Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 12

It had been 30 years since Cheon Sejoo was abandoned in front of the Angels’ Orphanage.

As the bells rang, signaling the start of the New Year, and many people smiled, wishing for a happy new year, Sister Maria, the head nun of the Angels’ Orphanage, who was praying with the other nuns, heard a resounding cry from outside the door.

Hurriedly pulling on her clothes, she went out to find a newborn baby lying all alone on the cold street. The child, who had arrived with the New Year, was wrapped in thick blankets, their face red, crying as if to tear the world apart. It was a powerful cry, calling Maria to them, as if to say, “Acknowledge my existence, save me.”

Maria, who hastily picked up the child, kissed the baby’s forehead, grateful that God had given her another chance to save a life. And to the child, who announced their existence to the world with a deafening cry, she gave the name Sejoo, meaning “Lord of the World,” as if to say, “Then you shall become the master of this world.”

Cheon Sejoo was born that way.

From an early age, he was a child born with extraordinary intelligence. He started walking before he was 10 months old and spoke fluently before he was two. Because he was smarter than anyone else, Sejoo accepted his circumstances early on. Thanks to this, he was the first among the children in the orphanage to mature. Cheon Sejoo never fought with his friends in kindergarten and knew how to understand and act according to the feelings of Maria and the other nuns. From a young age, he was a child who took care of himself meticulously. It was when he was eight years old that Cheon Sejoo first had a quarrel with others.

On a summer day when the rain poured so heavily that he couldn’t see what was in front of him, the woman who had left Cheon Sejoo eight years ago once again abandoned a baby in front of the orphanage and fled. The person who coincidentally found the child was the one who had been abandoned by her first.

He had just returned from the supermarket, wearing a raincoat, on an errand for the head nun. Cheon Sejoo found a small bundle of blankets placed with an umbrella in front of the orphanage door. Approaching it, he saw a baby with a fair face sleeping peacefully with their eyes gently closed. Cheon Sejoo thought the child was very cute and pulled out a postcard tucked into the baby’s swaddling blanket.

The incessantly falling raindrops intruded into the umbrella covering the baby. Thud, thud, with the sound of rain ringing in his ears, Cheon Sejoo read aloud the letter left by the child’s mother.

‘This is Sejoo’s sibling. Please raise them as family. …I’m sorry.’

That day, when the rain poured down white, Cheon Sejoo gained a sibling.

The woman already knew that the child she had left behind had been given the name Cheon Sejoo. Perhaps their mother was one of the women who volunteered at the orphanage, avoiding Maria’s eyes. But Maria didn’t actively seek her out. She didn’t pity her, guessing at her circumstances for not being able to raise the child. She was simply grateful that Sejoo was no longer an orphan and gave him a sibling.

He had gained a family, not a mother or a father. Cheon Sejoo rejoiced greatly at this fact and swore to God that he would protect his sibling well. From that day on, the child became the pillar supporting Cheon Sejoo’s life.

The baby, whose umbilical cord hadn’t even fallen off, was very different from Sejoo, who always cried loudly. Unlike Cheon Sejoo, they didn’t cry loudly, and rarely made a sound even when hungry or when their diaper was soaking wet. If they seemed fine and you looked away for a moment, they would regurgitate formula and soak their clothes, yet remain quiet, so the nuns couldn’t help but pay more attention to and care for that child. So Maria named that child Hyein. Hyein was a child born with the wisdom to live in the world.

In the orphanage, there were more children entrusted by their parents, like Cheon Sejoo and Cheon Hyein, than children who had lost their parents. There, the children waited every day for their parents to come for them. Suddenly, Cheon Sejoo, who had gained a family, became an object of jealousy among the other children.

The children teased Cheon Sejoo, saying that since his mother had even entrusted his sibling, she would never come to find him. Yet, at the same time, they envied the fact that Sejoo’s mother knew her children were there. Sometimes their parents would completely cut off contact, as if they had forgotten that their children were in the orphanage.

