The Unbelievers

Chapter 37

The family had no possibility of betrayal, as they had already handled quite a few people on the orders of the eldest uncle and the board of elders, and were also the CEO of one of the affiliated companies. It meant they had too much to lose if they weren’t careful.

Yoo Siwoon opened the incinerator’s viewing window. He checked the situation inside. The person who had been slumped over with their head between their knees was now gone, replaced by a pitiful pile of bone fragments burning in the roaring flames.

After looking inside, Yoo Siwoon took his hand out of his pocket and reduced the heat. The hot air scorched his face red. After waiting for some time, he completely cut off the flames.

He stepped back for a moment and opened the lid, waiting for the heat inside to dissipate. When he pulled the incinerator handle, a large oven tray-like metal plate slid out. On top of it, a mound of bones emitted intense heat, raising dust-like ashes.

He swept the bones with a broom. A human body has 206 bones. Thin ribs, neck bones, and fingers were already untraceable, but two thigh bones, the skull, and pelvic bone – these large pieces – were all that remained to indicate that these bones were once human.

He immediately transferred what he had collected in the dustpan to the grinder and pressed the lever at the bottom with his foot to start the machine. Suddenly, in the pitch-black and quiet place, a loud motor sound erupted. Dust and small fragments flew up. The cremated remains made cracking sounds as they were crushed.

Unlike at a crematorium, he didn’t wait for it to turn completely to ash. He turned off the machine once it was roughly ground and unrecognizable. As the noisy machine stopped, even the barking dogs quieted down. Soon, the surrounding silence became eerily prominent.

He carried the grinder container to the pit. A hole had been dug beforehand, deep enough to submerge one of Yoo Siwoon’s knees. He dumped the remains there. A cloud of dusty ash rose, causing Yoo Siwoon to wave his hand in the air.

As he finished the job and put the empty container back into the grinder, the sound of an approaching car could be heard in the distance.

He shook off what was on his hands and dusted off any particles that might have gotten on his clothes. He walked to the yard’s water tap, bent down, and turned it on. He rubbed his hands clean under the running water.

The car stopped, a door opened, and the sound of someone rummaging and getting out could be heard. By the time he finished washing his hands, Director Nam was approaching with coffee.

“I brought something for you to drink. Is it all done? I apologize, every time. This should be my job.”

“This isn’t something to be delegated to others; it’s something the family should do. Besides, aren’t you afraid of this, Director?”

“Afraid? I’ll have you know I’m from the Skeleton Unit. It’s just that I was into the occult when I was young. It makes me a bit uneasy. I’d prefer not to do it if possible, that’s true.”

“Are you afraid they’ll appear in your dreams?”

Yoo Siwoon gestured with his chin towards somewhere in the darkness, as if pointing to the buried pit.

“Sir, did you say I’m from the Skeleton Unit?”

Director Nam poured bottled water into a cup with ice and handed it over. Yoo Siwoon drank the water refreshingly, like a reward after hard labor.

It was night, and being surrounded by mountains made it much cooler than in the city, but it was still summer after all. Moreover, for Yoo Siwoon, who had been standing next to a hot metal container all this time, the cold drink was like life-giving water.

“I thought you might want another, so I bought an extra bottle.”

“This is why I like you, Director.”

Yoo Siwoon praised Director Nam, who was pouring new water into the cup that had nothing left but ice, even though he had barely taken a few sips.

They moved towards the car. Now that the job was finished, they could leave. As Yoo Siwoon habitually surveyed the surroundings, Director Nam glanced at him and said:

“It doesn’t seem to be the case these days.”

“What do you…”

Yoo Siwoon looked at Director Nam, about to ask what he meant, but then remembered what he had just said and gave a light smile.

“Ah, right. I was a bit jealous when Eunseong was making a fuss about wanting to live with you.”

“People would laugh if they heard that. You, jealous of me?”

“I was envious, though?”

“It seems Eunseong is still insisting on that. Are you really thinking of moving him?”

“I’m… yes, I’m thinking about it. What can I do if he dislikes it so much? He’s precious, so we should do as he wishes.”

Yoo Siwoon spoke as if joking. The occasional sound of insects stopped abruptly as he approached the grass.

“Anyway, once his identity is cleaned up, he’ll have to move somewhere else. Wouldn’t it be better to send him then?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yoo Siwoon knew that eventually, whether Eunseong moved or went somewhere else, he would have to leave him.

Director Nam opened the back seat door. Before getting into the car, Yoo Siwoon dusted off his clothes once more and brushed off his pants. As he got into the back seat, Director Nam closed the door. The sound of the car door closing, ‘thud’, scratched the eerie silence, and the insects started chirping again.

