The Unbelievers Chapter 15

Waking up away from his father’s violence, the morning was peaceful. Having slept deeply, Eunseong woke to the sound of birds. On the night he first arrived, unable to sleep due to his restless mind, he had fiddled with various things and found a button by the bed; when he pressed it now, the blackout curtains covering the floor-to-ceiling window retracted automatically. Like a large framed painting in an art gallery, the garden appeared as a beautiful scene, with blue skies and lush green grass sprouting fresh.

“Wow… amazing.”

His voice, fresh from sleep, was raspy. Even in a daze, Eunseong let out an exclamation of admiration at the masterpiece-like view through the window.

He got out of bed and checked the time; it was slightly past eight in the morning.

As he sat blankly huddled in front of the window looking out, the sprinklers began to rotate over the fresh greenery. Droplets of water caught the sunlight and scattered in shimmering bursts.

“It’s so pretty.”

The dance of the transparent droplets was refreshing. Even his mood cleared, and his vision felt moist and bright.

Eunseong liked the garden of this house. He liked that there were many trees. Yesterday, he had even found a birdhouse in the garden.

While staring at the garden as if appreciating a piece of art, he felt a strange urge to tell his father that he was eating well, sleeping well, and living in such a nice place. He didn’t think his father would even worry, but he wanted to say he was doing fine, so the man should live his own life without concerning himself with Eunseong. That his son was not the type to go off and starve to death.

On the new phone he had received as a gift, he called his father just in case. Again, the guidance voice informed him the number was not in service. There were times he had resolved to cut ties with him, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so abruptly; furthermore, the fact that Eunseong was now ostensibly wealthy while his father had fled somewhere to escape the family made it impossible to simply enjoy the beautiful scenery without a complicated heart.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand to clear the sleepiness and opened his room door. The deep scent of coffee was spreading through the living room.

Lured by the aroma, Eunseong headed toward the dining area. He could hear Yoo Siun’s voice speaking quietly with Manager Nam. Yoo Siun was asking the Manager something.

“You’re saying Chairman Yoo’s side hasn’t noticed anything at all?”

“There has been no movement so far. We moved very quietly, after all. Still, I will keep watching them.”

“We must keep them in the dark until we proceed with the next plan.”

Yoo Siun replied in a low voice.

“Yes, understood. I heard Director Yoo has been frequenting the Chairman’s office lately; could they have started working on the succession? Is it possible Chairman Yoo or the others might put forward a fake ‘Great Rift’?”

“If they say they found someone, it’s a fake. The ‘Great Rift’ isn’t something you can find just because you look for it, and such a thing can’t even exist. If they’ve made a fake, they’re probably doing under-the-table work with the Council of Elders. Whether through bribery or intimidation, they’ll try to make it real.”

“Then I will observe the Council of Elders more closely as well.”

Eunseong stood quietly behind the dining room wall out of their sight, unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation. He couldn’t guess what they were talking about at all. It seemed like talk related to work.

Because he had a habit of moving quietly to avoid waking his drunk father, they hadn’t noticed his presence, and it ended up looking like he was spying.

Eunseong crept back a few steps, then opened his room door and closed it with a loud noise. He intentionally made footfalls as he walked back toward the dining area.

Yoo Siun was standing in front of the wooden island table, and Manager Nam had already stepped back into the kitchen, pointlessly opening the refrigerator to look inside.

It appeared they had quickly finished their secret conversation the moment he appeared.

“Are you awake?”

As he brewed drip coffee, he tilted the kettle to moisten the beans, merely lifting his eyes to look at Eunseong.

“…Good morning. Hello to you too, Manager.”

Eunseong greeted Yoo Siun first and then bowed to Manager Nam.

Yoo Siun was dressed no differently than the day they first met. He wore a black suit that made him look like a bodyguard, with a tie of the same color and a black shirt underneath, which at a glance brought to mind the clothes priests wear.

His hair was closer to ash-gray than black, so rather than a priest, he looked like a modern-day Grim Reaper waiting to summon someone. If seen at night, a crow would likely be this color.

Nevertheless, he looked different somehow, and while Eunseong was staring at him, his expression soon turned to one of curiosity. Dressing bandages similar to skin color were stuck on the nape of his neck and the back of his hand. All of his tattoos were covered.

Now that the eye-catching tattoos were gone, his 5th cousin’s face was clearly visible today. His haughty aura was more pronounced, but the lack of tattoos didn’t mean his dangerous vibe had vanished.

“Does the school uniform fit well?”

“I haven’t tried it on yet.”

“If it doesn’t fit, we have to exchange it, so try it on.”

“It’ll fit, probably. If not, I’ll just squeeze into it.”

