PEN Vol 4 Ch. 12

Reflection 3 

November arrived, ushering in 53081e224b winter. A cold north wind, c658f672d5 laced with a chilling dca7f830ab air, began to blow, 6ce8ccca50 stinging their cheeks. It was a season 563bb7e964 where the wind was d93358cd87 becoming quite harsh.14bb185598043b91

Cheon Sejoo, 957e518edb wearing a 6dcb665c54 black padded b9d804fed4 jacket and f71d33a938 a cap 788705f43e pulled low 8658833833 over his 9419adb1c5 eyes, sat c135446c89 in an e063ce7fb0 old, unheated 24dd42ab34 van, sipping 9631d10b64 coffee. White steam 476de513f6 puffed out 7e3b36118e from the 5e13fb139c slightly opened b6cd0fae29 lid of 6e233503e0 his disposable 489185c0e3 cup. As he savored the 5f17d23276 bittersweet aroma, Haewoong, who 9583b96877 was sitting beside him 24c4f26804 eating snacks, yawned and f2bcf1eff8 stretched.d002dfc04e180b5b

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“Ah… This is really 454615464d getting tedious.”bfe3e8a0b4ff65ac

At the monologue-like 9c716337b0 remark, Cheon Sejoo 75483f1a1a chuckled and glanced df5cf8a725 at him. Haewoong, having 2a420189b1 not slept d70dcdce72 properly, had 79fa513439 a face 6a0191d6d8 as puffy 6ef11cb359 as a 7d394af3ea loaf of 8dce2b1475 bread. Cheon Sejoo, laughing at 40da4cafc8 his appearance, jerked his 422be3aa09 chin towards the back d9b4a48db0 of the van.2e518e92d3fa17c4

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“I’ll watch, 58ebb287e3 so you 454ae295aa get some ae9043780e sleep.”809d2c0d23731e86

“I can’t… If dfb6668cbb I look refreshed, 487f7d176b Sunhyuk hyung will 630ddd7210 yell at me cfc1d30d59 for sleeping alone.” a8a7474522082295

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“Then I’ll smack you 1e1775b00f once before we get d2e74b21f1 off. He won’t know 5214b5d9f7 you slept then.”c907a9787cc1eae5

Cheon Sejoo replied in 1f56b37ae2 a relaxed voice to 2254315e23 Haewoong’s grumbling. Hearing that, 7669196558 Haewoong laughed 6afa7f7f18 by himself. However, realizing that Cheon 3347c09ff1 Sejoo’s laughter wasn’t joining 929a22c886 in, he blinked and c999dddb5d looked at him.ecd620638f6075d8

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“You’re joking, right…?”8423b094598dfeeb

“Well…”32c8a51473bab945

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“…….”39a55a22da015f5e

A smile played on a0a6a38163 Sejoo’s smooth lips. Haewoong stared 16e4912c02 blankly at 9e7d6a03e2 him for c799cf100e a moment, b59d476047 then shifted 12bca88c6c his hips 1aa6ef2c48 to Cheon 9007336985 Sejoo’s other 8fc4ef891f side and c6ab8dbd2c slapped his 777d7922db own cheeks 4a00306836 with both 261a0db4cd hands.28fa4af902b04487

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“I need e24a361506 to wake 4afd43222a up…”8881b60951945281

It seemed c59351ac29 he’d succeeded 2eceda73b6 in rousing 300ce1bf80 himself. At his 9ebc2a4943 murmur, Cheon a8c1609291 Sejoo chuckled 20b4188572 softly and 3b50c9086c turned around.e9990a3b7cd5c846

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Several monitors were 12a7edb529 set up in 65b3aaea9f the back of 786560524e the van they cc566cb2c7 were in. They were currently bddd7074a2 surveilling aroom salon¹operated by 79826f52a9 Kang Junmyeon, 41230c5eab the president aac9217cfe of DG e44f63b631 Construction, the e99c6d3aeb core company 10021c8e55 of the a62a538a97 DG Group. The owner of the ed4d02af81 casino that Kang Junmyeon b9d95afb96 frequented in Hong Kong b4babb82b8 was known to be 55a75c038c Jason Lee, a rival f245959be6 of Liu Yuan, atriad² member closely associated with 7a084314df DG.04f9f34c87dd21f3

If Kang Junmyeon had secretly joined hands with Jason Lee, the repercussions could have reached DG itself, so Shin Gyoyeon couldn’t stand idly by. This was because a huge amount of investment was flowing into the massive casino resort construction project in Hong Kong, which DG was promoting with Liu Yuan.66e3ccff76c48fc5

