Jeong Taeui looked into the mirror and sighed.

His face and the right side of his temple were bruised, his eyes swollen, and his lip cut and scabbed over.

“I never mean to body shaming anyone…… But does this face in the mirror even look human?”

Jeong Taeui mumbled as he gently touched his reflection in the mirror. Because pressing too hard would hurt – a lot – and even a light touch was painful in some places, he rubbed very softly and carefully.

He had asked for some medicine and ointment, but the men acted like they didn’t hear him. In the end, he had to take his miserable appearance to ask a girl dressed in white who was passing by, and she secretly got him some medicine. Here, he always followed a strict rule of not talking to any women, so he sat by the pond in the courtyard looking sickly when a woman passed by. Fortunately, she secretly left a small tube of ointment on the table next to his bed. 

Despite his face being full of bruises, his injuries weren’t too serious.

The young guard seemed like he wanted to beat him to death, but the older man intervened just in time.

Although he was captured and kept here, technically he was still an honored guest. So, the man probably warned the young guard not to harm a guest like that.

The older Arab man seemed to understand the situation well, stopping the young guard before he could continue beating Jeong Taeui senselessly. As he endured the beating, Jeong Taeui thought, “Maybe I deserve some punishment for what I did, but do I deserve to be beaten this badly?”

“But it’s a good thing that guy didn’t directly lay hands on me.”

Jeong Taeui mused as he applied the ointment. He groaned; it had been a few days since he was beaten, and it still hurt.

After being ignored for a few days, he finally received a small bottle of ointment that the girl had secretly brought to his room the previous night. He had applied it before bed, and after getting up, washing his face, and eating, he was preparing to apply it again.

The injuries from the beating seemed manageable at first, but after a few days, they looked worse. After he was beaten, he went to the dining room with a grimacing face and sat down. Jeong Jaeui, who had arrived earlier, dropped his fork in shock upon seeing Jeong Taeui’s face.

Before, he had seen his face after a fight, so Jeong Taeui thought he wouldn’t be too surprised. Jeong Taeui nodded to Jeong Jaeui, thinking his face was even more swollen than the previous day.

“Is my face very swollen?”

Jeong Taeui had just woken up, washed his face, and came straight here, so he didn’t know what his face looked like. He mumbled, “I don’t feel much pain,” and started picking up his fork as if nothing had happened.

“Taeui, do you remember that fight you had with a colleague named Kim So Hwi during the holiday before?”

“Huh? Oh, right.”

Hearing an unpleasant name so early in the morning made Jeong Taeui frown. But on the other hand, that name now sounded quite endearing because the guy had a good personality in some respects.

“It’s more swollen than it was back then,” Jeong Jaeui said.

“……, …… It’s scary to look in the mirror.”

Jeong Taeui slowly rubbed his face and mumbled: “Aya, aya,” before continuing to eat.

When he returned to his room and looked in the mirror, his face was indeed swollen.

After a few days, the bruises had turned a mix of purple and yellow, making his face look very colorful. The pain had significantly reduced since then, but it still hurt when touched.

“If you want to hit, you should choose a place that doesn’t leave visible marks but hurts like hell on the inside.”

If the one who hit him had been the older man, he probably would have been beaten that way. After applying the ointment, Jeong Taeui looked at himself in the mirror again, and it had improved significantly.

He had applied the ointment twice, once last night and again this morning. The small bottle of ointment wasn’t enough for many more applications, so he threw it in the trash. Suddenly, he remembered the tiger balm that Luther loved.

Jeong Taeui sighed and went outside, intending to go to the study to find a book to read, but as he stepped out, he halted. He saw a figure just entering the study.

It was Raumaan.

Jeong Taeui glanced back at his room and checked the clock. It was indeed the time he usually came by.

Jeong Taeui frowned slightly, thinking for a moment about what to do next, then turned and walked into the courtyard. From here, he could see inside the study through the window, even if it was just a small corner. He decided to stay there for a while, waiting for Raumaan to leave before going in.

Raumaan always came to this annex. Every day.

Jeong Jaeui had said that before he arrived, Raumaan visited more frequently. Lately, he has been coming less often. Jeong Taeui shook his head. Visiting frequently, huh?

In reality, Raumaan’s visits didn’t seem to have much purpose. The same repetitive questions about whether Jeong Jaeui would start making weapons again. And Jeong Jaeui’s answer was always the same. Just a shake of the head, without saying a word.

“I bet I can predict exactly what’s happening inside from this window without missing a beat.”

Jeong Taeui sat under the rubber tree, looking up at the leaves, and mumbled. Glancing towards the window, just as he expected, he saw Jeong Jaeui shaking his head. A moment later, Raumaan’s voice echoed.

“Is it very uncomfortable to be here and unable to go out?”

However, today was a bit different. Usually, he would say: ‘If you don’t make weapons, you won’t be able to leave here.’

“No, it’s fine. Thanks to your meticulous arrangements, I don’t feel any inconvenience at all.”

Jeong Jaeui’s calm voice responded.

Jeong Taeui smiled as Raumaan asked again: “Nothing uncomfortable?” Of course, it was supposed to be followed by a statement that he would let Jeong Jaeui out if he felt stifled and agreed to make weapons. But since Jeong Jaeui said there was no inconvenience, Raumaan couldn’t add anything more.

