His face was burning.

Jeong Taeui turned over. The spacious beach chair gently embraced his skin. Taeui half-closed his eyelids, grabbed a towel and covered his face.

The sunlight disappeared in an instant. So that’s more than enough to enjoy life.

After covering his face, the sunlight softened just enough. The warm sunlight caressed 

Taeui’s body as if he had just entered a sauna with the ideal temperature. When he wakes up in a while, he might feel a burning pain from sunburn, but Taeui still doesn’t want to open his eyes right now because he feels very comfortable.

“….”

Taeui fell asleep and quickly woke up, his body tired, but he couldn’t sleep again. He opened his eyes to a large white towel covering his face, blocking his vision. After a while, when the drowsiness subsided, Taeui turned over and exposed his bare back to the sunlight, and covered his head again with a towel.

It’s around noon now, right? He felt like he had been asleep for an hour or two. When he first fell asleep, the shade of the porch was already past his waist, but now the sunlight was shining straight on his face.

Birds chirped in the distance, intermittent calls rising and falling like a not too loud song. A cool breeze gently brushed against his skin, soothing the heat on his body right now.

Below his feet is a vast stream of clear water. Occasionally there is the sound of birds singing, warm sunlight, a great space for a short relaxing nap.

When was the last time he enjoyed such a leisurely and enjoyable time?

Thinking back, even after being discharged from the army, Taeui couldn’t rest comfortably because he had to go to the hospital for several months to recover from his injury. Then, when he was about to let his mind drift freely and take time to recover his body, he came and took him away.

“It’s true that life should have moments of relaxation like this but…life is too difficult.”

Jeong Taeui muttered to himself with a languid sigh and then wiggled back and forth.

It wasn’t that he didn’t consider that he was leisurely enjoying someone else’s house when the owner was busy and had to go to work early in the morning, but Kyle also didn’t seem to notice what Taeui was doing in his house. He is always polite and courteous like a true master to any guest. Even though Jeong Taeui wasn’t the type to pay attention to details, more than anything, this house had too many guests.

He has learned a few things after staying here for a few days. Among all the people living in this large mansion, only one person belongs to the Riegrow family. It is said that his elderly parents live in a villa in a remote suburb, and they often go to work but rarely return to this house. There was also a younger sister that he heard said that as soon as she turned 20, she married a businessman the same age and moved to the United States. In other words, there was only one person in their family living here, Kyle Riegrow. 

Living alone in a palace-like house like this….. He guesses he doesn’t have time to think too much about that.

After all, there are always different guests in this house along with several maids. Whether it’s a social or private guest, there will always be one or two people staying here.

In Rita’s words, this little master is ‘a master at having people in his house’.

(*Rita uses 도련님: respectful way of speaking)

That was when Jeong Taeui fell asleep and when he arrived at the dining room, there was no one there. He drank the vegetable soup that Rita had prepared and asked again.

“Little master?”

Then, Rita nodded with a natural look and replied: “Little master.”

She said that she had lived in this house for more than 40 years since she was just a young girl, and she was also the nanny for the children in this family when they were young. The little owners in this house were all raised and cared for by her, the old woman said with a very proud look. Jeong Taeui looked at her for a moment then asked again.

“Did you raise two sons in this house by calling them master?”

Then the old woman interrupted him and replied.

“To us they are still our little masters.” 

“……”

Jeong Taeui was speechless. He had no choice but to bury his face in his plate of soup and eat.

Rita is not a bad person.

Before getting to know her, the impression of her would be of a cold and straightforward person, and even now she doesn’t seem to like an Asian like Taeui very much. But when he asked anything, she still answered everything, and if Jeong Taeui made any mistakes, she would help him without saying a word. Taeui likes people like that.

That’s why he also liked Rita very much, even though she looked at him with unpleasant eyes. She is very straightforward and cold but at the same time still a caring nanny.

“By the way, how could someone raised by such a good nanny become such a brutal murderer?…”  

Jeong Taeui muttered unconsciously then turned over his hot body under the sunlight again.

