“Oh, are those the hands?”

[“What?”]

Jeong Taeui reflexively responded with some excitement as the person on the other end of the line gave a short reply.

“Those hands.”

Jeong Taeui pointed to the corner of the screen where the white, delicate hands appeared. The hands lifted as if the person was looking at them.

“Your hands are so beautiful that I recognized them immediately.”

[“Haha, thank you for that. It’s the first time in my life I’ve received such a compliment, so these hands will be very happy.”]

The man on the other side of the screen laughed and spoke. The voice was still mechanical but not as heavy as the first time Jeong Taeui heard it.

[“Is Instructor Jeong bathing again? It seems like you often go there, you must be the favorite nephew.”]

“No, my uncle is not here. I just come to read books. Because my uncle’s room has a lot of books.”

[“Ah~. Instructor Jeong’s hobby is quite decent.”]

The white hands leisurely tapped on the table. The nails looked as clear as glass, very cold; Jeong Taeui really wanted to touch them once to feel the cool glass-like sensation on each fingertip.

[“Do you like my hands that much?”]

“Huh?”

[“Your eyes look like they want to devour them.”]

He laughed. Jeong Taeui also smiled and shrugged.

“Is it that obvious? No, they are very beautiful, but they don’t suit me, so I can only admire them.”

Jeong Taeui spoke beforehand in case the man mentioned again that after he died, he could take the hands once more. The man smiled satisfactorily as if he could read all those thoughts of his.

Jeong Taeui suddenly became curious. People say that by looking at someone’s hands, one can somewhat understand their life. What about this man? He didn’t think the man would have to do heavy work, but if it was desk work and holding a pen all day, it didn’t seem fitting either. People who deal in old books might do some dirty work, but those hands and dirty deeds seemed completely unrelated.

“Ilay…?”

Jeong Taeui blurted out his name. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he had called the man’s name. He still smiled and casually responded: “Hmm?”

“When I told my uncle your name, he looked a bit confused. It seems you have many names, right?”

[“Ahahaha, really? Let’s see, because Instructor Jeong doesn’t call me by that name. I only have one name. I haven’t done anything wrong, so there’s no reason to use many names.”]

“Hmm—If you are a dealer in old books, then perhaps… What are you doing?”

The man remained silent. The beautiful white hands tapped rhythmically on the table. It wasn’t an expression of annoyance; he seemed to be deep in thought while staring at Jeong Taeui, though Jeong Taeui couldn’t actually see his face but could feel a piercing gaze through the lens.

After a while, he slowly answered as if he had finished thinking.

[“Sometimes I help my brother with the family business. Maybe I will continue doing that, but I don’t know… What should I do for a living? I’ve never thought about it, but hearing you say that makes me worried now.”]

Jeong Taeui also began to worry about his future while listening to the man’s voice (which didn’t have a trace of worry).

If he could safely leave here after half a year, he would be unemployed. Of course, if he followed his uncle’s advice, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a good job with his background. But what could he do for a living? He didn’t know what he wanted.

“Since I was discharged from the military, I have completely become useless…”

Jeong Taeui sighed and murmured. It seemed those words had gone through the receiver.

[“Discharged from the military? You were a soldier? It makes sense; occasionally, there are soldiers who come here after leaving the military. But anyway, it’s interesting. Jeong Jaeil’s younger brother is a soldier… ha ha.”]

The man laughed and spoke with an implicit tone. Jeong Taeui slightly raised his eyebrows, looking at the white hands and replied with a smile.

“What’s so funny? A genius older brother and a simple, physically developed younger brother, it sounds funny, right?”

Hearing that, the man laughed out loud as if he had just watched an interesting comedy and slowly waved his hand.

[“No, I didn’t mean that. Besides, your body isn’t big enough to confidently say you’re muscular. But if you mean ‘physically developed’ in another sense, I wouldn’t know… Sorry.”]

Jeong Taeui made a bitter face at his laughter and replied: “It’s okay.”

[“Well, I mean, the combination of a brother who develops weapons and a brother who is the first victim of those weapons is very interesting. Aren’t soldiers more like victims than users?”]

Taeui was leaning on his chin, suddenly froze and thought seriously about the strange content of the man’s words.

The latter part was not problematic. But the important thing was the earlier sentences.

The man seemed to read his thoughts as Jeong Taeui stared at his white hands with a strange look. After a moment of silence, he seemed to understand the reason and murmured as if apologizing.