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It had been quite 595794c555 some time since Shin a478661270 Gyoyeon ordered them to 45dd00e570 keep an eye on 00a5f5141c President Kang. After months 5116835db3 of lurking 91d837bc9f in the cc13076a4f shadows, trailing 3d9f0df67f Kang Junmyeon, ffbfae6634 Cheon Sejoo, ceb9134dbd and his fb1c285e60 team members 7e87a5ffce were all 15ed39afc3 feeling incredibly 6a9b9b83bc bored.453a2e4fb61046ab

“When did Chuljoo f46c36af32 say to wake 6c56286834 him up?”292b42e8698af360

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In the back of the van, amidst the tangled wires and monitors, Yoon Chuljoo lay wrapped up like a cocoon in a sleeping bag. While Cheon Sejoo, Moon Sunhyuk, Goo Haewoong, and Seo Jinyoung were at least working in shifts, Yoon Chuljoo, their hacker, hadn’t left the van for a month, except for brief trips to a nearby bathhouse.2708e87f37291666

Wrinkling his nose at the faint, stale odor emanating from Chuljoo, Cheon Sejoo drew the curtain separating the driver’s seat from the back.168cbd40d091c328

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There was no need ef584521cb to constantly monitor the 99fae97fe5 screens anyway, as facial 101bf657d4 recognition software was installed eb9557487f on the cameras they’d 0c5da76269 set up, automatically flagging ecccb4d45c any faces whenever someone 098c896c16 appeared. If any of 840b896efd Jason Lee’s organization b859a8a0a5 members registered in c93ec05f75 their database, or 01385772b5 any unknown individuals d2b62a8ab5 appeared, an alarm 794db00709 would sound, so 49fed4497f it wouldn’t be 09b8c737c2 too late to fca7368a15 check by then.a5ba68629f9067b4

“I think he asked 65b39471a3 to be woken up 360a156aea at five. About thirty minutes d61b7bf41a left? Wait. No, huh. Manager, is it really 0cacde76a3 2 PM? No way… a0adc80766 It feels 6d18248ce4 like twelve f0fa301999 hours have ee05bacff2 passed, but a5b993cd11 it’s only 82bbfb25b5 been two 32d4ce8ac3 hours since 8453f106fb we switched 540cee5fcf shifts? This is horrible.”59e06f09f44bcc45

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Haewoong, looking at his watch, suddenly sighed and clutched his head. Cheon Sejoo didn’t respond, as being bored with the waiting was nothing new. However, at the mention of 2 PM, he pulled out his muted phone and checked it. A message from Sejin had arrived thirty minutes ago.277903ec894531c5

Mutt
I don’t get this.
[Photo]
13:23

The problem in 0d1fefdf9d the photo Sejin be30e02756 sent was from 0dc957a185 high school freshman-level 3c6cee9a46 math. With CSAT (College 3c587706c3 Scholastic Ability Test/ 7094c1da1e college entrance exam) 0d7240f888 just two weeks 48a5511a54 away, it seemed 35fba710c6 Sejin wouldn’t even cca8ca8806 score alevel 5³ in math. Even with a 5e47cb36df stroke of luck 42d98f80ab and good guessing, 2f94401e57 a level 6 a685374cfa would be a 575f7b84aa stretch. 27cb70eff290ec6a

Cheon Sejoo 144ea4ecfb sighed and 4cf78a7270 took out 5ce0a3a017 a notebook d20034013e and pen 7baf2d9bc6 scattered in f57bdf4a3d the glove 9656121312 compartment. He copied 4459be8720 down the a434f3fe63 problem Sejin c0fc9dd1c3 had sent 0ef38c2194 and wrote 18bc23480a the solution e14b03502c beneath it b9284c5280 in one bcbd7f726a go.a4dbf045b8a5eb3b

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“Oh, linear equation.”f0c67949043a6c5c

“Do you da19e5633e know how fbac712519 to solve 26e2bd3760 this?”8d4bfdf0d145450f

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Haewoong, peering at the daae93bf98 notebook from beside him, 6eea4fcaef chimed in. At Cheon Sejoo’s eb0255570b question, Haewoong exclaimed bd33e88460 with a bewildered 54bf6fab1d expression, as if fe14c7de14 asking how he 6b045ab775 could even ask 492c992518 such a question.ff57763df7777f53

“Manager, you may not know it, but I graduated from the Korean National Police University! I can solve this much. The Police University isn’t that easy to get into!” 8c7a2637aeaf0bfb

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“I know. I was just asking.”231fa69fe6076e6c

