Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 75 (Side Story)

The weekend following their visit to Cheon Hyein’s columbarium saw Kim Hyunkyung’s 49th-day memorial service. Having spent several days sharing deep conversations about the unspoken things in their hearts, the two decided to go to the supermarket on Friday evening to prepare the memorial food for Saturday’s service.

They said global warming was serious, and indeed, the weather was erratic. Just a few days ago, it wasn’t cold enough to warrant more than a shirt, but today was another record-breaking cold snap. Before leaving the house, Cheon Sejoo frowned as he wrapped a scarf around Sejin’s neck.

“Why?”

“No…”

When Sejin immediately asked, seeing his furrowed brow, Sejoo shook his head slightly and lowered his gaze. Then he subtly lifted his eyes again to look at Sejin. He caressed Sejin’s cheek and said, “Stop growing.”

“…”

At those words, Sejin, who had been staring down at him, turned his gaze to the mirror on the shoe rack. Not long ago, his eye level wasn’t that different from Cheon Sejoo’s, but now it was. Sejin’s eyes were now about 3-4 cm higher than Cheon Sejoo’s. Sejin stared intently at his own towering head, then pouted his lips and bent his waist. He rested his cheek against Cheon Sejoo’s shoulder, who was wearing a jumper, and lightly kissed his neck, asking, “Is it… gross?”

Of course not. As he grew taller, his legs and arms lengthened, but Sejin’s body was still beautiful. As his bones grew, his torso was also gaining thickness, yet his waist was so slender that the line from his shoulder to his waist was exquisitely beautiful. If one looked closely, they couldn’t help but want to lay a hand on him. Seeing Sejin lying down with such a model-like, lanky body was far from gross; it was maddeningly arousing.

However, Sejoo knew that no matter how detailed his explanation, Sejin would only pout at the mention of being beautiful. So, he shrugged, pushed him away, and playfully retorted, “A little?”

“…You’re the small one, I’m not tall.”

“What?”

At the sulky reply, Cheon Sejoo raised his eyebrows as if he’d heard the most absurd thing. Calling a man who was 181cm tall “small,” let alone “tiny,” was an outrage. But the person who should have been offended remained silent, while Sejin scoffed and walked out the door, making Cheon Sejoo miss his chance to argue.

Here we go again. Shaking his head, he followed Sejin out the front door and saw a rounded back standing in front of the elevator. Cheon Sejoo confirmed that the elevator was coming up from the basement and approached Sejin, asking, “What’s wrong?”

“What?”

“You’re sulking.”

At that, Sejin glared at Cheon Sejoo as if asking what he was talking about, raising his eyes. He retorted with cat-like sharp eyes, “No, I’m not?”

But the rebellious tone at the end of his voice was impossible to hide. He was totally sulking but pretending not to… Cheon Sejoo silently watched him, then spotted Sejin secretly pouting his lips and laughed exasperatedly, turning to face him.

Then, before Sejin could even turn his head, he lightly kissed his cheek. Their lips softly touched and parted, and Cheon Sejoo gently coaxed Sejin in a tender voice.

“Sejin-ah. It’s not gross at all. I was just teasing.”

“…I know…”

Even with that light kiss, Sejin’s voice trailed off. Sejin’s cheeks, shyly lowered, were already tinged red. Cheon Sejoo licked his own lips, his eyes sparkling, then reached out and pulled Sejin closer by the nape of his neck.

He parted Sejin’s lips, which were tightly closed in embarrassment, and slipped his hand inside his unzipped jumper, caressing his waist. The curve from his ribs to his hip bone was incredibly beautiful. Every time Sejoo gently stroked him, Sejin moaned, letting out soft whimpers. It was a voice that drove a man crazy. Just as Cheon Sejoo’s heart was stirred and he reached to slip his hand into Sejin’s pants—

“Quite passionate, aren’t we?”

A sarcastic voice came from behind, and Cheon Sejoo quickly turned his head. Chae Beomjun stood inside the elevator, which had arrived and opened wide, with his arms crossed. Dressed in a suit and coat, he held two phones in his hand, and his neat face was filled with annoyance.

