Big Life

Chapter 167: Make It Up, If There’s None (11)

“She has anemia from malnutrition. Make sure she eats well after finishing the IV drip here.”

“Thank you.”

Yoon Tae-Sung sat down in the chair by the bed and let out a sigh of relief. Lee Eun-Ha lay on the bed lifelessly, with an IV drip connected to her arm. It was great that she didn't end up having any complications.

‘She used to be so pretty…’ Guilt swept over Yoon Tae-Sung as he watched the thin girl. Just then, he realized that she had lied when she said that she had gotten a boyfriend. Despite knowing that she disliked getting pitied by others, Yoon Tae-Sung was still angry at himself.

“…Thank you,” Lee Eun-Ha said amidst her dry lips.

Yoon Tae-Sung flinched and looked up. “You’re awake?”

“I woke up when you carried me earlier. I was just too tired to move. Was I heavy?”

“What do you think? I thought you were a bunch of cornstalks.”

“You’ve grown stronger, Yoon Tae-Sung. You must be eating well with all the money you’re earning.” Lee Eun-Ha chuckled as she slowly opened her eyes wider.

However, Yoon Tae-Sung was not in the mood to join her. He scoffed with discontent and asked, “How is it possible that anyone could collapse from malnutrition in this day and age?”

When Yoon Tae-Sung last met Lee Eun-Ha, she was working on the scenario titled Autumn Olive Tree. Back then, Lee Eun-Ha was supposed to receive thirty million won for that scenario, and the movie hadn’t gone into production yet.

If there were no talks of it going into production, it was right to assume that the project was axed.

“You’ve only been relying on the money from the contract down payment for Autumn Olive Tree up until now, right?”

“…” Lee Eun-Ha remained silent instead of answering him. It was normal in the film industry for the down payment to be around ten percent of the total contracted amount. They would only receive the remaining amount after the movie was completed. If the production failed to pull through, the years of blood, sweat, and tears put in would be rendered meaningless.

“Rest for a while.” Yoon Tae-Sung stood up. There was something he had to handle immediately.

“Where are you going?”

“There’s something I had to deal with earlier but didn’t since I was in a hurry. I’ll be back in two hours at most, so just rest for the time being.”

Yoon Tae-Sung hurried out of the hospital ward, leaving Lee Eun-Ha by herself. As he said, it took him less than two hours before he returned again. Just in time as well, Lee Eun-Ha’s IV bag had just emptied when he returned.

“Can you stand?”

“Are you joking? Others might think that I’ve contracted some terminal illness,” said Lee Eun-Ha, but she barely managed to stand on her own. Her stumbling footsteps made Yoon Tae-Sung anxious.

“I’ll definitely repay you for today. Once I receive the remaining amount, that is.”

“Forget it, just get on.”

“Oh, an afterservice, too? Are you going to send me home?”

“I’ll be the only one talking, so you can just keep quiet.”

Yoon Tae-Sung helped Lee Eun-Ha into the passenger seat, and they set off. As they drove on the road for a while, Lee Eun-Ha looked out the window, squinting her eyes. She realized that they weren’t heading back to where she lived.

“Where are we going now?”

“My house.”

“Your house?”

“Let’s have a meal when we get there.”

Until then, Lee Eun-Ha didn’t think much of it. However, she was rendered speechless when they finally arrived at Yoon Tae-Sung’s house.

“What’s…all this?” Lee Eun-Ha asked the obvious, as everything in the living room was hers. Every single item she had in her basement room was now in the living room before her.

“Just stay here for the time being.”

Yoon Tae-Sung said, as if giving an order, and stepped into the living room first.

“I’ve got everything here, so you shouldn’t feel any inconvenience during your stay here. Use the room there beside the kitchen. There’s also a private toilet en-suite.” Yoon Tae-Sung didn't look at her while introducing his place.

In fact, he was afraid of looking her in the eye, as it was true that he skipped asking for her opinion and acted on his own accord just because he was angry.

“…” Lee Eun-Ha only stood at the same spot silently. She did not move an inch and only supported herself by holding herself up against the wall.

Yoon Tae-Sung grabbed her stuff one by one and moved them into the room he had pointed out earlier.

“Are you going to keep standing there? Why don’t you come in and make some coffee?”

