Big Life

Chapter 267: Ha Jae-Gun Isn’t A Big Deal After All (4)

‘A masterpiece that you won’t ever see again in this century. Hoohoo.’ Oh Myung-Suk chuckled to himself as he read the article about The Malice in L.A. Times. Some would definitely wonder if the article had exaggerated, but it wasn’t the case for The Malice. It had been a while since Oh Myung-Suk regarded The Malice to be one of the few masterpieces in his heart.

‘I think it’s good enough to quote this line.’

Tadadadak! Tadak! Tadadak!

Oh Myung-Suk’s fingers began typing furiously on the keyboard, typing out the instructions for his subordinates. Afterward, he looked at the time and saw that it was now 9 p.m.

He had worked overtime today. If his workload only surrounded The Malice, there would be no need for him to work into the night. Howeve, there was another novel which he had to pour his heart into.

It was the work The Last Trip, and there was a high chance that the novel would become his father’s final published work.

Oh Myung-Suk finished his work and turned off his laptop.

Just as he stood up from his desk…

Knock, knock.

“Come in,” Oh Myung-Suk said.

His office door opened, and in came Oh Tae-Jin. Oh Myung-Suk was shocked that he abruptly stopped gathering the documents in his hands and asked, “Father, why are you here rather than at home?”

“You said you were working overtime, so I came here feeling guilty. Aren’t you working late to work on my novel?”

“Please don’t say that. It’s part of my job after all. Did you really come here because of that?”

“That’s part of it. I wanted to have a drink of soju with you before going back. But if you’re tired, it’s fine too.”

“Sure, Father. I was about to get off work anyway. Let’s go,” Oh Myung-Suk replied.

Ever since he went back home with Chae Yoo-Jin, he never had the chance to hold a candid conversation with his father. This seemed to be a good opportunity for that. The department head and chauffeur were both waiting for them by the car parked in the basement. The father and son took their seats in the back as the men opened the car doors for them.

“Where would you like to go, Father?”

“I hope we can have some noise in the atmosphere today. Let’s go to Mugyo-dong.”

The car started, driving out of the basement. On the quiet roads of a weekday night, Oh Tae-Jin casually asked, “Do the publication schedules overlap?”

“Sorry?”

“Mine and Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s.”

“Ah, it’s next week.”

“Ah, mine will get buried, then.”

“No way.” Oh Myung-Suk smiled bitterly in an attempt to cheer Oh Tae-Jin up. “The Last Trip has gone into pre-order, and we’ve already received almost 10,000 copies. Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s latest novel is only available to purchase online.”

“I’m just saying; you don’t have to be so serious.” Oh Tae-Jin patted his son’s shoulders, but he didn't look away from the window.

Oh Myung-Suk felt his heart ache a little as he stared at his father. He could feel that his father was slightly anxious. His father was—no, the writer Oh Tae-Jin, was fearful of Ha Jae-Gun. He was terrified that his last novel, which he had poured all his heart and soul into, would be compared with Ha Jae-Gun’s and would receive poor ratings.

Anyway, Oh Myung-Suk had no way of comforting his father. It would be the same as admitting that he had made such speculation if he were to attempt to do so. Thus, he chose to keep them to himself to save his father’s pride.

“Ah, speaking of…” Oh Myung-Suk trailed off, thinking of something to change the topic before asking, “Have you decided to join the policy debate?”

“I’m not sure…” Oh Tae-Jin replied with indifference. The policy debate was put together with the aim of exploring various ways to revitalize the local content industry.

A wide variety of people such as the assemblymen from the C.B.C., pop culture critics, movie directors, actors, writers, and more had been invited to it. As the Chairman of OongSung Publication Group, Oh Tae-Jin received an invitation long ago.

However, it was a setting that a man well over his sixties had long gotten sick of attending.

“I’m not interested in such for-show events where not a proper conclusion can even be made…”

“Indeed.” However, Oh Myung-Suk was certain that his father would attend the debate. His father had always been sensitive to such issues, alongside politicians' changes all his life. That was the reason he managed to bring OongSung Publication to its current heights.

“What about Writer Ha Jae-Gun? He’s a top writer now, so they must have sent an invitation over to him as well.”

“I don’t think he will attend. He’s the kind to avoid everything else except for writing if possible.”

“You know Writer Ha very well.”

“We’ve worked together for so long as writer and editor after all.”

“Hohoho.” Oh Tae-Jin grabbed Oh Myung-Suk’s hand just then. Oh Myung-Suk then wrapped his father’s wrinkled hand with his other free hand, noticing the vague tremors of his father's hand.

