The Unbelievers

Chapter 39

It was quite late when they arrived in Seoul. After being seen off by Director Nam, Yoo Siwoon entered his home and looked around the living room with fresh eyes. He recalled what Master Manpo had said about the dwelling. His house was built with careful consideration of space, direction, and length to allow good energy to permeate. Perhaps because of this, Yoo Siwoon felt a sense of calm settle over him when he returned home. All his defenses dropped as he entered the house.

Pulling down the tie that was choking his neck, he headed to his room. Opening the door, he went straight to the bathroom and undressed. He took off everything, down to his underwear, not a single thread left on his body. He put all the clothes in a garbage bag and sealed it.

He removed the dressing band he applied almost every morning to cover the tattoos on exposed areas. The wolf figure hidden on his thick neck revealed its face. The wolf covered one of his shoulders, stretching across his left arm and the entire left side of his chest. The tattoos he had been adding one by one since childhood to remember what he had done eventually grew to cover him with a wolf.

He turned on the hot water and showered. The dirty ash that had clung to his body was washed away cleanly with water and soap bubbles. After finishing his shower, he came out and roughly applied all-in-one lotion to his face and neck.

Yoo Siwoon’s dressing room was filled with similar achromatic suits and shirts. The comfortable indoor clothes he wore only at home were the same. Black shirts and black slacks, with the occasional gray or white mixed in, but mostly everything was black.

It wasn’t without reason that he only wore dark, achromatic colors. Only black clothes didn’t show much when something got on them. He sometimes had to do jobs that involved getting blood on him. Usually, it was other people’s blood.

Another reason was that Yoo Siwoon had no taste in clothes. Being so busy that he sometimes felt even the time to choose clothes was wasteful also played a part.

He put on underwear and black slacks in order, and pulled a black shirt over his head for the top. He smiled slightly, remembering Eunseong’s words that he looked like a crow.

His hand, which was vigorously drying his wet hair with a towel, paused. Light was leaking through the slightly open gap of the study door. He walked to the study. He opened the door and looked inside.

Eunseong was lying on the recliner where Yoo Siwoon usually slept more often than his bed. He seemed to have been reading, as a closed book was cradled in his arms, and Yoo Siwoon’s black zip-up jacket covered his lower body.

Yoo Siwoon stared blankly at the sleeping Eunseong.

“…”

The only being who could undo his curse of fratricide.

Was Seo Eunseong really that key?

The only means to overturn Yoo Siwoon’s ranking from the very bottom in one fell swoop.

Yoo Siwoon was confused, couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it, and felt disgust towards those who wanted to use Eunseong.

He had hated the absurd things the Seongha Group did. He had lost a few subordinates. When participating in those nonsensical rituals, he had to suppress the urge to vomit to the point where his esophagus stung.

He needed to send Eunseong away quickly. Whether to have him live separately or send him abroad, he needed to be removed somewhere out of sight. While claiming he would do so, Yoo Siwoon kept postponing the plan day after day. There was no particular reason for it.

He was afraid. He feared that the reason he was hesitating like this was that, while outwardly expressing disgust, he was unconsciously calculating what he would gain if it turned out to be possible, if Eunseong really was that being, if he were to possess Eunseong. Was this his hidden true feelings?

What was the reason his heart was drawn to and concerned about Seo Eunseong as a being itself, not just as a pitiful prophesied existence that could be used by his family without knowing anything?

“…Mmm.”

As he was just staring at the sleeping person with a troubled heart, Eunseong made a groaning sound and turned over. He rolled onto his side, crawled up the recliner, then grabbed Yoo Siwoon’s jacket that was covering his legs and hugged it tightly, breathing softly like a baby seeking its mother’s scent.

“…”

His hand reached out into the air. The hand that was unconsciously about to touch Eunseong’s cheek flinched and quickly retreated.

Again, his unconscious tried to touch Eunseong. Shocked by this fact, Yoo Siwoon hurriedly turned around and left the study as if fleeing.

He closed the door of the study where Eunseong was sleeping and headed to the kitchen. There should be salt somewhere in the kitchen. He opened the sliding storage cabinet containing seasoning ingredients. After finding salt by opening each container, he poured all the white salt grains into a large bowl and washed his hands with salt as if washing with water.

