That man had been the same back then too. Asking if he had a place to sleep, sneering at him for having no plans at eighteen. Like he was some kind of authority. What the hell did he know. Just a loan shark bastard—what would he understand...
As Sejin met his gaze, lips trembling slightly in frustration, the man returned it for a brief moment, then sighed like it was all meaningless and relaxed his face. His sharp expression softened, and he spoke gently, as if coaxing a child.
“Come to my place. Stay there.”
“……”
At those words, Sejin opened his mouth in disbelief. This man, who’d acted like he didn’t even hear his mother’s plea, was now trying to play the nice guy again. But Sejin had no intention of going along with it.
Even if the man had agreed back when Kim Hyunkyung begged him, Sejin still wouldn’t have gone with him. This was the same bastard who tried to sell him off, thinking he was a girl. There was no way Sejin would live under the same roof as a human trafficker. He hadn’t told her outright, but if his mom ever found out about that, she would’ve definitely told him never to go near that house. Sejin immediately snapped back.
“Are you crazy?”
But the man let out a short laugh, like he’d expected that, and looked back at him. That smug attitude made Sejin even more irritated. The way he smiled like he knew everything got on his nerves.
Not wanting to speak to him anymore, Sejin shut his mouth again, but the man faced forward and asked,
“So what, you’re gonna live like a homeless kid forever?”
“……”
Kwon Sejin didn’t respond.
Of course, he had a plan too. It wasn’t like he was just wandering around aimlessly like the man seemed to think. There was a youth shelter not far from the Shinsa Capital building. The day he visited his mom, after getting out of the man’s car, Sejin had headed straight there.
He knew about the shelter because of someone he wanted to kill. A few years ago, when he couldn’t take his drunk father’s beatings anymore, he’d escaped with Kim Hyunkyung. He’d gone to the shelter then, asking them to let him and his mom stay just for one night. But because they were a mother and child together, the shelter had rejected them. Their misfortune wasn’t quite the right flavor, so they didn’t get help.
He had completely forgotten about that place until the day he saw his mom again. So on Wednesday, Sejin went and asked them for help. But despite the words “youth protection shelter,” they couldn’t take him in again. They were full.
There were just that many miserable kids in the world. Sejin couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful. Just how fucked up did your life have to be to get help immediately? It was almost funny.
Still, they said a spot would open up if he waited about a week, so Sejin had been camping out near the Shinsa Capital building until then. Like the man said, it wasn’t like he planned on living on the streets forever.
He had plans for after entering the shelter, too. He’d go to school while staying there, and work a job. Eat meals on school days, then during vacation, work full-time and save up. Sure, finding that kind of part-time job was the hard part, but still.
“Kwon Sejin, answer me. I'm asking if you have any other option besides living on the streets.”
“Why do you keep meddling! I have a plan, okay?!”
The man was persistent. When Sejin kept his mouth shut, he scolded him like he was pathetic. In the end, Sejin yelled back, furious, and breathlessly explained the plan he’d put together. Of course, the reaction wasn’t good.
Cheon Sejoo looked at him like he’d fallen far short of expectations. Then he swept his hair back and let out an incredulous sigh before pointing it out.
“You think a shelter is some kind of free motel? How long do you think you’ll be able to stay there? A month? Two? I’m telling you now, they’ll kick you out after a week.”
The way the man said it was full of certainty. What the hell did he know? Sejin thought, furious. A guy who looked like he’d lived in luxury his whole life had no business saying that.
“So what the hell does it have to do with you?!”
But yelling didn’t help. The man ignored him and kept talking.
“You think you’re the only one with shitty parents? There’s a flood of kids lining up to get in there.”
“Don’t call him a parent! The only mistake I made was being born to that bastard, Kwon Yongbeom.”
At Sejin’s vicious way of referring to his father, the man scoffed and corrected himself. Fine, kids with shitty dads. Then he continued.
“You think someone’s gonna magically leave in a week? Think about it. The kids in shelters ended up there because they had no other choice, right? You think their problems all get fixed in a week? Shit that gets you kicked out of your house doesn’t vanish that fast. They’re kicked out because someone like you shows up and asks for a spot. The system wants to say they did enough. So they toss the old ones back out. Onto the street.”
“……”
“You think you’ll be any different? Before you even save up enough for a basement room deposit, you’ll be back to being homeless. And you call that a plan? I'd understand if you said you were thinking of going to an orphanage.”
The man let out a mirthless laugh and shook his head. Sejin glared at him and stretched his lips into a sneer. He thought maybe the guy had some actual alternative, since he was mocking his plan this much—but all he could come up with was “go to an orphanage.”
