The Unbelievers

Chapter 5

Choi Jung-eon lifted Eunseong’s chin, who was warily looking at him with tears clinging pathetically to his eyes, and stared at him intently as he added:

“When did I ask for such a favor? I’m going to leave home anyway. I said I’d move out when I save enough money.”

“What?”

“Just a little more… and I can leave home.”

“Leave home? You mean run away?”

Jung-eon’s face contorted. It was an expression of displeasure at hearing something completely unexpected.

“Ha, shit. So that’s why you’ve been working like a possessed ghost because you couldn’t do part-time jobs. This kid is making me crazy again.”

It was a totally unexpected reaction. It seemed like Jung-eon’s eyeballs had literally rolled back with a swooshing sound.

“Bring all the money you’ve saved to move out by tomorrow.”

“What?”

“You know what happens if you don’t bring it, right? Our Eunseong must have saved quite a bit since he’s been working hard at part-time jobs. That’s why you’re always dozing off at school.”

“Why, why are you asking for that? Your family is rich, Jung-eon!”

“You said you’re going to run away with that money. I’ll keep it safe and give it back to you later. So bring it.”

“I won’t run away. I won’t run away.”

“Shit, you said you were moving out.”

“I just said nonsense because you keep talking nonsense. It just slipped out.”

“Bring the money while I’m asking nicely. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee what will happen then.”

Eunseong wasn’t sure what Jung-eon couldn’t guarantee, but it certainly wasn’t a tone warning of anything good.

Eunseong grabbed Jung-eon’s clothes. He gripped the school uniform shirt tightly and looked up at Jung-eon with tears in his eyes.

“Wow, shit. This guy is using his beauty to sway me. Wow, wow, shit, I’m wavering. I’m really wavering. Wow, it’s working. I’m really shaken.”

Jung-eon, who made eye contact with Eunseong, put his hand on his left chest as if his heart was really pounding and made an exaggerated show of trembling.

“Bring the money. While I’m asking nicely.”

“Not that money. I told you I’m saving it to go to college.”

“What college for someone who doesn’t even study? You’re in a hurry so you’re lying and using your looks, our Eunseong might even give me a kiss at this rate, huh?”

You shouldn’t provoke guys like this. You have to lie flat on your stomach like you’re dead, do as they say, confirm who’s at the top of the hierarchy, and ultimately cower submissively to avoid the last couple of unnecessary hits.

“Okay. I’ll do as you say. So, so please don’t tell me to bring the money.”

“What are you going to do as I say? What do you think I’m going to tell you to do, saying you’ll do everything I say. Our Eunseong has become so fearless.”

“…I’ll do as you say, as you say.”

“Well, there were a lot of things I wanted to do with you. Looks like I can do them all now.”

“…”

Jung-eon smiled an innocent smile that seemed devoid of malice. It was a moment when another reason to leave home quickly was born.

After school, Eunseong slipped out through the back gate to avoid Jung-eon. The back gate took twenty minutes longer to get home than the main gate, so he rarely used this route. He walked like someone being chased, clutching his bag straps tightly with both hands and glancing around. Only after completely leaving the school vicinity did Eunseong relax his grip on the bag straps.

“Jung-eon, you crazy bastard.”

He muttered the curse he couldn’t say in front of Jung-eon, but quickly lowered his head and hurried past when a passing man looked at him.

“Who would say such a thing about wanting to live with someone like me?”

Recalling Jung-eon’s demand in the gym made him feel nauseous and want to vomit.

“Let’s live together independently when we go to college. I’ll pay for everything. You just need to bring yourself.”

As soon as Jung-eon finished whispering such nonsense while getting close, Eunseong shoved his chest hard.

“Who wants to live with a bastard like you! Are you crazy?”

Jung-eon, who had fallen onto the gym floor, looked resentfully at Eunseong, who was shouting in disgust. Before he could shout to catch that bastard, Eunseong ran away. He left the gym and sat in an empty chair in the teachers’ office until lunch break ended, getting scolded by teachers asking what he was doing there.

When returning to the classroom, he followed behind the teacher preparing for the next class. When the class ended, he followed the teacher to the staff room, saying he had questions he wasn’t even curious about, and pestered them throughout the break. He kept doing this until school ended, trying to escape school before Jung-eon could leave his classroom.

