He wasn’t in the room.

No, to be precise, he wasn’t there. Lost in his
thoughts, Jeong Taeui had opened the door without knocking, but there was no
one inside to scold him.

The door was unlocked and there was no one inside.
He hesitated when he heard the sound of running water. His uncle was probably
in the private bathroom.

Jeong Taeui saw a few familiar items scattered on
the table and confirmed that it was his uncle’s room. He walked in. He sat on
the large chair in front of the table and slowly looked around the room.

His uncle’s room was completely different from his
own.

Besides the furniture and electronic devices, there
were many other things. A shelf along the walls was filled with books.

Jeong Taeui touched a shelf within reach. His uncle
had many rare books. His uncle’s house – where he stayed for less than ten days
a year – was also filled with rare books, enough to make any rare book
collector drool with envy.

That’s why Jeong Taeui often went to his uncle’s
house and stayed there for days without going out. He would read the books and
then call his brother to talk about them. Jeong Taeui didn’t like books as much
as his uncle or brother, but he liked them enough to distinguish a rare book.
Among the books he was touching now, there was one he wanted to read but
couldn’t buy.

Jeong Taeui raised his eyebrows slightly and pulled
the book out. He had tried hard to find it but had given up because it was out
of print.

He wondered where his uncle found these things. It
felt comfortable here.

Jeong Taeui sighed and slowly flipped through the
books on the shelf. However, he couldn’t concentrate on the book because the
boy he had just met was still lingering in his mind.

“… Really. What are you doing, Jeong Taeui? Get a
grip.”

Jeong Taeui patted his face, which was getting hot,
and clicked his tongue. He kept slapping his cheeks a few more times.

How could UNHRDO put a seemingly fragile child in
such a dangerous place? But if he was on the first floor, it seemed like he
wasn’t part of any group.

Thinking that, Jeong Taeui was hit by reality.

This was the first floor. He was on the sixth floor.
If it was the first floor… Could that boy be the governor, deputy minister, or
a high-ranking officer?

Jeong Taeui’s face stiffened. His hands still idly
flipped through the pages of the book, but his mind was blank.

At that moment.

A faint mechanical sound pulled Jeong Taeui back to
reality. Because the room was so quiet, he could hear it clearly.

Jeong Taeui turned towards the sound. The phone on
the table was ringing. The mechanical sound echoed in the room. A small screen
above the red light was flashing as if begging to be pressed, emitting a dim
and gloomy light.

Jeong Taeui turned his head. He no longer heard the
sound of water from the bathroom. Was his uncle about to come out? But then, he
heard splashing sounds again. His uncle seemed to be soaking in the bathtub.

The phone wouldn’t stop ringing unless someone
answered it. Jeong Taeui put the book down on the table, stood up, and walked
to the bathroom door, knocking on the frosted glass.

“Uncle — there’s a phone call.”

“A phone call? At this hour? … Haha, I know who it
is. Just take the message for me. I’ll be in here for a while longer.”

His uncle didn’t seem surprised that Jeong Taeui was
in the room. Even though there had been no noise, his uncle must have noticed
when he entered.

“If you know someone is coming, you should finish
your bath quickly. Why are you so relaxed?”

Jeong Taeui grumbled, and a small laugh came from
the bathroom.

“I knew it was you, so why should I rush?”

That was just like his uncle.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and walked back to the
desk. The phone had stopped ringing.

Jeong Taeui shouted – “The call ended, Uncle” – and
picked up the book again, sitting down.

Bathing, huh. That young man must be in the bath by
now.

Jeong Taeui blushed again. His face was burning.

His fair and pinkish skin must look so lovely in the
warm water. Smooth and soft skin with a fragrant scent. He suddenly wanted to
hug him.

“… This is serious… It’s just a fleeting moment,
what’s wrong with you, Jeong Taeui.”

Jeong Taeui fanned his flushed face with his hand, sighing
and mumbling to himself. It wasn’t that he liked the young man, but he knew he hadn’t
interacted enough to have such feelings. Yet, the grown-up images kept
appearing in his mind.

Jeong Taeui sighed once more and used the thick book
in his hand to fan himself. The phone rang again, and the red light started
blinking once more.

He was about to call his uncle, but knowing that his
uncle wouldn’t budge from the bath even if he shouted until his voice was
hoarse, Jeong Taeui pressed the red button after thinking for a moment. His
uncle had told him to take notes, but there was no paper or pen around.
Hopefully, it was something he could remember.

“Yes. Hello.”

When Jeong Taeui pressed the answer button, the LCD
screen above lit up. The image of the caller appeared on the screen.

He couldn’t be sure because the angle wasn’t wide,
but it seemed like the person was indoors. Maybe it was a private room. He
could immediately see a built-in wardrobe against the white wall.

The man’s body filled one-third of the screen.

Because of the narrow view, he could only see part
of the man from his chin to his chest, wearing a dark shirt. There was also a
sleeve connected to the shirt, ending in a hand holding a porcelain cup.

