The Unbelievers Chapter 16

Eunseong made a show of taking a sip of the coffee the man had brewed with the utmost care. After scowling at the bitter, tasteless flavor, he took a crisp bite of the sweet and sour apple.

“By the way, about the phone I used before. Manager Nam took it yesterday, saying I wouldn’t need it anymore, but could I have it back? I didn’t get to transfer all the photos and everything inside.”

“He probably threw it away.”

“What? Already?”

“I told him to dispose of it. It was too old. The screen was all cracked, too.”

“Ah… already.”

The screen had been covered in fine cracks like a spiderweb, so he had planned to throw it away eventually, but he had intended to keep it just in case he needed a spare device. At the news that it was thrown away as soon as it was taken, Eunseong let out a regretful sigh and gave up as if he had no choice.

Eating only his apple in silence, he stole glances at Yoo Siun, who was typically heavy-mouthed, before Eunseong opened his mouth again.

“But you must be really busy, 5th cousin. You haven’t been coming home at all.”

After simply dropping Eunseong off here, the man only solved necessary matters through Manager Nam; Eunseong hadn’t even seen his face for several days. Thanks to that, he had plenty of time before transferring schools, so he explored the garden alone and even found a birdhouse while wandering around.

“I did come home.”

“Pardon? When?”

“At night. I came in after midnight, so you probably didn’t know because you were sleeping.”

It meant he came in late and left early at dawn.

“I looked it up on the internet. Your company.”

Eunseong felt Yoo Siun’s gaze land on the space between his eyebrows.

“Since it’s a company I might inherit later, I thought it would be good to look into it in advance. Of course, I said I wouldn’t do it, but you never know when or how a person’s mind might change. I’m the type to always prepare well in advance.”

“…”

He showed no particular reaction to the bold remark that the company might one day be his. He seemed to be a person of a naturally taciturn disposition. He was excessively sparing with his words. He didn’t tell Eunseong what he should do from now on or what kind of life he would live. He had simply dropped him off.

Even to Eunseong, who had less than half a year left until the Suneung, the man said nothing about studying or university. He had searched for the name of the school he would be attending after hearing it from Manager Nam. It was a private high school where only wealthy and high-achieving kids went. Nevertheless, seeing as there was no mention of private tutoring, it seemed they already knew Eunseong’s school grades. They didn’t seem to care much whether he just attended quietly and then graduated to enter a mediocre university.

The man had said Manager Nam would explain the details, but that Manager Nam person gave no explanations and avoided answering any questions by telling him to ask the Representative because he didn’t know much. And that Representative hadn’t even shown his face for days.

Spending a lot of time alone led to many thoughts and growing suspicions about him. He said that people who value bloodline very highly wanted Eunseong as the heir. And that if he sat in that position, he would have to do very terrible things. Yoo Siun said he would protect and guard Eunseong so that such things wouldn’t happen.

He says he will protect me, but what if he’s trying to deceive me? What if he’s plotting something? Buying me a new phone and an iPad, brewing delicious coffee to win my favor… then once Eunseong trusts him, he might manipulate me from behind, telling me to do this or that using my status as heir.

Because everyone is like that.

Is that why he’s keeping his distance—because it weighs on his conscience and he doesn’t want to get too close?

Honestly, what benefit does my 5th cousin get from bringing me here?

No matter how much he thought about it, there seemed to be no real benefit unless he had some sinister ulterior motive.

Yoo Siun was indifferently savoring his coffee with a face that didn’t suggest he had any clue what Eunseong was thinking.

“…”

“…”

He took a sip of coffee, and Eunseong took a bite of the apple and chewed it crisply. The sound of coffee and the crunching of the apple were the only noises in the wide space.

It was the same for both Eunseong and Yoo Siun in that they didn’t know each other well. After holding the coffee in his mouth to fully feel the aroma and taste before swallowing it, Yoo Siun asked Eunseong, who was halfway through the apple.

“Did you not have a girlfriend? A girl like that you liked at school.”

“Pardon? I didn’t have anything like that.”

Eunseong’s words somehow came out peevishly. Saying he didn’t have “anything like that” just because he didn’t have a girlfriend felt a bit rude after the words left his mouth.

“Not even someone you liked?”

The 5th cousin’s face had turned serious, as if this were some important issue.

“I didn’t. I’m not interested in that kind of thing.”

“Isn’t that the age when people are most interested?”

“I was busy working part-time. You need time to date.”

