PEN Vol 2 Ch. 16

Cheon Sejoo opened the door to the counseling room and went inside, then brought Sejin back to the seat he had originally been sitting in. The bruise on Sejin’s cheek, where Lee Haegyun had hit him hard, had darkened over time, turning an ugly shade of purple.

Cheon Sejoo stood there for a moment, staring at it with a slight frown, before letting out a short sigh. Then he asked.

“Is your bag in the classroom? Where do I need to go?”

“Up the stairs to the right, the first classroom on the left… Class 2, Section 3.”

“And where’s your seat?”

“Right in front of the back door.”

Sejin, still somewhat dazed, answered automatically. Without saying anything more, Cheon Sejoo opened the door to the counseling room and went out. It didn’t take long for him to return with Sejin’s worn-out school bag.

Holding Sejin’s bag in one hand, Cheon Sejoo knelt in front of Sejin’s chair. His broad back, clad in a suit, stretched out before Sejin’s eyes. Unable to understand his intentions, Sejin stared blankly down at his back.

After a moment, Cheon Sejoo gestured with his hand, urging him forward and Sejin realized what he wanted.

“Get on.”

“…I can walk.”

Sejin could still walk, though it was a bit difficult. Feeling embarrassed, Sejin quietly refused, but Cheon Sejoo, still in that position, turned his head and met his eyes.

In a calm but firm voice, he gave Sejin two options.

“Do you want me to carry you like a princess, or do you want to ride on my back?”

“…….”

Sejin already knew very well that he couldn’t win against Cheon Sejoo’s stubbornness. In the end, with his face flushing red, Sejin lowered himself and climbed onto Sejoo’s back reluctantly.

His chest pressed against Cheon Sejoo’s broad, firm back, and the sweet scent coming from Sejoo’s neck was right under Sejin’s nose. As Cheon Sejoo stood up, gripping Sejin’s thighs to secure him, he instructed.

“Wrap your arms properly around my neck. Unless you want to fall.”

Sejin hesitantly wrapped his arms around Cheon Sejoo’s neck and held on. A faint smell of cigarettes wafted from the nape of his neck, which was now even closer. Soon, Sejin’s perspective lifted as his field of vision rose. Cheon Sejoo walked steadily, carrying Sejin on his back.

As they left the counseling room and slowly descended the stairs, Sejin quickly got used to being carried by Cheon Sejoo. Resting his unbruised right cheek against the taut fabric of Cheon Sejoo’s suit jacket, Sejin quietly closed his eyes.

It felt really strange.

Sejin had never imagined that there would come a day in his life when he would be protected by an adult man.

Every man who had passed through Sejin’s life had all been trash. His father had beaten and mistreated him and Kim Hyunkyung since his childhood, and Sejin had grown up believing that it was his duty to protect his mother from him.

After his father left, his uncle, who began visiting them treated Sejin like the father he had always dreamed of, but it didn’t last. Soon enough, that uncle stole Kim Hyunkyung’s seal stamp and disappeared, completely shattering Sejin’s fantasy.

From his abusive father and uncle to the indifferent police officers who ignored him in moments when he desperately asked for help…

The men in Sejin’s life were all like that.

There were plenty of men who would attack Sejin but never once considered protecting him.

And yet, here was Cheon Sejoo. Of all people, Cheon Sejoo had stepped up to protect Kwon Sejin. He shielded him from Lee Haegyun’s malice, the indifference of the teachers, and even from the helplessness that had threatened to crush Sejin.

It felt so unfamiliar.

The idea that he didn’t have to step forward to protect himself, that he didn’t have to be the first to open his mouth to defend himself, that he could simply stay silent and watch as he hid behind the back of the man standing in front of him. This was a completely unfamiliar experience for Sejin.

But why?

Sejin couldn’t understand Cheon Sejoo. It was hard to believe what was happening, and he couldn’t easily accept the situation as it was.

Sejin’s vision still felt hazy, as if he were wandering in a dream.

Maybe I got hit in the head too hard in the cafeteria.

He even wondered if all of this was an imagination of his.

However, the scent of the man that tickled his senses and the warmth from his body that heated Sejin’s chest were undeniably real. Sejin blinked slowly, staring at the nape of the man’s neck right in front of him.

Thud, thud—

The sound of his footsteps echoed, followed by a creak as the old glass door opened. A cold wind blew toward the two of them.

The cold winter wind was sharp enough to cool down Sejin’s fevered cheek instantly. However, at this moment, Sejin couldn’t feel the scent of dried, crumbled fallen leaves or the harsh, biting shape of the wind. Tightening his grip on Cheon Sejoo’s neck, Sejin opened his mouth.

“…Why did you come?”

Just those four words alone were enough to ask everything. Cheon Sejoo briefly paused his steps but then resumed walking toward the parking lot next to the school gates, adjusting Sejin as he started to slip down his back.

With a slight jolt, Sejin’s body shifted and he was pulled closer again, his face now pressed against Sejoo’s neck. As Sejin gazed down, taking in the sight of the black hair in front of him and the solid support of Cheon Sejoo’s back, he asked again.

“Why did you come?”

“…And why did you give them my number?”

Instead of answering, Cheon Sejoo threw a difficult question back at him.

Sejin, forgetting that he was the one who asked first, fell silent.

There wasn’t really a special reason for giving his homeroom teacher Cheon Sejoo’s number. He didn’t want to give his mother’s number because he didn’t want to make her worry, knowing she couldn’t come to the school right away. And yet, he was also scared of not giving any number at all, fearing he might end up at the police station.