Director Nam glanced back at the barn, which looked like a crouched shadow, and shuddered. He felt grateful once again to his superior who considered his circumstances as a mere employee. Although he had excluded him, saying it was a family matter, Yoo Siwoon was in a position where he could make anyone do anything, whether through power or money.

Director Nam got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. The headlights illuminated an area where weeds grew as tall as an adult man. Insects frantically flew into the light.

“I’ll start driving now.”

“…”

Yoo Siwoon didn’t respond and sank into the back seat.

As he had told Director Nam, he was preparing for separation from Eunseong, but couldn’t bring himself to actually do it.

Right now, Eunseong would be rummaging through Yoo Siwoon’s study, spreading a blanket under the telescope, disturbing the angle he had set, looking at whatever it was pointing at and tilting his head, wondering if it was Jupiter or Mars.

Despite asking to be sent away, Eunseong was increasingly invading Yoo Siwoon’s space, leaving his scent, rumpling his bedding, and even putting books back on the shelves upside down in the study.

He had never shown his private space to anyone, but especially not to Eunseong. If there was one person Yoo Siwoon absolutely had to keep at a distance, it was Seo Eunseong.

He was also aware that Eunseong was hurt by this, not just disappointed, but beyond that, to the point of feeling dejected. Yoo Siwoon couldn’t precisely define how he felt about it.

Was he scared? Afraid? Or was he hoping, despite his doubts, that the impossible might be true?

He didn’t know where these complex emotions came from, how, or why.

“Sir… if I may be so bold, I’ve heard that the ‘Great Rift’ has some kind of mark…”

“…”

“Have you seen it by any chance?”

Yoo Siwoon didn’t deny that his sinister intention in assigning Director Nam exclusively to Eunseong was to find that mark.

“If you haven’t seen it, Director, then it’s probably not there.”

“Yes…”

Director Nam trailed off suspiciously. For someone who had been into the occult in his younger days, this was a subject that could pique his curiosity and interest.

“May I speak even more boldly?”

“I’d rather not hear it, but since you’re going to say it anyway, go ahead.”

“If Eunseong turns out to be the ‘Great Rift’… if it’s really true… couldn’t this change the succession order for the Seongha Group? According to family law, it should rightfully change.”

Yoo Siwoon closed his eyes, took a sip of cold water, and set it down. Drinking the iced water he had been consuming outside in the heat, now inside the air-conditioned car, sent a chill down his throat that made his whole body feel cold.

“Are you suggesting that I should take over the entire Seongha Group?”

“No, that’s not what I…”

Director Nam lowered his eyes from the rearview mirror, looking apologetic.

“You seem quite ambitious.”

“I’m just saying that it would be natural.”

Director Nam added that wasn’t what he meant.

“Of course it’s natural. That’s the law of succession in our family.”

Yoo Siwoon nodded, agreeing plainly with his words. His voice was dry, showing neither impatience nor excitement, not even expectation, in the face of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that might allow him to take over the Seongha Group.

Within the Seongha Group, Yoo Siwoon was essentially exiled. He was at the very bottom of the succession order, the farthest from the throne.

“That’s right. That’s what I wanted to say.”

Director Nam asked, while turning the steering wheel, if that wasn’t how the procedure should go. If so, he who had been quietly cleaning up trash from the margins would no longer have to suffer such humiliation while being wary of the main family.

“It doesn’t seem like a matter to be taken lightly.”

“I don’t think of it that way. You can’t take it lightly when you’ve brought a person into it. It’s already not light at all.”

Director Nam spoke about what they would gain if they had that existence.

Both Seo Eunseong’s father and Yoo Siwoon knew that Eunseong met the conditions of the ‘Great Rift’. Whether they believed in the prophecy or not, it would be a lie to say they hadn’t calculated what they would gain by possessing that existence.

The Seongha Group would probably become Yoo Siwoon’s property, and he would no longer need to clean up his uncle’s mess. From then on, his uncle would be cleaning up Yoo Siwoon’s mess. That was the procedure, that was the family law. The order of succession depended solely on who obtained the ‘Great Rift’. If Eunseong was that being, Yoo Siwoon could overturn the family hierarchy in one fell swoop. He would become the crown prince, not a mere errand boy from the outskirts.

“Since we’re on the way up anyway, let’s pay a visit to the monk. It’s been a while.”

At Yoo Siwoon’s words, Director Nam glanced back slightly.

“I’ll call first. It’s quite late.”

As he heard the button sounds of Director Nam changing the destination on the navigation system, Yoo Siwoon closed his eyes as if trying to sleep.