Chapter 170
“Ah, it seems we need to get Eunseong’s belongings.”
The phone that had been exchanging messages with Lee Joon-seung, the phone that Yoo Siwoon and Director Nam didn’t know about, was somewhere. Startled, Eunseong quickly raised his head. Director Nam noticed the panicked stare but pretended not to know and looked at Yoo Siwoon.
“I’ll go get them.”
Yoo Siwoon went back into the resort. After confirming his presence had disappeared, Director Nam hurriedly knelt down toward Eunseong who was sitting in the car. Director Nam took out the burner phone Lee Joon-seung had given him from his jacket pocket. Eunseong’s tear-soaked eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Director Nam and the burner phone.
Fortunately, Director Nam seemed to have found it first.
“One of the executors had it. Lee Joon-seung, that’s the police officer, right? Did that person tell you everything? What did he say?”
“……”
“You can tell me. I don’t trust the CEO either.”
“……”
They were accomplices. Director Nam had known from the beginning what kind of person Eunseong was and had deceived him, and had persistently observed his body to discover if Eunseong had the prophetic markings.
“Not telling you the truth… that was my fault. I thought you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Because it’s absurd. I didn’t believe it either. I thought Eunseong wouldn’t understand, that it would be better to leave here without knowing, so I didn’t tell you. Eunseong, would you have believed me if I had told you the truth?”
“……”
He wouldn’t have believed it. He would have thought he was crazy.
Just like with Lee Joon-seung’s words, he would have thought he looked normal but was saying strange things, that he was mentally disturbed, had schizophrenia or delusional disorder, and would have obviously run away. He wouldn’t have followed them in the first place.
Even now, Eunseong couldn’t believe the absurd claim that he could bear children as a male and was a prophetic tool capable of giving birth to some god. It seemed like everyone had been brainwashed by an enormous lie.
Anxiously checking the resort door beyond the car, Director Nam was wary of Yoo Siwoon’s presence and hurriedly continued speaking.
“The CEO believes Eunseong is pregnant.”
“……”
“Do you think you’re really pregnant? Is there really something wrong with your body?”
“How would I know that? I’m a man.”
“Haa, right. I must be crazy. Saying such nonsense.”
“……”
“Anyway, there’s nothing particularly wrong with your body, right? The vomiting and saying you hate the CEO’s smell… did you do that on purpose after hearing that story?”
Only then did Eunseong nod in agreement.
After hearing that ridiculous secret, he had only acted as if to prevent Yoo Siwoon from approaching him.
There was nothing wrong with his body. However, at that moment, the nausea that welled up every time he smelled Yoo Siwoon’s scent, whom he had liked, wasn’t fake.
“Director Nam not trusting ahjussi… what does that mean? You two are on the same side. You two… conspired to deceive me.”
“There’s no time to explain now. It’s true that the CEO has become strange… I can’t just watch Eunseong get hurt. I’ll help you escape from here. What did Lee Joon-seung say? That person has a grudge against Seongha Group. Wasn’t he trying to harm you to eliminate you?”
“…He said there’s something like a witness protection program. He said he’d help me smuggle out… He told me to disappear. He said if only I disappeared, the believers would disappear too… He said if I have a baby and that strange religion grows bigger, it wouldn’t be good.”
Eunseong conveyed Lee Joon-seung’s proposal with a trembling voice.
“I see. He probably meant that sincerely. Lee Joon-seung is one of those who wants to destroy the Yongse Pacheon Church anyway. Let’s go home first. After we return, we’ll look for an opportunity to escape.”
Director Nam was unusually pale, as if afraid of deceiving Yoo Siwoon.
Just then, Yoo Siwoon came out through the resort door. Director Nam, who had been whispering, hurriedly stood up and closed the car door.
“Nothing much. Just a few pieces of clothing.”
Yoo Siwoon was holding spare shirts of Eunseong’s in his hands.
“I’ll go in and look again. Someone must have contacted Eunseong, there should be clues like a phone or something.”
“It’s fine. Since Eunseong is found… it’s okay.”
Yoo Siwoon said there was no need, and brought Eunseong’s shirt to his face as if rubbing it, deeply inhaling its scent. Eunseong’s soft and sweet body fragrance that made his heart tremble delicately was drawn into his nostrils. As if taking comfort, Yoo Siwoon smelled Eunseong’s scent for a long time before gripping the shirt and opening the back seat door.
