Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 1

White smoke scattered into the air. The man lowered his hand, a cigarette still between his lips. The small head resting below his waist was slowly moving. He ran his hand through his young partner’s soft hair, feeling a surge of pleasure course through him.

Cold sweat beaded on his skin as he suppressed the tingling sensation of climax. Ah… A small bead of sweat, gathered on the nape of his neck, trickled down with a sigh-like groan.

The black tiger, baring its teeth ferociously on the man Cheon Sejoo’s back, had its sharp claws extended, ready to tear its opponent apart at any moment. A small droplet of water brushed past its large forepaw, tattooed above his narrow waist. Finally, with a soft thud, as the bead of sweat slid down his firm, grooved buttocks and hit the floor, Cheon Sejoo pressed down firmly on the back of his opponent’s head and came inside his throat.

“Haa, haa.”

Soon, the man, Kang Doyoon, who had spit out the large penis, looked up at him with reddened eyes, letting out ragged breaths. Cheon Sejoo wiped his sweat-soaked forehead, scratched his cheek, and smiled faintly.

“Well done.”

At that simple praise, Doyoon giggled and lay down on the bed. Cheon Sejoo smiled along with him, then ground out the cigarette still held between his lips in the ashtray and lowered his gaze to the bedside table. His phone, resting on the table, had been lighting up for a while now. Cheon Sejoo checked the caller ID, stared at the name with an indifferent expression, and then, after a long moment, reached out and picked up the phone.

As he pressed the call button, a familiar voice came from the other end of the speaker.

“Hyung-nim.”

Cheon Sejoo, however, did not reply and moved. As he put on the gown he had tossed on the sofa, the tiger roaring on his back vanished instantly. He loosely tied the sash that hung down to the floor and headed for the living room.

“Hyung-nim, are you awake?”

The suite’s living room was enveloped in quiet silence. Feeling the rough texture of the carpet wrap around his feet, Cheon Sejoo approached the coffee bar next to the bathroom. He put on the wristwatch that lay in front of the mug, and it was nine o’clock. Saturday morning, nine o’clock. An unwelcome time for anyone to call.

“Hyung-nim, I’m sorry…”

And to top it off, a call from a gang member, spewing that tiresome “Hyung-nim” again. Annoyance rising, Cheon Sejoo did not answer and turned on the coffee machine. While inserting a capsule into the machine and brewing a hot espresso, he lit another cigarette and put it in his mouth. The acrid cigarette smoke obscured his vision. Cheon Sejoo looked down at his phone through the hazy air. The call duration had just passed one minute.

Soon, Cheon Sejoo deeply inhaled, his cheeks hollowing, then stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette in the nearby ashtray. Click, he pressed the button to discard the capsule and picked up a new one. Through the speaker, the other person made a groaning sound as if in pain.

“This is really the last time. Please, just help me one more time. If this happens again, then I’ll just…”

“You must think I’m a joke, huh?”

At the sharp question, an immediate denial, “No way,” came back. He let out an irritated sigh and hung up the phone without listening to the other person’s continuing explanation.

A phone call at this hour, there was nothing more to hear. This wasn’t the first time the youngest member of the office had deleted an accounting file. He had done it twice already, and each time he had been severely reprimanded, yet he did it again. It seemed he wouldn’t learn until he got a beating. Cheon Sejoo closed his eyes, feeling tired.

He wanted to pretend he didn’t know, but he couldn’t even ignore it, knowing that if he didn’t go, the youngest member, who caused the trouble, would be beaten to a pulp. Cheon Sejoo let out a small sigh, put down his phone, and picked up two mugs of coffee.

Returning to the bedroom, Doyoon, who was lying upside down on the bed, looking out the window, reached out to him. Cheon Sejoo put a mug in the hand of his partner, who was smiling with his eyes even in the morning, then took a sip of his own coffee and said,

“I have to go.”

“Already?”

At his words, Doyoon lifted his head. His disappointment was evident. They had just met after a long time and spent a few days together, but it seemed it wasn’t enough for Doyoon.

“Something came up.”

