Big Life

Chapter 60: Not Alone (5)

Jung So-Mi really had no confidence in her drawings. Not even Ha Jae-Gun's compliments managed to boost her confidence, so she was sure that she should reject the offer.

However, Jung So-Mi couldn’t reject him. If she accepted his offer, then their relationship would continue, and she would have more chances to see him again in the future.

The restaurant was bustling, but their table was enveloped in silence. Jung So-Mi was looking down, and she seemed like she was seriously thinking about it.

At the sight, Ha Jae-Gun smiled bitterly and said, "I'm sorry, I think I'm rushing you too much. You can think it over slowly if it bothers—"

"I'll do it!" Jung So-Mi looked up and interrupted him with much determination. "I'm not confident, but I'll still give it a try. I'll put together a few of my better drawings into a portfolio and send it to your inbox when I reach home later."

Ha Jae-Gun was slightly taken aback by the sudden outburst.

Nonetheless, Ha Jae-Gun was happy to hear that, and he snapped his fingers in joy.

"You’ve made a great decision. You mustn't let your talent go to waste. Please draw my novel cover someday, too, okay?"

Ha Jae-Gun filled up both their glasses with Coke, and then the two of them raised their bubbling drinks for a toast.

"Let's have a cheer for this toast. Hmm, cheers to Ms. So-Mi, who will be reborn as a witty editor during the day and as an impassioned illustrator during the night!"

"What? That sounds stupid, Writer Ha."

"Let's hurry up and toast. Then, we’ll down it."

"What? How do I—I'm weak against carbonated drinks."

"If you don't do it, you'll have to foot the bill." With that, Ha Jae-Gun started downing the entire glass of Coke.

Jung So-Mi followed suit with a scrunched-up face. However, the two of them glanced at each other mid-way, and their scrunched-up faces made the two of them burst into laughter at the same time.

"Ah, I'm feeling better now. Shall we head to the karaoke after this?"

"Karaoke? I'm okay with that, but what about you, Writer Ha? You still have work to do."

"You know I always write at light speed, anyway. So let's head to the karaoke after this, call[1]?"

“Call…" Jung So-Mi replied shyly while lifting her fingers to make the ‘okay’ sign.

She was no longer anxious while standing at the crossroads. She had to make her decision, and she decided that she would do her best so that she wouldn’t have any regrets.

After making up her mind, Jung So-Mi drank the rest of her Coke.

***

"Hoo, the day to tally the numbers has come."

It was the morning of December 27th, and Christmas had just passed.

Shin Dong-Mi headed to the computer, looking refreshed. It was time for her to tally the numbers on Munpiang from the 28th of the previous month to the 27th of the current month.

Meanwhile, Kwon Tae-Won was still fast asleep because of the fatigue he had been accumulating until recently.

Shin Dong-Mi listened to Kwon Tae-Won’s snores as she accessed the website.

After logging in, she clicked on the ‘Settlement Result’ button for Poongchun-Yoo’s The Breath.

Title: The Breath

Paid Web Novel Unlocks: 2,681,448 won

Paid Web Novel Total Sales: 268,144,800 won

Paid Web Novel Adjusted Amount: 168,931,224 won

Taxes: 5,574,730 won

Final Adjustment: 163,356,494 won

“Incredible…!”

She had been checking the numbers every day, and the numbers had never failed to shock her even once.

The numbers had increased again from yesterday, and it made Shin Dong-Mi tremble with joy. After all, 30% of the paid web novel adjusted amount before tax was Laugh Books’ portion.

Ha Jae-Gun had written at an unprecedented pace, and his suggestion to release five chapters a day increased their sales massively as well.

"This is record-breaking! It hasn't even been a month."

The Breath started its serialization in early December, and if they started earlier than that, then they could have earned more.

Even more astounding was the fact that this amount was only coming from Munpiang. Kwon Tae-Won was looking to expand the distribution of The Breath to other companies such as Navin Store, KokoaPage, and Utobooks.

