The Unbelievers

Chapter 61

“You said I was making you into human garbage.”

“…Ah, CEO.”

In the end, the worst-case scenario had become reality. Director Nam had expected that Eunseong would be hurt, but this was too much, even for him.

Any other words would have been fine, but that particular phrase should never have been uttered. Regret and a sigh escaped Director Nam’s lips unrestrained.

“Was it a mistake?”

“He’s only nineteen now. How could you inflict such a wound? There are so many other things you could have said, like ‘Let’s talk later,’ or ‘I’ll think about it,’ or ‘Let’s discuss this again after you graduate college.’ Why did you say that?”

Director Nam was furious with Yoo Siwoon, wondering if it had really been necessary.

If Eunseong was indeed the being mentioned in the prophecy, then Yoo Siwoon would have the right to become the head of the family by possessing him. However, setting aside all reasons, saying such things to a nineteen-year-old experiencing first love was something no considerate adult should do. It was unacceptable behavior.

“Isn’t that exactly what makes someone human garbage?”

Director Nam wanted to ask what kind of fantasies he was having about the boy.

“What’s so wrong about it? In a month, Eunseong will be an adult.”

“In a month, I’ll be thirty-four.”

“That’s not even that big of an age gap. Why are you putting yourself down so much? Besides, it’s not like you’re really blood-related.”

“So you’re saying the age difference is appropriate, and it’s okay because we’re not blood-related?”

“…CEO.”

“Then is it okay for me to date him? Is it okay for me to like him?”

His eyes, which had been wandering outside the car window, were now fixed on the rearview mirror. Director Nam’s heart sank when their eyes met.

“I know in my head that it’s wrong, that it’s something I shouldn’t do, but are you saying it’s normal to want to keep Eunseong by my side if it were possible?”

He meant that no matter how Eunseong confessed, his answer would always be the same. Yoo Siwoon was saying that he would reject him no matter what, that he would rather hurt Eunseong to make him hate him. He was denying that there was any problem with the feelings of affection themselves.

“Why do you have to think about it that way? Didn’t you say that both the ‘great rift’ and the ‘god who came by a shortcut’ were all nonsensical prophecies? That Eunseong hasn’t responded to you either?”

Director Nam argued that if that wasn’t the case, what problem could there be if they liked each other?

“…I thought so too. That it was nonsense, that it couldn’t be possible.”

Yoo Siwoon mumbled weakly.

“That’s what I’m saying. I’ve even seen Eunseong with his shirt off before, and there was no mark at all. Moreover, this isn’t even a response, it’s just him having a crush on you, isn’t it?”

The ‘great rift’ was said to have a mark on their body. Director Nam, who had been managing all aspects of Eunseong’s life since early summer, hadn’t found even a small scar on his body. Not only that, but that being was supposed to experience a response that left only mating instincts with those who had ‘opened spiritual eyes.’

Yoo Siwoon was one of those with opened spiritual eyes. He was qualified as a breeder and was of the Seongha bloodline. However, anyone could see that Eunseong simply liked Yoo Siwoon, not that he had any sexual desire for him. Yoo Siwoon had also said that such a response was impossible.

“There’s a way… to confirm if Eunseong is that being.”

“What do you mean? Did you… confirm it? How did you confirm it when you don’t even try to get close to Eunseong?”

Director Nam’s voice tensed with anxiety.

“If you take jeokdan, it emits an aphrodisiac scent… The prophesied being only responds to breeders. That’s when the true signs of response appear.”

“But you don’t take that herb, do you?”

After saying this, Director Nam looked back at him through the rearview mirror with a ‘surely not’ expression. Yoo Siwoon’s face had become miserable.

“I took it and went to see him once.”

“…”

“…I wanted to confirm. Whether it was Eunseong or not, hoping it wasn’t, desperately praying it wasn’t, because if he wasn’t that being, it would be okay, it would be okay to keep him by my side.”

Yoo Siwoon continued speaking intermittently while roughly rubbing his face.

“…Did Eunseong show signs of responding?”

Yoo Siwoon just nodded briefly to Director Nam’s question.

“If I had taken jeokdan even once, I would have known immediately. Those with opened spiritual eyes would know when they see it. It’s… something people in this family would instinctively know. That this is a being who can bear my child.”

Yoo Siwoon was having terrible thoughts. If they were of the family bloodline, there was no way they wouldn’t know Eunseong was the prophesied being, and the same went for Seo Jeong-gi.

