Big Life

The lights were off, and silence filled the theater. The movie title—Summer in My 20s—slowly faded away in the middle of the dark screen.

Director Woo Jae-Hoon, lead actor Park Do-Joon, and people from production companies and investors were present in the theater. Even Ha Jae-Gun, the writer of the original novel, was sitting in a corner with a pounding heart.

‘It’s so cool…!’

The movie started with the male lead, Park Do-Joon. He was participating in the MT of the university where he had just enrolled in. Ha Jae-Gun was satisfied to see the character’s nervousness on his first day of school.

It was similar to the image he had in his mind while he was writing it.

Sad music started playing after the MT scene...

Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes widened.

The next scene was Lee Ye-Ji jumping into the river of her own accord.

‘Hmm? Did the timeline change? Why did Lee Ye-Ji die immediately after the MT scene?’

Why were there no clues or any lines hinting at why Lee Ye-Ji had committed suicide? Why did it jump straight to that scene?

The case was an important part of the plot, but it suddenly felt too random.

‘Let’s keep watching. I’m not an expert on filmmaking, so I must have missed something.’

Ha Jae-Gun repressed his nervousness and watched on.

Time passed, and they soon arrived in the middle of the movie. The strange feeling from earlier had grown stronger. His smile had disappeared long ago and was replaced by shock.

‘Why? Why is the fighting scene so long?’

‘Han Joo-Hee was just a normal female student, but why is she so good at fighting?! Her opponent is a former martial artist!’

‘Why did they add the criminal staring wide-eyed scene? They’re blatantly showing that he’s the criminal!’

‘Wait, stop crying! The criminal is coming after you! Run first and bawl your eyes out later!’

Ha Jae-Gun wanted to yell his thoughts, but he could only suppress them. The only scenes he liked about the movie were the scenes that appeared within the first ten minutes of the movie.

Almost every scene afterward appalled him…

“…” Ha Jae-Gun eventually suppressed himself. He didn’t want to stir any trouble.

His expression hardened like a stone. He couldn’t understand why he had to watch such a garbage movie.

Fortunately, the movie soon ended. The final scene was of Lee Ye-Ji jumping into the river in the middle of the night, and the credits started rolling afterward.

The dark blue light from the screen reflected Ha Jae-Gun’s figure, and his complexion was blue, which made him look like a corpse.

‘This… this isn’t it.’ Ha Jae-Gun stood up without checking his name in the credits.

No one paid any attention to the original author’s departure aside from Park Do-Joon, who was looking at Ha Jae-Gun’s departing figure with a gloomy look.

The rolling credits had ended, and bright lights soon filled the theater.

“Director Yoo, you did a great job.”

“You did a great job filming. This should get you at least five million audiences.”

The investors surrounded Director Woo Jae-Hoon and started praising him.

A few of them even raised their thumbs up.

Woo Jae-Hoon shook each of their hands and laughed until his pot belly swelled.

“The post-edit team had done a great job as well. I’m relieved to hear that you enjoyed the movie. At last, I can finally sleep well.”

Park Do-Joon ignored the huge group and silently left his seat. Park Do-Joon was furious. He was both the male lead of the movie adaptation and a reader who enjoyed the original novel.

Park Do-Joon turned around and saw a female in her forties letting out a sigh. She was a famous editor in the film industry—Park Seok-Ji—who was known for her outstanding editing skills. Summer in My 20s had also gone through magic hands.

“Seok-Ji noona.”

“Oh, Park Do-Joon.” Park Seok-Ji smiled.

Park Do-Joon had always called her noona, as they had known each other since his debut. They shared an amicable relationship.

“You’re quite disappointed, right?”

“I'm thankful that you edited the movie,” Park Do-Joon replied softly after looking around.

Park Seok-Ji smoothed out Park Do-Joon’s clothes and let out a small sigh.

“This is what the power of investors brings about. You’ve been in the industry for such a long time, you should have long gotten used to it,” she said.

“I know.”

Park Seok-Ji looked at the closed doors. She was one of those who watched as Ha Jae-Gun left the theater alone bitterly.

“Writer Ha Jae-Gun didn’t look happy. I hope he wasn’t too disappointed by the outcome. You should calm down. Your expression is too stiff. Popular celebrities must be all smiles.”

“I’m all smiles.”

“It’s an awkward smile, geez. Let’s go eat.”

Park Do-Joon followed Park Seok-Ji and left the place that was still bustling with the investors’ chattering. Park Do-Joon’s mind was still filled with Ha Jae-Gun’s departing back.

