Big Life

Chapter 237: It’s A Declaration (6)

“Yeah, I found it weird when I saw it.”

“Is this related to the recent cultural exchange meeting with the Chinese delegates?”

“You know something about it, right? I’m curious. Could you tell me about it? Please?”

The writers tossed him all kinds of questions, but there was no answer Kang Min-Ho could give them. In fact, he wasn’t aware of it, and even if he knew anything, he was in no position to share it with them.

“I’m sorry, but I know nothing about it.”

Disappointment showed on their faces, but Kang Min-Ho didn’t care and was lost in his own thoughts. ‘50,000 copies? That’s a lot…’

The first novel of the Records series, Records of the Murim Master, which was printed out in hardcover, had a total of ten volumes to it. If Star Books printed 50,000 copies of each novel in the trilogy, it could be seen as a move only a madman would dare to make. After all, the hardcover market wasn't doing great these days.

Thankfully, the novel was written by Ha Jae-Gun, otherwise, everyone would have been clicking their tongues in disapproval, commenting that Star Books had basically decided to throw all of their money into the boundless ocean.

‘Did Star Books make the arrangement out of the blue? They should have mentioned it if they wanted to print 50,000 copies for publication. Or could it be that he’s been so busy with going to China that he had forgotten all about it?’

Since it had come to his attention, Kang Min-Ho decided to ask Ha Jae-Gun about it.

He left the restaurant for a quieter corner to call Ha Jae-Gun, but he received no response despite waiting for quite a while.

‘Seems like he’s busy. I should call again later.’

The moment Kang Min-Ho put away his phone and turned around, Park Kyung-Wook stepped out of the restaurant and pulled out a stick of cigarette.

“Aigoo, did you come out for a smoke?”

“No, I’ve quit smoking.”

“I see. It’s hard for me to quit smoking. Hahaha.” Park Kyung-Wook’s forced chuckle did not help Kang Min-Ho feel that he’d grown closer to Park Kyung-Wook. As Kang Min-Ho responded with a forced smile, Park Kyung-Wook continued, “Writer Kang Min-Ho, everything I said earlier was not just talk.”

“Pardon?”

“Please sign one novel with us if you have any prepared. Star Books has also established our online marketing channels, not just Laugh Books. We’ll provide you with the best treatment possible.”

“Ahh, about that…”

Park Kyung-Wook then approached with a slightly more persistent look. “How does Laugh Books operate? Do they help the writer to plan the novels?”

“No, well… if we have any writer's block, the writers themselves and the CEO would have a discussion on it; they don’t really get involved with the story planning.”

“Which means you’ll have to solve the writer’s block yourself if you get one? Without any help from others?” Park Kyung-Wook jumped in with a question.

Kang Min-Ho couldn’t reply to Park Kyung-Wook’s conclusion, which seemed biased. Park Kyung-Wook took Kang Min-Ho’s silence as an agreement and continued with determination, “Star Books’ editorial department has been renewed ever since I took over, and as I’ve mentioned earlier, we do our best to make sure our writers feel as comfortable as possible in all aspects.

"We’ll even provide you with an office if you require one.”

Park Kyung-Wook then smacked his forehead and chuckled after saying that. “Ah, I forgot that you already have an office. I hear that Writer Ha Jae-Gun is also working there, too? Is working with him in the same office helping you as well?”

“I obviously get help from him just by using that office itself.”

“We can provide that same help to you as well. Well, please don’t misunderstand me, but I personally think that working in the same space with someone as famous as Writer Ha might cause more damage than help.”

“Damage?”

“Yes, I’ve actually seen many of such cases where writers working in similar offices would become intimidated and eventually can’t write well for their own novels. Moreover, famous writers tend to be authoritative. They would leave the office chores to the other writers and act all arrogant in the office. How is that alright? Ah, but of course, I’m not saying that Writer Ha Jae-Gun is such a person. Hahaha.”

Kang Min-Ho was disgusted. He could tell that Park Kyung-Wook was indirectly talking negatively about Ha Jae-Gun.

“I’m sorry, but I keep getting calls from home.” Kang Min-Ho pretended to be in a difficult position, holding tightly onto his phone in the pocket, which remained stationary.

“I’ll take this call and go back in later.”

“Ah, I see. Feel free, Writer Kang.”

Kang Min-Ho only returned to the restaurant after staying outside for a while. He saw Park Kyung-Wook sitting with the other writers, putting up a plausible argument.

