Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 109

Hearing this, Cheon Sejoo roughly understood. The man Sejin was holding had secretly taken pictures of others, and when caught, he ran away, so Sejin stopped him. Sejin was actively meddling again? Commendable, but there was something that made him inexplicably uncomfortable. Cheon Sejoo continued to observe the area around the counter.

It seemed Sejin’s phone had fallen near the carpet in the bookshelf area, probably during the struggle when he tackled the guy. His backpack was also on the counter; he must have been borrowing books when he saw what happened and rushed out to stop it. But at that moment, a staff member’s words made Cheon Sejoo’s ears ring:

“Sejin, do you remember what the shift leader said the CCTV password was last time?”

“Yes, I do.”

Cheon Sejoo’s eyes immediately turned cold. He lowered his eyelids, repeating the words in his head.

How could a student who only came to the library to study know the CCTV access password? Did Sejin ask the manager about it? But why? Questions flooded his mind. And then he remembered the past few months…

Indeed, there were many strange things. Whether school ended early or late, he always came to the library at the same time and left at the same time. He said he could only study effectively in the reading room, but before, even during exams, he didn’t bother to go to the library on weekends.

The facts slowly piecing together in his mind made the corners of Cheon Sejoo’s lips twist into a forced smile. He leaned back against the wall, silently listening to their conversation. Seeing the elevator from the 1st floor had reached the 5th floor, he immediately moved into the emergency exit just before the elevator doors opened.

Cheon Sejoo slightly opened the door, tilting his ear to listen to the walkie-talkie sounds mixed with the police footsteps. Without hesitation, Cheon Sejoo quietly went down the stairs, then left the library through the main entrance as calmly as he had entered.

“Click.”

He got into the driver’s seat, silently staring at the logo on the steering wheel, then lowered the car window. Cold wind rushed in, and he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

The lighter Cheon Sejoo held was a Zippo, a new gift from Sejin for him, replacing the disposable lighter he had to use after throwing away the one Doyoon gave him. A long snake coiled around the body of the lighter, its head open, revealing venomous fangs right on the top lid.

Snakes are uncompromising creatures. When prey is in sight, they must tear it apart and swallow it whole in one go to be satisfied. Cheon Sejoo wondered if Sejin understood that when he gave him this. He suddenly thought of this with cold eyes.

The reddish-orange flame at the tip of the cigarette cast a faint light on the silver lighter. He stared at the glossy snake eyes, then turned his head when his phone began to vibrate. Sejin was calling.

“…Cheon Sejoo.”

He answered as if nothing was wrong, and Sejin’s anxious voice immediately came through.

“Where are you? Still down there? Sorry, I’ll be right down!”

“Come to the parking lot.”

“Got it, wait for me!”

Sejin hung up after a firm reply. Cheon Sejoo put his phone down, stubbed out his cigarette, and put the butt into an empty box.

He pulled up the car window, turned on the heater, and waited. Soon Sejin appeared, wearing the puffer jacket he had bought him. Before he could even put his backpack on, he rushed to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. Sejin plopped his bag onto the back seat and immediately apologized.

“Sorry, I… accidentally fell asleep.”

Cheon Sejoo didn’t reply, just smiled slightly, but that smile made Sejin feel as if he was angry. He quickly looked at the clock, which was past 10:30, and frowned with guilt.

“You’ve been waiting for a long time, haven’t you? I’ll be more careful next time.”

“How long has it been?”

Instead of answering, Cheon Sejoo asked back. The sudden question made Sejin blink in confusion, and Cheon Sejoo turned to look directly at him.

“How long have you been working at the library?”

“….”

Sejin froze awkwardly. He silently blinked, then reached out and took Cheon Sejoo’s wrist, which was resting on the gear stick, an instinctive action when he realized Cheon Sejoo was angry. Cheon Sejoo glanced at his long, beautiful hand, then tilted his head and asked again.

“Do I have to ask three times?”

“…Since September…”

Hearing the difficult confession, Cheon Sejoo turned his head away, his lips curving into an unreadable smile.

September, that was when Sejin first told him he would go to the library to study in the new semester. So he had been lying to him since the beginning. A sharp pain shot deep into his stomach, and bitter emotions filled his head, leaving no room for reason.

“Cheon Sejoo…”

As Cheon Sejoo’s face gradually hardened, Sejin bit his lip, flustered. Just one action, one breath from him was enough for Sejin to guess Cheon Sejoo’s mood. So he understood very well that the person opposite him was angry.

At last year’s festival, when he found out Sejin had lied, Cheon Sejoo had also been angry and disappointed like this. Sejin realized he had disappointed him again and tightened his grip.

But honestly, the reason he didn’t tell him about his part-time job was nothing more than wanting to create a surprise. Wasn’t it to give him a birthday present? So Cheon Sejoo would surely understand. Sejin began to explain with this thought.

“It’s not that… I just wanted to buy you a birthday present…”

“How much?”

“…Huh?”

“How much did you get for doing that?”

The sudden question silenced Sejin. He couldn’t guess if Cheon Sejoo was asking out of anger, or if he genuinely wanted to know the truth. While Sejin hesitated, Cheon Sejoo raised an eyebrow and smiled as if urging him to answer. Perhaps… it was truly just curiosity. Sejin thought so and carefully replied.

