Jeong Taeui lightly punched his aching shoulder to relieve tension and shook his head back and forth. He had just completed one book yesterday and wondered when he would finish copying the remaining nine volumes. Taeui sighed; he had no choice but to open a new notebook and start writing the first lines.

“Regulations of the United Nations Human Resources Development Organization, Article 1: Organizational Structure……”

“You’re having a tough time, huh? Looking at those remaining notebooks, it seems you still have to write nine more, right?”

It was at that moment a slow voice whispered behind him.

Startled, Jeong Taeui’s hand slipped, and his pen drew a line across the written lines. He bit his lip and cursed softly: “Damn it.”

Jeong Taeui turned around. This was a dangerous situation. If the person behind him wanted to stab him in the neck, he wouldn’t be able to avoid it. He hadn’t even noticed the person getting close behind him.

Jeong Taeui tensed for a moment, then slowly relaxed his shoulders. There was no avoiding this situation. If he tried to dodge, he would be stabbed.

Alright, if you want to kill me, then kill me……

Jeong Taeui continued writing next to the errant line and calmly said – “There’s no interesting book here to read.”

On reflection, this man had a bad reputation but a rather peculiar taste in books. Could there be a book in this library that suited his taste?

“Yeah, there are more interesting books in your room.”

Despite saying that, the man seemed to have found a suitable book. He sat down a few squares away from Jeong Taeui, holding a book in his hand.

Jeong Taeui looked at him with surprise. Although he didn’t want to get into a fight, he thought that the next time he met this person, there would certainly be trouble.

The man – Riegrow – looks no different from the morning or the previous night when Jeong Taeui had met him. The only change was his attire; his calm demeanor and bright, pale face showed no signs of fatigue.

Riegrow sat down and opened the book as if ignoring Jeong Taeui. He quietly turned each page, his gaze through the glasses focused solely on the book.

Had he forgotten about this morning when Jeong Taeui pointed a gun at him?

Jeong Taeui stared at Riegrow suspiciously. Sensing the gaze, Riegrow looked up. Their eyes met. Riegrow quietly looked at Jeong Taeui for a moment, without any intention of avoiding Taeui, as if he was pondering something. He then closed the book.

“What’s up? Want me to help you?”

Riegrow gesture as if ready to help, asking for the notebook and pen.

“The punishment for violating the ban on personal weapons is this, huh? Quite mild. It seems Instructor Jeong favors his nephew.”

Riegrow’s tone, neither laughing nor angry, made Jeong Taeui frown.

“It seems you want to say I’m receiving special treatment. If that’s the case, I have a question too. If I’m favored because I’m the Instructor’s nephew, who are you and what connections do you have that allow you to brutally beat someone without any punishment?”

Riegrow laughed and shook his head.

“You don’t need to get angry. I just think Instructor Jeong is very fond of his nephew. Even if you aren’t punished, I have no complaints. I’m just stating the facts.”

“……Has the relationship between me and my uncle spread to the European branch?”

“News about the person who dared point a gun at me spread quickly. In less than a day, everyone knew about the righteous soldier Jeong Taeui, who joined the Asian branch less than a month ago because his uncle brought him in.”

Obviously, he hadn’t forgotten. But why was he so quiet?

Jeong Taeui looked at Riegrow suspiciously. Riegrow raised an eyebrow as if finding it amusing.

“Why are you looking at me like that? The one who should be angry is me.”

“…….”

“Or do you think that every time I see you, I will jump and bite your neck?”

“Exactly.”

Jeong Taeui replied displeased. Riegrow laughed.

“That could be true, but right now I’m not in the mood. Wait a little longer.”

Saying that, Riegrow opened the book again and continued reading as if he didn’t want to be disturbed.

Jeong Taeui looked at the man for a while, then turned back and continued to move his pen. While writing mechanically, he slowly pondered the man’s words. The last sentence was what he thought about the most.

“Currently, I’m not in the mood. Wait a little longer.” – Taeui immediately realized that meant: ‘Not right now, but whenever I’m in the mood, I’ll bite your neck off.’ That could happen the next minute or on the last day of the training.

It would be better to act right now. This situation was no different from being tense for two weeks straight.

Suddenly feeling angry, he gripped the pen tightly, causing the notebook page to tear.

