The Unbelievers

Chapter 14

Eunseong asked Director Nam, who was standing at attention while swallowing his rice:

“I looked it up on the internet earlier. About Seongha Momentum.”

“…”

“Ahjussi gave me his business card. It said Seongha Momentum on it.”

“…”

“It’s one of the Seongha Group affiliates, right? What kind of company is it? Is that also a company I’ll inherit later?”

“After you finish your meal, your school uniform will arrive. We based the size on what you were wearing earlier, so if it’s uncomfortable, just let me know right away.”

“Am I not allowed to ask about the company?”

“I don’t know much about it, so you should ask the CEO later.”

“I see… It’s a bit ridiculous that you claim not to know much when you seem to work for that company, but I understand.”

Director Nam’s eyebrows twitched, seemingly displeased with Eunseong’s comment.

Eunseong pretended not to notice and picked up his chopsticks. His voice once again broke the silence in the dining room, which had been filled only with the sound of eating.

“But I couldn’t bring anything from home. And I can’t contact my father. What about my textbooks and such?”

Director Nam paid attention to Eunseong’s words. While he was reticent about the company or Ahjussi Yoo Siwoon, he seemed to care about Eunseong’s requests and related matters.

“I didn’t bring any textbooks, workbooks, nothing at all.”

“We’ll prepare everything according to the curriculum of the new school you’ll be transferring to.”

“Also, I didn’t bring my laptop, iPad, or AirPods. You know those are essential for school, right?”

“If you tell me the model names, I’ll get them for you.”

“Ah, I also left my Apple Watch. I’m not sure about the model name, but I think the latest model would be fine. The one I had before was almost new anyway.”

“Understood.”

Director Nam responded brightly, saying he would do so.

Watching his expression, Eunseong mentioned everything that came to mind. The man responded like a parrot, saying he would prepare whatever Eunseong requested without any objection.

Eunseong had never had an iPad, let alone a laptop, and things like an Apple Watch or AirPods were expensive items he hadn’t even dreamed of, being too preoccupied with saving money to leave home.

“The CEO said to prepare a new phone number for you. Should we get the same model?”

“If we’re buying a new one anyway, I think it would be good to get the latest model. Is that okay?”

He asked for the newest and best model since they were buying a new one anyway. Director Nam nodded willingly.

“Of course. Then I’ll get the latest and best model.”

“Yes, and with the largest storage capacity. I need it for gaming… If the storage is small, I can only install a few games.”

“Alright. I’ll get the one with the largest storage capacity.”

“Thank you.”

Ahjussi had said he was protecting Eunseong to prevent him from being forced to do things he disliked, and Director Nam seemed willing to buy everything Eunseong had ever wanted.

This being a first for Eunseong, he felt both bewildered and secretly pleased.

Eunseong nodded, saying he would gratefully accept whatever was given, and finished his meal.

Alone again, Eunseong took a fresh look around the room. He entered the dressing room inside. The dressing room, which showed signs of very thoughtful preparation for him, was filled with expensive brand school bags, various types of shoes, and clothes that fit him perfectly.

After showering, he came out and chose some sleepwear. His actual father had never provided such an environment for Eunseong. He had never considered things from Eunseong’s perspective. Yet this ahjussi, whom he had never met before, had thoughtfully prepared everything from underwear to pajamas to ensure Eunseong wouldn’t feel uncomfortable or lacking.

There were traces everywhere of long preparation to bring him here. Moreover, despite saying it took a long time to find his father and him, the fact that each piece of clothing ahjussi had prepared fit him as if tailored was strange. Eunseong felt odd.

Wiping his wet hair with a towel, Eunseong pulled out a silk pajama set. He changed into the ivory-colored pajamas and buttoned them up.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He didn’t look awkward, as if wearing ill-fitting clothes. He looked familiar. It seemed natural, as if this was how it had always been. His face, which appropriately resembled his mother in the photo, had a somewhat aristocratic feel. It was difficult to explain in words the strange feeling of déjà vu, as if he had been living pretending to be someone unsuitable after losing his status, and had finally returned to his rightful place, a place befitting his position.

Was this really what my face looked like?

Eunseong brought his face close to the mirror. He stared intently at his own face. Perhaps due to the lighting in the dressing room, his moistened skin looked fair and smooth.

