PEN Vol 2 Ch. 18

4. Shadow 4 (Part 1)

Sejin’s high fever lasted for an entire week.

Even after taking medicine, the fever would briefly subside only to rise again after one or two hours. Cheon Sejoo ended up giving him fever-reducing injections that he had brought from his workshop, as Sejin’s throat was so swollen that he couldn’t even swallow the pills.

During that week, Sejin lost 5 kilograms, but as if by magic, he suddenly grew taller. It was as though the weight he lost had all gone straight into his bones. Cheon Sejoo was shocked to see how much Sejin’s height had shot up when he finally got out of bed. Even the last traces of baby fat on his jawline were gone, leaving behind the sharper lines of a man.

“I told you, it was just growing pains.”

Sejin spoke, tugging at the hem of his now too-short t-shirt, trying to stretch it down.

His voice was different, too, compared to a week ago.

What had once been a husky, androgynous voice from the onset of puberty was now fully developed into the clear, deep voice of a young man. Sejin’s face was still beautiful, but the girlish look that he had from when they first met was completely gone. Now, Sejin had become an extremely handsome young man.

“Well, I guess it wasn’t a wishful thinking after all…”

Cheon Sejoo muttered as he looked at Sejin up and down in amazement. Although Sejin might have been offended by his gaze, he merely let out a short huff and smirked.

Since the day Cheon Sejoo had gone to school, Sejin’s attitude had changed drastically.

He no longer put up sharp defenses around Cheon Sejoo, nor did he lash out with harsh words in an attempt to start unnecessary fights with him. Watching Sejin now, Cheon Sejoo felt like he had finally stepped inside Sejin’s inner boundaries.

Just as Cheon Sejoo had come to see Sejin as a younger brother, it seemed Sejin had also come to recognize him as his guardian. And that change wasn’t unwelcome.

“You need to get a new school uniform.”

After being sick for a week and through the weekend, Sejin was finally back on his feet and got up perfectly fine.

On Monday morning, as he returned to his daily routine and was about to leave the house together,  Cheon Sejoo noticed Sejin’s ankle was clearly visible below the hem of his school uniform pants.

Cheon Sejoo looked at the faint yellowing bruise fading on Sejin’s slender ankle, then lifted his gaze to meet Sejin’s eyes. Sejin also seemed to feel a bit awkward because his gaze had risen half an inch, and he stared intently at Cheon Sejoo’s lips, which now appeared much closer than before due to their new height difference.

“There are some uniforms left behind by seniors after they graduated. I can just find one that fits and wear it.”

Lately, it has become common for students to donate their school uniforms after graduation to help students in difficult circumstances. There were dozens of donated and cleaned uniforms that were stored in the school’s warehouse, and if Sejin told his homeroom teacher, he could easily find a pair of school uniforms that would fit him.

However, Cheon Sejoo frowned at Sejin’s suggestion.

“You’ll be wearing it for over a year, just buy a new one.”

At those words, Sejin frowned as well.

“Why would I wear it for over a year? I won’t even wear it after six months.”

“…Why?”

“Why do you think? Because I’m going to keep growing.”

Sejin’s response was as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Cheon Sejoo looked down at him with a slightly amused expression.

It was true that men could continue growing taller into their twenties, but if Sejin had just barely crossed 170 cm in height at 18, it was unlikely he’d get much taller. Most boys who grew over 180 cm tall hit that mark before reaching their final year of high school.

“Well, you might not grow taller. Seems like you’ve already reached the national average height.”

Cheon Sejoo teased as they walked toward the car.

Sejin furrowed his brow, looking at Cheon Sejoo’s back, which seemed to be over 180 cm tall. He wondered why Cheon Sejoo was cursing him with such words, but then shook his head and followed behind him.

“I will grow.”

Sejin spoke as if he were making a vow.

After their brief squabble about whether Sejin would grow taller or not, the two of them got into the car as if it were routine. Sejin sat in the passenger seat, clutching his bag tightly, while Cheon Sejoo drove with his usual reckless speed, like a streetcar racer.

