Big Life

Chapter 169: Make It Up, If There’s None (13)

“Hyung, are you taking some drugs?”

“What drugs? Why?”

“It's just that… you've been like a beast recently. Anyway, I’m going to shower. Look away,” said Jang Eun-Young before hurrying into the shower.

Drenched in sweat, Kang Min-Ho sat on the edge of the bed and pulled out a cigarette. However, he put it away upon recalling that his girlfriend didn’t like the smell of cigarette smoke.

‘I need to save even more money…’ Kang Min-Ho thought as he looked around the small motel room. He had been doing his best to save money, but he still needed more funds to build a home with Jang Eun-Young. He didn’t want to get a basement room for them; he wanted a two-bedroom apartment as their newly-wed house.

He didn't mean to move out due to the awkwardness of publicly displaying their affection. This issue could easily be resolved if they left the office occasionally. More importantly, it was because Kang Min-Ho had started to become more wary and began to walk on eggshells while around the others.

'There are new writers joining the office as well…'

It was an issue that concerned Kang Min-Ho's conscience. Both Jang Eun-Young and himself had somewhat established themselves as writers and had the capacity to pay for their own daily meals and monthly rent.

Lee Eun-Ha moved into the office through Ha Jae-Gun's decision, and he had heard from Kwon Tae-Won that two more writers signed with Laugh Books were joining the office as well.

It marked the start of Kang Min-Ho's worries.

Wouldn't it be much better to leave the office for the new writers instead? At least, they would have to change from living in the office to clocking in and out of the office like normal office workers do.

The bathroom door opened while he was still trying to find a solution to his worries.

Jang Eun-Young stepped out of the steamy bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

"Ah, that was so refreshing. Hyung, go have a shower, too."

"Yeah…"

"Hyung, are you tired? Shall we change accommodation and stay out tonight?"

"No, we have deadlines to handle, too. I'll go shower."

The sun beat down on their heads the moment they stepped out of the motel.

Jang Eun-Young continued drying her hair with her hands and asked, “Everyone in the office already knows about our relationship, right?”

“We’ve spent so much time with them. Even if we didn’t explicitly tell them, they should have noticed it already.”

They walked out of the alley and onto the main road. As they walked on the street, Jang Eun-Young suddenly said, “I can put in fifteen million won right now.”

“...What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“What else? We need to get our own house, of course.” Jang Eun-Young smiled at Kang Min-Ho, who was looking quite dumbfounded.

“Do you really think I'm that naive? I mean, You’ve been walking on eggshells recently.”

Jang Eun-Young reached out and held Kang Min-Ho’s hand.

“If you're worried about something, share it with me. Do you really think you're alone?”

“I’m sorry.”

“If you are, let’s go for anchovy noodles.”

“Are you never getting tired of it?”

The couple grabbed a table at the noodle restaurant they frequented and ordered their meals. Jang Eun-Young was reading the news articles on the Internet when her eyes suddenly widened.

“Seems like Oscar’s Dungeon is also doing well in China.”

“Really? Did it go on the news?”

“It hit 6th in sales on the China App Store and obtained over a cumulative number of forty-one million downloads, which is about seventy percent of the entire market share in China. The market there must be huge.”

Jang Eun-Young showed her phone to Kang Min-Ho.

Kang Min-Ho stared at the news blankly and stuck his tongue out. “I can’t even imagine how much Writer Ha is making at this point. Is Gyeoja Bathhouse releasing next? How is that going?”

“The movie and game will be released in China first. The novel will be released through OongSung in the US, I think?”

Bzzt!

Kang Min-Ho’s phone rang.

“Hello, Writer Ha. Why did you call?”

— Did you enjoy the movie with Writer Jang?

“Pardon? Ah, yes… Haha. We enjoyed it a lot.” Kang Min-Ho minced his words and chuckled awkwardly. He had totally forgotten that he had told everyone else that they would go to the movies earlier when they left the office.

— Where are you now? I’m at the office at the moment, and I have something to tell you.

“Ah, we’re nearby. We’ll be back after having a bowl of noodles which we’ve just ordered. We’ll be back soon.”

— You don’t have to rush your meal, so please take your time. When you come back, just go to apartment number 1701 in the same building.

“1701? Why there…?”

— You’ll find out once you're here. I’ll see you later then.

The call ended, leaving Kang Min-Ho looking perplexed.