When Cheon Sejoo briefly explained the situation, Doyoon shrugged and mumbled, “Nothing can be done…” However, his actions were the opposite of his accepting words. Doyoon downed the moderately cooled espresso in one gulp, then got on all fours on the bed and crawled towards Cheon Sejoo. Smiling prettily, Doyoon reached out, untied the belt of his gown, and whispered softly,

“Then stay for just 30 more minutes…”

It was a simple yet cunning temptation. Cheon Sejoo, who had been looking down at Doyoon with cool eyes, suddenly chuckled and lowered himself onto the bed. His large hand grabbed and spread Kang Doyoon’s legs.

When Cheon Sejoo left the hotel with wet hair, it was just past eleven in the morning. The wind flowed through the open collar of his shirt, and he felt the heat that had risen to his head cool down. As the season transitioned from summer to winter, facing the chilling wind that was too cool for bare skin, Cheon Sejoo smoked a cigarette while waiting for his car to be prepared. He ran his hand, holding the cigarette, through his still-damp hair and picked up his phone.

32 missed calls. The screen was filled with traces of persistent attempts to reach him. Furthermore, even though almost two hours had passed since he had hung up without a word, another call came in quickly, as if to show they hadn’t given up. It was the same guy as before.

“Hyung-nim! Please!”

As soon as he answered the phone, a voice pleaded as if shouting. Cheon Sejoo, who didn’t even want to hear it, said, “I’ll be there soon,” with a cigarette in his mouth, and hung up again.

“Customer, I’ll escort you this way.”

The valet parking attendant approached Cheon Sejoo, who was rubbing his eyes from profound fatigue. A brand-new white Lamborghini was now standing before him. Cheon Sejoo belatedly realized it was his newly changed car and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. He handed the attendant a 50,000 won bill and got into the opened driver’s seat.

The distance from the hotel to the Capital was not far. The white sports car he was driving reached its destination in ten minutes.

Cheon Sejoo parked the car by the sidewalk and turned his head. An old building stood outside the window. A few burly men were standing guard near the glass door, which had scattered sticker marks. Smoking boredly, they noticed the approaching car on the sidewalk and quickly walked toward him.

The men lined up, waiting for Cheon Sejoo to get out. Cheon Sejoo, sitting in the driver’s seat, looked at them, then silently closed and opened his eyes. Every time he came here, he felt a discomfort in his stomach, as if he had to wear clothes that didn’t fit him. However, it was an unavoidable and necessary task. Cheon Sejoo put on a cold mask over his indifferent face and opened the driver’s door.

“You’ve arrived, Hyung-nim!”

A thunderous greeting echoed all around. Cheon Sejoo, having gotten out of the car, nodded with his suit jacket slung over his left arm. The men swallowed dryly, a tension in the air simply from his presence.

He passed the burly men without a word and headed straight for the building entrance. It was at the moment when the men, their tension released, sighed and straightened their backs. Halt, Cheon Sejoo suddenly stopped and kicked a cigarette butt lying near the door.

“Clean this up, you bastards.”

At the low command, the burly men rushed over, bending their backs again. While they picked up dozens of cigarette butts scattered near the entrance, Cheon Sejoo sighed and walked inside.

The building had that musty, damp smell characteristic of old structures. Shin Sa Capital was located in an environment that Cheon Sejoo, who detested anything dirty, would naturally dislike. Built in the 1980s and enduring decades without renovation, the building was so poorly maintained that even with eyes half-closed, one could clearly sense its dingy and dirty interior.

And yet, it seemed that old and dirty wasn’t enough. Today, on the way to the end of the hallway where the elevator was located, there was even a large bag left there. Filthy bastards, not even throwing it out immediately. As he was about to pass the pile of trash with such thoughts, Cheon Sejoo glanced down and realized that the blurry black shape he had seen was not trash but a person curled up in a black hoodie.

“…”

A slender jawline was visible through his long hair. The child’s face was pale and hardened, and the gaze directed at Cheon Sejoo was filled with hostility, to the point where it could be described as a glare.

In that very brief moment when their eyes met, Cheon Sejoo could surmise, just from a passing glance, that the child’s parents had borrowed a large sum of money from this place. The child was probably waiting for his parents, who had been dragged upstairs.

Tsk, he frowned and clicked his tongue briefly. There were so many terrible parents in the world. But it was not his business, so Cheon Sejoo walked past the child, took the elevator, and headed to the third floor.

There wasn’t a single ant in the hallway. Remembering that he had been called here on a day when everyone else was off, he kicked open the tightly closed office door. At the rattling sound of the entrance door, several men who had been dozing in their chairs jumped in surprise and lifted their heads.

