Big Life

“Never knew it would come to this,” Ha Jae-Gun said to Rika as he took the umbrella with him and stepped out. He hadn’t planned to head out today, but it wasn’t on impulse either since he already had plans to move much earlier.

There just wasn’t a chance for him to look into it since he had spent most of his funds helping his family move house in Suwon. Plus, he felt comfortable working in the small studio. The recent events had simply triggered him to move.

“I’ve already made a decision, so why don’t I just make a move? If I were to delay this any further, I would definitely end up just staying in that apartment. In addition, I can easily get a loan, considering that I just bought a house,” muttered Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun chuckled upon recalling the ridiculous event earlier.

He didn’t expect that Jung-Mi had that side. He wasn’t really close to her, but he was still stupefied by her revelation. After all, they were friends for so long now.

Vroom!

As he started the car engine, Ha Jae-Gun went down memory lane.

Jung-Mi was extremely popular back during university. Her cute looks and above-average fashion sense added to her femininity, which got a lot of male students interested in her.

However, she had never come in close contact with Ha Jae-Gun. Their writing styles, values, and even views toward life didn’t really match. They didn’t have any common interests, and Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t really view Jung-Mi as a potential partner because they had been treating each other as classmates for the longest time now.

Aside from meeting during the alumni gathering, they had never exchanged any form of personal contact information. It was only until the previous orientation that they met and Ha Jae-Gun started helping out with her novel.

And it somehow culminated in her confession…

Ha Jae-Gun was totally perplexed. 'Should I thank her? For making me move out?’'

Ha Jae-Gun grabbed the steering wheel and hit the accelerator. The car started traveling on the muddy road amidst the downpour. His destination was the real estate agency nearby that he had visited when he went to rent his current studio.

'I won't move too far away, Elder.'

As he was approaching Seo Gun-Woo's grave, Ha Jae-Gun slowed down and looked out of the window. Seo Gun-Woo’s existence was a huge psychological pillar of strength for him, so he had no plans of leaving this area.

It took him less than five minutes to arrive at his destination. Ha Jae-Gun parked his car by the road and headed into the real estate office.

An old man in his fifties was dozing off in front of the TV.

The old man noticed Ha Jae-Gun and greeted him. "Welcome."

"Hello."

"Are you here to look at apartments?" The old man asked after examining Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun was clad in a tracksuit, and he was wearing three-striped slippers, which made him look like a student or an unemployed young man at most.

Even if the old man were to put on his positive lens, he could only view Ha Jae-Gun as a greenhorn of the working society.

"Are you looking at monthly rent? One-room studios?" the old man asked with conviction before pulling out a couple of documents on one-room studio leases from his desk.

Ha Jae-Gun said, "No, I want to look at houses for sale."

"You're buying a house?"

"Yes."

The old man was stunned. His wife had always nagged him about how he should be more careful about his manner of speech because there would always be customers who would get offended by it.

'Did he get upset when I mentioned the monthly rent?'

The old man examined Ha Jae-Gun's expression, and he was relieved to see that Ha Jae-Gun didn't look like he was offended.

"What are you looking for?" asked the man.

Ha Jae-Gun looked down and thought about it for a while before saying, "A detached house, please."

"Detached house?" The old man's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I'd like it to have a small front yard as well. Is there any suitable one in this area? I hope the surrounding wall would be high enough such that people outside won't be able to view the inside."

Ha Jae-Gun was leaning toward getting a detached house. It was his long-standing wish to have a study, and it would definitely be much better for him to have a large and spacious house. He had also decided to dedicate the garden to Rika.

"A detached house… what about your budget?"

"Up to one billion won will not be an issue. If the lot is good, I don't mind paying more."

The old man scoffed at Ha Jae-Gun’s nonchalant answer. Did he hear him right, or was one billion won the name of a dog? Even if the young man in front of him had struck the lottery, it wouldn't be easy to receive one billion won as prize money.

The old man also thought that the words one billion won shouldn't come from a young man in a shabby tracksuit and slippers.

'Ah, could it be…?' The old man tilted his head and took a closer look at Ha Jae-Gun.

The old man finally remembered Ha Jae-Gun. "Um… aren't you the young man who signed a contract for a one-room studio last year?"

"That's right. So you finally remember me."

The old man boisterously laughed at the response.

He found it ridiculous that the young man had returned to him after a year to look for a detached house. He considered the conversation a waste of his time. The old man was so irritated that he no longer wished to deal with Ha Jae-Gun.

