Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 38

Cheon Sejoo was pouring everything he couldn’t give to Hyein into Sejin. He wanted to be a good older brother, a good family member instead of a good older sibling. And he wanted to live. He wanted Sejin to live the life Hyein couldn’t complete, and he wanted to watch that sight for a long time.

He knew it was wrong to Sejin, and he knew it was wrong to project Hyein onto him and equate the two of them, but he wanted to… Cheon Sejoo closed and opened his eyes, gazing ahead with a silent stare. Ihwagak was already close. The place where Kim Hyunkyung, Sejin’s only family, was spending a busy day to return to Sejin.

Cheon Sejoo could only stay by Sejin’s side until he became an adult. That time, only a few months left, was the only time allowed to Cheon Sejoo. He couldn’t be greedier.

What would happen to me when Kwon Sejin leaves? Cheon Sejoo smiled bitterly, thinking of his house, which would become empty again. Shin Gyoyeon was right. He shouldn’t have made a weakness.

Cheon Sejoo parked the car in front of the main gate and struggled to shake off his thoughts. He entrusted his keys to an employee and got out. Ihwagak, which he usually frequents only on his day off on Wednesday, was bustling on a weekend. He could hear a baby crying, perhaps a child customer, and the endless sound of people treading on gravel. Cheon Sejoo, with an expressionless face, was looking for an employee when he soon encountered Han Jiwon, who had just come out after guiding another customer.

“Manager.”

“Chief Cheon! You’re here. You came to see Director Seok, didn’t you?”

Han Jiwon, dressed in a white and blue hanbok, was supervising the employees in her usual neat attire. Issuing various instructions through her earpiece, she soon smiled widely and extended her hand, as if to guide Cheon Sejoo.

“He’s in the annex. I’ll escort you inside.”

“You seem busy, I’ll find my way myself. Don’t worry about it.”

When he said that with a faint smile, Han Jiwon didn’t show any sign of refusal. Truly busy, she lightly gripped and released Cheon Sejoo’s arm, thanked him, and then swiftly disappeared towards the main building.

Ihwagak, a grand old house renovated, was a place where the classical beauty of hanok and modern interior design harmoniously blended. The recently renovated central courtyard was beautiful enough for a suit-clad immortal to recite poetry, and the moss garden in front of the annex exuded a simple charm.

Guided inside by an employee waiting in front of the annex, Seo Kyunhyung, who had already arrived and was seated, looked up. His piercing eyes scanned Cheon Sejoo from head to toe.

“I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, I had another appointment here in the afternoon, so I just rested for a bit while waiting for you.”

He gestured with his chin to a thick futon laid out. Cheon Sejoo nodded as if relieved and went to sit in the seat opposite him. He straightened his back without leaning against the chair, and Seo Kyunhyung, sitting directly in front, came into full view.

Seo Kyunhyung, seventy years old this year, was a sturdy man for his age. His face had more scars than wrinkles, giving him a tough and resolute impression. His darkly tanned skin looked healthier than anyone’s, and his stubborn lips indirectly revealed his strong will.

He was similar in height to Cheon Sejoo, but Seo Kyunhyung’s physique was much larger. He was a man for whom the rumors of him catching a bull bare-handed in his youth couldn’t be dismissed as mere hearsay. Even though Cheon Sejoo had been under him for only two years, he still tensed up when Seo Kyunhyung raised his hand. It was a natural physical reaction based on memory.

“You’ve been well. Well, your face tells me you’ve been well.”

“Thanks to Director Seok, I’ve been well. More than that, you must have gone through a lot because of the Geomseongpa.”

“What’s ‘a lot of trouble’?” Seo Kyunhyung laughed heartily at Cheon Sejoo’s polite greeting. While he poured tea into a teacup and placed it in front of Cheon Sejoo, the annex door opened, and employees began bringing in food. Since Seo Kyunhyung didn’t like coarse meals, all the dishes were brought out at once, which took quite some time to set the table.

The employee left the room only after placing all the ordered drinks and alcohol, and when the door closed, Seo Kyunhyung placed a small piece of galbi in Cheon Sejoo’s rice bowl and clicked his tongue.

“Eat your rice first. Ha, I don’t know what pleasure they get from eating something so small. But you have to eat it to be cultured, right?”

“Yes.”

When Cheon Sejoo nodded obediently, Seo Kyunhyung chuckled and pushed a dish towards him. Perhaps because Cheon Sejoo seemed so delicate compared to his own sturdy physique, he didn’t forget to chastise him every time he took a spoonful of rice, asking if that amount would even make a difference.

While Cheon Sejoo was silently eating what he was given, Seo Kyunhyung suddenly spoke.

“They were quite useful. How did you find them so well?”

This was about his team members. Seok Yunhyeong and his subordinates had received significant help from the handling team in dealing with the Geomseong Sect this time. If not for them, they wouldn’t have caught Lee Hwanbae even now.

It was an insignificant remark, but for Seok Yunhyeong, who was stingy with praise, being called “useful” was the highest compliment. A faint smile graced Cheon Sejoo’s lips at the words acknowledging his team members.

“Everyone is smart. And they work hard.”