Why did he beat that pretty child so much?

Why did he drink so heavily while living in hiding?

At first, he couldn’t understand him, but now he had a vague idea.

It wasn’t just a clumsy resentment and venting for having to give up a comfortable life. He was afraid of getting aroused by Eunseong. The family had killed the woman he loved. Because of her son born to another man, because he had carelessly mentioned to someone among the elders that the boy had the mark.

Seo Jeong-gi’s rash action had driven Eunseong’s birth parents to their deaths, and he feared the fate that awaited the child of the woman he had loved.

Seo Jeong-gi had to run away from the family and live in hiding with the child. He tried to atone for the guilt of causing the child’s parents’ deaths by doing so. Knowing about the prophesied being, he also knew what he would gain if Eunseong bore his child. He could return to the family. He could claim not just the Seongha Group, but even more than that.

That’s why when he developed bestial desires to impregnate Eunseong, he would go berserk to prevent himself from doing something crazy.

Yoo Siwoon was afraid that Director Nam would know about the filth in his mind. Even as he rationally suppressed it, saying it wasn’t so, at the root of his dirty desires, there was an unsettling instinct that wanted to do something to Eunseong. Whenever he felt sexual tension with Eunseong, he would ignore it, pretend not to notice, and if he felt like he might get an erection, he would push himself into physical training, trying his best to ignore it.

Yoo Siwoon wanted to ask Eunseong what he should have done then.

Should he have hugged and kissed him then? Should he have taken off his clothes in front of that brazen nineteen-year-old who said he wanted to see his naked body?

He never imagined anything like this when he brought Eunseong. Yoo Siwoon was a person with trained patience, and he was confident he wouldn’t be consumed by such instincts. No, that was natural for him.

He had plans and ambitions not to hand Eunseong over as a sacrifice to those who were searching for targets to impregnate with bloodshot eyes, and to someday take over this dirty cult group solely with power and strategy.

But he never dreamed that he would be drawn to Eunseong as a person beyond the response, that he would make the same kind of admiration that his friend used to make as naturally as breathing when looking at Eunseong, that he would keep wanting to see him because he was so beautiful, so beautiful, that he would want to touch him, that of all people, even he himself would become like that.

Harboring feelings for Eunseong, desiring that being, was not part of his plan.

Yoo Siwoon desperately clutched his forehead. He pressed his throbbing temples hard with his hands.

Director Nam tried to remain calm. Anyway, it had happened, and they needed to deal with it.

“Where should we go first? Should we try contacting that friend? No, should we stake out around there?”

“He’ll have cut off contact with them. He must have been preparing since he heard my rejection.”

Self-loathing for having said such cruel words and making Eunseong leave on his own filled his face with turmoil.

“You still have the clone phone, right?”

“I do.”

“Did you leave it at the company? I’ll go get it. Let’s check that first. To see what kind of scheme Eunseong was up to.”

“No. I’ll check that myself. Director, you start by checking the CCTV of Eunseong’s last known movements.”

Yoo Siwoon said he would do it himself, remembering the search history Eunseong had.

“If we stay like this and they happen to find him… the possibility is low, but just in case…”

Director Nam seemed worried about Eunseong. They had seen each other almost every day and had built up a lot of mixed feelings towards each other.

If Chairman Yoo’s son or any other blood relative found out about the prophesied being, there would be nothing more horrific in this world. They would try to impregnate him by any means necessary. Yoo Siwoon imagined Eunseong being endlessly raped by men and violently shook his head. His chest felt cold. It was a tension that made his blood run dry, something he hadn’t felt in years.

“We need to deploy people. Send out as many as we can mobilize around that area.”

“If we move on a large scale, it will attract attention. Everyone is desperately searching for the prophesied being, what if they notice?”

“Use Executive Kwon as bait.”

“Executive Kwon is one of our few allies. If we do this, all the executives who might have turned to our side will become cautious. We’re close to being able to call a shareholders’ meeting if we gather just a bit more shares. We’ve also collected quite a bit of information on the group’s corruption and tax evasion.”

Director Nam tried to stop him, saying the damage would be too severe. Yoo Siwoon had already made up his mind. No matter what losses they incurred, even if it caused problems for himself, protecting Eunseong was the priority.

“Proceed immediately.”

“…Understood.”