The Unbelievers

Chapter 6

Choi Jung-eon, with one hand casually thrust into his pants pocket, jerked his chin. He raised his eyebrows as if to say he was annoyed and to move immediately, too irritated to even speak.

When Eunseong still didn’t budge, the group, following Choi Jung-eon’s signal, rushed over and quickly grabbed Eunseong as he tried to escape, forcibly dragging him. They threw Eunseong in front of Choi Jung-eon as if he were a criminal caught by the police.

“I don’t have much time, Eunseong. Bring the money. There’s no one at your house right now, right? Is your dad there?”

Choi Jung-eon looked around at the multi-family house where Eunseong lived and asked. Eunseong didn’t know if his father was there or not. Although his father wasn’t much help, and despite wanting to run away and never see him again because of him, Eunseong sincerely hoped he was home now and lied.

“He drank all night and fell asleep in the morning, but he should be awake by now.”

“Oh, really? I wanted to see Eunseong’s room, but that’s a shame. What should we do? Is there somewhere we can go? A place where we can talk quietly, just the two of us.”

Choi Jung-eon frowned, genuinely disappointed. It was unclear what he wanted to say that required a place for just the two of them. Somehow, Eunseong strongly felt that he hadn’t come just to take money.

Eunseong’s eyes moved busily, checking his surroundings. He glanced at Choi Jung-eon’s group, who were spitting phlegm into the alley and looking around as if keeping watch, and checked if there was any gap to escape. As he rolled his eyes like this, he met Choi Jung-eon’s gaze, who had been staring at him for who knows how long.

Choi Jung-eon smirked.

“Trying to run away?”

Choi Jung-eon raised his eyebrows as if to make it clear that such a thing would absolutely never happen. As if on cue, several of them giggled and firmly grabbed Eunseong’s arms on both sides, who had frozen up.

Eunseong’s legs staggered under the force.

“Who said we’d let you run away? We came all the way here, splitting our precious time when we should be at tutoring, so shouldn’t we quickly take care of business and go?”

It looked like they were about to drag him somewhere right away. Eunseong made a rough struggle to break free from the force restraining him. The arm strength on both sides, which had only been holding him firmly, suddenly hardened like immovable stones and gripped Eunseong even tighter. Giving up on the struggle to twist free, Eunseong sharply raised his head towards Choi Jung-eon. Breathing heavily, he said:

“…Choi Jung-eon.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you a pervert?”

“Huh?”

“Are you gay? Something like a homo?”

“Huuuh?”

Choi Jung-eon’s minion holding Eunseong looked back and forth between them with eyes that seemed to ask what kind of bizarre nonsense this was. Choi Jung-eon’s eyes, which had been staring at Eunseong, hardened.

“You want to live together when we go to college? You want us to be independent together? Why would I be independent with you? Do you like me? Say what you just said again in front of these guys! You said to just bring my body! That we’ll live together!”

Eunseong was determined to humiliate Choi Jung-eon in front of his minions. If he exposed the reality of Choi Jung-eon pathetically clinging to a loser like himself, the guy who cared more about showing off in front of his gang than his own life might get angry, denying he ever said such things, and might even beat Eunseong up. And getting beaten up once was better than being continuously harassed by Choi Jung-eon.

“What, I said I’d let you live with me out of pity because you get beaten by your dad every day. F**k, did I ask you to have my baby or give birth to it? What difficult favor did I ask of you, Eunseong? I talked about sacrificing myself so you wouldn’t get beaten anymore.”

Although Eunseong tried to explicitly humiliate him, Choi Jung-eon went even further. He had no sense of shame whatsoever. He even asked his friends if there was anyone as kind as him.

Eunseong looked around at the guys holding him. They seemed displeased that such a proposal had been made to Eunseong, but none of them had the guts to turn their backs on Choi Jung-eon right away. Instead, they took Choi Jung-eon’s side.

“This bastard should do what Jung-eon tells him to. Where does he get off talking back like this?”

Birds of a feather flock together. The level of the guys hanging around with Choi Jung-eon might have been lower than Choi Jung-eon’s, but none of them were normal.

“So, is your dad home or not?”

“I told you he’d be sleeping after drinking! Don’t do this! Let go! I said let go!”

Eunseong went berserk. His two feet, which had been rolling roughly, flailed even as they were lifted off the ground. That’s when Choi Jung-eon grabbed Eunseong by the collar.

His upper body was yanked forward by Choi Jung-eon’s grip. Even though his body was used to being beaten by his father, Choi Jung-eon’s force felt incomparably stronger than his always-drunk father. His neck was choked so hard that his vision went white and he couldn’t breathe.

Eunseong burst into a fit of coughing.

“You… you son of a b*tch.”

