Chapter 184
“I’ll keep checking on you through that person until you arrive there. So you don’t need to contact me. I won’t know your contact information from now on either.”
“…”
It meant they would never call or meet again. It signified that his relationship with Director Nam was also ending.
Only then did Eunseong turn his head toward him. Director Nam’s face was filled with worry, as if he was anxious about sending Eunseong to a foreign country where he wouldn’t know anyone.
“You’re capable, Eunseong. You’ll do well. Wherever you go.”
Director Nam forced a smile as if trying to reassure Eunseong, who didn’t appear tense at all.
“If the ahjussi finds out I’m gone… nothing bad will happen to you, right?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. The CEO isn’t that kind of strange person.”
“Here.”
Eunseong took out a letter he had written the night before from his bag. It was a crumpled note that had been folded several times.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a letter I wrote to the ahjussi. It says that I asked you to help me escape, that I couldn’t live there anymore.”
“…You don’t need that.”
Eunseong still insisted he keep it just in case and put the note in the pocket of his jacket as he drove. The letter stated that Eunseong no longer loved Yoo Siwoon, could no longer love him, couldn’t stay with him, and was leaving of his own accord. It also mentioned that Director Nam had done nothing wrong, so Yoo Siwoon shouldn’t blame him.
Even after putting the letter in Director Nam’s pocket, Eunseong felt more uneasy. He had a hallucination of hearing Yoo Siwoon’s voice from somewhere, saying that he was a principled person who never went back on his decisions, and that they had a marital bond.
“Director, do you know something?”
“Know what?”
“About wolves. They say wolves love only one mate for their entire lives.”
“…”
“And when their mate dies, they don’t try to live on but choose to starve to death beside them.”
“…The CEO is not a wolf but a human, and that won’t happen.”
“That’s right. The ahjussi is not a wolf… and he’s definitely not someone who would starve to death. He wouldn’t do that because of me.”
“…”
Even now, Director Nam wasn’t sure if what they were doing was right. Though he knew it was correct, he was still wavering. He wasn’t sure if sending Eunseong abroad like this was right, or if taking him back home, to Yoo Siwoon’s shallow fortress where he believed Eunseong was safe only with him, was the right thing to do. His conviction about whether taking Eunseong away from him was truly the right thing kept becoming blurred.
The car was heading toward Incheon Port Passenger Terminal with this confusion.
Director Nam felt his phone vibrate and searched inside his jacket. The unsaved number was one that often sent him spam messages.
“Yes.”
—Are you on your way?
It was Lee Joon-seung.
“I’m on my way now. I think I’ll arrive in ten, no, fifteen minutes before departure.”
—I’ve confirmed with the cruise company again, so don’t worry. Just deliver the kid safely, and it’s done.
“Is that why you called? Were you afraid I might have changed my mind?”
—You kept saying you felt uneasy, so isn’t that it?
His tone suggested he was calling to check if Director Nam might change his mind at the last minute and betray them.
“I’m hanging up.”
As he was about to end the call with a frown, Lee Joon-seung hesitated before speaking.
—Hey, Director.
“What is it?”
—Sigh, shall I tell you something else that’s concerning?
“What now?”
Director Nam asked irritably. Lee Joon-seung hesitated so uncharacteristically that he had to lower his phone and check the screen to make sure the call hadn’t been disconnected.
“What is it? I’m driving.”
—That thing about Yoo Siwoon dealing with the kids from his family.
“Why bring that up? What happened? Don’t tell me they actually carried it out?”
He asked urgently, his heart sinking with shock.
—Well… sigh, it seems that wasn’t the case.
“What do you mean? What wasn’t the case? What are you talking about?”
—We detained those guys for questioning about the murder solicitation, but it turns out the kids weren’t the target. He asked them to track down and eliminate all of that strange herb. They had hidden it everywhere, in mountains and other places. Especially Yoo Oseon, who had acquired a farm and was growing it professionally. Since it was obvious that the enforcers wouldn’t cooperate if they knew Yoo Siwoon was trying to eliminate all Jeokdan, he seems to have made the request through unrelated parties.