“Hyung-nim! You’re here!”

Cheon Sejoo frowned at the exasperating title. He didn’t return the greeting and looked around the office. Being Saturday, most desks were empty, and only the burly men, who pursued collections day and night, were resting on the sofas, holding their positions.

But the office was a trash can. Snack bags and beer cans lay scattered on the tables, and there was even a guy still sleeping on the sofa. It was nothing short of a complete mess.

A sudden surge of irritation made Cheon Sejoo approach and kick the sofa with his foot. Thwack, the sleeping man screamed and woke up from the sudden impact. A cold voice flowed from Cheon Sejoo, who had witnessed it.

“Is this your house? If you’re going to sleep here, pay rent, you bastard.”

“Ah, Hyung-nim! You’re here!”

“Clean this up too. Is this a pigsty? Goddamn it, should I pick a day and butcher you all?”

Cheon Sejoo’s outburst made the office bustle. Apologizing profusely, the men hastily tidied up their places.

Wanting to leave the dirty place quickly, Cheon Sejoo ignored them and moved further into the office. But there was no one inside the accounting room, which was separated by partitions. Seeing only his computer, which he had to clean up after, turned on by itself, his perfectly straight brows furrowed.

There was a proper reason why Cheon Sejoo, the organization’s fixer, ended up playing the role of a loan shark boss, a role he wasn’t meant for. The circumstances were simple. Three months ago, a big fight broke out among the gang members within Shin Sa Capital, and the faint-hearted civilian employees who witnessed the bloody brawl all resigned. News of the chaotic Shin Sa Capital reached Shin Gyoyeon, the organization’s successor, and when someone needed to take control, he summoned Cheon Sejoo.

The two gang members who instigated the fight received brutal punishment from Cheon Sejoo. Blood stained the office, and once the atmosphere stabilized, he began recruiting new employees to work at the company.

This was where the problem began. Somehow, the rumors spread, and they simply couldn’t find anyone to handle the accounting. After a week, the vacant seats in the office remained unfilled, so Cheon Sejoo eventually picked some useful young gang members and temporarily assigned them to the work.

The one who caused trouble this time was one of them. He seemed smart, so he was assigned to accounting, but the problem was that he wasn’t thorough and kept making mistakes. And unfortunately, within Shin Sa Capital, Cheon Sejoo was the only one who could currently fix those mistakes.

Where did he go after calling him to clean up his mess? Cheon Sejoo let out an irritated sigh and asked loudly,

“Where’s the maknae?”

But no one answered his question. Cheon Sejoo frowned, his eyes narrowed, and he looked past the partition. He saw the big men nudging each other, delaying their answer. It was clear that something had happened here that they were uncomfortable telling him.

Ha, Cheon Sejoo exhaled a sigh, then sat on the desk and rubbed his throbbing forehead for a moment. He repeated the action until one side of his forehead, hidden by his hair, turned reddish, then asked another question. Come to think of it, another person who should have been here was missing.

“Did Moon Seonhyuk go home?”

“No, he’s still here.”

“Where did he go?”

“…Well, he, uh, just, over there, outside.”

Moon Seonhyuk was originally part of the clean-up team, one of Cheon Sejoo’s direct subordinates who would readily slit his own throat if Cheon Sejoo ordered it.

Yesterday, he had clearly said he would be here all day Saturday, but he was absent. It was around the time Sejoo began to foster an uneasy suspicion due to Seonhyuk’s uncharacteristic behavior.

Moon Seonhyuk entered the office, his hands wrapped in paper towels as if he had just washed them. Short-cropped hair and a magnificent physique. Moon Seonhyuk was bigger than anyone else there. Half a span taller than Cheon Sejoo, he approached Sejoo as soon as he saw him and respectfully bowed his head.

“You’re here.”

“…”

Cheon Sejoo lowered his gaze without a word. Beneath the paper towel, not only his hands but also the sleeves of his shirt still had moisture. Sejoo, knowing Moon Seonhyuk’s fastidious nature, immediately realized what had happened in the office before he arrived.

His neatly closed lips tilted askew. Cheon Sejoo’s jawline, clenching his teeth, became clearly defined, and a blue vein protruded beside his sternocleidomastoid muscle. Seeing the gaze of the person in front of him directed at his neck, Cheon Sejoo raised a hand and touched the traces of the lovemaking left by Kang Doyoon. Soon, a low voice escaped him.