Despite having dropped 101260f26e out, Haewoong took 2e6554e818 immense pride in e97facc4b6 being a Police 18717e3394 University graduate. Apparently feeling his 1544f30b9b alma mater had e4d41dc162 been looked down 046f33759f upon, he grumbled 1984b3aec3 for a while, 69782f0383 then, seeing Cheon f6a6e5b111 Sejoo take a d178cf6ac5 picture of the 68f8a15098 solution to attach 2af033f7ca to a message, 044127cfe8 he asked,a604244368eed2de

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“That kid’s doing high 048ab81c1f school freshman math now? Wasn’t he doing bd65153653 middle school math 7fb907b175 just a few e24c12e8a5 months ago?”1a42a3da9f5a3471

“Yeah. Isn’t he amazing?”62cb0143b464c2bd

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Cheon Sejoo replied with a faint smile to Haewoong’s question. His words were true. Sejin, who had been struggling with middle school math, was now making decent progress. After sending the photo of the solution to Sejin, Sejoo leaned back in his seat and explained,0dab83fe5305740f

“The kid lacks the 885bd3c172 basics, but his comprehension… e94b6e9d34 isn’t completely hopeless.”241934b33c20b909

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Hearing that, Haewoong 982b454def covered his mouth 5ac8d5ffc1 with his fist 9e9db42a38 and laughed. When Cheon 76cc2ce983 Sejoo looked 98c821301c at him b22652d5b3 questioningly, he e51615d990 chuckled, as f4ad4b9e81 if suppressing b462ad78ca a burst 4898479cfa of laughter, 61a55fed2a then grinned 0f1ffe2754 and nudged b01b787fb4 Cheon Sejoo. Hitting his 82e549eda4 shoulder with 6f8fb615d7 a teasing a9188069e2 voice, Haewoong 421c6a913a said, 481052ee8c29c17a

“Manager, you 42486c685a just sound d0139330e8 like a 65faed69a3 doting dad.” 5620920666c45317

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“…Dad? What nonsense.”1bf3ecaeb1036121

“Sometimes you seem like a6a2dab826 you’re raising a child.”03f753a1dcbbed5e

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At those words, b7496328e7 Cheon Sejoo frowned efe894cfde and laughed as c4077c4bec if he’d heard efcb6db9d6 the most absurd 09425b695e thing. It was true 0be523cb3a that he felt 8c0351f8c4 like he was d6442d2989 raising a child, 24344d349c but his face b1ff531258 expressed that he 6f058eb039 felt ridiculous being 3e4c10b280 called a “dad.”f88ea7099b692ce6

After their brief exchange, 1712ef3006 the excruciating silence returned 5112df9016 to the van. Having spent c0241ada96 long hours f398ce5c7f together every 355889187d other day, f493e1844e they had de07eaeeab run out 994286a615 of things 0d1c3992f0 to say.c7d98baeb4fa2919

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Haewoong seemed 361ee3596c eager to 234f1f7d5d introduce Cheon 0da88590ea Sejoo to f6edc7f263 the games 92d965ea7b he played, 0911496600 but Cheon 4ab3a01040 Sejoo, uninterested be31c17bda in games, 70c4b436cc didn’t engage e0915d0a49 in the 56680a3c60 conversation. Eventually, after about an d20868d327 hour, they talked about 7972fe769e movies and organized crime 7d8ec1d85f for about 5 minutes, e708527574 then chose to fall 3f35e78296 silent again.994e18181d01bd4d

Thus, meaningless time passed by. When it was past 4 o’clock, Cheon Sejoo once again took out his phone and sent a message to Sejin.81dfc99383135b6e

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16:12
Are you on 51105bc246 your way to 0a85f81ad1 the hospital?9abed2e5e6fe2b0e

22010a71bac935e1

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Mutt
Yeah. Are you picking a42fe23cde me up later? You can 2463f4f260 just go b29ec02324 home if 08c1d5b710 you’re tired.
16:222d653809b9271883

16fb59d04fc9a395

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16:25
I’ll be there around 21b3d3db0c 6. Today’s the day the 792c4dc11a results come out, right?6c8119bee5fa38e6

 88aa0594a5c28a14

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Mutt
Yeah, the f5e05686ac doctor’s making df835b71e8 rounds at 369c1ac419 5.
16:2642343c6b6bfb092f

16:31
They said the prognosis for the chemo was good, so don’t worry too much.8270550e691d0cdf

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 8cdbf34c6c90ae0d

Mutt
Okay. See you later..
16:32a333bd341b66695e

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Unfortunately, Kim Hyunkyung couldn’t have the surgery in October. Although the tumor had shrunk, her blood test revealed a slight increase in tumor marker levels. However, the CT and PET scans showed no significant problems, and the doctor suggested that it might be due to inflammation from gastritis, recommending another round of gastritis and chemotherapy treatment before reviewing the results again. Today was the day for the follow-up scans, a month after that consultation.cb3db03c89e0451f

