Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 123

That kiss in the church was their first and last kiss. Because Kwon Sejin, who was so conservative that he was obsessed with Confucian ideology, flatly said that it was not allowed.

“…You mean you want us to date?”

On the day their study session at the church concluded, Sejin asked Cheon Sejoo that. At the embarrassed question, Cheon Sejoo laughed clearly.

“Would I really do that just to steal your first kiss??”

Then he answered like that. Meaning, yes, he wanted them to date. Sejin’s face turned completely red and he nodded in a flutter that felt like his heart would burst, then gathered all his courage to say:

“From… from next time, don’t do this again…”

“…Huh?”

“My mom said we can only kiss before becoming adults. Doing these things will have serious consequences. We’re students, we can’t control ourselves, so we have to avoid close contact.”

“…What did you just say?”

Sejin’s mother had stumbled early in life and regretted it immensely. So, when raising Sejin, she always drilled into his head that any intimate contact beyond a kiss should only happen after he had matured, when he was capable of taking responsibility for the other person.

Sejin adhered to that as a rule. Faced with Sejin’s stubborn and resolute gaze as he said he couldn’t do it, Cheon Sejoo couldn’t argue, “At least let me kiss you, right?” He was afraid Sejin would see him as a terrible person who only lusted after others’ bodies.

To prove that his feelings for Sejin were genuine and not deceitful, he had no choice but to accept it. Cheon Sejoo decided to wait until Sejin became an adult. But sometimes it was truly difficult.

Summer passed, and autumn arrived. At that time, Cheon Sejoo began attending cram school. Prep centers were always eager to attract students who consistently achieved perfect scores in mock exams like him. And this time, a center made a very attractive offer.

If a student achieved a perfect score on the college entrance exam and was admitted to the medical faculty of Seoul National University, it would be a huge advantage for the center’s operations. Centers always tried to attract outstanding students because the new enrollment rate would skyrocket based on the slogan of getting into university after the exam.

Throughout his preparation for the college entrance exam, Cheon Sejoo negotiated terms with many centers. By September, he finally received a very large scholarship offer and decided to enroll in one place. Of course, the tuition was completely free.

Even though he didn’t learn anything extra, he still had to attend daily check-ins. So, after regular school hours, his self-study location shifted to the cram school, leading to a significant reduction in time spent with Sejin. Even though they still went to school together, those few short minutes weren’t enough.

Every time school ended and he had to go to cram school, his feet were reluctant to move. Cheon Sejoo always had to pat Sejin’s head several times at the school gate before he could leave.

That surging longing had to be relieved on weekends. Previously, Cheon Sejoo used to study in the city library’s reading room every weekend, but since summer, he started studying there with Sejin.

“Sejin… how can 17 multiplied by 38 be 696?”

Sejin’s academic performance… was unbelievably pathetic. He was completely unable to keep up with the 10th-grade curriculum Cheon Sejoo had left him. He couldn’t even understand the problems. Seeing Sejin like that, Cheon Sejoo almost fainted from shock when he checked what he knew. Kwon Sejin, at 17, didn’t even know the multiplication table.

“This… you really don’t know?”

At first, he thought it was a joke, thinking Sejin was teasing him. But looking at Sejin’s pouting face, avoiding his gaze, he realized it was the truth.

At that moment, Cheon Sejoo suspected Sejin had been abused. Perhaps he hadn’t been allowed to go to school in elementary, confined at home? What if instead of being educated, he was subjected to violence? Along with that thought came the memory of Sejin’s swollen, red cheeks, a memory from their first meeting that he had never dared to ask about, thinking everything was fine.

But after careful conversation, he soon realized that wasn’t the case. Sejin was just… completely uninterested in studying and a bit slow to grasp things. No, actually, not a bit, but extremely slow.

Anyway, after that shock, Cheon Sejoo first taught Sejin the multiplication table. The teaching process was also arduous. For Sejin, nothing was “just learn it.” He only memorized after understanding, even with a slower comprehension ability than others.

Then, when Sejin misunderstood the main point and blurted out silly things, Cheon Sejoo’s face involuntarily scrunched up, almost sighing. But when he saw Sejin’s pouting, sulky expression, all annoyance vanished in an instant. He secretly thought, what if he’s a little bit silly, I just need to take care of him.

Anyway, after painstakingly helping Sejin memorize the multiplication table, Cheon Sejoo continued to study with Sejin at the library, mainly teaching the most important parts of Math.

They met early in the morning, went to the library, and sat in the reading room until the designated time to do homework. Cheon Sejoo worked on old college entrance exam papers, while Sejin did 7th-grade math homework. It was a book his sister had picked up at the orphanage but never touched, so he gave it to Sejin to use.

At noon, they went down to the cafeteria for lunch, then up to the rooftop garden to grade Sejin’s assignments.

“Answer me. Why did you think 17 multiplied by 38 is 696?”

At Cheon Sejoo’s question, Sejin’s eyes darted around with a confused look. He looked down at the solution process he had written, thinking, “Why is it wrong? It’s clearly right, isn’t it?” He pondered for a long time before finally realizing he had multiplied incorrectly.

“…After multiplying, I added incorrectly.”

Sejin explained while looking at Cheon Sejoo’s expression. He had multiplied 7 by 8 to get 56 perfectly, but then just added from top to bottom. Moreover, he added in a completely illogical way, adding 5 with 1 and 3 above, while ignoring the number 1 below…

He wondered if this was how it felt when dogs and cats barked at each other in confusion? Cheon Sejoo couldn’t understand what Sejin was saying. He was clearly speaking Korean, but for what reason, how on earth did he get that result, he couldn’t understand the connection.

“…..”

