The Unbelievers Chapter 26

Eunseong stood under the showerhead and lifted the lever. Lukewarm water poured down over his head. When he pushed the faucet handle to the side, cold water cascaded out, startling his spine. It was freezing water that made his entire body turn stiff and pale.

Even while shivering violently, Eunseong remained standing as the water hit him. His hair became damp and heavy. The blue-cold water traveled down his body, stealing his heat and digging into every nook and cranny.

The cold water flowed without hesitation even between his legs. Eunseong kept his head bowed, staring down between his thighs. The streams of water drenched his vision, making his sight go blurry every so often.

Eunseong had unusually little body hair. In his class, there were some boys who already had dark stubble growing, but Eunseong was smooth on his legs as well as his armpits. He didn’t even have hair on his pubic region. It wasn’t just body hair that was missing. He lacked the testicles that should normally be present in male genitalia. In the place where the testicles should have been, only the traces remained in the form of a shallowly wrinkled, empty scrotum.

After finishing the cold shower, he came out and wiped his wet body with a towel. Goosebumps broke out all over his arms.

He dried his hair with a blow-dryer and changed into his school uniform. Eunseong checked for any presence outside his room. After looking around, he drew the blackout curtains across the window.

Having blocked out any possible prying eyes from the surroundings, he opened his bag. He took out all the money he had taped under the table and the money hidden under the bed frame, stuffing it haphazardly into the bag. With the bag filled with money slung over his shoulder, he smoothed his hair. After touching his face for a moment, he slapped his own cheek.

“…Get it together.”

Since it didn’t hurt, Eunseong slapped himself once more. Slap! The hit cheek turned red.

“Get it together. That person is your father’s cousin. He’s a relative.”

As he admitted it out loud, sorrow and fear rushed in simultaneously. Eunseong grew frightened. He found himself horrific for having such a vivid dream about him, and he was scared of seeing Yoo Siun in that way.

“I can’t like him… He avoids me even now like I smell, so if he finds out I like him… if he knows that…”

If he assumed that Yoo Siun found out—found out that he had strange dreams about him, that his heart ached more than just being disappointed when the man wouldn’t come near, and that he kept thinking of him and wanting to hear his voice—his entire body turned cold as if he were losing his footing on a cliff.

“I was going to become independent anyway. I can just do that. What’s the problem? Liking a relative… it makes no sense. It’s impossible.”

Eunseong muttered to himself to firm up his resolve. As he talked to himself, his heart, which had been thumping and fluttering, actually settled down.

Though his interior was fluctuating with chaos, he kept a straight face and slung the bag over his shoulder. The weight was heavy.

He opened his room door. As with any other day, the fragrant scent of coffee was filling the living room. The mansion, built in the style of a traditional hanok, emitted an elegant fragrance from the wood, which blended well with the coffee aroma.

Eunseong entered the dining area. Yoo Siun was brewing coffee. He looked at Eunseong with surprised eyes.

“Good morning.”

“…Are you okay?”

“Pardon? Yes, I’m fine.”

“Can you go to school?”

Because he had been seriously ill yesterday, the man’s eyes asked with doubt.

“I woke up and found I was all better. It’s final exams, so I can’t miss it. It ends early anyway, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll just take the test and come back quickly to rest.”

Eunseong spoke energetically as if the body aches he suffered all night had completely vanished. However, he did not look at him. Avoiding his gaze with effort, he pulled out a chair and sat down.

Yoo Siun poured milk into a glass as usual and placed it in the middle of the island table. Eunseong stood up, reached out his arm, took the milk, and drank it. Eunseong glanced at him under the pressure of the man’s fixed stare.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Isn’t the bag uncomfortable?”

“Ah, I have almost nothing in it today since it’s an exam, so I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.”

Unlike usual, Eunseong was wearing his backpack on his shoulders. Fidgeting his buttocks as if his seat was uncomfortable, Eunseong took off the bag and muttered excuses to himself.

“If it’s difficult, don’t overdo it.”

“Do you mean it doesn’t matter if I don’t take the test since I’m bad at studying anyway?”

Even though the man hadn’t said much, Eunseong flared up.

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I’m really fine now. I don’t even have a fever. Do you want to feel?”

When he suddenly stood up to approach, Yoo Siun winced. The person who had reacted with such visible wariness seemed more flustered himself. Eunseong kept a face that seemed to think nothing of the man’s exaggerated flinching and spoke casually.

“Anyway, because of your germ phobia, you can’t touch me, Mister.”