“……”
“……”
Eunseong, who was sitting there first, remained coldly rigid and didn’t look at him even as the car door opened. Yoo Siwoon got in beside him. Director Nam also got in the driver’s seat. He checked on Eunseong through the rearview mirror. Eunseong stubbornly kept his hardened gaze fixed on one spot.
“Then I’ll start driving.”
Director Nam pressed the accelerator and backed out the car. Eunseong slyly turned his gaze to the rear of the van that had left earlier.
Yoo Siwoon looked at Eunseong and said:
“You should fasten your seatbelt.”
“……”
“Eunseong.”
“Leave me alone. Just let me die.”
“……”
“Let me die along with the baby.”
“……”
Director Nam’s startled gaze turned to the rearview mirror again. Eunseong’s expression was as cold as if he had spat out profanity. Like the surface of frozen pottery.
Yoo Siwoon also stared intently at Eunseong, then slowly approached and pulled the seatbelt across his chest that had stiffened rigidly, fastening it to the buckle.
“Are you pregnant with my child?”
“…What did you say?”
“I asked if you’re carrying my child.”
“To say that now… to say that now, to say that to me now…”
Eunseong trembled with rage throughout his body. Even his complexion turned blue with shock as he looked back at Yoo Siwoon, who was casually talking about babies, with disbelieving eyes.
“But why do you say such cruel things?”
“Would ahjussi be happy if I was carrying your child? I will never… give you what you want.”
“……”
“Ahjussi can’t take anything from me.”
“I never said I wanted a baby.”
“……”
Yoo Siwoon had never wanted a baby. However, if a baby were to be conceived between them, as a partner who loves Eunseong, he naturally thought he should joyfully accept it. He simply didn’t agree with the prophecy that Director Nam worried about – that it could be a formless disaster, an epidemic, or the pale horse rider of death. From beginning to end, Yoo Siwoon was love. A baby born between them from love couldn’t be such a thing.
So he believed Eunseong would feel the same way. There wasn’t the slightest doubt in that belief. He naturally thought it would be so.
“If you don’t want a baby, why, why did you do that to me, why did you do that to our parents? Why? Why did you lie to me?”
“I know our family committed a great wrong against you.”
“……”
“Hurting your feelings… what happened to your parents. It’s all our fault. I’m sorry. I know I have to atone for it my whole life.”
Yoo Siwoon apologized as if suffering Eunseong’s pain in his place, expressing that he deeply felt sorry and guilty about how the situation had turned out.
Eunseong was disgusted by his composure in trying to get past such acts with just an apology, with just a few words. From Eunseong’s perspective, it was unforgivable. No matter what apology he made, how much he begged or prostrated himself, it couldn’t be accepted. Even his own heart that still cared about him despite knowing this truth made him feel guilty toward his parents who had died in an accident, tormenting Eunseong, yet he was calmly apologizing.
Eunseong glared at him even more coldly, mercilessly, and fiercely.
Even at the reaction of rejection saying he was sick of it, Yoo Siwoon leaned his head against the back seat and indifferently took Eunseong in with his eyes. His eye area was shadowed with accumulated fatigue.
“…I’m going to sleep a bit.”
“……”
“I haven’t been able to sleep properly. Can I sleep?”
His voice cracked dryly. Yoo Siwoon, asking in a tired voice, kept his drowsy eyes fixed on Eunseong until the end. He let out a drowsy breath of relief that Eunseong was now beside him, finally feeling at ease.
“Sleep or don’t sleep, do whatever you want. You’ve already ruined my life as you pleased, so why ask about such things?”
“…Okay.”
Even at the needle-like piercing words, with Eunseong by his side, the tension that had been wracking Yoo Siwoon’s entire body disappeared and he fell asleep as if by magic. He was positioned with his cheek against the headrest, head turned toward Eunseong. He soon breathed steadily and wearily.
“…I think it would be better not to say anything more.”
Director Nam said in a small voice while driving carefully.
“I don’t want to say anything more either. Not anymore.”
Eunseong looked at his own shirt clutched tightly in his hands, then turned his head away.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
