Big Life

Chapter 111: Loud Cheers (6)

Oh Myung-Hoon admired the night view of the cityscape from his office studio in the high-rise building at the city center. He was listening to the meeting recordings through his earphones recorded by Hye-Mi.

— This NPC is a knight guarding the dungeon’s entrance, right? He’s not even the subordinate of the demon lord, but he’s just there wanting to meet a true warrior? Hah, seriously. Does it make any sense? I can’t tell if he’s stupid enough to forget his duty as a knight or if he has nothing else to do.

Oh Myung-Hoon frowned and bit his lips.

Director Nam Gyu-Ho was constantly criticizing the scenario which he had written.

— I mentioned previously that this teahouse girl’s quest was boring, but it’s still the same? Just how stubborn is he?

— This part about the adventurer’s friends, do friends really scold each other like this? It’s really irking me. Does Writer Oh talk like that with his friends?

— Ah, I’m getting a headache. Do I have to keep looking at this? Where is Team Leader Lee Soo-Hee? Ask her to come here now!

All Oh Myung-Hoon heard were Nam Gyu-Ho’s harsh words. Oh Myung-Hoon’s hand that was gripping his phone shook like an aspen tree in the wind.

His patience had also run out. The moment he couldn’t stand to listen to the criticisms and was about to yank out his earphones, Nam Gyu-Ho started,

— Team Leader Lee, are you still in contact with the writer you mentioned before? What was his name again? Ha Jae-Gun? I think we need an additional writer on the team.

“...?!”

Oh Myung-Hoon’s eyes shot wide open. Lee Soo-Hee’s reply came next.

— Yes, he also agreed to hold a lecture.

— Really? I’ll see him on that day then. Let’s end this here now.

Oh Myung-Hoon threw his earphones down. He placed both his hands on the full frontal glass windows and dropped his head facing the floor. Behind him, the door opened and in came Hye-Mi, who was only in her lingerie.

“Mr. Myung-Hoon, are you not going to sleep?” Hye-Mi asked sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. Her hair was in a mess, and she was still wearing her makeup.

Oh Myung-Hoon didn’t turn around.

Hye-Mi walked to him quietly and hugged him from behind.

“Ah, you’re so warm…”

“Take a shower.”

“What?”

“The chauffeur is waiting for you downstairs. He’ll drive you home,” Oh Myung-Hoon said calmly and turned around.

Hye-Mi was stunned at his cold tone. She then covered her chest with her arms at the belated embarrassment and realization.

‘She can’t even compare to her.’

Lee Soo-Hee’s face overlapped with Hye-Mi’s face in Oh Myung-Hoon’s mind. It was too shameful to even compare Hye-Mi to Lee Soo-Hee. It was also his mistake to bring her into his office.

“I get it, I’ll leave.”

Hye-Mi washed her face and put on her clothes. Oh Myung-Hoon followed her to the foyer, pulled out his wallet, and said, “Thank you for today. Buy whatever you want with these.”

Hye-Mi’s gaze quivered upon seeing the three million won in Oh Myung-Hoon’s hands. She revealed a tearful look and asked, “Why are you giving me money? It feels weird like that. I’m not dating you for your money.”

Hye-Mi looked like she was about to cry. Oh Myung-Hoon stared at her affectionately before pulling her into a hug and comforting her.

“I’m just thankful to you, but this is all I can do for you now, so don’t feel burdened or have any foolish thoughts. Just accept these.”

Oh Myung-Hoon slipped the money into her bag.

He pulled away from the hug and smiled at her.

Hye-Mi couldn’t find words to reply and slowly turned around.

‘Phew, she’s so annoying! Why is she talking so much when she’s still going to keep the money, anyway?’

Oh Myung-Hoon ruffled his hair as soon as Hye-Mi left his studio. He should have known earlier that she was such a sentimental woman.

Tadadak! Tadak! Tadadadak!

Left all alone, Oh Myung-Hoon started working on the scenario. He started editing the areas that Nam Gyu-Ho had pointed out during the meeting. He could no longer stand the hyena that was trying to step into his—the lion’s territory.

***

On an August day, the heat wave reached its peak.

The movie—Summer in My 20s—was released nationwide.

The film’s distributor and investor, Newdon, secured more-than-average screens and pushed ahead with aggressive marketing. The main players in the marketing fell on two key people.

