Big Life

Chapter 34: What’s Important (2)

The current most popular sales method was coined as paid serialization. This method was employed exclusively online, and it was similar to the sales method of ebooks.

Ebooks were being sold by volume, while works using the paid serialization sales method were sold between 5,500 to 6,000 won for each volume, with chapters being continuously released over a long period of time.

Of course, the number of chapters in a volume of a paid serialization novel varied, but a volume often contained 20 to 25 chapters. Ha Jae-Gun was planning to sell his next novel using the paid serialization method.

After abandoning his dream, Ha Jae-Gun’s motivation was now money.

Each chapter would be prized at 100 won. After deducting the distribution service and management fees, he would receive about 50 won for each chapter. In other words, a thousand views would be around 50,000 won.

“Should I drop you here?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ha Jae-Gun alighted the taxi and headed to the subway station. Ha Jae-Gun stuffed his hands into his pockets and thought about the outline of his next novel.

‘Hmm, I don’t have any ideas yet.’

Ha Jae-Gun had no idea if it was because of the fight he had with his father or if he was simply burnout after working non-stop for an extended period of time, but he couldn’t come up with any original ideas.

He knew that he had to come up with something, but he had no idea how to begin.

The same was true of either fantasy, where swords and magic were rampant, or martial arts, where martial arts masters traveled the world—not a single original idea came to him throughout his journey.

Ha Jae-Gun stood and leaned against the glass divider next to the reserved seat.

Then, he pulled out his memo pad and pen.

Carrying writing instruments around had long become an old habit of his.

It felt different from writing his ideas on the memo app on his phone. On his memo pad, he could write about his characters, events, and backgrounds, which would sometimes miraculously help him with coming up with an idea.

‘Ah, seriously…’ It seemed like the ink in his pen had run out.

Ha Jae-Gun sighed and stored his writing instruments away. He looked at the night view outside the window and decided to head back to his quiet apartment and think over things calmly.

***

“Meow, meow!”

“Ugh, Rika. Stop doing that.”

“Meow, meow!”

“Why are you doing this? I need to sleep some more. Let me sleep,” Ha Jae-Gun begged in his sleepy voice and turned to sleep on his other side. However, Rika didn’t listen to his pleas.

Rika kept crying out and scratching his back.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun eventually lost his sleep because his phone started ringing. He reached out and muttered. “Argh, did you just wake me up to answer a call? I don’t really have to answer it right now.”

The caller ID was unknown. Rika shot a sharp glare toward Ha Jae-Gun, who was about to throw his phone aside. Rika’s eyes seemed to be saying that she wouldn’t allow Ha Jae-Gun to go back to sleep.

Ha Jae-Gun locked eyes with Rika and put the phone to his ear. “Hello.”

— Hello, is this Writer Ha?

An unfamiliar male’s voice was heard on the other end.

Ha Jae-Gun sat up lazily and replied, “Yes, it’s me.”

— This is Ahn Taek-Won, from the search engine portal Navin, in charge of the genre literary service business development team.

“Ah, I see. Hello.” Ha Jae-Gun stood up.

He could still remember hearing from the person in charge of the Digital Literature Award about how a few businesses would contact him to request an interview. Was Navin one of those businesses?

— We would like to interview you about your writing process and other things related to your daily life. The article will also be shared on Navin’s main Book of the Month corner.

By now, Ha Jae-Gun was completely awake.

Navin operated Korea’s largest search engine portal site of the same name. They had been in operation for fifteen years now, with an average daily users of 18 million, 40 million members, and 500 million global users across 230 countries.

And Navin wanted to put up the interview in a corner on their main page?

Like any other normal person, Ha Jae-Gun was excited at the proposal. He wouldn’t jump up and down out of excitement, but his heart still pounded faster at the idea.

— We can either have the interview at our headquarters or somewhere you feel comfortable with, but we’d very much prefer it if we could do it in your studio. What do you think?

“My studio?” Ha Jae-Gun muttered. He looked around his one-room apartment. His apartment had never really changed. It was minimalistic and was filled with only the essential home appliances he needed for his daily life.

