Big Life

Chapter 174: Let’s Meet At Home (5)

‘I… can become a main writer?’

How many years had it been since she joined the broadcasting station as a writer? It had been many years since then, but Won Ji-Yeon still hadn't received the chance to write a proper script. The best she had ever done was edit the manuscripts done by the main writers or organize the materials they got after doing interviews.

“Why? You don’t want to be one?” Bo-Ra repeated herself upon seeing how Won Ji-Yeon was still out of her mind. “Or do you think I don’t seem to have the power to do so?”

“N-no. It’s not that…!” Won Ji-Yeon waved her hands in a hurry.

"It's… it's just unbelievable… It sounds too good to be true…" Won Ji-Yeon dropped her head as she trailed off.

Bo-Ra cut a small piece of the slice of cake and put it into her mouth. She chewed it slowly before saying, "Join the three-part web drama production in our agency in the next quarter."

"Okay…"

Web dramas were serviced through the internet, unlike TV dramas. They were also known as SNS dramas or mobile dramas. They were considerably shorter per episode, with runtime lengths of around ten to fifteen minutes.

"Why? Are you disappointed because it's a web drama?"

"N-no way!" Won Ji-Yeon looked up instantly, showing her strong disagreement.

The low popularity of web dramas was a thing of the past. The web drama market had grown significantly over the years as large and small companies jumped onto the bandwagon after recognizing the web dramas' low production costs.

There had been cases of web dramas growing viral on the Internet that they even got broadcasted on TV due to their popularity.

Bo-Ra then continued. "Two out of three parts had already gone into production, so we're left with the final part. I heard from the director that there's going to be some romance in it."

"Romance…"

"Yeah, romance. Isn't that your expertise?"

"It's not exactly…" Won Ji-Yeon had written two romance novels that had gotten published as ebooks she joined the broadcasting station as a writer. They performed badly due to the illness of those so-called literary creative students.

The qualities of genre novels they had learned through school and in the market were totally different. Won Ji-Yeon had gotten accustomed to the style of the literature she had studied, but they didn't meet the public reader’s expectations, which eventually led to her crushing defeat.

“I heard from Myung-Sook unni that you’ve been writing something whenever you’re free? Is that a romance novel, too?”

“Yes…”

“How much have you written so far?”

“Only a little over a volume’s worth.”

“Send it to me. I’ll take a read and recommend it to the director.”

“I haven’t been able to edit it.”

“It’s fine as long as it’s interesting. How is editing an issue?”

“I do have a copy in my phone…” Won Ji-Yeon rummaged through her pocket and took out her phone. Just before she sent the manuscript to Bo-Ra, she belatedly felt an intense suspicion and stopped herself from pressing the send button.

“Can I just ask you something?”

“You can ask ten questions too. What is it?”

“Why… are you giving this chance to me…?” It was common sense, and anyone could see that Bo-Ra’s actions were suspicious. Bo-Ra had always treated Won Ji-Yeon as nothing but a bug, so why had Bo-Ra decided to give her such a great opportunity?

“Didn’t I say that I wanted to apologize?” Bo-Ra said with a strange smile.

Won Ji-Yeon felt a heavy sense of foreboding upon seeing that smile.

“Well, strictly speaking… There’s a favor I wanted to ask from you.”

“A… favor?”

Bo-Ra scanned their surroundings briefly and gestured to Won Ji-Yeon with her finger, asking her to come closer. Won Ji-Yeon leaned in, and Bo-Ra quickly whispered into her ear.

Won Ji-Yeon’s face slowly turned pale while listening to Bo-Ra’s words.

“I-I can’t—”

“Keep quiet! Did you think we’re alone here?”

“S-s-sorry. Anyway, I can’t do it.” Won Ji-Yeon turned down Bo-Ra while shaking her head.

Bo-Ra’s venomous eyes narrowed. “Do you really think that Ha Jae-Gun will take care of you?”

“This has nothing to do with that.”

“Why not? Think about how many people have been suffering because of him. The livelihood of our agency’s writers, directors, and actors suffered because of that jerk Humans should have good manners. He's become a jerk after becoming famous."

“…” Won Ji-Yeon was silent. She couldn’t agree with Bo-Ra and ICU Entertainment’s situation—as Bo-Ra had depicted—didn’t seem at all that believable.

Won Ji-Yeon had been looking up to Ha Jae-Gun as well.

“It’s not a difficult task. You’ll be able to complete it with the wave of your finger.”

“B-but that’s… a crime.”

