So I ended up taking all the nagging from Kyoho, who was in charge of daily life. Toward the end, Kyoho even forced Alta to sit down and eat together at every meal.
“This guy’s been muttering to himself for a while now... Hey, you alright?”
The neighbor sitting next to Jung Tae-ui, who had been glancing at him all along, finally asked while lightly tapping his own head as if to get his attention.
Yeah, if a European branch guy had said that in this situation, there would have been a huge problem. Actually, something like that had happened.
Once, during sparring, Jung Tae-ui had slightly twisted his arm and spilled some food while eating. A European guy at the next table sneered, “Must be tough eating with your tremor.”
Jung Tae-ui replied casually, “Yeah, thanks for your concern,” and kept eating. Meanwhile, Carlo threw a plate at that guy. The scene quickly escalated into a full-blown fight, with plates, forks, and knives flying everywhere. Jung Tae-ui remembers how hard it was to eat amid that chaos.
Recalling those now fond memories, Jung Tae-ui let out a sigh mixed with a smile and returned a warm smile to the kind neighbor who had worried about him.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for your concern.”
“Right. It’s tough being new and all, but hang in there.”
The kind man sitting beside him, who supported Christoph—or rather was one of the few who didn’t like Richard—nodded enthusiastically and patted Jung Tae-ui’s shoulder.
Though Christoph sat at a seat implicitly assigned to him—his designated spot ahead—people mostly sat in groups divided by faction. Watching closely, one could tell the sides were clearly split.
Jung Tae-ui, who was on neither side, hesitated briefly before sitting down in an empty seat nearby. Luckily, he happened to sit next to this friendly, ally-like figure.
“So, how did you end up stuck here with Christoph? Where are you from?”
The friendly neighbor, who introduced himself as Johan, asked as he finished off a small grilled fish in two bites. Johan said he was Christoph’s cousin. Remembering Richard was also a cousin, Jung Tae-ui asked how many cousins they had. Johan laughed heartily, saying there were nearly twenty cousins officially registered on the paternal side alone.
Clearly, the family elders knew that nothing was more important than numbers when building power.
A man sitting across from Johan, unrelated to the family on paper, laughed heartily too. The atmosphere here was ambiguous.
Jung Tae-ui glanced toward Christoph sitting a little apart. Christoph quietly ate alone, using silverware with precision.
Heard that silverware for nobles was as much an accessory at meals as jewelry. That guy didn’t seem much different. It felt like a filming camera was somewhere nearby.
Jung Tae-ui suddenly put down his fork on the plate, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and muttered:
“Though he sometimes shows some odd and embarrassing sides, that’s about just being bad-tempered… but has he done something to deserve being ostracized like that?”
“Hm? Who?”
Johan, fork in mouth, followed Jung Tae-ui’s gaze to Christoph and frowned.
“Christoph?! That guy’s no one worth ostracizing. He’s crazy, so no one goes near him. Even me—I hate the guys surrounding Richard so much that I prefer Christoph because it’s quieter there—but I don’t really support that guy deep down.”
“Hmm. Doesn’t seem that crazy to me.”
Jung Tae-ui nodded but didn’t argue. Given Illay had been fairly normal at home lately, Jung Tae-ui might have been wrong.
Jung Tae-ui nodded as Johan passionately argued the “Christoph is insane” theory.
Now he roughly understood the atmosphere. Not that he liked it or felt comfortable, but he got the gist.
Most young people—expressing it as fear or anger—were wary of him. Beyond liking or disliking, they feared him. His almost nonexistent social skills probably didn’t help.
“Well, if he doesn’t care, then it doesn’t matter.”
Jung Tae-ui nodded while chewing salad.
No matter the situation or how people view you, if you’re satisfied with it, no one else can say otherwise. You just hope the person doesn’t despair.
Come to think of it, Illay’s doing well.
He lived without despair or depression. If others around him showed symptoms, sure—but he himself thrived. No sudden repentance or painful regret seemed likely even decades later.
“He also worked with Grow, so that says it all.”
At that moment, Jung Tae-ui thought he heard a familiar name and raised his head.
While lost in thought, Johan, who’d been arguing Christoph’s craziness nonstop, shrugged and looked at Jung Tae-ui for approval. Seeing his dumbfounded face, Johan pretended to frown.
“Don’t you know? Crazy Rick?”
“Hm? Oh… you mean Illay Regrow.”
“Right… Everyone here grew up running around with him, so maybe childhood friends. Though many deny it madly, no one wants to work with him now.”
Johan cleared his plate without leaving a scrap of parsley, put down his fork, and grabbed a napkin. Cheerful but showing some private sides, he shook his head, saying he didn’t understand.
