“…I should take some leave. I have a feeling it’d be better to get out of here before that guy arrives.”“What?”“…Hong Kong…yes, Hong Kong sounds good.”Rather than speaking to someone, Christoph muttered the last words to himself and hung up the phone as if something urgent had come up.Staring blankly at the suddenly darkened screen, Jeong Chang-in tilted his head. He tapped his arm where it was folded across his chest and fell into thought. Drawing an ambiguous question mark on his subtle expression, he slowly tilted his head the other way—just then, the doorbell rang.Jeong Chang-in, who had been staring at the blank screen lost in thought, only remembered his expected visitor when he heard the bell. “Right, right—Taeui was coming,” he muttered, and without confusing the bell for his phone, he walked straight to the front door.“Taeui, is that you? Come on in.”At Chang-in’s words, the unlocked door clicked open and the nephew who had been the topic of conversation poked his head inside.“—Yes. Sorry I’m late. I had to wait until I saw Hogan go in to shower.”“You’ve been working hard, too.”Offering a word of comfort to Jeong Taeui—who was still caught between Regrow and Hogan—Chang-in let him inside. As expected, Taeui wanted to check Hogan’s schedule, so Chang-in handed him the file he’d prepared in advance.“Take a look here. Regulations won’t let me give you a copy.”“Yes, Uncle. I just need to check it.”As though he’d expected this, Taeui gave his uncle a wry smile when the file was offered, then took it. He paused, brows furrowed in thought, and ran his finger down a few entries.Taeui looked a little haggard—perhaps he hadn’t slept well—and yawned quietly after turning to the last page. Dark circles framed his eyes.“If you’re tired, rest your eyes here for a bit. It’s system maintenance day, so /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ at least Hogan won’t try any nonsense today.”“No, it’s fine. I need to stop by Ilrey’s place first.”Taeui waved a weary hand. Chang-in raised an eyebrow.“Rick? Now? Why?”“Well…he’s…he’s in a bit of a twisted mood.”Taeui hesitated. Chang-in folded his arms, silent. As far as he knew, nothing special must have happened, so the only likely cause was one thing. Perhaps that trivial incident wasn’t so trivial to his nephew or to Rick after all.Scratching his head, Taeui added awkwardly, “It’s okay. It’s almost sorted out now.”Feeling a pang of pity for his muttering nephew, Chang-in tried to console him.“All right…hang in there a little longer. I think you’ll have a welcome guest by the time training ends.”“Guest?”“Christ said he might take leave around the end of the month and come to Hong Kong.”Only after saying it did Chang-in realize—oh dear—that the person at the center of this situation was precisely that young man. As if on cue, Taeui’s face turned pale. Chang-in clicked his tongue.“So you’re not exactly thrilled?”“No, no—it’s good…really. It’s just…poor timing right now.”Taeui closed the file abruptly, perhaps unable to read any more, and slumped against the sofa’s backrest. His drooping shoulders looked somehow forlorn.Last night he’d barely managed to smooth things over with that guy…he’d thought if he tried just one more day, it’d be resolved…listening to his quiet murmurs, Chang-in gazed at Taeui with pity.He adored his nephew—would trade his own life for him, cherished him since childhood. Though Taeui had once made a reckless mistake years ago, even Rick’s reaction then had struck Chang-in as odd. Back then, he’d simply tilted his head in puzzled wonder.…He never imagined it would come to this.Lightly tapping Taeui’s shoulder, Chang-in said, “What can you do? Things turned out that way.”But his words seemed not to register. Taeui, as if fatigue and sleeplessness had hit him all at once, barely moved as he muttered,“You have no idea how much effort it takes to untangle his twisted mood…you don’t know the agony of feeling like your throat’s closing up, like your jaw’s about to dislocate…and last night, do you know he brought a camera and…made porn all night? Do you know? And then he chose the best shots, carried them in his wallet, and told me to carry them too. If that wallet gets lost, if someone finds it…I’d rather drink poison than beer…!”“Camera? Ah, last night he suddenly came and asked to borrow it, so—”Recalling last night, Chang-in murmured to himself, but Taeui glared at him fiercely. Chang-in immediately fell silent.“Uncle, that’s too much!”“I didn’t know…a camera isn’t to blame, only people are. What crime has the camera committed?”Taeui, still giving him a grim look, finally lowered his head like a wilted flower. “I hate you, Uncle,” he muttered pitifully. On the brink of tears.Watching his nephew slump in despair, Chang-in realized Taeui was so depressed he barely registered his own words. Indeed, that’s how one untangles a twisted mood.He recalled Regrow coming to borrow the camera last night. Chang-in had dusted off the camera from the back of his drawer—since he didn’t much care for taking photos—and handed it over with raised brows. He’d even thought, aha, perhaps that’s why things happened at dinner, though he never considered exactly what Rick would do with it.What on earth did he photograph? The thought made Chang-in hastily erase his imagination and tenderly stroked Taeui’s shoulder.“It’s okay. At least it was a digital camera, not film. You know the lab here keeps every development record, right?”At the mention of development logs, Taeui trembled, stared at the floor in silence, then finally exhaled a resigned sigh. As if deciding he might as well leave, he rose with a feeble groan. His unsteady steps looked precarious.“You going now?”“Yes…he’ll be waiting. He said he’d come at night.”“All right, take care. And tell him, when you give the camera back, be sure to wipe the memory clean before you hand it over.”Forgive this helpless uncle for saying no more, Chang-in thought as he saw Taeui to the door.Taeui cast one resentful look back and, in a sombre voice, said, “If I need anything else, I’ll stop by again.” Then he turned and walked down the corridor. Leaning in the doorway with his arms folded, Chang-in watched his nephew’s desolate back.How pitiful he looked. For a moment, Chang-in nearly grabbed him and urged him to think of a way to remove Ilrey Regrow from his life, but he stopped himself. No realistic solution existed, and if there were, he sensed it’d end in failure. Also…if it had been truly unbearable, he wouldn’t have endured all these years.Of course it was painful, but apparently not enough to recoil at Regrow himself, Chang-in thought.As he watched Taeui shuffle down the hall, the door to Regrow’s room suddenly swung open. He must have been waiting. A white hand shot out, grabbed Taeui’s arm, and yanked him inside like a hunter springing a trap.The door snapped shut; the corridor fell silent once more.Jeong Chang-in lingered a moment, then sighed softly.“Well then…perhaps I should get to bed, too. It’s still a bit early, but tomorrow will be busy.”He closed the door behind him, glancing once more down the empty hallway just before it shut.“…May luck be with my beloved nephew.”Through the narrowing crack of the closing door, his quiet voice drifted, unheard by anyone.

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