“I don’t even have time to date, so why is everyone around me making such a fuss?”

At his grumbling remarks, Cheon Sejoo, surprised, bit his lip and caressed Sejin’s cheek, then snapped at Chae Beomjun, “What are you doing there, you pervert?”

“What am I doing? I was working, sending messages without even knowing I’d reached the parking lot, and then got pulled back up by a call to the 41st floor. What kind of behavior is this in a public place? If you’re old and playing with a kid, you should have some conscience.”

“Tsk, tsk,” Chae Beomjun clicked his tongue and exaggeratedly shook his head. Then he smiled widely at the sulky-faced Sejin and, pointing a finger at the ceiling, said, “You know, right? 42nd floor. If you break up with Team Leader Cheon, just come up one floor. I’ll treat you well.”

“You’re full of shit, goddammit.”

At Cheon Sejoo’s fierce retort, Sejin silently rolled his eyes and looked at him. The sudden appearance of the man was disorienting and unpleasant, but Sejin was currently following Cheon Sejoo’s advice. That advice about not even greeting the man from the 42nd floor if he ever met him again.

As Sejin ignored him, treating him as if he didn’t exist, Chae Beomjun sighed regretfully and shook his head. “Get in quickly. I need to go down.”

“We’ll get in without you telling us.”

Cheon Sejoo retorted irritably, then took Sejin’s hand and got into the elevator. After confirming that the basement parking floor was selected, he pressed the 1st floor button and pulled Sejin to stand directly opposite Chae Beomjun. Then he scanned Chae Beomjun’s appearance and spoke. “Are you going to work at this hour?”

“Haah, yes. The CEO loves cats so much… He’s making me do so much work without even realizing I’m dying.”

Cats? Did Shin Gyoyeon raise cats? Cheon Sejoo squinted, thinking, then nodded, recalling the delivery man who had been dragged into that house. Was his name Yoon Hee-su? He’d had a name like that. Ever since Shin Capital was turned upside down because of the illegal loan in his name, he’d felt that Shin Gyoyeon seemed to care for that kid more than he thought. Cheon Sejoo closed his mouth, thinking that strange things happened in the world. Meanwhile, Chae Beomjun muttered weakly to himself.

“Some people have to work their asses off and have no time for dating… While their boss and co-worker have it easy…”

Co-worker? That’s too grand a title for them. The days he worked with Chae Beomjun were perhaps ten days a year, if that. Cheon Sejoo silently scoffed, ignoring his words.

In the meantime, the elevator reached the first floor, and as soon as the doors opened, Cheon Sejoo intertwined his fingers with Sejin’s and stepped out. He heard Chae Beomjun clicking his tongue behind them but paid no mind. He knew it was out of envy.

“It’s not that cold.”

The streets were dark. Perhaps because it was still winter and a cold snap warning had been issued, there were no people walking on the sidewalk illuminated by streetlights. Cheon Sejoo walked towards the supermarket, holding Sejin’s hand tucked into his own padded jacket pocket.

White breath billowed from his slightly parted lips. The footsteps of the two walking down the street echoed, and cars occasionally passed by threw gusts of wind at them before disappearing. Yet, it was comfortable. This cold street had never felt so cozy.

All this peace was achieved through Sejin. After losing Hyein, he never thought such tranquility would return, but Kwon Sejin had made it all happen. His existence was more precious to Cheon Sejoo than anything else. Now, he wouldn’t trade it for anyone…

“Cheon Sejoo.”

“Hmm.”

While walking towards the supermarket, Sejin quietly called his name. Cheon Sejoo met his gaze and nodded. Sejin stared intently at Cheon Sejoo with flushed cheeks, then shyly turned his eyes forward and opened his mouth.

“That day, you know…”

“That day?”

“The day we… did that…”

Cheon Sejoo stifled a laugh at Sejin’s inability to call sex “sex.” “Yes,” he curled his lips, nodded, and pulled Sejin’s hand as if telling him to say more. Sejin hesitated a little, then asked, “…Was I bad that day?”

