The Unbelievers Chapter 62

“So you left home after taking the Suneung? The owner was wondering if you’d run away from home. He said you asked to be paid in cash, not through a bank account.”

There was one more part-timer at the motel who worked in two shifts. He was a college student with a friendly impression, thin and very tall, who was four years older than Eunseong.

The man, who introduced himself as Kim Dongjun, said he had been working here for over a year because he needed a job that provided room and board, just like Eunseong. Before that, he had been the general manager of a gosiwon, but the pay was too low and his health had deteriorated significantly because he ate nothing but ramen and kimchi every day; so he quit, and now he tried to avoid processed foods as much as possible and made sure to take nutritional supplements.

Saying that night shifts were the best way to ruin one’s health, he told Eunseong not to plan on working in a place like this for long, and not to get so used to it that he became soaked in the lifestyle. He gave him advice that would become his blood and flesh, saying that even if it was hard, he shouldn’t give up on school and should graduate to get a good job.

Even when he had first left home, and even when he had changed clothes at the subway station and walked among the crowds like a wanted man, Eunseong hadn’t felt a sense of reality; but the words of Kim Dongjun, who had lived a few more years of life, sparked a new sense of vigilance.

Having hurriedly escaped Yoo Siun’s shadow, Eunseong now had to hack his way through life alone somehow. According to Kim Dongjun, he had to go to school, graduate, date, travel abroad, build his resume, get certifications, buy a car, prepare a house, and prepare for retirement—there was a mountain of things to do.

Seeing Eunseong looking somewhat dazed, Kim Dongjun thought he might have scared him too much, so he brightened his expression and changed the atmosphere.

“It’s okay. If you save money diligently and live frugally—though, don’t skimp on money for your experiences. Same goes for academy fees. Don’t save money on those things.”

“Hyung, then do you work here during the day and go to night college at night?”

“Yeah, I’ve already gotten two certifications this year alone. It’s no ordinary task preparing for living expenses and tuition, but I’m trying to do it while I still have some stamina. By the way, do you have a driver’s license?”

“I don’t.”

“Then get your driver’s license first. If you have a license, you can do delivery work or be a designated driver. If you have a license, there’s a lot you can do when you have spare time. You could say it has the best cost-effectiveness. Errand part-times are quite lucrative.”

Watching Kim Dongjun give practical advice, Eunseong vowed to live diligently. He needed to escape from the unrealistic nonsense of being a chaebol, an heir, or a legitimate line, and live reality—the life of the present—and pull himself together; this was the true life that people his age were living.

“Want hyung to teach you how to drive?”

“You told me not to skimp on academy fees.”

“Getting a driver’s license at an academy is the stupidest thing. It was hard back when it was manual, but now everything is automatic so it’s incredibly easy. I have the book I used, so I’ll just give it to you. Prepare for the written test first, and let’s practice driving together later.”

Kim Dongjun, who had said it was hard because the people kept changing, seemed to be trying to treat him well, perhaps because he hoped his successor wouldn’t change. He kept suggesting they do this together or that together, and repeatedly checked if Eunseong needed help. He seemed like a person with much to learn from.

He also had many questions. Which high school did you go to? Did you have many friends? Did you have a girlfriend? When do you plan on going to college? And so on.

“I didn’t have a girlfriend, but there was someone I liked.”

“Oh? An ongoing crush?”

“Well, something like that. Though it’s all over now.”

Eunseong spoke bitterly, recalling Yoo Siun who had said he would be human trash if he did such a thing.

“If a kid who looks like you fails at a crush, how is someone like me supposed to live? Won’t I remain a virgin forever?”

Except for the fact that he talked a lot, Kim Dongjun was a similar type to Manager Nam, and Eunseong found himself wondering for no reason how tiring it would have been if Manager Nam had been this talkative. Kim Dongjun’s excessive kindness and interest felt a little overwhelming.

“I’ll tell you everything later, but refer to this.”

Kim Dongjun proudly held something out.

He had a self-made, laminated manual so that there would be no problems even if someone watched the counter alone. He said that if he had a manual, he could step away even when he had to call in a substitute due to a sudden event.

It was a manual that included detailed instructions on small things like how to open, how to close, how to clean the motel rooms, the inventory list and storage locations, when to call the police, how to handle difficult customers, how to calculate payments, and how to check reservations.