That hand was very white. It was an exquisitely
beautiful hand, looking like it belonged on a piano. The hand was so large that
the big cup seems small in it. But the fingers were delicate and translucent.

Each fingertip had neatly trimmed nails, looking
like pale glass.

“…—Who are you?”

The mechanical-sounding voice was unpleasant.

The stiff voice sounded like an automated machine on
an electronic device. The person on the other end might have been using a voice
changer. The white hand on the screen put down the cup, and the long fingers
tapped lightly on the rim.

“What about Officer Jeong Changin?”

“Ah…—He’s in the bathroom. If you have any message,
I’ll pass it on to him.”

Jeong Taeui answered, his eyes fixated on the
beautiful, glass-like hand.

The other side was silent for a moment.

As Jeong Taeui admired the hand, a whispering voice
spoke.

“Then.”

“Huh?”

“Then who are you? The person answering the phone in
that room?”

Maybe it was the mood, but the voice seemed to lower
a bit, as if lost in thought. Despite the strange mechanical sound, the
beautiful hand slowly caressed the cup, making Jeong Taeui feel the change in
the voice’s tone.

Jeong Taeui was unsure what to say because he didn’t
know who the other person was, so he chose the most straightforward answer.

‘I’m the nephew of the person in this room, the one
leisurely bathing even though he knows someone’s calling. If you have something
to say, I’ll pass it on. But there’s no paper or pen here, so please keep it
short. My memory is terrible.’

After Jeong Taeui spoke, the other side chuckled
briefly.

“Hmm, then you must be the second nephew. What’s
your name?”

“…Jeong Taeui. And you are?”

Jeong Taeui quickly grasped the situation. The man
knew about him. No, he knew about Jeong Changin’s family. Even the fact that
Jeong Changin had two nephews, one of whom was a famous genius.

It seemed that everyone in the branch knew Jeong
Jaeui was Jeong Changin’s nephew, so it wasn’t surprising that others knew
about their family.

The man on the other end was silent for a moment,
then spoke.

“Ilay.”

Jeong Taeui nodded. Ilay. Easy to remember.

The man who called himself Ilay fell silent again.
Another white hand appeared on the screen. It was the left hand, and the two
beautiful hands intertwined.

Jeong Taeui sighed softly, and Ilay spoke.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… but hasn’t anyone ever told you that your
hands are beautiful?”

“My hands?”

Jeong Taeui sensed a hint of confusion in the voice.
He imagined the man looking down at his hands as the fingers interlaced, then
released, flexing the knuckles gracefully like a work of art.

The hands clenched into fists, then relaxed and
intertwined again. Ilay spoke with a hint of amusement.

“Well, this is the first time I’ve heard that. Do
you like my hands?”

“Yes, they’re very beautiful.”

“Haha, alright then. After I die, I’ll give you
these hands. But in return, you’ll have to attach your hands to my arms. Even a
corpse looks pitiful without hands.”

“…I’ll have to decline. Anyway, that hand doesn’t
suit me. If it were attached to my body, it would be the only thing that stands
out.”

Jeong Taeui wrinkled his nose and grimaced, the joke
was as cruel as it was real.

Ilay found the words amusing, and he smiled gently
again.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem to fit. Your hands suit your
face.”

He laughed as he spoke.

Jeong Taeui then realized that the screen on his
side seemed to have a wider angle than on the other side. He instinctively
touched the lens in front of him.

“It seems this camera has a wider angle. Hmm, but
just seeing those beautiful fingers on the screen isn’t bad either.”

Ilay seemed to smile again.

“If you’re there now, it means you’ve just joined
the Asian branch, right?”

Jeong Taeui shrugged.

“Yes, thanks to my uncle, I got in without going
through any formal procedures.”

“Aha. Quite a ‘big umbrella’ you’ve got there.”

Ilay laughed as he spoke, and Jeong Taeui laughed
along, thinking back and realizing the truth in those words.

A splash of water echoed from the bathroom. Perhaps
his uncle had finished soaking and would soon come out.

“I think my uncle will be out soon. Can you wait a
moment for him? If not, I can relay your message. Or you could call him back
later”’

Come to think of it, he still didn’t know the reason
for the man’s call. When Jeong Taeui spoke up, Ilay lazily muttered, ‘Hmm.’

‘Tell him that I’ve found the book he was looking for.
Laurent Gastiye’s mythology book, the

1925 edition, for $3,500.’

Jeong Taeui couldn’t help but fall silent upon
hearing that. If it was Laurent Gastiye’s mythology book, he had heard of it
and wanted to read it himself. That was it, but…

“$3,500? For a book?”

When he exclaimed with wide eyes, thinking it was
absurd, Ilay laughed as if he knew what he was thinking.

“If you tell Officer Jeong, he’ll be pleased to hear
he got it at a very cheap price. So please relay the message for me. I hope to
see you again someday.”

The beautiful hand waved a gentle goodbye on the
screen. The call ended right after.

Jeong Taeui stared at the now dark screen in front
of him once again, then sighed and leaned back in his chair.