“…”

Surprised by the sudden request for an evaluation, Cheon Sejoo abruptly stopped walking. He glanced sideways, confirmed Sejin’s serious expression, and sighed inwardly.

He seemed to understand why Sejin was asking such a question. It was probably because Cheon Sejoo had been subtly avoiding contact with Sejin after visiting the columbarium.

There was only one reason. Cheon Sejoo felt quite responsible for having spent Sejin’s first experience in such a drunken manner. He wouldn’t have cared much if it were anyone else, but this was Kwon Sejin. He had sex with a kid who didn’t even know how to kiss, and to make matters worse, Cheon Sejoo was drunk that day and couldn’t properly guide Sejin. That included saying things he wouldn’t have said sober.

Recalling the events of that night, Cheon Sejoo first praised Sejin to prevent him from thinking something strange. “You were really, really good? It was great.”

“…Really?”

At Cheon Sejoo’s quiet whisper, Sejin blushed noticeably even in the darkness and seemed pleased. Then he gripped their intertwined hands tighter. He looked relieved that Cheon Sejoo wasn’t avoiding him because he was bad at sex.

Anyway, Cheon Sejoo had a plan to make up for that day. After the 49th-day memorial service and visiting the memorial park on the weekend, he planned to go to a hotel on a weekday.

There, Cheon Sejoo intended to have proper, formal sex with Sejin. Without being drunk and spouting nonsense, but truly gently, so that Sejin would have good memories.

But he knew what Sejin’s reaction would be if he explained it. He would say he didn’t care about such things. He might even rush him as soon as they got home tonight. Cheon Sejoo didn’t trust his patience when Sejin was in front of him. So, he planned to let the D-day arrive without giving him any leeway.

But while talking about that day, something suddenly occurred to him. Cheon Sejoo narrowed his eyes, thinking, then asked Sejin, “…Why did you come into my room that day?”

“Because I didn’t want to let Kang Doyoon in.”

At the unexpected name that flowed out, Cheon Sejoo raised an eyebrow in confusion. He tilted his head, looking up at Sejin and asked, “Why is that name coming up here?”

“…You called him home.”

“Me?”

That was nonsense. Cheon Sejoo immediately retorted, frowning and shaking his head. “No. I never called it Doyoon.”

At the unconsciously affectionate nickname, Sejin squinted and glared at Cheon Sejoo. Realizing his mistake, Cheon Sejoo frowned and laughed, then lightly bumped his head against Sejin’s shoulder and apologized. “Sorry.”

“…”

Unaware that his skillful attitude was actually making Sejin more annoyed, Cheon Sejoo tickled Sejin’s intertwined fingers in his pocket. He gently caressed them, as if to appease him, and added, “I really didn’t. Look at this.”

Cheon Sejoo pulled out his phone with his other hand. He showed him the message window with Doyoon, which had no new messages since their last conversation a month ago. Then, to confirm his call history with him, he searched for Kang Doyoon in his contacts and pressed his name.

“…”

Coincidentally, there was a record of a call with Doyoon that night. Cheon Sejoo blinked in embarrassment, and Sejin gritted his teeth, puffing out his cheeks. Cheon Sejoo explained, as if it was unbelievable, “No, hey. Look. I didn’t call him. Doyoon… Kang Doyoon called me.”

Even though he was just an emotionless sex partner, it was true that Cheon Sejoo genuinely liked Doyoon as a person, and so he couldn’t cut off his affection for him so abruptly. Again, Cheon Sejoo unconsciously referred to him as Doyoon and then quickly changed the address, but it didn’t work on Sejin.

“…You must have called him without realizing it, drunk.”

His voice was grinding. But that couldn’t be. Every time he had met Kang Doyoon, he had been sober and clear-headed. He had never met him while drunk, so there was no way he would have called him unconsciously.

Cheon Sejoo looked sideways with a troubled expression. Sejin seemed eager to stop the conversation, as it was already in the past. But he was not someone who could let such matters slide. There should be no room for suspicion and doubt between lovers.

“Wait.”