***

A pork and rice soup restaurant located in a shabby-looking alley in Jongno was brimming with customers in the early evening.

Ha Jae-Gun ordered a sundae[1] platter and some soju to drink by himself in a corner.

It had been a while since he visited this place.

Ha Jae-Gun visited this place often with Park Jung-Jin since their university days, as they served cheap and delicious food. The restaurant owner was a kind old lady who knew how to pamper her customers.

“What? You’re already drinking?” Park Jung-Jin asked. He fixed his necktie that had gone over his shoulder and sat in front of Ha Jae-Gun.

“What happened? Why did you ask me out to drink all of a sudden when you would usually prefer to work on your novels? It must be something huge if you’re already drinking alone.”

“Have a glass first. You haven’t had dinner, right? Do you want a bowl of rice soup?”

“Blood sausage soup is enough. I’ll order a bowl later if I’m still hungry. So, what happened?” Park Jung-Jin grilled.

He let Ha Jae-Gun pour him a shot of soju.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled helplessly and started, “I don’t think the movie will do well.”

Ha Jae-Gun proceeded to share his feelings about the movie preview with Park Jung-Jin. Park Jung-Jin quietly listened to him, but his expression looked grimmer than Ha Jae-Gun’s.

“...What’s most disappointing of all was that they couldn’t control the pace of the movie properly. They were trying so hard to evoke emotions. What was that movie? The disaster thriller with Seol Kyeong-Gook, Son Hye-Jin, and Kim Sung-Kyung in it.”

“Building.”

“Yeah, Building. The movie is good overall, but the plot progression was getting interrupted because of the excessive display of emotions. They’re on the verge of dying from the fire, yet the mother and son pair still managed to find time to talk to each other for a few minutes?”

“They must be trying to evoke the audience's emotions,” Park Jung-Jin replied bitterly, pouring another glass for Ha Jae-Gun. “Maybe they risked breaking the flow because of their obsession with trying to evoke emotions?”

“I’m not too sure. It just lengthens the duration of the lead characters’ conversations. It’s not even Max Payne’s Bullet Time.” Ha Jae-Gun smiled and said, “It’s great that I can rant like this to you.”

“Shut up. So what are you going to do?”

“What else can I do? It’s already out of my hands. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I mean in the future. You’ll be writing more novels, and there’s no guarantee that they won’t get movie adaptations as well. So if this kind of thing happens again, what are you going to do?”

“...” Ha Jae-Gun’s smile disappeared, and he fell into deep thought.

Park Jung-Jin’s question was like opening a can of worms.

Park Jung-Jin drank his alcohol quietly, letting Ha Jae-Gun think things through.

‘If I were confident in writing scenarios in the first place…’

Ha Jae-Gun started wondering how things would have turned out if he had been confident enough in writing scenarios.

And he reached one answer—he would have insisted on writing the scenario himself.

Of course, the audiences’ dissatisfaction with a movie couldn’t be blamed solely on the scenario itself. They should have changed scenes onsite during filming, and many changes would have been made during the post-editing process.

‘Still…!’

Ha Jae-Gun thought that he wouldn’t have felt this much regret if he had worked on the scenario himself. He had poured his everything into writing Summer in My 20s.

It wasn’t logical to label it as his child since he was single, but he could label it as his alter ego.

And such a precious work was adapted into something that couldn’t meet his expectations. Perhaps he was feeling more emotional due to the alcohol, but Ha Jae-Gun seemed like he could finally understand how heartache felt.

“Don’t be too upset, Ha Jae-Gun.”

“I know.”

“You’re already a successful writer. It doesn’t matter even if the movie fails since you’re an author who has sold over a million copies of the original novel. The director will receive the criticism rather than you.

”And from what I’m seeing, the movie probably won’t do so badly. I could roughly tell how the movie would turn out based on your explanation, and those types of movies are actually quite popular.”

“Thank you, Jung-Jin.”

Ha Jae-Gun’s mood was lifted thanks to Park Jung-Jin’s consolation. Every word from his close friend soothed his complicated emotions.

“My pride is hurt. I still can’t let it go,” said Ha Jae-Gun after pouring Park Jung-Jin a shot.

Park Jung-Jin froze and looked at Ha Jae-Gun, startled. “What? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to see Professor Han.” Park Jung-Jin grinned. He understood what Ha Jae-Gun was trying to say. He was also one of the many students who had a deep respect for Professor Han Hae-Sun.

