The Unbelievers Chapter 35

“…And you will continue to live here, Mister?”

“Presumably. Since it is my house.”

“And I’m… moving somewhere else?”

“You said that’s what you wanted.”

“Then, who do I tell if there’s a noise at night?”

“…”

“If there’s a strange noise at night… who do I tell then? Strange noises happen sometimes.”

“A security team will be deployed.”

The man who used to accept Eunseong’s behavior kindly without rebuking his desire for attention was gone now. To Yoo Siun, Eunseong was a first cousin once removed who, after being treated well, didn’t know his place and had become a tiring nuisance; he was now declaring that he would no longer tolerate any more erratic behavior. He wasn’t even interested in the reason why Eunseong had fled or why he had left the house.

Eunseong looked at him resentfully before throwing out the question he had been holding back.

“Aren’t you curious why I left the house?”

“You said you hate me.”

Quite differently from last night, he responded succinctly. He seemed to neither feel bad about that fact nor undergo any emotional agitation as he had the previous night. He was shielding himself with something like a cold, callous glass barrier.

“That’s right. I hate you, Mister.”

“So I’m letting you live separately; is there a problem?”

“None. There’s no problem at all.”

“If there’s no problem, then we can eat now.”

Yoo Siun spoke coldly as if telling him to shut up and eat, implying there was nothing more for them to say to each other.

“Yes, I should eat. Since everyone works so hard just to eat and live.”

Eunseong said he would eat heartily then, and he gallantly grabbed his spoon and scooped up some rice. After just munching away for a while, he seemed to remember something else and set his spoon down with a clatter before speaking to Yoo Siun.

“In the future, when there’s a strange noise, I can just tell the person guarding me then.”

“Right. Do that.”

“Without telling you, Mister.”

“Since we won’t be living together, there will be no need to tell me.”

“Right, there’s no need to tell someone you don’t live with about things like that.”

“Right, no need.”

“I understand perfectly.”

“…”

“Thank you. For your concern. I’ll be sure to repay the favor later.”

“…”

Eunseong clenched his fists tightly under the table. He said he was very much looking forward to it, his two eyes shining. His eyes sparkled brightly with the expectation of the day he would live apart from him.

The gaze that had been fixed on Eunseong’s face was withdrawn. Separated by a long distance, they kept their heads down to avoid looking at each other as they forced down the tasteless lunch.

Waking up in the morning and brewing coffee, Yoo Siun looked toward the opposite side of the island table. Though he had prepared milk and an apple out of habit, Eunseong was not showing himself.

And yet, they had always spent their mornings together.

It was just as he was idly scrolling through his phone to see if there were any messages, drinking coffee that felt exceptionally devoid of taste or aroma today.

The sound of footsteps was heard, as if advertising a thumping sulk. Yoo Siun did not lift his gaze.

“…”

Eunseong came inside, pulled out a chair with a rough hand, and sat down while making a loud noise on purpose. He took the milk and drank it noisily, then bit into the apple with a crunch.

Today was the last day of final exams. Whether he was good at studying or not, Eunseong was a senior in high school, and he couldn’t keep missing exams. Regarding the exams he missed yesterday, Yoo Siun had pressured the school through Manager Nam to allow him to retake them. Since it was too much to persuade the school over the phone—as they refused, saying it was unfair—Manager Nam had to visit the school in person.

Pretending not to notice, Yoo Siun stood drinking his coffee while Eunseong watched him, shifting only his pupils. If anyone had seen him, they would have thought he was glaring.

“…The crow tit, will it be okay if I don’t feed it? If I move out, someone will have to look after it.”

“…”

“I used to scatter rice grains around, can you do that for me, Mister?”

Yoo Siun, who had been looking only at his phone without answering, looked up. He was still covering his tattoo today, as it was deemed not good for Eunseong’s moral education. If he was going to cover it, he should have covered it well; parts of it peeked out, only stimulating curiosity and making one want to see more.

It wasn’t right to want to see the naked body of a relative. Even so, Eunseong felt an impatient urge to see the wolf he was hiding.

“I’ll do it for you from now on.”

“Don’t scatter too much; it shouldn’t smell like humans, so just scatter a little at a time. You can’t not do it just because it’s a hassle.”

“…”

Though it seemed unlikely that a crow tit would eat things like rice grains, Yoo Siun answered with a nod.

“But, while I’m living here—of course, I’m leaving the week after next—if the eggs hatch before then, that’s good, but even if they don’t, can you take a photo and send it to me, Mister? Because I want to see the chicks.”

“Tell the Manager.”