They drove past the City Hall and closed in on Mugyo-dong.

***

It was the first week of September, and the tropical nights in the heat wave were starting to simmer down. In addition to the top three public broadcasting channels, almost all the cable channels began showing the same piece of news—news about Writer Ha Jae-Gun.

[The popularity of Writer Ha Jae-Gun's The Breath: Dragon Rider, which has expanded into the overseas market, was soaring limitlessly. According to the publication company that has purchased its publication rights, Open House, its sales performance was now past 1.8 million, nearing the 2 million mark. Aside from the U.S., various countries in Europe including the UK, France, Germany…]

[Not only in Korea, but even in China where the global top star Park Do-Joon has even announced his next work through his agency. And that is Writer Ha Jae-Gun's martial arts novel, Records of the Modern Master, where he takes the role of the male lead. This movie will be produced by the largest movie production company in China, Teencent Pictures…]

[Wizardry Pictures has officially announced the schedule for the movie adaptation of Writer Ha Jae-Gun's fantasy novel, The Breath. The well-known movie director, Chris Nolan, who has directed the box-office hits Bat King trilogy and Inception, which is also widely known in Korea, will be producing the movie, and the cast…]

[It's also been a while since Paramountain has begun production for Gyeoja Bathhouse, which license was bought for over 1.8 million dollars. Let's connect to the reporter on site.]

Every single channel was reporting about Ha Jae-Gun. He was mentioned so much everywhere that those who did not know his name were treated as spies or someone who had been living in a rock.

As news about Ha Jae-Gun spread across the world, a small news article surfaced in a corner of a certain internet portal. It was a short introduction to the novel, The Malice, written by Eden Smith. Unfortunately, almost no one was interested in the novel written by a no-name foreign author.

“Jae-Gun, there’s an article on The Malice.” Lee Soo-Hee showed Ha Jae-Gun her phone, where she found the said article. They were traveling on an empty train on a Sunday afternoon. Ha Jae-Gun put down the book he was reading and looked at her phone.

-…The protagonist is a Korean born in Korea but was abandoned when he was young. He ended up getting adopted by a white family in the U.S. The entire novel is filled with emotions that a Korean will immediately find familiar. The novel has done a great job conveying such subtleties, which is hard to convey to someone who isn't Korean. With that realization, the Korean-American readers in L.A. began speculating if the author of The Malice is Korean. The publisher has been keeping the author’s identity a secret. After L.A. Times has shared about it, the book has now sold over 50,000 copies. This book was also published in Korea by OongSung Publication Group.

“An author with a hidden identity. This article is so interesting.”

“Haha, it is. Sounds so mysterious. I suspect that editor-in-chief Oh Myung-Suk drafted this personally.”

Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee chuckled.

The couple was on the way out for a date in a long while since it was a public holiday.

They had just finished lunch after walking around the National Museum of Korea and were now on the way to the bookstore. They wanted to take a look at the newly released section and buy a copy of Oh Tae-Jin’s new novel, The Last Journey.

The two were wearing caps to disguise themselves, afraid that passers-by would recognize them.

“I can’t believe it’s already sold out and going into reprints. As expected, regardless of how unfamiliar the public is with the author, they're still going to buy the book if the novel is good. I was worried that it wouldn't sell at all, but thankfully, I was wrong,” Lee Soo-Hee said, hugging Ha Jae-Gun’s arm.

“You’re the coolest in this world; I love my Jae-Gun a lot.”

“I understand how you fell in love with me in college.”

“Wow, look at you turning all arrogant just because I praised you.”

“I’m joking. I like you more.”

“How much more?”

“Well, just a little.”

“Alright, I’ll give you a little of the rice too.”

A while later, they alighted at their station and took the connected route to the large bookstore.

The bookstore was crowded on a holiday.

“Jae-Gun, The Malice, your…!” Lee Soo-Hee stopped herself just in time and covered her mouth. She looked around carefully; thankfully, no one seemed to have heard her. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when a young couple walked toward them.

“The Malice?” the man muttered and grabbed a book.

Lee Soo-Hee observed them secretly, perking her ears.

“It was selected as a good book by L.A. Times. I think it’s going to be a good read.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Is Ha Jae-Gun not releasing any new books?” the lady asked grimly.

The man shot her a slightly pained look, “Do you only know Writer Ha Jae-Gun?”

“His novels are well written and interesting.”