Jang Eun-Young had just placed chopsticks on the bowls of noodles that had just been served. She looked up and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“He has something he wants to tell us, and he asked us to go to 1701 instead of the office.”

“Why there?”

“I’m not sure either. Maybe a company has decided to establish a partnership with Laugh Books, and he wants to introduce us to those people?"

They thought long and hard, but they couldn’t seem to come up with an answer. The curious couple made quick work of their noodles and left the restaurant.

***

“Didn’t he say to go to the 17th floor?”

“Oh, right. I got used to pressing the floor for the office.”

Kang Min-Ho and Jang Eun-Young soon arrived at the 17th floor. 1701 was located right at the end of the corridor. The couple quickly headed to the apartment, where its door was left wide open.

“Oh? There’s no one in here, though?” Kang Min-Ho murmured as he stood outside and peeked into the apartment.

Jang Eun-Young peeked over his shoulder from behind, and a soft gasp escaped from her lips. “Wow, this place is huuuuuge. Is this a gym of some sort?”

“Yeah, I thought our office was huge, but this place is much more spacious.”

Just then, both of them heard approaching footsteps from inside the apartment. Ha Jae-Gun soon appeared from one of the rooms near the living room, and a young lady in a formal suit followed behind him.

“Oh, you’re both here? Come in.” Ha Jae-Gun smiled, looking delighted. Kang Min-Ho and Jang Eun-Young stepped into the apartment, looking puzzled.

“What do you think of this place?”

“Pardon?” Kang Min-Ho could not understand the meaning behind Ha Jae-Gun’s question.

Ha Jae-Gun then grinned and looked at Jang Eun-Young. “It’s literally what I asked. What do you think of this place, Writer Jang?”

“It’s spacious and looks good to me. How big is this apartment?”

The young lady standing beside Ha Jae-Gun stepped up to explain. “It’s 59 pyeong in total. There are four rooms and two bathrooms; there’s also a separate dressing room.”

“Wow… so it’s 60 pyeong rounded up. That’s huge.” Jang Eun-Young continued looking around the apartment, letting out small gasps of exclamation.

Meanwhile, Kang Min-Ho seemed to have guessed Ha Jae-Gun’s intentions and narrowed his eyes. “Um, Writer Ha, is this possibly…”

“Haha, you found out?” Ha Jae-Gun grinned.

Jang Eun-Young then caught on.

The young lady was a property agent, and this huge place was going to be the new writer’s office.

“Since there will be more writers joining from Laugh Books into the current office, it will become much more inconvenient, so please move here. This is entirely my office, after all. Even if you’re forced to work with people from other companies, there’s nothing for you to worry about either.”

“Writer Ha, we…are extremely grateful but this…” Kang Min-Ho’s mouth was so parched that he could not continue his sentence.

As if expecting such a response from Kang Min-Ho, Ha Jae-Gun added immediately, “It’s not for free. You’ll have to pay 100,000 won per month per person.”

“Writer Ha…” Even Jang Eun-Young’s heart ached at Ha Jae-Gun’s thoughtfulness. They would never be able to get such a great place like this at 100,000 won per month.

Moreover, the couple knew that Ha Jae-Gun had requested a small amount as rent out of consideration for them. This was why they felt much more grateful and apologetic at the same time.

“Writer Yang Hyun-Kyung and Lee Yeon-Woo will be moving over here as well. Director Lee Eun-Ha will be commuting to and fro here for the time being. So aside from me, there’ll be a total of five of you here.”

Ha Jae-Gun had been taught repeatedly by his father since he was young that personality came before ability. It was the greatest asset that couldn’t be compared to any wealth or treasure, so Ha Jae-Gun did not wish to lose any of the writers.

Aside from any financial gains or losses, this was never a losing business. Whenever he was going through tough times, these people gave him emotional support. And there was no knowing if he would receive any more help from them in the future.

“But if possible, please keep staying with Laugh Books. Otherwise, I’d get reprimanded by President Kwon for stealing his writers.”

Jang Eun-Young and Kang Min-Ho both laughed bitterly at Ha Jae-Gun’s joke. Saying thank you to him over a thousand times wouldn’t be enough for the goodwill he had shown them, and they thought it’d be much better to stay silent.

***

On that same night, the smell of grilled pork belly filled and wafted out from the new office that Ha Jae-Gun had gotten for the writers. A huge group of people had gathered in the new office.