One was on Ha Jae-Gun, the bestselling author of the original novel Summer in My 20s, as well as the currently most popular actor, Park Do-Joon.

The movie was released, but Ha Jae-Gun remained calm, as he had already seen the movie during the preview. Even on the day of release, Ha Jae-Gun was focused on writing his scenario in the office.

He was almost done with the scenario. He only needed to write the ending.

“Writer Ha, we’ll be heading out first, then.”

Kang Min-Ho spoke cautiously from behind.

Ha Jae-Gun turned around with a smile to see everyone else prepared to leave the office.

“Enjoy yourselves. Please don’t return with curses for me after watching the movie.”

“Hahaha, no way. We’ll be back later.”

Bzzt!

As soon as they left, Ha Jae-Gun’s phone rang.

“Oh, noona.”

— Are you really not going to come? Your novel is being adapted into a movie, we should all watch it together as a family.

Ha Jae-Gun could feel Ha Jae-In stamping her feet while saying that.

Ha Jae-Gun looked into the air and said dryly, “I’m not feeling well. You can just go ahead with Mom and Father.”

— Lies again. Wait and see. Whatever, bye.

Ha Jae-Gun let out a sigh as he comforted himself. He knew his family’s preferences the best. His family would definitely feel disappointed in the movie. He didn’t want to see them pretending to be fine after the movie while trying to cheer him up.

“Rika, come here.”

Rika jumped onto the desk and sat next to the keyboard. They rubbed noses, and Ha Jae-Gun said, “Bite me if I look up Summer in My 20s on the internet, all right?”

“Meow?”

“Mm, thank you. I’m going to work now.”

Tadadadak! Tadak! Tadadak!

Ha Jae-Gun focused once more and started working on his scenario again. He decided not to waste any more time and emotions on a movie that had left his hands long ago.

***

The late summer days passed quickly as more characters filled up Ha Jae-Gun’s monitor. Articles kept pouring even ten days after the release of the movie—Summer in My 20s.

[Summer in My 20s broke even in just ten days since release. The audience response, ‘Huh?’]

[Summer in My 20s overseas blockbuster in talks]

[Audience count hits 3 million, Looking into Summer in My 20s]

[Popularity never falters, how high will Summer in My 20s go?]

Most of the people around Ha Jae-Gun had gone to the cinemas to watch the movie, and they all told him that they had enjoyed the movie.

Ha Jae-Gun appreciated their words, but he also felt disgusted. No one had given him a detailed review of the movie, perhaps out of consideration.

Aside from one person—his best friend—Park Jung-Jin.

Park Jung-Jin was one of the last few people who watched the movie due to his busy schedule at work. Park Jung-Jin raged as soon as he met Ha Jae-Gun.

“Fuck, how is this Director Woo Jae-Hoon’s level of movie? It’s not even worth my money. I want to request a round of sparring right now.”

Ha Jae-Gun laughed despondently as he filled Park Jung-Jin’s glass with soju.

The best friends met at a bar near the cinema. Their meeting was long overdue, but it was filled with curses.

“It would have been different if I had watched the movie first before reading your novel. I might even watch it just to kill time as well. I really didn’t expect them to destroy your original work to such an extent.”

“Stop it.”

“I haven’t even started yet, why are you asking me to stop? Wow, I almost fainted at the scene when Han Joo-Hee fought with the former martial arts athlete one-on-one. Everyone laughed at how ridiculous that scene was.”

Park Jung-Jin kept on pointing out the bad parts of the movie, as well as the huge difference it had from the original novel.

Ha Jae-Gun quietly emptied his soju shots while listening.

“Look, it’s not just me.” Park Jung-Jin handed Ha Jae-Gun his phone.

Ha Jae-Gun looked down and saw many one-liner reviews from the audience.

- This is crazy kekeke I should’ve known this when Woo Jae-Hoon was the director of this movie. Who’s to blame here?

- You can’t watch this with the original novel in mind… I think high school film clubs or indie films would do even better than this. I’m curious about this director’s double-play…

- You guys talk too much. Why don’t you guys just film it yourselves? I find it funny since I watched it without any thoughts in mind hahaha

- I’ve just experienced the quality of Korea’s films once again. I’m an idiot for having any expectations for the movie just because I enjoyed the original novel.

- I’ve recovered from all sorts of diseases after watching this movie.