At that time, Cheon Sejoo was a head taller than his other friends, so instead of confronting him, the mischievous children tormented the speechless Cheon Hyein instead. They pulled back the blanket of the lying child and snatched away the pacifier held tightly in their hand, throwing it away.

Cheon Sejoo did not stand by and watch. Sejoo, who had something to protect for the first time in eight years, one day used a rock rolling in the orphanage’s backyard to strike the friend who had tormented his sibling.

Maria was very surprised by the violence he showed, but she felt relieved when she realized it was to protect Cheon Hyein. Instead of scolding Cheon Sejoo, she taught him how to protect his sibling. She whispered to him that violence was a temporary measure and that to protect his sister, he needed to become a greater and better person. From then on, Cheon Sejoo only waited to become an adult who could protect his sister as soon as possible.

Until Cheon Sejoo became a middle school student and Cheon Hyein turned 6, their mother did not visit the orphanage. While friends disappeared one by one as parents with stable lives took their children from the orphanage, the two siblings remained there until the very end.

One day, Cheon Sejoo suddenly realized that his mother would never come for them, and he understood that he had to play the role of Hyein’s parent as well. From then on, Sejoo began to study.

Although he was born intelligent, it wasn’t easy to catch up with friends who studied with parental support. But Cheon Sejoo stayed up all night memorizing textbooks whole and devoured reference books obtained from teachers, as if to memorize every single period.

Cheon Sejoo set his goal on entering medical school. It wasn’t because he had a grand mission to save people. Rather, he dreamed that dream thanks to Hyein, who thought being a doctor was the best job in the world.

Natural intelligence was combined with effort. When Cheon Sejoo was nineteen, he was admitted as the top student to Korea University Medical School, which boasted the highest admission scores in Korea. Because his birth was registered on January 1st, he entered a year earlier than others. Thus, Cheon Sejoo could stay at the orphanage until he finished his first year of university.

However, after turning twenty, he had to leave the orphanage. Cheon Sejoo found a room in the city with 5 million won received as settlement support, 10 million won from an anonymous sponsor, and money he earned from tutoring on the side for a year. And he brought his sibling, Cheon Hyein, out of the orphanage.

Korea University was in Seoul, and the orphanage was in Suwon. He could have lived in the dormitory, so there was no real need to find a house, but Cheon Sejoo wanted to give Hyein a complete home of her own. He wanted to create a private space that she didn’t have to share with others, especially during her sensitive teenage years.

So Cheon Sejoo attended school from the dormitory and visited Hyein every weekend. Meanwhile, Cheon Hyein, who was a middle school student, was left alone in the house he had acquired. His desire to create a home just for their family. That desire left Hyein alone in an empty house. It made her a loner. But at the time, Cheon Sejoo didn’t realize it.

To become a doctor, one had to study, saving even sleeping time, and Cheon Sejoo was no exception. Furthermore, there were things that couldn’t be solved by scholarships and sponsorship alone, so he had to squeeze in time for tutoring to earn pocket money and living expenses for Hyein.

Six years passed like that. Cheon Sejoo, who graduated from medical school and passed the national exam to obtain his medical license, became an intern at Korea University Hospital. After becoming an intern, he had almost no personal time. Although he was much closer to Hyein in terms of distance than when he lived in the dormitory, Cheon Sejoo could only meet Hyein about twice a month, so he didn’t notice her changes.

Hyein, who had been subject to passive aggression from her orphanage peers whenever Cheon Sejoo wasn’t around, grew up to be a child who didn’t easily reveal her true feelings, due to her innate personality combined with her upbringing. This was also true for her older brother, Cheon Sejoo. Hyein didn’t tell Sejoo that she was being bullied at school.

She didn’t want to cause trouble for her brother, who had become a doctor. She didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want to be a hindrance, and didn’t want to be an obstacle to his future. That’s why Cheon Sejoo only learned that Hyein had been bullied after her funeral.

