Jeong Taeui looked at Oliver, who stood there smiling and said: “Losing badly to Wolf is because you don’t know how to play. I’ll teach you later.” Now, Oliver had a large bandage on the back of his head but seemed normal.

“Oliver, is your injury okay?”

When Jeong Taeui asked, Oliver immediately nodded. His clear eyes looked up at Jeong Taeui.

“It only hurts a bit when the bandage is changed and the medicine is applied, but it’s fine otherwise.”

“Really… must have been scary.”

Oliver hesitated a bit, then said, “Ugh,” shaking his head and smiling with a grimace. Jeong Taeui gently patted his head.

At that moment.

Richard appeared on the rooftop, a bit later than the children. And Ilay, who always accompanied Richard, soon followed.

When Jeong Taeui saw Ilay, he could only mutter, “Oh no,” while weakly smiling and instinctively stepping back a bit. It was like a natural reaction to sudden alertness.

“What are you doing here?”

Richard waved to gather the children and greeted Jeong Taeui. Then Ilay glanced around. He raised an eyebrow slightly.

“I came here to smoke.”

He hadn’t wanted the children to know about it, but…

There was no reason to lie about smoking. Jeong Taeui shrugged.

“From alcohol to cigarettes…” – Ilay clicked his tongue and turned back to Jeong Taeui. It sounded like he was mocking him for using those things, given his status as a beer enthusiast.

But at that moment. When Ilay turned his head, he paused for a second. Then he looked down.

“……?!”

In an instant, his eyes became empty. He stopped as if about to take a step in this direction. His black eyes turned as cold as ice, startling Jeong Taeui.

However, in the next moment, Ilay looked down a bit longer and clicked his tongue.

“What did you do to get your knees covered in blood and then come here…?”

He spoke softly while glancing at Jeong Taeui. Ilay noticed the small bandage on his fingertip like a ghost, and his eyes turned cold.

“Um, I just got a cut from a porcelain shard… .”

Jeong Taeui quickly said, casually rubbing the bandage and pretending nothing was wrong.

Only then did the children notice the blood on Jeong Taeui’s knees, and they started worrying loudly.

“Are you hurt? How did you get hurt?”

“You should go to the hospital. Can you still walk?”

No one gave him a chance to speak. Jeong Taeui took a moment to explain that the blood wasn’t his.

Richard, who had been watching silently, quietly spoke.

“It’s Christoph again.”

His voice was cold, without a hint of laughter. Just like whenever he talked about Christoph.

It seemed the news of Christoph sending someone to the hospital had spread throughout the mansion. Richard and Ilay already knew what had happened.

Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly and shrugged.

He felt like he had used up all his energy for the day just cleaning the bloody floor. He wanted to avoid conversations that could worsen his mood.

“By the way, what are you doing here with the kids?”

If Richard had only appeared with Oliver, anyone would think it was just a father and son outing, but with all the children here, the only conclusion was that he was babysitting.

“I was going to teach them how to use some simple weapons.”

Richard shook the sturdy-looking case he was holding. Jeong Taeui looked at it with a strange expression.

“Gun?!”

Teaching kids how to use weapons was strange enough, but giving them guns was even stranger.

“It’s a gun… . No, I think knowing how to use it is better than not knowing, but besides that, there are still many good things to learn. Why start with guns…?”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and muttered. However, his voice was so soft that it sounded like he was talking to himself. Richard, surrounded by the children, didn’t seem to hear him.

Instead, the one who answered Jeong Taeui was Ilay, a man with not only a keen sense of smell but also sharp ears… well.

“These kids always have to live with bodyguards, so they need to be taught how to defend themselves as best as possible.”

Jeong Taeui nodded and said: “Oh.”

That made sense. These children were specially selected from many outstanding children in this house. In this context, they would face more dangerous situations than other kids.

