Big Life

Chapter 18: Is This the Rumored Canned Food? (2)

Ha Jae-Gun answered the call with a slight waver in his voice.

"Hello?"

— Is this Ha Jae-Gun?

The all too familiar voice that rang in his ears brought memories from all those times, and they hit him like a truck. He was imagining her standing before him with her beautiful smile.

— It's me, Lee Soo-Hee. I'm sorry for calling out of the blue. How are you doing?

The approaching car engine coming from outside had stopped.

As if attracted by something, Ha Jae-Gun stood up and headed to the window. A white car looking similar to a cloud was parked at the far end of the road from the entrance of his apartment building. It was a few dozen meters away, but Ha Jae-Gun could still identify who was seated in the driver's seat at a glance.

— Hello? Ha Jae-Gun?

"I'm here. Sorry. Yes, I'm doing well. I hope you're doing well as well?"

— Yep, I'm doing good.

It had been so long since they met that Ha Jae-Gun felt the same feelings he felt back when they first met and exchanged simple greetings at the elementary school's English conversational class.

Lee Soo-Hee broke the momentary silence.

— I got your contact from Jung-Jin.

"I see."

— It was a pity that I couldn't attend the last alumni gathering. I heard you're still working hard on your writing? That's great to hear.

"It's nothing. That's the only thing I know how to do anyway."

— Are you busy? If you aren't, can we meet for a bit?

Ha Jae-Gun was about to agree to meet her, but Lee Soo-Hee continued almost immediately.

— I'll be honest. I contacted you because of some work. It's quite urgent, so I'm actually near your house right now.

A faint smile crept up Ha Jae-Gun's face. She hadn't changed a single bit since their university days. She would always go straight to the point rather than beating around the bush. She would always whatever was on her mind.

— Sorry, did I offend you?

"No, that's not it. Can you see a four-story orange building at the end of that road?

— Four-story orange building…? Yes, I see it. Is that where you live?

"Yeah, I'm on the second floor… W-wait."

Ha Jae-Gun was shocked when he saw himself in the mirror on the wall. He hadn't washed up at all today because he was busy all day. Especially thanks to the air conditioner service man, who came over to install an air conditioner.

His hair was a mess, and he hadn't shaved in a while as well.

"Lee Soo-Hee, can you just hang outside for five minutes? Sorry. I'll head down in a bit."

— It's alright, no rush.

Ha Jae-Gun rushed to the toilet and started tidying up himself. He started washing his hair with his left hand and brushing his teeth using his right hand right after shaving. Exactly five minutes later, he was finally done drying his hair with a towel.

"Oh, you washed up."

Lee Soo-Hee smiled at Ha Jae-Gun as she waited by her parked car. Ha Jae-Gun stopped coming down the stairs midway and ruffled his hair, embarrassed.

"You haven't changed a bit. How many years has it been?" Lee Soo-Hee asked.

"Hmm, it's kind of blurry to me. Anyway, come on up."

"Thank you." Both of them entered the apartment, and Lee Soo-Hee stood in the middle of it, taking a look at the place.

"Are you feeling hot? Should I close the windows and turn on the air conditioner for you?"

"No, it's fine. Wow, you have a cat, too?"

Lee Soo-Hee spotted Rika. She was sleeping at the bottom of the cat tower, and Lee Soo-He walked toward Rika with a surprised look.

Rika stared intently at Lee Soo-Hee before taking a huge yawn.

"She's so cute… what is her name?"

"Rika."

Lee Soo-Hee reached out slowly and rubbed Rika's neck, and Rika accepted her touch indifferently. Lee Soo-Hee continued looking around the room for a moment before saying, "The room shows your personality right off the bat."

"My personality?"

"You’re a minimalist. I can instantly see it. I feel like I’m looking into your backpack you were always carrying with you back when we were still students."

They locked eyes and laughed at the memory. Lee Soo-Hee’s presence here made Ha Jae-Gun feel as if the apartment were a campus, and the refreshing feeling made Ha Jae-Gun's heart pound excitedly.

