Projection Novel (Completed) - Chapter 83

The apartment where Cheon Sejoo and Sejin lived was located near Seoul Forest. After work, to get home, they always had to pass by the Seongsu Bridge area, which had a concrete factory nearby, leading to a high volume of large trucks and construction vehicles. Moreover, recently, the reconstruction of the apartment next to their mixed-use complex had begun, bringing excavators and cargo trucks onto that road. Whenever traffic snarled, Cheon Sejoo would nag Sejin not to walk on that road, as the large cargo trucks weaving through smaller vehicles seemed incredibly dangerous.

But even as he nagged, Cheon Sejoo didn’t know. The one who needed to be careful wasn’t Sejin, but himself.

“What’s for dinner tonight?” Cheon Sejoo, slouching behind the steering wheel, asked with a smile. Home was just around the corner. Due to work taking longer than usual, Cheon Sejoo hadn’t been able to go home with Sejin after his academy classes, and it wasn’t until close to 8 PM that he reached the traffic light where their apartment building was visible. To his gentle question, Sejin, who was preparing dinner at home, replied.

Red pepper chili paste and marinated beef dish.

“Sounds good. I’m hungry right now.”

Okay. How far are you?

“I’m at the traffic light in front of Seoul Forest now. You should be able to see me from the alpha room.”

He glanced up, and the tall mixed-use apartment building came into view. From the third floor down, the 41st-floor alpha room’s window was at a height where if Sejin leaned out, he could see Cheon Sejoo’s car. As Cheon Sejoo finished speaking, a sound of Sejin opening the window could be heard, as if he was eager to see him. Cheon Sejoo curled the corners of his lips and flashed his high beams. The car on the opposite side might be startled, but that wasn’t important.

“Can you see me?”

Yes, I can see you.

“Then give me a kiss.”

…

Sejin suddenly fell silent. Cheon Sejoo smiled wordlessly, imagining Sejin hesitating with a frown, then urged him. “Hm?” he coaxed gently, and soon a soft chu of a kiss echoed from the speaker. He burst into laughter, imagining Sejin, face flushed red, pressing his lips to the phone. Cheon Sejoo laughed out loud, then returned the kiss to Sejin.

Chu, as he pursed and then unpursed his lips, he could feel Sejin laughing too. His heart felt warm at that faint sound of laughter. Cheon Sejoo thought he wanted to go home quickly and said to him,

“I’ll be there soon.”

Okay. Drive carefully.

“Yeah, anything you want me to pick up on the way? Should I buy diapers?”

Even though he was right below the apartment, Cheon Sejoo laughed and joked, hearing Sejin’s instruction to be careful. Ever since Sejin had “peed” something akin to urine inside Cheon Sejoo’s stomach, Cheon Sejoo had been teasing him whenever he had the chance. Sejin, who wanted to completely forget that incident, was silent for a moment. He sighed, as if embarrassed and annoyed, then said, “Hang up,” and ended the call.

Cheon Sejoo let out a low chuckle and checked the traffic light. A window indicating the end of the Bluetooth call appeared on the center console panel, and just as he predicted the light would change and lifted his foot from the brake.

Baaang, a long honk blared from the left, and a bright light shone on the side of his face. His eyes immediately darted, and he saw a massive dump truck bearing down on him. The incessantly flashing high beams were unrealistically bright. The light pierced his eyes like a penlight shone into his pupils, and Cheon Sejoo easily recognized the situation.

“Ah, shit.” With a curse, he frantically stomped on the accelerator. As the car, with its short 0-100 km/h acceleration, shot forward, the rear of the vehicle collided with the truck. A tremendous impact covered his entire body. With the sound of an airbag deploying, Sejoo’s consciousness flickered, and the last image in his mind was Sejin’s face.

He wouldn’t have seen it, right? Hoping Sejin had closed the alpha room window and returned to the kitchen, Cheon Sejoo passed out.

“Ugh,” someone groaned. It was loud. Cheon Sejoo frowned and stirred his body. A tingling pain echoed in his left arm. Roused by the pain, Cheon Sejoo realized the groaning sound ringing in his ears was his own and opened his eyes.

