The Unbelievers Chapter 67

The presence of Eunseong—whose whereabouts were unknown and whose very survival was uncertain—overwhelmed him to the point of suffocation. Even though such a cruel and vivid threat was closing in on Eunseong, Yoo Siun had behaved like a fool who knew nothing. He had only thought of sending the boy far away to a place out of sight, a place beyond reach. It was as if no danger was lurking nearby at all.

Yoo Siun harshly poured out words of self-curse.

His pace quickened as he left the mortuary and walked toward the car. Manager Nam practically ran to keep up with him.

“What happened?”

He asked, urgently chasing after Yoo Siun. The tension buried in his voice signaled how great a crisis the current situation was for Yoo Siun.

Yoo Siun stopped dead in front of the car. The hand he had extended to open the car door faltered.

Despite already knowing everything, the heart that did not want to admit it prevented him from opening his mouth hastily. It was an anxiety that the moment he spoke aloud the fact that Eunseong was in danger, it would become an immediate reality and end up hurting the boy. His fingernails compulsively scratched at his hands, trying to tear at the hangnails on his fingertips.

Yoo Siun opened the car door and looked back at Manager Nam. The eyes that were struggling to remain calm turned cold.

“They must have called me all the way here on purpose.”

“Representative, those words… do you mean the monk betrayed us?”

“No. Master Manpo has no reason to make an enemy of me. That side got caught, and so I got caught too.”

“Is it Chairman Yoo’s side?”

“It’s Seongha Construction, so it must be Yoo Oh-seon. They wouldn’t want Chairman Yoo to know either. No, they’ll definitely want to avoid getting caught at all costs. Just like me.”

Manager Nam’s face froze pale. It was a mixture of guilt and bewilderment that his carelessness had exposed Eunseong to danger.

“If we use any more people, Chairman Yoo and Yoo Oh-seon will both notice. What should we do?”

Manager Nam asked, unable to hide his agitation. Either way, it was a dilemma.

“You said Eunseong didn’t come to pick up the bag, right?”

“I am sorry. I think I judged incorrectly. I believed he would definitely come for it. If something has already happened…”

At Yoo Siun’s abrupt question, Manager Nam trailed off. He was a man who had never been questioned by Yoo Siun regarding his handling of work until now, but in matters related to Eunseong, he had to bow his head every time. This incident in particular was a fatal mistake. Yoo Siun did not blame him.

“He noticed that people were attached to it. He’ll be in that vicinity. Put out a search notice for the surrounding area so he doesn’t enter the main office district.”

“No. That is too dangerous. Are you saying you will expose Mr. Eunseong’s face?”

“The other side will never imagine that I would expose his face either.”

“…”

“Because it’s a crazy thing to do.”

“Representative.”

“Put out the notice.”

Yoo Siun spoke firmly to Manager Nam, who was trying to dissuade him, as he climbed into the car.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Phew, you worked hard. Honestly, during the year-end, we’re supposed to hire a short-term part-timer. But our boss, while he’s a good person, is a bit of a cheapskate. It’s a ‘slog through it with your body’ kind of thing. Still, he’s giving out New Year’s money as a bonus for your hard work. The lady in charge of cleaning had the hardest time, though.”

“I really wonder if the animal kingdom is like this. It’s like everyone is going crazy because they can’t do that.”

Jesus was born, so why are they so desperate to go on dates? Eunseong still couldn’t understand it.

The motel during the Christmas holidays was literally packed. There were no overnight stays, and only three-hour rentals were possible, but there were so many people that they had to stand in line to wait.

Cleaning up every time someone checked out was no ordinary task. Although there was a separate staff member in charge of cleaning, she couldn’t handle it alone, so Eunseong and Kim Dong-jun had to help. Having changed the sheets so many times, Eunseong had now reached a level where he could swap out messy bedding for fresh ones in just a minute or two.

“That’s how it is. Aren’t you like that too? At your prime age.”

Kim Dong-jun chuckled and stole a glance at Eunseong.

“I don’t think I’m quite at that level. I don’t even feel like doing it.”

“I don’t have any thoughts in that direction either when I’m pressed for money. I’d think you’d be popular with the girls, no? Ah, are you still too young?”

He scratched the back of his neck as if talking about such things was embarrassing.

Perhaps if he had felt a healthy attraction to women, life might not have been this exhausting. Because he liked someone he shouldn’t, Eunseong had to choose the path of a difficult life.

Unlike Kim Dong-jun, who said he didn’t feel like it at all when he was short on cash or busy with work, Eunseong was currently thinking a lot about Yoo Siun as he watched the people who seemed desperate for sex. It wasn’t a strange sexual desire, but a sentiment that arose from facing affectionate couples all day long who clung to each other and wouldn’t let go. Eunseong shook his head.

