PEN Vol 2 Ch. 5

“How great do you think you are, anyway? Is memorizing the multiplication table your only accomplishment in life? Don’t look down on others over something so trivial.”

“I’m only looking down on you because you can’t memorize something as trivial as that. Even an eight-year-old can do it, so how am I supposed to say something nice when an eighteen-year-old can’t?”

So, he’s saying I’m worse than an eight-year-old?

Sejin scowled and glared at Cheon Sejoo.

Then, suddenly, he challenged Sejoo.

“Then you answer it. What’s 8 times 7?”

“Hah.”

Cheon Sejoo let out a scoffing laugh as Sejin, now turning the question back on him, attempting to turn the tables.

Seeing that reaction, Sejin’s face lit up with a smug expression.

He doesn’t even know himself, and he’s acting like he’s better than me?

He thought, puffed out his cheeks in defiance, and sneered at Cheon Sejoo. But before Sejin could fully revel in his satisfaction, Sejoo sighed briefly and opened his mouth.

“Listen carefully.”

Without any hesitation, Sejoo began to recite the multiplication tables—from 2 all the way up to 29. Sejin, watching him in a daze, found himself growing dizzy as Sejoo’s well-formed lips continued to spit off numbers with ease.

It wasn’t until Cheon Sejoo finally reached 29 times 29, finishing with 841, that he closed his mouth. He met Sejin’s eyes with a calm gaze as if asking, Was that good enough for you?

Sejin, stunned, belatedly raised his voice.

“Don’t make me laugh. I could do that too—just spouting off random numbers!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Sejin, being too dumb to recognize the right answer, still refused to believe him. Cheon Sejoo had to suppress the urge to smack those brazen lips and gestured with his chin.

“Take your phone out,” he ordered, and then once again, without hesitation, recited the 29 times table clearly and slowly.

The fact that he was standing there, reciting the multiplication table from the 29s first thing in the morning just to prove to an 18-year-old that he was qualified to teach him—it was beyond ridiculous, to the point that Sejoo himself found it downright pathetic and absurd.

However, he couldn’t let Sejin continue under the mistaken impression that he was trying to teach him when he couldn’t even master the basic multiplication tables.

“Lies…”

As time passed, a series of emotions flickered across Sejin’s face—from suspicion, disbelief, surprise, and finally shock.

He stared intensely at Cheon Sejoo’s hand as if to check whether the numbers were written on his palm, and even turned on another calculator app on Sejoo’s phone to compare the answers, thinking the first calculator was wrong. Only after all that did he “partially” admit that Sejoo was, at least in part, better than him.

“If I were as old as you, I’d be able to do that much too.”

“……”

Well, even if Kwon Sejin were reincarnated, Cheon Sejoo doubted Sejin could close the gap in their natural intelligence. However, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion from the morning, Cheon Sejoo had no interest in continuing this petty argument over who was smarter with Sejin any longer.

It wasn’t like he was solving competition-level problems mentally in his head—he was just simply reciting the multiplication tables… Even now, he found the whole situation laughable.

“Fine. In any case, you didn’t memorize the multiplication table, so you’re not going to Ehwagak today.”

Cheon Sejoo declared, eager to put an end to their pointless back-and-forth argument. Sejin immediately objected, clearly waiting for this moment.

“You said we were going to Ehwagak next week anyway, so just give me time until then!”

“No. I specifically said ‘by this morning.’”

It didn’t matter whether Sejin was upset or not. As far as he was concerned, the conversation was over.

Firmly rejecting Sejin’s request, Cheon Sejoo dropped him off at school, then stopped by at Shinsa Capital to keep Kim Donggil in check before heading to the office.

At the office, he spent time with his team members, each doing their own work, and in the afternoon, he had lunch with Moon Sunhyuk, did some sparring, and then hit the road in his car. Before 4 o’clock, he headed to East Seoul Boys High School to pick up Sejin, who stood there with his usual sullen expression.