— That’s right. Is it possible?

“Yes, it is,” Ha Jae-Gun replied without hesitation. This one-room apartment had always been his most precious space, and this was where he had been working on his novels.

It wasn’t much, but he wasn’t ashamed to show his one-room apartment to the world.

A writer shouldn’t be embarrassed about their own working environment. With that in mind, Ha Jae-Gun continued. “We can do it at my apartment. It’ll be more comfortable for me as well.”

— Thank you so much. Let’s set a date, then. Are you available this week?

“Yes. Hmmm, how about this Thursday?”

— Sure. I will contact you again the day before the interview. I’ve also sent the list of interview questions to your email. Please feel free to take a look.

“All right.”

—Thank you for your time.

When the call ended, Ha Jae-Gun looked down at Rika lying on the bed. Rika seemed self-conscious under Ha Jae-Gun’s stare as she turned around, laid on her back, and started stretching as if she was acting coy.

“You woke me up so desperately because it was a call from Navin. Right?”

“Meow.”

“All right, you can be my manager. Anyway, let’s get some food. I know you’re hungry, and I’m hungry, too… Wow, what’s all this? Did I drink that much last night?”

There were over ten beer cans on the floor. It was evidence of him going on a frustrated drinking spree due to his creative block. Ha Jae-Gun bent down and started gathering the empty cans.

He was about to start cleaning up, but his phone rang once again.

Bzzt!

“Who is this time?”

The caller ID shown on the screen was Star Books’ editor-in-chief, Kwon Tae-Won. Recalling his conversation with Jung So-Mi last night, Ha Jae-Gun picked up the call.

“Hello, editor-in-chief.”

— Writer Ha, I heard that you’re going to work on your next novel. I’m calling after hearing the news from So-Mi earlier. You should have just contacted me directly.

“Haha, yes. I thought you were busy with the other writers, so I contacted her instead. She’s in charge of editing my novels, anyway.”

Ha Jae-Gun was right. Kwon Tae-Won was always busy because he would always do his best for all Star Books’ contracted writers. Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t help but be amazed by his personality and stamina.

— Have you thought about what you’re going to write for your next novel?

“About that… I think I’ll have to continue with the existing novel.”

— Continue? Like in a series?

“Yes,” Ha Jae-Gun replied while stroking Rika’s neck.

Ha Jae-Gun thought of continuing one of the best-selling novels he had published.

This was one of the conclusions he had arrived at last night. He had no ideas for a new novel, and since he wanted to quickly publish a new novel, the idea of continuing one of his best-selling novels seemed to be the better option right now.

The main characters from Records of the Murim Master and Records of the Modern Master were different, but the origin of their powers was one and the same.

He thought of writing the third part, where both main characters would meet and fight each other in the fantasy world where the source of their power could be found.

“What do you think, editor-in-chief?” Ha Jae-Gun asked after sharing the rough synopsis of the novel.

Kwon Tae-Won couldn’t reply right away. He thought for a while before answering.

— It doesn’t sound bad since the first two parts received great responses. The part that I’m worried about is the story having two main characters. Readers tend to shun away from fantasy fiction novels with two main characters.

“Yes, I’ve thought of that as well.”

— And we can’t predict what sales would be like for paid serialization. Your novels have so far been published as paperback books, but if we were to change the sales method, there would be some negative effects. There is no guarantee that all our paperback readers would transition over to the new channel.

“Let’s go with paperback books, then,” Ha Jae-Gun said.

‘Just this time,’ he inwardly added.

The rustling of clothing could be heard from the other end of the line, so Kwon Tae-Won seemed to be straightening his clothes.

— Alright, Writer Ha. I think we should meet up soon. When are you available? I’m available anytime today or anytime this week.

“Let’s meet today, then. I want to take a breather as well, so I’ll meet you at Guro. Should we meet at dinnertime?”

— Sure. Let’s have dinner together, then. I’ll see you later at 7 p.m., Writer Ha.

“Okay, see you later.”

