Big Life

“Are you here for more soju? I can bring some to your table…”

“But you’re an editor.”

“...Pardon?”

Ha Jae-Gun snatched the soju bottles from Jung So-Mi's hands. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t say anything in the end. He was sure that Jung So-Mi was embarrassed with what she was doing right now.

'What era are we living in?'

Even if Jung So-Mi was the newest employee in the company, she was still an editor. This wasn’t the 90s anymore, and it was painful to watch Jung So-Mi walking around like a server despite being an editor. He felt angry in Jung So-Mi’s stead.

Ha Jae-Gun kept taking the soju bottles from Jung So-Mi and hugged them to his chest. Deputy Ko ran toward them after seeing what was going on.

“Oh, my, Writer Ha. You can just order the staff for such things. You don’t have to get them yourself.” Deputy Ko could only lower himself in front of Ha Jae-Gun.

He could not afford to offend the writer, who was tantamount to a golden goose to the company. After all, it was his duty and obligation as an employee of Star Books to take care of Star Books’ writers.

Ha Jae-Gun stared indifferently at Deputy Ko. Ha Jae-Gun could imagine Deputy Ko secretly cussing through the man’s mildly twitching facial muscles, even though he was being subservient toward them.

“Can I take Ms. So-Mi with me? She’s the editor in charge of my novel, so I have some things I want to discuss with her about my work.”

“Yes, s-sure. Ms. So-Mi, please feel free to talk with Writer Ha.” Deputy Ko nodded profusely and stepped back.

Ha Jae-Gun’s arms were still full of the soju bottles, so he tapped Jung So-Mi’s shoulders with his own shoulders and said, “Let’s go.”

“Yes, yes. Let’s go.”

Jung So-Mi stole quick glances at Deputy Ko before following behind Ha Jae-Gun. She then took off her shoes and took a seat at the table. Deputy Ko frowned at the sight, evidently annoyed.

“Deputy Ko.”

“Ah, Editor-in-chief.” Deputy Ko turned around in surprise to see Kwon Tae-Won, who had just arrived. It seemed that Kwon Tae-Won had gotten pretty busy at work.

“Did you just arrive? The traffic was bad, right?”

“I’ve mentioned it to you before, haven’t I?” Kwon Tae-Won responded with a question.

Deputy Ko blinked as if he didn’t understand what Kwon Tae-Won was talking about.

Looking at Ha Jae-Gun and Jung So-Mi in the distance, Kwon Tae-Won continued. “Make sure you’re mentally prepared if you order Ms. So-Mi to run another errand for you in the future. You have been warned.”

Deputy Ko shuddered at the warning. Despite having worked in the company for the past two years, Deputy Ko still found the editor-in-chief’s stern look to be quite unfamiliar. The man had always been respectful and smiling comfortably to all the employees, but now, he was looking straight at him with an icy cold look.

“Understood?” Kwon Tae-Won repeated as he fixed his silver-rimmed glasses.

Deputy Ko gulped audibly without realizing it, and in front of the face closing in on him, he replied in a hurry, “Y-yes, sir. I will be careful in the future.”

“Please get to work.” The intimidated Deputy Ko quickly turned around and left.

Kwon Tae-Won did not move from his spot. He simply stared at Ha Jae-Gun and fell into deep contemplation.

‘Should I quit today?’

Under the orders of the president, who said that Ha Jae-Gun’s next novel had to be published through Star Books somehow, Kwon Tae-Won originally decided to bring up the discussion about Ha Jae-Gun’s next novel during the authors' meet.

In the end, Kwon Tae-Won decided to resign rather than doing that. He wanted to respect Ha Jae-Gun’s decision to participate in the Digital Literature Award. After all, the Records series had already brought him results that exceeded expectations.

‘I already gave him a hint, so we can always talk about it after the contest.’

Kwon Tae-Won reflected on his personal beliefs before turning around and stepping out of the restaurant and into the parking lot. He decided to welcome the other writers who still hadn’t arrived

***

“Please have another glass. You can drink more, right?”

“You mentioned your real name is Ha Jae-Gun? You actually look quite handsome up close. Do you get that often?”

The two seats next to Ha Jae-Gun were occupied by two female writers with flushed faces. They kept throwing him questions.

It had been two hours since the start of the authors’ meet, but the concept of sticking to their own seats had long disappeared.

Those who had drunk above their limit were now holding alcohol bottles in their hands and exchanging greetings with others. Even so, there were still two large groups that stood out in the restaurant. The group on the left consisted of other fantasy novel writers along with Ha Jae-Gun, and the group on the right was Oh Myung-Hoon and the other romance novel writers.

‘It’s so noisy…!’

Oh Myung-Hoon was so annoyed by the chattering coming from Ha Jae-Gun’s group that he kept shooting glares their way. He had also been gnashing his teeth for quite some time now.

Oh Myung-Hoon originally appeared in this event to dampen Ha Jae-Gun’s spirits, but he was failing terribly in real-time because Ha Jae-Gun was receiving as much attention as him.

It was unacceptable for Oh Myung-Hoon.

“Writer Oh, are you going to write another romance novel?” asked a female writer with a coquettish look next to him. The female writers who were attracted by Oh Myung-Hoon’s handsome looks and wealthy appearance were still around him.