At Sejin’s sharp retort, the man fell silent for a moment. His black eyes stared at Sejin. He kept his mouth shut, seeming to think about something, then finally spoke.
“It’s not just for kids without parents. Sometimes parents who can’t take care of their kid temporarily will place them there. If your mom had the means, maybe she would’ve done that too.”
Unlike before, the man's voice was quiet, without that usual condescending tone. Even so, Sejin felt irritated. An orphanage? He let out a bitter laugh.
“Don’t make me laugh. Even if people like that exist, it’s never temporary. They all say it’s temporary, then they don’t come back. I know that much. Anyone who dumps their kid in a place like that is abandoning them. My mom wouldn’t do that.”
“……”
At Sejin’s firm words, the man finally went silent like he had nothing more to say. The light turned red, and as he stepped on the brake, he looked at Sejin. Meeting his gaze, Sejin suddenly wondered if he’d said something wrong. The man looked really down.
But then again, why should he care? Sejin thought bitterly as he turned to look out the window. There was no room to worry about a guy who kept poking his nose into things and using his mom like a hostage.
Even while all this was happening, the car kept moving. It was headed toward the man’s house. Sejin realized that, but the thought that his mother was being used as leverage made him too afraid to jump out. He sat there silently, lips pressed tight, until finally the man spoke again.
“Anyway, like your mom said—my house needs someone to help out. I won’t charge rent. Just stay there and do what you need to do. Until you turn eighteen.”
His mother had said that last week. And yet the man was acting like he’d just heard the request and was graciously granting it now. If he’d just said yes back then, she wouldn’t have had to humiliate herself. Sejin didn’t want to go with him, but the rage boiled inside.
When Sejin didn’t answer, the man let out a short sigh and pressed.
“Answer me.”
“I already did. I told you—what, you think I’m crazy enough to go to your house?”
“…Haa.”
At the harsh rejection, the man looked back at Sejin and slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. His face was full of annoyance, and Sejin didn’t feel great either. Who was he to be irritated? The one who was being dragged around, who had his whole life plan spat on, was Sejin. He was the one who should be mad. So what the hell was that expression supposed to mean?
Someone watching might think I’m the one in the wrong.
As Sejin glared with tightly shut lips, the man roughly ran a hand through his hair. He tousled that black hair—like something out of a commercial—and then whispered in a voice as cold and savage as could be:
“If you don’t come with me, I’ll tell your mom you’ve been sleeping on the street.”
“…What?”
“That’s not all. I’ll explain that you’ve been bullied at school, beaten up. That you sleep outside on the pavement and can’t even eat, that you’re starving. I’ll tell her I think you’ll drop dead suddenly or freeze to death in winter.”
“No one’s beating me up!”
His tone was calm, but the content was a low-grade threat built on total fabrication. Sure, he’d had some personal run-ins with Lee Haegyun’s gang, but it wasn’t like he was just getting beat up by them one-sidedly. Sejin was so flabbergasted by the man’s words he shouted. The man, unfazed, just kept going.
“Your mom probably can’t even eat properly, worrying about you. And since you’re not answering your phone, she might try to sneak up to Seoul out of concern and get lost in the mountains. You saw it too, right? That restaurant on the mountain—on a day like this, even the lower slopes can kill you with hypothermia.”
“Are you insane? Who the hell do you think you are? I said no, so why won’t you back off?! Don’t you dare say that shit to my mom!”
It had only been a week without contact, and yet Kim Hyunkyung hadn’t slept or eaten properly. She denied it, but as her son, Sejin knew she hadn’t been able to live peacefully for even a day out of worry for him. And now this guy was saying he’d exaggerate things like that and report them to her? At that rate, she might collapse before he ever froze to death in the street. The image of it crushed his chest. Sejin clenched his teeth. The man looked at him and spoke in a leisurely voice.
“Don’t want to make your mom worry? Then do what I said.”
“Why the hell are you doing this?!”
The man was relentless. Telling someone else how to live their life, as if he had the right to shake everything up. But the hardest thing to endure was the fact that Sejin’s entire life was fragile enough to be overturned by a single act of charity from this man—someone who was only helping out of momentary pity.
It hurt his pride. Boiling with anger, Sejin’s eyes turned red. Tears always came when he got mad—it was a physical reaction he couldn’t control. He hated it so much he usually tried to hold it back, but in front of this man, who acted however he pleased, he couldn’t suppress it anymore. Sejin yelled, full of rage:
“Who the hell are you to meddle in my life?! You’re not even helping me out of genuine concern! Why won’t you stop when I told you I don’t want it?! Fuck, I said I don’t want it!!”