He said that, pressed the call button, and put his phone on speaker. The phone rang a few times, but Doyoon didn’t answer until it connected to voicemail. Seeing Sejin’s expression souring, Cheon Sejoo cursed under his breath.

No, he really had no memory of talking to Doyoon that day. All Cheon Sejoo remembered was going into the room, drinking alcohol, falling asleep, and then waking up to find Sejin on top of him. That was all. He also clearly remembered the passionate encounter that followed, but he had absolutely no recollection of talking to Doyoon before that.

“It’s fine. Let’s stop talking about this.”

Sejin, clearly uncomfortable, mumbled in a sulky voice.

At that moment, Cheon Sejoo recalled his past relationships. This kind of thing often happened when he dated men in his early twenties. Of course, the seed of suspicion didn’t sprout from Cheon Sejoo but from his partners. He had no interest in the detailed explanations his ex-lovers would pour out when he raised questions, feeling wronged; in fact, he found it bothersome. He couldn’t tolerate even being made to feel such suspicion, so he would immediately break up with them.

But now that he was in that situation himself, he felt a warning ringing in his head that he had to clarify the facts to Sejin. Swept up in a sense of injustice, Cheon Sejoo believed he was absolutely innocent and picked up his phone to send a message to Doyoon.

20:19 Doyoon, how are you? Did you call me a few days ago? I don’t remember anything from that day because I was drunk, could you tell me what we talked about?

Cheon Sejoo showed the message to Sejin and said, “I’ll show you when he replies.”

“…Okay.”

At his confident demeanor, Sejin squinted and nodded. He was sorry, but even though Cheon Sejoo had denied it, he had still been a little suspicious. Now, seeing his actions, he finally began to think he might truly be innocent. Then why did that man come to his house at that hour? Sejin pondered as he walked.

Walking along, fiddling with their clasped hands, they soon saw the supermarket ahead. They couldn’t walk hand-in-hand where there were people, so they would soon have to say goodbye to the warmth in their pockets.

“Come here.”

Cheon Sejoo gazed at the approaching supermarket with a look of displeasure, then saw a bus stop nearby and led Sejin towards it.

The bus stop, where the bus information sign flickered, was empty. It was a stop for city tour buses, so it was always deserted at this late hour.

In the sheltered area, with walls blocking the wind on three sides, Cheon Sejoo turned his back to the road and pressed his lips to Sejin’s. He smiled at Sejin, who was looking around with wide eyes, and kissed him lightly. Soon, those beautiful eyes softened, and Sejin opened his mouth. Instead of the whoosh of cars passing behind them, Cheon Sejoo listened to the moist sounds from Sejin’s lips.

“Here, hah, it’s outside…”

Cheon Sejoo frowned and laughed at Sejin’s cautious murmur. In the city at night, passing drivers seemed to click their tongues, thinking how good it was to see lovers hiding and kissing at the bus stop. Though his heart was racing and he had immediately pressed his lips to Sejin’s, Cheon Sejoo didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, so he quickly pulled his upper body back. “I know,” he whispered softly, and his lips lingered on Sejin’s eyes before pulling away. He had to lift his feet a little because he was so much taller, but even a brief kiss was satisfying.

“Let’s go.”

Instead of holding Sejin’s hand again, Cheon Sejoo, whose cheeks were flushed, held his shoulder and headed towards the supermarket. Unlike before, Sejin’s breath was short, and cloud-like puffs of air continuously escaped his lips. It was truly an adorable sight.

The supermarket on a Friday evening with a cold snap warning wasn’t very crowded. The two pushed a cart, putting in what they needed. Women occasionally showed interest in Cheon Sejoo, perhaps because he wasn’t wearing a hat, but they couldn’t get close because of Sejin’s piercing gaze. Cheon Sejoo just watched Sejin, who was on guard like a meerkat, thinking he was cute.

“Can we put braised beef short ribs on the memorial table?”

“…I don’t know.”

At Cheon Sejoo’s question, Sejin frowned and shook his head. He knew that the deceased’s favorite foods were placed on memorial tables, but braised beef short ribs somehow felt like holiday food, making him wonder if it was appropriate for a 49th-day memorial service.