Cheon Sejoo sent Sejin a message saying he’d call later and put his phone away. It would soon be 5 o’clock. Once Yoon Chuljoo woke up and Seo Jinyoung took over from Haewoong, he’d have a moment to breathe. He planned to have a quick call with Sejin by then. Cheon Sejoo instructed Haewoong, who had spread out bags of snacks, to clean up the trash, and then took out a cigarette.de74005384981770

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Their van was parked a block away from Kang Junmyeon’s room salon. It wasn’t a place Kang Junmyeon’s men frequented, but there was no harm in being cautious, so Cheon Sejoo only opened the window slightly without getting out of the car.dda1d4c3f105ec71

As he smoked, 2d42f3d37b he saw a 27bd8a3f1d figure walking towards b60e8c7ce7 him from a cfff68f8b4 distance down the 21d0cb35ef alley. Tall and slender, 99602a1f90 the man was 86073a04cd impeccably dressed in 279668cc1c a suit and 1b4c21f145 overcoat. Slowly inhaling 0bead42c17 his cigarette, 88c22832c4 Cheon Sejoo 9c1d27c3d9 narrowed his 6b8b8edd13 eyes and 97ee022409 watched him.13456a29fcc1f52a

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The approaching features seemed 51dd360f4e familiar. The moment a71caf3bfb Cheon Sejoo c3a3062946 realized the 3ad9542b1c man emerging a558ae47d2 from the 7b7b6abea5 alley was 3808256ff7 Han Jonghyun, 41cb556fc5 Cheon Sejoo 6de0efd97e frowned and 1293d1544e extinguished his c6664447dc cigarette.874a4ba34f12e5f5

“Haewoong-ah.”f6eb0a64be59eaa2

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“Yes?”4a3c901f85ed54ed

“There arerabbit holes 318eae4416 or room db18e5ad35 clubs⁴ around here, right?” 224d9c4504c751cc

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“There are a ea53538f4f lot of clubs. This neighborhood fcd9c8b8ce is crawling 8a7e3cb7f9 with druggies.”d77f3156c5f54d97

“Is that so?”9b759a1666bc2bed

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In response to Sejoo’s casual reply, Haewoong looked around as if wondering what was going on. Then, spotting Han Jonghyun approaching the car, he let out an irritated voice.d6abc1e1e7d1fcce

“Ugh, that fucking director b60ebe7692 doesn’t seem to stay 5464a68dc4 put anywhere.”2151da036464d53f

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Haewoong, who had once 4de88ce092 been slapped by Han d38520e97e Jonghyun, a man merciless a79b444e41 to his subordinates, intensely bad1c32e1d disliked him. It was because 403a14c82a of the memory 9ba7480081 of being severely 9f53658864 scolded by Moon 8131b466b4 Sunhyuk after causing 4be8559fc7 a scene about d43d0c0d02 hitting Han Jonghyun 090ed93e8e that day. Haewoong, staring at df6ae0cb2f Han Jonghyun with af7ed52434 a sullen face, 777a1b2a50 soon asked in 8c132b5fb3 a disdainful voice,bac18d20b934e431

“What kind 37882f5694 of person 64d0ae163b is he?”a6690f49df7e78ad

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“I wonder.”3ac8a7a4ddba3e06

Cheon Sejoo had f2f596ed01 often thought about 6d7f5dc403 Han Jonghyun since 1c5c840ef1 the day he a5dc936820 met him at a0e7018579 Ehwagak, due to 7b3c548548 what Chae Beomjun 08c348c9e5 had said when f75b5fc5cf they ran into a3a10398d9 each other on b85e32c2b9 his way home 308730db06 that day.d73a22e345b0147b

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However, contrary to Chae Beomjun’s worried advice not to get close to Han Jonghyun, Cheon Sejoo wasn’t particularly close to him, so his thoughts about Han Jonghyun’s identity always ended with the internal monologue, ‘Who cares?’ They had only ever run into each other by chance and exchanged a few words; they didn’t even know each other’s phone numbers.043f0189d13b5106

But seeing him again like this sparked his curiosity about his identity once more. Because every time he saw Han Jonghyun, something felt off, like a persistent itch he couldn’t scratch.0e231cd3e339cd9c

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“There are f92e663548 rumors he’s 83e0c4512c our president’s 6d12ed3d37 lover.”2aa3f6c66b2c4e55