“You punk. Good luck. Are we going for round two tonight?”

“Sure. Let me know whatever you want to eat.” Ha Jae-Gun declared as they made a toast.

Ha Jae-Gun was determined not to let the depression he felt from watching the movie bog him down. Tomorrow was much more important than the passing present.

After all, he could always learn what he didn’t know.

***

“Your novels are getting better.”

Han Hae-Sun was in research room 403 at Myungkyung University of the Arts. A positive response from her was a big deal because Professor Han had never been the type to give empty praises.

A nervous-looking student sitting in front of her let out a sigh of relief.

“It shouldn’t be easy working on your writing while working at a full-time job. I’m surprised that you’ve gotten so much better.”

“Thank you very much, Professor.” Sitting across from her with a flushed face was Jung-Mi. Jung-Mi twiddled her fingers and continued. “Actually, Jae-Gun helped me the most.”

“Jae-Gun?”

“Yes. I met him at the orientation. I asked him to look at my novel.”

“I see.”

“Yes. I was very upset when he pointed out so many problematic areas because I had been putting a lot of effort into writing them. However, I discovered that he was right when I looked at it again a few days later. I decided to look at my work objectively and revised it repeatedly until I achieved this final product.”

Professor Han nodded and revealed a smile of approval. Ha Jae-Gun was the best student she had ever taught, and he was always hungry for growth as well.

“Professor, why do you have so many books related to scenario writing?” Jung-Mi asked after glancing at the dozens of books piled on the table.

“Ah. I’m shortlisting a few books for Jae-Gun to read up on. There are quite a few out-of-print books, so I have to send him some of mine.”

“Jae-Gun… he’s going to write scenarios?”

“Looks like it. He probably got more interested in it after his novel got a movie adaptation.” Han Hae-Sun answered succinctly while recalling the look on Ha Jae-Gun’s face when he had come looking for her just a few days ago.

From writing novels to writing scenarios?

She had high expectations of Ha Jae-Gun’s growth as a writer.

“Excuse me.”

“Go ahead, Professor.”

Han Hae-Sun walked away to go to the washroom.

Meanwhile, Jung-Mi browsed through the bookshelves, feeling bored sitting alone with nothing to do.

Her eyes eventually laid on a piece of paper on Han Hae-Sun’s desk.

An address was written on it.

***

Tadadadak! Tak!

Was it because the thought process was different from novels?

Despite working on Seo Gun-Woo’s laptop, Ha Jae-Gun felt like he was stuck. Ha Jae-Gun was in agony, as he hadn’t written a single scenario since his university days.

‘It’s tough…!’ Ha Jae-Gun had been staying up most nights over the week while using the gray cup to recharge. He felt sore all over. His eyes were hollow, and his lips were parched, surrounded by an overgrown mustache.

Ha Jae-Gun had been practicing according to Professor Han Hae-Sun’s instructions.

He had been reading and analyzing movie scenarios, watching movies and writing out their plots in real-time, and even writing his own scenario while referencing the books she had recommended.

‘This is only what I could come up with after so long…? I have to reflect on myself!’

Ha Jae-Gun beat himself up repeatedly while pushing his fingers to their limits.

The air conditioning was turned on, but his shirt was drenched in sweat. In fact, Ha Jae-Gun had been picking up scenario-writing techniques at a tremendous speed.

The brown horn-rimmed glasses helped him read countless scenarios and books in a day, and the gray cup helped him break through humanity’s stamina limit.

It should have taken him half a year to absorb so much information, but it only took him three to four weeks to assimilate and fully comprehend so much information.

People would faint at the sight of Ha Jae-Gun’s rate of progress, but Ha Jae-Gun wasn’t really satisfied with his progress.

‘I should learn what I don’t know. It's fine if I'm not doing it because I don't want to do it, but it's inexcusable to avoid doing it because I don't know how to do it!’

Tadadadak! Tadak! Tadadadak! Tak!

Ha Jae-Gun kept going and glared at his monitor with bloodshot eyes.

Whenever he had to rest his fingers, his mind would still be thinking about the next plot development. Meanwhile, Rika seemed quite worried about Ha Jae-Gun as she sat by the windowsill to watch over him.

Bzzt!

Just then, Ha Jae-Gun’s phone rang.

The call came from an unknown caller ID.

Ha Jae-Gun answered the call without even glancing at the number.

“Hello?”

1. sausage not the ice cream. ☜