Big Life

“What are you doing? Give me your autograph too.” Lee Soo-Hee waved her hands as she urged Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun took over the book and held his pen. His autograph was signed on the white paper in a single stroke. It was his first time signing for someone else, and the curves seemed like they lacked confidence.

“She should be his girlfriend. She’s so pretty.”

“Let’s go. Writer Ha, it was nice to meet you.”

“Yes, yes. Goodbye.”

The two women left the cafe, but they could still be seen through the shopfront chattering excitedly over the photo they had taken earlier with Ha Jae-Gun.

“Oh~ Ha Jae-Gun~ You’ve become a famous writer.” Lee Soo-Hee teased as she pulled out the chair across from Ha Jae-Gun and sat down. “Shouldn’t you be wearing a hat when you’re out walking around like that? Actually, would a hat be enough? I think you should wear a mask, too.”

“Stop making fun of me. I’m not at that level yet. Plus, it was a coincidence, and they had good eyes for spotting me.”

Ha Jae-Gun looked up after finishing his autograph.

The beige V-neck blouse and gray pleated skirt went well with the autumn weather, and she looked so beautiful that Ha Jae-Gun almost blurted out ‘You’re pretty.’

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Lee Soo-Hee took the book back and checked out his autograph. She also found the autograph to be quite sloppy. However, there was an additional text below it.

[Ha Jae-Gun’s first-ever autograph for Lee Soo-Hee.]

“Huhu, it’s an honor.” Lee Soo-Hee smiled. Her red lipstick emphasized her moist lips.

"I'll treasure this. It's a pity that I finished it so quickly, I should have taken my time reading it. I've finished reading A 90's Kid, too."

"Just wait a bit more, I have another full-length novel that I'm working on."

"Really? That's so soon." The smile on Lee Soo-Hee's face was replaced with surprise. It hadn’t been that long since Ha Jae-Gun had received an award for both Foolish Woman and A 90's Kid, so she was surprised to hear that Ha Jae-Gun was already working on another full-length novel. On top of that, he had been consistently releasing his fantasy novels as well.

She very much wanted to take a peek into Ha Jae-Gun’s daily life.

"How long is it?"

"My first draft is currently at 160,000 characters, but it still needs a lot of work."

"Jae-Gun, how long do you work every day?"

"Hmm, I'm not very sure. But I’m writing most of the time aside when I have to eat and sleep."

"You're incredible, seriously…" Lee Soo-Hee murmured.

However, she soon shook her head. She was more worried than amazed at his tenacity. Health should come first before work. If his health deteriorated, then he wouldn’t be able to continue writing his favorite novels.

Ha Jae-Gun's face actually looked thinner than before, too

"Ah, I'm sorry. You should get a drink, too. I'll order it."

However, Lee Soo-Hee stopped Ha Jae-Gun just as he was about to get up. "It's all right, I drink lots of coffee every day, anyway. Let's go for lunch, I'm hungry."

"All right, what do you feel like having? I'm fine with anything."

"Anything?"

"Yeah,” Ha Jae-Gun firmly replied as he leaned back in his seat. The expensive dishes that he couldn’t buy before—king crab, sushi, and an excellent steak—posed no problem to him anymore.

"All right, let's go then."

Lee Soo-Hee wore her bag over her shoulder and stood up.

A mischievous light could be seen in her narrowed eyes. "A man never goes back on his words. No regrets, okay?"

"Of course. Lead the way." Ha Jae-Gun replied with confidence and followed Lee Soo-Hee out of the cafe.

"There's a new restaurant in the basement of our office building. It's nearby."

"What do they sell?"

"You'll see later."

They soon arrived at a fusion restaurant that specialized in spicy short ribs. Ha Jae-Gun's face turned pale even before they could enter the restaurant.

'Spicy food again?'

Ha Jae-Gun could eat spicy food, so he wouldn’t deliberately avoid them.

However, he had always found spicy food a bit difficult to eat.

The steamed chicken he had with Da-Seul was pretty spicy, so he could remember having a difficult time enjoying it.

"Welcome. Table for two, right? Please follow me," the part-timer amicably guided them to their seats.

Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee pulled out the chairs from each end of the table and sat across from each other.

"Please give us two cheese short ribs. Ah, can you drink?"

