His uncle once joked not long before the joint training session with the European branch: 

“The South American members are a bit crazy, the African branch is very cruel, the guys from Australia are a bit unlucky and some Europeans are extremely unlucky people.”

At least what he thought about the European branch wasn’t wrong. That is also the General Director’s opinion, but it is clear that it is also correct to say that the people in the European branch are extremely unlucky because isn’t the person who is the cause of that bad luck right here? Then what happens after that? Are the claims about South America, Africa and Australia true? Perhaps he cannot know even in the future.

Immediately after the joint training with the South American branch ends, Taeui will leave UNHRDO. Hopefully he can still go there with a healthy body after going through these days of being bedridden.

“That South American branch, the people there have brains that can grow flowers” 

Hearing what Carlo said, Taeui patted his knee and nodded. The comment “brains can grow flowers” is like being racist. The hot-tempered people there would be very angry. Alta frowned and mumbled at the front.

“South America, I have a bit of a grudge against them. Especially the South American guy who shared a room with me during last year’s joint training. Let that bastard come and try this time…”

“If he comes here and you have to go to the Australian branch, it makes no sense.”

Tou spoke the obvious truth but Alta didn’t seem to hear it.

“Well, then we’ll see what happens to Alta after tonight’s draw. Let’s see who will come and who will have to go.”

“It’s true that hatred is not easy to erase.”

“That’s right. Furthermore, if you’re unlucky, you might have to hold even more hatred when trying to get revenge. Qing also had to contemplate that after luckily meeting the guy who beat him in Dalian. But he said that he tried to kick the guy enough to make him fly in revenge, but in the end he couldn’t bear the bastard’s weight and fell down himself.”

(*Dalian: is a prefecture-level city or prefectural city in Liaoning Province, China. Dalian is also the northernmost ice-free port in China.)

“Ah, remember, that time you sprained your ankle and had to limp for a while, right?”

Qing, who heard the voice from afar, mumbled something but no one paid attention.

Even though he was looking at documents, Taeui could still hear everything. The conversation was like children discussing something.

Taeui smiled bitterly.

As the joint training session with South America approached, Jeong Taeui became more comfortable. That can only be because when an external enemy approaches, the internal team will naturally tend to become more united.

Okay, that’s good anyway. Until the joint training ends, if they don’t care or care about him at all, he’ll feel more comfortable. Furthermore, when this training process ends, the fierce storm that has been coming to him in the past few months will also end.

Taeui shook his head with a heart full of pride. In this atmosphere, he quickly realized that compared to the previous joint training with Europe. This South American training session is nothing.

When the joint training with Europe took place, everyone couldn’t even sit still and calmly like now. This time, they were filled with enthusiasm as if they were about to enter an official sports competition, but their opponents were so incompetent.

Taeui missed Ryu’s words “Nice to meet everyone after a long time”.

“There! Let’s focus on the data videos and stop making trouble.”

The Instructor spoke sternly over the noise. The members automatically closed their mouths and pretended not to know and turned back to look at the video playing in front. Taeui also reviewed the documents with an extremely relaxed mind.

Even if he watched all these data videos from start to finish, no one would be as crazy as Ilay. All of them will participate in fighting with the South American side without their strength deviating from the strength range of a normal person. So it’s heartwarming to know that he can fight fiercely against opponents while still staying within the scope of such a human.

Tonight’s draw will decide who will go and who will stay. And on Sunday, members of the South American branch will also arrive. Taeui doesn’t need to think much about whether to go or stay, because the Assistant Instructor will always go with his Instructor. If Instructors have to go, they will go with them, and if their Instructors stay, then Assistant Instructors will also stay. Even when on business trips, Assistant Instructors always go with Instructors. And for this training, Ilay will stay here. Of course, he was also left here with him.

Taeui sat next to the screen and looked at McKeen – who was sitting up straight looking at the screen.

“Please stay and help McKeen.”

Taeui looked at him, remembering what his uncle had said.

McKeen, like the others, doesn’t have much to say about him. He didn’t even know who this man was other than his title as a normal Instructor, a member, an employee of this organization.

