The Unbelievers Chapter 51

Yoo Siun woke up, finished his shower, and prepared for work. He changed his clothes and stood before the mirror, raking his wet hair back with his fingers like a comb. Out of habit, he fumbled for a dressing band to cover the tattoo on his neck, but then he paused.

“…”

There was no longer a need to hide it. Eunseong was no longer in this house, and as soon as his preparations were complete after taking the college entrance exam, he would leave this land for a place even Siun would not know. They would never meet again; they would never see each other again.

Yoo Siun pulled his hand away from the dressing band, turned around, grabbed his jacket, and left the room.

The house, where there had been no one from the start and where it was only natural for no one to be, was filled with a chilly air despite it being summer. Passing through the living room, where his own footsteps sounded exceptionally loud and hollow, he entered the dining area.

He took out the coffee beans and drip tools he used every morning on the kitchen island. While grinding the beans and brewing the coffee, Yoo Siun glanced toward the seat where Eunseong always used to sit.

That it seemed like they had resonated… Manager Nam had said something like that.

Such a thing was impossible. There was no such thing as the “Great Rift” mentioned in the prophecies. Without the “Great Rift,” there could be no “Those with Open Spirit Eyes,” nor could the “Gods who came through the Side Path” exist. It was false agitation and foolish belief.

He had heard about the prophecies until his ears were calloused since he was a child, but Yoo Siun had never believed in them even once. Thinking it was all nonsense, he had deliberately focused on other thoughts during ancestral rites and worship services, ignoring the words of the apostles.

And yet, that was resonance?

There was a way to confirm it. There was a faster method than stripping Eunseong’s clothes to find a mark. It was a method Manager Nam didn’t know well, but one known to the bloodline of Seongha and the few breeders.

The clear meaning of “Those with Open Spirit Eyes” referred to the consumption of a medicinal herb passed down through the family for generations. Upon smelling the herb, the “Great Rift” would show a resonant reaction, and the breeder who consumed the herb would also have their spirit eyes opened, allowing them to recognize the Great Rift.

Yoo Siun was hesitating, even though there was a definitive way to confirm whether Eunseong was the being from the prophecy.

He sincerely hoped that Eunseong was not that being. He had to not be. If he wasn’t, then Siun wouldn’t have to deny his own feelings of attraction toward Eunseong, nor Eunseong’s feelings toward him.

Without having to worry about prophecies or marks, he could simply act as he was drawn, as he wanted to touch, as he wanted to hold, and as his heart led him.

If Eunseong showed a reaction, it would be undeniable proof that he was the “Great Rift,” and if that happened, it meant Yoo Siun could never, ever meet Eunseong again in the future.

Yoo Siun, who had been brewing coffee blankly, suddenly put down the kettle and hurriedly left the dining area. He crossed the living room, exited the house, and walked straight toward the glass greenhouse located on the opposite side of the garden.

The glass greenhouse set on one side of the garden had a fairly high temperature and humidity, reminiscent of summer weather stickier than the outside.

He walked toward a flowerbed in the back of the greenhouse that he had cultivated out of a sense of duty.

If I eat this and make Eunseong smell it…, if Eunseong is the “Great Rift,” he will show the appearance of true resonance, the very appearance Manager Nam suspects.

I just need to confirm that he isn’t.

If he could just confirm that Eunseong was not that being, Yoo Siun had no reason to keep him at a distance. There would be no reason to make Eunseong ache. He wouldn’t have to hurt him.

He could tell Eunseong the truth—that they were not blood relatives—and simply hold that hand as his heart desired, kiss the back of his hand… and overlap his lips with those lovely lips. He could smell the scent of the boy he hadn’t been able to even approach until now, and crush him in an embrace, feeling the body heat that fit perfectly in his arms, telling him, “I feel the same way as you.”

How long had he been standing there? Yoo Siun merely stared at the medicinal herb for a long time. Then, his hand plucked a blade of grass that had grown to the length of a finger and brought it to his mouth. He put the grass in his mouth and chewed it slowly. A fishy scent of light green grass, almost yellow, spread throughout his mouth. The taste was neither bitter, sweet, nor salty. It was a plant with no taste at all.

Like someone who could not endure a starving hunger, Yoo Siun continued to pluck the grass, putting it in his mouth and chewing and swallowing it like a madman. It was just as he was about to pull out another root and put it in his mouth.

“Were you here?”

Yoo Siun flinched at the presence of someone and turned his head. The voice of Manager Nam, who had entered through the greenhouse door as if he had been searching for him for a long time, called out to Yoo Siun with a sense of dejected resentment, as if he had searched everywhere in the mansion except for this spot.

“Ah… yes. You’ve arrived.”

Yoo Siun hurriedly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and swallowed what remained in his mouth. Pretending he hadn’t put anything in his mouth, he aimlessly picked up a hose and began spraying water on a cluster of flowers on the opposite side. Manager Nam, approaching Yoo Siun, recognized the medicinal herb and asked.