“…….”

But is that really all there was to it?

Sejin closed his eyes and let his body relax. Cheon Sejoo tightened his grip on him, showing no signs of strain.

A sense of security, something Sejin had never felt before, enveloped him completely. He felt the strong hands supporting his thighs and exhaled in short, raspy breaths as the heat in his face intensified.

Cheon Sejoo’s voice echoed in his mind.

‘If you can’t stand that b*stard bothering you anymore, just tell me. I’ll take care of it.’

Sejin had laughed off those words.

He had scoffed, thinking,

How are you any different from Lee Haegyun?

Yet, despite that, it seemed that those words must have settled somewhere deep in his heart like an assurance.

I’ll take care of it for you.

It would have been a lie to say he hadn’t relied on those words.

When Sejin gave his homeroom teacher Cheon Sejoo’s number, he had unconsciously been holding onto a small bit of hope. A hope that maybe, just as he had promised back then, this man would truly help him.

Of course, there was no real form to that expectation.

There’s no way.

There’s no way that gangster, of all people, would help me.

It was probably just something he said offhand.

I should only believe the words of someone I can trust.

He’s lost interest in me anyway, so why would he even come here?

Something like that isn’t going to happen.

Sejin had built up countless safety measures within himself so he wouldn’t be hurt if Cheon Sejoo didn’t show up. He had buried the remaining small flicker of hope deep inside him, like a handful of ashes. That’s why, even after realizing that Cheon Sejoo had actually come, it was hard for him to believe it.

It felt like a dream.

It felt like the result of his expectations, which were born from a hope that was clearly never going to be fulfilled.

But Cheon Sejoo really came.

He recognized the distress Sejin had sent and came here to protect him in his moment of need.

You really are different from everyone else.

Sejin tightened his arms around Cheon Sejoo. Clinging tightly to him, he whispered into the winter wind, his voice barely audible.

“I didn’t think you would actually come… I thought you’d ignore it and just tell me to deal with it myself….”

“You didn’t expect me to come, so you must have been surprised, huh?”

Cheon Sejoo gave a light laugh and responded casually.

Of course, Sejin had been surprised.

In fact, he still couldn’t fully believe it.

But as he leaned his weight against Cheon Sejoo’s broad back, Sejin couldn’t help but believe that Cheon Sejoo had really come to save him. He came to accept that this man, who Sejin thought could only be worse than his uncle or his father, had been the only one to respond to his distress call.

Sejin’s eyes grew hot. Unable to control the emotions welling up inside him, he bit his lips hard. A whirlwind of complex feelings about the man surged through him.

He resented him, he hated him, but at the same time, he was grateful to him.

In truth, the feeling of gratitude was the strongest of all.

Although Sejin had received much from Cheon Sejoo, up until now, he had remained silent out of pride, thinking that everything Cheon Sejoo possessed came from the pockets of people like him. All the thanks he had given him up to this point had been empty words.

But now, finally.

He now had a chance to truly thank him from the bottom of his heart. And yet, his lips wouldn’t move. He felt embarrassed, sorrowful, and resentful, all at once. What finally made Sejin open his mouth were the words Cheon Sejoo spoke as they neared the parking lot.

“Good job.”

“…What?”

Sejin, in a daze, asked back, and Cheon Sejoo responded sincerely.

“Don’t just take it—hit back next time as well. Don’t let those b*stards bully you. No matter what you do, it will be fine, just don’t be the only one who gets hurt.”

“…….”

Cheon Sejoo’s voice, as he said this, sounded somewhat relieved, but also a bit upset.

Sejin’s chest tightened.

He didn’t know how to respond, so he remained silent. Burying his face in Cheon Sejoo’s gently swaying shoulders, he struggled to steady himself.

When they reached the car, Cheon Sejoo opened the passenger door and carefully set Sejin down. Sejin grabbed onto the seat, and clumsily climbed into the car with his injured leg, and just before Sejoo could close the door, Sejin reached out and grabbed his suit jacket.

Sejin’s sweaty hands crumpled the stiff fabric of Cheon Sejoo’s suit jacket, gripping it tightly as if it were his lifeline. He then whispered.

“Thank you….”

Though it wasn’t the first time he had heard Sejin thank him, Cheon Sejoo smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth as if he were surprised that Sejin was expressing his gratitude to him. He looked down at Sejin, who was blushing awkwardly, then Cheon Sejoo chuckled softly, and reached out to ruffle his hair.

As Sejin felt the touch of Cheon Sejoo’s fingers softly running through his hair, he cautiously lifted his head. When he saw Cheon Sejoo smiling down at him, Sejin froze.

The faint smile in Cheon Sejoo’s cold eyes, his straight nose, and the gentle curve of his lips without any trace of mockery—it was an expression that Sejin had never seen before.

Cheon Sejoo, smiling so openly, looked far more handsome than usual.

In that moment, Sejin felt as though his heart was being squeezed, an overwhelming feeling as if he were falling rushed through him. As heat rushed from the tips of his toes to the top of his head in an instant, Sejin felt dizzy and parted his lips.

He opened his mouth, gasping slightly as the scabbed cut on his lips split open once more and his breath came out in a puff of white mist covering his vision.

In all that mist, only Cheon Sejoo stood out clearly.

It was a memory that would remain with Sejin for the rest of his life.