Chapter 161
Yoo Siwoon bowed his head. Blood flowed from the wounds scratching his forehead and cheek, running down his face and dripping from his chin onto the floor. Director Nam looked at him, then suddenly had a thought and hurriedly released his shoulder to enter Eunseong’s room. Eunseong was getting dressed, hastily putting on clothes like someone about to flee.
Director Nam seized the phone Eunseong was hiding in his bag.
“Who is it?”
“What? Everyone’s lying and deceiving me, but you want to know who told me the truth? Are you curious? Why, so you can kill that person too?”
When Director Nam took the phone and wouldn’t return it, Eunseong bit his hand. Caught off guard, Director Nam let out a groan and dropped the phone. Eunseong packed the phone and his parents’ photo in his bag and fled the room.
He glared at Yoo Siwoon, who was standing motionless in the middle of the living room, and ran outside. Outside the door stood security staff, or rather, the Council of Elders’ enforcers from the cult. They were completely exposed to the steadily falling rain. The sky was growing darker, and black clouds gathered like misfortune. It was ominous weather, with strong winds blowing as if an unseasonable typhoon had arrived.
Eunseong ran out into the garden where raindrops were pouring down and shouted at them:
“Please take me away. Quickly, please help me get out of here!”
Eunseong clung to an enforcer. Bewildered, they hesitated to touch Eunseong and looked inside for guidance. They were already accustomed to following Yoo Siwoon’s instructions.
“I’m asking you to let me leave right now! I need to go! I need to get out of here right now!”
“Lord Eunseong…”
The enforcers, showing no sign of listening to Eunseong, hesitated and uncertainly looked at each other.
Someone approached Eunseong to cover him with an umbrella. Eunseong roughly pushed away the umbrella extended over him. At that moment, the sky rumbled, emitting a fierce energy.
“This, this…! This is my order! If you don’t listen to me, I won’t let you get away with it!”
As Eunseong screamed, coincidentally, at that exact moment, a flash of lightning illuminated the dark atmosphere, followed immediately by thunder striking the ground.
The enforcers’ eyes changed as if they had heard the voice of a god from the sky. They uniformly moved to protect Eunseong. Soon, a car swiftly approached and stopped in front of Eunseong.
An enforcer opened the car door and gestured for Eunseong to get in. As Eunseong climbed into the back seat, Director Nam ran out.
“Eunseong! Stop! Hey! Open the car door! Eunseong, listen to me!”
Director Nam shouted at the enforcer, seeing Eunseong sitting in the car. The enforcers blocked Director Nam as if detaining him. He waved his arms, flailing as if pressed down by stubborn force, calling out to Eunseong.
The car carrying Eunseong pressed the accelerator without delay. Director Nam stopped struggling with the enforcer, staring helplessly at the receding rear end of the car.
“…Hah, fuck. This is driving me crazy.”
Director Nam roughly freed his arm from the enforcer who was holding him back. He exhaled with frustration and cursed.
The enforcer had started the car but didn’t know where to go, so he cautiously spoke up. Eunseong, sitting in the back seat, was breathing faintly and anxiously looking back, as if someone might be following them.
“…Are you alright?”
“Please go faster. Faster, please.”
As Eunseong requested, the enforcer pressed harder on the accelerator. Their car quickly passed between the surrounding vehicles.
“Where would you like to go?”
“…Anywhere, somewhere Uncle doesn’t know, somewhere Yoo Siwoon doesn’t know. Somewhere Director Nam doesn’t know either.”
“Are you referring to a place where no one can approach freely?”
“…Yes, somewhere like that.”
“Understood.”
Yoo Siwoon was the only remaining breeder among Seongha’s bloodline. The enforcer didn’t know why Eunseong was acting this way, but he didn’t ask and wasn’t curious. He simply followed orders. Just the act of receiving and executing orders directly from the Great Crevice was worth dedicating his life to, regardless of how trivial the task might be.
The car driven by the enforcer silently and swiftly drove somewhere.
∞ ∞ ∞
Eunseong, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion, woke with a start. He hurriedly got up and looked around.