“Yeah, looks like it. You’re the dumbest one among them.”

Seok Yunhyeong grinned and replied. He chugged the wild ginseng liquor in front of him in one gulp and picked up the spicy raw fish salad with his chopsticks. He put a piece generously coated in gochujang into his mouth, chewed quietly, then placed the liquor in front of Cheon Sejoo and asked,

“Are you still living with those stupid, fucked-up thoughts?”

“……”

His voice was serious, yet tinged with amusement. Cheon Sejoo didn’t answer Seok Yunhyeong’s question and remained silent, his gaze fixed on the rim of his rice bowl.

Only a few people knew the detailed circumstances that led Cheon Sejoo, once a promising doctor, to end up here. Shin Gyoyeon, Chae Beomjun, Seok Yunhyeong, and Moon Seonhyeok were about it.

Among them, Seok Yunhyeong was the one who most thoroughly understood Cheon Sejoo’s inner feelings. It was Seok Yunhyeong who pushed Cheon Sejoo when he first joined the organization and struggled, who made him accustomed to harming people, and who brought him back to his senses when he was tormented by guilt.

“Stop acting crazy and live diligently, dammit.”

Perhaps tired of drinking liquor in a small glass, Seok Yunhyeong, who had chugged the wild ginseng liquor straight from the bottle, said in a casual tone. A few years ago, when Cheon Sejoo couldn’t sleep and was tormented by guilt over Hyein’s death because of him, Seok Yunhyeong’s first words to him were also those.

Stop acting crazy. Just live diligently.

In Seok Yunhyeong’s eyes, what Cheon Sejoo was doing was nothing short of crazy. His sister was already dead, and he had taken revenge. So why was he still trapped in the past instead of just living his own life?

“If I were your sister, I would’ve jumped down from above. To slap you hard and tell you not to waste your life, oppa.”

At Seok Yunhyeong’s “oppa,” a man over seventy, Cheon Sejoo let out a small laugh. Unlike Seok Yunhyeong, he was someone who couldn’t live without looking back at the past. Therefore, Seok Yunhyeong’s words didn’t resonate with Cheon Sejoo. However, knowing the intention behind his words, Cheon Sejoo could laugh.

While training Cheon Sejoo, he had hit him countless times and left numerous scars on his abdomen, but Seok Yunhyeong cherished Cheon Sejoo. He had spent 50 years in the organization, but he had never seen anyone as smart as Cheon Sejoo. Yet, this guy, who understood ten words for every one he was told, couldn’t understand even half a word when it came to his sister. So Seok Yunhyeong couldn’t help but nag him whenever they met. It was heartbreaking and pitiful to see such a handsome and intelligent man wasting his life, trapped by guilt.

“It’s not just about living your life off your ass diligently. Fuck, who knows when you’ll die? What’s the point then? You’ll just regret it when you die. What I’m saying, Sejoo, is…”

“Yes.”

Seok Yunhyeong picked up a shrimp with his chopsticks and placed it in Cheon Sejoo’s rice bowl. It was Cheon Sejoo’s favorite seafood.

“If there’s anything you like, anything that even catches your eye, just look back at it once, and live that way.”

Cheon Sejoo felt the affection hidden beneath his rough words. He clenched his fist and smiled, his head bowed. Seok Yunhyeong, who had placed another shrimp in his rice bowl, continued.

“Isn’t that living? Well, you know now that living isn’t something grand.”

“I know what you mean.”

“You son of a bitch, you answer well.”

Seok Yunhyeong shrugged his shoulders and laughed, then gulped down the wild ginseng liquor and suddenly raised his arm. “Look,” he said, roughly pulling up his shirt sleeve to reveal a deep laceration on his right forearm, which he had just used to hold chopsticks. The thread was sticking out, indicating it was a fresh wound. As Cheon Sejoo frowned and his lips twitched, Seok Yunhyeong grinned and said,

“That damn Chinese bastard did this to me. Ha, fuck, he stuck a sashimi knife in and ripped it right out, I thought I was gonna die it hurt so much. Anyway, that’s not what’s important. People like us, we have to live the way I said to survive this harsh world. Otherwise, we’ll just end up crazy.”

Seok Yunhyeong, his face flushed red, tapped his head. Thump, thump, his right index finger, which landed on his half-white hair, was missing half a knuckle, and his fourth finger bore the scar of being cut and reattached. Cheon Sejoo checked Seok Yunhyeong for other injuries and nodded.

He knew what Seok Yunhyeong was trying to say. He knew it was because he pitied him, working only what he was told to do, without ambition, like a man awaiting his death. He had heard these words several times before, and he had always answered meekly and let it pass. But today, for the first time, Cheon Sejoo chewed on Seok Yunhyeong’s words.

Look back at what you like, what catches your eye, even just once. A face came to mind when he heard that. If he said he thought of that person while hearing this, they would probably snap at him and get angry, but nonetheless, the first thing he thought of was that pale, sullen face.

Cheon Sejoo spent his time with Seok Yunhyeong, thinking of Sejin. Seok Yunhyeong, who had a habit of repeating himself when drunk, repeated the words “look back at what you like” about ten times before finally getting up.