Sejin pondered silently, then suddenly turned his eyes to Cheon Sejoo. Having taken off his padded jacket and placed it in the cart, Cheon Sejoo, wearing only a beige sweatshirt with his hair neatly down, looked four or five years younger than usual. Of course, Sejin also had a youthful face, so the two still didn’t look like peers. Seeing him, Sejin felt a tinge of regret.

If only I had been born a little earlier… If there had been just a five or six-year difference, it would have been even better. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have felt so defeated by Cheon Sejoo’s past partners because of his age. Sejin felt a little glum about Cheon Sejoo treating him too much like a child and asked him, “What did you put on your sister’s memorial table?”

Cheon Hyein. Sejin called her “Noona.” He didn’t like the title “your sister,” and since they were now family, she was effectively Sejin’s older sister. Of course, he wasn’t saying he and Cheon Sejoo were brothers; it was just a figure of speech. At the affectionate title, Cheon Sejoo chuckled and shrugged.

“Well, I’ve never held one.”

At his calm voice, Sejin closed his mouth and subtly rolled his eyes. His smiling face, seemingly unbothered, somehow looked lonely. After Cheon Sejoo confessed his past, he would occasionally bring up his sister’s story. Each time, Sejin saw regret flash across his face. It might be ridiculous to think he could escape the past with just a few words from him, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy each time.

“Then let’s do it together this time.”

Sejin didn’t ask Cheon Sejoo why he hadn’t held a memorial service. It was probably for the same reason he had perfectly memorized the way to the columbarium’s parking lot only. Instead, Cheon Sejoo simply smiled at his nodding affirmation. His reply came a long while later. “Okay.” That was enough.

“Cheon Sejoo, we need to buy food for home too.”

“Should I get another cart?”

“…Should we?”

While filling the cart with ingredients for the memorial table, they realized they were also completely out of food at home. At Sejin’s words, Cheon Sejoo quickly went to get another cart. Since Sejin ate five packs of ramen at once, they needed two carts to stock up on groceries.

When grocery shopping, they had to buy two sacks of rice at a time, and vegetables and fruits were usually bought by the box. Sejin had never thought about his eating habits before, but now that he could say he was Cheon Sejoo’s boyfriend, he somehow felt that he ate too much.

While Cheon Sejoo was gone to get a new cart, Sejin thought about Kang Doyoon with a sulky expression. He was as short as Sejin was a year ago, and his build was quite small. And how little he ate! When they met in the kitchen, the amount of cereal Doyoon was eating was only a fifth of what Sejin ate in one meal. Sejin, after all, ate enough cereal to need a whole liter of milk poured over it.

He hadn’t cared about such things before, but now he felt he should try to eat less. Since Cheon Sejoo had liked shorter men, he might really find him gross if he grew any taller. Yet, Sejin picked up five 3.5L cartons of milk and put them in the cart. It was an instinctive action beyond reason.

As they were shopping, Cheon Sejoo, who had gotten a new cart, approached Sejin. “Want to try this? They say it’s new.”

He must have passed the bakery section, as Cheon Sejoo held a large box of cookies in his hand. The cookies, with almonds and nuts all mixed together, had a shape he seemed to have seen somewhere before. Sejin took the cookie box from him and put it in the cart.

“You like these?”

“Huh? No. You eat them well, don’t you?”

“…”

At the words that he chose them because Sejin ate them well, Sejin bit his lip and smiled bashfully. At his face, which softened without a trace of malice, Cheon Sejoo silently bit his tongue inside his mouth. Kwon Sejin rarely smiled, so every time he smiled silently like that, it drove him truly crazy. Looking at his pretty face, Sejin soon composed his expression and said, “The ones you brought were really delicious. They were the best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Where did you buy them? I’ll go buy them later.”

“Oh, those.”

Cheon Sejoo, who had been pulling the cart thoughtlessly behind Sejin, suddenly bit his lip. “Ah, damn it…” A troubled expression crossed his face as he recalled the origin of the cookies.