Raumaan was silent for a moment.

Perhaps a look of confusion crossed his face. Jeong Taeui chuckled.

As usual, except in some exceptional cases, Jeong Taeui had always tried to imagine what that cold-looking man would look like with a gentle smile, with eyes that didn’t know how to smile, but he couldn’t imagine it.

But……

“Anyway, it’s a relief that he’s still polite.”

Jeong Taeui murmured softly.

Raumaan had been wasting his efforts for several months now. Keeping Jeong Jaeui here, generously providing him with every convenience and fulfilling all his requests except for letting him out, yet he still hadn’t achieved his goal. Patience has its limits for anyone. Moreover, Raumaan didn’t know when Jeong Jaeui would finally agree to his demands, so he might have to resort to torturing or threatening him to make weapons.

However, Raumaan continued to treat Jeong Jaeui with utmost politeness and courtesy as usual.

Jeong Taeui didn’t like the man named Raumaan, but he felt somewhat grateful to him. (Though he also wondered why he should feel grateful to someone who had kidnapped and imprisoned his brother and himself.)

But isn’t the development of that weapon very urgent?

Even if it wasn’t an extremely urgent matter, waiting hopelessly like this was absurd. However, outwardly, Raumaan didn’t seem worried at all when he heard Jeong Jaeui’s refusals each time he visited.

“……If you change your mind, let me know anytime. Until then, I hope you remain comfortable here. Do you need anything else?”

In the study, the usual conversation continued. It seemed to be nearing its end.

“Ah. Then I’d like a book and a few albums. I’ve written them down here. Also, my hair has started growing out. Can you send a barber here? It’s quite a bother to call the barber often, so I want it cut very short this time.”

His brother was strong in his own way.

Because of his aloof and reserved demeanor, anyone who hadn’t interacted with him a few times might mistake Jeong Jaeui for being an introverted, sensitive, and weak person. And he was indeed introverted, but his actual personality was very different from what most people imagined.

However, unlike Jeong Taeui who had been ‘wrongly’ brought here, Jeong Jaeui was indeed treated as a genuinely esteemed guest. Although he had also been kidnapped and imprisoned, until this moment, he could still unhesitatingly request whatever he wanted, and it would be provided within a few days.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his cheek and clicked his tongue bitterly.

There was nothing to feel unjust about. But just a few days after Jeong Taeui was confined here, Jeong Jaeui, while fiddling with a secret box he had brought back from the Baherb night market, had a spring snap out and hit his cheek, leaving a blue bruise.

Jeong Taeui had many such bruises.

However, the next day, when Raumaan came to see Jeong Jaeui as usual and noticed the injury on his face, the smile that usually graced his lips vanished instantly. He frowned severely and called a guard and a girl in white – Jeong Jaeui’s personal caretaker – and shouted incomprehensible words. But he remembered feeling quite uncomfortable seeing the girl turn pale and tremble as she held a pile of medicines and knelt at Raumaan’s feet.

And he was even more surprised by Jeong Jaeui’s embarrassed face, though he said nothing. So Jeong Taeui asked him about it afterward. Jeong Jaeui explained that something similar had happened before. At that time, he accidentally nicked his chin while shaving. Although it was his own fault, the person responsible for his care was immediately replaced by another girl. When Jeong Jaeui complained, Raumaan shook his head and replied, “If she had sharpened the razor better, you wouldn’t have been hurt. You are a distinguished guest, so we cannot afford to be careless.”

Afterward, Jeong Jaeui told Jeong Taeui, who was still staring at him in shock, to be careful not to get injured.

“I can’t understand that man’s way of thinking……”

Indeed, he couldn’t compare to a truly esteemed guest like Jeong Jaeui.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his distorted face and clicked his tongue bitterly. The difference in Raumaan’s attitude was stark.

Jeong Taeui was glad Jeong Jaeui had requested a barber because if he had made the request himself, it would certainly have been denied. He hadn’t had a haircut in a long time due to a lack of opportunity, so he had planned to ask Jeong Jaeui if he wanted one.

Now it was good. If he needed anything, he would ask Raumaan’s ‘esteemed guest’ first. He needed to request more medication and what else?

……If he needed another phone……

Perhaps even Jeong Jaeui wouldn’t be able to request that.

Jeong Taeui sighed.

He had been beaten too brutally for a phone call that lasted only a minute or two.

But……

“……”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head in embarrassment.

That night, as he rubbed his battered face and reflected, he felt he had said many strange things. And what made him feel even worse was that he hadn’t even received a response from Ilay.

“Do you like me?”

Looking back, those words sounded like something a schizophrenic patient, unaware of what they were saying, would utter. He didn’t know if he had fallen ill at that moment, but if not, he should have thrown a rock into his own mouth for asking such a question.

What kind of expression had Ilay shown upon hearing those words?

That was also a bit of a regret. He wanted to see Ilay’s face at that moment. Then he could have understood more from the emotions displayed on his face.

“No. No. It’s better not to hear the answer. No. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have asked. Whatever the answer, it wouldn’t be good.”

Jeong Taeui ruffled his hair in frustration.