"Anyway, what work were you talking about?"

"Oh, right." Lee Soo-Hee stopped rubbing Rika and took out a piece of document from her bag.

"It's a game that my company is currently developing. It's a racing game, but with hints of romance essence in it. So I need a writer to help create the scenarios and quests for the female characters that will show up in the game."

"Hmm."

Ha Jae-Gun took the document from Lee Soo-Hee and started reading it intently. At the sight of that, Lee Soo-Hee started to get anxious. She was afraid that Ha Jae-Gun would laugh at the job’s absurdity.

"Pfftt!" Suppressed laughter emerged from Ha Jae-Gun's mouth.

"What's… wrong?" Lee Soo-Hee asked with a pale face.

"Because it's funny..."

"What is?"

Ha Jae-Gun chuckled. He continued reading the document before answering, "Isn't it funny? A female college student working part-time at a gas station met eyes with the racer who passed by just to fill up his tank with gas. It's actually plausible. It's common, and that's why it's good. The public can relate to it."

"I see…" A sigh of relief escaped from Lee Soo-Hee after discovering that Ha Jae-Gun's laughter meant a positive response.

"The next character Cha Se-Rin is quite interesting too. Of course, having a female character doing heavy labor is an issue in reality, but this is a game…”

”So if we put in more details about the reality behind construction sites, the plot should become more persuasive…”

”Hey, the planning is pretty good. Did you come up with this?" Ha Jae-Gun's attention was still on the document as he shared his thoughts about the plot of the game.

As Lee Soo-Hee stared at Ha Jae-Gun, a thought came to her. Her impression of Ha Jae-Gun in the past and the present overlapped perfectly without a single change.

Ha Jae-Gun was still the same. Whenever he got engrossed in a document or text, he wouldn't be able to think of anything else.

He was the type of person who would still read his book while having ramyun. Even if the noodles had already turned soggy and cold, he would still blow on them as if they were still piping hot.

"That was a good read." Ha Jae-Gun finally looked up after a while.

Lee Soo-Hee swallowed and mentally prepared herself before asking, "What do you think? Could you help me out?"

Ha Jae-Gun was about to ask why Lee Soo-Hee decided to choose him, but he didn’t say anything in the end. The important part was that Lee Soo-Hee had acknowledged him as a writer, and she had come to him to ask for help related to his specialization.

Ha Jae-Gun nodded after arriving at that conclusion.

"Sure, I'll give it a try. Since I've got experience in both gas stations and construction sites. I think I can make this interesting."

Lee Soo-Hee's face brightened up at his words.

"Thank you. Your remuneration would definitely be worth your effort. There'll also be incentive given when revenue hits above a hundred and fifty percent after launch and…"

"It's fine," Ha Jae-Gun cut her off and smiled gently. "I know you'll take care of my remuneration."

"Yeah…"

"When do you need this?"

"Actually, this is my biggest concern. Can you finish it in three days? I can't show it to you yet, but you also have to make sure that it aligns with the overall world setting. Time is pretty tight, too."

"Three days… Hmm, I got it."

Ha Jae-Gun sounded pretty confident to Lee Soo-Hee.

He could write ten thousand characters in an hour. In addition, he didn’t really have anything else to do once he was done sending the completed manuscript for Records of the Modern Master’s volume six to Star Books.

"I'll try to do it in a rush for you."

"Thank you, I am in your debt. Anyway, I will have to get going now. I still have to settle some stuff back in the office." Lee Soo-Hee slung her bag on her shoulder and stood up. She still wanted to talk with Ha Jae-Gun, but she thought that it would be better to leave it for another day.

She patted Rika before heading to put on her shoes on the porch.

"Call me whenever, and let's have dinner sometime soon."

"All right, be careful on the way."

Ha Jae-Gun sent off Lee Soo-Hee and then headed to turn on his laptop. Rika leaped and curled up after taking a position on his lap.

"Lee Soo-Hee is pretty, right?"

"Meow…!"

