The Unbelievers Chapter 61

“I told him that he was making me into human trash.”

“…Sigh, Representative.”

Ultimately, the worst-case scenario had become a reality. Manager Nam had expected that he would have hurt Eunseong, but this was simply too much.

A resentment and a sigh leaked out of Manager Nam’s mouth without restraint—the thought that while he could have said anything else, he should have never, ever said that.

“Did I make a mistake?”

“He’s only nineteen now. How could you give him such a wound? There are plenty of other things to say, like let’s talk later, or I’ll think about it, or let’s talk again once you graduate from college. No, why did you have to say something like that?”

Manager Nam felt like his insides were bursting because of Yoo Siun, wondering if he really had to go that far.

If Eunseong was that being from the prophecy, Yoo Siun would be entitled to become the master of the family by possessing him. However, putting aside all other reasons, an adult who knows how to be considerate of others should never have said such a thing to a nineteen-year-old suffering through his first love. It was an act that should not have been done.

“If I do something like that, wouldn’t I be human trash?”

Manager Nam wanted to ask back what on earth he was imagining doing with a child.

“How is that being human trash? In just one month, Eunseong will be an adult.”

“In just one month, I will be thirty-four.”

“That isn’t even that much of an age gap. Why are you self-deprecating to that extent? It’s not like you’re actually blood-related, either.”

“Are you saying it’s fine just because the age difference is reasonable and we aren’t blood-related?”

“…Representative.”

“Then is it okay to see him? Is it okay to like him?”

His eyes, which had been wandering out the car window, were now directed toward the rearview mirror. When Manager Nam’s eyes met his, his heart sank.

“In my head, I know it’s not allowed, and I know it’s something that shouldn’t be done, but even so, if you say it’s possible, is it normal for me to want to keep Eunseong by my side?”

It meant that no matter what kind of confession Eunseong made, his answer would remain the same. He was saying that he would reject him somehow, and that he would rather hurt Eunseong and make the boy hate him. He was rejecting the idea, believing that the feeling of liking him was a problem in itself.

“Why do you have to think only in that way? Didn’t you say yourself, Representative, that the ‘Great Rift’ and the ‘God who came through the Side Path’ are all nonsensical prophecies? You said Eunseong didn’t resonate with you, either.”

Manager Nam argued that if that wasn’t the case, what could possibly be the problem with them liking each other?

“…I thought so, too. That it was nonsense, that it was something that couldn’t happen.”

Yoo Siun muttered feebly.

“That’s exactly what I mean. I’ve even seen Mr. Eunseong with his shirt off before, and there was no mark at all. Moreover, it’s not resonance; isn’t this truly just him having a one-sided crush on you, Representative?”

It was said that the ‘Great Rift’ had a mark on the body. Manager Nam, who had managed Eunseong’s overall life since early summer, had not found even a small scar on that body. That wasn’t all. He had heard that the being would experience a resonance, where only the instinct to mate remains, with those ‘whose spiritual eyes are open.’

Yoo Siun was one of those whose spiritual eyes were open. He possessed the qualifications of a breeder and was of the Seongha bloodline. However, to anyone watching, Eunseong liked Yoo Siun; he didn’t have sexual desire for him. Yoo Siun had also said that resonance was impossible.

“There is… a way to confirm that Eunseong is that being.”

“What do you mean by that? Did you… confirm it? How did you confirm it when you wouldn’t even try to go near Mr. Eunseong?”

Manager Nam’s voice stiffened with tension.

“If you consume Red Cinnabar, you give off the scent of an aphrodisiac… and the being from the prophecy reacts only to a breeder. That is when the appearance of resonance truly manifests.”

“But, Representative, you don’t take that herb.”

After saying that much, Manager Nam looked back at him through the rearview mirror, wondering ‘no way.’ Yoo Siun’s face had become miserable.

“I have taken it and visited him before.”

“…”

“…I wanted to check. Whether it was Eunseong or not, hoping it wasn’t, praying that it please wasn’t, because then it would be okay—praying and praying that if he wasn’t that being, it would be okay to keep him by my side.”

Yoo Siun wiped his face roughly with his dry hands as he continued speaking intermittently.

“…Did Mr. Eunseong show signs of resonance?”

At Manager Nam’s question, Yoo Siun only gave a short nod.

“If I had taken the Red Cinnabar even once, I would have known immediately. Those with open spiritual eyes can tell just by looking. That’s… something the humans of this family know by instinct. That he is a being capable of conceiving my child.”

Yoo Siun was thinking a terrible thought. If one was of the family bloodline, there was no way they wouldn’t know Eunseong was the being from the prophecy, and the same went for Seo Jeonggi.