In fact, even if a child knew self-defense, it wouldn’t be very useful because their physical strength was different from an adult’s. But considering unexpected situations, knowing was still better than not knowing.

“You kids need to take care of yourselves.”

Jeong Taeui muttered, understanding the feeling of almost being kidnapped many times as a child (although he had never actually been kidnapped). His brother, who was very talented, was the one kidnapped multiple times.

Even Jeong Taeui, someone completely ordinary and extremely average, faced the risk of being kidnapped, so it was needless to say for these children.

Jeong Taeui nodded, saying, “Yes, I understand,” and looked at Richard and the children, then glanced at Ilay. Ilay was also looking at him with folded arms.

“When you were a child, did you learn like this too?”

Thinking about it, the house of this man was no less than this place. He also had to live with bodyguards 24/7 since childhood.

Jeong Taeui couldn’t imagine what it felt like to always have someone protecting and watching him and having to learn self-defense techniques or how to use weapons just for safety.

But Ilay’s answer was simple.

“No. They didn’t even ask if I wanted to learn.” 

“Really? Compared to Tarten, Riegrow seems to have better protection.”

“Not really. My brother and sister were both taught. My father just didn’t offer it to me.”

(It’s too risky for Ilay to handle these things. Riegrow is trying to protect humanity from the little demon, Ilay)

“…Oh…… I see.”

Jeong Taeui didn’t say anything else but nodded.

Thinking about it, these children were only about 7 or 8 years old. So, perhaps at this age, the Riegrow family also taught their children self-defense…… At that time, he heard this guy already knew how to wield an axe (to wield and hurt people).

His father must have had good foresight to decide not to put many weapons in his son’s hands. Although in the end, it was useless.

“Christoph.”

Jeong Taeui unconsciously called Christoph’s name. Ilay’s eyes lowered.

“Christoph didn’t need to learn, did he? Did he know how to use weapons back then?”

Ilay folded his arms and slowly tapped his fingers. His eyes looked coldly at Jeong Taeui.

“If you ask me when he learned to use weapons, I don’t know, but his personality and mental state have been like that since he was young.”

“Really… .”

Jeong Taeui nodded.

Richard led the children to the round table in the middle of the garden and was unpacking items from the case. Inside was a fully assembled gun and a gun disassembled into parts.

“Why? Were you shocked to see him beating someone half to death?”

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay, saying that with pale, cold eyes. If it were someone else, he wouldn’t know, but he didn’t think those were the words Ilay would say.

“If I were shocked seeing someone bathing in a pool of blood, I would have been shocked a hundred times and had a nervous breakdown by now.”

Sometimes, his most frequent task was discarding his bloodstained gloves.

Ilay nodded and said – “Ah.” – as if a forgotten memory had just resurfaced, putting on a face as if it was entirely someone else’s business. No matter how many times Jeong Taeui looked at him, he felt this man had no conscience at all.

As Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and turned towards the forest again, Ilay suddenly spoke with a low chuckle.

“I guess you’ve been thinking about things too simply. There’s no way you don’t realize Christoph’s true nature, but it seems like you’re being deceived by his appearance without even realizing it, right?”

Jeong Taeui frowned slightly and looked at Ilay. However, despite the look, Ilay continued speaking.

“There are people like that sometimes. They know everything in their heads but still get fooled by what they see in front of them. Think about it. Christoph Tarten was always highly regarded, even when he was with T&R’s special unit. In other words, it means he has taken on and accomplished many extremely difficult tasks. Do you really not understand what that means?”

Of course, he did.

Killing people was not a big deal to him.

“Let me make it simpler for you. The incident in Kosovo happened when he was very young, just over 20 years old. And at that age, he killed so many people that he was called the creator of the European version of the Killing Fields.”

Jeong Taeui had also heard about that. The story of Christoph standing alone among the mountains of corpses was often mentioned by others during meals as a side dish.

“Rick. That’s not it.”

Jeong Taeui spoke up.