- Wow, I never knew they could ruin such a great novel.

- I think Writer Ha Jae-Gun must be having soju now. T.T

“Wow, that last review was spot on. How did they know you’re drinking soju now?”

“You can still joke right now?”

“I know. You watched it at the preview and were even prepared. But you should be relieved that the responses turned out this way. I thought it would flop, but you still got over three million viewers.”

Bzzt!

All of a sudden, Ha Jae-Gun’s phone vibrated on the steel table.

The call came from Oh Myung-Suk.

Ha Jae-Gun excused himself and took the call.

“Yes, editor-in-chief.”

— Hello, Mr. Ha. I’m relieved that the viewership is better than expected. At this rate, we might hit four million viewers soon.

“It’s quite fascinating since many online reviews are curses.”

— That is how it usually is. There are countless popular movies with bad ratings in the market. Oh, I’ve got some good news as well. Thanks to the movie, the sales of Summer in My 20s increased once again.

“Again?”

— Yes, it’ll soon hit 1.5 million copies. Congratulations.

“Hahaha, thank you. It’s all thanks to your marketing efforts.”

— Anyway, I think we can proceed with Gangster’s Sea as it is. The film treatment version you sent is quite clean, too. It’s much better to have the gangster living happily with the female lead at the end instead of ending it with his death. People are into happy endings recently since it gives them hope.

“That’s good to hear. I’ll go ahead and start working on the novel, then.”

— Yes, please. Enjoy your evening. Oh, and I’ve transferred the advanced royalties to you, so please verify that as well.

“Ah, the advanced royalties? I haven’t even written the novel yet, but thank you. Please enjoy your dinner as well,” said Ha Jae-Gun before ending the call a few moments later.

Park Jung-Jin asked, “Advanced royalties? Are you talking about Gangster’s Sea?”

“Yeah, I’ll be writing a novel with the scenario as the foundation and publish that first,” Ha Jae-Gun replied as he accessed his bank’s online banking.

Indeed, a hundred million won had been transferred to his account from the OongSung Publication Group.

“How much did you get?”

“Mm, a hundred million.”

Park Jung-Jin reeled in shock. “A hundred million? How could you say that number so casually? Your novel hasn’t even been penned just yet but what? A hundred million in advanced royalties?

”You’re getting 14%, right? I heard it from someone I know who works there. Aren’t you getting the best treatment among the writers of Korea? Aren’t you already on Lee Man-Yeol or Gong Ji-Yong’s level?”

Park Jung-Jin was right.

Ha Jae-Gun’s contract had the best terms in the entire of Korea.

The company couldn’t give above 14% in royalties, as they could only break even if the novel sold over 100,000 copies in the first print. This was the market standard because of the additional costs like marketing.

Of course, bonus royalties would be given after the release depending on the number of copies sold.

“It’s my treat tonight, so stop it.”

“Of course, you have to. But not alone. I’ll call Hyo-Jin and Soo-Hee to join me in this feast.”

“I’ve called them over already. They should be on their way now.”

“What, really? Wow, you’re the best!”

“You’re so obvious, man.”

***

On the same night, Director Woo Jae-Hoon appeared on the entertainment news.

He was sitting with his legs crossed as he answered the host’s questions.

“Word is you’ve made a successful comeback with Summer in My 20s. How do you feel about it?”

“First of all, I feel relieved. I am most grateful to actor Park Do-Joon for his great acting.”

“Ah, but there are also reviews saying that the movie was very different from the original novel and that it also failed to bring out the best parts of the novel. Could you share your thoughts about those reviews?”

Woo Jae-Hoon glared at the host. His gaze seemed to be saying, “Why did you bring up such a ridiculous question?”

However, he couldn’t possibly show his brazen side in front of so many cameras.

Woo Jae-Hoon calmed himself down and replied, “Hmm, there were a lot of issues with the original novel in the first place.”

“Issues?”

“So um… We faced a lot of difficulties while filming. The characters in the story are ambiguous, and the timeline of the background is quite complicated as well. We have to amend quite a bit of all those throughout the filming process. Anyway, I’m relieved to hear that the people liked it.”

Click!

Woo Jae-Hoon’s face disappeared as the screen abruptly turned black. Ha Jae-Gun’s face appeared on the screen, and he looked like he was in despair as he stared blankly at the black screen.