Why did he beat that pretty child so much?

Why did he live in hiding and drink like that?

At first, he couldn’t understand him, but now he felt he vaguely knew.

It wasn’t out of clumsy resentment or venting anger because he had to give up an affluent life. He was afraid of going into heat for Eunseong. The family killed the woman he loved. Because of the son that woman had with someone else, and because he had accidentally biological revealed to someone in the Elders’ Council that the son possessed the mark.

Seo Jeonggi’s hasty actions had driven Eunseong’s biological father and mother to their deaths, and he feared the fate that the child of the woman he loved would face.

Seo Jeonggi had to take the child, run away from the family, and live in hiding. He tried to atone for the guilt of killing the child’s parents with that. Knowing of the existence from the prophecy, he also knew what he would gain if Eunseong conceived his child. He could have returned to the family. He could have taken over not only the Seongha Group but the world beyond it.

That was why, whenever a foul desire—inferior to a beast—to make Eunseong bear a child arose, he had acted out like a madman to avoid doing something insane.

Yoo Siun was afraid that Manager Nam would know the foulness inside his head. Even as he crushed it with reason, saying it wasn’t so, the instinct to do something to Eunseong was writhing rebelliously at the base of his dirty desire. Whenever he felt sexual tension with Eunseong, he turned away and pretended not to notice, and if it felt like he might get an erection, he pushed himself into physical training and feigned ignorance somehow.

Then Yoo Siun wanted to ask Eunseong what on earth he was supposed to have done.

Should he have held him and kissed him then? Should he have taken off his clothes in front of that cheeky nineteen-year-old who said he wanted to see his naked body?

He hadn’t imagined such a thing even while bringing Eunseong here. Yoo Siun was a man whose patience had been tempered, and he was confident he wouldn’t be consumed by such instincts. No, that was natural for him.

He had plans and ambitions to not hand Eunseong over as a victim to those who roamed with bloodshot eyes searching for a target to bear their seed, and to one day take over this filthy cultist group solely through power and strategy.

But he never dreamed that he would be attracted to Eunseong as a human being beyond resonance—that he would end up making the kind of exclamations his friend did as naturally as breathing while looking at Eunseong. He never dreamed that because he was so pretty, so very pretty, he would keep wanting to see him, keep wanting to touch him—that he, of all people, would become like that.

Taking Eunseong into his heart and desiring that being were things that were not in his plan.

Yoo Siun gripped the bridge of his nose with his hand in despair. He pressed hard on his throbbing temples with his hand.

Manager Nam tried to stay calm. At any rate, the incident had happened, and it had to be handled.

“Where would you like to go first? Should I try contacting that friend? No, how about we just lie in wait around there?”

“He would have cut off contact with them. Because he would have prepared for this ever since he heard my rejection.”

A sense of self-loathing, for having ultimately said such cruel words and making Eunseong leave on his own, seethed disturbingly on his face.

“You still have the cloned phone, right?”

“I have it.”

“Where is it, did you leave it at the office? I’ll go and get it. Let’s check that first. To see what on earth Mr. Eunseong was plotting.”

“No. I’ll check that myself. Manager, you check the CCTV of Eunseong’s last movements first.”

Recalling the records Eunseong had searched, Yoo Siun replied that he would do it himself.

“If we stay like this and he happens to be discovered by the other side… the possibility is low, but just in case.”

Manager Nam seemed worried about Eunseong. Having seen him almost every day, they had built up a lot of affection through their ups and downs.

If Chairman Yoo’s son or other blood relatives found out about the being from the prophecy, there would be nothing more terrible in this world. They would try to make him pregnant by any means or methods necessary. Yoo Siun imagined a scene of Eunseong being raped endlessly by men and shook his head violently. His chest felt cold. It was a blood-drying tension he hadn’t felt in years.

“We need to mobilize people. Deploy every available person around that area.”

“Moving on a large scale will draw attention. Everyone is frantic to find the being from the prophecy; what will you do if they notice?”

“Throw Executive Director Kwon out as bait.”

“Executive Director Kwon is one of our few allies. If we do this, all the executives who could have turned to our side will start playing it safe. If we collect just a little more shares, we can call a general shareholders’ meeting soon, can’t we? We’ve also gathered a good amount of information on the group’s corruption and tax evasion.”

Manager Nam tried to stop him, saying the damage was too great. Yoo Siun had already made up his mind. No matter what loss he suffered, even if a problem arose for himself, protecting Eunseong was the priority.

“Proceed with it right now.”

“…Understood.”