When Eunseong glared at him with bloodshot eyes, Choi Jung-eon exaggeratedly made a fuss, saying “Ooh, scary” and “I’ve got goosebumps” while stroking his arm.

“Look at that glare. F**k, you’re pretty no matter what you do, everything you do is pretty.”

“Dad! Dad! Help me here! Someone call the police! Can someone call the police! Help! Is anyone there?!”

Eunseong suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. The sound spread through the quiet alley like a siren. Choi Jung-eon and his group were flustered and in disarray. Choi Jung-eon hurriedly covered Eunseong’s screaming mouth.

“You f**ker? Shut up!”

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

Choi Jung-eon covered Eunseong’s mouth so he couldn’t even breathe, pinning Eunseong’s head between his arm and side.

“Shut up if you don’t want to die. Won’t you shut up, you bastard?!”

Even as he pulled Eunseong’s head down, Eunseong resisted more violently and kept screaming, so Choi Jung-eon covered his mouth more forcefully. Only then did Eunseong’s screams stop.

“Mmph, ugh! Mmph!”

“You don’t understand when I’m being nice, do you? Do you want to get beaten?”

Choi Jung-eon released Eunseong, practically throwing him. Eunseong’s body crashed into a corner of the alley and collapsed.

“Haa, why is this bastard pissing me off so much today? F**ker, do you hate living with me that much? Do you think I’m trying to strangle you right now? Haa, f**k, really. You’re really pissing me off.”

Choi Jung-eon, excited and at a loss, cursed with a red face.

The surroundings became quiet again, and the sound of a window closing could be heard from somewhere. At that sound, Eunseong became devastated as if he had lost his last hope. Choi Jung-eon must have heard the sound of people turning a blind eye to the victim, as he looked around the empty alley and lifted the collapsed body.

“It seems like none of the people living in this neighborhood want to help you. The heavens are helping me? Well, someday a good day will come for our Eunseong, right? The problem is that it’s not today.”

Choi Jung-eon roughly grabbed Eunseong by the nape and made him walk in front. Coughing intermittently from the pain in his abdomen that was hurt when he fell, Eunseong raised his disheveled head. Just as he was about to inhale to scream again, a strong hand covered his mouth once more.

“You’re really persistent, aren’t you? I told you I don’t have time? Bring the money you’ve saved. If you run away with that, I think I’ll go completely crazy, you know? So let me keep it for you. I’ll give it back when you graduate.”

They both knew it was a promise he was swearing to keep but wouldn’t.

“…F**k, you crazy bastard.”

As soon as his mouth was uncovered, Eunseong spat out a disgusting insult along with a curse at Choi Jung-eon’s face. Choi Jung-eon’s group simultaneously stiffened. They looked at Eunseong with eyes that said he was now dead or at least close to death, asking why he did that.

“…”

Choi Jung-eon slowly wiped the saliva off his face with the back of his hand. It wasn’t a look of anger or dislike. He looked at Eunseong’s distorted face with a strange gaze that suggested a primitive and explicit contact, and casually wiped the spit on his thigh, rubbing it on his school uniform pants.

Choi Jung-eon, still holding Eunseong’s nape, started climbing the stairs to the third floor.

“Ugh, let go! I said let go! Hey! You’re really crazy, you lunatic!”

He was easily dragged along by the brutal strength, as if he weighed nothing.

In front of the door lock, Choi Jung-eon turned threatening eyes to Eunseong, telling him to open the door, frowning fiercely as if he didn’t want to say much. When Eunseong stood firm, refusing to open it, Choi Jung-eon threateningly raised his hand.

“This kid is wasting time again here. He’s really asking for a beating. Do you really want to get beaten to death once?”

Eunseong tightly closed his eyes.

Whether he would be slapped on the cheek or hit hard on the head, Eunseong closed his eyes tightly, preparing to endure Choi Jung-eon’s strike, fearing he would be hit somewhere.

“What are you doing?”

Both Eunseong and Choi Jung-eon flinched at the unfamiliar voice from behind.

When they turned around, an adult man in a black suit was coming up the stairs, pushing through Choi Jung-eon’s group with a deeply furrowed brow. He had an aura that instantly overpowered the shabbiness of the area. The guys were hesitantly making way for him. The hand gripping Eunseong’s nape also lost its strength.

Eunseong didn’t know who he was, but he instinctively ran to him and hid behind the man. Even the great Choi Jung-eon seemed to hesitate at the appearance of this unfamiliar adult male with an intimidating presence that couldn’t possibly exist and had never been seen in this area. A sharp, questioning gaze was fixed on Eunseong. Eunseong stood behind the unknown man, avoiding Choi Jung-eon’s eyes.

“You’re Seo Eunseong, right?”