But I don’t think it’s Rita’s fault. It’s not like Kyle was also raised by Rita but he doesn’t look like he has the same intimidating power as that bastard.

“Anyway, it’s based on genetics rather than blaming factors in the environment… Siblings born in the same environment also have to rely on their genetic code. Only then did the differences between them form…”

In the end, he still didn’t understand why Ilay had such a personality. Taeui shook his head under the towel.

It’s hard to guess. If that were true, wouldn’t the two twins inherit the same genetic factors and grow up in the same environment? So why are they so different from each other?

Once again, everything came to a dead end, it seemed like there was something innate that couldn’t be explained solely by environment or genetics when applied to that crazy guy.

“….. —I wonder how that crazy guy can live so well…..In the end, can anyone do any harm to him? That thing could possibly survive even when thrown into the middle of that scorching 

desert furnace.”

Even though he was very curious, he didn’t worry about him at all. Completely different from his brother. There’s nothing more useless than worrying about that person named Ilay 

Riegrow.

No matter how curious he is about something, he is someone who will not tend to delve deeply into it. Because sometimes if you discover the root cause of the problem, the anxiety and fear can increase even more.

After leaving the other island, he contacted his uncle a few times. That’s because he told his uncle that he would call him once or twice a week, but it’s not necessary to call him often if there’s nothing important.

At first, two days before leaving Hong Kong, he deliberately went to the airport and made a call there. Taeui asked his uncle to give him an identity that even he didn’t know, but he wasn’t sure if his uncle could find his location thanks to the phone call at the airport. However, he is also quite confident that he cannot be tracked that easily. Still, he still had a little faith.

Even if he personally found Taeui’s location, he wouldn’t reveal it to anyone unless something was wrong.

Jeong Taeui doesn’t know what tricks Ilay will use to find out his location. Or maybe Ilay won’t care about him  anymore and won’t try to find him. Of course, with Ilay’s personality, he will probably persevere until catches and extracts his bones. But anyway, he didn’t know what Ilay was really doing now.

When he called his uncle, he asked a little and received a calm smile and a very short answer.

“Don’t get caught.” – Ilay

He realized something as soon as he heard those words.

Even if a crazy person like him wanted to suppress his anger, he would do very well. He actually held back his angry outburst and everything he wanted to say, but his anger must have risen to the top of his head.

Has Ilay ever experienced anything similar in his life? A person like him who grew up full of pride but acted selfishly towards others would surely have his pride shattered by such humiliation.

However.

“That’s right, if I get caught… I’ll die.”

But it’s also an incomplete death.

Jeong Taeui knew several ways to torture a person by prolonging the pain before death, but he didn’t think Ilay knew any less than he did. It wouldn’t be strange if he knew a few more brutal ways to kill people than any of the harshest ways he could know….. So there’s no other way, he has to run far away. Stop.

Just thinking about the moment he caught him, it gave him chills. That scenario is no different from a horror movie.

“But… why is this so sad……”

Under the harsh sunlight, Taeui muttered softly as he rubbed his arms that were covered in goosebumps.

As time passed, his memories of the past also faded. Time can heal everything, and he likes the way it passes. When the painful memories turn into sadness and slowly can be forgotten, the happy memories become clear again and most interesting of all.

Now he will never see the people at that branch again. Maybe one day they will accidentally bump into each other on the road of life, but he never intended to proactively contact and meet any of them.

Moreover, because of Ilay, he would rather run away for his life.

But what if one day, after a very long time has passed, when memories have become blurred and no longer clear, when someone rumors that the scary man has turned around and is a bit more human, it would be nice to see him again…… But even now, he never thought that his temperament would change even when he got older.

Anyway, it’s good. Even though he didn’t know what Ilay was doing in any corner, he was still safe in this mansion. No one can find a Korean name Jeong Taeui anymore, he has disappeared in Hong Kong, and all news has been cut off.

