Whether he was actually looking for a part-time job or not, Sejin walked around the neighborhood with a free newspaper containing job listings in hand. But there was no way an underage minor without a guardian could easily find part-time work. He was rejected again and again, and each time he came out with his head bowed, Cheon Sejoo could see his face gradually hardening into something cold and expressionless.
Sejin wandered the neighborhood like that for nearly three hours. Around 12:30, he shoved the newspaper into his pocket and headed somewhere. With a trudging, sluggish pace, the place he arrived at was school.
Dong Seoul Boys’ High School. Cheon Sejoo narrowed his eyes as he saw the signboard hanging over the main gate. He didn’t even go to school when he was staying at home… Well, the house was in Seongsu-dong, and Kwon Sejin’s school was on the far edge of Gangdong-gu. Was this why he asked to be dropped off at Shinsa Capital? Because he planned to go to school? Surprised by this unexpected fact, Cheon Sejoo tilted his head and watched the boy’s back as he disappeared through the school gates.
He saw Sejin again just after 1 p.m.
Kwon Sejin hadn’t even stayed at school for an hour. Leaving behind the boys energetically playing soccer during lunch break, Sejin emerged from the school looking exactly as he had before, hood pulled deep over his head. Was he really just here to eat lunch...? Cheon Sejoo watched Sejin’s retreating figure with growing suspicion. School lunches were free these days, so it was entirely possible that was all he’d come for.
Just like that morning, Cheon Sejoo drove slowly and tailed Sejin. After leaving the school, Sejin continued going around to shops, apparently trying to find part-time work again. But even if he was lucky enough to land a job, without even securing a semi-basement room, he’d have to sleep on the streets for the time being. What on earth was he thinking...?
Cheon Sejoo followed him, a muddled mixture of irritation, helplessness, and frustration weighing on him. Sejin’s pale face looked even gaunter than when he’d last seen him. If he’d only been eating one school lunch a day these past few days, it was no wonder he looked like that. He might have gone completely hungry over the weekend.
Cheon Sejoo suddenly remembered the day he’d ordered chicken for Sejin at home. His expression had made it seem like he didn’t want it, but he’d eaten so eagerly. Sejoo had watched him polish off an entire boneless chicken and lick his lips afterward, thinking, Wow, high school girls really eat a lot these days, and had pushed his own portion toward him. In hindsight, it wasn’t because he was a girl, but because he was a boy right at the age when they eat like wolves.
Time passed mercilessly as Sejin faced rejection after rejection while looking for work. He wandered through the entirety of Gangdong-gu. It was hard to believe he didn’t have a cellphone, with how well he navigated. The kid was practically a human GPS.
It was around 5 p.m., edging toward 6, when a group of students in school uniforms showed up in front of Sejin.
Whether it was intentional or not, Sejin had charted paths that always looped past his school, as if anchoring himself to it. This time, too, after winding through back alleys, he came out in front of the main gate and turned toward the direction of Shinsa Capital—only to have a group of boys suddenly pop out and block his path.
Caught off guard, Cheon Sejoo pulled his car over nearby and watched.
The kids surrounding Sejin were noticeably bigger than him. Perhaps because Sejin was small for his age, the sight of him encircled like that gave off an intimidating air. Cheon Sejoo’s neat brow furrowed.
The boys chuckled and gave Sejin little pokes and shoves. But no matter how much they were smiling, shoving someone hard enough to make them stagger didn’t look like anything but bullying. Cheon Sejoo felt the blood in his veins run cold. And along with it, an indescribable feeling welled up.
It was as if some unknown force was drawing him toward Sejin.
The situation resembled so much what had happened to Cheon Hyein five years ago that it made it impossible to see Kwon Sejin as just “Kwon Sejin” anymore. Cheon Sejoo bit his lip in confusion. A storm of rage swelled inside him.
Even when he saw Hyein for the last time, even when he faced those who tormented her, he hadn’t felt this furious. But now that he was seeing Hyein’s image overlap with Sejin’s, the rage became unstoppable.
Was Hyein like this, too?
While I was holed up in that hospital… was my little sister going through something like this, alone in some unfamiliar place?
The thought twisted his insides.
While Sejoo burned with helpless fury, the boys slapped Sejin’s shoulder a few more times and walked off. Sejin remained standing there, head hung low. Then, all of a sudden, he bent down and picked something up from the ground.
He shoved what he’d picked up deep into his pocket, then started heading toward a large supermarket across the street from the school. Once he disappeared inside, Cheon Sejoo rolled down his window and lit a cigarette. He figured if he got out now, Sejin might see his shaking hands. He’d talk to him after calming down and waiting for the boy to come back out.
But just as he was smoking leisurely, the same little bastards from earlier—whom he thought had disappeared—started loitering in front of the supermarket again.
Through the crack in the window left open to vent the smoke, their cruel little voices wafted in.
“Hey, hey, hurry up and pick. You go first.”
“I want bean sprouts.”
“I want that, uh—fuck, what was it last time? That pink sausage? Wait, can you get that for a thousand won?”
“Doubt it.”
“Fuck it! Whatever, then cola?”