“Chris isn’t a bad guy, even if he’s crazy. He won’t hurt anyone unless provoked. Plus, he’s smart. Though his face always looks off, he’s got a gifted brain and got proper genius training. So why bother building such dangerous relationships—well, that’s why he’s crazy.”
Talking to himself and drawing his own conclusion, Johan wiped his mouth vigorously with the napkin.
Thinking about the harsh reputation Illay had earned, Jung Tae-ui put down his fork with a somewhat gloomy feeling. Some vegetables still remained on his plate, but he was full.
Maybe it’s time to head back. The atmosphere wasn’t good anyway, he thought, patting his stomach and looking at Christoph. Christoph still had quite a bit of food but seemed almost done.
Time to go.
Just as he was about to stand, the dining room suddenly quieted.
Richard was entering through the open door.
Some eyes shifted from Richard to Christoph—mixed with expectation, worry, and curiosity.
Jung Tae-ui thought he should have left earlier, resting his chin on his hand. He absentmindedly looked at them while opening a beer can the butler had just handed him.
Richard, who seemed to have just come from somewhere, laughed saying, “Ah, haven’t eaten since lunch,” and took off his jacket to give to the butler. His gaze landed on Christoph.
Christoph didn’t avoid the look and glanced back.
The moment their eyes met, any hint of a smile disappeared from both faces—Christoph had never really smiled anyway.
“……”
People who had been whispering to each other fell silent. Feeling awkward, some tried to resume talking, but their voices were much quieter.
Richard calmly greeted the nearby people, “Nothing special today?” and sat down opposite Christoph.
“People who don’t get along always sit just like that…”
Jung Tae-ui squinted and murmured while sipping his beer.
Watching people come and go, it seemed that although not fixed seats, there were roughly assigned spots people often sat in. Despite some empty seats nearby, these two naturally chose theirs.
When they first entered the dining room, Christoph’s seat was noticeably the only one left empty, standing out awkwardly.
Johan supported Jung Tae-ui’s thoughts.
“Well, it’s always that seat.”
“Yeah, sitting far away on purpose makes you too conscious of the other, so that’s annoying too.”
“Right, you’d do the same, wouldn’t you?”
“No.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
“I’d pick the farthest seat away if there was someone unpleasant nearby,” he said decisively. “Either way, you need to live comfortably.”
If Illay sat nearby, he’d definitely take the farthest seat. If it was taken, he’d shove whoever was there and sit down.
He vaguely remembered trying to avoid people like that but ended up here anyway.
Recalling adults’ words that you never know what happens in front of people, Jung Tae-ui bit the beer can’s edge.
Then he quietly looked at Richard.
Watching the pleasant face talking to the man next to him and laughing without a care, ignoring Christoph sitting opposite, he tilted his head.
He recalled that Richard might have secretly given Illay some job.
He thought about asking Richard what job, but stopped himself.
Asking about a secret job assigned to someone else was absurd. If he was to ask, he would first have to admit he was there when it happened.
“I was hiding behind the sofa listening to what you were saying…” He wasn’t planning to pry into Illay’s work.
“But hey.”
Leaning on the table in a relaxed posture, beer in hand, Jung Tae-ui suddenly said. Johan, who had just gotten a beer seeing Jung Tae-ui drinking, looked back.
“The atmosphere there is really hostile. But does it have to be that bad?”
“Hm? Oh… there’s Richard.”
Johan spoke as if it were obvious the bad relations were natural. Jung Tae-ui frowned.
“Christoph said he’s not competing anymore.”
“No, beyond competition, Richard really hates Christoph. Christoph hates him too.”
“Hmm…?”
Jung Tae-ui rolled his eyes at Johan, then glanced surprised at Richard.
Richard didn’t seem the type to hate anyone so much as to make it obvious.
“He looks really nice.”
“Nice. To be exact, he’s sincere and reliable, so people follow him a lot.”
Jung Tae-ui opened his mouth to say how such a person could come to hate someone but stopped. He felt that would be a biased statement.
Who doesn’t have a few people they dislike? No matter how good the character, no one can embrace everyone. Simply not showing strong expression before disliked people is already admirable.
“Sounds like some battle between good and evil.”
Jung Tae-ui muttered, and Johan laughed hard, almost spitting beer. Jung Tae-ui dodged, thinking it was wasteful, better to spit water.
Johan laughed so hard he almost fell back, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Well, they don’t get along perfectly, but having grown up together from childhood, they’ve had their ups and downs.”
“Hmm.”
Jung Tae-ui nodded and shook the nearly empty beer can. The remaining beer clinked inside.