91
Do You Really Know?
The atmosphere suddenly changed. Sebastian let go of my hand and stood up abruptly.
“He’s moving?”
“They say he’s made contact with Gleinach. And now Gleinach is being transferred to a different hospital room. They’re going to move him to the Capital Hospital.”
If the Security Bureau has made contact with Yus, it’s not a good sign. Yus tried to squeeze as much as he could out of the Security Bureau, and the Bureau tried to tame him. Then Yus changed his target to Sebastian, but Sebastian also pretended to hesitate at Yus’s proposal to break his spirit. And then Yus…
Damn it, it seems he’s managed to get what he wanted from the Security Bureau by leveraging his potential deal with Sebastian. The Security Bureau is wary of Sebastian after all!
Sebastian and I turned our heads simultaneously and made eye contact. I recalled what Lee had said earlier.
“The point is, Armin, you need to be able to talk even with the worst criminals in this world to change the situation. Nothing will change if you openly show your disgust and hatred, and resort to violence as soon as you see them.”
That was Lee’s warning. He wanted to say that Yus was in dialogue with another party. It must have been the best he could do in a situation where Yus and the Security Bureau were at each other’s throats. And when I started talking nonsense, he must have been truly bewildered.
“Oh no…”
“How did it come to this?!”
How frustrating it must have been.
Wow, my face was burning. What have I done?
Seeing my face turn bright red, Sebastian hugged me.
“It happens. It’s okay. People can make mistakes like that.”
Ugh…
As I muffled a scream and kicked the floor, Nakaban, sensing something strange, approached us. He seemed to be asking Sebastian what was wrong from behind me. Sebastian stroked my back and answered Nakaban.
“You know how sometimes people get a bit crazy and do silly things?”
“You said it can happen!”
I screamed without realizing. After just saying it could happen and that it was okay, how could he coldly say I went crazy?! Seeing my tearful face, Sebastian gently consoled me.
“I’m trying to put it in the best light possible. Or would you prefer me to tell it like it is?”
“Don’t.”
“Alright.”
Sebastian pulled me closer, saying, “Just cry in your husband’s broad chest.”
“You’re not my husband!”
“Saying ‘future husband’ sounds a bit cold, doesn’t it? Just let it slide. It’s because you keep nitpicking like this that you got fixated on weird things and missed the information your friend was trying to give you.”
“Sebastian!”
“Okay, okay.”
He held me and patted me, grumbling, “Ah, my husband is so difficult to comfort.” But somehow, his voice seemed filled with joy and pleasure. No, why is he happy when I’m so embarrassed and distressed?!
Even when I pushed my head against Sebastian’s chest as if headbutting him, he just treated me like a child, saying, “There, there. You were upset, weren’t you?” I couldn’t really protest since I was indeed acting childish. While we were like this, Nakaban spoke in a cool tone.
“Well, it’s not the first or second time Schnieke has made a blunder, so let’s just move on. Anyway, we’ve lost Gleinach. What should we do?”
The laughter disappeared from Sebastian’s voice as well.
“We have a team on him, so we’ll have to hope they move well.”
“Gleinach won’t be easy to track.”
“But there’s always one attractive bait that works on him.”
“Bait? Do you mean Agent Martin?”
“Money.”
Then, as if remembering that Lee was my friend, Sebastian added:
“Well, I’m sure Agent Martin is important to him too, but nothing is more important to that guy than money. Their relationship is professional, unlike ours.”
It was difficult to understand what he meant. When I looked up, I saw Sebastian with a benevolent face like a kindergarten teacher, looking like he was saying ‘Ask me anything.’
“Are you saying that Lee is having sex with Gleinach for the mission?”
Sebastian shook his head at my question.
“No, I’m saying that even if they were passionately having sex, if an order came down, Martin would shoot Gleinach without hesitation. And Gleinach could betray Martin for money. They both know this well. It’s an adult relationship where sex is just sex.”
“You think that’s adult-like?”
“It’s not that it’s adult-like, but that children shouldn’t have such relationships. Adults at least make these choices themselves, that’s why I call it an adult relationship.”
Sebastian kissed my forehead, saying it was just that simple.
Tomorrow is the day my father and brothers leave for the Irika continent again. So tonight, I visited their hotel room. Thanks to Sebastian mentioning security when talking about the engagement party, none of them had gone out.
Sebastian didn’t allow Oliver to attend our engagement party. So Oliver had to stay at the hotel with a cast on his finger. He didn’t seem depressed though. Sebastian’s money was more than generous. The kid ate plenty of what he wanted and swam in the pool. They even let him go down to the pool? When I expressed surprise, Oliver said that wasn’t it, and showed me the pool attached to the room. This room was too big to be called just a room. Penthouse would be more appropriate.
