"Ah, is that the hands?"
"What?"
Jeong Taeui reflexively said with a little excitement, the person on the other end of the line replied briefly.
"That hand."
Jeong Taeui pointed at the corner of the white hands on the screen. The hands were raised, it seemed like he was looking at his own hands.
"Because your hands are so beautiful, I remembered them as soon as I saw them."
"Haha, thanks for that. This is the first time in my life that I've heard such a compliment, so I'm sure this guy will be very happy."
The man on the other side of the screen laughed as he spoke. It was still a mechanical voice, but it wasn't as heavy as the first time he heard it.
"Officer Jeong is taking a bath again? It seems like you go there often, what a favorite nephew."
"No, you're not here. I just came to read. Because there are a lot of books in your room."
"Ah~. Officer Jeong's taste is quite good."
Her white hands leisurely tapped on the table. Her nails were as clear as glass and looked very cold. Jeong Taeui really wanted to touch them once, to feel the cool shards of glass on the tips of his fingers.
"Do you like my hands that much?"
"Huh?"
"Your eyes look like you want to eat it."
He smiled and said. Jeong Taeui also smiled and shrugged.
"Is it that obvious? No, it's beautiful but it doesn't suit me very well, so it's just for show."
Jeong Taeui had said it in advance in case the man mentioned that he could take the hand again after he died. The man smiled with satisfaction as if he could read his thoughts.
Jeong Taeui suddenly felt a little curious. They say that if you look at someone's hands, you can understand a part of their life. I wonder what this man is like. He doesn't think he has to do hard work, but if it's a desk job and holding a pen all day, it doesn't seem like a good fit. Used book dealers might do some dirty things too, but those hands and bad deeds seem completely unrelated.
"The…?"
Jeong Taeui blurted out his name. Thinking back, this was the first time he had called this man by his name. He still smiled and calmly replied, 'Um?'
"When I told him your name, he looked a little confused. It seems like you have a lot of names, right?"
"Ahahaha, is that so? Well, because Officer Jeong doesn't call me by that name. I only have one name anyway. I haven't done anything bad, so there's no reason to use multiple names."
"Hmm... If you are a used book dealer then perhaps... What are you doing?"
The man remained silent and did not respond. His beautiful white hands tapped on the table. It was not an expression of displeasure, it was just that he seemed to be thinking deeply about something while staring at him. Even though he could not actually see the man's face, he could still feel a cold gaze directed at Jeong Taeui as if through the lens.
After a while, he slowly replied as if he had finished thinking.
"I sometimes help my brother with the family business. Maybe I'll continue doing that, but I don't know…, what should I do to make a living. I've never thought about it, but hearing you say that makes me worried."
Jeong Taeui also began to worry about his future as he listened to that man's voice (which didn't contain a single trace of worry).
If he could leave here safely in half a year, he would be unemployed. Of course, if he followed his uncle's advice, it wouldn't be difficult to find a good job with his background. But what could he do to make a living? He didn't know what he wanted anymore.
"Ever since I got discharged from the army, I have become a complete useless person…."
Jeong Taeui sighed and muttered. It seemed like those words got through to the receiver.
"Discharged? Are you a soldier? Well, sometimes there are people in the military who go there after leaving the military. But it's interesting anyway. Jeong Jaeil's younger brother is a soldier…haha."
The man laughed and spoke with a hidden tone. Jeong Taeui raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at his white hand and smiled back.
"What's wrong? A genius older brother having a big brother with only developed limbs sounds funny, right?"
Hearing that, the man burst out laughing as if he had just watched an interesting comedy and slowly waved his hand.
"No, I didn't mean that. Besides, your body isn't big enough to be considered muscular. But if it's the limbs that are developed in another sense, I don't know.... Sorry."
Jeong Taeui made a bitter face at his laughter and replied, "It's fine.'
'Well, I mean the combination of an older brother developing weapons and a younger brother being the first victim of the weapons sounds interesting. Aren't the soldiers more like victims than users?'
Jeong Taeui, who was resting his chin on his hand, suddenly stopped and thought seriously about the strange content of the man's words.
The back is fine. But the important thing is the sentences in front.
The man seemed to have read his mind as Jeong Taeui stared at his white hands with a strange gaze. After a moment of silence, he seemed to have realized the reason and muttered apologetically.
