Big Life

Chapter 175: Let’s Meet At Home (6)

There was no way anyone would be able to calm down completely while they were at the peak of their fury. Ha Jae-Gun knew that he couldn't do something like that, so he decided to use his anger as fuel.

He had forgotten about the time and where he was at the moment. The sight of Ha Jae-Gun typing away furiously on the keyboard was similar to how he looked a few years back when he was still desperate.

‘Thirty thousand characters…!’

Tadadadak! Tadak!

‘Fifty-eight thousand characters…!’

Tadak! Tadadak! Tadak!

He didn't think much about the sentences. He couldn’t afford to pay attention to every word and sentence.

'Let me write out everything first, and then I'll use the glasses later to revise the entire script…!'

Midnight soon passed, and Ha Jae-Gun's breathing became increasingly hotter as the hours went by. His head was spinning, and the characters on the screen seemed to be sloshing around like water. However, Ha Jae-Gun had chosen to refrain from using the cup. He chose to use cold water on his face and massaged it in a bid to chase the sleepiness away.

It was now past 2 a.m.

Ha Jae-Gun's fingers, which had been working away, slipped weakly off the keyboard, and his head dropped as well. Ha Jae-Gun pulled himself back up the instant his forehead was about to touch the table.

His consciousness had cut off momentarily when his mind started to wander. It was clear that both his body and mind couldn't last any longer and that he had completely exhausted his will to push through.

'Ugh…!'

Ha Jae-Gun pulled himself together and grabbed the gray cup before stumbling his way over to the kitchen. He quickly made himself a lukewarm cup of coffee and returned to his seat, clearing the cup in seconds.

'Yes…!'

The once dazed look in his eyes had been replaced by a radiant light. His body, which once felt like it weighed as heavy as steel bars, felt infinitely lighter.

Seo Gun-Woo’s keepsakes lived up to Ha Jae-Gun’s earnest desires today. Ha Jae-Gun regained his energy and continued with his work more desperately than ever. The blank spaces in the document were soon filled up.

The two writers joined forces to write words at breakneck speeds.

The keyboard noises echoed incessantly even as daybreak arrived.

***

Bzzt!

It was a call from Producer Ahn.

Clack!

Ha Jae-Gun had just written the final sentence on the script.

He immediately answered the phone and said, “I just completed the script. I’m about to send it over to you.”

After emailing the script to Producer Ahn, Ha Jae-Gun dragged his fatigued body not to the bed but outside his house. He drove and arrived at Seo Gun-Woo’s tombstone. He paid his respects and gratitude before collapsing to the ground

A flower in front of the tomb was blown away by the wind and landed in a corner.

***

“Are you feeling better, Writer Ha?”

“Yes, I’m feeling better now, thanks to you.” Ha Jae-Gun put down his spoon and smiled. He had just emptied an entire bowl of abalone porridge that Laugh Books’ Kwon Tae-Won had bought for him. Ha Jae-Gun was down with a bad fever for two full days.

His damp body could be the issue problem, but the mental toll was relatively impactful as well. Ha Jae-Gun had overcome a few malicious actions from malicious actors before this, but he still found it pretty hard to get used to.

“I’m sorry for making you come all the way here…”

“Please don’t say that. Anyway, I hope you’ll recover soon.” Kwon Tae-Won took the empty bowl and placed it in the sink before making a cup of hot tea.

Kwon Tae-Won sat across from Ha Jae-Gun and said drearily, “You’ve gone through a lot. I’ve met people who encountered similar problems as well.”

“People around you?”

“Do you remember CEO Woo Myung-Je from CP Books?”

“Yes, we met briefly in the office before.” Ha Jae-Gun recalled. Although Ha Jae-Gun had only met the man in question for a few minutes, he had a relatively good impression of that man.

“CEO Woo was originally a broadcast writer.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yes. I didn’t mention this before, but he is a junior whom I’m quite close with. Before CEO Woo started working in a managerial position, he had been working as a rookie broadcast writer for nearly two years.