"Yeah," Ha Jae-Gun replied. He was open to drinking since he wasn’t driving today, and he was with Lee Soo-Hee as well. He didn't want to ruin the atmosphere by rejecting her just because he had to do some work once he got home.

"Please give us a bottle of Yiseul soju as well."

"Yes, miss."

Their dishes were quickly served. The flaming red hot color of the short ribs looked spicy enough, but they were also covered in boiling cheese.

Lee Soo-Hee served a portion for Ha Jae-Gun on a serving plate.

"Try it."

"Thanks."

Ha Jae-Gun put on a plastic glove in one hand and grabbed a piece of short rib using his gloved hand to take a bit. He felt fine at first, but his face quickly turned red.

'Cough…! This is crazy!'

The spiciness of the cheese short ribs was double the spiciness of the steamed chicken he had with Da-Seul. His swollen tongue danced frantically in his mouth as if it were having a seizure.

“Is it that spicy? Eat it with the cheese.” Lee Soo-Hee took a huge spoonful of cheese for him, which Ha Jae-Gun took and hurriedly shoved into his mouth.

Lee Soo-Hee had to suppress her laughter as she stared at the panicking Ha Jae-Gun.

“You still can’t eat spicy food as usual.”

“Isn’t the food here especially spicy?”

“Your spice tolerance has always been low. Don’t you recall back when you cried while having spicy rice cakes with me at the street food stall outside our school during our university days?”

“That stall’s food was extremely spicy as well. No, I think you’re just good at eating spicy food. This is just—I admit defeat.”

“Huhuhu.”

Lee Soo-Hee opened the soju bottle and held it out toward Ha Jae-Gun. Accepting the glass of soju she poured for him, Ha Jae-Gun then took over the bottle and did the same for her as well. They then clinked their glasses in the air.

“Kyaaa, this is good. The alcohol goes down better when having spicy food. I can’t have this without soju,” Ha Jae-Gun remarked.

“It’s spicy for me, too. But I had it a couple of times with my colleagues and got addicted to it.”

“Yeah, spicy tastes good, too.”

The two engaged in small talk for quite a while. They talked about the world, their classmates, and the memories of their university days that were still vivid in their minds.

Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee laughed and smiled throughout their conversation.

“Excuse me, we’ll have another bottle of soju, please.”

Ha Jae-Gun opened the second bottle of soju and glanced at Lee Soo-Hee. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, but her eyes and expression still looked normal.

Lee Soo-Hee suddenly covered her cheeks with her hands when she felt Ha Jae-Gun’s gaze. “What’s wrong? Is my face very red?”

“No, I was just thinking that you’re still a strong drinker.”

“What? You must be thinking about that field trip back in Year 1, right?” Lee Soo-Hee stared gloomily at him.

Ha Jae-Gun chuckled. He didn’t expect that Lee Soo-Hee would see right through what he was thinking. Back then, a few female seniors repeatedly forced Lee Soo-Hee to drink because they wanted to put down Lee Soo-Hee’s pride and arrogance.

However, Lee Soo-Hee didn’t back down from the challenge. She even went against all ten of them and held out until the end. Eventually, the seniors got too drunk and collapsed.

However, Ha Jae-Gun knew that Lee Soo-Hee’s alcohol tolerance was no different from the alcohol tolerance of an ordinary person. Lee Soo-Hee’s pride was the reason she held out that day.

Her pride simply didn’t allow her to fall down or yield to the other party.

Ha Jae-Gun could still remember that he pitied her back then, and the feelings had gotten engraved on his heart.

Ha Jae-Gun had actually helped her in secret. He would avoid the eyes of the seniors and diluted her alcohol with water whenever he had the chance. This was a secret that not even Lee Soo-Hee herself or his best friend Park Jung-Jin knew.

“What are you thinking about? My glass is empty.”

“Drink slowly, or you’ll get drunk soon.”

Lee Soo-Hee smirked as Ha Jae-Gun filled her glass with soju.

“Funny. How that we’re on the topic, you do know that my alcohol tolerance is quite high, right? I did an all-kill against the ten of them on my own.”

“Ha, all-kill. You’re really innovative with your words. I think people would immediately be able to tell that you’re a team leader of a game development team.”

Lee Soo-Hee’s laughter abruptly stopped and turned into a long sigh.

The shadow caused by the lighting above made her face look inexplicably gloomy.