His vision, blurry as if shrouded in fog, was entirely white. Surely I’m not dead, am I? Half-doubting, he turned his head and saw someone sitting beside him. A small face with reddish eyes and lips. Though not clearly visible, he knew who it was by the mere feeling. It was Sejin.

“Cheon Sejoo… Cheon Sejoo! Are you awake?”

The voice, calling his name anxiously, was utterly devoid of energy. Cheon Sejoo tried to ask, “Were you crying?” but his voice came out hoarse, and he closed his mouth without finishing the sentence. Sejin’s weak voice finally helped him grasp the situation. The phone call with Sejin, and the dump truck.

Realizing he’d been in an accident, the pain throughout his body made sense. It felt like just yesterday that he was numb to pain, but the intense pain radiating from everywhere was now excessively vivid. Cheon Sejoo swallowed the curse that almost escaped his lips and raised his right arm. It was a little stiff, but thankfully his bones seemed fine; he could move it.

“Sejin-ah.”

He swallowed dryly several times before speaking. Cheon Sejoo reached out to Sejin’s face and stroked his eyes. His cheeks and eyes were wet, as if he had been crying. He wanted to kiss Sejin, who was rubbing his face against his palm, but it was impossible, so Cheon Sejoo merely wiped away his tears and consoled him with a voice full of apology.

Then, at some point, he seemed to have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When he woke up again, his vision was a little clearer than when he first awoke. It was still blurrier than usual, but if he squinted, he could clearly see Sejin’s face sitting right next to him.

“Hello.”

He couldn’t apologize or ask if he was okay. After agonizing over what to say, he offered this greeting, and Sejin bit his lip tightly, his eyes narrowed sharply. He wasn’t angry; he must have been upset. Cheon Sejoo thought that saying “I’m fine” here would only hurt Sejin more, so he forced a smile and groaned.

“I’m in so much pain.”

“…”

“I hurt so much I could die.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

At the mention of dying, Sejin immediately widened his eyes. Tears seemed ready to spill from his moist eyes. Indeed, he must have been very worried, so saying he wanted to die was a bit much. Cheon Sejoo admitted his mistake and smiled. He reached out again, took Sejin’s fingers resting on the bed, intertwined them, and closed his eyes. He wanted to talk more, but he had no energy. Perhaps because of the pain medication, sleep kept coming over him, making it hard to keep his eyes open, so Cheon Sejoo fell asleep again, holding Sejin’s hand tightly.

When he woke up for the third time, his mind was clear. The pain scattered throughout his body had significantly lessened, and his neck didn’t hurt either.

“Mr. Cheon Sejoo? Are you awake?”

Just then, a nurse was changing his IV next to him. When Cheon Sejoo quietly nodded, the nurse called the medical staff and checked his condition.

“Are you hurting anywhere?”

“My left arm… and my head.”

“Your left arm was fractured, and you had surgery to fix the bone. You might have some pain, but if it’s particularly severe or if you feel feverish, you need to tell us. How does your head hurt? Is it a migraine?”

“No, the back of my head just feels a bit numb.”

As he replied, he looked around, but saw no other figures besides the nurse. Sejin seemed to have stepped out for a moment.

The nurse was writing on a chart and checking his vitals. To him, Cheon Sejoo explained another abnormality.

“And… I can’t see very well.”

“You can’t see well? Hmm, what do you think is written here?”

Startled by Cheon Sejoo’s words, the nurse stepped back and pointed to her uniform name tag, but he couldn’t see it. When Cheon Sejoo shook his head, she groaned softly, checked the IV one last time, and stepped back, saying,

“Please wait a moment. I’ll tell the doctor when they come. Sometimes, blurred vision can temporarily occur due to an impact to the back of the head, so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Cheon Sejoo smiled lightly and nodded. It seemed that way to Cheon Sejoo too. He must have hit the back of his head hard during the accident, causing optic nerve damage due to a concussion. In such cases, vision usually recovers naturally over time, so he wasn’t overly worried.