“Crime? It’s a good deed. You should become successful, too. You’re not young anymore, right?” Bo-Ra continued with her persuasion.

Bo-Ra was convinced that Won Ji-Yeon would soon fall for her words when she saw Won Ji-Yeon looking down at the ground.

After a while, Won Ji-Yeon nodded slowly. Satisfied at the response, Bo-Ra held Won Ji-Yeon's hands in hers and brought them to her cheeks before rubbing them on her face.

"Thank you. You made a great decision. I'll make sure to arrange the program for you, so don't worry about it. And buy an autumn outfit for yourself with this." Bo-Ra pulled out three cash checks worth a million won each from her wallet.

Won Ji-Yeon felt disgusted with herself as she accepted the checks with closed eyes.

***

Bzzt!

It was a call from Ha Jae-In.

Ha Jae-Gun stopped typing on his keyboard and picked up his phone.

"Yeah, noona. Ah, you met the broker? Why do you need my opinion? Both Father and Mother have good judgment on houses, too. If it's good, just go ahead with the lease."

His family in Suwon was looking to move once more. The number of reporters and fans visiting their house in Suwon had increased dramatically since Ha Jae-Gun experienced yet another meteoric rise of fame.

Even with Nam Gyu-Ho's help in deterring those unsolicited visits, there were still some limitations. Thus, the family decided to purchase a suitable piece of land and build a proper detached house on it.

"How is the old house livable? It's so shabby, we should just rebuild it. Don't just talk about the money. Money is only money when you use it. Yeah, I got it. I'll make sure to eat. I'll call you later, noona."

Ha Jae-Gun hung up and leaned back in his seat. His temples were throbbing, and he felt like he had become a wet cotton from exhaustion.

'I'm tired…'

He had been working since morning, and it was now past 6 p.m. If it weren't for Ha Jae-In's call, he would have continued working for a few more hours.

'Come to think of it, I didn't sleep much yesterday either.'

He pushed himself too much while trying to finish the script earlier before the deadline. He wasn’t able to drop by his house and couldn’t use Seo Gun-Woo’s cup to restore his energy. He had vowed never to bring Seo Gun-Woo’s items out of his house, afraid that he might lose them outside.

“Ms. Ji-Yeon.”

Ha Jae-Gun turned around and called out to Won Ji-Yeon sitting in the corner. Won Ji-Yeon looked up in surprise from her laptop. She had been staring blankly at her laptop, and Ha Jae-Gun's voice snapped her back to reality.

“Yes, Mr. Ha.”

“What were you thinking so deeply about? Are you not going to have dinner?”

“I-I had a late lunch. Please go ahead for dinner, Mr. Ha.”

Won Ji-Yeon wasn’t in the place to be able to have dinner with Ha Jae-Gun, and she had a task she needed to complete that required Ha Jae-Gun's absence.

“Mm, is that so? I don’t have much of an appetite either, so I guess I can eat a while later,” Ha Jae-Gun mumbled as he stretched.

Getting anxious, Won Ji-Yeon added with a bolstering voice, “But you skipped lunch, too. Please have something light for dinner, at least.”

“Yeah, I’m going to eat once I'm hungry. Ah, I’m tired. I’ll take a short nap after sending the script.”

Ha Jae-Gun sent the additional manuscript he had completed to Producer Ahn before moving over to the sofa.

“I’ll just nap for a bit here. If I don’t wake up after an hour, please wake me up.”

“Sure, Mr. Ha. Don’t worry, and rest well.” There was nothing else Won Ji-Yeon could wish for than Ha Jae-Gun taking a nap.

The exhausted Ha Jae-Gun fell into a deep sleep in just a few minutes. He even started snoring.

‘Now’s the time…!’

Won Ji-Yeon held her breath and tiptoed over to Ha Jae-Gun’s laptop.

Thankfully, Ha Jae-Gun was lying on the sofa with his back facing the table, so Won Ji-Yeon managed to complete her task while her heart pounded heavily against her chest.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

“Mm… Yes, Producer?"

Ha Jae-Gun rubbed his sleepy eyes and answered the call.

His eyes widened upon hearing the words that came from the other end of the line.

“I sent out the script after working on it earlier. That’s weird. Please wait a moment.”

Ha Jae-Gun stumbled to his laptop and sat down in front of it. Opening the sent email log, he found that the email that was supposed to be there was missing.

“Ah, I see it. I think I was too tired and made a mistake…”

Up until then, Ha Jae-Gun had really thought that he had made a mistake because he was too tired. However, the blood drained from his face when he opened the folder where his files were supposed to be.

