The Unbelievers Chapter 48

“If you press it like this, the positions of all the CCTV cameras change at once. If you press back like this, it returns to the previous screen.”

As Manager Nam approached Yoo Siun, who was sitting in front of the monitor, and pressed the keys, the angles being filmed in real-time by the cameras changed. Several cameras were showing the penthouse where Eunseong would soon be living from multiple angles.

Yoo Siun, sitting with his chin propped on his hand at the desk, tapped the arrow keys Manager Nam had pointed out with uninterested fingertips. Every time he did, the screen, which showed nothing particularly different, flickered as if refreshing.

Yoo Siun, who had been squashing one of his handsome cheeks against his hand while mindlessly tapping keys to change the screen, covered his face with both hands and let out a deep sigh.

“You still have the cloned phone of Eunseong that I gave you last time, right?”

While making Eunseong’s new phone, they had made a cloned phone as well. The intention was to prevent a potential runaway in advance. He had definitely handed him the phone, but Manager Nam had never seen him take that cloned phone out once.

Yoo Siun nodded, indicating he had just kept it after receiving it back then.

“He has to go abroad next year anyway, so is there really a need to move him right now? There are security issues, and besides, it’s difficult for me to care for both you and Eunseong at the same time.”

Unable to understand why he was suddenly being told to move Eunseong to the penthouse, Manager Nam quietly asked the man, who looked somewhat unstable.

Yoo Siun, who had been stroking his face, tugged at his hair as if he were going crazy. The complexion his palms swept over turned red before quickly returning to its original color.

“Your prediction was correct, Manager.”

“What are you referring to?”

“Eunseong said he likes me.”

“…Pardon?”

“He said he likes me.”

“Did Eunseong say those words himself?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t mishear him, did you?”

“Haah.”

Yoo Siun let out a sigh so deep it felt like the ground was giving way, wishing that were the case, and pressed his fingertips firmly against his sunken eyes from lack of sleep.

“My feeling was right, then.”

“I approached him to wake him up because I thought he was having a nightmare, but he kissed me in his light sleep.”

“Eunseong did?”

“He seemed to be dreaming of me.”

“Ever since he said he disliked you before, I… honestly, I’ve thought it was strange since then. Even if you dislike someone, you don’t usually say it so openly, do you?”

Manager Nam nodded his head, recalling that time and feeling that his prediction was correct. Yoo Siun leaned back, letting his head hit the headrest of the chair with a thud.

Manager Nam, thinking deeply, asked with a look of “could it be.”

“Could it perhaps be a resonance?”

“That’s nonsense. Such a thing couldn’t possibly exist, and if it were a resonance, he wouldn’t have confessed in that manner.”

To Yoo Siun, who did not believe in prophecies, even such a hypothesis was nothing more than a ridiculous story. Nevertheless, somewhere in a corner of his heart, he felt an unbearable anxiety and discomfort.

“When you think about it, no one knows what form a resonance takes. It could be that feeling of liking itself.”

“Do you believe that nonsensical talk?”

Yoo Siun asked in a tone that questioned whether he was siding with the absurd claims of cultists.

“It isn’t a matter you can dismiss so simply. Why else would Seo Jeonggi have abandoned the family and lived as a fugitive for so long? Wouldn’t he have done so because he had some kind of certainty? Have you not considered that?”

“It’s because he is a cowardly man. Eunseong’s biological parents died because of Jeonggi hyung-nim. Furthermore, whether it’s true or not, if Eunseong has the mark, there is no knowing what might happen to him. He must have been scared.”

Yoo Siun answered with a sigh. His words made sense, but Manager Nam could not overlook even the smallest possibility.

“Still. It’s truly nonsensical, but you must consider the one-in-a-million chance. If Eunseong really is the ‘Great Rift’… if that prophecy is all true.”

“And if it is true?”

“….”

Yoo Siun, who had been sitting slumped, turned only his eyes to stare at Manager Nam. At the cold eyes approaching in a straight line, Manager Nam bowed his head apologetically. In his lowered field of vision, he saw Yoo Siun’s leg shaking. Even he, who was certain Eunseong couldn’t be the being from the prophecy, was anxious.

If Eunseong really were the ‘Great Rift’ and had resonated with Yoo Siun, then Yoo Siun would eventually show a similar reaction. He, too, was ultimately a kinsman of Seongha, one of the few ‘ones with open spiritual eyes,’ and possessed the qualifications of a breeder.

Just as Manager Nam couldn’t cast aside his inner doubts even while considering such a thing impossible, Yoo Siun was acting in ways he never had in his life. He was shaking his leg incessantly, rubbing his face and the nape of his neck until the skin was raw, and tugging his hair so hard his scalp must have ached.