His reddened eyes grew wet, and soon tears ran down his cheeks. Sejin rubbed them away roughly with the back of his hand, breathing hard. He couldn’t hold back his fury. He could accept meddling from anyone else in the world—but not from a loan shark thug bastard like this guy. And yet this man acted like he was desperate to insert himself into Sejin’s life.
That made it all the more unbearable—because it actually felt like the guy might be genuinely worried about him.
Sejin hated that. Out of all the people in the world, why did it have to be this man who worried about him?
“Don’t act like you’re a good person… It’s disgusting how you act like you’re something just because you feel like doing a little good. None of this would’ve even happened if it weren’t for people like you, and now—fuck—why are you doing this…?”
His voice got smaller, wet with tears. Sejin scrubbed at his eyes again, breathing in short bursts. He didn’t even notice the skin going raw around his eyes from all the rubbing. Despite all the resentment and bitterness he spat out, the man didn’t respond. No comfort. No more threats. No curt "then get out." He just kept driving. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
As time passed, Sejin started to feel embarrassed. Once again, emotions had surged up fast, only to drain away just as quickly. What remained was shame and regret. As long as the man had any influence over his mother, Sejin didn’t really have a choice. If the man wanted, Sejin would end up being dragged to his house anyway.
Sejin hated himself for knowing that and still yelling insults at the man five minutes ago. Why can’t I just hold it in? he thought. And with that short regret came the shame of having already cried twice in front of this man.
But even so, he didn’t feel like apologizing. The man probably just wanted to play savior for a minute. Sejin wouldn’t be staying long in that house anyway. There was no reason to lower himself just to get along with the guy.
As Sejin stubbornly tried to suppress his crushing humiliation, their car passed through Seoul Forest and entered an apartment complex.
“Hey.”
The man finally spoke once the car was parked in the underground garage. It was the same spot he’d parked the white Lamborghini in last time.
“Pushing someone with your shoulder is violence too.”
And then he dropped something completely random on Sejin.
“You said no one beats you up, right?”
Sejin looked at him, not following, and the man explained further. Only then did Sejin realize he was referring to what he’d shouted earlier—"No one beats me up!" The man was pointing that out now? So what? Sejin glared at him with a surly expression. The man sighed and brushed back his hair.
“Don’t get used to that kind of thing.”
“……”
Sejin shot him a look that said you’ve got to be kidding me. Loan shark. Thug. Gangster scum. Human trafficker. Fossil. Meddler. Hypocrite. All those words swirled in his mind, and then he spit out:
“Dragging me here by force is violence too. Mind your own damn business.”
“You really don’t back down, huh.”
The man gave a short, disbelieving laugh. Even though Sejin had fired off so many curses in informal speech, the man seemed unbothered—as if none of it had any effect on him. He was infuriating from start to finish.
Sejin thought if he could, he’d grab him by the collar, and stepped out of the car. Slamming the door shut, he walked toward the elevator, thinking, Is this really the only option I have? Then he suddenly remembered something the man had said last time.
That he’d wanted to sell Sejin because he was pretty, but the plan fell through once he realized he was a boy. Sejin frowned and looked up at the man beside him. Don’t tell me he changed his mind? What if he’s decided to start selling boys now too…
“Hurry up and get in.”
At some point the elevator had arrived. Sejin hesitated, stepping inside as if to protect himself. He watched the man press the button for the 41st floor and lean back against the elevator wall, and warned:
“I’m short and I suck at everything. I’m not good for anything. Don’t even think about trying anything weird.”
“…What?”
The man raised an eyebrow, like he’d heard something absurd. Then, repeating Sejin’s words to himself, he suddenly burst out laughing.
His face—like a carefully painted masterpiece—lit up with laughter. Sejin felt like he was being mocked, and his mood darkened. He clamped his mouth shut and glared, but the man only chuckled harder, stepping out of the elevator and whispering slyly:
“Shows what you know. Pretty boys like you are more in demand than girls.”
“……”
It took Sejin a while to understand what that meant. Once it hit him—that the man could actually sell him—it sent a chill down his spine.
He looked up, startled. The man was grinning mischievously, not like his usual self at all. Still, Sejin felt real fear. No way… he didn’t bring me here thinking something like that, right? A late wave of dread washed over him.
But there was no turning back now. Sejin had no choice. He forced himself to laugh, trying to sound cool.
“If you try anything, I swear I’ll report you!”
The man just laughed again. Sejin swallowed a string of curses, uneasy. He really felt like the man was planning to sell him off somewhere. His fear finally hit full force. He kicked off his shoes and bolted to the room he’d stayed in before.
It was the beginning of a strange cohabitation.