He rubbed it hard on his skin, clenching and unclenching his fists several times, rubbing the rough surface on his hands. He did this until his hands stung and burned, then frowned at this absurd act he had done, scolding himself for doing such an irrational thing, and dumped the bowl of salt into the sink.

Shhhh…

He turned on the water to wash away all the salt down the drain. He washed his hands cleanly with hand soap, as rational people do.

He had tried to touch that child with these dirty hands.

While despising, cursing, and hating the family, did he want to do something not much different from what they did to that child? If so, how was he any different from those monsters?

Yoo Siwoon recalled an incident from half a year ago. It wasn’t even someone with clear traces of the mark. It was just that, by coincidence, a male student suspected of being the ‘Great Rift’ was found at the location Master Manpo had pointed out. He was caught by Yoo Seongil, violated, and eventually killed for not being the prophesied being. Yoo Siwoon had to dispose of the body.

Facing the corpse that had been torn to shreds like a rag, Yoo Siwoon had to feel powerless anger at himself for only being able to stand by and watch such people. The face of the battered boy overlapped with the sleeping face of Eunseong, making him shudder.

“…Why are you so late?”

Startled by the presence behind him, Yoo Siwoon turned off the faucet and turned his head.

Eunseong was standing there. The child, who seemed to dislike getting close to him, kept a considerable distance between them. His hand, unaware in his sleepy state, was holding Yoo Siwoon’s jacket, rubbing the soft fabric against his cheek and lips. Occasionally sniffing it, he looked at Yoo Siwoon with half-open drowsy eyes.

“Did I wake you?”

Yoo Siwoon’s words came out strangely only in front of Eunseong. He didn’t know what tone to use or what to say, and having never dealt with a child of that age, he felt awkward.

“Huh? Yes… yes. What time is it now?”

Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, he looked around the walls with a frown. Even after finding where the clock was hung, he squinted in the dim light to check the time. The clock hands were rushing towards 4 AM.

Eunseong yawned widely. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, giving them a glossy shine even in the darkness.

Yoo Siwoon averted his gaze from the still sleepy Eunseong and said,

“You said you heard a strange sound earlier, right? I’ll go out and check.”

“That… I checked that.”

“Did you?”

“It was a bird. It was the sound of a bird sitting on a tree and then flying away.”

Eunseong again used a bird as an excuse. Both Eunseong himself and Yoo Siwoon knew that Eunseong was lying, but neither brought it up. If Eunseong said he heard something, there was a strange sound from outside, and if Eunseong said it was a bird, then the cause of that strange sound was a bird.

“Go back to bed now.”

“Can I go to a tutoring academy during the vacation?”

“I’ll call a private tutor for you. Try not to go outside as much as possible.”

“Because it’s dangerous?”

He nodded that it was.

“But you said those people are looking for me because I’m the heir, right?”

“…”

“Then doesn’t that mean I don’t have to be only with you? Seongha Group has dozens of affiliated companies, right? Your company is just one of the affiliates.”

Eunseong, who usually seemed just like a child, occasionally threw sharp and perceptive questions. It was enough to momentarily confuse Yoo Siwoon, as if implying that he knew the whole story behind all this.

“Why do I have to be only with you? Is there some law saying so?”

A law saying so… there was no such law.

“They won’t protect you.”

He thought his answer sounded weak.

“…What does it mean that they won’t protect me? Do they exploit me then?”

“…”

Strictly speaking, it was an act that fell within the range of exploitation. Yoo Siwoon just nodded instead of answering.

Was it a secret desire to exploit Eunseong that was keeping him from letting Eunseong leave this place, while saying out loud that he would protect him? Yoo Siwoon felt nauseated at the possibility of his own ugly true intentions.

One thing was clear: as someone who abhorred all the practices of the family, Yoo Siwoon had no intention of following them. It would be a lie to say he had no desire to take over the group, but he didn’t want to have it if it meant following in the family’s footsteps.

That feeling was sincere, without even a speck of falsehood.

The promise he made to Seo Jeong-gi when bringing Eunseong, that he would protect and safeguard him, was not a lie. He would rather kill all those involved and take it, than want to gain anything by using Eunseong.

But why…