The one in tight black spandex-like leggings and a black tee looked like he weighed twice as much as Sejin. When he said that, one of the others doubled over with laughter.
“Like that half-breed would buy cola? Probably too broke to even taste it.”
“So what is he then? Street bum? Homeless bum?”
“‘Kwon-no-bum’? Or maybe he went to a shelter? ‘Kwon-shel-bum’?”
Despite clearly not being close, they were calling Kwon Sejin by name like they were best buddies.
Cheon Sejoo clenched his fists as he waited for Sejin to come out, determined to drag him into the car the moment he did. If he got out now, he knew he’d end up hitting a kid.
Thankfully, Sejin didn’t take long to exit the store. With a black plastic bag hooked over his wrist and one hand stuffed in his hoodie pocket, he stepped out—only to stop in his tracks when he saw the leggings duo waiting for him.
His pretty face hardened into a cold mask, and Cheon Sejoo took a final drag of his cigarette.
“Hey, Sejin. What’d you buy with that thousand won you found?”
As soon as they made eye contact, the leggings duo approached and tried to snatch the black bag from Sejin’s hand.
That was enough.
Cheon Sejoo rolled up the window.
He didn’t want to see Kwon Sejin become any more pathetic than this.
Maybe this had been fate ever since the moment he saw the boy and mistook him for Cheon Hyein.
Five years ago, when he lost his sister, so many regrets were left behind in Cheon Sejoo’s heart. That he hadn’t gone to see her for a whole week. That he hadn’t replied to her messages. That he hadn’t picked up her final call. All of it became painful regrets.
His most despairing moment was when he was arrested before he could finish avenging her. So when the New Religion Association gave him a chance to complete that revenge at the cost of his own life, and when he finally strangled her murderer with his own hands—Cheon Sejoo found an ecstatic sense of fulfillment at that perfect ending to his regrets.
From that day on, Cheon Sejoo swore an oath.
That he would never live another day leaving regrets behind.
But ever since he brought Kwon Sejin home, he’d been accumulating small regrets once more. Because what Sejin needed wasn’t just temporary help. What he needed was a guardian—someone who would take responsibility for him and stay by his side.
But Cheon Sejoo was not someone capable of taking responsibility for another person. That was why he regretted bringing Sejin in so hastily, and why, belatedly, he’d tried to forget him by letting him go.
But he couldn’t forget.
Kim Hyunkyung’s desperate plea continued to echo in his mind—and now, in Kwon Sejin’s tormented figure, he saw Cheon Hyein.
If Sejoo let Sejin go now, it was obvious all that would be left for him would be regret once again. What happened to Sejin? He’d think. Did he end up giving up on himself after being bullied, just like Hyein? He’d wonder that, and then he’d definitely regret it—I should’ve just kept him with me.
That was why—so he could undo all the regrets that had come since meeting him, and so he wouldn’t be left with another burden down the line—Cheon Sejoo had no choice but to take in Sejin. That was the conclusion he came to in the brief moment he saw Sejin being harassed.
Vrrr— With a loud engine noise, the SUV started up. After confirming the road was empty, Cheon Sejoo crossed over the center line and turned the car around. Then he stepped on the gas, aiming for the sidewalk in front of the convenience store, where the curb had been flattened to allow freight trucks to enter. Thump—there was a slight jolt as the car mounted the curb. The headlights of the pitch-black SUV illuminated the backs of the tight-pants brothers.
He saw Sejin, who had been speaking to them, pull his hand out of his pocket and grip a black plastic bag. Then, as Sejin lowered his head and began staring down at the ground, Cheon Sejoo charged toward them like a man who had lost his mind.
***
“Hey, Sejin-ah. What’d you buy with the thousand won?”
He knew that the bill that had fallen in front of the school gate was Lee Haegyun’s. But picking up what they had dropped didn’t feel wrong to him. Sejin was hungry—he wasn’t in a situation where he could afford to turn down that money.
“Come on, show us. We made a bet about what kind of crap a beggar buys when they find a thousand won. Bread? Tofu? Bean sprouts? I’m betting on tofu. If you didn’t buy tofu, you’re dead.”
But it hadn’t just fallen. They had dropped it on purpose. At Kim Byungjoon’s words, Sejin’s face twisted.
They wanted Sejin to feel ashamed. But unfortunately for them, Sejin wasn’t the type to feel a deep sense of shame over things like this. What ruled Sejin at that moment was a sense of revulsion toward the morons who kept talking to him with those stupid faces.
It was exhausting. Tedious. Haegyun and Byungjoon’s bullying wasn’t anything new, but Sejin just couldn’t understand why they went so far as to stage skits like this just to harass him.
Don’t they have anything better to do? With a sigh, Sejin lowered his head—and right then, the SUV on the road let out an ear-splitting roar as it started to move. The sound was so loud it couldn’t be ignored, and Sejin turned his head involuntarily. At the same moment, Haegyun bumped his shoulder and pushed him.
“Fuck, hurry up and tell us already. I won’t even ask you to give the thousand won back. Just tell me. Huh? You think I can’t spare that little charity for you?”
