Big Life

Chapter 253: Just Need You Gone (4)

“I met a quack doctor,” Oh Myung-Hoon said as he pulled out a bottle of medication from his breast pocket. Looking at it, he added, “I will get better if I view life positively, think of only good things, and take my medicine regularly?”

”What medicine is that for?”

Oh Myung-Hoon continued his own narrative, pretending not to hear Ha Jae-Gun. “I took my medicine regularly, yeah. I did everything the doctor asked of me. But this damn condition of mine did not get any better at all. Regardless of what I do…”

Oh Myung-Hoon gripped the medicine bottle so tightly to the point that it would break anytime, and then he slowly raised his head. His bloodshot eyes were filled with anger. “My hatred toward you is not going away, not for a single bit…!”

“Myung-Hoon!” Ha Jae-Gun gulped nervously and took a step forward.

Oh Myung-Hoon retreated at the same distance as he shook his head. “Don’t come near me.”

“What did I do wrong? I want to know too. From when did you start hating me so much?”

“I said not to come near me!” Oh Myung-Hoon spat and yelled.

When Ha Jae-Gun stopped, Oh Myung-Hoon poured the entire contents of the medicine bottle into his mouth and then began drinking from the whiskey bottle again.

“Keugh…! How refreshing…!” Saliva and whiskey drenched his lips. Oh Myung-Hoon stumbled and held onto the railing for support to stand upright. “I said don’t come near me… Don’t think of coming closer to me. Ha, seriously… I just need you gone… then everything will be solved…”

“...” Complicated feelings filled Ha Jae-Gun as he wrapped his forehead with his hand. He looked away and saw the park in question in the distance. The scene of him and his classmates writing novels back then surfaced in his mind.

He never thought that his novel would be the best back then.

Professor Han Hae-Sun was a strict mentor, and all of his classmates back then had excellent writing skills. He was in no position to belittle anyone. All of them gathered together in the Creative Writing major with dreams of becoming a writer.

Ha Jae-Gun only focused on writing his novel diligently. He followed Professor Han’s instructions, detailing the scene before him into a proper novel composition. He still remembered how much he regretted not having the time to revise his work. It was also that very same day when he got closer to Park Jung-Jin.

~

"You’re Jae-Gun, right? When did you start writing novels? You’re really great at them. I was surprised after reading your work. Hey, let’s not stand around here. I know of a great pork restaurant nearby. Let’s go there and have a drink, shall we?

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Jung-Jin, Park Jung-Jin. Anyway, I’ll be calling the girls along, so you’re going to come along, right? Who? Soo-Hee and Hyo-Jin. You must know them at least, right? They’re so pretty, right? Eheheh, I’m already excited thinking about drinking with them later."

~

On that day, the four of them drank until after midnight. It was an extremely happy day for Ha Jae-Gun. He gained lifelong friends and even found the courage to face the uncertainty of the future as a writer.

It was a nostalgic night for him; he missed his friends who were right next to him on that day and were sharing drinks with him. Ha Jae-Gun felt like crying. The memories of that day still remained in Ha Jae-Gun’s mind and diary.

However there were no traces of Oh Myung-Hoon anywhere. He tried scouring through his memories, but he failed to see Oh Myung-Hoon in any of them.

Just then, a rustling sound pulled Ha Jae-Gun back to reality. Ha Jae-Gun turned around to find Oh Myung-Hoon on the other side of the railing.

“Myung-Hoon!”

“I’m going to let go if you come any nearer!”

“Hey! T-that’s too dangerous!”

“Don’t come near me!” Oh Myung-Hoon yelled. His hands trembled as he held onto the railing, and his feet standing on the edge were quivering as well. He wasn't trembling because he was feeling cold. He had sobered up after stepping over onto the other side of the railing, and fear had gripped his heart.

“I… I said that I would give you an unforgettable gift, right?”

“Myung-Hoon…!” Ha Jae-Gun’s face turned pale.

Despite his teeth chattering in fear, Oh Myung-Hoon did not lose his smile. “This is my gift for you, Jae-Gun. I’m going to die because of you. You’ll suffer for life! You'll keep blaming yourself for this, as you’re a pathetic man! And I know you for how pathetic and weak you are!"

“Please, Myung-Hoon. Calm down…!” Ha Jae-Gun approached carefully with his hands raised.

“Let’s calm down and talk about it. Let’s talk and unravel any issues between us. Tell me everything—tell me why you hate me. I’ll do anything I can do to fix it.” Ha Jae-Gun tried to reassure Oh Myung-Hoon as much as possible. His mind turned blank, and he couldn’t think of anything else to say. All the vocabulary that would come out smoothly whenever he was working suddenly vanished.

“Myung-Hoon, let’s not do this, all right? Come down. I’ll go over, alright? I’ll go closer to you so grab my hand.” Ha Jae-Gun reached out slowly.

Just then, one of Oh Myung-Hoon’s feet slipped, and he fell down. “Arghhhh!”

