The Unbelievers Chapter 70

The boss let out a heavy sigh as if making sure someone would hear it. Kim Dongjun was just as surprised by the unexpected words. Eunseong also looked at him in bewilderment.

“I hired you without looking into anything because I was desperate for help with the year-end approaching. Stay only until I find someone else. I won’t ask any questions or hold anything against you. Just don’t cause any trouble and disappear quietly.”

“…If you do this so suddenly, so suddenly.”

“Do you think I made this decision suddenly? Put yourself in my shoes; would you use a part-timer who leaves a bad taste in your mouth like you do? This is a place where accidents and incidents happen all the time anyway. Do you think I installed all these CCTVs for no reason?”

The boss shuddered as if he genuinely loathed things becoming complicated. This meant that aside from losing his job, his place to sleep and eat would vanish immediately. On top of that, his money was gone. There was nowhere he could go in a state that was, quite literally, penniless.

“Boss, it’s my fault. I should have trained Eunseong better. I don’t know if he really lost the money or what happened, but didn’t you say before that his situation seemed pitiful? He probably has nowhere to go right now, so you shouldn’t tell him to quit so suddenly.”

“Dongjun, are you still taking his side even after being framed as a thief? How are you going to live in this harsh world being that soft-hearted? Kids like this need to be scolded severely once to snap out of it. How dare he jump at people with his eyes wide open like that.”

“Eunseong, apologize to the boss. Quickly.”

“…”

“Hurry!”

Kim Dongjun urged Eunseong as if an adult were sternly rebuking a child. Eunseong was biting his lip hard.

He felt wronged, indignant, and angry; his situation of being stuck with nowhere to go was depressing, and he also felt a sense of resentment toward his own foolish self. Various emotions swallowed Eunseong in an instant.

If he had stayed quietly at home, he would have left Korea before winter passed and started a training program in England by now, where the London Eye would be visible. From beggar to prince, from prince to beggar—and now he had fallen into a state even worse than that beggar. It was all a situation Eunseong had brought upon himself.

“…I am sorry.”

Eunseong apologized helplessly.

“Sorry or whatever, just quit. I hate it when things get headache-inducing. Post the part-time job ad and clear this kid out quickly.”

“Boss, don’t be like that and please give him one more chance. It’s because he doesn’t know any better. He won’t do it ever again.”

“What do you mean he won’t do it again? There are people who never cause a problem, but there’s no such thing as a guy who only causes a problem once. Do you think I’ve been running this business for only a day or two?”

The boss said he truly hated it and seemed to have no intention of listening no matter what Kim Dongjun said.

“Then I will take responsibility.”

“What?”

“If a problem occurs because of Eunseong, I will take responsibility. I will take responsibility and train him well.”

Kim Dongjun, who Eunseong thought would never take his side and would only push him further, pleaded with the boss instead.

Eunseong looked at him suspiciously. For a very brief moment, the assumption that he might not have stolen the money surfaced, but it vanished quickly. There was no one else to take it but him, and based on his attitude so far, he must have been the one to take it.

“Oh, Dongjun. What are we going to do with you being so kind? Why would you take responsibility?”

“He says he has no money, so how can we kick him out in the middle of winter? He probably has nowhere to go.”

“Am I some kind of philanthropist? Am I supposed to take in everyone with no place to go?”

While his words were blunt, the boss’s attitude had softened to some extent due to Kim Dongjun’s persuasion.

The boss glanced at Eunseong. At first, he thought the boy worked diligently and had a good impression, making him feel he had hired well for the busy season.

Eunseong, with his eyes cast down staring blankly at the floor, had a face lost in thought. The boss spoke in a tone as if he were granting a great favor.

“Alright. I’m doing this because I trust you, Dongjun. You have to make sure this kind of noise doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes, of course, Boss. Thank you.”

“Why are you the one thanking me?”

Kim Dongjun nudged Eunseong’s side. Eunseong reluctantly bowed his head and said thank you.

With an expression that showed he was unwilling but had no choice, the boss left.

Eunseong watched Kim Dongjun warily, finding it hard to guess his true intentions. With a face that expected gratitude, the man put on airs in front of Eunseong.

“You heard the boss earlier, right? If you cause trouble next time, you’ll really be fired, so be careful.”

“…”

“Watch the counter for a moment. I’ll be back soon after I step out.”