Cheon Sejoo decided to become a doctor solely because of Hyein. It was because she had told Cheon Sejoo to become a doctor and help poor people like themselves. However, after six years of studying, from pre-med to main course, Cheon Sejoo also developed a goal.

This time, too, it wasn’t an altruistic goal of wanting to save people. He simply saw the professors driving nice cars and wearing nice clothes and wanted to give Hyein only good things. A house so big it would make her eyes widen, a warm house with no drafts, food eaten not just to fill her stomach but to savor the taste, expensive clothes with both function and design.

And now, everything he had wanted to give Hyein was gathered in one place. But the person receiving it was not Cheon Hyein, but someone else. Moreover, he had a scowling expression, as if he found all of it displeasing.

“……”

Cheon Sejoo sat with his chin propped on the table. He was staring intently at the guy who was moving his chopsticks incessantly, watching his every move. If he was going to eat a lot, he might as well enjoy it, but it was comical how he chewed until his jaw ached, with an expression on his face that clearly said he wasn’t enjoying it.

Kwon Sejin, who had frantically run into his room after Cheon Sejoo’s mischievous joke upon exiting the elevator, had remained holed up there until he went out and brought back a course meal. When he knocked and Sejin didn’t come out, he peeked in and saw him sleeping soundly on the bed. It had been 30 minutes since he woke him up to eat and sleep.

Sejin looked at the food Cheon Sejoo had laid out and sat down with a look that said, “What kind of course meal does a gangster kid eat? How absurd.” And then, even though Cheon Sejoo hadn’t even picked up his chopsticks, Sejin was emptying all the dishes by himself. He had noticed it when he ate both chickens, but he ate an extraordinary amount for his size.

“Stop staring. Are you doing this on purpose so I choke?”

Sejin, unable to stand him just watching without eating, raised his eyes and asked. He was short, with small hands and small lips, and his sass was so minimal it was practically nonexistent, so he never bothered to use polite forms of address. Cheon Sejoo ignored Sejin’s reaction, looked at him, drank his beer, and then asked,

“Why did you use polite language with the Hwa-gak manager but informal language with me?”

Han Jiwon, the Hwa-gak manager, and Kwon Sejin had met only once last Wednesday. Cheon Sejoo was the one who had given Kwon Sejin a place to sleep, fed him, and helped him, yet Sejin was polite to her but couldn’t wait to prickle him with thorns. He wasn’t angry or upset about it, but he was curious about what kind of answer Kwon Sejin would give.

“They said polite language is for people you respect.”

“Who? Your kindergarten teacher?”

At the sarcastic retort, Sejin glared at Cheon Sejoo and continued.

“That manager works in the service industry. People who do that kind of work deserve respect. Because they work, bowing to people like… you.”

Cheon Sejoo noticed Sejin biting his lip, as if regretting his words in the middle, but he paid no mind. It was a peculiar standard. He nodded, emptied the half-empty beer can, and poured sake into a glass from the bottle next to him. He picked up the last red snapper that Sejin’s chopsticks were aiming for, put it in his mouth, and then downed the full glass of sake in one gulp. Then, with a smile, he asked again.

“Don’t you respect me, when I’m being so good to a rude kid like you?”

Sejin snorted.

“Even adding ‘yo’ to your name is a waste for you. You dragged someone who didn’t want to come here by force, how could I respect you?”

Watching his sulky face, Cheon Sejoo laughed aloud. Judging by Kwon Sejin’s consistent attitude, it seemed that in his mind, Cheon Sejoo was an absolute human trash not worth associating with again. Yet, seeing Sejin sitting obediently in front of him, eating as he was told, Cheon Sejoo could guess how much his pride was hurting internally.

To Sejin, Cheon Sejoo must have appeared as one of the loan sharks from Shinsa Capital who had dragged away his mother. He wouldn’t have been brought respectfully on the way to repay a debt, and since he was forcibly taken against his will, Sejin’s wariness and hatred towards him were natural.