“...Writers, it’s exhausting to put up with a famous writer’s power. Aren’t fantasy or martial arts novels a kind of artwork as well? You’ll gloss it over at first, but if it’s interesting, you will do everything in your power. But those famous writers are like those strict trainers, saying that they have to work hard like artisans, plus most of them only got to where they were out of sheer luck.”

There seemed to be several writers around him paying attention to his words.

Kang Min-Ho decided not to go back to that atrocious setting and turned around.

‘I get it now…’ Kang Min-Ho concluded that Park Kyung-Wook was the kind of person who viewed writers as a kind of product. He had finally discovered where the unsettling feeling was coming from.

There was no longer a reason for him to stay on in this authors’ meet.

‘Writer Ha must have no idea of what they had done.’ Kang Min-Ho pulled out his phone and sent a message to Ha Jae-Gun. He then sent another message to Deputy Lee and left the restaurant in a hurry.

***

Tadadak! Tadadak! Tadak!

The curtains in the room were drawn inside the dark room, where Ha Jae-Gun was typing away on the keyboard, forgetting the passing of time. He had traveled all the way to China, but his daily life was no different from when he was in Korea.

‘Nice! I can just reference the scenery from the Summer Palace that I visited yesterday and add it to this scene… Was it called the Shi Qi Kong Qiao? Having a battle on that bridge should turn out pretty well.’

Ha Jae-Gun had decided to set the background for Records of the Modern Master in Beijing and Shanghai, and he was convinced that he could finish it in three weeks. Of course, it wouldn’t matter if it took a little longer than that, aside from the fact that he was suffering from missing Lee Soo-Hee too much.

‘The treatment I’m getting feels exaggerated.’

The massive welcome he had received at the airport was just the tip of the iceberg. The treatment from the Chinese government and Teencent was beyond his imagination.

The hotel room he was staying in now was so huge that he had almost lost his way to the bathroom. There was also the luxury car that he found burdensome to board, the staffers, the guide, and the interpreter sent to take care of him.

Ha Jae-Gun could ask just about anything, and what he had asked for would be handed over to him on a silver platter.

‘I’m quite thankful, but it’s too burdensome.’ Ha Jae-Gun didn’t like the bountiful conditions. The hotel room had been booked, so he couldn’t say much, but he barely used the car that they had arranged for him. In fact, he had been taking more public transport just to personally experience life there through the eyes of the main characters in the novel.

‘Phew, I should take a break.’ Before he knew it, it was already well past 3 p.m. Ha Jae-Gun was on the sofa enjoying his cup of coffee when Kwon Tae-Won stepped out of his room after tending to his work.

“Are you taking a break, Writer Ha?”

“Yes, I can’t seem to focus today.”

Kwon Tae-Won smiled bitterly as he knew why Ha Jae-Gun’s concentration had declined significantly recently.

“You must be upset, right?”

“I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”

The two men had only heard about the republication of the Records series from Star Books last night. Ha Jae-Gun was at a loss for words for a while when he found out that they would be printing 50,000 copies each, starting with Records of the Murim Master.

“I’ve talked on the phone with the CEO of Star Books, but I never expected things would turn out this way.”

Ha Jae-Gun felt like he was backstabbed. He was originally relieved since Kwon Tae-Won had put in word for Star Books CEO, but how could they announce printing 50,000 copies out of the blue? It was too atrocious of them when he had notified them of the retraction of the publication rights.

“I don’t exactly know why this happened, but…” Kwon Tae-Won trailed off, frustrated at the turn of events. There wasn’t any clause stating that the publisher had to come to a decision after discussing with the author the novel’s publication type and typesetting, nor did they have to notify the author before publishing. Of course, this didn't just apply to Star Books. There were no companies in the publication industry that held such a practice of notifying their authors of every single publication decision.

Taking legal action against Star Books would only lead to both parties falling into the gutter. Even Kwon Tae-Won, who had been working in the industry for many years, couldn’t do anything about it.

Bzzt!

Kwon Tae-Won’s phone rang. He answered it immediately upon seeing the caller ID.

“Yes, this is Kwon Tae-Won. Ah, you’re in the lobby right now? Yes, I’m with Writer Ha now. Please come on up. Yes, I’ll be waiting.”

~

After a few moments, a visitor came knocking on the hotel room where Kwon Tae-Won and Ha Jae-Gun were staying. The visitor was a meticulous-looking man in his late forties, Lin Minhong. He was the head of Teencent Literature’s strategic planning department.