“Oh Myung-Hoon!”

Oh Myung-Hoon’s hand instinctively reached out and grabbed the bottom of the railing while Ha Jae-Gun quickly dashed forward and knelt down to hold onto Oh Myung-Hoon’s arm. “Hold on tight! I’ll hold onto you, so put your other hand up, too! Hurry!”

Oh Myung-Hoon turned pale, but he looked up at Ha Jae-Gun in a daze. His world had stopped as he hung by the railing. He couldn’t even hear the passing wind or the blaring horns on the road.

“You’re still the one killing me at the end.”

“What are you saying, you dumbass?! Grab me! Hurry!”

Oh Myung-Hoon smiled faintly. He struggled to raise his other hand, but he didn't grab the railing. Instead, Ha Jae-Gun grabbed his hand.

“If I ever hear people saying that you’ve saved me… Committing suicide hundreds and thousands of times wouldn’t even be enough to wash away that humiliation.”

”Hey, Myung-Hoon!”

“Let’s not see each other ever again.” Oh Myung-Hoon grabbed Ha Jae-Gun’s hand and twisted it. Unable to withstand the pain, Ha Jae-Gun let out a yell and let go of Oh Myung-Hoon’s hand.

“Myung-Hoon!”

Unfortunately, Ha Jae-Gun's outreached hand was infinitely short—too short to grab the falling Oh Myung-Hoon. He saw the smile on Oh Myung-Hoon’s face as the latte fell into the dark sea.

At the same time, Oh Myung-Hoon raised his middle finger at Ha Jae-Gun.

Splash!

For some reason, tears began falling down Ha Jae-Gun’s face.

***

“Hello, Mr. Lin Minhong. Yes, I’m Park Do-Joon’s manager, Woo Tae-Bong. Pardon? About the Records series? Ahaha, yes! Aigoo, Do-Joon has indeed been quite busy recently, but since this work is related to Teencent Pictures, we will definitely make time for it. Ah, you enjoyed Dried Tofu? Isn’t Park Do-Joon great at acting as a Chinese? Hahaha! Hahahahaha!”

Woo Tae-Bong had strongly opposed Park Do-Joon's participation in Dried Tofu, and he still didn’t know that Park Do-Joon’s appearance in Dried Tofu was mostly thanks to Teencent Pictures’ CEO Mao Yen.

“I understand, yes! I’ll do that! I’ll contact you again. The weather is getting hotter, so please take care of your health!” Woo Tae-Bong jumped excitedly after hanging up.

The mention of the Records series only meant one thing, and it was one of the biggest issues so far.

“Hey, Do-Joon! You heard everything, right?” Woo Tae-Bong shouted as he ran to the living room.

Park Do-Joon nodded with his eyes on the TV screen. He was watching Let’s Watch A Movie, which Ha Jae-Gun was no longer hosting.

“It seems like Teencent Pictures is hastening their moves.”

“Jae-Gun is soaring in the U.S. after all.” Park Do-Joon lowered the volume and added, “His entry into the UK and France are quite successful, and he even signed a contract for 100,000 copies in Germany.”

“Where did you hear that? You haven’t met Writer Ha recently, haven’t you?”

“News about him keeps popping up on the internet.”

“Oh, right.”

“Another piece of news today shared that Japanese publishing companies have been sending in contract offers as well. Japanese companies are known for being stingy about contracts when it comes to overseas writers, but they offered a huge royalty this time,” Park Do-Joon said, but his smile soon vanished.

The happy news made him recall the depressing update about his friend.

Reading Park Do-Joon’s mind, Woo Tae-Bong asked, “Is Writer Ha still the same?”

“Yeah.”

Ha Jae-Gun had cut off all ties with everyone else and had been holing up in his house over the past three weeks. The official reason was that he wanted to focus on his writing, explaining that he needed time alone to organize his thoughts and come up with the composition for his novel.

However, Park Do-Joon did not believe that version.

Something else was bothering Ha Jae-Gun.

Park Do-Joon was lost in his thoughts for a while, and then he looked at Woo Tae-Bong, asking, “Teencent Pictures wants to arrange a meeting, right?”

“Yeah.”

“They’ll have to ask Ha Jae-Gun to join in the meeting.”

“Of course, the author of the original work should definitely appear. They must have contacted him as well.”

“Okay.”

It was an opportune excuse for him to contact Ha Jae-Gun. Park Do-Joon stood up from the sofa and headed to the shower.

***

‘The weather has gotten a lot hotter…’ Ha Jae-Gun tried cooling himself by grabbing the front of his shirt and flapping it against his chest. He had just stepped onto the escalator that was bringing him out of the subway station.

Lee Soo-Hee had forcefully asked him out of his house, saying that it wasn’t good for his health to stay in his study all day and night working on his writing; she pleaded with him to step out of his house for a breather.

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t want to make his beloved woman worry, so he still left the house eventually.

His destination today was the cafe where he had written The Breath. He found it troublesome to go somewhere further out, and he also couldn’t think of anywhere else to go either.

