignore it. As the young man said, perhaps this guy had broken a rib. Jeong Taeui pressed around the area for a while, but other than that, there was nothing else unusual.

Hmph, the young man standing a few steps away from him tilted his head down, sighed, and suddenly asked.

“Are you a doctor?”

He wondered and then answered himself: “No.”

“How could a doctor’s fingers be so clumsy?” – and shook his head alone.

Jeong Taeui thought to himself: ‘I’ve had to become a jack-of-all-trades in any situation after living a life like walking a tightrope between life and death’, and then pressed his hand into the man’s abdomen.

After confirming that the man’s life was not in too critical a condition, Jeong Taeui suddenly rolled up his sleeves, stared intently at the man, and raised his hand to the man’s forehead. With an extremely serious expression, he aimed at the center of the man’s forehead and flicked it hard. A piercing sound rang out from the man’s forehead. Although unconscious, the man still groaned. In a moment, his forehead turned red, and soon it became a purple bruise.

“When others are trying to help you, you repay kindness with ingratitude.”

Jeong Taeui grumbled as he rubbed the side of his head that had been hit by the man earlier.

But after speaking, he suddenly realized.

The one who had just thrown a punch much stronger than the man’s at his chin was still standing right next to him, looking down at him.

“……..”

“……..”

Jeong Taeui slowly turned his head and looked up at the young man. He also looked down at him. Their eyes met. (Just want to gaze at him for a long time……)

“……., ……. Do you also want to hit my forehead like that?”

The young man asked. Jeong Taeui looked at him, puzzled. Aside from wondering whether he could actually reach him to hit him, the thought of that beautiful forehead suddenly having a bruise on it worried him even more.

It’s unclear how he interpreted Jeong Taeui’s gaze on his forehead, but it seemed his eyes were slightly narrowed. The lips that had been tightly pressed were now slightly relaxed.

Ah…… It turns out he was smiling.

Though there was nothing on that face that resembled a smile, that tiny change made him think so. As if the young man had never smiled before and didn’t know how to, so he smiled like that.

“If you can hit me without touching me, I’ll let it go this time.”

It seemed as if he had thought a lot about it and said it as if he had resolved something very significant. Before those words, Jeong Taeui looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Clearly, it was impossible…… So his meaning was, don’t even think about being able to hit him, right?

Jeong Taeui stood up from his place with a grumble.

However, even though it wasn’t an emergency, an ambulance still needed to be called. Jeong Taeui looked down at the man lying at his feet and then looked out the window, pondering whether he should run home to call for help. It was still raining heavily, but that was not a big issue.

“It’s raining so heavily, as if the whole world is submerged in water.”

Jeong Taeui grumbled to himself and rolled up his pants to make it easier to run out into the flood. Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded next to his ear.

“It feels like being underwater.”

Jeong Taeui stopped his movement and looked to the side. The young man was looking towards the window and whispered.

“Days like this are good. You can’t hear any sound at all.”

“Sound……?”

“Yeah…… It’s like being swallowed by the rain. You can’t hear anything. It feels less suffocating.”

Jeong Taeui looked at the young man with a puzzled expression, as if the young man wasn’t talking to him but was just speaking to himself. He continued to gaze out the window. Jeong Taeui frowned, scratching his head, feeling as though something was very complicated.

“I might not understand what you’re saying, but…… if there are things you don’t want to hear, just ignore them……. everyone has their own opinions, can you listen to them all?”

“That only makes life more complicated,” Jeong Taeui said while he tied his shoelaces, getting ready for a sprint in the rain. He walked towards the door.

At that moment.

“Shall I help you?”

A cold voice came over Jeong Taeui’s shoulder.

Help with what? Planning to make the rain stop? Jeong Taeui entertained a silly thought for a moment before turning around to face the young man who was staring intently at him with an expressionless face.

“The person who makes your life difficult, do you want them to disappear?”

The young man spoke in a detached tone, in a way that sounded like a petulant child throwing a tantrum. Jeong Taeui was speechless as he looked at him.

“No……., well, it would be better if that person…… didn’t disappear……”

Jeong Taeui stammered as he scratched his head and thought.

“Would it be better if the person making your life difficult disappeared?”

When thinking of such a person, the first one Jeong Taeui thought of could only be Ilay Riegrow.

What if he completely disappeared from his life…… What if he never appeared in his life again?

It doesn’t sound pleasant at all. It might be good in some ways, but it certainly wouldn’t bring any joyful relief. No, on the contrary, the feeling would be quite vague……

“……. No. It would be better if that person was there. Because after all, I’ve already made my choice.”

Jeong Taeui shook his head and then suddenly had a thought that sent chills down his spine.

Could he actually make that person disappear?

Thinking about the meaning of that statement, he suddenly felt a shudder, Jeong Taeui stared at the young man.

The young man listened to Jeong Taeui’s reply and shrugged. It seemed he had offered his goodwill in his own way but received a puzzling response. He then spoke up.

“What’s your name?”

His voice caught Jeong Taeui again as he was about to turn away.

“…….Taeui. Jeong Taeui.”

He spoke slowly but the young man had no reaction. Jeong Taeui wasn’t sure if he understood, so he was about to repeat it just in case the young man didn’t catch it. But the words froze at the tip of his tongue as the young man spoke.

“…….That’s an unlucky name.”

Hearing the cold voice of the young man, Jeong Taeui licked his lips, swallowing the bitterness.

He had often heard comments like his name sounding strange or hard to pronounce, but this was the first time he had heard it described as unlucky.

Jeong Taeui frowned as he looked back at the young man. Today, it seemed he had encountered a very strange kind of person.

But the moment he looked down at that face, Jeong Taeui couldn’t help but be stunned.

The young man was smiling. No, his eyes curved slightly to the extent that it was hard to tell if he was smiling or grimacing, but…… it was still beautiful.

Indeed, a beautiful person remains beautiful no matter what they do. And then, with a sigh, Jeong Taeui opened the door and stepped outside. This time, no voice held him back.

The rain continued to pour.

While running toward his house, Jeong Taeui raised his hand in vain to cover his soaked hair and suddenly thought.

This place couldn’t hear anything other than the sound of falling rain, as if submerged at the bottom of the sea, just like the young man had said.