Moreover, from what he heard, his mother hadn’t even personally stamped the loan documents. From Kwon Sejin’s perspective, it was as if someone who was living well was falsely indebted and dragged away. Shouldn’t he consider it a blessing that Sejin wasn’t pulling out a knife to kill him immediately?

Yet, Kwon Sejin was expressing his hatred for his mother’s sake with mere informal speech and glares. In Cheon Sejoo’s eyes, he was simply pathetic and cute.

As Cheon Sejoo stared at him, Sejin, feeling offended on his own, put down his chopsticks. Most of the dishes were already empty, so it was a bit awkward to use the excuse of being upset to stop eating, but anyway, Sejin had lost his appetite.

He picked up the cup next to him, gulped down some water, and said,

“I clearly didn’t want to follow, but you dragged me here by force. So don’t even think about ordering me around.”

It seemed Kwon Sejin still wanted to act according to his own plan. At his almost threatening words, Cheon Sejoo shrugged and replied,

“Do whatever you want.”

At his indifferent attitude, Kwon Sejin’s eyes narrowed into triangles again. Then he subtly revealed his true intentions.

“I won’t clean, and I won’t cook. If you don’t like it, kick me out.”

“I’m not asking you to do anything. Do as you please.”

“I… I won’t lift a finger!”

“I said, do as you please?”

“……”

His intention was too transparent. Ignoring the sharp gaze that indicated his unhurried attitude was irritating him, Cheon Sejoo picked up the phone next to him. At least if they were living in the same house, they should know each other’s contact information.

But just as he was about to hand the phone to Sejin to type in his number, he suddenly remembered what he had said to his mother at Hwa-gak. Had he said his phone was suspended because he hadn’t paid the bill?

Cheon Sejoo gestured with his chin towards Sejin.

“Where’s your phone? Let me see.”

Sejin, who had been secretly eyeing the remaining beef pancake on the plate, startled and looked up. With a sulky face, he looked at Cheon Sejoo and rummaged through the pocket of his old hoodie, pulling out his phone.

“……”

But what was placed on the table could hardly be called a phone. It looked more like a relic or scrap metal.

Cheon Sejoo, with a displeased expression, pressed the screen covered in tape. Not only the glass surface but also the display had crackling lines. How on earth did one even use this? Even when Cheon Sejoo was attending school from the orphanage, he had used something in better condition than that.

He stared at the phone’s wallpaper, which showed Sejin and his mother with their faces close together, then returned it to Sejin.

“Where did you charge it? It’s not working, but the battery’s full.”

“At the subway station… Whether it works or not.”

Sejin, who had been subtly picking up the beef pancake, answered his question as if entranced, then snorted and turned his head. Yet, seeing him force the beef pancake into his mouth, Cheon Sejoo let out a small laugh. He was still a kid, weak in front of food.

“Eat and clean up.”

“…I said I wouldn’t lift a finger?”

“Then just leave it.”

It seemed he thought he would lose if he did any housework. Cheon Sejoo left Sejin, who was having a silent battle with himself, and got up. He opened his phone and called Seonhyuk.

• Yes, Section Chief.

“Where are you?”

• At home. Have you eaten? Should I come up with something?

Moon Seonhyuk was always eager to do something for Cheon Sejoo. Cheon Sejoo moved to the bathroom. He put his phone on speakerphone, took off his clothes, and replied.

“No, I’ve eaten. How are the kids? Did they eat something good yesterday?”

• Yes, I bought them something expensive. The youngest and Cheoljoo are at the office, and Jin-yeong is resting. Do you need anything?

“Yeah. If there’s a prepaid phone left, bring it.”

• There’s one. I’ll be right up right away.

“No, come up in about 30 minutes. You know the password, right?”

• Yes, I understand.

He wished he could replace the phone Kwon Sejin was holding with a new one so it wouldn’t suffer anymore, but he didn’t think that grumpy guy would accept it easily. He also didn’t want to persuade him with kind words. So, Cheon Sejoo intended to give Sejin a prepaid phone to be used only for contacting him.