Jeong Taeui thought of the unlucky Lieutenant Kim. When news about Jeong Taeui’s involvement in a stabbing at a gay bar spread. Lieutenant Kim was the first to hear about it. At that time, Kim mocked Jeong Taeui, saying – “This won’t spread quickly” – as if wanting others to hear.

Were all unlucky people the same? No! But Lieutenant Kim was just unlucky, not dangerous like this man. Compared to him, Lieutenant Kim was easier to deal with, albeit only slightly.

The angrier Jeong Taeui got, the faster he wrote, and soon he had finished copying the second book and pulled out a new notebook. He began again: Article 1 of the United Nations Human Resources Development Organization Regulations.

The advantage and disadvantage of this monotonous work were that while his hand moved continuously, his mind only thought about the dangers awaiting in the next two weeks. Perhaps because it was related to his life.

“Nothing has changed. It’s best to stay hidden, only showing up when unavoidable and always sticking with teammates. At least I’ll stay alive.”

Even if called cowardly, as long as it was safe, Jeong Taeui was willing to stick with the instructors for two weeks. Surely, they wouldn’t kill someone in front of the instructors.

While muttering and writing, Jeong Taeui suddenly felt someone watching him and looked up.

His faint muttering was surely inaudible, but at some point, Riegrow had been watching him with interest. When their eyes met, Riegrow smiled as if saying – ‘Go ahead, say more.’

“If you kill someone in front of the instructors, what happens?” – Jeong Taeui stopped writing and asked while maintaining eye contact with Riegrow. He might see through his intentions, but now wasn’t the time to hide. Riegrow laughed and pointed at Jeong Taeui’s hand.

“Didn’t you see while copying? There’s a detailed description of the penalties.”

“There is a section on penalties for killing, but nothing about killing in front of instructors.”

Jeong Taeui muttered discontentedly. In reality, the section on killing was very vague. In short – [Handled according to the situation] – was described in three pages.

Riegrow pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said – “Well. I’m not sure because no one has killed in front of the instructors. But there was one case where someone killed an instructor and was detained for 8 months.”

Once again, Jeong Taeui’s pen slipped off the line. He stared at the torn page, silent.

Damn it. If he dared to kill an instructor, dragging me away from my teammates to kill wouldn’t be difficult. His plan suddenly became meaningless.

“Moreover, that time it was considered legitimate self-defense, similar to this morning.”

Riegrow added. But he probably shouldn’t have said those last words.

Jeong Taeui twirled the pen in his fingers, feeling bitter. He wondered if he misunderstood the meaning of ‘legitimate self-defense,’ but on second thought, it was probably Riegrow who misunderstood.

“One thing to add is the dictionary definition of legitimate self-defense is an unavoidable action causing harm to protect oneself or others from imminent and unlawful harm.”

Riegrow hadn’t misunderstood. Jeong Taeui found it shameless for him to call his actions ‘unavoidable.’ He wanted to say that, but the words got stuck in his throat.

“If we’re talking about this morning, the harm inflicted on the attacker seemed excessive.”

Finally, Jeong Taeui couldn’t hold back and said a sentence. But Riegrow shook his head.

“You heard him. He told me to shoot. He’s the type who would try to ambush me if I let him go. To prevent future threats, I had no other choice. Anyway, he’s still alive, even if he’s locked up somewhere.”

“So what about killing the instructor?” Jeong Taeui asked. Riegrow smiled slightly. After a moment of silence, he answered briefly.

“Yes, that’s true. In reality, I almost died. Even I wouldn’t kill an Instructor unless pushed to that point. And I deeply regretted it after doing it.”

Jeong Taeui looked at him with regret, intending to say – “My mouth is dry” – but ultimately swallowed those words.

In the end, although he didn’t know the exact reason, it was clear this man would kill even an instructor – or perhaps the Vice Director or Director – if he had a reason or a suitable excuse. So using people as shields to stay out of his sight was useless.

The conclusion was it was best to always stay hidden. Although unsure if it was possible.

“Why am I so unlucky these days?”

Jeong Taeui threw the pen down on the notebook and muttered. Previously, he had been unlucky, but since coming here, things had worsened.

“I heard Jeong Jae-ui is very lucky; aren’t you the same?”

Riegrow suddenly asked, hearing Jeong Taeui mutter. Jeong Taeui just looked at him. He intended to mutter about the fast-spreading news here but thought it wasn’t surprising in this branch.

“Brothers don’t always share the same fate. I’m just an ordinary person. In fact, now it’s worse than usual.”