“…What are you saying? The children weren’t the targets?”
—It seems he was trying to make the children sterile… not kill them…
Lee Joon-seung, who had firmly misunderstood that Yoo Siwoon was trying to kill pre-pubescent breeders, trailed off like a student being questioned by a teacher, perhaps feeling somewhat apologetic.
“Are you sure? Are you certain the children weren’t the targets?”
—I thought they were lying, so I checked and caught a doctor who had illegally prescribed anti-androgens or GnRH agonists. It’s true there were attempts to permanently destroy the children’s reproductive functions.
“When did you find this out?”
—…Actually, it’s been a while.
Lee Joon-seung confessed after a long pause.
“Why are you only telling me this now? Is this some kind of confession because you think everything’s over now? What is this!”
Director Nam vehemently demanded to know how he could have let him misunderstand Yoo Siwoon so badly for so long, filled with indignation.
—If I had told the truth, you wouldn’t have cooperated.
“That… does that make any sense?”
—Director.
Lee Joon-seung called him with a serious voice. It was a sincere voice saying to listen to what he had to say, that from now on, it was absolutely not a lie.
—I still… think it’s right for Seo Eunseong to disappear. As long as he’s around, that cult will never disappear. And Yoo Siwoon, who is obsessed with him… will eventually become strange, just as you worry. I don’t believe in fate or horoscopes, but I know what Yoo Siwoon’s self-destructive nature is like. Don’t forget that he has Seongha’s bloodline, that he carries those crazy genes.
Director Nam glanced at Eunseong while holding his phone. Eunseong, not knowing what was happening, was looking at him worriedly as he raised his voice in anger. Director Nam turned his gaze forward and said:
“Let’s talk later.”
—You need to send that kid away. That’s what I called to confirm again.
“…”
—Even if he wasn’t trying to kill the children, as long as Yoo Siwoon and that kid are together, the Yongse Pacheon Church isn’t gone—it’s alive in its very essence. You know what that means, don’t you?
It was a warning that he shouldn’t leave Eunseong with Yoo Siwoon, as his resolve was wavering.
—With that kid beside him, CEO Yoo Siwoon will be ruined.
“…I understand, so let’s talk later.”
Director Nam hung up without listening to him further. He put the phone back in his jacket pocket and gripped the steering wheel firmly with both hands.
“What was that call about? That was the police officer’s voice, right?”
Eunseong, who had been listening to the conversation, asked with eyes full of suspicion.
“Team Leader Lee Joon-seung and I are investigating something. That’s what it was about. Nothing important.”
“It seemed important. Isn’t it related to ahjussi?”
“No. You don’t need to worry about it.”
While Director Nam was relieved that Yoo Siwoon hadn’t intended to kill the children, he also agreed with Lee Joon-seung’s opinion that as long as Yoo Siwoon believed Eunseong was The Great Crevice, it was essentially the same as the Yongse Pacheon Church still being alive, and eventually some ominous event would occur. Moreover, now that Eunseong knew everything, they were only hurting each other.
Director Nam gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“It’s not that important. We’ll resolve it when we get there.”
With lingering unease, the car arrived at the Incheon Passenger Terminal parking lot. Director Nam parked in a corner of the lot where cars were sparse and turned off the engine.
Only after arriving at the passenger port did the reality of leaving hit Eunseong. Though he thought he wouldn’t feel anything, an unfamiliar fear suddenly washed over him. Eunseong clutched his bag tightly.
“We’ve arrived. Now you just need to board the ship.”
“…Yes.”
“When you arrive in New Zealand, a guide will help you open a bank account with your new identity. That money… is the death insurance payout left by your birth parents when they died in a car accident. It’s funds that even the CEO doesn’t know about. CEO Yoo Siwoon’s father had kept it. It’s money he intended to give you when you became an adult.”
“…”
“It should be enough for you to live comfortably even after you graduate from school. Don’t waste it carelessly just because it’s a lot. You know from experience, right? How to manage money. Don’t trust people recklessly, and never show that you have money.”
Director Nam mentioned the incident with Kim Dongjun and sternly warned him never to forget that lesson.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
