The Unbelievers Chapter 79

“Call Mister and ask him. I’m not lying.”

“I can’t call him for something like that, and I’ll check it later anyway, so just sign for now.”

“I told you I’m not going to study abroad?”

“It’s not study abroad papers; I prepared this because you need a new identity, so sign it.”

“….”

Looking closer, it wasn’t just study abroad papers; there were also documents for applying for a new passport and identification mixed in.

On the documents containing a stranger’s personal information, only the signature line was empty, but instead of Eunseong’s name, it was an unfamiliar name: [Shin Wooyoung].

“Who is Shin Wooyoung?”

“It’s your new name, Mr. Eunseong.”

“… Then who is Lee Doyun?”

Doubt and worry rose together in the eyes staring at Manager Nam.

Lee Doyun was the other identity used when putting out the search in place of Eunseong’s name. Instead of choosing the risk of exposing his face, they had no choice but to change his name. There were many criminals on the wanted list, and it was a task carried out with the vague hope that Seongha would not track down every single wanted person.

“You know that detective who brought me back that day.”

“Team Leader Lee Junseung; that detective is someone who works with us. Did something happen?”

“No. Nothing really happened, but he said something strange to me that day.”

“Something strange? What did he say?”

The area around Manager Nam’s eyes hardened instantly. Eunseong hesitated. It suddenly occurred to him that it might have just been the rough wordplay of a detective dealing with criminals.

“Just… he spoke in a way that made me feel bad.”

“What did he say?”

“Just kind of unkindly….”

He asked if he was on his period. He hadn’t asked it like a joke, but with a blatant expression and a look in his eyes as if he were dealing with something loathsome. While it occasionally happened at school where kids would mischievously tease irritable boys by asking if they were on their period, it was the first time he had heard such a foul remark from an adult to a person he had never met before in a place like that.

That wasn’t the only strange thing. Looking at Eunseong, he said that Eunseong didn’t know who he himself was. He said the grim words that if it were him, he probably would have committed suicide because of Eunseong’s identity.

“What did he say, that detective? That detective is on our side; what did he say to make you act like this?”

Manager Nam questioned Eunseong sharply, which was unlike him.

“That I don’t know who I am.”

“What?”

Eunseong spoke like a riddle, but Manager Nam understood the meaning at once and his forehead hardened. As his expression stiffened, Eunseong misunderstood it as pressure and explained again more clearly.

“I mean he said that I, I don’t know who I am.”

“….”

“Ah, how should I say this? He said I don’t know my own identity. Do you understand what I mean when I say it like this?”

“Did he say that?”

“So I told him that I do know.”

“… You know?”

This time, he was flustered. It was the fluster of wondering how on earth he knew who he was, and exactly who had told him.

Eunseong tilted his head while staring at his strange reaction.

“What do you know? Mr. Eunseong, what do you know?”

“I said I know that I’m the successor to the Seongha Group. I thought he was subtly mocking me, asking why a chaebol successor was working part-time at a motel. But doesn’t it sound a bit strange?”

Eunseong’s brow furrowed in puzzlement, saying that even trying to understand it that way didn’t quite make sense. Then he added:

“He said if he were me… he would have committed suicide.”

Manager Nam’s heart sank. His complexion turned a deathly gray. Seeing Eunseong talking about everything without hiding it, as if taddling, his heart grew heavy as if struck by a boulder. He tried to remain calm. He spoke lightly, as if it were nothing.

“… I see. He works with us, but he has a foul mouth. I’ve heard that among police who only deal with violent crimes, there are some who become that rough. Please understand, Mr. Eunseong. That will never happen again from now on. I will warn him not to act rudely.”

He faintly understood why Yoo Siun had rejected Eunseong so feverishly. Eunseong knew nothing. Eunseong’s existence was close to a sacrifice that would bring about the birth of the Asura they were waiting for. He was a ‘broodmare’ with the mark. Although it was called sacred, in the end, it meant being used strictly as a tool for producing a child. If one fails to produce, the meaning of existence vanishes.

Just as they did to Eunseong’s biological parents, and just as they did to Seo Jeonggi who raised him, Eunseong would be raped if he was of value to them, and murdered if he was not.

It was the fate those with the brand on the back of the neck had to endure, and Yoo Siun hated it so terribly that he intended to conceal Eunseong’s existence forever and seize control of the Seongha Group itself.

“He was a bit scary, maybe because he’s a detective.”