His uncle said that when he asks for help, then help him. Taeui doesn’t know what he said to him, but did he really ask for his help?

But, yeah, it doesn’t matter who it is, I think it won’t take much effort.

“Think of it…”

Taeui turned his head when he heard a quiet voice next to him. Carlo lifted his chin and looked forward, leaning slightly towards Taeui and muttering to himself.

“Xinlu seems to be thinking about leaving UNHRO…did you two have an argument?”

Taeui listened then turned his head, looking at him blankly. Carlo quietly glanced at Taeui and belatedly realized that this was also the first time he had heard that. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“Well, I don’t know. I just happened to hear it while walking to the office. Or maybe I heard it wrong.”

Taeui muttered while still looking at him intently: “Why did he quit his job?”

“I don’t know, I’m just asking because I don’t know if it has anything to do with you or not.”

Carlo clicked his tongue. Taeui looked at him with a puzzled expression but he pretended not to see.

Xinlu planned to quit his job and he had never heard of it. He was shocked to hear something he hadn’t even thought about. He tapped his fingers on the table like a habit, making *Tok, tok* sounds in a nervous mood.

Thinking back, it had been a while since he had talked to Xinlu. No, he didn’t even realize it until now, but after all, he had never told Xinlu that he would leave UNHRDO after the training with South America ended. The moment he realized that truth, he suddenly felt ridiculous. He didn’t have to be surprised to hear that Xinlu might quit, it was so obvious to him since he didn’t even say he was leaving. Taeui scratched his head as if he wanted to rip it apart.

There’s nothing good here, even if he doesn’t tell anyone, he should at least tell Xinlu. After all, the two of them had dated for a bit, although he was vague about whether it was really a date or not, but that was also the minimum courtesy.

When he meets Xinlu, he will tell him that.

Somehow, he suddenly felt as though there were a lot of difficult problems that needed to be solved.

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

“It seems that the next commander-in-chief has been decided to be Rudolph.” – Ilay.

Taeui took a sip of water and suddenly remembered that Ilay was still here. He thoughtfully thought that it had been a long time since he had had a beer. Instead of drinking water like this, beer was still the best choice.

“There’s still a long way to go to make a decision. Isn’t it possible to do a comprehensive assessment before completing the training in South America and cleaning things up?”

Taeui glanced at Ilay, tilted his head and asked about things different from what he had heard.

If it’s Rudolph, Taeui thinks it’s not so bad. In reality, it didn’t matter whether this position of General Director belonged to Rudolph or Maoli Yin, but he was a little more inclined towards Rudolph because he was the man his uncle was subordinate to.

Just like Ilay said, when the next General Director is appointed, there will be no reason to tie him here anymore, so that’s good. There are only a few days left until he will leave here after meeting the deadline his uncle set. IIay said casually as he kept looking towards Taeui’s bookshelf even though Taeui bet he already knew the list of books there by heart.

“On the surface, that’s true. But in the evaluation just now, Ruldolph had the upper hand. Maybe, the results won’t change unless something happens in this joint training session. “

“Right? That must be good for your uncle.”

He added, but suddenly Taeui looked into Ilay’s eyes, isn’t this man in front of him under Maoli Yin’s command? On the Maoli side, if Rudolph became General Director, it would be more difficult for him to climb to a higher position. 

Taeui covered his mouth with a book while thinking for a moment and then asked softly.

“Wouldn’t that be bad for you? If Maoli comes up there will be nothing to hinder your success.”

“Um?”

Ilay – who was still focusing on the bookshelf, turned around and looked at Taeui blankly as if he couldn’t understand what Taeui said for a moment. After a few seconds, he smiled and said: “Aha” 

“The truth is that’s true. It will probably be difficult to climb to a higher position while still in this branch. If not organized well, you can even waste years without achieving anything.”

Ilay spoke calmly as if this matter had no effect on him. Taeui muttered.

“What? So this isn’t important?”

Ilay didn’t answer, he just laughed out loud like he just heard something funny. Seeing that smile, Taeui frowned. He must have asked a stupid question. Seriously, for someone who was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, promotion shouldn’t be a big deal for him. Come to think of it, doesn’t he already have a position in his brother’s corporation?