Yesterday, the security team had wondered why Yoo Siun was running as if he were entering a marathon, but Manager Nam finally realized the reason.

“He’s a child who grew up being abused by his father. He is mistaking the interest I show for affection.”

“Is he not at an age where he wouldn’t mistake such a thing? He’ll be twenty next year.”

Manager Nam protested that Eunseong was not that young.

“He grew up without ever receiving proper protection, so he must be misunderstanding my obligatory actions. I should send him to an English-speaking country before things get difficult for both of us. Please prepare what you mentioned before immediately.”

“…I understand.”

“Quickly, as quickly as possible.”

“Are you alright, CEO?”

“Me?”

At Manager Nam’s question, Yoo Siun asked back in bewilderment.

“…Whether you are alright.”

“What are you thinking now?”

Yoo Siun frowned unpleasantly.

Manager Nam was keeping in mind the possibility, even if it was one in a million, that Eunseong might be the ‘Great Rift.’ Eunseong saying he liked Yoo Siun might not be an expression of emotion, but rather an instinctive resonance between the being of the prophecy and the bloodline of Seongha.

“Are you asking if I feel sexual desire for the kid?”

Yoo Siun knit his brows, asking what he wanted to say, and if he was finally getting to that point. Manager Nam immediately bowed his head and apologized.

“…What a terrible thing to say.”

“There is no way that’s the case.”

Yoo Siun was firm, as if telling him never to bring up such a thing again.

He had thought about wanting to touch him. It had felt good when they touched. However, that did not connect to sexual desire. Whether his subconscious was suppressing it because he had a self-controlled personality that was almost puritanical, or whether his reason was holding it back, he didn’t know, but he didn’t feel a clear feeling of liking him like Eunseong did.

It was a laughable sentiment, but the feeling he got while looking at Eunseong was that, in that moment, he could understand Oscar Wilde’s words that aesthetics stand above morality, and a greed arose to keep him by his side for a long time.

That his heart was drawn to Eunseong… no, it was true that a feeling had emerged that was hard to describe as just being drawn to him, but Yoo Siun coldly blocked his own heart.

“It’s nonsensical, but even if such a thing were to happen, I am prepared for chemical castration.”

At Yoo Siun’s solemn words, Manager Nam was startled.

“No, why would you go that far?”

“Because I must.”

Yoo Siun was more adamant than ever. Manager Nam didn’t doubt his sincerity. He knew Yoo Siun had been careful to ensure such a thing didn’t happen. He was a man who had decided to bring Eunseong into his private space, his own home, only after long and careful deliberation.

“He knows you as his father’s cousin, so it will be even harder for him. Is that not why he ran away?”

“It seems so. He actually asked why I came to get him then, saying that if I had left him alone, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Just as Eunseong claimed, all of this was Yoo Siun’s fault, and he was the culprit. He felt he understood why Eunseong blamed him so much.

“It would be best to keep it a secret that you aren’t blood relatives, right?”

“…That is the biggest justification for rejection right now, so he must never find out. That Eunseong is not Jeonggi hyung-nim’s biological son.”

Yoo Siun let out a heavy sigh.

“CEO….”

“Don’t.”

As Manager Nam hesitated to speak, as if trying to mention something difficult, Yoo Siun rejected him with a single shout. Despite that, Manager Nam spoke up.

“I’m sorry for repeatedly saying this, but I don’t understand why you keep trying to take the hard road when there is an easy road.”

“An easy road? Is doing that to a kid an easy road?”

Yoo Siun’s face contorted with disgust. Manager Nam waved his hands, saying that wasn’t what he meant at all.

“It’s not that.”

“Whether you mean it or not, isn’t it ultimately about using Eunseong?”

“Using him? Does Eunseong not like you? If you at least get recognized by the Council first.”

“And then? What after that? Do you think the Council will just sit back and watch? And Chairman Yoo will just stay out of it?”

It was equally painful for Manager Nam to say these things, but it was a problem that had to be considered rationally. Every premise started from the belief that Eunseong was that being.

“If it is only confirmed that Eunseong is the real one, you might be recognized as the successor, and it might even help in dealing with Chairman Yoo.”

“There’s no way he’s the real one.”

“In any case, isn’t it a fact that he has the mark? Whether it’s real or just a misunderstanding of it being real, that’s something we can’t know.”

“Ultimately, you mean to expose Eunseong to that side, but I cannot do something so dangerous.”

Yoo Siun was genuinely angry. Manager Nam hadn’t meant it that way, but because he was so furiously angry, he couldn’t add any more words.

“Don’t ever bring that up again.”

At Yoo Siun’s razor-sharp command, Manager Nam bowed his head and said he would do so.