Far from a girlfriend, there was once a guy who would come to his house and annoy him with threats, saying they should live together after graduating and becoming independent.

Even before that incident that day, there were times when Choi Jungeon would subtly touch him or jokingly hug him. At the time, he brushed it off as a joke involving physical weight, but looking back, he was exceptionally affectionate with skinship toward him alone.

If Yoo Siun hadn’t appeared, he would have suffered something at the hands of Choi Jungeon, whether it was having his money stolen or being beaten to a pulp. Thinking that far, the back of Eunseong’s neck went cold. Whether he was being deceived or not, in any case, the 5th cousin in front of him had saved him.

What kind of face did Choi Jungeon make when he found out I had suddenly transferred?

When he realized I had vanished from that house as if I had evaporated.

Eunseong pictured the scene of him flying into a frenzy. Just escaping from the insane Choi Jungeon was a lucky thing. That day, the guy really looked like he had lost his mind.

Never mind a girlfriend… he could never say that there was a guy who told him they should live together after becoming independent in university.

Fearing that Yoo Siun might ask about the Choi Jungeon he saw that day, Eunseong quickly turned the question back.

“What about you, 5th cousin?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you have a lover? You’re at an age where it would be strange if you didn’t, right?”

“…”

Yoo Siun didn’t answer Eunseong’s words and just gave a dry smile. The image of his 5th cousin with a smile in the somewhat dim interior had a handsome side that made Eunseong’s heart skip a beat.

Eunseong took a sip of the coffee, which he didn’t really know the taste of other than its bitterness, and looked at Yoo Siun. Yoo Siun was tall, making even Choi Jungeon, who was bigger than the teachers, look small. He had large hands that would still have room even if he held with one hand the coffee cup Eunseong was holding with two. He had an appearance that looked cold yet intellectual. He was a man so handsome it would be considered strange if he didn’t have a lover. When the tattoos were visible, he looked mysterious, and when they weren’t, he looked handsome.

“But are you going to work late today?”

He only nodded in response. Even though Eunseong had stayed awake past midnight last night because of many stray thoughts, he had ultimately fallen asleep without hearing the man return home.

“Then what am I supposed to do again today?”

“You’re a student, so shouldn’t you study?”

He spoke with an expression asking why a senior in high school was asking such an obvious question.

“It seems your investigation of me wasn’t very thorough. I’m on the side that isn’t very good at studying.”

“You should start working hard from now on.”

“I was good until middle school, but I couldn’t keep up because I didn’t go to academies. Everyone else learns everything at academies first, so the school teachers just gloss over things roughly. I told my dad I wanted to go to an academy, but he seemed to think it was a waste of money, so I didn’t bring it up after that.”

“…”

“I just wish my dad had lived like you in a house like this. Then I would have gone to academies… and my mom wouldn’t have died.”

Whenever Eunseong talked about his family situation, Yoo Siun’s face became troubled.

“Ah, right! But have you ever seen my mom, Mister?”

“Your mother?”

“Yes.”

Recalling a question he had been waiting for the right opportunity to ask, Eunseong asked in an excited voice. He wanted to hear about his mother’s appearance when she was alive from someone else, since his father wouldn’t talk about it.

Yoo Siun nodded, saying he had seen her. Eunseong’s eyes went round with surprise.

“When? At the wedding? Or after that? Or when? When? When?”

His greatly amplified voice pressed him.

“No, I haven’t seen her in person, only in photos.”

“Ah…”

Disappointed, Eunseong sat back down in the chair he had been bouncing in, his face and voice losing all their energy.

“It was probably not long after you were born. I saw her for the first time in a wedding photo.”

“My dad and mom’s wedding… did the family oppose it by any chance?”

“Well. I was young too…”

He trailed off, saying he wasn’t sure.

“I have that wedding photo of my mom and dad. Although it’s only half a piece.”

“…”

“I thought you would know, 5th cousin. Dad never ever talked about Mom. If I brought her up, he would definitely drink that day, so I stopped asking.”

“…”

“I thought you would know.”

“The photo was all I saw.”

“…My mom is pretty, right?”

“Yes, she was a beauty.”

“They say she was an incredible beauty. Dad told me that much. That she was the top beauty on campus. Dad said he fell in love at first sight. With Mom.”

“…”

Since she only existed in photos, his mother was a dreamlike existence to Eunseong. There was nothing but beauty. Because she wasn’t alive, there were absolutely no ugly things he had to remember.