Shin Dong-Mi couldn’t even imagine how much more they would earn from those platforms if they ended up expanding to those platforms.

"He’s still sleeping, I should just make the call myself." Shin Dong-Mi picked up Kwon Tae-Won's phone without hesitation.

She had been worrying about their household's living expenses and yearly rent, which had been increasing steadily until recently. Thus, she would like to express her gratitude to the writer who had resolved all of her immediate worries at once.

The phone rang for a while before a voice finally answered the call.

— Hello, President Kwon.

"Hello, Writer Ha Jae-Gun. I'm Kwon Tae-Won's wife, Shin Dong-Mi."

— Ah, I see. Hello.

Ha Jae-Gun sounded flustered on the other end of the line.

Shin Dong-Mi couldn't stop herself from smiling as she continued talking.

"I'm very thankful to you for writing such a good novel, and I wanted to thank you for your efforts, even if it's over the phone. You know that today is Munpiang’s settlement day, right? The revenue is amazing."

— Thank you. I owe it him a lot as well.

"I would like to invite you to our house one of these days. I've always wanted to serve you some nutritional food for you, so you won’t get sick. You can discuss it with my husband, but I hope that you will visit us one day."

— Of course. I will definitely visit as long I’m invited.

"Yes, I'll be very thankful if you do. And Writer Ha, which address should I use if we have to deliver things to you?" Shin Dong-Mi asked. She knew that Ha Jae-Gun was living alone in Seoul while his parents were staying in Suwon.

It was important to send gifts for the year-end and New Year holidays. Moreover, Ha Jae-Gun was the best and one and only writer of Laugh Books, so there was no way that she would let the New Year slide without sending him gifts.

— Ah, I think it would be better to send it to Suwon.

"I understand. Please enjoy your year-end and New Year holidays. I will contact you again in the New Year."

— Sure, enjoy your holidays, too.

Beep!

When the call finally ended, Ha Jae-Gun stretched for a while.

Rika lying next to him, stretched along with him.

"A hundred million…" Ha Jae-Gun muttered as he looked at Rika.

He could have never expected that he would earn that much money in a month by working on just a single novel. It was a miracle that he wouldn’t even dare to imagine happening to himself just six months ago.

It seemed that he would soon be able to buy his family a detached house.

If he continued releasing five chapters per day for The Breath, he would finish releasing all 400 chapters by February next year. Ha Jae-Gun planned to work without resting just to achieve his financial goals as soon as possible.

"This month's earnings together with Pezellon and the Records series should be… Wow, I can't calculate them. Rika, help me out here. How much is it?"

Rika didn’t even pretend that she was listening to him.

Ha Jae-Gun then picked her up and hugged her tightly. "Help me calculate, quick. How much did I earn this month?"

"Meow." Rika licked Ha Jae-Gun's nose. Ha Jae-Gun giggled at the ticklish feeling and rubbed noses with her, and he could feel Rika’s faint shampoo scent and her warmth.

"I couldn't have written so much without your help."

"Meow?"

"You're not a normal cat, and I know that both you and Senior are my saviors."

Ha Jae-Gun straightened himself up and stroked Rika’s neck.

Rika’s eyes closed lazily at his touch.

“I must do my best, of course, I’m learning new things every day. Senior is such an amazing person. Whenever I write every word and sentence according to his teachings, the novel would end up actually being completely different from before. Just who was he?” Ha Jae-Gun muttered.

He then recalled the Modern Youth Literature Award, where he had submitted an entry titled Storm and Gale, using Da-Seul as the model for the female lead.

He had actually forgotten that contest. The final review had to be nigh by now, and it would be a lie if Ha Jae-Gun said that he had no expectations toward his submission.

He was expecting good results because of Professor Han Hae-Sun’s encouragement and enthusiasm. Of course, he also wanted her to be proud of him as her student.

“Rika, should we take a walk? I’m thinking of cleaning up his grave and serving him a glass of alcohol while we’re there.”