"What’s up with that sharp meow? All right, all right. You're the prettiest of them all, and Lee Soo-Hee comes after you. Are we good there?"

Rika displayed her charm and cuteness by rubbing her head on Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun then started working on his laptop in the most comfortable position possible.

***

Three hours later, Lee Soo-Hee was finally back at their company's pantry. She was having a strong cup of coffee to soothe her fatigue. All of a sudden, her phone vibrated. She took out her phone to check the message, and she saw that it was from Ha Jae-Gun.

— These are the drafts of the scenarios for the two characters, Oh Soo-Min and Cha Se-Rin. Check them out and call me afterward.

Lee Soo-Hee’s eyes widened in shock, and she glanced at the wall clock to check the time. She couldn't believe that Ha Jae-Gun managed to complete drafts in just three hours.

'That's weird. Did I explain it wrongly to him? Maybe the quality isn’t up to standard?'

Lee Soo-Hee truly didn’t expect that he would receive anything from him on the first day. She was convinced that Ha Jae-Gun could only complete a draft on the second day at the earliest.

Lee Soo-Hee hurried back to her desk to check the message.

'No way…!'

Lee Soo-Hee was so horrified and dumbfounded at the document that her jaw dropped.

The draft scenario was a whopping 32,000 characters long document. There were almost no typoes, and his sentences were simple and clear, vividly depicting the story of a character.

Lee Soo-Hee calmed her pounding heart down and read the drafts. She then went ahead to print a few copies and shared them with each member of her planning team.

"This is the scenario for Oh Soo-Min and Cha Se-Rin. Please read it and give me your opinions."

Everyone on the team was visibly wide-eyed while reading the material in their hands. They had already gotten used to Oh Myung-Hoon's way of working and his dogmatic personality.

They couldn't believe that such a person who had left the office in a fit of rage would turn over a new leaf and present a scenario of such quality in such a short amount of time.

"Wow, this is entertaining." The first to speak up was Hye-Mi, who was the best at speed reading.

"The characters' personalities are clear, and the backstories are interesting, too," another employee chimed in.

"This draft has considered the flow of everything from the scenario to the quests. Each event is unique and organic."

"What happened to Writer Oh? I had no idea that he could write like this. We wouldn't have to suffer so much if he had written something like this right off the bat."

Lee Soo-Hee grinned. Their responses verified that her opinion wasn't biased.

Just then, a call from Oh Myung-Hoon came in.

She immediately picked up the call from the man she considered to be virtueless.

"Hello?"

— I've thought about it, and I admit that I got too emotional earlier. I tried revising the settings for the character Oh Soo-Min. I've changed her workplace to a family restaurant, and the revised draft should have arrived in your inbox by now…

- Check it out. I've tried my best to lower my standards, so it was really very tough for me. If you still think this isn't enough, then there's nothing else I can do. You should start looking for someone else.

Was this because of the flow of events? Oh Myung-Hoon's tone sounded more arrogant than normal. Upon hearing Oh Myung-Hoon’s arrogant voice, it didn't take long for Lee Soo-Hee to make her final decision.

"Can you give me your bank account number?" Lee Soo-Hee asked in a loud voice.

— My bank account number? Haha, why so sudden? I'm not in desperate need of a down payment, so just read the draft.

"No, I'm going to send you the contract termination fee.

— Contract… termination?

The lightheartedness in Oh Myung-Hoon's voice disappeared completely. Lee Soo-Hee started looking for the next character setting that she was about to send to Ha Jae-Gun and continued.

"Nextion will be unilaterally ending the contract with you, Writer Oh Myung-Hoon. Of course, we will be sending you the termination fee. You aren't even a full-time employee, but I still want to thank you for coming all the way to the office and making such a fuss."

— Lee Soo-Hee? Just what are you saying—

"I'm busy, so I'll get going. Remember to send me your bank account number."

Beep!

Lee Soo-Hee ended the call and put down her phone. However, Oh Myung-Hoon called her right away, and she flipped her phone over in response.

Now that the planning team’s morale had recovered, the members were already busy looking for what they should do next.