“Anyway, you worked hard. Take this and buy your kids something delicious. This is from me, and this is from our chairman. You wouldn’t believe how happy he was that those little bastards were taken care of, like a bothersome tooth finally pulled out.”

He handed him two checks, and the amount was quite large. Cheon Sejoo, eyes wide, considered refusing one but then bowed his head and accepted the money. He just planned to distribute it all among his team members.

“I’m leaving. If you have nothing to do, come visit the headquarters. The faces of the guys there are so gloomy, guys like you need to show your face now and then, you know?”

“Yes, I’ll go if I have time.”

“You answer well.”

Seok Yunhyeong chuckled and left the annex. After he left, Cheon Sejoo checked the time. They had been together for quite a while, but perhaps because they had met before dinner, it was still just before 10 PM. Was Kwon Sejin asleep? Cheon Sejoo sent a message to Sejin asking if there was anything he wanted him to buy on his way home, waited briefly, and then left the annex.

A humid summer breeze enveloped him. Even though Hwagak was in the mountains, the weather was hot enough to make sweat bead instantly. They said it was a tropical night; it seemed this place was no exception. However, the stifling heat wasn’t so bad, so Cheon Sejoo sat on the porch of the annex and lit a cigarette.

He was leisurely enjoying the heat and smoking when small footsteps sounded from somewhere, and a child appeared, screaming and rushing into the moss garden.

“Han Junhu, if you go there, a scary ajusshi will growl.”

A voice followed. Cheon Sejoo steadily met the gaze of the person who appeared around the corner. Han Jonghyun, a face he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Unaware of Cheon Sejoo’s presence, the two wrestled in front of the moss garden. The little boy reached out to touch the moss, and Han Jonghyun wagged his finger, saying no, then tickled the child’s armpit, making him lie on the ground.

Cheon Sejoo watched the scene with an expression that said he’d seen all sorts of strange things. Han Jonghyun seemed to have multiple personalities. The man who used to laze around like someone high on drugs and wasting his life, or the one who would get drunk and lament his fate, seemed like a different personality from this Han Jonghyun.

“Surrender! Surrender! I won’t do it!”

Finally, the giggling child surrendered. Only then did Han Jonghyun smile, help the child up, and dust off the small suit. Then, as if he caught the scent of cigarette smoke on the wind, Han Jonghyun looked around and discovered Cheon Sejoo. The amusement on his face hardened into an awkward expression, and his lips drooped.

“Carry me. I want to sleep.”

The child whined, clinging to Han Jonghyun’s leg. Cheon Sejoo glanced at the child and then nodded his head in greeting to Han Jonghyun. Han Jonghyun, displeased with his nonchalant attitude, frowned and twisted his lips, then stroked the child’s head, coaxing him.

“Watch the garden for a bit. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay…”

The child nodded glumly and squatted in front of the moss garden. Han Jonghyun walked slowly toward Cheon Sejoo. Before he could pick a fight, Cheon Sejoo got in first.

“Is that the director’s son?”

“What? It’s been a long time, and you don’t even greet me politely.”

Han Jonghyun grumbled as he approached and sat down next to Cheon Sejoo. It was the first time they had met since he had listened to his drunken ramblings in winter. Cheon Sejoo didn’t think they were close enough to just sit silently next to each other, but it seemed from Han Jonghyun’s perspective that the distance between them had narrowed after the last incident. The fact that he didn’t say anything despite the lack of a proper greeting seemed to confirm it.

Han Jonghyun picked up the cigarette pack Cheon Sejoo had placed on the porch without permission. He opened the cover, pulled out one of Cheon Sejoo’s cigarettes, and said,

“Do you think this face could belong to a married man?”

“……”

Why not? He wasn’t at an odd age to be married, and the child and Han Jonghyun looked exactly alike. As he remained silent with such thoughts, Han Jonghyun raised his hand and pointed to his face with a somewhat vulgar gesture, saying,

“Married men all have rotten faces. I’m glowing.”

“…Yes.”

“He’s my nephew.”

“Is that so?”

It was somewhat absurd, but not untrue. Han Jonghyun seemed to be in good spirits after a long time. His innocent face glowed, and for once, he seemed somewhat normal. Of course, whenever he opened his mouth, he reverted to the Han Jonghyun Cheon Sejoo knew.

“Han Junhu! Junhu! Come here.”

“Mom!”

“Yes. Grandpa’s looking for our Junhu. Oh, young master.”

While Han Jonghyun leisurely held a cigarette in his mouth, a woman in a suit appeared along the path leading to the annex. The child ran to the woman at the sound of his name, and holding the child in her arms, she belatedly noticed Han Jonghyun and Cheon Sejoo and widened her eyes.

Her eyes quickly scanned Cheon Sejoo. As their eyes met, Cheon Sejoo smiled faintly and nodded in greeting to her. Seeing this, Han Jonghyun sighed and stood up.

“Sister-in-law, please go ahead. I’ll rest for a bit and then go in.”

“Yes, please take your time. Father is starting again.”

“That old man’s still got a lot of energy. Be careful on your way.”