The writers, Director Yoon Tae-Sung, Lee Eun-Ha, Jung So-Mi, and even Kwon Tae-Won had gathered to enjoy the meat and alcohol.

“Everyone, let’s drink to celebrate the establishment of Ha Jae-Gun’s team!” yelled the drunk Lee Yeon-Woo after jumping to his feet.

Ha Jae-Gun waved at him in embarrassment. “Stop spouting nonsense. You're drunk, so sit down.”

“Ah, hyung, why? I’m not drunk, really. Hick.” Lee Yeon-Woo whined and put on an innocent-looking face.

Seated beside Lee Yeon-Woo, Lee Eun-Ha joined in and raised her glass high. “I think his idea’s great. I want to be part of Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s line, so I’ll join in the toast.”

Lee Eun-Ha’s words got everyone bursting into laughter. A round of toasts continued, and the group returned to talking over each other.

“Thank you for looking out for Eun-Ha,” Yoon Tae-Sung said softly to Ha Jae-Gun while looking at Lee Eun-Ha sitting across from him and chatting excitedly with Lee Yeon-Woo.

“She mentioned that it’s hard for her to focus on work at my place. She’s really a talented person, just that her time isn’t here yet.”

“Of course, I understand. I believe that Director Lee Eun-Ha will soon shine. And strictly speaking, I'm grateful to her. She shared her life experience with me without hesitation, which allowed me to add another short story to my latest work.”

Ha Jae-Gun’s gaze suddenly turned serious.

It just came to his mind that the movies Lee Eun-Ha had worked on were similar to The Market and Its People. He rubbed his chin and mumbled, “If the novel ever gets the chance to get adapted into a movie, then Director Lee Eun-Ha can…”

“Pardon? What did you just say?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Ha Jae-Gun decided to keep this to himself for the time being.

This wasn’t something that would happen in the near future, so there was no need to get so excited over it this early.

Bzzt!

“Excuse me, I have to take this call.” Ha Jae-Gun left the office with his phone ringing in hand. Upon arriving at the last window in the corridor, he answered the phone, “Hello, editor-in-chief.”

— Hello, Mr. Ha. Are you having dinner?

Oh Myung-Suk sounded quite happy over the phone. Ha Jae-Gun wondered if the man had good news for him as he replied, “I’ve just moved offices, so we’re having a meat party now.”

— I see. Am I disturbing your fun?

“No, it’s coming to an end. Please speak.”

— First, I would like to update you that I still can’t find any traces of the bereaved family of the late Mr. Kang. I think you’ll need to wait a little longer on that. And…

The faint sound of Myung-Suk flipping through some documents came through the line.

— Mr. Ha, are you possibly interested in TV dramas?

“TV dramas?”

— I know Producer Ahn Jong-Won from MBS Broadcasting Station. He has been begging me to arrange a meeting with you for a while now, and his wish is to work with you on a production with your scenario, even if it were a one-act play.

“Ah, I see…” Ha Jae-Gun did not know how to reply to the unexpected news.

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t have any experience in TV dramas. He was interested, but he couldn't quite make a decision.

“What do you think about this, editor-in-chief?”

— My opinion?

“You know that I’ll always ask you this first. Do you think I can pull it off? I’m not sure how broadcasting stations work either.”

— It’s not that much different from what you're used to, actually. You can just do what you’ve done so far. If it’s a one-act play, the length wouldn’t be an issue, so I think it’s not a bad idea to try it out once.

“Hmm, I see… But what kind of scenario should I use for it?”

— What about the latest one you’re working on at the moment? Maybe you could adapt one of the short stories in The Market and Its People?

“Will that be alright?”

— Of course. I think both the security guard and glutinous rice cafe seller stories are good episodes. I think using the rice cake seller story is better because it has romance. It might be much more popular with the public.

Ha Jae-Gun looked out of the window and into the night sky. He imagined the happy looks on his family member’s faces as they sat in the living room watching the drama he had written, which allowed him to make a quick decision.

“Thank you, editor-in-chief. Please help me arrange a meeting with that producer.”

Ha Jae-Gun’s intention was conveyed to the producer through Oh Myung-Suk. The next morning, a few people related to the producer had learned of Ha Jae-Gun’s intention to work on a TV drama.

However, not everyone looked upon the news kindly.