However, perhaps the nurse was concerned that Cheon Sejoo would panic about his blurred vision, as she reassured him several times that it was a common occurrence before leaving the room.

When the door closed, a quiet silence fell over the hospital room. Cheon Sejoo pressed the remote control hanging on the bed rail to raise his upper body, then squinted and looked around. On the bedside table right next to him lay his shattered phone. He pressed it, but it wouldn’t turn on, indicating it was completely broken.

Where did Kwon Sejin go? He was more curious about where Sejin was and what he was doing than about his own condition. He thought Sejin must have been very startled and felt the need to comfort him.

Just as Cheon Sejoo was wondering about his absence, the hospital room door opened. Thinking it might be Sejin, he slowly turned his head and saw a dark figure entering.

“Shit, is that the Grim Reaper?” Cheon Sejoo instantly felt a chill and frowned, glaring at the other person. Soon, he heard a click of the tongue from that direction.

“Tsk, are you okay? I came all this way worried about you, and you just glare at me like that? I’m hurt.”

It was a person as unwelcome as the Grim Reaper. At Chae Beomjun’s sudden appearance, Cheon Sejoo lay back down without a word. Where did Kwon Sejin go? As he calmly took a deep breath, Chae Beomjun pulled up a chair, sat beside him, and spoke.

“Did you hear the car was totaled?”

“What?”

Totaled? Was the accident that bad? As Cheon Sejoo turned his gaze in disbelief, Chae Beomjun stood up. Without permission, he rummaged through the refrigerator, pulled out a drink that was clearly bought by Sejin, opened it, chugged it, and then continued speaking.

“If the car had been just a little bit further back, you would have died.”

Chae Beomjun was right. The dump truck had suddenly surged forward, covering the road. With the brakes failing, it charged toward Cheon Sejoo’s car, which was waiting at the front of the traffic light. If it hadn’t been for Cheon Sejoo’s superior dynamic vision and the Lamborghini he was driving, he would have died on the spot.

As soon as he spotted the car rushing towards him, Cheon Sejoo hit the accelerator, and the car, with its 0-100 km/h acceleration of just 3.2 seconds, immediately shot forward. The dump truck collided with the rear of Cheon Sejoo’s vehicle, sending his Lamborghini skidding across the road. The passenger side of the car, which had spun twice, crashed into a roadside tree, crumpling its side and rear like paper, but the driver’s seat remained intact.

If he hadn’t hit the accelerator, he would have been crushed by the truck, leaving no trace. Cheon Sejoo felt goosebumps rise belatedly and was swallowed dryly. At the same time, he thought of how lucky he was, and then worried, Did Sejin perhaps see the accident from above? If he had seen the scene from the alpha room, Cheon Sejoo couldn’t even imagine how terrified Sejin would have been until he rushed out of the house and confirmed his safety.

“Did Sejin see it? The accident scene.”

“I don’t know. I was too flustered to listen properly, but he didn’t see it directly. He said he was trying to close the door and heard a sound, so he looked out again? I think that’s what he said. He looked fine, so don’t worry too much.”

If that was the case, it was a relief. It was better than him seeing the direct collision of the vehicles. As Cheon Sejoo let out a sigh of relief, Chae Beomjun clicked his tongue disapprovingly and said,

“You’re practically inseparable, aren’t you? I recall you saying something about there being no way you’d get involved with someone twelve years younger than you… Chun Sil-jang, you don’t really have a conscience, do you?”

“Just leave. You’re too loud.”

Ignoring the words steeped in jealousy, Cheon Sejoo closed his eyes. Being next to Chae Beomjun drained his energy. He found him annoying to deal with. Finally, Chae Beomjun clicked his tongue, then stood up. Perhaps thinking he shouldn’t torment the patient any further, he put the chair back in its place and explained the situation one last time.

“Moon Seonhyuk is in charge of the handling team. You don’t have anything urgent to do, so just focus on recovering. The CEO will call you when you’re discharged and have recovered a bit. Until then, don’t worry about anything. Maybe even go on a trip with that younger lover you can’t live without.”