Sejoo, who had hung up with Seonhyuk, stepped under the shower. Hot water poured onto his scarred upper body, and the newly healed scars turned reddish. He stood under the water for a long time, easing the fatigue that had built up in his body. After showering, he put on only his underwear and then donned the thin silk robe he always wore at home.

Below the black collar, the dark grey robe spread out. The grey silk fabric had intricate patterns sewn with a tone darker thread, so densely packed that they looked simply black unless light shone on them. Cheon Sejoo, in that state, covered his head with a towel to roughly dry his hair and exited the bathroom.

Even though he washed quickly, Seonhyuk had already arrived when he came out. Moon Seonhyuk, sitting in the living room, was glaring fiercely at Sejin, with an expression that said, “Who is this bastard doing in our section chief’s house?”

Of course, Kwon Sejin was no different. He was glaring back at Moon Seonhyuk with an expression that said, “Birds of a feather flock together,” seeing another gangster appear in the gangster’s house. Still, perhaps he had some conscience, as he was in the middle of clearing the table, his hands full of trash. Cheon Sejoo ignored the sharp tension between the two and approached Seonhyuk.

“You’re here?”

“Yes, what you asked for is here.”

At Cheon Sejoo’s voice, Moon Seonhyuk immediately stood up. There was no trace of wariness left in his attitude as he bowed his head to Cheon Sejoo. Sejoo took the prepaid phone he offered, confirmed that it was working properly, and only then nodded.

“Thanks. You can go now.”

“Rest well.”

Seonhyuk straightened up only after bowing deeply. His gaze, which had passed by Cheon Sejoo’s side, returned to Sejin. Although it was only his back, he knew Moon Seonhyuk was looking askance at Kwon Sejin. Cheon Sejoo chuckled at Seonhyuk and then gestured with his chin towards Sejin, who had trash in his hands.

“Come here.”

“…I’ll clean this up first.”

Sejin took his eyes off Moon Seonhyuk, who disappeared down the hallway, and replied with an annoyed look, as if asking why he was calling him again. But even so, his hands were diligently clearing the table. He expertly stacked the luxurious disposable dishes, turned on the water in the sink to gather the food waste in one place, and even washed the dishcloth he found somewhere to wipe the table – it wasn’t the first time he had done such chores.

“Why?”

A moment later, Sejin approached the sofa where he was, making it obvious he didn’t want to clean up. Then he stopped, his expression hardening as he saw Cheon Sejoo’s bare body exposed through the gaps in his wide-open robe. Kwon Sejin protested to Cheon Sejoo with a look that said he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“Close your robe.”

He never expected to hear such a thing. Cheon Sejoo raised an eyebrow askance and let out a scoff. Except for guys like Chae Beom-jun, he had no reason to hide his body from anyone. His body was shaped in a way that deserved to be boasted about. At the displeasure in Sejin’s eyes, Cheon Sejoo pulled up the corners of his lips and grabbed the bottom of his robe.

“Want me to show you below too?”

“Ah!!”

As he fluttered his robe, Sejin turned his head away in annoyance. Cheon Sejoo chuckled to himself, his shoulders shaking at Sejin’s disgusted reaction. He had noticed it since he came into the house, but Sejin’s lively reactions made him fun to tease.

He laughed for a long time, then straightened up when Sejin snapped at him to stop. Then, he used the prepaid phone he was holding to call his own phone, and then handed it to Sejin.

“Carry this around.”

At his normal voice, Sejin, whose brows were still furrowed, shifted his gaze. He looked down at the phone Cheon Sejoo held out, then met his eyes with an expression that said, “What do you want?” Seeing him, Cheon Sejoo explained,

“Shouldn’t I have a way to keep an eye on you? If anything goes missing in my house, you’re the culprit.”

“Who would steal things bought with money earned by ripping off others?”

Sejin’s tone was growing more blunt with time. It seemed he thought that if he talked back like that, he might get kicked out of the house. Feigning ignorance of his transparent intention, Cheon Sejoo waved his hand.