It took 40 minutes to reach East Seoul Boys High School, and they arrived at the usual time. As always, Sejin opened the passenger door and got out the moment the car came to a stop. But just before closing the door, he hesitated, then mumbled an awkward farewell.

“See you later…”

“…Uh, yeah.”

Cheon Sejoo blinked in surprise. The kid who usually got out without saying a word had just said goodbye. With his eyes wide, Cheon Sejoo nodded and instinctively waved his hand.

Sejin watched Cheon Sejoo’s hand awkwardly wave from side to side like a child’s, and a small smile tugged at his lips. Then, he quietly closed the door and disappeared into the school.

It was the start of a new daily routine.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Time passed quickly.

Three weeks after the incident involving Sejin’s fight, winter break arrived. With Sejin spending more time at home, their schedule also had changed.

Normally, after school, Sejin would come home, prepare dinner, and then they’d eat together, and study. But now, with Sejin at home more often and Sejoo being the only one going in and out of the house, they needed to come up with a new plan.

Sending Sejin to a tutoring academy would have been convenient, but Cheon Sejoo remembered how Sejin had reacted the last time he brought it up so it didn’t seem like a good option.

Sejin had clearly been upset, and if he brought it up again, Sejin would probably grumble and say something he didn’t mean, like, ‘Fine, just send me to an academy, then.’ Thus, Cheon Sejoo decided to come up with a homeschooling plan instead.

“You’re doing supplementary classes from eleven in the morning to three in the afternoon… really? You?”

However, as soon as he started making plans, Cheon Sejoo frowned upon hearing about Sejin’s own plan for supplementary classes.

Of all people, Kwon Sejin was planning to do supplementary classes during winter break?

The last time Cheon Sejoo had visited Sejin’s classroom to retrieve his bag, he immediately understood Sejin’s previous complaints about the lack of a serious study environment. Even though it was right before the final exams, there were only five students left in the classroom. Three of them were pretending to study, holding books, but the other two were fast asleep under their padded jackets in front of the heater.

Even the teacher, who was wearing earphones, was glued to their laptop screen, seemingly unaware of Cheon Sejoo taking Sejin’s bag and leaving the classroom.

And now, that kind of school was offering supplementary classes?

The fact that Kwon Sejin was willing to participate in them was even more surprising and unbelievable. Cheon Sejoo crossed his arms and stared intently at Sejin, who was sitting next to him.

He was trying to figure out if Sejin was lying. And, as if confirming his suspicions, Sejin couldn’t hold Cheon Sejoo’s gaze for long and eventually looked away. Seeing this, Cheon Sejoo clicked his tongue as if he had caught Sejin red-handed.

“Are you expecting me to believe that?”

“Of course, you have to. What else are you going to do if you don’t?”

Sejin remained defiant. This time, he boldly met Cheon Sejoo’s suspicious gaze and threw the question back at him.

At Sejin’s confident attitude, Sejoo chuckled as if finding it absurd.

“You know I have your homeroom teacher’s number right? Should I call and ask?”

Even with Cheon Sejoo’s threat, Sejin sticked to his attitude. He raised his chin proudly and snorted.

“Go ahead and ask. If you can’t trust people like this, how are you even going to get through life?”

“…”

Was he serious?

If he was willing to go so far as to tell me to call his homeroom teacher, then… he must be telling the truth, right?

Cheon Sejoo felt a bit uneasy. However, it would be ridiculous to actually call Sejin’s homeroom teacher just to confirm if Kwon Sejin was really going to attend the supplementary classes.

After mulling it over for a while, Cheon Sejoo eventually decided to trust Sejin. There was no way he’d lie about something like this, after all.

Though his overly confident attitude was a little suspicious…

Tch.

Cheon Sejoo clicked his tongue and tapped the tip of his pen against the schedule as he explained.

“Alright, since you have to be at school by 11, you’ll have to take the subway yourself. After your classes, if I can make time, I’ll come to pick you up so we can come home together… wait, then that makes your schedule basically the same as during the school semester.”