At the mention of a trip, Cheon Sejoo’s ears perked up. He listened to Chae Beomjun leaving the room and fell into thought.

His arm was broken, but it was a minor injury. The important thing was his eyes. How long would it take for his vision to recover? Perhaps this condition could last for several years. Or, if he was unlucky, it might never recover.

Could I continue working with the handling team in this condition? The handling team dealt with confidential matters. There was a lot of physical work involved, and he wasn’t as good with computers as Yoon Chul-joo, so with his body like this, he couldn’t pull his weight there.

Suddenly, Cheon Sejoo thought that perhaps, like the day Chae Beomjun visited him in the detention center, this accident might lead his life in a different direction. They wouldn’t be able to leave a vacant spot on the handling team while he recovered, and if this became a permanent injury, what would Shin Gyoyeon do with him, now useless? Though it didn’t suit him, Shin Gyoyeon wasn’t someone who treated people as expendable, so he would probably try to find another use for him.

If not here, what else can I do? Cheon Sejoo thought hard, but soon his head ached, scattering his thoughts.

It was a useless problem to worry about now. No one could know what that psychopath, Shin Gyoyeon, was thinking, so it was best to think about it when the time came. Once he resigned himself to that, Sejin’s absence felt increasingly significant. Cheon Sejoo, thinking he was a demanding patient, called the nurse, wondering if she might know where Sejin was.

“Mr. Cheon Sejoo? Are you okay? Is something bothering you?”

“I’m sorry to bother you when you’re busy. I’m not in pain, but I was wondering if you knew where my guardian went. My phone is broken, so I can’t call him.”

He gestured with his eyes towards the shattered phone, and the nurse nodded, replying,

“Ah, he said he went home to get some things. So I heard the person who came earlier would sit in for him until then. I’ll adjust the IV drip speed. The professor will be here soon.”

He thought Sejin went home, but it seemed Chae Beomjun was waiting outside.

Sejin had practically lived at the hospital for a month before Kim Hyun-kyung died, so he knew well what was needed for hospital life. He probably went to pack things he would need during the hospitalization, including towels.

From his condition, it didn’t seem like the hospitalization would be very long. Hospitals tended to discharge patients early, and since he wasn’t unconscious and there were no other issues to monitor, Cheon Sejoo thought he wouldn’t stay in the hospital for more than two weeks.

However, Sejin seemed to think differently. Thirty minutes later, Cheon Sejoo blinked blankly at the sight of Sejin returning, laden with bags. So many things filled his two hands that his blurry vision was completely obscured.

“Are you moving?”

At Cheon Sejoo’s voice, Sejin sharply turned his head, put his bags down on the spot, and approached. Two lukewarm hands cupped Cheon Sejoo’s cheeks. From Sejin, who had just come back, lingered the damp scent of summer. His face, now close, looked somehow haggard. Staring intently into Cheon Sejoo’s examining eyes, Sejin asked in an affectionate voice,

“When did you wake up, dear? Are you okay?”

Sejin carefully pulled Cheon Sejoo’s head into his embrace. He kissed his hair several times, and stroked his back with his palm, confirming Cheon Sejoo was okay, then leaned back to pull away.

Aware of Sejin pulling away, Cheon Sejoo extended his good right hand and pulled Sejin’s head back. He didn’t know if the door was open or closed, but he wanted to kiss Sejin, so he kissed his cheek and near his lips several times, and finally deeply kissed his eyes, which were on the verge of tears again, before pulling away.

“I woke up earlier. I feel good. Not bad.”

At that, Sejin let out a sigh of relief. Still, as if he couldn’t feel entirely at ease, Sejin’s eyes swept over Cheon Sejoo’s body, then he pulled up a chair, sat beside him, and asked,

“Are you hurting anywhere? Do you feel nauseous or anything?”

“No. I think I’m fine… Why did you bring so much stuff?”