“Hey, Yoon Tae-Sung.”

“Go ahead.”

Lee Eun-Ha looked up slowly. The tears welling up in her eyes finally rolled down her cheeks. Yoon Tae-Sung was taken aback to see her cry for the first time.

“You thought that I’d go berserk at you because you hurt my pride, right?”

“Hey, Lee Eun-Ha…”

“Don’t be delusional. I don’t have the luxury of time to act recklessly now. You just got yourself involved with a homeless person, you know that? I’m going to stick my butt here and ruin all your furniture.”

“Sure, do whatever you like.”

Lee Eun-Ha then covered her face with one hand. Yoon Tae-Sung continued moving her things quietly, leaving her to sob. Lee Eun-Ha had given him strength when he needed it the most; now it was time to pay her back.

***

“You had dinner with Director Nam?”

“Why are you surprised?”

Ha Jae-Gun sat right up on his bed, surprised at the news. In his hands was the book Middle of Jongno, which he had just opened and was about to start reading.

“I was grateful for his help, so I promised to buy him a meal. But I wasn’t able to pay for the meal today.” Ha Jae-In let out a small sigh as she sat at the foot of the bed.

Ha Jae-Gun looked at his sister briefly. It seemed like she had put slightly more effort into her hairstyle, makeup, and dress today.

“You do look different after dressing up. You should do this more often, noona.”

“What did you just say? Do you have a death wish?”

“So, did you enjoy dinner?”

“Yeah, it was delicious. However, it felt quite burdensome. It was a restaurant at a hotel, and it was my first time going to such a luxurious place. I was shocked at the atmosphere and the prices on the menu…” Despite her words, Ha Jae-In was smiling. “But still, I felt comfortable after a while. Director Nam was so considerate, and unlike his appearance, he was quite tactful.”

“He’s just slightly sharp in some ways, but he’s a really good person once you get to know him. So what did you guys talk about?”

“Just random stuff? He seems to be having a tough time. I think he’s receiving a lot of pressure from home since he’s at the age where he should be getting married. He did look quite tired.”

“What did you say, noona?”

“I just consoled him by saying that he will most definitely be able to meet a good woman.”

Ha Jae-Gun found it ridiculous and just stared at Ha Jae-In. There was a problem before arguing whether both of them could get together or not. There was no way that someone like Nam Gyu-Ho was so free to have dinner with his own sister.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ha Jae-In asked.

“How can there be anyone this dense?”

“What, me?”

“Noona, think logically. Think of what kind of person Director Nam is; why would he suggest having dinner with you at a place like that?”

Ha Jae-In’s eyes widened as she fell into deep thought. She quickly understood the meaning behind Ha Jae-Gun’s question and laughed dismissively. “Stop pulling my leg. How can that be possible?”

“Why isn’t it possible?”

“Hey! How can the heir of a chaebol family look upon a girl like me from a peasant family? Oh, stop it. You should stop with the nonsense, Writer Ha Jae-Gun.”

“Seriously… I know I’m often said to be tactless, but I’m not as bad as you are, noona. You’re worse off than I am. Did he not suggest you meet again next time?”

“He asked me to buy him the next time since he paid for the meal tonight.”

“Look. That’s his excuse to meet you again.”

“What excuse? It was just right. I'm supposed to buy him a meal, and since I couldn’t do it this time, I can just do it next time.”

“Wow, this is frustrating.” Ha Jae-Gun ruffled his hair and rolled around his bed.

Ha Jae-In took out one of her earrings and asked, “Why are you here, anyway?”

“Who asked me to send them to the arboretum tomorrow? All right, I’m going out," said Ha Jae-Gun, He sounded like he was sulking.

Ha Jae-In stopped taking off the other earring and hugged Ha Jae-Gun in place. “Gosh, look at me. I totally forgot about it after a few glasses of wine. It’s a promise with our great Writer Ha. I’m sowie, sowiee~”

“Don’t act cute to me; find a good man and do it to him instead. You need to get married first before I can get married. Ah, you’re suffocating me. Just go and shower already.”

“Look at you pushing me away. You’re getting arrogant, Jae-Gun. Tsk, you’re playing dirty and petty, so I’m going,” said Ha Jae-In before leaving the room.

Ha Jae-Gun grinned and lay on the bed.