“Ah, is this that… medicinal herb called Jeokdan? I heard one root costs tens of millions of won. They say even wild ginseng can’t compare to it.”

He looked at the flowerbed placed in the corner with curious eyes.

“I only grow it because it’s an obligation. I’ve never tried eating it.”

Yoo Siun, who had been standing right in front of it until just now, gave the flowerbed a renewed look as if seeing it for the first time and offered a needless excuse that Manager Nam hadn’t even asked for.

The male-born bloodline of Seongha must cultivate and consume this medicinal herb as a rite of passage into adulthood. The family believed that taking this herb for a long time would qualify one as a person with open spirit eyes and enable them to father sons. His cousins, who held the qualification to produce seeds, had also eaten this herb every day since the age of twenty. On the other hand, Yoo Siun had only cultivated it because it was an obligation and had never touched it.

Until just a moment ago.

Yoo Siun had just eaten that medicinal herb for the first time in his life. He hadn’t just eaten one or two roots; he had put more than five roots in his mouth and chewed and swallowed them. The fishy scent still remained in his mouth. A shuddering, fishy sensation was crawling down his spine.

“By any chance, you haven’t called Eunseong, have you? I made an excuse that the CEO went on a business trip. It seems he finds it awkward to stay alone.”

“Yes.”

“Since yesterday, he’s been going to the academy we looked into before, with security attached. You don’t need to worry. He’s staying strong and doing well.”

“…I see.”

Yoo Siun did not show much reaction to Manager Nam’s words and answered half-heartedly, lost in other thoughts. Manager Nam looked at him wonderingly as he stood there staring intently at only the medicinal herbs.

∞ ∞ ∞

Eunseong, who was turning around after finishing the now-familiar security settings and brushing his chilly shoulders, paused. Something dark appeared on the CCTV screen on the living room wall that showed the area in front of the door. Having only received warnings from Manager Nam several times, Eunseong was startled and froze on the spot when something actually appeared on the screen that had shown nothing since he started living alone.

“…What is it? Who is it?”

While holding his breath and watching the screen, his hand, which had moved to grab the intercom connected directly to Manager Nam, slowly stopped.

It was Yoo Siun.

It had been five days. Upon identifying the dark shadow, a sense of relief that made his knees buckle arose.

He, dressed in a black suit from top to bottom, was standing in front of the penthouse entrance. He didn’t unlock the door and enter, nor did he press the bell.

He became a dark shadow, just standing there silently staring at the door.

Eunseong also watched him through the screen for a long time.

“…”

Even now, again…

If he was going to kick him out of the house, he should have just ignored him and not shown up; yet he had shown up, revealing himself and making Eunseong confused.

From his perspective, it must have been a very flustering situation. Even though he didn’t want to understand, Eunseong could read the bewilderment and troubled heart of the man standing blankly in the screen.

His first cousin once removed had confessed to liking him. Not just a simple fondness, but with sexual feelings. He liked him so much that he even dreamed of him while sleeping.

Even after coming all the way here, he stood there silently, unable to do this or that. It might only be a sense of responsibility rather than the same feelings of love, but regardless, his heart that worried for him was sincere from beginning to end.

Eunseong sighed and deactivated the security. With weak steps, he trudged across the living room toward the foyer, his slippers making a thumping sound. After hesitating for a moment in front of the entrance, he swung the door open.

Yoo Siun looked up as if surprised by the sudden opening of the door. Their eyes met. Eunseong pouted sullenly. Without looking at him, he fixed his gaze somewhere near his feet and asked.

“I guess you’re back from your business trip? I don’t know if you actually went or not, though.”

“…”

“…What is it?”

“…”

“I’m asking why you came. Did you come to check on how I am after kicking me out?”

“…”

“If you were going to be this concerned, you shouldn’t have kicked me out.”

Since there was no reply even though he was snapping at him, Eunseong lifted his eyes, which had been protesting by looking away. Their eyes met. Yoo Siun, who had always treated him with a physical distance of more than two meters, was now standing a step or two away. It was a distance he was wary of—where, if he moved just a little closer, he could feel his body heat and smell his scent.

Because Yoo Siun was standing much closer than expected, Eunseong was the one who was flustered instead. Eunseong had nowhere further to retreat. He looked at him while holding the doorknob.

“I’m asking why you came.”

“I thought you were sleeping.”

He, who had been silent, replied coldly after a long while. The soft bass resonated in the quiet space where no one else was. At his pointless remark, Eunseong puckered his lips.

“I was just about to sleep.”

“The move…, did it go well?”

“It’s been several days since I moved. You’re asking that now?”

“…”

“It didn’t go well. I just shoved everything in randomly.”

“Do you like the house?”