Fortunately, the door opened once more, and a couple who seemed to be in their early thirties walked into the agency. The middle-aged woman’s eyes sparkled upon seeing Ha Jae-Gun.

"How may I help you?"

"Hello, I called earlier saying that I would like to rent…"

"Ah, yes. Welcome. Please take a seat." The old man's expression changed as he entertained the couple. His attitude was the exact opposite of his attitude while attending to Ha Jae-Gun.

The old man made two cups of coffee for the couple. He glanced blandly at Ha Jae-Gun and said, "There aren’t any available detached houses."

"Not even one?"

"Yes. There are a couple of one-rooms available for monthly or yearly rental. See the paper there? Write down your name and contact number there, I’ll contact you again later.”

Ha Jae-Gun’s smile disappeared, but he didn’t show it on the outside.

He decided to refrain from getting into a pointless argument.

“I’m done writing it down. Have a good day.”

“Okay, goodbye,” the old man replied dryly without even turning around to look at Ha Jae-Gun.

It was an awkward situation, but the middle-aged woman couldn’t keep her eyes off Ha Jae-Gun. She was even tilting her head, seemingly trying to examine his face from many different angles.

“What’s wrong, darling?”

“You don’t find him familiar?”

“I’m not too sure…”

“No, I’m sure I saw him somewhere before.”

While her husband was discussing the lease agreement with the old man, she got busy trying to recall where she had seen Ha Jae-Gun.

“Ah!” she exclaimed and looked up something on the Internet.

“Dear, look at this!” She held her phone out to her husband.

Her husband looked away from the contract to look at the screen and asked, “Isn’t he the author of the book you bought last week?”

“Yeah, and he’s the same guy who just left!”

“Ey, no way. He must just be someone who looks similar.”

The middle-aged woman’s face turned red from frustration. “No! He’s really Ha Jae-Gun! There’s no mistaking it! He was even carrying Rika in his arms—the cat was also included in the post on Navin!”

Unfortunately, her husband seemed like he couldn’t believe her at all.

The old man stared blankly at the couple.

He also couldn’t understand a single word of what she was saying.

“Look!” The wife picked up the piece of paper where Ha Jae-Gun had written his contact details and showed it to her husband.

Her husband’s jaws dropped. “It’s really him…?!”

“I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t dare to talk to him earlier. Should I chase him? I think he’s still nearby. I want to get his autograph!”

The old man couldn’t suppress his curiosity and finally asked, “Um… Was the young man earlier a celebrity?”

“He’s a very popular writer these days. His latest novel sold a million copies.”

“H-how many? A million?”

“Yeah, the novel is called Summer in My 20s, and it got adapted into a movie as well. Its teaser is currently being advertised on TV. Have you not seen it yet?”

The wife showed the old man the search results on the Internet.

The old man was speechless. He had also heard of Summer in My 20s, as his daughter was also engrossed in that bestselling novel.

“It looks like you’ve heard of the novel. He’s definitely rich, but I guess it’s hard to notice because of his outfit.

“Ahh… G-give me a moment.” The old man hurried out the door. He ignored the rain and rushed somewhere. Just then, he spotted the shining headlight of a black car.

“W-wait!” The old man ran up to the car and bowed at the driver’s window.

The window rolled down, revealing Ha Jae-Gun’s surprised face.

“What’s wrong, sir?” he asked.

“Aigoo, I just recovered from the flu, and the brain fog has been crazy. Anyway, there are quite a few available detached houses. Yes, I’m sure of it,” said the old man while rubbing his palms together apologetically.

The real estate market wasn’t doing great in recent months—the brokerage fees for detached houses would definitely be a massive amount.

Ha Jae-Gun had also declared that he could afford one.

“If you could give me some time, I will definitely arrange some houses for you to view in the next few days. I will make sure that the request you made earlier will be included in the viewings as well. I will try to arrange them such that you can view all of them on the same day. Please allow me to attend to you.”

Ha Jae-Gun found it ridiculous. It hadn’t been a hot minute since he stepped out of their office. Just what happened in there during the short period of time that made the old man run out into the rain and bow down to him like this?

“Okay, I’ll wait for your call.” Ha Jae-Gun didn’t probe further and simply accepted the outcome. Regardless, it wouldn’t be nice of him to let the old man bow down in the rain while he was comfortable in the driver’s seat of his car.

“Please go back, you shouldn’t stand out here in the rain since you’ve just recovered from the flu.”

“Thank you… thank you so much!”

The old man repeated his words like a parrot instead of leaving.