“That kind of thing is private. Why would you make the Manager do something like that? If you do that, the Manager might have an existential crisis and say he’s quitting.”

“Wouldn’t you hate it more if a person you dislike sends a photo like that?”

“…”

Eunseong looked at him with an expression asking how he could say such cruel and harsh words. Yoo Siun took a sip of his remaining coffee, pretending to be unbothered. The coffee had turned cold.

“Is it that it doesn’t matter even if it’s a person you dislike as long as it’s a photo you want? You’re not being consistent.”

“…This is why I hate you, Mister.”

“…”

“Are you happy saying that?”

Even though he hadn’t said much, Yoo Siun felt like he had become the world’s worst villain. Eunseong bit his lip hard and threw the half-eaten apple into the trash can without finishing it.

Eunseong left the dining room with his bag on his back even though Manager Nam hadn’t arrived yet. When he threw open the front door, he ran into Manager Nam, who was just coming in.

“You’re out early. Have you eaten? The CEO is inside, right?”

Manager Nam, looking energetic as it was morning, acknowledged Eunseong and said he would go in and greet Yoo Siun before work, so Eunseong should wait a moment.

Eunseong got into the car first. The mood that had been firmly out of sorts since yesterday became even more twisted. Regardless, Eunseong was the one in the wrong regarding him. He had spoken to him in an attempt to apologize, even if it was awkward, but he hadn’t expected to be snapped at like that.

I probably don’t really have to leave…

After making such a scene saying he would leave and that he hated living together, if he said no now, Yoo Siun might think he was strange. If that happened, he might realize that Eunseong liked him. He must never let him know. Maybe it’s better to just leave. It might be for the best.

Manager Nam, who returned after greeting Yoo Siun, got into the driver’s seat and started the car.

“After your exams are over today, you’ll be retaking the ones you missed yesterday. Have you studied a bit?”

“Pardon? Why am I taking the ones I missed yesterday?”

“The CEO told me to make it happen, so I barely managed to get you a retake by threatening the principal; so work hard.”

If he treated him heartlessly, he felt he could hate him, but Yoo Siun intended to faithfully carry out his work and the duties he had undertaken, whether Eunseong hated him or not. He tried to provide a good environment and cared about Eunseong’s moral education. This first cousin once removed, whom he had never even met or seen before, was trying to provide care that he had never experienced even from his own flesh and blood.

“…That’s why I hate you, Mister.”

Eunseong muttered lonely.

The streets toward the school flashed by the car window.

“Where else would you find someone like our CEO for you to say such a thing. If you knew how much the CEO thinks of you, you might regret acting like this later.”

“That’s why I hate it. Because he’s good to me.”

Manager Nam looked at Eunseong, who was saying nothing but incomprehensible things, with a meaningful gaze.

“Why do you hate him for being good to you? Would you prefer if he was bad to you? Like your father, Eunseong?”

Eunseong stared fiercely at the back of Manager Nam’s head as he drove. Even though he felt the gaze, Manager Nam remained composed. He just shrugged his eyebrows as if asking what he was going to do about it.

He glared once at the man who had poked a sore spot by bringing up his father, but it was a matter that would be useless to argue about. Eunseong soon spoke in resignation.

“He’s being good to me out of a sense of duty. Because he has to keep a promise.”

“Keeping a promise is not as easy as it sounds.”

Manager Nam was speaking as if Yoo Siun were making some grand sacrifice. He wondered what on earth he had properly sacrificed other than letting him use one spare room in a large house.

Eunseong was home alone more often than not. The man who was supposedly being so good to him only came home early once or twice a week; on other days, he returned only after Eunseong was asleep, so in twenty-four hours, they faced each other for only ten or twenty minutes while drinking coffee in the morning—just for that brief moment.

Yoo Siun was practically neglecting Eunseong. He was the kind of person who used tongs to place a wet towel on the feverish forehead of a sick Eunseong so that their skin wouldn’t touch. It wasn’t right for such a person to speak as if he were making a sacrifice for Eunseong. Under the pretext of fastidiousness, Yoo Siun was hurting Eunseong. That was why Eunseong had been moved even by a single photo of the mother crow tit he had sent, mistakenly thinking he was a very kind person.

“Then why make a promise you can’t even keep?”

“…I see. If it’s a promise one can’t keep, one shouldn’t make it in the first place.”

“Of course.”

Manager Nam nodded to himself.

To Eunseong, who was getting out of the car after arriving at school, Manager Nam told him to do well on his exams. Opening his mouth, which he had kept tightly shut like a clam to avoid answering, Eunseong reluctantly gave him a greeting and headed toward the school gate.