When Sejin stayed silent, Haegyun started giggling and tried to coax him again. The way they kept calling him by his name like they were being friendly made Sejin’s lips press into a hard line. “Sejin-ah, come on,” they kept saying, their faces twisted into nauseating mock-pity, their shoulders wiggling like toddlers begging for candy—and instead of shame, irritation started to bubble up first.
Sejin gripped the massive radish inside the plastic bag. It was the biggest thing he could get for a thousand won at the convenience store. He could have bought something higher in calories, like instant noodles, but a radish twice the size of his face felt like it would fill him up more. He wondered—How much would it hurt if I hit him with this? Holding the radish tightly, Sejin considered it.
“You need to fix that nasty temper of yours,” echoed the voice of his mother’s nagging in his mind, but he couldn’t afford to care about that now. He was hungry, exhausted, and pissed off. He wasn’t in any condition to think about the consequences. Thinking before acting is something people with the luxury to think can do. Sejin had no such luxury.
That’s when the always-impatient Kwon Sejin was seriously considering smacking the gang with his radish—VROOOM—the SUV made another loud rev and swerved off its lane, charging up onto the sidewalk. The car came at them like it was about to crush them. Sejin’s body froze.
But then, in that fleeting moment, the license plate caught his eye—and it felt oddly familiar. He remembered where he’d seen it before. The number 1818 was too unique to forget. It was the car that had been parked next to that thug’s white Lamborghini.
“Ahk!”
Whether it was a curse or a stroke of luck, the SUV skidded to a stop right in front of Haegyun and Byungjoon’s faces. While they flailed and fell backward, covering their faces as if they expected to be hit, Sejin didn’t even try to dodge. He just stood there.
No way, he thought, despite having seen the 1818 plate. That guy—the one who’d dumped him on the street—wouldn’t come looking for him now. No way.
But the moment the man stepped out of the car, Kwon Sejin scowled even more fiercely than when he saw Haegyun’s gang.
It really was him. The human trafficker.
“Sejin.”
He called his name in that same gentle tone he’d used when threatening him with his mom from inside the car. Sejin resisted the urge to hurl the radish at the car’s hood and instead met the man’s eyes head-on.
He was just as good-looking as the day they’d parted. Jet-black hair slightly covering his brows, sharply drawn, not-too-thick eyebrows. His monolid eyes stretched long and smooth, their dark pupils giving off the chill of winter wind. Even the slight tilt of his head as he looked at you made it feel like he’d stepped out of a movie screen. Disgustingly handsome. Sejin glared and bit down hard on his lip.
“Get in.”
The man didn’t add anything else. And of course, Sejin didn’t move an inch.
Now, after all this time? When even Mom begged him, he looked disgusted. He dumped me on the street with that face, and now he says “Get in”? Like I’m someone who’ll come when called? Who the hell does he think he is, ordering me around…
Sejin seethed silently, but what the man said next forced him to raise the white flag.
“What I said in the car back then—it wasn’t a lie. Get in while I’m still being nice.”
“……”
Sejin remembered exactly what the man had said in the car. You don’t know what I’ll do to your mom, and you dare act like that? Gritting his teeth so hard it made his jawline stand out, Sejin glared at him. But in the end, he moved.
Haegyun’s gang stood there, dumbfounded, eyes flicking back and forth between Sejin and the man. If he left like this, they’d definitely start shit again at school, but he had no choice. For Sejin, his mom came first.
“KWON SEJIN!”
Ignoring Haegyun’s shout, Sejin climbed into the SUV’s passenger seat and slammed the door shut with enough force to break it. Then, before the man even touched the gas, he buckled his seatbelt. Because the guy drove like a goddamn maniac. He stared straight ahead, keeping his mouth shut.
On the sidewalk, Haegyun’s gang was huddled together, whispering frantically. They were definitely going to say stuff like, How the hell does that beggar know a guy who drives that kind of car? Pathetic idiots. Sejin scoffed and turned his head away. At the same time, the man started the engine and began backing up smoothly. Of course, there was no sense of caution in his driving.
Once the SUV was back on the road and accelerating somewhere, the man finally spoke.
“You got out of the car like you had a plan. Was that plan… being homeless?”
“What?”
“Is being a hobo your dream or something?”
Everything about him was infuriating—his face, his tone. Sejin snapped his head toward the man who’d just called him a homeless freak.
When he thought Sejin was a girl, he acted like he was the kindest guy on Earth. But after finding out he was a boy, that face never smiled again. Now he looked like someone who’d left every last ounce of emotion behind, sneering with that cold, indifferent expression. Sejin, about to cry out of frustration, barked back with irritation.
“Whether I sleep on the street or steal, what the hell does that have to do with you? What, did your lackeys run over and tattle again? You came to drag me off somewhere else ‘cause you’re scared your precious building price might drop? If that’s what this is, drop me back off in front of that restaurant. I’ll sleep there.”
The man’s eyes narrowed slightly at the shameless muttering and turned his head just a little to glance at Sejin. His jaw was tight with disapproval. Just looking at that face made Sejin’s blood boil. Sure, he was grateful for letting him see his mom—but why did he have to butt in like this, pretending to care?