“First of all, this is absolutely necessary, so will you sign the documents?”

The doubt hadn’t vanished cleanly, but perhaps it was resolved to some extent by confiding in Manager Nam; with a much lighter expression, Eunseong prepared to sign the documents he held out.

“Oh, no. Not Seo Eunseong, but as Shin Wooyoung. Just write it in block letters. Shin Wooyoung.”

“… Ah, right.”

“Shin Wooyoung, memorize the name and memorize the resident registration number too. Because you might need it in the future. From now on, just think of yourself as Shin Wooyoung, not Seo Eunseong.”

“….”

He didn’t know why he had to go that far, but as if he would follow anything Manager Nam ordered without suspicion, Eunseong asked no more and wrote the name Shin Wooyoung in block letters in the signature line, and even memorized the resident registration number while muttering it.

Calling it protection to put it nicely, Manager Nam stayed by Eunseong’s side without leaving Yoo Siun’s house, as if he intended to monitor him from now on. He had even packed his bags with the plan to stay in this house until Eunseong departed for his studies.

Seo Jeonggi was dead. It was because he had hidden the breeding target who possessed the mark and betrayed the will of the family.

The security for Eunseong became even more severe. Because they were strictly controlling outside access, the helper no longer came, so Manager Nam took care of the meals.

“I was definitely not going to leave the house.”

Eunseong, while eating the lunch he had prepared, reflected on the past days and vowed once more not to run away. However, thanks to the runaway, he had confirmed Yoo Siun’s feelings, so he didn’t regret the act itself.

But the problem was Manager Nam. No matter what vow Eunseong made, he showed no sign of leaving. It was no use even though he wrote a pledge, stamped it, and made a promise.

He could feel a strong will that he would never leave Eunseong alone again.

“You’re doing this to dry me out and kill me, aren’t you?”

“We’re going to start English studies too, so come out to the living room after eating.”

“It’s already been several days; how long are you going to stay here?”

“Why are you curious about how long I’ll stay? Do you dislike it if I’m here?”

“… It’s not that I dislike it, I just think it might be too hard for you, Manager. You’re working overtime continuously because of me.”

Eunseong muttered poorly, unable to think of a better excuse. Manager Nam narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s not say things we don’t mean. Isn’t it because you want to be alone with the CEO?”

“… Yes?”

Manager Nam, who had accidentally made a slip of the tongue, avoided the gaze of the startled Eunseong who wondered how he knew.

“Manager, did you know that I liked Mister?”

“Do you know what came out of the bag you left behind the day you ran away?”

“Ah….”

“When did you pack the CEO’s clothes?”

“It had fallen on the back seat of your car, Manager. Did Mister see that too?”

“Of course he saw it.”

What on earth must Yoo Siun have thought of his appearance, taking the shirt even after being rejected like that. Eunseong became embarrassed.

“Do you know what the hardest things in the world to hide are?”

“What are they?”

“A cough. Poverty. And a one-sided love.”

“….”

“You ran away because you like the CEO, right?”

“Mister didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who liked him first. I… I harassed him because I liked him.”

“You like him with your heart, right?”

“… Well, if not the heart, what else would I like him with?”

Manager Nam thought it was a strange question even as he asked it. If you like someone, it was a movement of the heart. It meant the feelings directed toward someone had changed.

“It could be that you’re just blindly attracted like an instinct, or something like that.”

“I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”

The behavior Eunseong showed was certainly quite different from the resonance with a breeder that he had only heard about. He had heard that the resonance of the mark was like a heat no different from having swallowed an aphrodisiac.

Like Yoo Siun, Manager Nam also regarded the prophecy of the God who came through the Side Path, or the child being the knight on the pale green horse—Destruction itself—as nonsense, yet once he knew the being in that prophecy actually existed, he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Has there ever been a time when you just wanted to pounce on the CEO, or just wanted to do something to him? Things like that?”

Eunseong thought his questions continued to be strange, but he reflected carefully to see if there had been such a time.

“… Actually, there were times I wanted to pounce. When Mister was asleep, I’ve secretly tried touching his face. Before, Mister used to freak out even if I just went near him.”

Recalling Yoo Siun keeping his distance as if avoiding some foul-smelling filth, and even holding his breath if he got close, he felt proud of himself for somehow enduring while watching the person he liked act that way. Yoo Siun’s behavior of keeping a clinical distance was that severe.