Expression gradually disappeared from the wonderfully handsome face. He was truly trying to understand Sejin, but in the other person’s eyes, it looked as if he was angry.

Sejin, of course, had something to say. It wasn’t because he didn’t know how to multiply that he made a mistake. It was just that while doing the problem, his mind kept thinking about Cheon Sejoo, and that’s why he made the error. It was all because of what he said.

“…It’s not my fault.”

At that somewhat sulky remark, Cheon Sejoo gave up trying to understand the solution and looked up, asking, “Huh?”

Sejin pouted. The pinkish-red skin inside his lips kept peeking out. Was he trying to use his looks to avoid blame? But Sejin’s next words were to blame Cheon Sejoo.

“This morning… you said strange things!”

“What did I say?”

How could multiplying two-digit numbers incorrectly be his fault? At that incredulous question, Sejin immediately blushed and lowered his head. A tiny voice, like a mosquito, came from his mouth.

“…You said.”

“Said what?”

“You… wanted to kiss me.”

Cheon Sejoo strained to hear the mumbled words. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, but a smile spread across the corners of his lips.

It was true he had said that this morning. At that time, they were walking on a sun-drenched path through the poplars whose leaves had begun to change color, and his mood was very good. The autumn wind was pleasant, and Sejin’s wrist touching his fingertips was also cool. They walked ahead and then fell back in turns, until Cheon Sejoo lagged slightly behind, and Sejin’s pleasant scent wafted to his nose. A sweet scent that awakened his sense of smell, surpassing the approaching new season.

Perhaps the season after summer wasn’t autumn, but Kwon Sejin? Thinking that, he couldn’t help but say it right in front of the library.

“I want to kiss you.”

At the words recalling that morning, Sejin’s eyes angrily tilted upwards.

“…Don’t do that!”

That lively reaction made him unable to hold back a laugh. Cheon Sejoo let out a clear laugh, then put the workbook down beside him. Whatever 696 was, it didn’t matter, because Sejin was adorably insane.

“Oh dear…”

Sejin’s cheeks were flushed, just like the late-summer peach Sejin had peeled and given him with wet fingers. That moment felt like a sweet taste spreading in his mouth. He could even feel the shape of the fingers that had touched his tongue. He recalled once licking Sejin’s elbow because juice had dripped down, then glanced around. It was September, so the rooftop garden was at 30 degrees Celsius, and there was no one there.

“You’re always saying things like that…”

Sejin whispered with a shy expression. His lips pouted as if blaming Cheon Sejoo, constantly turning towards him. It was precisely because he kept saying such things that he couldn’t concentrate on studying. It wasn’t that he was stupid, but that strange images kept popping into his head.

While Sejin was rationalizing to himself, Cheon Sejoo stopped laughing, quietly looked at him, and then reached out his hand. It seemed as if he was gently stroking the flushed cheek, but then he used his finger to lift Sejin’s chin. An action he had experienced dozens of times. Anticipating the kiss, Sejin lowered his eyelids, biting his lip lightly, meaning not to do it here.

“There’s no one here.”

However, Cheon Sejoo acted like a kiss addict. Hearing his immediate rebuttal, Sejin frowned.

“…Who knows if anyone will come or not. This is a public place. What if we do that here and get caught for public indecency? If you have a criminal record, you can’t be a doctor. Even if you could, what if the hospital checks your criminal record and doesn’t hire you? And what if news of us doing that spreads throughout the neighborhood, and later when I open my clinic, I have no patients? What if mothers are afraid you’ll seduce their sons and don’t bring them for treatment, leaving only female patients, and women are very good at taking care of their health, so maybe no one will get sick, and I’ll starve to death! How sad Hyein would be! How could you be so thoughtless!”

Sejin rambled on, complaining, but Cheon Sejoo didn’t think much of it. Public indecency? Actually, when he kissed, Kwon Sejin’s expression was indeed a bit sensual. That was all he thought about.

Again.

“Things like that should be done where no one can see, where no one knows! And besides…!”

Cheon Sejoo listened with one ear and out the other, until Sejin was almost out of breath, then he suddenly lowered his head, a gentle kiss touching those rambling lips.

“More…! Again!”

Even though his face was red with embarrassment, Sejin didn’t stop. Faced with successive kisses on his lips, Sejin finally gave up trying to speak, closing his eyes tightly. Anyway, he couldn’t refuse, and complaining was useless. Cheon Sejoo chuckled softly, holding Sejin’s flushed cheeks with both hands. Kisses rained down one by one on his soft cheeks, on his moist lips, on his sharp, pointed nose.

After the rain of dozens of kisses ended, Cheon Sejoo leaned back, and both of them were flushed all the way to their necks. Cheon Sejoo licked his lips, unable to hide his excitement.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. His throat was constantly dry, he wanted to lick Sejin’s lips as if drinking water from an oasis, but that was impossible. If he did that, Sejin would truly get angry.

Although Kwon Sejin being younger made him feel unbearably adorable, at times like this, he regretted that they weren’t the same age. Because it would be more than two years until Sejin became an adult.

“Ha…”

Cheon Sejoo sighed, leaned down slightly, and rested his head on Sejin’s small shoulder. He hid his flushed face, taking Sejin’s hand, which was clenched into a fist. Each small, delicate finger was opened, and then he whispered:

“Sejin, grow up quickly.”

Sejin understood the meaning of those words very well. He immediately pushed Cheon Sejoo away, shouting seriously:

“You pervert…!”

“Yes, I’m a pervert. So eat well and grow up quickly.”

No matter what Sejin said, Cheon Sejoo only wished for Sejin to grow up healthy and quickly become an adult so that the absurd rule of “no kissing before you’re an adult” would be broken.