Lee and Kouri said they each talked with Oliver but neither gained any insights. Oliver didn’t know anything. However, both of them agreed that Oliver needed psychiatric counseling. They said he seemed very worn out from continuously experiencing distressing situations in Urnan. While an accurate diagnosis would require a doctor, both of them thought he might have depression or something similar, and to be honest, probably more than one condition.
Oliver was trying his best to pretend he was fine. That day, we had finished our conversation, and anyway, I wasn’t hurt, and the only person who got hurt was himself, so from his perspective, he might think the situation ended as it should have. But that’s not the case at all. Oliver’s choice was the worst, and because I was the person he targeted, he can now safely and comfortably spend time swimming and such. I had the physical ability to dodge his gun and the professional status to protect him. And I also had an incredibly wealthy fiancé who could provide him with conveniences.
“Oli, do you know what kind of situation you’re in right now?”
When I sat him down in the room and asked, I could see his eyes wavering.
“What… what situation?”
“You shot at a person. It’s attempted murder.”
Oliver’s body flinched at my words. His face looked like he couldn’t bear the pain of just hearing those words.
“Are you going to go to Urnan and pretend to be a monk after committing such a crime? Do you want to be respected? Do you think you can talk about compassion? After trying to kill your brother who grew up with you and is earning money for your brothers’ living expenses?”
“Why, why are you saying this? Why are you suddenly saying these things?”
“You can’t pretend it’s nothing. Oli, do you know how lucky you are? If it wasn’t me, that bullet couldn’t have been dodged. If I wasn’t a Security Bureau employee, do you think you could be comfortably swimming here after shooting a gun? If my fiancé wasn’t a chaebol heir, could you be living like this?”
“Bro, you were a Security Bureau person? Is that why I’m caught up in this now? And now you’re telling me to be grateful to you?”
Oliver asked fiercely. His eyes were glistening.
“Of course you should be grateful, and before that, you should be sorry, and before that.”
I definitely felt that Oliver wasn’t in his right mind. It’s not easy to be sane in Urnan. People talk about how public safety has collapsed in Rotman, where prosecutors are shot dead by the mafia in broad daylight on the streets, but in Urnan, there’s no public safety to collapse. It’s truly a jungle world there. A place where only strength matters. The reason Oliver could survive there was because the religion revered in that barbaric world was Buddhism, and he was a monk.
“You need to acknowledge that you intended to commit murder, and it was only due to lack of ability that you didn’t succeed, but in terms of intent alone, you are a murderer.”
“I’m not a murderer.”
Oliver’s eyes now started to roll wildly. At the word ‘murderer’, he trembled as if insulted. Yes, it was clear he wasn’t in his right mind now.
According to my brothers, Oliver declared he would return to Urnan tomorrow. That’s nonsense. If Oliver, who said he would kill me, cheerfully returns after failing, those guys wouldn’t let him live.
“Really? If you really think you’re not a murderer, should we call the police and go through the proper legal procedures? It’ll be headline news that a monk tried to kill his brother after being threatened by someone presumed to be from Canaris. But you’ll be able to look those people in the eye and say it, right? That you’re not a murderer. That you were just thinking of killing one brother for the sake of the people of Urnan. That you couldn’t kill because you were incompetent, but that’s not murder. But monk, those Canaris bastards say the same thing. They say their bomb attacks aren’t murder. Because they have noble purposes, you see.”
Oliver’s eyes widened. To that, I clearly declared:
“What you did is no different from what terrorists do, Oli. Do you really know that?”
Aaaah, aah, aaaagh—
I quietly watched as Oliver screamed. Oliver had said he didn’t know anything. At the time, I let it go because he was also hurt, but actually, I thought he might know at least one thing. It was a request to kill a person, his own brother at that. Instinctively, he must have picked up on something. Because Oliver, although a bit crazy now, was originally quite a sharp kid.
While he went crazy, screaming, crying, rolling on the floor, and throwing things, I only did one thing. I locked the door so no one could come in or out. I stood firm, not letting anyone come in to save Oliver, nor letting Oliver escape from me. When he ran for the window, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back.
After four hours like this, Oliver, bloodied from bumping into things everywhere, sprawled on the sofa and muttered:
“That man, I had actually seen him once before.”
Yeah, I thought you were hiding something. I almost let out a sigh of relief without realizing it, but I bit the inside of my lip to hold it back. This was just the beginning.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