“Writer Oh? Did you hear what I said?”

Oh Myung-Hoon stood up without paying a single attention to the lady’s words. He stood up because there was no way he would allow this authors’ meet to end. At the very least, he had to achieve his goal before the authors' meet ended.

‘He’s blatantly saying that he won’t go down alone, so I’ll personally sweep him out myself…!’

Oh Myung-Hoon took a bottle and a glass in each hand and started walking toward Ha Jae-Gun with a determined look.

“Oh, Writer Oh? Are you coming over here?” said one of the female writers from earlier. Ha Jae-Gun turned his attention to the approaching Oh Myung-Hoon.

“Oh Myung-Hoon? You’re here, too?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, you punk. I just saw you.”

Their gazes collided in mid-air, and the way they glared at each other while smiling confused the other writers. They couldn’t help but think that the two knew each other and were friends.

“Please take a seat here, Writer Oh.”

“Excuse me.”

Jung So-Mi, who was seated opposite Ha Jae-Gun, shifted away. Oh Myung-Hoon took a seat and held a bottle toward Ha Jae-Gun.

“I never expected to see you in a place like this.” Oh Myung-Hoon put a strange emphasis on the words ‘in a place like this.’

Ha Jae-Gun smiled calmly and accepted the glass of soju poured by Oh Myung-Hoon. There was no reason for him to get caught up in Oh Myung-Hoon’s provocations.

“I’ve heard that you’re getting more popular these days?”

“I just got lucky. How have you been?”

“Don’t talk about it. It’s not easy at all getting a novel adapted into a drama. It’s an entirely different world.”

Ha Jae-Gun immediately realized that Oh Myung-Hoon was trying to gain control of the conversation, starting with his self-bragging, so he only listened to the latter’s story while drinking and smiling.

At Ha Jae-Gun’s lack of response, Oh Myung-Hoon tried changing the topic, “How about you? I saw that you’ve written a lot of books since the last time we met. The two titles you published with Star Books are ten volumes each long, right?”

“Yeah, there are times when your inspiration just overflows, you know? I think it must have been the reason why I’m on fire lately.”

“Indeed, it’s really not that difficult to write fantasy novels as well. You don’t even have to use your brain when writing one,” said Oh Myung-Hoon while repeatedly nodding as if he understood everything.

The faces of the other writers darkened when they heard that. Ha Jae-Gun shook his head in disagreement and replied, “You haven’t written any fantasy novels before, right? Honestly, I don’t even know if you can write a fantasy novel.”

Oh Myung-Hoon’s face stiffened. He was familiar with Ha Jae-Gun’s counterattack, which was unlike Ha Jae-Gun’s bitter smile in the past.

“Haha, it’s true that I’ve never written one before, but I could probably do it well if I put my heart into it, right? What do you think?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. How could you say that you know how to write them when you’ve never written one before? Don’t you think you’re being complacent? Aren’t you a writer as well?”

Oh Myung-Hoon’s brows furrowed upon hearing that. Ha Jae-Gun was imitating Oh Myung-Hoon’s actions whenever the former was bullying other people.

Ha Jae-Gun put on a shifty smile. He picked up a bottle in his hand and asked, “Do you want another drink?”

“No, it’s alright. I drove here.” Oh Myung-Hoon waved his hand, rejecting the offer.

He was smiling on the surface, but his insides were scorched from the burn. He was served a cold knuckle sandwich, and it was clear that everyone agreed with Ha Jae-Gun’s words because they chuckled away softly at the refreshing counterattack.

After exhaling an extremely light, albeit furious sigh, Oh Myung-Hoon finally said, “That’s right. As you said, I’m also a writer. I don’t want my title as a writer to go to waste, so I have been working on a somewhat classy piece.”

“Ah, is that so?” Ha Jae-Gun poured a glass to the writer sitting beside him while casually replying to Oh Myung-Hoon.

Ha Jae-Gun’s response triggered something in Oh Myung-Hoon, but he managed to keep his sanity intact and talked in a confident voice, “And it’s also a coincidence that the Literature Award contest is being held right now…”

”I’ve been looking at the past awarded works, and I think I could add that accolade to my portfolio.” Oh Myung-Hoon didn’t mention the Digital Literature Award because it would be embarrassing if he ended up losing.

“Think of all the effort you put into writing a ten-volume fantasy novel combined into just one volume…”

”Ha Jae-Gun, you should know that feeling since we’re both writers. Ah, I remember how you have always been worried about your livelihood. I think you’ll be extremely familiar with that feeling…”

”I mean, you haven’t really written a proper novel in ages,” added Oh Myung-Hoon.

The tension between the two got so intense that the other writers couldn’t do anything but stand back and watch the show.

The suffocating silence continued for a while as the two men stared at each other.

Finally, Ha Jae-Gun broke the silence as if nothing happened and raised his glass.

“I wish you good luck.” Ha Jae-Gun no longer wished to continue talking with Oh Myung-Hoon. It was meaningless to go down the rabbit hole of a childish conversation and petty pride.

They just had to do their best and prove their capabilities through writing.

“Thanks, you punk. I hope your sales will be bountiful,” said Oh Myung-Hoon. The two men clinked glasses, and they were still staring at each other as the alcohol went down their esophagi.