“Exactly. So we can just stick to the usual routine.”

Sejin quickly replied and nodded his head in agreement with Cheon Sejoo’s explanation. But no matter how much Cheon Sejoo looked at it, he wasn’t satisfied with this schedule.

It was winter break, after all. Sejin should have much more free time to study compared to the regular school semester, and wasting time from 9 to 11 in the morning felt like a missed opportunity.

Two hours was more than enough time to memorize 100 English words and still have some time left. Of course, Sejin would probably struggle to memorize even 10, but still…

Resting his chin on his hand while sitting on the sofa, Cheon Sejoo came up with an idea and started writing on the schedule, as if to finalize his plan.

8:00 – 10:00: Rotate between solving Korean, English, and Math workbooks every day.

“Since you wake up early anyway, don’t waste that time. Just solve some problem sets and workbooks in the morning to refresh your mind before heading to school.”

“…”

Sejin stared at Cheon Sejoo as if he were spouting complete nonsense.

Solving problem sets and workbooks to “refresh” his mind?

He couldn’t understand how that could be considered refreshing.

However, whether Sejin understood or not, Cheon Sejoo continued to lay out the plan he had in his head and explained.

“You’re going to be a senior now, and there’s a mock exam in March, so you should aim for at least 777 then. If you can score 777, then you’ll have a good chance of getting 555 or higher on the actual college entrance exam. Even a dimwit can manage that much in a year.”

“Dimwit… ha.”

Sejin narrowed his eyes into slits, glaring at Cheon Sejoo’s words for blatantly insulting him. Cheon Sejoo, unfazed, shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t see anything wrong with what he had said, and continued speaking.

“That’s good enough for you. With a score of 555, there are plenty of universities you can get into, so don’t think about giving up before you even start. Just do the best that you can.”

At those words, Sejin responded with a blank expression. He clenched and unclenched his fists, hesitating for a moment before finally speaking.

“Even if I get accepted to a university, I won’t have the money to pay for tuition.”

His mother was stuck working at a restaurant to make ends meet, and Sejin himself didn’t even have a stable place to live, being a freeloader at someone else’s house with nowhere else to go. For someone in his situation, being told to go to a university sounded like nothing but empty words.

Although Sejin’s resentment toward Cheon Sejoo had lessened considerably ever since he stepped in as his guardian, it was inevitable that he would feel frustrated at times like this. Sejin really found it annoying that Cheon Sejoo, knowing full well his situation, kept nagging him about studying.

The responsibility for his own future rested solely on Sejin’s shoulders, and Cheon Sejoo wasn’t offering any real help, yet he had so much to say.

As Sejin silently grumbled to himself, Cheon Sejoo, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. He looked at Sejin with a calm, steady gaze before finally speaking.

“If you get into university, I’ll lend you the tuition. Interest-free.”

“…”

Sejin narrowed his eyes in disbelief at his words.

What on earth is he talking about?

He stared at Cheon Sejoo with that gaze, then quickly felt suspicion creeping up inside him and responded bluntly.

“Do you have so much money that it’s rotting away? Even if I get into some crappy university with my grades, I’ll only end up at some lousy company even with a degree. And even if I got a meager salary there, I’d barely have anything left after paying the bills. I know what you’re up to. Once I get a job, you’re probably planning to hound me to pay back the debt, then sell me off when I can’t pay. Isn’t that your real motive?”

“You should major in creative writing. You’ve got quite the imagination. And who’d want to buy someone like you? An idiot who can’t even recite the multiplication table…”

Cheon Sejoo scoffed, shaking his head, and laughed as if he had just heard the most ridiculous thing. He pulled out a cigarette from his loose pants pocket and put it in his mouth.

Watching him light it up and exhale smoke with a lazy expression, Sejin got up from his seat.

Opening all the windows in the living room to get rid of the cigarette smoke, Sejin caught Cheon Sejoo watching him and heard him ask.

“Don’t you have any dreams?”

It was a cringe-worthy question.

Dreams?