PEN Vol 2 Ch. 2

The next morning, Cheon Sejoo woke to the damp sensation of humid air clinging to his skin. His brows furrowed in discomfort, and with a heavy sigh, he raised a hand from where it had been lying down on the bed to wipe his face.

There hadn’t been any mention of rain the night before, but it seemed like an autumn shower had arrived unexpectedly. Even with all the windows shut, he could still feel the chill seeping into his body, causing a dull ache to form in his forehead. He clutched his head as he sat up in bed.

The thick, heavy blanket slid off to the side with a soft thud, revealing his bare upper body. His pale skin was covered with numerous scars.

Among them, a particularly fresh-looking scar stretching about a hand’s width from just beneath his left chest down to his waist, still tinged with a reddish color as if it had not been long since it was healed.

Cheon Sejoo sat there motionless, staring into space as the cold air settled over his skin. After a long while, he reached out, picking up his phone to check the time.

5:32 AM.

He then glanced at the weather app, noting the rain clouds icon, and opened his messaging app.

5:32 AM.

-Are you free this morning?

It was around the time when Doyoon’s midterms would have ended.

However, since it was still early and Doyoon was likely asleep, Cheon Sejoo put his phone down after leaving a message for him to call once he woke up.

His eyes, calm and detached, drifted toward the window. Then he slowly stood up. His firm, bare body, without a single thread of clothing, began to stir with energy as he stretched out and the muscles that had been relaxed sprang back to life with renewed strength.

The tiger tattoo sprawling across his back gleamed, resembling a predator on the hunt for its prey. Its front paw seemed to rest against his waist, poised as if ready to pounce at any moment, claws extended.

The fierce image of the tiger, baring its fangs, signified his allegiance to Shin Gyoyeon. The intricate tattoo, which had taken two years to complete, had been started the day since Cheon Sejoo was given the title of Manager.

That same day also happened to be the day Cheon Sejoo had stabbed himself in the abdomen.

Fittingly, today was the day he was going to meet the man who held his life in his hands.

Cheon Sejoo walked into his dressing room and threw on a black t-shirt and track pants. After a quick wash, he went out and headed directly to the seventh floor.

“Good morning, Manager.”

A guard standing by the gym greeted him with a nod. Cheon Sejoo acknowledged him and stepped into Room 701. The place was still dark as no one else had arrived yet. He pressed a button, flooding the gym with light, and then made his way to his locker.

As he opened the door and wrapped his hands with the protective gear, he could feel the blood begin to pump through his veins, awakening his senses. The sound of rain hitting against the windows felt vivid and sharp, almost as if the droplets were hitting his ears directly.

It was always like this on rainy days.

His nerves sharpened, and his sensitivity to everything around him heightened. He stood there, staring out at the rain-soaked world, listening intently to the sounds around him.

For Cheon Sejoo, rain carried a different meaning than it did for most people. The sound of rain blanketing the world was a haunting reminder of a day filled with despair and sorrow. The ceaselessly falling raindrops didn’t simply wash away—it accumulated within him, forming a suffocating sea of nightmares.

When it rained, Cheon Sejoo felt as if he might drown in that sea.

The only thing that could save him was the warmth of another person. That’s why, on rainy days, he sought out others. For the past two years, on most days when it rained, he had sought solace in Doyoon’s embrace.

“Good morning.”

The sound of the door opening and closing was accompanied by a greeting.

Cheon Sejoo, with his eyes lowered, listened carefully.

Two people’s footsteps, a familiar voice—thankfully, the ones he had been waiting for had arrived early.

“Good morning.”

He greeted Shin Gyoyeon, his voice steady and calm as always. Shin Gyoyeon nodded slightly in response before Cheon Sejoo left his side and headed towards the ring first.

As he waited, Shin Gyoyeon also changed his clothes, wrapped his hands in protective gear, and joined him on the mat.

Their sparring session today would be done with bare hands. Their fists grazed each other multiple times as they exchanged blows, but Cheon Sejoo, unusually sharp due to his heightened senses, easily gained the upper hand over Shin Gyoyeon.

After catching his breath and helping the man who had collapsed to the mat back onto his feet, Cheon Sejoo watched as Shin Gyoyeon bowed his head first.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Good work.”

Shin Gyoyeon responded with his usual low voice before quickly leaving the place. Chae Beomjun seemed like he was about to say something, but Cheon Sejoo merely gave him a slight nod and immediately headed into the training room.

After finishing his workout, Sejoo’s body was radiating heat. Although his mood was still somewhat low, it was better than when he had first woken up to the sight of the rain.

Returning to the 41st floor, Cheon Sejoo fanned his sweat-soaked shirt as he strode into his apartment, tossing it aside as he walked through the hallway. By the time he reached the bathroom near the living room, he had already taken off his pants. Just then, he heard the door click open, and Sejin appeared at the end of the hallway.

Before their eyes could meet, Cheon Sejoo quickly stepped inside the bathroom. He turned on the hot water and washed off his sweat, taking his time. By the time he finished his leisurely shower and came out, it was close to 8 a.m.

“……”

With nothing but a towel draped over his head, he walked into the living room to find Sejin, now dressed in his school uniform, sitting at the table and eating breakfast with a displeased expression. Since Sejoo had already told him not to prepare anything for him, the table in front of the sofa held only a simple meal, a bowl of rice, and a few side dishes—small, yet sufficient.