‘Does Director Nam really have feelings for noona?’

Despite explaining it clearly to Ha Jae-In, Ha Jae-Gun was still unconvinced himself.

He still couldn’t find an answer no matter how hard and long he thought. In the end, Ha Jae-Gun decided to stop worrying about it and returned to the book he had put aside.

‘The story isn’t getting into my brain.’

Ha Jae-Gun couldn't focus on the book, probably because his mind was occupied with the thing going on between Nam Gyu-Ho and Ha Jae-In. He tried his best to throw those thoughts to the back of his mind and read the sentences with more concentration.

‘Hmm…?’

He was struck by a strange feeling upon reaching the 30th page.

The scenes depicted on every page after page 30th felt strangely familiar to him.

‘Hm, have I read this before?’

Ha Jae-Gun tilted his head, but he continued on reading it.

The main character of Middle of Jongno was a poor novelist.

The novelist from the countryside lived in a shabby room located in Jongno, and he was writing a novel while interacting with his literary friends. The process of that novelist’s bitter friendship and heart-wrenching love story was the novel's story.

‘This is really weird…!’

Ha Jae-Gun sat up on his bed just as he reached the middle of the novel. A certain memory buried deep in his subconscious popped up in his mind. The memory was of him reading a certain novel that was eerily similar to this one.

‘The next scene is… where he meets the girl at the coffee shop before he leaves Jongno…!’

Ha Jae-Gun flipped the page and verified that the next development matched up with what he remembered. The novelist bade goodbye to his beloved whom he met at the coffee shop.

‘Where…where did I read this before?’

Ha Jae-Gun’s expression stiffened as he continued flipping the pages of the book.

Just then, Ha Jae-In brought in a cup of coffee and spotted the serious look on Ha Jae-Gun’s face before turning around to leave the room. It took less than an hour for Ha Jae-Gun to finish reading the entire book.

Even without using the horn-rimmed glasses, Ha Jae-Gun was able to finish reading the novel in a short period of time. Of course, it was also due to the fact that he knew more than seventy percent of the story.

However, the fact only made Ha Jae-Gun more perplexed. To make matters worse, a few scenes were extremely familiar to him, and they were accurate to the T when compared to his memories.

‘Could this be… the Elder’s memories…?’

Ha Jae-Gun was pretty sure that it was his first time reading this book, so the memories he was recalling had to be from Seo Gun-Woo.

Plus, the Elder’s memories had appeared in his dreams a couple of times without any warning as well. If it were a book Ha Jae-Gun had read before, he would have recognized it immediately. Was it pure speculation when this deeply buried memory had just resurfaced at this moment?

‘Kang Byeong-Ha…’

Ha Jae-Gun read the name printed on the book cover. He felt as if he had fallen deeper into a rabbit hole; he had many burning questions.

He finally pulled out his phone and gave Oh Myung-Suk a call.

— Yes, Mr. Ha.

“I apologize for calling you so late, editor-in-chief. I would like to know if are acquainted or know any of the bereaved family members of the late Mr. Kang Byeong-Ha?”

— Hmm, I don’t know much about them. His family did not step up publicly after his passing. But why do you ask about them?

“I’ve just finished reading Middle of Jongno, and I want to find out what happened while he was working on this novel. I want to look for them to ask about it. I think it'll help me with my writing as well. Is there no way of locating them?”

Ha Jae-Gun had already thought of three possibilities.

The first possibility was that Kang Byeong-Ha and Seo Gun-Woo were the same person, the second possibility was that Kang Byeong-Ha had plagiarized Seo Gun-Woo’s work, and lastly, Ha Jae-Gun himself had gone crazy.

He couldn’t tell this to anyone, and he also didn’t have any evidence to back it up.

— I’ll try to look them up, but I hope you won't expect too much from this. There have been multiple attempts from the literary world to locate the bereaved, but I've heard that they were all in vain.

“Thank you so much, editor-in-chief. I will never forget your help.”

— Hahaha, don’t say that. I’m definitely happy to help with anything that will help you produce better-quality novels, Mr. Ha.

Ha Jae-Gun ended the call. After a while, he picked up the book and flipped it to a certain page. It was the scene where the novelist left Jongno and settled in a town called Guncheon—where Gyeoja Bathhouse was located.