"He had to run errands for all sorts of things. He endured that life for the sake of achieving his dream of becoming a main writer one day.”

Kwon Tae-Won took a sip of his tea and continued. “He worked diligently every day, believing that a good opportunity would come to him someday. However, a newly joined rooked writer came in; she was a fresh graduate in her early twenties. Of course, CEO Woo was happy about her joining the team, thinking that he was finally able to shake off the title of a rookie writer.”

“Seems like something went wrong afterward.”

Kwon Tae-Won smiled bitterly and nodded at Ha Jae-Gun’s speculation.

“That lady climbed up the career ladder in less than a month, and she quickly climbed to a position higher than CEO Woo. The inexperienced lady got to write a script, and he had to take the task of interviewing and organizing the materials she needed. Basically, he was doing the same work that he had been doing for the past two years.”

“How… Is she that good?”

“Her lobbying skills were great.”

“Lobby…?”

“She used her feminine charms to appeal to their main writer back then. Her looks were above average. She used her body as bait, essentially.”

Kwon Tae-Won put down his teacup and let out a sigh. “CEO Woo couldn’t take it any longer and threw his resignation letter. The lady went on a roll for a while after he left, but she eventually quit within a year. Why do you think she quit?”

“I’m not sure…”

“She had deleted the work of another writer. She couldn't accept the idea that she was inferior to someone else and that someone else had taken away the project that she wanted to work on, so she erased that person's work. I think you're in the same situation as that person, Writer Ha.”

“…”

“The rookie writers in broadcasting stations lack a sense of belonging. Their workload is immense compared to their meager salary, and it's not even a full-time job in anyone's eyes. Getting covered by the top four insurance companies is just a dream for them. Well, outsourced companies do have full-time writers, but their situation isn’t much different. It’s a harsh world where all sorts of accidents occur.”

Ha Jae-Gun nodded silently. Won Ji-Yeon’s shy expression lingered in his mind. It was just his speculation, but he was certain that she was the culprit. However, Kwon Tae-Won's words made him wonder as though where she was at the moment.

The staff and Producer Ahn, who had come to visit Ha Jae-Gun at his house, also had no idea of her whereabouts.

“She’s disappeared?”

“I think so.”

“I’m sure that she’ll shamelessly appear again next year, working somewhere else. But still, she sure is gutsy for doing something like that to Writer Ha.”

Kwon Tae-Won tilted his head. He couldn't understand the situation for a moment, but he soon smiled brightly and took out his phone, as something came to his mind just then.

“Writer Ha, let me change up the atmosphere.” Kwon Tae-Won fiddled with his phone for a while and showed it to Ha Jae-Gun.

The screen showed a portal site in Mandarin. Under the logo was an advertisement with a huge illustration. Although Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t understand the language, he recognized the illustration of Oscar’s Dungeon.

“President Kwon, what’s this?”

“Teencent Literature has begun promotions for Oscar’s Dungeon. They even put up huge banners across mobile apps and PC messengers. These are quite unconventional marketing efforts as compared to their past efforts while distributing novels to overseas markets.”

Kwon Tae-Won then clicked on one part of the screen.

The screen changed to show the popular web novels distributed by Teencent Literature. He pointed at the ninth in ranking on the full Chinese list, and said, “This is Oscar’s Dungeon. It’s already ninth on the list. From the first to the twentieth, they are all local Chinese novels, and Writer Ha’s novel is the only one from overseas. They will be notifying us of the exact sales numbers next week.”

“Thank you, President Kwon. Everything still feels surreal.”

“Look here, the first in the ranking. This novel was written by Writer Dong Hua. This novel has earned the most profits this year in China. It’s been distributed as both ebook and physical copies, and there are already over two million physical copies sold alone. The profits earned amounted to over 16.5 million yuan[1] in just seven months. Converted to Korean Won, it's around 2.9 billion won.”

“The market size in China is definitely overwhelming when compared to Korea…" Ha Jae-Gun muttered in disbelief. Still, readers were much more important to him than money. Ha Jae-Gun was delighted to see his works reaching more readers.