“In reality, success or not is not very important. Furthermore, ‘capacity’ and ‘position’ are not necessarily compatible with each other.”

Taeui said and picked up the book to hide her dissatisfied expression from his sight.

“That’s right, no matter how talented you are, it’s difficult to succeed if you don’t create the right conditions. Those conditions are not something that can be achieved through one person’s own efforts.”

Ilay’s voice landed in front of the bookshelf and took a step closer to Taeui.

He clicked his tongue.

“If a person’s ‘ability’ and ‘position’ in society were compatible, the world would look completely different than it does now. Perhaps you would have become the younger brother of the dictator who rules the world.” 

“The dictator’s younger brother?……Little brother? It’s not a matter of ‘capacity’ and ‘position’, but a matter of character. I don’t think it will happen Even if I die and reincarnate again.”

Taeui secretly thought of his older brother, he could have run away even if he gave him such a position because of his personality, even though Jaeui could really be on top of the world with his own abilities.

While he was thinking, Ilay came right in front of him, picked up the book that Taeui was covering and lifted it up. The two people’s eyes suddenly met for a moment. Taeui reflexively frowned, Ilay’s eyes also narrowed.

“What’s wrong… We just made eye contact for a moment and you’re already grimacing so openly. That’s really too much.”

“Try it’s you, but you’re also sitting here and someone suddenly comes and looks at you like that…”

Taeui mumbled, feeling like he almost died but still barely survived. Only a few days have passed since that day and the memories of the days when he couldn’t move in bed, wanted to drag his feet to the bathroom or to the refrigerator but had to give up and go straight back to bed and fall down again because moving is so difficult and still very lively.

Even now when he thinks back to that time, he is still so angry that it feels like a thousand fires are burning in his heart. For a moment Taeui thought: ‘I have to kill that bastard!’ and then that thought quickly disappeared after that.

“Damn, I have to kill him to feel satisfied.” – He muttered and that thought also disappeared immediately.

Taeui thinks that his personality could become a god after all this. 

If Ilay had been where he was that day (though he was scared to imagine it), his opponent would have logged off the earth with no trace left.

This diamond spoon makes him feel so lonely.

After all, Ilay still hasn’t changed at all. He did not show any remorse, nor did he show any gentleness. Even so, he was no rougher. Like when he walked into him and said.

“Oh, did I bump into you? I’m sorry.”

The apology was so sincere that Taeui even thought he was the one who was more at fault. But compared to before, that apology was a bit more sincere.

Taeui seriously thought for a moment. It seems like his personality has become so twisted that he doesn’t even realize it. He doesn’t know what his personality is like, so it must be like that. Taeui thought his uncle must have brought IIay here to hone his personality.

Has he become ‘less human’? Now if he gets out of here, even Lieutenant Kim, he can love with all his heart. (Kim Jeongpil – The guy who beat Taeui while serving in the military in Korea)

That was what Taeui just recalled.

“…..It’s so quiet here…”

IIay’s whisper rang in Taeui’s ear while he was seriously thinking with a repentant heart about his own past. He forgot his existence for a moment.

Hearing that, Taeui also calmed down and paid attention to the movements outside. The 6th floor is where more people live than the 1st floor, which is the Instructor’s floor. At this time when he is in uncle’s room or Ilay’s room, it will be quite noisy. But today it seems to be quite quiet compared to usual, probably because half of the members have gone to other branches for training. After the draw the night before, half of the members left the island yesterday morning. And they’re probably waiting to walk through the doors of the Australian branch in Canberra right now.

“Yeah, I guess it’s because there’s only half the number of people than usual.”

Taeui nodded in response and remembered Alta’s pitiful expression when he drew the lottery to go to Australia and his deep, unresolved hatred.

“Thinking back…”

Ilay said as if suddenly remembering something. Taeui turned around curiously, he was looking at the desk calendar.

“Your birthday was a few days ago, right?”

“….That’s right…”

Taeui had forgotten, only after hearing those words did he realize that his birthday had just passed. All he could think about now was that for the entire day of his birthday, he had to stay in bed.

That was the day this damn bastard woke up and fucked him rough.