“He won’t follow me home, right… He seemed normal in the past, why did he suddenly become like this?”

He avoided Jung-eon today, but he couldn’t guarantee tomorrow. It wasn’t possible to keep avoiding Jung-eon until graduation.

He needs to graduate high school. Without a high school diploma, his life would be set on a downward path. He wouldn’t be able to find a decent job, would probably bounce from one day labor job to another, and end up drinking like his father, hating his powerless self in front of the world. Drinking out of self-loathing and not stopping there but tormenting those around him – this was the worst future Eunseong could imagine.

Becoming like his father.

“Life is really shitty.”

Am I the only one living such a shitty life?

But no matter how much he thought about it, there was a limit to avoiding Jung-eon. That guy was a lunatic who was friendly with gangsters and beat people half to death without a second thought. Curious about what happened to the man in the video, Eunseong searched on his phone for words like neighborhood name, murder, death, accident, but nothing came up.

Jung-eon had taken revenge for him, but far from being happy, it only gave him chills. Recalling Jung-eon’s face proudly looking at him for praise made him shudder.

“Crazy bastard.”

Eunseong kept muttering curses all the way home. As the son of a fairly well-off family in this neighborhood, Jung-eon played hard but didn’t neglect his studies, always maintaining top grades. He thought he was just playing around with his brute strength, but in reality, he was bullying other kids.

However, until now, he had never done such things to Eunseong. But his attitude towards Eunseong was gradually changing. Yet, there were limits to punishing Jung-eon.

Because he studied well and acted like a good student in front of teachers, Jung-eon had never been punished even when he caused trouble at school.

Would he really follow me home? Anyway, since he’s a good student, he probably has to go to academy, so he won’t have time to come for revenge right away. Then what should I do tomorrow? Should I quit school when I leave home? A high school diploma isn’t absolutely necessary, right? There’s also the option of taking the high school equivalency exam. Yeah, let’s not be obsessed with school.

“Haa.”

Eunseong let out a deep sigh.

Why does nothing go right? Father alone is enough misfortune to meet in life, no, it’s already unbearable with just father.

It was rather fortunate that he didn’t have a mother. He heard that his mother passed away shortly after he was born. His father never gave him the details. There was just one wedding photo, and even that wasn’t complete. For some reason his father didn’t like, he had torn off his own image, leaving only the image of his mother in a pure white wedding dress in the half-torn photo.

In the photo, his mother wore a clear smile. She was a beauty like no other in the world. That half-torn photo was as good as a treasure to Eunseong.

Anyway, thinking it was rather fortunate that his mother had passed away without seeing all this, Eunseong was trudging home when he spotted Jung-eon standing in front of his gate and stopped in his tracks.

Rather than being surprised, he felt so deflated that the strength left his body.

“…Haa. Shit, really.”

A heavy sigh escaped.

He had resolved to quit school because of this, but seeing Jung-eon’s face made all his worries seem meaningless.

“You’re here now. I’ve been waiting for a while. Know that you’re dead if I’m late for academy because of you.”

Jung-eon had already spotted Eunseong standing far away and lazily gestured for him to hurry over as if he had already identified him.

Eunseong sighed and reflexively turned around as if to run away, then hesitated. At the end of the alley, Jung-eon’s group was blocking the way, greeting him cheerfully.

“What an annoying bastard, he’s really something else.”

Eunseong muttered curses to himself. From afar, Jung-eon gestured again.

“Stop cursing and just come quickly. Don’t be difficult.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear you. Can you come closer and say it?”

“I said, are you crazy! You bastard.”

“‘Are you crazy, you bastard?’ What did our Eunseong just say? I think I heard wrong. Did I hear that right?”

“Just go away before I call the police. You’re the one being difficult. You crazy idiot.”

Standing far apart, Jung-eon and Eunseong shouted at each other.

“Do that if you want, but come here quickly. Hurry over to this crazy idiot. While I’m asking nicely.”

Jung-eon made a dismissive gesture ordering Eunseong to come to him immediately, with an expression that said this was really troublesome. Seeing no sign that he would just leave, Eunseong hesitated, unable to move forward, and just shuffled his feet.