What Ilay was saying was entirely different from his own thoughts.

“This world still has places where killing people isn’t considered illegal. Killing in such special environments means no one is charged, no matter how many people are killed, unless it involves crimes against humanity. Whether others think he’s a murderer or not, no one can comment on it. Whether it’s Kosovo or another battlefield where he was called to as a mercenary, I have no opinion on that, and I don’t think that way either.”

“It also means he could be held accountable for the murders happening here, right?” (Because Tarten isn’t a ‘special place’ like Kosovo or other battlefields.)

Ilay immediately replied. Jeong Taeui fell silent. Ilay’s cold smile gleamed in his eyes.

“You don’t want to question Christoph’s responsibility in this situation, but your mind thinks otherwise, doesn’t it? It’s a headache, right? You want to see everything positively, but reality and your values don’t allow it. Like when your brother touched a weapon.”

Ilay’s voice lowered as he spoke the last words. He leaned in close, whispering softly into Jeong Taeui’s ear, causing his entire body to tense up. For a moment, Jeong Taeui faltered upon hearing those words.

Ilay laughed loudly, then straightened up and put his hands in his pockets. He continued with a mocking smile.

“The problem here is simple. It’s not as complicated as you think. Christoph’s normal life and other people’s normal lives are entirely different. If things here continue to get more complicated and worse, it means he’s not in the place he should be. Don’t you think so?”

“… ―.”

“I… maybe I know more about him than you do—so I can tell you the exact answer. This is not a place where Christoph can stay.”

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay in silence, unable to say anything. He couldn’t think of anything to say or what he wanted to say. All he could do was listen to Ilay’s irrefutable words.

Ilay took a step forward. With the children gathered around, he walked over to Richard, who was assembling the disassembled gun and showing it to the kids. Jeong Taeui stood there in silence for a moment before following him.

The children were closely watching Richard’s fingers. As he attached the spring to the gun and adjusted the sights, the kids watched intently, not wanting to miss a single detail.

The disassembled gun was slowly put back together, then taken apart again. Richard asked the children, “Can you do it?” The children nodded vaguely, saying, “I think I can do it.” Hearing this, Richard disassembled and reassembled the gun again, this time a bit faster. Then all the children nodded without exception.

They were smart kids.

Just seeing a real gun for the first time, they understood where the unfamiliar parts went and how they were structured.

Among these smart children, only one would be chosen. It would be about 20 years later.

“Hm…… What’s this, practicing with toys?”

Ilay muttered as he looked at the gun parts from behind the children fumbling with the components they were given. Richard, observing the busy fingers of the children, looked up.

“It’s not a toy. It’s made exactly like the real thing. Although its power is significantly reduced, its structure and size are identical to the real thing.” – Richard

“There’s no ammunition anyway, so what’s the difference from the real thing?”

Ilay sneered and glanced at the children.

“Five……. It seems this time no one has given up from the start.”

Ilay seemed to evaluate the numbers for a moment, then suddenly asked. Richard, observing the children, turned and looked curiously at Ilay. After a second, he seemed to understand what Ilay was saying and replied – “Oh.”

“No. All five of these children have accepted the challenge.”

“Back then, someone gave up right from the start.”

“Yes. That was Johan. He’s very smart, so I don’t know why he gave up.”

“Because he was smart, he gave up from the beginning.”

Richard laughed heartily. “Maybe,” he said, nodding and glancing at Ilay with a lingering smile.

“Why did you suddenly bring that up?”

“We were discussing the importance of recognizing suitable and unsuitable positions one can take.”

“Huh…… ?”

This time Richard looked puzzled, as if what Ilay was saying was hard to understand. Then he looked at Jeong Taeui as if expecting an explanation.

However, Jeong Taeui couldn’t answer. He couldn’t respond to something he didn’t understand.

“Does giving up the right of succession…… have different meanings depending on the timing?”