Ha Jae-Gun ended the call and quickly cleaned up his room before sitting back down at his desk. He did not shower after that. He just roughly patted down the oil on his face and opened Word.

“Hooo, I have around six hours until 7 p.m. That’s enough time.” Ha Jae-Gun had to do a rough write-up of the Records series’ last part for Kwon Tae-Won.

Ha Jae-Gun typed away and worked on the synopsis. He was more efficient because the story was based on the storylines he had completed before. He wasn’t coming up with an entirely new story idea here.

He was about to get fully immersed in his work, but—

Ding dong!

—the doorbell rang, interrupting Ha Jae-Gun.

The random doorbell caught Ha Jae-Gun by surprise.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Writer Ha. Department Head Ma Jong-Goo.”

“...What?” Ha Jae-Gun opened the door with a displeased look.

It was Haetae Media’s Ma Jong-Goo and Park Kyung-Soo. Ha Jae-Gun’s expression turned dark as he stared at the two standing outside his door. The two men were each carrying a large box.

“Why are you here without a heads-up?”

“We came here with gifts for you.”

“I appreciate that, but… What were you gonna do if I weren’t at home? You should have called me first?”

“Hahaha. We hadn’t thought that far. I guess we could come again some other time, or maybe give you a call if it came to that.” Ma Jong-Goo laughed.

Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t even get annoyed at Ma Jong-Goo’s ridiculous answer. He was employing a typical tactic in business to push ahead despite the raging storm. Was this really how Haetae Media operated?

“Please come in.”

“Aigoo, weren’t you working, Writer Ha?” said Ma Jong-Goo, but he had already taken off his shoes.

Ha Jae-Gun stood aside and let the two men into the apartment. They then placed the large box that they were carrying on the floor.

“What are these?”

“They are deer antlers. Not the ordinary deer antlers, but premium ones. It should last you for at least half a year. You look skinny these days, and our Haetae Media wishes for you to stay healthy and keep writing many great works.”

It seemed like Ma Jong-Goo had practiced his speech beforehand.

Ha Jae-Gun nodded in a daze.

He retrieved two cups from the kitchen counter and filled them with coffee.

“Please have some coffee,” he said.

“Aigoo, thank you.”

“Please excuse me.” Ha Jae-Gun thought that it was just manners to wash up and brush his teeth before talking to others. He wrapped a towel around his neck and quickly went to the bathroom.

When Ha Jae-Gun entered the bathroom, Ma Jong-Goo quickly whispered into Park Kyung-Soo’s ears. “Deputy Park, you’ll bring it up later, right?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we just leave after giving the deer antlers to him? It’ll seem like we have ulterior motives for coming here today. I think we should wait a few more days…”

Ma Jong-Goo clicked his tongue and chided. “Tsk, how could you say something that a newbie would say? These days, we’re doomed if we can’t call dibs and sign the writers to us first. Plus, Writer Ha is a big fish. Will you take responsibility if we lost Writer Ha to some other company out there if we waited for a few more days? Do you want to get kicked in the shin by the president?”

“Umm…” Park Kyung-Soo gave it some thought.

Ma Jong-Goo looked around the room and spotted the laptop screen. He walked toward it, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw the words on the screen.

“Look, Deputy Park. Writer Ha is already working on the next part of the Records series for Star Books.”

Park Kyung-Soo walked over and was also stupefied.

“Ah, it does look like he’s writing for them.”

“How silly! Who’s going to take responsibility if your hesitation ended up in him being signed by the others in the meantime?”

Creaaaak!

Ma Jong-Goo and Kyung-Soo frantically sat on the floor.

The bathroom door opened, and out came Ha Jae-Gun.

Ma Jong-Goo pretended to stay calm. He picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip, but he yelped and spat it out immediately because the drink was still hot.

“Are you all right?”

“Y-y-y-yes. I’m all right, Writer Ha.” Ma Jong-Goo answered in a hurry while taking a piece of tissue and wiping his mouth clean.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled bitterly at the sight and sat across them.

“You are here to talk about my next novel, right?”