“Meow.” Rika jumped out of bed as if she understood Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his coat, and he left the apartment with Rika. It was already mid-winter, and the cold wind was constantly blowing through the streets. However, Rika didn’t feel cold at all because she was in Ha Jae-Gun’s arms.

***

“Funny.”

Professor Koo finally broke the silence after putting down his cup of coffee. Seven to eight people were gathered around an elegant-looking wooden table.

They all had one thing in common—they were each a professor, writer, critic, and other famous people within the literary society, and they were also the final judges of the Modern Youth Literature Award.

“Awarding a writer who used to produce low-quality cheap fiction the Modern Youth Literature Award? Doesn’t that sound funny?”

Professor Jung spoke as well, “I feel the same. There’s something called class in the literary world, so how could we award the writer who had been writing low-quality literature like fantasy or martial arts genres that would only appear in those comic bookstores? That’s unfair. I’m also suspecting that he has a ghostwriter.”

A female professor in her fifties with a strict and seemingly impatient demeanor continued. “I concur. This sounds harsh, but we’re in a different class compared to that writer. This is such a low and vulgar work—oh my, I’m sorry, this isn’t fit to be called proper work at all. You don’t even have to turn your brain on to start reading this novel, and you’ll end up not learning anything after reading it. Why should we waste such a great award on that writer?”

“That’s right. I have countless students under me participating in this contest for the last couple of years, so this will sound a bit biased, but they’re great writers. The Modern Youth Literature Award is not the place for an ink slinger who writes garbage that can’t even be called a novel.”

There was silence after that.

The four others seated on the other side of the table remained quiet. They were the ones who were supporting the writer whom they were talking about, and they all thought that the submitted novel was extremely well-written.

“Pffft!” Among the four professors, a female professor burst out into laughter.

The strict female professor from earlier frowned and asked. “What are you laughing about?”

“It’s nothing. I just find it amusing that all four of your opinions are so aligned—you four are basically saying the same thing.” The professor stood up from her seat after answering. She had no reason to stay here any longer.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t think there’s anything more for me to say. I just thought of a topic to write about for this month’s Smashing Literacy.”

Everyone’s faces stiffened at her declaration. The influence of her criticism could never be overlooked in the world of literature.

“W-what topic is it going to be?” Professor Jung stammered.

The female professor looked up at the ceiling for a while before saying, “The stigma of a certain writer? He has been writing genre novels for most of his career, and it left a stigma on him that disqualifies his beautifully written work from being acknowledged by the literary society. It’s sad, so I’m planning on contemplating whether the fault lies on the writer or on the literary society itself.

“Hey, Professor Han Hae-Sun!” The furious Professor Koo jumped up from his seat and exclaimed, “Are you siding with this writer just because he’s your student?!”

Professor Han’s unwavering eyes turned to Professor Koo as she said firmly, “How can you ask that question when you clearly know my personality?”

Her words left no room for anyone else to speak.

Professor Koo could only look away and whine softly. He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but it was the truth—Professor Han had never been unfair.

“B-but you’re making it quite obvious this time…” Professor Koo started, but he didn’t dare to meet Professor Han’s eyes. “You’re making it seem like it’s perfect, as if there’s not a single area that we can argue about.”

Professor Han grinned and replied, “Why would we argue when there’s nothing to argue about?”

“...?!” The room turned silent as if a bucket of cold water had poured over everyone.

Professor Han retrieved a book from her bag and placed it in the middle of the table.

“This is another work from the same writer. I think no one here has read this before, especially Professor Jung. You’re suspecting that they employed a ghostwriter, right? I’m curious if you’re still going to think the same after reading this.”

“Um…”

“I’ll get going now, then. Take care, everyone.” Professor Han turned around and left the room.

Everyone looked at the book she had left on the table.

The writer’s name was Ha Jae-Gun, and the book was titled Foolish Woman.

1. Call in Korean is used when agreeing to something; has the meaning of 'agree', 'I'm down!', or 'okay'. ☜