It was still a strange sight for Cheon Sejoo. The fact that someone else was making breakfast and eating in his home this early in the morning was something he figured he would need some time to get used to.

Glancing briefly at Sejin eating, Cheon Sejoo went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He had no appetite, so he decided to mix a vanilla-flavored protein shake. Before long, a disgruntled voice full of complaints reached his ears.

“Do you really have to walk around like that?”

Naturally, the voice belonged to none other than Kwon Sejin.

At that question, Cheon Sejoo silently raised his gaze to look at him. Sejin’s face was set in a scowl, an expression that made it difficult to tell if he was upset or irritated. Not that it was anything out of the ordinary. After all, he’d never seen Sejin smile before.

“What?”

“You’re always walking around half-naked.”

Sejin frowned and replied in frustration at his indifferent response.

“……”

It wasn’t until then that Cheon Sejoo realized that he was standing there without a single piece of clothing on, not even underwear. He cursed himself inwardly and maintaining his composure, he casually took off the towel draped over his head and wrapped it around his waist.

No matter how much he tried to remind himself, he kept forgetting to put on a robe after showering.

As a gay man, walking around undressed in front of Sejin, another man, was somewhat awkward. However, he had lived alone for five years and was used to wandering around unclothed at home after a shower. It just wasn’t a habit for him to immediately put on clothes.

Moreover, despite the fact that Sejin was definitely a man born with the d1ck that Cheon Sejoo liked and was right there in front of him, he didn’t see him as a man at all. The significant age difference and Sejin’s temper made it impossible.

It wasn’t that Sejin appeared as a woman to him, it was that he simply didn’t register him as a sexual being, so it never occurred to him that he should be careful about such things.

Thus, to Cheon Sejoo, Sejin was… just like a very young sibling.

“Happy now?”

Cheon Sejoo glanced down at the towel precariously covering his lower half as he asked the question. Sejin didn’t bother nodding. Instead, he scrunched up his face and pulled his lips into a thin line. He then placed his chopsticks down on his now-empty bowl and spoke.

“I’ll listen to you, so show some manners yourself. Why the hell do I need to know that you don’t have any hair down there?”

“Sounds like you looked pretty closely.”

“I didn’t look closely!”

Sejin shouted, his face flushing red. His expression was one of utter disgust as if he had witnessed something truly unpleasant, and Sejoo, rather than feeling embarrassed, found himself wanting to tease him more.

Something about Kwon Sejin always brought this out of him.

He became childish around him.

For a moment, Cheon Sejoo forgot all about the foul mood he had woken up in earlier and now, driven by nothing but the urge to tease Sejin, moved away from the island counter and approached him.

Sejin, who had been cleaning up the empty plates of the side dishes, turned his head around at the sound of approaching footsteps and glared at Sejoo as he got closer. His expression clearly screamed, Don’t even think about it.

Meeting Sejin’s defiant gaze, Cheon Sejoo’s smile only deepened.

“How is it? Hyung had it pretty big, right?”

Sitting on the back of the sofa, Sejoo made his remark, causing Sejin to snicker in disbelief. Even so, he couldn’t hide the fact that his ears were bright red. Seeing that, Cheon Sejoo felt his mood improve a little, a smile tugging at his lips.

“’Hyung’? Yeah, right…”

“Jealous? Is that why you don’t want to look?”

Maybe I should tease him a little more.

Kwon Sejin’s face was a sight worth seeing. Whether he was frowning, glaring up at him with those sharp eyes, or biting his lips as if he was about to curse at him at any moment, he was always so pretty.

There was no doubt that Sejin’s good looks played a part in why Cheon Sejoo never got mad, no matter how rudely Sejin acted. With a smile on his lips, Cheon Sejoo waited for Sejin’s indignant response. But this time, Sejin’s reaction was colder than expected.

“It’s disgusting. Get away from me.”

“……”

Cheon Sejoo fell silent, his words stuck in his throat. For the first time, he actually felt a bit of a blow to his pride. It was worse than being lumped together with the brainless idiots at Shinsa Capital.

There was one thing that countless men who had passed through his life had always agreed on.

Not only was he handsome, but even “down there,” he was something else.

Cheon Sejoo’s d!ck, smooth without a single strand of hair, was an even, deep pink. It didn’t bend to one side but stood perfectly straight, which was often compared to a 3D-modeled artificial pen1s.

And yet, Sejin had the audacity to call such a prized possession “disgusting”…

What the hell does he even know?

Cheon Sejoo had half a mind to throw off his towel right then and show Sejin just how perfect and straight his d!ck was. However, that would have clearly been sexual harassment, so he held himself back.

Left with no other option, Sejoo just sat there, pondering how to respond. In the meantime, he watched Sejin with a sullen expression as he quietly tidied up the dishes. Suddenly, Cheon Sejoo’s enthusiasm deflated.

Watching Sejin’s back as he swiftly and efficiently washed the dishes, he appeared surprisingly mature from behind. In contrast, feeling like he was the one who wasn’t acting his age, Sejoo let out a short sigh and got up from the sofa.

Heading to his room, he changed into fresh clothes. He slipped into a light blue shirt and a navy suit, leaving the top button undone as usual, without a tie. Out of the three watches in his collection, he chose a silver metal one with an exposed movement, strapping on it before he combed his hair back with some wax and applied a cologne. He’d likely be seeing Doyoon today, so he put in a bit more effort than usual.

When he came back out to the living room, Sejin had finished getting ready and was sitting on the sofa, waiting for him.