“…Eleven thousand won per hour…”

“Eleven thousand.”

A disbelieving laugh escaped him. From six to ten o’clock, forty-four thousand every day. Two hundred thousand a week, eight hundred thousand a month. For that paltry sum, he had lied and frequented the library for four months. It was too ridiculous.

On the days Sejin wasn’t home, Cheon Sejoo was mostly busy, but the days he felt lonely due to Sejin’s absence were more numerous than the days he didn’t notice.

Every time he came home from work and there was no one to greet him, it felt like returning to the dark days before he met Sejin. Cheon Sejoo could only lean on Sejin’s remaining traces, wearing the clothes he left behind, holding the pen he used, reading the notes he wrote.

And he told himself that all of this was something he had to endure. Because Sejin was striving for his goals, he also had to be steadfast here so that Sejin could return at any time.

But… it turned out that time wasn’t a necessity. It felt like being hit in the back of the head.

Eleven thousand won.

Why? Compared to being by his side, that money was nothing. Knowing that Sejin had chosen money over time with him, an uncontrollable emotion surged within Cheon Sejoo. He ran his tongue over his teeth, looked at Sejin, and said:

“You took that meager amount of money to work for four months in exchange for not being with me.”

“…Huh?”
The ice-cold words froze Sejin’s chest. He looked up at Cheon Sejoo, his face rigid as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Before enlisting, Sejin only wanted to give him a gift he had prepared with his own hands. So that Cheon Sejoo would always carry it with him, always remember him.
That’s why, since September, he had worked diligently without feeling like he was lying. Thanks to that, he was able to order the ring he wanted.
All that time was for Cheon Sejoo, wanting to give him his time, his affection. But now, hearing him call it “a paltry sum,” Sejin’s heart twisted. He didn’t understand why he was so angry.
“Cheon Sejoo, I just wanted to…”
But Sejin couldn’t continue speaking because Cheon Sejoo’s face opposite him looked deeply hurt.
His eyes held profound sadness and disappointment. Sejin immediately realized this and swallowed the words he wanted to say. Cheon Sejoo spoke, his voice choked:
“…I hate things like that, Sejin.”
His mother must not have intended to abandon him when she sent him to the orphanage. She just thought that when things got better, when the time came, tomorrow… that day would come. And so she left him and the other children forever.
That was the emotion still deeply trapped in Cheon Sejoo’s heart. A pain that needed no justification. The person who truly wanted him had to always put him first—that was a selfish, raw desire that he had never dared to confide in anyone.
“Just because of the excuse that it’s for me, I have to fall behind other things. I cannot accept that.”

For the first time, Cheon Sejoo revealed himself so frankly and selfishly, so rawly. Just when Kwon Sejin thought he had understood every facet of Cheon Sejoo, he exposed a completely unexpected part of himself. Each time, Sejin was overwhelmed by the pure and brilliant emotions that Cheon Sejoo reserved only for him.

Only Sejin knew this side of Cheon Sejoo. The person standing before him now was a Cheon Sejoo that only Sejin could know.

“I don’t like that kind of thing.”

Kwon Sejin had lied to work part-time, and during the time he was at the library, Cheon Sejoo had been pushed down in his priorities.

If this was to buy him a birthday present, it was no different from being jealous of himself. It was truly questionable whether one could even call this childish and selfish emotion “jealousy.”

But there was nothing else to do. The emotions were too clear, and Cheon Sejoo knew that unless he laid bare his heart, things like this would continue to happen.

“Cheon Sejoo…”

At those heartfelt words, Sejin blushed and hugged him tightly. Although he was the one who confessed to secretly preparing something for Cheon Sejoo, that moment felt like receiving a confession from Cheon Sejoo himself.

Because it was to buy him a gift, Sejin thought that the time spent working at the library was time for Cheon Sejoo. But he said that wasn’t the case. No matter what the reason, the truth was that during that entire time, Sejin had left Cheon Sejoo alone at home, and now he was sulking about it.

Asking someone to consider you the most important thing in their life sounded so desperately earnest that it was hard to believe those words came from Cheon Sejoo himself. Sejin couldn’t help but kiss his lips. That look, when asking him to “put him first,” along with his stunning face that made everyone turn their heads, made Sejin just want to hold him tight and never let go.

“I was wrong. It won’t happen again. I love you, Cheon Sejoo. Hmm? I’m really sorry. For me, there’s only you. Just that. All I have, it’s just you…”

Sejin whispered carefully, “For me, there’s only you.” That seemingly unremarkable sentence brought such immense satisfaction that Sejin would probably never fully understand.

Cheon Sejoo sighed softly and hugged him. The fact that he only felt relieved when his lover, twelve years his junior, told him that he only had Cheon Sejoo, made him feel pathetic. But there was no other way, because that was how Cheon Sejoo yearned to be loved.

Full of

Kwon Sejin finished his second year with excellent grades and enlisted in February before entering his third year.
The place where he would spend eighteen months of service was an honor guard company, only recruiting men between 180cm and under 190cm tall. Of course, Sejin didn’t volunteer; it was because Cheon Sejoo said he would help him fill out the enlistment application, so he just nodded in agreement without thinking, and thus ended up in that very honor guard company.