Passion 1
The moment the doorbell rang, Jeong Tae-ui paused. The black beans he was holding with his chopsticks fell and rolled. It took only a few seconds for the black beans to leave sticky marks as they rolled off the plate, but the doorbell rang again before he could react.
Jeong Tae-ui tapped the table nervously with the tips of his chopsticks, casting a neurotic glance toward the front door. He had a bad feeling from the moment he faintly heard footsteps climbing the stairs.
No, to be precise, his mood had soured since dawn when the rain caused his knees to ache and woke him up. His knees always hurt when it rained or the weather was bad, but on days like today, when the pain was especially sharp, it was a sign of a bad day.
Jeong Tae-ui had just prepared a simple breakfast and drank a few glasses in a bad mood, no different from the harsh weather with light rain falling, when he heard the footsteps.
In the over 20-year-old apartment building, you could even hear a cat entering the building all the way from the rooftop.
And on the third floor, just below the rooftop, Jeong Tae-ui thought something was off from the moment he heard footsteps entering the building and climbing the stairs at this ambiguous time, just past 7 in the morning.
And at the moment the doorbell rang, that bad premonition turned into a vivid reality.
There were hardly any people who would visit this house. His brother, who had left the house four days ago and hadn't been heard from since — the only person who lived with him — had a key and wouldn't ring the doorbell.
The stiff and heavy presence outside the door rang the doorbell once more while he was hesitating. Thud, the sound of footsteps echoed again. It was a sharp and heavy sound, similar to military boots.
The moment he thought of the word 'military boots,' his ominous feeling deepened, and this time the doorbell rang three or four times in quick succession. He hadn't taken many bites of his meal, but his appetite vanished, and he put down his chopsticks.
The person outside the door, who brought the ominous feeling, showed no sign of retreating. They neither knocked on the door nor called out, but persistently pressed the doorbell, making Jeong Tae-ui even more depressed as he thought of someone fitting this behavior.
"........"
Jeong Tae-ui went to the front door, removed the latch, and opened the door when the doorbell had rung exactly twelve times. The person standing outside stepped back as the door opened. The shoes that made the sharp sound were immaculate military boots, without a speck of dust.
And above those boots was an impeccably straight, jet-black uniform. Strictly speaking, it was not a military uniform but a formal uniform or a dress uniform, but the place this man belonged to was not much different from the military.
The small silver badge pinned to his collar looked particularly obnoxious for some reason. It was because there were countless people in the world who were eager to wear that badge but could never get their hands on it.
There had never been a good thing when this man, wearing that badge and in full uniform, visited this house. Even so, this was the third or fourth time Jeong Tae-ui had seen this man in uniform.
The black gloves removed the black hat. The man smiled smoothly at Jeong Tae-ui.
"It's been a while. Nothing special happened, right?"
It had been roughly three years since Jeong Tae-ui last met this man. A lot had happened since then.
He had nearly died while removing landmines, almost died again from a rejection reaction during surgery, nearly killed a person who caused him to endure three rounds of injections, and was discharged from the military without even completing half of his mandatory service period.