“…”

A smile that moved only the corners of his lips briefly graced Yoo Siun’s mouth before disappearing. Manager Nam, having taken something out of the fridge, signaled to Yoo Siun with a look and left the dining area.

Eunseong followed him with his eyes until he disappeared, then pulled out a tall chair at the island table and sat down. There was nothing on the wide table except for the coffee brewing tools.

“By the way, 5th cousin, do you only have those clothes?”

“Hmm? My clothes?”

Yoo Siun looked down at his own attire.

“Because you always wear black… if I saw you at night, I think you’d look like a real crow. It’s crow-colored.”

“A crow…”

He muttered low and stared at the color of his jacket anew. Looking at it that way, it wasn’t just a black suit; it was a deep black, just like a crow.

“…You seem to really like coffee.”

“Yes.”

“The coffee smell is nice. Can I have a cup too?”

“You’re still a baby. Is it okay for you to have this?”

“…Pardon?”

Eunseong knitted his brows as if he had heard something offensive.

A baby… he wouldn’t be able to say such a thing if he stepped into a senior year classroom. A reality of all-male high school classrooms was that they were filled with guys like Choi Jungeon, whose black mustaches grew in patches under their noses.

Observing Eunseong, who looked appalled by the word “baby,” with eyes that didn’t understand why, Yoo Siun finished brewing the coffee. Setting aside his own portion, he ground new beans with the grinder, seemingly intended for Eunseong.

He moistened the white filter paper with hot water and filled it with beans. His calm, quiet adherence to the procedure looked orderly, as if he were performing a tea ceremony. Amidst the solemn atmosphere, Eunseong asked.

“Is it that different when you drink it like that? Everyone else just uses a machine to grind and drink. Or they use capsules.”

“It’s not just a little different; it’s significantly different. The taste is entirely different.”

Yoo Siun asserted that they weren’t even comparable. It seemed that even if he did things like killing people, his palate and preferences, which were accustomed to high-end things, were a separate matter. Eunseong thought it was a contradiction.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

“Is your body okay?”

“…My body?”

As he poured hot water from the drip kettle in a circular motion over the beans, he looked up at Eunseong. It was an observant gaze.

“I thought it might be uncomfortable since you’re in a new environment.”

“Since coming here, I’ve been sleeping deeply. When I was with my father, I never knew when he’d get drunk and beat me, so I was anxious and couldn’t sleep properly.”

“I see.”

“Thanks to that, my physical endurance is good, and unlike how I look, I’m actually very tough.”

“…”

Watching Eunseong, who spoke as if that were a good thing or an advantage, Yoo Siun gave a bitter smile. He chose a particularly pretty cup from the display case and tilted the drip pot to pour the coffee.

Because the island table was wide, the distance between him and Eunseong was quite far. Yoo Siun reached his arm out far to push the coffee toward the middle, and Eunseong had to half-rise and stretch his arm long to uncomfortably bring the coffee cup toward him.

Then Eunseong suddenly realized that since getting out of the car, the gap between them had never narrowed beyond that specific distance. As if standing a few steps back, Yoo Siun did not intentionally narrow the physical distance with Eunseong.

When that thought suddenly occurred to him, Eunseong stood up from the chair he had been perched on.

Yoo Siun, who was taking a sip of the coffee he had carefully brewed so as not to lose the flavor or aroma, set the cup down as Eunseong approached him. He turned away as if he had other business, retreating to maintain that exact distance.

“…”

Like a game of tag with a large obstacle in between, when Eunseong moved closer, he moved back. His movements, pulling away like the opposing poles of a magnet, were not just Eunseong’s imagination. Seeing him retreat at a subtle interval, Eunseong took an apple out of the fridge, bit into it, and returned to his original seat.

“It would be better to eat bread instead. Coffee and apples don’t go well together.”

He had an expression that suggested it was quite bothersome to see Eunseong eating an apple with coffee. Eunseong did not listen to him.

“I don’t even know what coffee tastes like anyway.”

He took a crunching bite of the apple and swallowed a mouthful of coffee. He couldn’t properly taste either one. Eunseong was watching Yoo Siun’s brow, which was furrowed in disapproval.

After staring at the apple in Eunseong’s hand with an unsatisfied look, he looked away, took a sip of coffee, and asked.

“What do you do for breakfast? I only drink coffee in the morning, so the helper doesn’t come at this time.”

“This is enough for me. I just eat an apple or a banana. From now on, I’m going to eat them with coffee.”

“I think milk would be better.”

He said he simply couldn’t stand to watch that bizarre combination.

“No. Apples and coffee go well together. Do you want to try some?”

“I’ll pass.”