The Unbelievers Chapter 6

Tears that had been pooling hung pitifully around the corners of his eyes as Choi Jungeon lifted the chin of the wary Eunseong and added those words while staring intently. Eunseong pushed Choi Jungeon’s chest hard with both hands. Having approached so close, the other boy sat back in an awkward, faltering posture.

“When did I ever ask for a favor like that? I’m leaving home anyway. Once I save enough money, I’m getting out of that house.”

“What?”

“If I save just a little bit more… I can leave home.”

“Leave home? You’re running away?”

Choi Jungeon’s face contorted. It was an unpleasant expression, as if he had heard something completely unexpected.

“Ha, fuck. So that’s why you worked like you were possessed by a ghost that died from not being able to work part-time. This kid is making me lose it again.”

It was a completely unexpected reaction. It felt as if Choi Jungeon’s eyeballs had just rolled around with a literal rattling sound.

“Bring all the money you’ve saved to leave home by tomorrow.”

“What?”

“You know what happens if you don’t, right? Our Eunseong must have saved quite a bit since he worked so hard at those part-time jobs. You’re always dozing off at school because of work.”

“Why, why are you asking for that? Choi Jungeon, your family is rich!”

“You said you’re going to run away with that money. I’ll keep it safe and give it back to you later. So bring it.”

“I won’t run away. I won’t run away, okay?”

“Fuck, you said you’re leaving home.”

“I just said anything because you kept talking nonsense. It was a slip of the tongue.”

“Bring the money while I’m being nice. If you don’t, I really can’t guarantee anything then.”

He didn’t know what it was that he couldn’t guarantee, but the tone of voice was by no means warning of anything good.

Eunseong grabbed the hem of Choi Jungeon’s clothes. Gripping the school uniform shirt tightly, he lifted his tear-filled eyes toward Choi Jungeon.

“Wow, fuck. He’s using a honey trap on me. Wow, wow, fuck, I’m wavering. I’m wavering. Wow, this actually works. I’m really wavering.”

Choi Jungeon, meeting Eunseong’s eyes, placed a hand over his left chest as if his heart were truly thumping and loudly mimicked a fluttering tremble.

“Bring the money. While I’m being nice.”

“Not that money. That’s money I’m saving to go to college.”

“What college for a bastard who doesn’t even study. You’re telling lies and using honey traps because you’re desperate, at this rate our Eunseong will even give me a kiss. Huh?”

You shouldn’t provoke guys like this. You have to lie flat as if you were dead, following orders to confirm who is at the top of the hierarchy and cower abjectly until the very end; only then can you avoid the last couple of hits that you don’t necessarily need to take.

“Alright. I’ll do as you say. So, so just don’t tell me to bring the money.”

“What are you going to do as I say? You say you’ll do everything I tell you to without even knowing what I’ll make you do. Our Eunseong is so fearless.”

“…I’ll do, I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Then there are so many things I’ve wanted to do with you. Now I can do them all.”

“…”

Choi Jungeon gave an innocent-looking laugh that seemed devoid of malice. It was the moment another reason to leave home quickly was created.

After school, Eunseong slipped out through the back gate to avoid Choi Jungeon. The back gate took twenty minutes longer to get home than the front gate, so he almost never went this way. Like a person being chased, he held the bag straps tight with both hands and walked while glancing around. Only after Eunseong had completely moved away from the school area did he release the strength in the hands that were gripping the bag straps.

“Choi Jungeon, you crazy son of a bitch.”

He spat out the curse he couldn’t say in front of Choi Jungeon, but an adult man passing by stared at him, so he lowered his head and hurried past.

“Who the hell said they want to live with a thing like you.”

Recalling the demand Choi Jungeon had made in the gym made his stomach turn and nausea rise.

[When we go to college, let’s move out together. I’ll pay for everything. You just have to bring yourself.]

As soon as Choi Jungeon finished whispering that kind of talk right up against him, Eunseong had shoved his chest hard.

[Who would live with a bastard like you! Are you crazy?]

Choi Jungeon, who had tumbled onto the gym floor, glared reproachfully at Eunseong as he shouted in horror. Before he could even shout for his friends to catch the guy, Eunseong ran for his life. He escaped the gym and sat on an empty chair in the staff room, enduring the teacher’s scolding about what he was doing here until lunch ended.

When returning to the classroom, he followed behind a teacher preparing for the next class. When class ended, he followed the teacher to the staff room, claiming he had questions he wasn’t even curious about, bothering them through the entire break. He kept that up until school was over and was currently in the middle of fleeing the school before Choi Jungeon could leave his own classroom.