“Hello, Mr. Ha. I hope you liked this hotel.”

“It’s great, although I often get lost in this hotel. It’s my first time staying in such a huge hotel,” Ha Jae-Gun replied casually, raising the man’s mood as he led him to take a seat.

Lin Minhong was fluent in Korean, so they could communicate freely without an interpreter.

“I’ve read the outline of the Records of the Modern Master you sent earlier, and it was very interesting.”

“Thank you. It feels great to hear that from you.”

“But Mr. Ha…” Lin Minhong started cautiously. “The main character of the story is still a Korean.”

“Is there a problem with that…?”

“No, Mr. Ha. It’s not exactly a problem.” Lin Minhong smiled an embarrassed smile, waving his hands. “The novel’s background has been changed from Korea to China, so I thought the main character's nationality would change to Chinese as well.”

“Ah, yes. I have decided to keep the main character’s nationality as Korean. He's a young Korean who decided to go to China to find a job.”

Lin Minhong frowned deeply, seemingly perplexed. Before Ha Jae-Gun could ask, he continued, “I’m really sorry, but could you reconsider that decision?”

“Are you asking me to change the main character into a Chinese individual?”

“Yes. First of all, I’d like to apologize for not making it clear to you about that in advance. However, the main character of the novel has to be a Chinese individual. Not just in the novel but in all the other adaptations. Since we will also have to take into consideration the actors during casting for the movie production.”

“I have put those into consideration when working on this.” Ha Jae-Gun gave a gentle smile as he offered his opinion. “The main character of Records of the Murim Master is already of Chinese nationality. If the main character of Records of the Modern Master is also changed into a Chinese individual, then it could kill quite a number of scenes in the last part of the trilogy.

"So it has to be two characters from two different countries meeting and getting into a conflict, then slowly coming together to understand each other for the story to be interesting.”

Ha Jae-Gun then inwardly added, ‘Although Records of the Other World performed the worst, things will become different once it becomes a movie.’

There was also another reason behind Ha Jae-Gun's decision to maintain the nationality of the main character in the second story. However, he hadn’t brought this up to Lin Minhong as Ha Jae-Gun thought that it was still too early to share.

“Mm, I see… Then I’ll report this to our CEO and touch base with you again.”

“Yes, please.”

After that conversation, Lin Minhong and Ha Jae-Gun continued discussing other parts of the novel. Lin Minhong left after saying goodbye. As soon as he left, Kwon Tae-Won’s phone rang again.

“Hello? Yes, that’s right. Pardon? What did you say?” Kwon Tae-Won asked in surprise. He covered the receiver part of his phone and asked Ha Jae-Gun, “Writer Ha, Ms. Yang Ying’s manager just called me.”

“Why did they call?”

“They would like to treat you to a meal since you’re here in China. But of course, informally and in a quiet setting.”

Ha Jae-Gun cocked his head in surprise. Yang Ying was the female lead in the movie Storm and Gale. With the movie’s success, the successful and beautiful Yang Ying’s value had skyrocketed. However, the offer was actually quite confusing. Why did she want to treat Ha Jae-Gun to a meal?

“What would you like to do, Writer Ha?”

“Thank her for her intentions, but decline it politely, please.” Ha Jae-Gun replied softly.

They didn't have a personal relationship with each other, and there was no reason for them to meet by avoiding the public’s eye.

“I’m sorry, but Writer Ha has declined your kind offer. Yes, he’s also busy with writing. No, it’s not really an issue with the schedule…” The phone call was extended due to the continued entreaties. Kwon Tae-Won barely managed to hang up after a while. He rubbed his forehead and let out a sigh.

“They’re really persistent.”

“Why did they want to meet me? They wouldn’t ask to meet if they didn’t have a favor to ask…”

“I think your guess might be right. I think they have a favor to ask of you regarding the Records series, as there’s also the casting issue.”

“Mm… I see.”

“Your influence with Teencent is quite powerful anyway. I believe Yang Ying had witnessed it through Storm and Gale. It’ll be tiring for you if you get involved with the wrong foot, so let’s be more alert from now on.”

Ha Jae-Gun nodded, slapping himself awake. The actors he had already long decided wouldn't be replaced by someone else no matter what. Meanwhile, the setting sun slowly dyed the cityscape of Beijing in its colors.