Although he didn’t understand exactly what had happened, Eunseong had overnight gone from pauper to prince. He had lived thinking he was a beggar, but in reality, he was a prince of noble blood.

However, the position of a prince was not easily obtained. It was a position that required paying a heavy and serious price, having to do unpleasant things, even killing people if necessary. Perhaps sometimes he would have to make decisions even worse than murder. His father had lived in hiding, even changing his surname, because he disliked this.

Eunseong came out of the dressing room and finished organizing the bag he had brought from home. Having only packed the essentials, his belongings were sparse.

In this richly furnished room, wearing silk pajamas, his bag looked old, dirty, and shabby, as if it had belonged to a real beggar.

He took out the small handbag hidden in the innermost part of his bag. Inside the worn and frayed handbag, frequently touched in certain areas, was about 3 million won in cash.

Holding the handbag with the money, Eunseong paced anxiously around the room. Despite the spacious area, there didn’t seem to be a suitable place to hide something. He tried hiding the handbag under the bed, then under the mattress, under the pillow, in the desk drawer, changing locations here and there, but it seemed it would be quickly discovered wherever he put it.

Eunseong took out only the money from the handbag and wrapped it in paper. He brought some tape, crawled under the sofa table, and firmly attached the envelope of money to the underside of the table.

He immediately sat up and felt under the table with his hand, but nothing touched his fingertips. No one would imagine that money had been hidden there.

Eunseong pretended to be a housekeeper cleaning. He bent over, pushing a vacuum cleaner back and forth, and glanced under the table. He could see a glimpse of the underside of the table, but not the entire surface.

After bustling about hiding the money, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He was in the process of moving his belongings to a new luxury brand bag, discarding the old one, when there was a knock at the door.

Knock knock. Eunseong startled, then relaxed, remembering that all of this was his, and answered, “Yes?”

“May I come in?”

“Yes, please come in.”

Eunseong mumbled in a timid voice in response to the polite inquiry.

He put down on the sofa the bag he had been organizing on the table. He didn’t want to appear as if he was making a fuss, examining and feeling everything too closely like a pauper who had become a prince overnight. He raised his head to Director Nam, acting as if he had always lived like a prince, asking what the matter was.

The man was holding shopping bags full of items in both hands.

“Here are your school uniform and the other items you requested earlier. Try them on, and if anything is uncomfortable, just let me know.”

“They’ve been washed, right?”

“Pardon?”

“The uniform. You brought it after washing, right?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I just received them directly from the supplier.”

Director Nam looked somewhat flustered, as if he hadn’t thought that far.

“You should wash them before giving them to me. Normally, when you buy new clothes, you wash them before wearing, right? New clothes have a lot of dust on them.”

“I see. Understood. I’ll bring them back after washing.”

“Has Ahjussi not returned yet?”

“He tends to come home late. If you tell me, I’ll pass the message on to him.”

“No, I’ll do it myself. I have his phone number. The new phone has been activated, right?”

Eunseong took the shopping bags the man had put down. A new model phone, iPad, watch, wireless earphones, laptop. All brand new, still in their packaging.

“I’ll set them up myself.”

“Alright, then.”

Director Nam took back the shopping bag containing the school uniform and left. After confirming that the door was closed, Eunseong took out the newly activated phone. He transferred the data from his existing phone to the new device.

First, he saved Yoo Siwoon’s phone number and then installed a second-hand trading app. He searched for the market prices of the unopened new products Director Nam had brought. After getting a rough idea of the second-hand prices, he put them back in the shopping bags without opening the packaging and neatly stored them in a drawer in the dressing room.

“You never know what might happen…”

Unless one was a fool, all of this couldn’t be free. Eunseong wasn’t stupid enough to blindly believe the words of a distant relative he had never met before. There was nothing free in this world, and nothing came without a price.

He resolved to save more money, not knowing what might happen.

Since they probably wouldn’t allow him to do part-time jobs, he planned to save as much as he could until then, sell what he could, and extract as much as possible, ready to run away at the first sign of trouble. If he could save enough money to live for about a year, there would be no problem leaving for anywhere.

For now, he cautioned himself not to trust anyone, no matter how well they treated him.