“He wouldn’t follow me all the way home… He seemed normal in the past, so why did he suddenly become like that?”

He avoided him today, but tomorrow was not guaranteed. He couldn’t spend the entire time until graduation avoiding Choi Jungeon.

He had to graduate from school. If he didn’t even have a high school diploma, his life would be set on a path to the bottom. He wouldn’t be able to get a decent, normal job, and he’d end up drifting from one daily labor job to another, eventually drinking because he’d hate his own helplessness before the world, just like his father. Drinking out of self-loathing, and not stopping there but tormenting the people around him—that was the worst future Eunseong could imagine.

Becoming like his father.

“Life really is like shit.”

Is it only me who is this shitty?

But no matter how much he thought about it, there was a limit to avoiding Choi Jungeon. That guy was a lunatic who hung out with thugs and beat people nearly to death without a thought. Curious about what happened to the man in the video, he searched the neighborhood name along with words like murder, death, accident, and dying on his phone, but nothing came up.

Choi Jungeon had gotten revenge for him, but far from being happy, it only made his skin crawl. He shuddered when he recalled the face that looked at him proudly, sincerely asking for praise.

“Crazy bastard.”

Eunseong muttered curses the whole way home. Since he was the son of a fairly well-off family in this neighborhood, even though he played around like a low-life, he didn’t neglect his studies, so his grades were always in the top tier. Since he was only ignorantly strong, he considered it “playing around” in his own way, but in reality, it was just bullying kids.

However, he had never done such a thing to him until now. But the attitude with which he treated him was gradually changing. Even so, there was a limit to punishing Choi Jungeon.

Because he was good at studying and acted like a good student in front of the teachers, Choi Jungeon had never been punished even if he acted up at school.

Surely he wouldn’t really follow me to the house? Anyway, since he’s a guy who studies well, he has to go to an academy, so he shouldn’t have enough spare time to come and retaliate right away. Then what do I do tomorrow? Should I just quit school when I leave the house? It’s not like a high school diploma is absolutely necessary. There’s the GED system too. Right, let’s not be obsessed with school.

“Sigh.”

Eunseong let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground.

Why is nothing working out? The misfortune I meet in life is enough with just my father—no, I’m already dying of hardship just from my father.

It was a relief that his mother wasn’t around. Eunseong had heard that his mother passed away shortly after he was born. His father never even gave him details. There was only one wedding photo, and even that was not whole. His father, for whatever reason he found it eyesore, had torn the photo in half, leaving only the image of his mother in a pure white wedding dress and removing his own image.

The mother in the photo was smiling serenely. She was a beauty like no other in the world. To Eunseong, that half-photo was nothing less than a treasure.

Anyway, thinking it was a relief that his mother had passed away without seeing all this mess, Eunseong was trudging toward his home when he spotted Choi Jungeon standing in front of the gate and stopped in his tracks.

Rather than being surprised, he felt so hollow that the strength left his body.

“…Sigh. Fuck, seriously.”

A heavy sigh escaped him.

He had even resolved to quit school because of him, but seeing Choi Jungeon’s face, he wondered what the point of all his worrying had been.

“You’re coming now? I’ve been waiting a long time. Know that you’re dead if I’m late for the academy because of you.”

Choi Jungeon had already spotted Eunseong standing in the distance and made a leisurely gesture with his hand, telling him to hurry over since he’d confirmed who it was.

Eunseong, who had sighed and reflexively turned around as if to flee, froze. At the end of the alley, Choi Jungeon’s crew was blocking the path, waving and greeting him.

“Tiresome bastard, he’s really doing all sorts of things.”

Eunseong muttered a curse to himself. From far away, Choi Jungeon gestured again.

“Don’t curse and come here quickly, just. Don’t be a nuisance.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Huh? What? I can’t hear you. Would you like to come closer and tell me?”

“I said, are you crazy! You fucker.”

“Are you crazy, you fucker? What did our Eunseong just say? I think I misheard. Did I hear that correctly?”

“Just go before I report you to the police. You’re the one being a nuisance. You lunatic moron.”

Standing a distance apart, Choi Jungeon and Eunseong hurled shouts at each other.

“Do whatever you want about that and just come here quickly. Hurry up and run over to the lunatic moron. While I’m being nice.”

Choi Jungeon, with an expression of real annoyance, made a dismissive gesture for him to report to his feet immediately. Since it didn’t look like he would just leave, Eunseong hesitated, unable to move forward, merely shuffling his feet.