Now there is only Kim Youngsoo – the most popular name in Korea – who is leisurely enjoying his vacation right at Ilay Riegrow’s house.

Jeong Taeui once again turned his back to lie down and sighed lazily.

Anyway, He’s resting comfortably…

But where should he go to find his brother?

Of course he wasn’t really looking for him, but after spending some time looking for him, Taeui told his uncle: “Uncle, I can’t find him” But anyway, he promised that before leaving he would try to find him, even though the promise could be broken but those were the words that came out of his mouth, so he would pretend to keep it.

But he still doesn’t know what to do. He can’t use the power of the community to find him, and in fact even if he could use it, he doesn’t think it would have any effect, so how can he find his brother.

The person named Jeong Jaeui with his ghost-possessed origins has never been easy to find. If he doesn’t want to appear, he will have to give up the idea of meeting him because who knows, it could cause bad consequences for Jaeui.

“Hyung…..where are you flying freely, my lucky hyung…”

Then he whispered: “It’s hard because there are no clues to find you.”

While he went back through his memories to look for clues, footsteps approached from afar. Someone is approaching the pool.

Whether it was another guest staying at the house, a new guest, or one of the maids coming to clean the garden, Jeong Taeui took out the towel that was covering his face.

The sound of footsteps approaching brought the sound of conversation in the quiet space. It seems there isn’t just one person.

“…… It’s a bit difficult to move it because it’s still an untested product. The first test hasn’t even been fired yet.”

It was Kyle’s voice.

When Jeong Taeui woke up in the morning, the owner of this house was already busy with work and couldn’t meet him. It was noon, so maybe he just stopped by the house for a bit and didn’t know if he would leave again soon or not.

He thought that Kyle had brought a guest, he didn’t know if this person would stay here for a few days or just stop by, but at first glance it seemed like they were talking about weapons.

Taeui had thought about it many times, it seemed like Kyle was really a man who enjoyed interacting with others, especially when they became his guests.

That point was a bit similar to his uncle, but he also knew that he was not as gentle a person as he appeared.

“But if you want, I can let you check it out first. I’ll probably have time tomorrow afternoon, okay?”

The voice was coming closer and closer and he would soon encounter him. But after all, he was the host so he thought he should say hello, so Jeong Taeui threw a shirt over his shoulders and stood up. The emotional voice of the man accompanying him suddenly rang out.

“Really? Sure! You don’t need to worry about it, it’s always fine! The re-engineered and remanufactured Remington 1875*… that beautiful baby!”

(*Remington 1875: was a revolver by E. Remington & Sons. It was based upon the successful New Model Army (Remington Model 1858) with both revolvers having the same size, appearance, and the removable cylinder*)

Before he finished those words, Jeong Jaeui was lying on a bench on the beach covered with a towel. He rolled the towel into his hair so that not even a single strand could come loose.

It was a voice he would never forget.

An emotional voice when talking about guns. Of all the people he knew, there was only one person like that. The only person in this world who could describe the bloody weapons as beautiful children. And if someone accidentally touches those “children” of his, they will definitely be in big trouble with that person’s cruelty and tenacity.

“Okay, when I get to the office at 3:30 the day after tomorrow I’ll talk to Louie again, so please stay in my room for now. –My room is here, when you open the window you can directly see the lawn, so feel free to use it whenever you want. Wait, did I say the vacation lasts until next weekend, Maurer?”

“Um, I booked a flight for Saturday night. I’ll be here until then.”

“Just relax…. Here… I’m the first guest here…. ….”

Kyle’s voice echoed right above his head, next to a pillar, he could feel it clearly. Jeong Taeui lay motionless, vowing that he would never take the towel off his head. As a guest, he should have taken the initiative to greet Kyle, but now he couldn’t.

‘Maurer. Maurer. Maurer.!!!!!’

Not only does the voice sound similar, but even the name completely coincides with the person Jeong Taeui is thinking of.

Why would that damn man come to this peaceful mansion as a guest?

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

*Remington 1875