“…”

“Well, I’m off then.”

Eunseong gulped down the milk all at once. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, stood up, and picked up the bag he had set down. The bag he said had almost nothing in it was heavy.

Passing through the living room and out the front door, Manager Nam was waiting and opened the car door. The rain had subsided for a moment, and for the first time in a while, sunlight shone through the grey clouds in the sky.

“Hello.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

Manager Nam asked while checking on Eunseong’s condition from yesterday.

“I ate the medicine you gave me yesterday and got all better.”

“If you feel sick, tell me immediately.”

Answering that he would, Eunseong climbed into the back seat. He closed the car door.

Eunseong headed to school. In the school classroom during finals, the desks were arranged in exam formation. He opened his locker and shoved his bag inside. He returned to his seat holding only his pencil case. Sitting at his desk, he turned his head toward the window overlooking the chilly playground. When he swallowed dryly, an aching pain rose in his throat that felt like it had been clawed.

All the other kids were studying for the exam with fervor, but Eunseong could hardly focus on studying. The dream from last night kept stirring in his head, leaving no room for thoughts of the exam or studying to squeeze in.

Eunseong kept fidgeting as if his chair was uncomfortable. As Eunseong restlessly shook his legs and couldn’t settle down, the class president sitting behind him in numerical order frowned.

“Hey, what’s with you? It’s distracting, so just stay still. If you have ADHD, go eat some meds.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Are you the only one anxious? Everyone is anxious. Don’t make a scene.”

Having lectured someone who didn’t even care about the exam results not to be nervous about failing, the president lowered his annoyed gaze back to his book.

Eunseong sat quietly. Because of the physical changes that had occurred since last night, his lower back kept feeling cold. He anxiously bit his fingernails.

It was his first wet dream, and the subject was… his fifth cousin, Yoo Siun.

His body shivered as if he were suffering from the flu.

Yesterday, even for things he didn’t know, he read the questions and guessed the answers that seemed most likely, but today, he didn’t even put in the effort to read the questions and just marked random numbers.

The exam ended in a blur. As soon as the homeroom session finished, everyone rushed out of the classroom as if they didn’t want to waste a single second for tomorrow’s exam. Eunseong was the last to get up from his seat. He took out the bag he had put in the locker. After confirming once more that no one was around, he opened the bag.

“…”

Over seven million won in cash was sitting safely inside the bag. Taking a deep breath to steady his wavering heart, he slung the bag over his shoulder. Gripping the bag straps firmly with both hands, he left the classroom. He walked toward the opposite direction of the hallway he usually took, checking his surroundings.

Manager Nam was waiting for him with the car parked in front of the school gate, but Eunseong headed toward the back gate instead of the main one. Glancing around alertly, he slipped out the back gate that was only halfway open. Perhaps because he had always traveled with Manager Nam as if being watched, he felt an anxious sensation that someone was following him from behind. It was just as he was turning back to check the path he had traveled to see if someone was chasing him.

“Fuck! I’m sure it’s this school, so stay here and keep a good watch!”

Eunseong, who was moving as if escaping, collided with someone. Since one side was hurrying forward and the other was turning around abruptly while shouting, their bodies crashed together strongly.

“What the. Can’t you keep your eyes open while walk…”

“Choi Jungeon?”

“Ah… fuck. It’s Seo Eunseong?”

Eunseong recognized him instantly. The person who had been aggressively protesting to keep his eyes open and threatening with his whole body suddenly stopped—it was Choi Jungeon. Upon identifying Eunseong, Choi Jungeon’s face immediately crumpled into a scowl.

“How are you here…”

Forgetting the fact that he was in the middle of running away from Manager Nam, Eunseong opened his startled eyes wide. For some reason, he was happy to see Choi Jungeon. The feeling of meeting an acquaintance in a place where he was lost and wandering was not just mere happiness; it was a desperate happiness to the point that all the things he had done to him until now were momentarily erased.

“I thought you’d be here, but for you to appear just like this. It’s been a long time, you prick?”

A madness-tinged vitality dwelled in Choi Jungeon’s pupils, which had been distorted in disbelief, and simultaneously, an emotion rose. it was a concentrated rage that had been waiting only for an ignition.

“Jungeon…”

Eunseong’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears. Not just Choi Jungeon, but his familiar friends were there with him as well.

Though he had changed from middle school and was now a complete lunatic and a crazy bastard, encountering him in a situation where he didn’t know what to do made the boy feel like a lifeline.