“I’ll be right back after I eat dinner.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on things, so go eat and rest a bit.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

Since it was such a busy period, they couldn’t even swap shifts; they had decided to help each other during peak times, which meant they had to work for nearly twenty hours. They said this would decrease after the year-end, and in the New Year, there would be no guests, making it so quiet it would be hard to remember how busy they had been.

It’s already been nearly a month since he started working. He had become accustomed to the motel duties and the difficult daily routine. Before going to the restaurant, he stopped by a convenience store to buy chocolate for a sugar boost when things got tough. When it was busy, there wasn’t even a moment to eat.

The snowflakes that had been falling lightly since Christmas Eve continued to flutter until the afternoon of Christmas Day itself. The dust-like flakes couldn’t accumulate and only made the roads slushy.

Standing among the people moving busily toward their respective destinations, Eunseong looked up at the gray sky for a long time. He lowered his head lonely and hurried his steps. It was a relief, if one could call it that, that he wasn’t even allowed the time to indulge in idle sentiment.

“Is Eunseong here? There’s a lot of guests, right? It’s because it’s the peak season. Come on in quickly. It’s cold.”

The restaurant owner, with whom he was now on familiar terms, welcomed Eunseong. He didn’t know what Kim Dong-jun had said, but to the people at the restaurant, Eunseong had become a person with a complicated story—one who met the wrong parents and was being chased by loan sharks, yet was struggling to live hard on his own.

Eunseong didn’t tell Kim Dong-jun that the restaurant owner fried eggs just for him.

“I guess it’s going to get colder starting tomorrow. It’s turned chilly now that it’s evening.”

“I know. They say it’ll snow more tomorrow. It’s snowing quite a lot this winter. Someone like me can’t even go out to see it.”

Eunseong deliberately sat in a secluded spot. The restaurant owner soon brought over a set meal on a tray. A fried egg was included.

“I’m giving this only to you. Don’t tell Dong-jun.”

“Can’t you make one for hyung too?”

“That guy is the type to complain about soft-boiled or hard-boiled if I make him one. He makes a fuss if I do it, and a fuss if I don’t. He doesn’t even know he’s kicking away his own luck.”

He liked the set meal because it felt like a home-cooked meal. He felt that if his mother were to cook for him, it would be like this.

The restaurant owner sat down facing the table where Eunseong was sitting. She rested her chin on her hand and watched Eunseong eat his dinner with an admiring gaze.

Young Eunseong was treated as a pitiable yet simultaneously admirable presence wherever he went. The restaurant owner often compared her idle son, who was over thirty and just played games at home without getting a job, to Eunseong while lamenting her situation. She said she wouldn’t even mind if he didn’t get a proper job, as long as he came out to the shop to help.

“If I had a daughter, I’d want to make you my son-in-law. Our Eunseong. Have you heard people say you’re handsome wherever you go? Right?”

“No. I’m just ordinary.”

“Ordinary! My goodness, you’ve killed all the ordinary people. Someone’s going to get angry if they hear that, angry.”

While Eunseong smiled awkwardly, a customer soaked in the cold snap entered, and she stood up, pushing off her knees with a groan.

After finishing the meal, he cleared the used dishes, put them on the tray, and took them to the kitchen. The restaurant owner, who never rested for a single day, had bad legs; she bent one knee slightly and moved with busy, short steps.

If his mother were alive, would she feel like that?

Fortunately, he had a half-sized photo of his mother packed separately. If he had left the photo in the bag, he would have definitely gone to retrieve the bag even at the risk of danger because of it.

Looking at the restaurant boss made Eunseong think of his mother. His mother didn’t look like the boss at all, but he just felt that way. He had brought his mother’s photo, but he hadn’t managed to take his father’s. He hadn’t even thought of taking it, and he wasn’t particularly sorry about it.

Every shop was competing to blast carols loudly, and with Christmas trees out in front of every large commercial building, the street’s festive year-end atmosphere was reaching its peak.

The fierce winter chill brushed past his cheeks like a claw. The temperature had dropped below freezing and it was very cold, but the number of pedestrians on the street was increasing even more. Zipping his down jacket up to his neck, he looked up at the dark sky.

The group that had been waiting near the subway station restroom for him to show up to fetch his bag had vanished after about a week.

Eunseong, wearing a black long padding coat, a mask, and a hat pulled down low, tried passing through the crowd at the subway station’s busiest time. Watching their forms from a distance, he checked how far Yoo Siun had come.

Yoo Siun had given up on Eunseong after a week. From his perspective, he might even be grateful to Eunseong for relieving him of a burdensome duty. Confirming that those guarding the restroom area had disappeared and would not reappear, Eunseong felt a certain desolation pierce clearly through his chest.