As they drove home, Cheon Sejoo asked Sejin to recite the multiplication tables again. That’s how Sejin eventually memorized the multiplication table, then on another day memorized English vocabulary, and on another, math formulas.

It didn’t take long for this routine to become a normal part of Cheon Sejoo and Kwon Sejin’s daily life. Naturally, Sejin’s school life hadn’t changed much. Lee Haegyun and Kim Byungjun still bullied him, and he still struggled to focus in class. However, his daily life after school had changed significantly since he had met Cheon Sejoo.

After school, Sejin would return home and study without much thought. When dinnertime came, he would set the table in the kitchen. The two would eat dinner together, and afterward, they would sit together in the living room to study some more.

Unlike the dull and frustrating days at school, the time spent at the man’s house was so calm and peaceful.

The boy, who always wore a sullen expression, gradually became a part of Cheon Sejoo’s barren life. Though the two of them initially bickered like oil floating on water, at some point, they eventually spent so much time together that their divided existence began to feel natural.

Just like that, autumn disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and soon, the cold wind began to blow, to the point where a single suit was no longer enough to withstand the chill.

It was around this time that Sejin ended up going to the hospital.

Cheon Sejoo’s mornings with Sejin typically only went as far as driving him off on his way to work to the school gate. As he drove back and forth between the house and the underground parking lot, he barely noticed the biting cold. That’s why he hadn’t taken into account the thin hoodie Sejin wore every day.

It happened on a day like any other, early in the morning, after Cheon Sejoo had gone out for his workout and returned home. Sensing the unusual stillness in the living room, Sejoo tilted his head.

It struck him odd as Sejin, who should have been eating breakfast by then, was nowhere to be seen.

Is he sleeping in?

With that thought, Cheon Sejoo headed to the bathroom to wash up. Even if Sejin woke up late, it would only mean missing breakfast, and not being late for school, so there was no rush to wake him immediately.

However, even after he finished his shower, entered the dressing room to change clothes, and came back out, the living room was still empty.

He’s never slept in this late before.

Finally sensing that something was strange, Cheon Sejoo walked a little faster toward the end of the hallway.

“Kwon Sejin.”

He knocked on the door and called out, but there was no response. Cheon Sejoo raised an eyebrow in silence, and when he didn’t sense any movement inside, he cautiously grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

Srrrk, the door opened smoothly without resistance, and warmth seeped out from the inside.

Sejin’s room was much warmer than the living room, with the heating running full blast. The room was still shrouded in darkness, the blackout curtains were drawn tight, keeping out even the faintest bit of sunlight. On the bed, a lump figure lay under the blanket.

Cheon Sejoo approached quietly and sat down on the edge of the bed, calling Sejin’s name again.

“Kwon Sejin. Wake up.”

At the sound of his voice, something stirred beneath the blanket. But that was all. Confirming that Sejin wasn’t waking up easily, Cheon Sejoo frowned and gently pulled away the blanket covering him.

In the dim light streaming in from the hallway, Sejin’s face was revealed.

He had a grimace on his face, his dry lips slightly parted, and was breathing faintly, undeniably the appearance of someone ill.

He’s sick.

Finally grasping Sejin’s condition, Cheon Sejoo clicked his tongue softly and reached out. When his hand touched Sejin’s forehead, a heat like that of a furnace radiated from his skin.

Sensing that it was a rather high fever, Cheon Sejoo awkwardly patted Sejin’s cheek, trying to rouse him from his sleep.

“Kwon Sejin. Come on, snap out of it. Hey.”

At Sejoo’s persistent but gentle touch, Sejin’s eyelids finally fluttered open, revealing his hazy gaze. Seeing Cheon Sejoo’s figure through his barely open eyelids, Sejin slowly turned his head, confirmed that he was in his own room, and furrowed his brows.

“Why….”

Before he could finish the short sentence, a cough burst out.