His files were missing.

— Hello? Mr. Ha?

“W-wait a minute.”

Flustered, Ha Jae-Gun quickly accessed the cloud drive set up by the broadcasting station and ICU Entertainment. He had kept a copy of the script on the drive just in case, but he couldn’t find it anywhere on the drive either.

‘No way.’

After a while, he found a plausible explanation for the missing files. Someone had deleted his scripts. He was unsure of their motive and objective, but it was the only reasonable conclusion he had reached.

‘Could it be Ms. Ji-Yeon…?’

Won Ji-Yeon was the only suspect who could have touched his laptop while he was asleep. Ha Jae-Gun looked around the empty office and was rendered speechless.

— Mr. Ha? Mr. Ha?

“Producer, I’m sorry, but please wait a while. Something happened, and I’ll deal with it as soon as possible before giving you a call again.”

As soon as he hung up the call, Ha Jae-Gun immediately called Won Ji-Yeon.

However, he couldn't reach Won Ji-Yeon. Ha Jae-Gun gnashed his teeth and picked up his laptop. He had to resolve the issue at hand first before anger got the better of him.

***

“Hey, this can’t be recovered. They used a program to erase the files.”

“Really?”

“Is it urgent? How did you lose the script? I never thought you'd one day make such a mistake. We're talking about someone as meticulous as you here, you know?” Park Jung-Jin said, sounding bewildered.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled bitterly. He had indeed made the mistake of succumbing to his fatigue and taking a nap when someone else was in the room.

‘There are only 21.5 hours left until the deadline…’ Ha Jae-Gun looked at his wristwatch and stood up. His break had ended with that nap in the writer’s room. If the script were submitted late, everyone's schedules would get disrupted, including the staff, director, and actors’ schedules. The drama’s broadcast might be affected as well.

Ha Jae-Gun couldn't allow such a ridiculous mistake to disappoint everyone involved in the project and tarnish his own reputation.

“Jae-Gun, are you alright? Did you get some sleep?”

“Don’t worry. You worked hard with all the overtime you did. I’m sorry for calling you here, but you’re the only one I know who's best at dealing with computers. Anyway, I'm going now.”

“I’ll send you home.”

“I can just take the taxi back, so don’t worry.”

Ha Jae-Gun hailed a taxi on the streets and dragged his exhausted body into the passenger seat. His house was silent as he had left both Rika and Cheol-Soo in the writer’s office at Bucheon.

‘I shouldn’t use it yet.’ He took out the cup and placed it in a corner of his table. He decided to only use it when he had completely exhausted all the remaining energy he had in him—that was how desperate he was for time.

‘Elder, please help me.’

He had a rough outline of the story in his mind.

Now, all he had to do was process them into sentences for the script, and he had to complete it as soon as possible, using both the old laptop that could help him type ten thousand characters per hour and the cup that could restore his energy in an instant.

Bzzt!

The moment he was about to start working on the script, Lee Soo-Hee called him.

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his phone reflexively and answered it.

“Ah, Soo-Hee.”

— You must be happy, Writer Ha Jae-Gun. Photos of you enjoying dinner with Park Hye-Sang are going viral on SNS. Did you enjoy your dinner with the beautiful announcer?

Ha Jae-Gun could only let out a sigh instead of replying. He knew that Lee Soo-Hee had a lot of trust in him, so her words now were nothing more than just her grumbling. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the luxury to take them in nicely.

He was under extreme pressure, so he couldn't afford to be playful.

— Did you not hear me?

“Soo-Hee.”

— Hmm…?

His serious tone made her voice tremble slightly.

“I’m really sorry, but there’s an accident so I have to work on writing the script urgently. I’ll call you again after I’m done with it. Probably in 24 hours.”

— Accident? What happened…

“I’ll explain everything to you after I’m done. I’ll make sure to eat and take proper rests in between. So don’t worry about me. Let’s hang up first, I’ll call you again later.”

Ha Jae-Gun decided to completely stop Lee Soo-Hee's grumblings.

Fortunately, Lee Soo-Hee also realized that something went wrong.

— Alright. Do your best, and let’s talk after you’re done.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Ha Jae-Gun hung up and reached for the laptop. Before he could start typing away on his keyboard, he slammed his fist on the table. It was the first time he had to vent his anger in this way. The fact that he had to make Lee Soo-Hee upset had hurt him more than the mistake he had made.

‘I’m not sure what you’re planning, but I’ll never let things go your way.’