It seemed that the old man would stay until Ha Jae-Gun’s departure, so the latter decided to step on the accelerator.

“Rika, all’s well that ends well, right?”

“Meow.”

Ha Jae-Gun turned on the air conditioner upon arriving home and locked his door. It was regrettable that he had to miss out on the good breeze on such a day like this, but he would never leave his door open once again.

He also regretted wasting money on installing the insect screen.

***

“Writer Ha, shall I go ahead with this draft?”

“Yes, please.”

“But… are you really not tired?”

“I’m fine.”

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t look fine at all in Jung So-Mi’s eyes.

The two of them met at the Bucheon writer’s office to discuss the illustrations that were going into Oscar’s Dungeon.

‘He doesn’t look good at all…’

It had been a while since she met Ha Jae-Gun, but he seemed to be doing much worse than before that Jung So-Mi was starting to get worried.

After their discussion ended, Ha Jae-Gun went full-on work mode on his scenario writing. His face was pale, and the dark circles under his eyes grew darker as his thin fingers typed profusely.

The other writers weren’t here. Yang Hyun-Kyung had gone out earlier to meet his friends, while Kang Min-Ho and Jang Eun-Young had gone out for a movie date.

There wasn’t anyone else here aside from Jung So-Mi and Ha Jae-Gun.

'I should just complete the scenario since I'm already here.'

Ha Jae-Gun made up his mind and downed the rest of his coffee. After he was done with his practice scenario, he planned on working on his final preparations for the lecture at the game development company.

He still hadn't found a detached house to his liking, so it didn't seem like that would be crossed off his to-do list anytime soon.

'Phew, I'm out of coffee again.'

Ha Jae-Gun took his empty cup and stood up.

Just then—

'Hmm…?!'

—extreme vertigo struck Ha Jae-Gun.

His mind went blank, and his vision turned white.

White noise rang loudly in his ears, and he collapsed right there and then.

"Writer Ha?!"

Thud!

The loud yet dull sound startled Jung So-Mi.

She turned around and was immediately horrified by the sight in front of her.

Ha Jae-Gun was on the floor, and he was trying to stand up with one hand.

Jung So-Mi hurried over to help him up and asked, "Are you okay?"

"No, it's… I just felt dizzy because I stood up suddenly."

Ha Jae-Gun shook off Jung So-Mi's helping hand and tried to stand up on his own, but his legs that had given way wouldn’t listen to him at all.

Jung So-Mi grew frustrated watching the limp Ha Jae-Gun.

"Writer Ha. I'm sorry, but I'll have to step in this time. Are you not going to take care of your own health?" she said.

"Ah, I have to—"

“It’s fine to write, but look at you.” Jung So-Mi cut him off, stopping him from making any sort of excuses. “How are you going to continue writing if you’re sick? Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”

“...”

“Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Just rice...”

“Rice? What side dishes did you have?” Jung So-Mi rapidly pressed on.

Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t answer her at all. Honestly, he hadn’t eaten a single proper meal since last night. He had only survived on coffee. He got so engrossed in writing the scenario that he had even lost his appetite.

A deafening silence blanketed the studio.

He was no longer dizzy and was starting to feel better.

However, Ha Jae-Gun still couldn’t stand up. Jung So-Mi sat down on the floor and asked, “Do you still remember what you told me back when we were on our way back after the author’s meet?”

“I’m not sure…”

“You said you liked the subway. You said observing people helped form your writing style and that the subway is full of topics you could use for your novels as compared to taking the taxi, which provided nothing valuable.”

Ha Jae-Gun listened quietly.

He couldn’t really remember what he had said back then.

“I was touched by how you worked, studying from your daily life just to write good works. That’s the job of a writer, too, right? Typing away on the keyboard day in and day out isn’t all a writer has to do.”

Jung So-Mi took a deep breath. The tip of her nose had reddened, and her head hung slightly low as she continued. “You need a break as well. I’ve been wanting to say this, but please take good care of yourself.”

A breeze came in through the window, which got caught in Jung So-Mi’s hair.

A waft of Jung So-Mi’s scent—somewhat nostalgic and gentle—entered Ha Jae-Gun’s nose.

“Why don’t you go on a trip? It’s summer. I think a couple of days by the sea will heal both your heart and body.”

Ha Jae-Gun realized that Jung So-Mi’s scent was similar to the scent of the sea that he hadn’t seen in a long while.

Ha Jae-Gun looked up and met Jung So-Mi’s eyes. Her eyes were reflecting the endless blue sea, and Ha Jae-Gun finally acknowledged that he was exhausted.