‘Hmm, I think Jung-Jin said it was his day off today as well.’ Ha Jae-Gun recalled as he headed to the cafe. Messages had been coming in regularly during his downtime. Park Jung-Jin wasn't the type to express himself well, but he was definitely worried about Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun suddenly missed his close friend and pulled out his phone.

— Yeah, Jae-Gun?

“How did you even answer even before the color ring began?”

— I answered immediately out of surprise. Hey, are you… fine now?

“Well, what’s there to be sad about? It’s your day off today, right? What are you doing?”

— It’s been a while since I had my solo day off, so I’ve been on my PlayStation the entire time. What about you?

“I came out for a breather. Do you want to hang out?”

— You don’t have to ask; just tell me where to go, you punk.

Ha Jae-Gun shared with Park Jung-Jin the name of the cafe and its rough location before hanging up. He slowly made his way to the cafe and arrived a while later.

“Hello.”

“Welcome, Writer Ha Jae-Gun. You should come more often; why haven’t you come around in so long?” The cafe owner was happy to see Ha Jae-Gun. They immediately made a cup of iced americano for Ha Jae-Gun. “The Breath is a huge success. I’ve been bragging to my friends that you’re a regular of my cafe whenever I see my friends recently. Everyone knows of you, Writer Ha.”

“Thank you.” Ha Jae-Gun forced a smile. In fact, he didn’t look very energized after staying too long at home. The cafe owner seemed to have caught on quite fast and ended their conversation promptly.

Tadadadak! Tadak! Tadadak!

Ha Jae-Gun sat at his usual table and opened up his laptop before working away. He was working on the manuscript of Human’s Malice which he had been working on for the past three weeks. He worked on it for over ten full hours every day, but he ended up not writing much. He hadn't been able to make any huge improvements on it, even though he had taken full advantage of Seo Gun-Woo’s these days.

‘Should I just give up?’ The idea was tempting; he knew he'd feel better if he simply gave up. Ha Jae-Gun even started wondering whether he had made a mistake choosing an emotion as dark as human’s malice as the subject of his new work.

The constant self-doubt made him eventually recall the scene of Oh Myung-Hoon falling into the water.

~

Evil itself.

~

It was by far the worst of it he had ever felt in his life.

Oh Myung-Hoon was the pinnacle of evil in Ha Jae-Gun’s mind.

‘I should stop here today. Jung-Jin would be arriving soon anyway.’ Ha Jae-Gun saved the document and then closed the program. When he looked up, he made eye contact with the person at the next table. It was that elderly man.

“Ah! Hello, sir. When did you arrive?” Ha Jae-Gun greeted him with a smile.

This was the third time he met the elderly man.

As usual, the old man donned a navy custom-made hanbok.

“We met here the previous time as well, you seem to visit this cafe often?”

“I mentioned that it’s near where I live, didn’t I?”

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Your lines are always the same, like a parrot. Forget about tea, why don’t you continue writing?” The elderly man signaled to Ha Jae-Gun’s laptop with a glance.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled bitterly and hesitated for a while before replying, “I couldn’t concentrate. Thanks to your feedback the last time, I was able to write smoothly, but I’ve hit a wall recently.”

“I told you so.” The elderly man snorted. “When you think about such things, you’re bound to be influenced by it. There’s no way you’ll stay sane from it.”

“Hahaha, it’s not that bad…”

Silence ensued for a few moments. As soft music filled the cafe, the elderly man let out a silent sigh and looked into space. “You’ll inevitably look back on yourself when you write something like that. Am I proud of myself? Am I really qualified to talk about others’ malice?”

“…?”

”You’d have remembered it as you continued on this route, realizing that you also have a great deal of malice in yourself. You would be jealous of those better than you, making you unable to overcome your inferiority complex."

"Then, you'd begin to undermine yourself. However, you’ll always pretend like you're smart and superior to everyone else on the surface…”

Ha Jae-Gun gulped as he looked at the elderly man. The elderly’s wrinkled face was filled with unidentifiable remorse.

“Sir, how did you—” Just as he was about to pose a question, Ha Jae-Gun’s phone rang.

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun shook his head and excused himself apologetically. “I’m sorry, I agreed to meet my friend here; it seems like he’s arrived.”

“It’s okay. I should get going as well.” The elderly man stood up with a grunt. Ha Jae-Gun followed behind and added with a hint of regret, “You are leaving already?”

“I only stopped by for a while after seeing you here. I should leave earlier today since I’m supposed to go home.”

”Home? Where do you stay?”

“Gyeongju.” The elderly man straightened his clothes and turned around. Ha Jae-Gun hurried after him, but the elderly man only waved his hand. “We should leave by seeing each other coincidentally. Stop bothering me with any more questions.”

“But, sir…”

“I’ll be going now. Don’t give up on writing that. Show it to me once you've completed it.” The elderly man turned the corner and disappeared toward the exit of the subway station. Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t bear to speak anymore and sat back down at his table.