“I’ve organized it in alphabetical order, so just approach it with common sense. If there’s a problem with the stairs, you’d go to ‘S,’ right? For example, if it’s the trash can, you’d go to ‘T’.”

“Ah, I see what you mean. It’s great that I can just look this up and won’t have to keep asking you, hyung. How did you think of making all of this?”

He was an experienced part-timer himself, but he had never seen someone as meticulous as Kim Dongjun.

“Actually, I made it because the night part-timers changed so often and it was annoying to keep being asked the same things. Do you know what’s really funny? They ask even though it’s all written here. The same thing every time. Then I don’t teach them. I tell them to go to ‘T’ or go to ‘S.’ But there are guys who still don’t look. There are humans who don’t have a single thought of looking things up for themselves. You’re not one of those kids, right?”

Kim Dongjun shook his head as if he were sick of it. Then, he glanced at Eunseong with a suspicious look that seemed to say, You aren’t that kind of nuisance, right?

“I’ll only ask when I really don’t know. And only in emergencies.”

“You can ask at first. But if you ask the same thing twice, I’ll start getting annoyed from then on. I’m a person for whom time is money.”

“Hyung, you’re really similar to someone I know.”

Kim Dongjun asked back who it was, but Eunseong glossed over it. Manager Nam was like a secretary who took care of every aspect of his life. He couldn’t say that he had a secretary until just a few days ago. He felt that if he said his true identity was actually the heir to a chaebol family, Kim Dongjun would think he was a mental patient.

Manager Nam’s position must have become awkward due to Eunseong’s running away. However, this time, even Yoo Siun wouldn’t be able to blame Manager Nam for not doing his job properly. The cause of all this lay with Yoo Siun. It was as good as being something Yoo Siun had caused.

He said he couldn’t do a “trashy” thing. Eunseong didn’t think it was a trashy thing. He knew it shouldn’t be, but he had simply come to like him anyway. He hadn’t been greedy for his wealth or power, nor had he recklessly abused the weakness of the man who was exceptionally generous only to him.

He had just come to like someone. As his feelings of liking grew, he had just wanted to be together and see him.

Eunseong felt like he was a fool. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have taken some money, or anything else.

He should have taken his valuable watch, high-priced jewelry, or items bought by swiping the card he gave him, and diligently sold them off on a used-goods site. At the very least, he should have stuffed his bag with the fruits that cost tens of thousands of won each which had filled the refrigerator.

“Sigh.”

“What’s with the sudden sigh? The work isn’t that hard. Look at this. If you look at this…”

Eunseong nodded half-heartedly, letting the words of Kim Dongjun—who was trying to teach him one more thing—go in through one ear and out the other. His mind was filled only with thoughts of Yoo Siun.

Between hating him, missing him, and grumbling to the empty air that he wanted to see him, Eunseong had had no room to think about running away while he was studying for the Suneung. No, he hadn’t even had the mind to run away.

Eunseong was at the point where he wanted to grab passersby and ask them: was he in the wrong for confessing, or was that man in the wrong for replying to that confession by saying he couldn’t do a trashy thing? Having heard such words, how could he not leave the house? How many spineless humans would there be in this world who could stay still after hearing those words?

Vaguely, Yoo Siun might have expected this result. Therefore, he couldn’t blame Manager Nam. He couldn’t criticize it as Manager Nam’s fault.

The one who made things like this—and Yoo Siun himself probably thought the same as Eunseong—was entirely to blame. In that way, Eunseong shed the feeling of being sorry toward Manager Nam. For Eunseong, who had made plans for independence at a young age, life was finally proceeding according to his life plan.

While Kim Dongjun continued to say something beside him, Eunseong let it slip through one ear while picturing Yoo Siun in his head.

“Hyung, I have a favor to ask. I’m not asking for it for free. I’ll give you a service fee.”

“I do have a bit of a victim mentality because I’ve been screwed over so much, but I’m not that much of a calculating person.”

When Eunseong mentioned a service fee because he couldn’t ask a favor for free from a person who emphasized that time was money, Kim Dongjun suddenly got angry.

“It’s not that, I’m asking for a favor similar to the errand part-time you do, hyung.”

“I’ll just do it for you. We just met not too long ago, and you’re talking about errand part-times.”

Saying that he was precise with his calculations, not stingy, he said he couldn’t take money and run errands for Eunseong, who hadn’t been in Seoul for very long.

“What is it?”

“I left a bag in a subway restroom. You just have to bring that to me.”