“That’s what all thieves say. Take it. My arm’s getting tired.”

Kwon Sejin wouldn’t listen to kind words. If he had said, “I’m curious about what you’re doing and where you’re going, so shouldn’t we keep in touch since we’re living together?”, he would have probably snorted and gone back to his room. But when Cheon Sejoo talked about surveillance and treated him like a thief, Sejin, though annoyed, quietly accepted it. His attitude was, “I won’t steal, so go ahead and monitor me.”

Cheon Sejoo seemed to be learning how to handle Kwon Sejin now. This little guy only reacted when his pride was poked.

“My number is on the call history, so save it.”

At Cheon Sejoo’s words, Sejin glanced at him and pressed the keypad. Cheon Sejoo watched him silently, then, as Sejin finished saving, he picked up his own phone, called Sejin’s prepaid phone, and snatched it away.

“Give it back!”

Sejin, startled, jumped up and reached out his hand. But Cheon Sejoo merely pushed his forehead, and Sejin couldn’t move from that spot. Ignoring him huffing and puffing as if insane, Cheon Sejoo checked Sejin’s prepaid phone.

‘Old Man Loan Shark Gangster Swindler’

He knew this would happen after Sejin had saved it so secretively. Cheon Sejoo let out a hollow laugh at the saved name on the screen.

“This rude little…”

Sejin seemed flustered, perhaps not expecting to be caught so quickly. He bit his lip and looked wary, as if expecting anger. However, since it wasn’t entirely incorrect, Cheon Sejoo simply tossed the prepaid phone onto Sejin’s lap and said,

“You know my name. Save it as my name.”

“…How do I know your name?”

Relieved by his normal tone, Sejin grumbled and went into his contacts. He pressed the edit button, seemingly to change his saved name. Then he looked at Cheon Sejoo as if asking for his name. It was Cheon Sejoo himself who was dumbfounded by that gaze.

“Didn’t I entrust you with my ID card?”

He had definitely given Kwon Sejin his resident registration card when he first brought him home. He had completely forgotten about it until he brought him back again… At his question, Sejin frowned in thought and rummaged through the pocket of his school uniform pants. Sejin found Cheon Sejoo’s resident registration card there and showed a displeased expression.

“You never came to get it back, so I thought it was fake.”

“It’s real. Now give it back.”

Cheon Sejoo watched Sejin confirm his name and then took back his resident registration card. He watched him hold the phone and change the name, then eventually lay back on the sofa and pick up the remote next to him.

He pressed buttons with a bored expression, looking for something to watch, and felt Sejin sitting next to him, not leaving his spot. Waiting for him to speak first, Cheon Sejoo put on a cartoon channel. Listening to the bear with exposed lower body singing, it was a long time before Sejin finally spoke to him.

“Hey…”

“What?”

“Are you… the boss there?”

At Sejin’s uncharacteristically cautious question, Cheon Sejoo hugged a cushion and turned his gaze to him.

“Where is ‘there’?”

“Are you the boss of Shinsa Capital?”

The registered owner of Shinsa Capital was someone Cheon Sejoo didn’t even know. He was merely going in and out of the place at Shin Gyo-yeon’s request to resolve the commotion within the capital, and even that was something he would soon quit. Cheon Sejoo had no real connection with Shinsa Capital whatsoever.

“No.”

When he shook his head firmly, Sejin asked again.

“Then are you a gangster boss?”

“……”

At the strange title, Cheon Sejoo frowned and reached out his hand. He fumbled somewhere under the sofa, pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, lit it while still lying down, and replied with the cigarette hanging from one corner of his mouth.

“If I were the boss, would you respect me?”

“No. That’s not it…”

Sejin, who answered immediately as if he didn’t even need to think, then opened his mouth awkwardly, uncharacteristically hesitant. In fact, Cheon Sejoo could easily guess what he was going to say just from that attitude. There was only one topic where Kwon Sejin didn’t put up thorns.

“Can I… see my mom again?”