As he watched Sejin’s body shake with the force of his coughing, Cheon Sejoo clicked his tongue again and stood up, heading toward Sejin’s closet.  After grabbing a change of clothes, Sejoo returned and pulled the blanket aside and helped Sejin sit up.

“Get dressed. We’re going to the clinic.”

“Why would we go to a clinic…”

“You’ve caught a cold. You have a fever.”

At those words, Sejin blinked blankly.

From Cheon Sejoo’s perspective, Sejin looked fragile, as though his wrist would snap with a touch. Sejin then raised his hand to his own forehead, then let out a small sigh, and let his head drop back onto the pillow.

“…I just want to sleep.”

Sejin’s hoarse voice trailed off as if gathering all the energy he had but Cheon Sejoo shook his head. They didn’t have any medicine on hand. Besides, considering that Sejin had seemed fine just yesterday but now suddenly had a high fever and was coughing, and with flu season approaching, it was best to visit the clinic just to be safe.

“You can sleep after we go.”

“……”

Looking at Cheon Sejoo, who spoke firmly and helped him sit up again, Sejin let out a short sigh. Although his body felt limp and weak, Sejin knew he couldn’t win against the man’s stubbornness, so he silently let himself be dressed by Cheon Sejoo’s hands without protest.

Over his short-sleeved t-shirt, Sejin donned his only outerwear, a hoodie, and his well-worn sweatpants. Rising weakly from the bed, Sejin trudged behind Cheon Sejoo, his steps heavy and unsteady.

“Come here.”

He was worried the boy, who was staggering as he walked, might collapse at any moment.

Cheon Sejoo glanced back several times before eventually slowing down his pace to walk beside him. Placing a hand on Sejin’s shoulder, Sejoo supported his body as he walked a step behind him, and only then did he feel more at ease.

The two exited through the front door, took the elevator down to the first floor, and stepped outside the building. As they took a different route than usual, the cold morning air hit their skin more sharply than expected.

Has it always been this cold?

These days, the only time Cheon Sejoo experienced the chill of morning air was during the brief moments when he stepped out of his car and headed to the workshop.

With no real work to do lately, he hadn’t been going out much, so he hadn’t even realized how cold the mornings had become.

Cheon Sejoo’s gaze swept over the back of Sejin’s neck, which was slightly visible. His skin, already heated from the fever, was covered in goosebumps. The hoodie Sejin wore was meant for the changing seasons, but it was clearly insufficient for the current weather.

Realizing too late that Sejin needed a warmer jacket, Cheon Sejoo let out a faint sigh and frowned.

Luckily, thanks to the convenience of living in a residential commercial complex, the walk to the clinic was short. The two of them quickly made their way to the internal medicine clinic on the second floor through the connected mall entrance.

“What the…”

However, when they arrived at the clinic, they found the door was locked. Despite it not being a holiday, it was closed. The door was secured with chains, and there wasn’t even a notice indicating when it would open.

Cheon Sejoo glanced at Sejin, who was shivering violently from chills, and hastily pulled out his phone. After searching for nearby hospitals, he found a pediatric clinic in the shopping area of ​​the apartment complex right next building.

Having come all this way and not wanting to return without receiving treatment, Cheon Sejoo took off his suit jacket and draped it over Sejin’s head.

“There’s another clinic nearby. Let’s go there.”

“…I don’t need this.”

Sejin, his face flushed, took the jacket that had slipped off his shoulders and tried to hand it back to Cheon Sejoo.

However, instead of accepting it, Sejoo carefully adjusted the collar of the jacket and neatly placed it back over Sejin’s head.

Sejin stood there with a sullen expression as Cheon Sejoo buttoned up the jacket to his chin, making Sejin look like a young noblewoman wrapped in a traditional Korean overcoat. Looking at the sight of Sejin’s pretty, pale, slightly flushed face peeking out from the black suit, Sejoo chuckled.

“It’s cold, so keep it on. If you don’t want to wear it, I’ll carry you instead.”