“Do you think only Ha Jae-Gun writes well? There are so many other writers who write great novels, too. You’re always just going about with Ha Jae-Gun this, Ha Jae-Gun that, Ha Jae-Gun—”

“I didn’t say anything wrong. You’re just being sensitive because you’re an aspiring writer yourself.”

“Hey, why did you bring that up here?”

”Ah, forget it. I’m annoyed; I’m leaving.”

“J-Ji-Hye!” The flustered man chased after his girlfriend with a copy of The Malice in hand.

Lee Soo-Hee grinned and whispered to Ha Jae-Gun, “I think he’s going to buy it.”

“Yeah, he clearly doesn't like Ha Jae-Gun, but it's a different story for Eden Smith. Let’s head further in.”

Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee headed deeper into the bookstore. A while later, a man stopped before the newly released corner. He frowned for a while looking through the books on display before grabbing a copy of The Malice.

‘Seems like it’s a book he'll like.’ The man did not take too long to ponder and picked up a few more books for purchase. He didn’t buy them for himself; he was here on an errand. He hurried out of the bookstore as soon as he was done paying.

***

“Aigoo, a policy debate to discuss the revitalization of the content industry? There’s no way I would miss it. Ohoho.”

The living room was in a mess; there were drinks and snacks littered all over the room. Woo Jae-Hoon was woken up by a call from the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture.

“Who else has confirmed that they'd attend? Ah, Assemblyman Kwon Sung-Deuk… and—Ohoho, OongSung Groups Chairman Oh Tae-Jin?” Woo Jae-Hoon became wide awake upon hearing the names of the famous people who would attend the debate.

Woo Jae-Hoon had been actively attending almost all the events and broadcasts that needed his appearance. Of course, it was all for the money. He was struggling to fund the production costs of the movie Final Godfather, which he had prepared ambitiously.

“Um… Is Writer Ha Jae-Gun appearing as well? Yes, well… he’s quite the famous writer now, isn’t he? Ah, he hasn’t given a reply yet? Hm, sorry? Ahaha, no, his attendance doesn't matter to me at all. I was just curious. Hahaha.”

Beep, beep, beep!

The door opened, and his manager arrived. A shopping bag filled with a few books was in his manager's hands. Woo Jae-Hoon had just ended the call, so he threw his phone into a corner on the sofa. “Did you pick up anything good?”

“Yes, there’s quite a few newly released books.”

“That damned debate invitation…! It’s torturous holding a book in hand day in and day out when I can’t even direct a movie.” Woo Jae-Hoon grumbled as he took the shopping bag.

He wasn’t reading because he wanted to. He needed to read more in order to come up with topics to talk about on the shows. It was especially so when he was a movie director and closely related to the content industry.

“What’s with all these titles? What’s this? The Malice?”

“He seems like an author from the U.S. They said this book has been picked as a good book on L.A. Times, so I bought it.”

“It’s so thick… Did you flip through it before buying?”

“Um…”

“So you just grabbed them randomly?!”

“N-no. I really picked them after putting some thought into it.” The manager came up with excuses, but Woo Jae-Hoon only clicked his tongue in disapproval.

Woo Jae-Hoon grabbed The Malice and laid down on the sofa. “Go make some ramyun, and add a lot of chili in it.”

“Yes, Director.” the manager said, but he cussed Woo Jae-Hoon in his mind before walking into the kitchen.

Woo Jae-Hoon opened the book, planning to toss it out if the book wasn’t interesting.

Roughly ten minutes later…

“Director, please have some ramyun.”

“…”

“Director? The ramyun is done, come and have some.”

“Shut up and stop talking to me.”

“Pardon? But didn’t you want ramyun?”

“You can have it or just throw it out. Just leave me alone!” Woo Jae-Hoon yelled, glaring at the manager.

The manager's expression was grim as he ate the ramyun.

“Wow… This writer has a lot of experience.” Woo Jae-Hoon’s jaws dropped. He looked at the front and back covers of the book belatedly and continued muttering, “Good novels would always give a good hunch. Kya, we need more writers like this so that the content industry can keep going.

"However, the world has come to the point where writers like Ha Jae-Gun write trash works and revel in their earnings. This is it.”

“Is the story good, director?”

“It’s no joke. My eyes had rotten after reading Ha Jae-Gun's novels, but it feels like they'd just been rinsed with clean water. You should read this when you have the time. This is what I call a real novel and a proper work. It can't even compare to Ha Jae-Gun’s so-called pulp fiction. I should use this to prepare for the coming debate.”

Woo Jae-Hoon went silent as he fell completely into the world of The Malice.