Kim Dongjun stood up without even waiting for Eunseong’s answer. It was currently Kim Dongjun’s working hours.

Only then did Eunseong realize the true intent behind why Kim Dongjun took his side. Knowing Eunseong’s situation of having nowhere to go, he intended to use him however he wanted. He also knew that Eunseong could not protest to anyone, and he knew Eunseong was in no position to receive help. He had already calculated that it was a situation where Eunseong could not even quit this job.

As the New Year passed, Eunseong became an adult. Eunseong watched the start of the New Year while sitting at the motel counter, viewing the live broadcast of the bell-tolling ceremony at Jonggak.

Eunseong felt as if he hadn’t just lost his money, but his mind and soul as well. The state of his heart when he had a certain amount of money versus his heart now with nothing was not just a matter of feeling; the situation itself was as different as heaven and the ends of the earth.

Eunseong worked more than twenty hours a day. Fatigue accumulated and mistakes became frequent, and each time, he had to hear bitter words from the boss or Kim Dongjun. Even as his self-esteem dropped to the floor and was trampled upon, he had nowhere to go. Even though he was not receiving fair treatment, he could not protest.

One day, he heard Kim Dongjun talking to his mother on the phone, saying he had settled his tuition. He laughed happily and said reliably that she didn’t need to worry because he had handled it all. Having been talking excitedly, he spotted Eunseong and hurriedly hung up. To Eunseong, who was just staring blankly, he rambled on with excuses in a flustered tone, saying he had received a scholarship.

After the phone call was discovered, the intensity of Kim Dongjun’s badgering and unfair harassment became increasingly severe. He knew better than anyone that Eunseong had nowhere to go and that this job was desperate. He was a human being who knew exactly how to exploit the weak.

“Eunseong, I’m sorry, but can you watch the place starting from three? A plan came up, so I think I have to leave early.”

“…You’re going to do whatever you want anyway.”

“It’s hurtful when you say it like that. Well, if you don’t like it, you can quit. Do you want to quit? I’ll tell the boss for you. We can just find another person.”

“…”

“Eat well. You’ve lost a lot of weight in your face. I’ll count on you, then.”

The only rebellion Eunseong could muster was biting his lip tightly. Having become accustomed to being hit by his father since he was young, he thought nothing more painful than being hit by his father would happen in his life, but the blatant and emotional harassment made Eunseong so mentally exhausted that he felt physical beatings would be better.

The moments of being pampered that he had displayed within the safe and sturdy fence Yoo Siun had built for him flickered through his mind from time to time during his grueling life.

Was that why he had come to like him?

Because he was the first person Eunseong could lean on and rely on, and because he experienced that for the first time, did he fall for him without any resistance?

Back then, he had found Eunseong so easily within just one day of running away, but now he couldn’t find him, and perhaps he no longer had the intention to look. Since Eunseong was the one who left saying he hated it, the man would have no obligation to go out of his way to find and protect him.

Eunseong reminisced about Yoo Siun listlessly. It felt so much like a dream now that his image didn’t even come to mind as clearly as before. It felt as if the time he knew him and the time they spent together were all a lie. It felt like the existence of Yoo Siun itself was just his imagination.

“That Dongjun is someone very precise with his calculations. If he were a kid who caused money problems, he would have been embezzling bit by bit, but there hasn’t been a single problem until now. There’s no way Boss Hwang, who bickers with me even over ten won, would have stayed quiet. They do cash business there too. Are you sure you really lost your money?”

“…”

Eunseong no longer had the energy to speak. He didn’t understand why Kim Dongjun was going this far, but Kim Dongjun had delivered the incident with Eunseong to the restaurant owner—where they ate their meals—in a way that favored himself. Eunseong was gradually realizing over time that he had truly crossed paths with a wicked person.

“How did you come to tell such a lie?”

“…I must have been mistaken.”

Eunseong muttered feebly.

He wished he really had been mistaken. If he had made a mistake and made the man angry, and if Kim Dongjun, having been hit with an absurd false accusation, were justifiably angry out of indignation, he felt his heart wouldn’t be this heavy.

The only point of comfort was that he was at least continuing to work, and if he could just endure until payday, he could move out to a gosiwon.

Eunseong was making plans to quit this place as soon as he received his pay. It would be nice to recover the stolen money and clear the people’s misunderstandings, but he had already given up on that. He had been unable to let go of it, but after giving up, his heart actually felt lighter.