[“This… You don’t know?”]

“…No. I didn’t know. Is my brother really involved in weapon development?”

“There are many things others know that I don’t,” Jeong Taeui vaguely muttered.

The relationship between Jeong Taeui and Jeong Jaeui wasn’t bad. But like any normal siblings, they didn’t share everything with each other. Besides, since Jeong Taeui graduated from high school, the days he stayed home were rare, and Jeong Jaeui was often away too, so they didn’t know much about each other’s lives. Knowing that his brother was a highly regarded researcher at the UNHRDO headquarters in the US was something he had only heard from others.

Weapons, but if it was weapon development.

Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly. It was a crime, even though he knew it was necessary for human development, but he had seen many of its negative impacts.

[“It seems I spoke out of turn. Though you should know, this is a secret, so I’d like you to consider it.”]

“Even if it’s me, I wouldn’t go around announcing that my brother is developing weapons.”

[“Haha. But you don’t seem very comfortable with it. Anyway, your brother is considered a genius in this industry.”]

“Even if I were a genius in weapon manufacturing, I wouldn’t be happy about it.”

Jeong Taeui grumbled and raised his eyebrows, looking at the screen. After thinking for a moment, he smirked.

“You just said ‘this industry’, so it seems you also work in this field, right?”

The man fell silent. This silence lasted longer. If the hands hadn’t occasionally moved, he would have thought the phone lost signal.

Shortly after, he laughed with a sigh.

[“Actually, my brother works in this industry. Didn’t I mention that sometimes I help with the family business?”]

“Your family’s business is related to weapons?”

Jeong Taeui asked with a puzzled expression and soon realized this man wasn’t an old book dealer. He was a broker, but the goods they traded were weapons, not old books.

“Probably buying and selling weapons…”

[“Not me. But my brother— You seem to dislike this topic. In recent years, the rockets your brother designed have been highly regarded.”]

“Honestly, a world without war is just a utopian dream for people living in a beautiful country… Jaeui, if I see you again, I need to punch you!” 

The man laughed.

[“That’s scary. So you’ll cut ties with your beloved brother?”]

“How do you know? But it was him who cut ties first, saying he was leaving.”

[“Aha?”]

The man’s voice was full of interest in that story. Jeong Taeui really wanted to see his face. Surely, he was staring at the screen with a slow, refined smile.

[“I didn’t know your relationship was that bad. I thought you were close. What happened, did you fight with your brother? I didn’t expect him to be the first to say he would cut ties with his brother.”]

“He said he would cut the red string connecting us and left home that day… Haven’t seen him since.”

Jeong Taeui spoke while raising his pinky. Though not entirely true, the main point was there. The man was silent for a moment and then spoke.

[“Haha, Jeong Jaeil said that? He’s really interesting.”]

“It seems interesting to you, but to me, it’s a potential family crisis.”

[“Hahahahaha”]

The man continued to laugh joyfully. The laughter through the voice changer sounded quite strange.

“You’re really happy.”

[“No… It’s just that it turns out you two are very different. Because you’re twins, I thought there might be some similarities, but your faces are different, and so are your personalities. Very interesting.”]

“Have you ever met my brother?”

[“Hmm. Let’s see, I think we ran into each other once. I was surprised because he looked younger than I thought.”]

Jeong Taeui had heard such comments many times. Anyone who talked about Jeong Jaeil was surprised by his youth relative to his intelligence.

But it seemed this man wasn’t very old either.

Jeong Taeui looked at the beautiful white hands again, though he couldn’t guess the age just from those hands. But anyway, he didn’t want to delve too deeply into others’ personal lives, so he changed the subject.

[“From what you’re saying, it seems you’re quite similar to your brother who deals in weapons.”]

“I’m not sure. I’ve never heard anyone say we’re alike, but my brother and I are not twins. There’s a significant age gap too.”

Jeong Taeui waved his hand and replied that the age difference had nothing to do with being similar.

The man paused and gently turned toward a sound from somewhere or someone approaching behind him. It was said he often helped with family business; he might have a harmonious family life.

[“Though it’s abrupt, I have to go. I’ll see you later.”]

“Huh? Oh, okay. But what about my uncle?”

[“I’ll call him later. Goodbye.”]

The white hand moved slightly, and then the phone screen immediately turned off and went dark.

Jeong Taeui sighed as the surroundings suddenly became quiet for a moment.