Jeong Taeui asked Ilay. Ilay laughed loudly. Richard, curious about what was being discussed between them, quickly answered on behalf of Ilay.

“Yes. Giving up the right of succession means either giving up being a candidate from the start or giving up halfway.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Whether or not one has to bear the responsibility for their choice. That’s the difference.”

Jeong Taeui silently looked at Richard for a while. Then he looked at Ilay and finally at the children assembling the gun in front of him and said,

“So, giving up the right of succession from the start is fine, but giving up halfway means paying a reasonable price?”

Richard nodded. Jeong Taeui thought for a moment and then asked again.

“Do the children know that?”

Since all the children were listening to their conversation, he wondered how much they knew and understood.

Richard smiled and said – “Of course.”

“Because these children’s lives will always be in a state of threat after that choice, it would be fairer if they had the right to choose. In the first selection, they are told everything they need to know. Do they want to participate in the race to inherit Tarten or not? If a child refuses to participate from the start, everything ends without any problem. That child will not have the chance to inherit Tarten, and they will not have to pay any price. That child can live a normal, free life, blending in with others without any disadvantage.”

Jeong Taeui looked down at the children.

The nimble ones had almost completed assembling the gun. Only one child was fumbling with clumsy fingers.

However, in other areas, the nimble ones now could be left behind, and the one lagging might advance to the forefront.

There couldn’t be someone excelling in all areas, so the overall superiority of these children needed to be determined through competition. The results wouldn’t only accumulate in a short time; the superiority wouldn’t just be temporary but would be objectively evaluated over a long process.

Currently, based on today’s lesson alone, it couldn’t be determined which child was better or worse. This was because the child lagging now might develop at an astonishing rate. So, as they grew up and completed each given task, one outstanding candidate would emerge, one that everyone – even the children themselves – would have to acknowledge.

At the moment, everyone seemed to consider Richard the most outstanding candidate.

“So, it means if they give up halfway, they will face trouble?”

When Jeong Taeui asked that question, he thought of Christoph. According to what he remembered, Christoph had said he gave up halfway.

Richard looked at the almost completely assembled gun of the slowest child, then glanced around the yard. He picked up a spring that had fallen below and handed it to the child. The child started crying and began to disassemble the gun again. Richard smiled and gently told the child to try again slowly. With a smiling face, he calmly said,

“From the first time a child decides to compete until they grow up, they can experience everything they want with Tarten’s full support. They can receive support for everything they want to learn, write, hear, see, or feel… Whether you believe it or not, providing a perfect environment for a child costs a lot. It’s an amount of money that an ordinary person might not reach in a lifetime. And all the best can be provided to these children.”

Jeong Taeui uttered an – “Ah……” – and quietly waited for Richard to continue.

“Well…… But what if, in the middle of everything, a child gives up the race for succession? All efforts until then become futile. Not only the child’s own time and effort but also the time, effort, and money of those who did their best to provide everything for that child become meaningless. So, if a child gives up halfway and is punished, it’s only fair they face corresponding penalties.”

“…….”

Penalty.

The child must repay what they received.

As Christoph said, what a child receives from others is time, effort, and money.

Among these, the child can only repay one.

“Tarten will reclaim the investments made in that child?”

“Exactly, they must repay that amount.”

“But I heard that’s an amount that an ordinary person might not earn in a lifetime.”

“Yes, in the usual way.”

When Jeong Taeui asked, Richard calmly nodded. Jeong Taeui looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“But there are ways other than the usual to earn money. Whatever. All the costs must be repaid.”

“That’s their responsibility.”

Simply and clearly. The words ended so succinctly that Jeong Taeui was momentarily speechless.

“Similarly, time and effort must also be repaid as part of the cost to receive initial support… In simple terms, all the child has to do is repay the entire amount.”

Jeong Taeui’s throat felt tight: ‘What kind of wretched family is this?’. A feeling of anger welled up from deep inside.