Cheon Sejoo trailed off, pointing at the bags Sejin had placed on the floor. Sejin then jumped up as if he had forgotten, saying, “Just a moment,” and began to unpack the bags.

He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing, and could vaguely make out what was in the bags. A humidifier, towels, a mini vacuum cleaner, a duster, disposable wipes, books and workbooks, a blanket and pillow, body wash and shampoo. As if he had moved house, every single household item came out of the bags, one by one.

Sejin seemed to think Cheon Sejoo was seriously injured. He appeared to have packed so many things because he thought the hospitalization would be long, and understanding his concern made Cheon Sejoo’s nose tingle for no reason. Cheon Sejoo swallowed the surge of emotion, watching Sejin organize the luggage, then cautiously asked,

“Were you worried?”

“…Of course I was. You have no idea how startled I was…”

Sejin, who had turned his back, replied in a voice trembling as if he was about to cry.

He was about to close the alpha room window and return to the kitchen when a loud bang echoed. Wondering what had happened, he looked up and saw that the spot where Cheon Sejoo’s car had been was empty, and next to it, a newly appeared dump truck had crashed into a roadside tree and a bus stop. Cheon Sejoo’s vehicle was nowhere to be seen. At that moment, clutching his sinking heart, Sejin ran.

Without even grabbing his coat, dressed in pajamas with an apron on, he reached the first floor and sprinted towards the road. He always hated how tears would immediately well up whenever his emotions ran high, but he realized that when the shock was too great, even that reaction was absent. Sejin, unable to show any reaction, simply ran towards the accident scene until he spotted people gathered far from the truck, and a sudden intuition struck him, making him run towards them.

A badly crumpled white car body was emitting smoke under a roadside tree. The moment he spotted a pale Cheon Sejoo through the shattered window, time seemed to stop. His motionless figure was like that of a dead man. His vision blurred, and he felt nauseous.

However, the moment he saw Cheon Sejoo’s eyes twitch and his lips move, Sejin struggled to collect himself. He called for an ambulance and helped the people struggling to pull Cheon Sejoo out of the crumpled door. Once Cheon Sejoo was extracted, he had no significant external injuries apart from a damaged arm and scratches on his face from glass fragments. It was truly a case where one would spontaneously exclaim, “Heaven must have helped him!”

The ambulance soon arrived, and Cheon Sejoo remained unconscious until they reached the hospital. How relieved he was when the paramedics said his life wasn’t in danger. Only then did Sejin burst into tears. The paramedics were so flustered that they even asked if the guardian was hurt somewhere.

At the hospital, he heard that Cheon Sejoo’s arm bone was shattered. While waiting for him to go into emergency surgery, Sejin searched through Cheon Sejoo’s phone. He felt he had to contact his company. However, the shattered screen made the phone inoperable, and Sejin ended up sitting alone in the surgery waiting room, spending the night there.

Chae Beomjun appeared in the early morning of the day after the accident. While returning home after midnight, he recognized the crumpled car on the side of the road as Cheon Sejoo’s and, after some inquiries, found his way to the hospital.

Chae Beomjun, seeing Sejin alone keeping watch, clicked his tongue enviously. He then handled various hospital room matters that Sejin hadn’t been able to attend to and left.

As he listened carefully to Sejin’s explanation of how he ended up in the VIP room, a feeling of apology gradually filled his heart. He knew it wasn’t his fault, but he was still bothered by having worried Sejin. Cheon Sejoo stretched out his good right arm, wrapped it around Sejin’s waist, and pressed his face against his chest.

“I’m sorry… I’m really okay. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“What are you sorry for? Don’t say things like that.”

The voice that retorted was pouting. Sejin, disliking Cheon Sejoo’s self-reproach, stroked his head, buried his lips in his short hair, and repeatedly kissed him gently.

“Anyway, I’m glad… It’s enough that you’re safe.”

He seemed to hear a sniffle from above his head, but this time, he decided to pretend not to notice. Cheon Sejoo listened to Sejin’s thumping heartbeat and felt relieved that he was by his side.