“Aha …………”

Riegrow smiled vaguely but said nothing more.

Jeong Taeui thought of his brother, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. In this situation, if it were his brother – though his brother surely wouldn’t encounter such a situation – maybe this man would have had to leave the island due to an unexpected accident or be bitten to death by a sudden swarm of venomous snakes.

Jeong Taeui muttered seriously, pointing at Riegrow.

“You should feel lucky I’m not my brother. Otherwise, your fate would be very bad now.”

Riegrow laughed. He seemed to understand exactly what Jeong Taeui meant.

“Thank you for that. So today I won’t do anything to you; don’t be too tense.”

“If you can do that for two weeks, it’d be good.”

“Well…… I’m not good at controlling my emotions, so I can’t promise.”

That meant he would handle the matter before the two weeks ended. Looking into his cold eyes, Jeong Taeui knew it wasn’t just a feeling.

Jeong Taeui bitterly picked up the pen again. Anyway, the only way to resist was to try to minimize the time spent with him.

Jeong Taeui suddenly stopped writing. He looked at Riegrow, who had returned to his book, and gently asked.

“Earlier, you said you would help me copy the book, didn’t you?”

Riegrow raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised by what Taeui said. Looking at Jeong Taeui’s notebooks and pens, he shrugged.

“If you ask, I’ll help. Copying isn’t hard; Instructor Jeong will recognize the different handwriting.”

Knowing this, he still offered to help. It meant he wasn’t just saying it.

Jeong Taeui smiled and handed Riegrow a blank notebook and pen.

“No problem, as long as it meets the quantity. I only need you to write one book.”

“Hmm…… Alright.”

Riegrow took the pen and began writing smoothly.

Jeong Taeui recalled his uncle’s words – “Even the helper must copy 10 volumes” – and decided to put aside thoughts about future difficulties. Sometimes people are willing to endure hardship to trouble others.

Let’s see how he endures. And that also reduces face-to-face time.

Jeong Taeui understood why his teammates spent so much time preparing physically for the joint training since he arrived on the island.

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

Saying one day feels like a thousand years was an exaggeration, but it was indeed much more tiring than usual.

When training with teammates in the same branch, at least you could be assured they didn’t intend to seriously injure you. But now, even in small matches, you had to be tense because many people were ready to break your arm under the excuse of a ‘match mistake.’

Even during breaks, you couldn’t relax. Sharing a resting space with them meant always being on guard for any flying stones or someone using a blowgun.

The only time you could rest was returning to your room after work and closing the door. But if you left the room to use the bathroom or shower, you faced the risk of conflict and had to avoid or handle it until you got back to the room.

Even that was too troublesome, so right after finishing work, Jeong Taeui would stop by the bathroom on the way back to his room, then collapse onto the bed as soon as he entered the room. But even upon returning to the room, he didn’t feel comfortable. It was because he had to endure Maurer’s resentful gaze.

Alright, it’s my fault, my fault. I’ll empty my account to buy you hundreds of Colt guns……

Jeong Taeui muttered into his pillow, too tired to speak out loud.

Maurer was still engrossed in a puzzle game while Tou hadn’t returned since going to the bathroom, likely involved in or causing a fight somewhere. His stamina was truly admirable, causing daily arguments and fights without end.

“Hey, there’s a summons.”

Half-asleep on the bed, Jeong Taeui heard Maurer’s displeased voice. Lazily, he lifted his head to look at the pager on the table, then buried his face back into the pillow. He was too tired to check. But then Maurer spoke again.

“Hey, another summons.”

“……From where?”

Jeong Taeui grumbled, annoyed at being disturbed while exhausted. Maurer picked up the pager to check the number and casually said.

“114.”

“114…… why is someone looking for me from the guide number……”

“What are you saying? There’s a message too, check it.”

Maurer threw the pager accurately next to Jeong Taeui’s pillow. Lazily, he opened his eyes to look at the pager. The indicator light under the screen was blinking as Maurer said; there was a message.

Check what? So annoying. It’s probably another notice or reminder about something.

114, 114, where is that? Room 14, basement 1? What’s there? Ah, the instructors’ rooms. And the medical staff. Room 14 is……

Jeong Taeui suddenly opened his eyes wide and sat up. Like a person suddenly revived from the dead, he sprang up, startling Maurer, who was focused on a magazine nearby.