“You will achieve greater heights. Teencent Literature and the Nobel Prize winner Li Ziting seems to love you a lot,” Kwon Tae-Won said.

“Yes, that meeting was certainly the luckiest day in my life.”

“Please hang in there, Writer Ha.” With a serious look, Kwon Tae-Won added, “From my perspective, you have gone through a lot of criticism throughout your career. Don’t forget that there are far more people around you who support and care for you, Writer Ha. If you’re having a hard time, feel free to let me know. I beg of you.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Don’t say that out of politeness.”

Kwon Tae-Won finally left after a couple more hours of chit-chat. After seeing Kwon Tae-Won’s car drive off in the distance, Ha Jae-Gun grabbed the weed cutter and headed out.

He planned to head over to Seo Gun-Woo’s grave while taking the opportunity to also go on a walk. It was slightly further away from when he stayed back at the studio apartment, but he could handle the distance.

‘Hmm?’

Ha Jae-Gun squinted as Seo Gun-Woo’s tombstone came into view. It seemed like someone was loitering around there.

‘Who is that?’

The suspicions had Ha Jae-Gun hasten his footsteps. He had always thought that no one else would come to visit Seo Gun-Woo, as he had never seen traces of people around Seo Gun-Woo's grave.

As he approached the tombstone, the other party’s appearance became clearer in his eyes. It was a man in a suit, but Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t make out his face. The man had a soju bottle in one hand, but he was stumbling around the tombstone unsteadily, seemingly drunk.

‘Huh? What? Where is he going?’

The man suddenly threw the soju bottle and circled the tombstone once. He then walked up the low hill behind the grave.

“…!” Ha Jae-Gun was suddenly gripped with fear. Why would a man in a suit walk up the hill? Moreover, the route that the man had taken behind Seo Gun-Woo’s grave was not a hiking trail. It looked really strange in Ha Jae-Gun's eyes.

‘No way…?!’

Ha Jae-Gun’s footsteps quickened again, but he soon started running.

His instinct was telling him that something dangerous was about to happen.

“Huff…! Huff!”

Ha Jae-Gun was still exhausted, so he quickly ran out of breath. It had been quite a while since the man in a suit had disappeared over the hill when Ha Jae-Gun finally climbed the hill. He didn't even stop to recover his haggard breathing and continued following after the man.

‘Huh? Where did he go?’

Ha Jae-Gun looked around, even in the bushes.

Just then, he heard noises from somewhere. He staggered toward it.

“Huh? Hey!” Ha Jae-Gun yelled.

The man was standing under a tree just twenty meters in front of him. The man was setting up a rope strung around the tree branch and was about to put his head into the loop. Ha Jae-Gun turned pale, and he ran over with all his remaining strength.

“Are you crazy?!” Ha Jae-Gun threw himself at the man. The tree branch broke at the weight, and the two men got entangled before rolling down the hill.

“Ughhhh…!” Ha Jae-Gun stood up, holding his own shoulders. Blood trickled down from the wound he had sustained, while the man who had been about to commit suicide was panting heavily at Ha Jae-Gun’s feet.

“Are you okay? Why did you do that?” Ha Jae-Gun squatted down and went behind the man.

He finally saw the man’s distorted face.

“…?!”

The man’s face looked somewhat familiar. He had seen the man once a long time ago. Despite their current circumstance, Ha Jae-Gun still recognized him in the proverbial blink of an eye.

‘The Elder’s son…?!’

Ha Jae-Gun had acquired Seo Gun-Woo’s abilities and keepsakes here a long time ago. He followed Seo Gun-Woo’s memories and arrived at the man's house in Jongno.

The man before him was the same tough and rude man at the time.

“You're… Writer Seo Gun-Woo’s son, right?”

Without standing up, the man looked up at Ha Jae-Gun. His bloodshot eyes were soon filled with tears. The man then covered his face with his hands and sobbed loudly.

1. Chinese Yuan, or RenMinBi / RMB ☜