“Ah…”
Eunseong finally let out a sigh of relief at the realization that he was not in Yoo Siwoon’s house but in an unfamiliar place beyond his influence.
A few days ago, he had arrived at a villa somewhere in the mountains after riding in the enforcer’s car. It was a place they had reached after driving non-stop for four hours. The enforcer had called this place the Apostle’s winter villa. He said it was a place no one would visit and no one knew about, especially not Yoo Siwoon.
The Apostle referred to the old man with white eyes whom Eunseong had seen when he was taken by Yoo Siwoon to greet the family elders. Recalling the white-haired old man’s eyes made Eunseong shudder.
According to Lee Joon-seung’s explanation, the Apostle was something like the leader of the cult that believed in the child Eunseong would bear, and the fact that they so desperately wanted the child he would give birth to also made Eunseong feel terrible.
Eunseong shuddered whenever he recalled his identity, and he violently shook his head to deliberately avoid thinking about it. After shaking his head until he felt dizzy, he staggered and sat up.
“…It’s a bit cold.”
It was already June, but perhaps because they were in the mountains, the temperature was cool, making his shoulders shiver.
The Apostle’s winter villa was a splendid space decorated with antique furniture. The bed Eunseong was lying on had four posts at each corner with elegant cream-colored curtains draped around it.
Eunseong pulled back the curtains and got out of bed. Slippers that hadn’t been there yesterday were neatly placed at his feet, and on the bedroom bench were new clothes for him to wear comfortably.
Just as Eunseong changed clothes, there was a knock at the door.
“Yes.”
Soon the door opened, and an enforcer entered with his head bowed.
“Are you awake?”
“…Yes. Do you happen to have a phone charger?”
“I’ll bring one right away. However, if you don’t want to reveal your location, it might be better not to turn on your phone.”
“This phone is one Uncle doesn’t know about.”
“I see.”
Nodding as if to say that was fine, the enforcer left. When he returned shortly after, he was holding a phone charger.
“I’ve prepared breakfast.”
“Thank you.”
“Please don’t say such things. It’s only natural for me.”
He gave a pure answer of obedience to whatever Eunseong said. After receiving the phone charger and hesitating, Eunseong finally spoke what he had been holding back for days.
“…Excuse me, but I’m not that.”
“Pardon?”
“That. The Great Crevice. I’m not that.”
“…”
“I think you’re misunderstanding. I’m not that. Everyone is mistaken.”
“Would it be alright if I explained about the Great Crevice since you seem unfamiliar with it?”
The enforcer had been quietly listening to what Eunseong was saying and cautiously opened his mouth. His tone was careful, as if to show that he had no arrogant intention of teaching Eunseong.
Although Eunseong didn’t want to know, when he just stared without saying anything, the enforcer took it as agreement and continued:
“In the records left by the emperor of a great nation two thousand years ago, there was an ancient language that the people of that time couldn’t interpret. It was later revealed to be similar to uncial script when the Vatican manuscript was discovered. When you think about it, our scripture is older than the Bible. In the scripture that was interpreted in this way, there is a record about you, Lord Eunseong. That is the Great Crevice.”
“…”
“People commonly understand chaos (χαος) simply as concepts like disorder or disarray, but in Greek, its original meaning is ‘great crevice’ or ‘void.’ That is, it refers to the endless empty space before the creation of the world, a pure state where form has not yet been determined. In Greek mythology, chaos explains the beginning of the universe, speaking of the primitive state that first existed. The Great Crevice is not the chaos of disorder but refers to a pure space without form or boundaries, and it is prophesied that our god will be born through the Great Crevice.”
“…I’m telling you, I’m not that.”
“I just thought you should know about it anyway.”
“Why would I need to know that?”
“I thought you were curious.”
The enforcer was guessing that Eunseong’s change in mood was because he had become aware of his identity, having been raised ordinarily and thinking of himself as an ordinary person until now.
Eunseong didn’t know what kind of examination he had received at the hospital. It had already been medically confirmed that Eunseong was the Great Crevice. This was known to all believers of the Yongse Pacheon Church, and the enforcer was one of the witnesses present at that time.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