“Seonhyuk.”

Expressionless eyes below straight eyebrows stared at Moon Seonhyuk. Moon Seonhyuk, who was guilty, could not meet his gaze. No sooner had he bowed his head deeply than Cheon Sejoo’s cold fingers tapped Seonhyuk’s cheek.

“When are you going to fix your habit of laying hands on people?”

The hand that had been playfully tapping smacked Moon Seonhyuk’s cheek right after that question. Smack, the clear resounding crack in the office made the burly men, who had been quietly cleaning, stop breathing. Glimpse, feeling their frightened gazes directed at him, Cheon Sejoo glared at Moon Seonhyuk, who was standing with his head bowed.

“Who are you to keep laying hands on the kids?”

His tone, discussing qualifications, was calm. Cheon Sejoo wasn’t angry, nor was he in a bad mood. Knowing the reason for Moon Seonhyuk’s violence, he couldn’t genuinely condemn him. This was merely a natural admonition that Cheon Sejoo, as the one currently responsible for Shin Sa Capital, had to give.

“I apologize.”

Moon Seonhyuk admitted his mistake without a single excuse. At his concise but clearly sincere apology, Cheon Sejoo inwardly clicked his tongue and turned his head. He ordered the burly men, who were caught between a rock and a hard place, to find the troublemaker who had summoned him here.

A moment later, the maknae returned with a crestfallen face, his cheek swollen. Moon Seonhyuk had already disciplined him for causing trouble on a weekend and making Cheon Sejoo come.

He had the misfortune of getting caught and beaten by Moon Seonhyuk, so one might think he deserved some leniency, but Cheon Sejoo, clicking his tongue, still smacked the maknae’s cheek without holding back. This time, the sound echoed once more. Soon, blood trickled from the corner of the maknae’s mouth. Cheon Sejoo surveyed his pathetic appearance and spoke.

“Yeongjun.”

“Yes…”

A large hand caressed the maknae Yeongjun’s head. Yeongjun, commendably, answered loudly despite his trembling lips. Cheon Sejoo, looking down at his reddened and swollen cheek, instructed him in a gentle voice with a smile on his lips.

“If you have a brain, use it. How many times is this now? If you keep doing this, I’ll want to open your head and see if there’s anything in there.”

“N-never again!”

“That’s right… How many hyungs have to follow after you to clean up your mess?”

“I’m sorry!”

Yeongjun’s booming apology brought a sudden wave of fatigue. He’d rather beat someone; this ridiculous act of being a hyung just didn’t suit him. Cheon Sejoo wanted to go home and rest as soon as possible.

He turned his back on Yeongjun, who was shouting with tears welling up in his eyes. Yeongjun followed Cheon Sejoo as he crossed the partition into the accounting office. Only then did peace return to the office. Moon Seonhyuk went out to buy coffee for Cheon Sejoo, and the burly men, noticing Cheon Sejoo, started cleaning again.

“Hold the mouse and follow along.”

Cheon Sejoo, perched on the windowsill of the accounting office, instructed Yeongjun, who held the mouse in a stiff posture, on how to recover files. He almost raised his fist when Yeongjun twice overwrote the most recent backup file in reverse, but fortunately, by the third time, he had clearly mastered the recovery method, so there was no more need to get angry.

Finally, when the recovery was complete, and Yeongjun was entering the accounting data that needed to be submitted by today, Cheon Sejoo remained in his seat, drinking the Iced Americano Seonhyuk bought and just looking out the window. It was because a wave of annoyance washed over him at the thought of going home. It was about an hour after he arrived at the office that he loudly called out to someone, staring blankly at his new car.

“Hey!”

Ten meters below the window, on the sidewalk, the man who had been lingering around the white Lamborghini flinched at the sound. Then, pretending not to hear, he moved to walk past the car. Suddenly dumbfounded, Cheon Sejoo threw the cup he was holding out the window.

Thud, the disposable cup, containing only ice, hit the man at his feet. Startled, the man flinched, then with a surprised expression, as if he truly hadn’t known, looked up at the third floor where Cheon Sejoo was.

“Oh, Hyung-nim! When did you arrive?!”

At his shouted question, Cheon Sejoo replied in a cold voice,

“You bastard, acting like you don’t know, without any respect. Aren’t you coming up?”

“Huh? I can’t hear you well! I’ll be right there!”