"This. You don't know?"
".... That's right. I don't know. Is my brother really involved in weapons development?"
"There are also many things that other people know that I don't know." Jeong Taeui muttered vaguely.
The relationship between Jeong Taeui and Jeong Jaeui wasn't bad. But they were like any other pair of siblings, they didn't share everything with each other, well, you could say that. Also, since Jeong Taeui graduated from high school, he rarely stayed home, and Jeong Jaeui was often away from home, so they didn't know each other's lives very well. He only heard about him being a special researcher at the US headquarters of UNHDRO from someone else.
Weapons, but if it is weapons development.
Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly. It was a sin, even though he knew it was necessary for the development of humanity, but he had seen so many of its negative effects.
"I seem to have misspoken. Even though you should know, this is a secret, so I want you to consider it."
"Even I wouldn't go out and brag that my brother is developing weapons."
"Haha. But you look uncomfortable. After all, your brother is considered a genius in this industry."
"Even if I were a genius at weapon making, I wouldn't be very happy."
Jeong Taeui grumbled and raised his eyebrows at the screen. After thinking for a moment, he sneered.
"You just said 'this industry' right, it seems like you are also working in this industry?"
The man was silent again. The silence continued for a while. If it weren't for the occasional movement of the hand, he would have thought the phone had lost signal.
Immediately, he laughed again with a sigh.
"My brother works in this industry, to be exact. Didn't I say I would occasionally help out with the family business?"
"Is your family business related to weapons?"
Jeong Taeui asked with a puzzled look and soon realized, this man was not a used book broker. He was also a broker, but the item they traded was weapons, not used books."
"You probably buy and sell weapons..."
"It's not me. It's my brother... It seems like you hate this quite a bit. The rocket artillery your brother has designed in recent years has been highly regarded."
"Honestly, a world without war is just a pipe dream of people living in some nice country…Jaeui-ssi, if we meet again I'll punch you!"
The man burst out laughing.
"That's scary. So, you're going to cut ties with your beloved brother?"
"How do you know? But he was the one who cut off the relationship first, and then he was the one who left."
"What?"
The man's voice was filled with interest in the story. Jeong Taeui really wanted to see his face. He was probably staring at the screen with a slow, subtle smile.
"I didn't know your relationship was so bad. I thought you two were close. What happened, did you have a fight with your brother? I didn't expect him to be the first one to break up with his brother."
"He said he would cut the red thread connecting him to me and left home that day…. He still hasn't been seen since."
Jeong Taeui said as he raised his pinky finger. Although it wasn't exactly the truth, the point was still there. The man was silent for a moment before speaking.
"Haha, Jeong Jaeil said so? He's quite interesting."
"It sounds interesting to you, but to me it's the risk of breaking up the family."
"Ha ha, ha ha ha."
The man continued to laugh happily. The laughter through the voice recorder sounded strange.
"I'm so happy."
"No… It's just that you two are very different. Since you're twins, I thought there would be some similarities, but your faces are different and your personalities are different too. Very interesting."
"Have you ever met my brother?"
"Yeah. Well, we've only met once. I was surprised because he looked younger than I thought."
Jeong Taeui had heard such sentences many times. Anyone who talked about Jaeui was surprised that he was so young compared to his intelligence.
But it seems this man is not very old.
Jeong Taeui looked at the white hand again, although he couldn't tell the age from that hand. But anyway, he didn't want to pry too deeply into other people's personal lives so he changed the subject.
"Hearing you say that, it seems like you are a lot like your arms dealer brother."
"I'm not sure. I've never heard anyone say we look alike, but my brother and I aren't twins either. There's a big age gap too."
Jeong Taeui immediately waved his hand and replied that age difference had nothing to do with being similar.
The man stopped and turned around gently towards the sound coming from somewhere or someone came up behind him and said something. It was said that he often helped with the family's work, but it was unknown if he lived in harmony with his family.
"Even though it's a bit sudden, I have to go. I'll see you later."
"Ah? Oh yes? Um, but what about my uncle?"
"I'll call him back. Goodbye."
The white hand moved slightly, then the phone screen immediately cut off and turned dark.
Jeong Taeui sighed, the surroundings suddenly became quiet for a moment.