“What’s wrong?”

“Mm? It’s nothing.” Lee Soo-Hee waved her hands in denial. She was just reminded of her work, but she didn’t want to let him know that the game—which he had written a scenario for—was on the verge of getting canceled.

“Ah, right. You said you were working on a new full-length novel?” Lee Soo-Hee clapped her hands lightly and changed the topic. “What is it about?”

“Ah, mm… The basis is about the relationship between a man and woman, but there are other elements added into it, like sociality, loneliness, and stuff like that.”

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his glass and downed the drink.

Ha Jae-Gun seemed bitter as he picked up his chopsticks and continued. “As I said earlier, the first draft is done, but it still needs a lot of work. The female character’s emotions and actions are very awkwardly described. She actually feels more like a man than a woman.”

“But, you did a great job in Foolish Woman…”

“Well, I used my older sister as the model for the character, and I’ve known her since forever, so it was easier for me to write and describe her. However, this time is different,” said Ha Jae-Gun.

However, Lee Soo-Hee still looked unconvinced.

“What about the quests you wrote for my company’s game? You did a great job writing the female characters. When I read what I wrote, I was surprised and thought that you have a great grasp of women’s emotions.”

“Ah, that…” He couldn’t reveal that he had achieved it with the help of Jung So-Mi’s emotions, so Ha Jae-Gun simply frowned and said in a serious tone, “Anyway, it’s hard for me these days. I’ve been writing every second aside from sleeping and eating, but things are still not going well for me.”

“You're lying.” Could it be due to the alcohol? Lee Soo-Hee unexpectedly blurted out the words that she had been holding back in her mind.

”I’m lying?” Ha Jae-Gun asked with wide eyes.

Lee Soo-Hee put on a sour face and shrugged. Then, she replied calmly, “You were at the karaoke the day before when I called you. You seemed to be having a good time.”

“Ah, that… It’s not like that…” Ha Jae-Gun looked away.

He had no idea how to explain it.

Lee Soo-Hee was certain that she was right, so she downed a glass of soju in front of him. She was trying hard to put on a calm expression, but her insides were boiling like the cheese on the pan.

‘You could just say it outright that you were with a girl. Ha Jae-Gun, what’s wrong with you? You’re already twenty-seven years old, who’s going to eat you up?’

Lee Soo-Hee reached out and grabbed the bottle of soju.

Ha Jae-Gun snatched the bottle from her and said, “Calm down. Drink slowly.”

“I’ve got a high alcohol tolerance, so don’t worry.”

Lee Soo-Hee filled her glass to the brim, and she brought it up to her mouth.

At the sight, Ha Jae-Gun could only say, “Actually, I met a karaoke helper that day.”

Lee Soo-Hee’s hand froze in mid-air. She was so surprised that she would have spat the soju into the air if she were already drinking it. The flush on Lee Soo-Hee’s face subsided due to the shock.

Ha Jae-Gun saw that and hurriedly added, “Don’t be mistaken. I was there to interview her because I needed some information for my novel.”

“Interview…?”

“The female lead of the novel that I’m working on right now is actually a karaoke helper. However, I don’t know much about them, so that’s why I was there to see it for myself. I had no other way.”

Lee Soo-Hee’s doubts didn’t disappear completely. It wasn’t that she couldn’t believe Ha Jae-Gun because he had always been the type to do things personally just to get the information he needed for his writing.

‘Did you really end it with just the interview? The voice I heard that night was quite affectionate. She kept calling you oppa, oppa...’ The words that she couldn’t speak kept staying in her mind. Either way, there was no reason for her to ask any further.

Angry at herself for being so concerned, Lee Soo-Hee murmured sarcastically, “Now, I really want to read that novel.”

“The novel I’m working on right now?”

“Of course. Whose novel would I read otherwise? How interesting must it be when you’re writing it with all your heart? It’s a pity that I can’t read it right now.”

The bar was noisy, and the lights were relatively dim. Therefore, Ha Jae-Gun didn’t realize that Lee Soo-Hee was being sarcastic. He thought that she was being sincere.

“Do you want to come over to my place?”

“...Huh?”

“You said you want to read it, right? My phone only has the ending, and I would actually be grateful if you could read it with those hawk eyes of yours. I was actually planning on asking you to read it, but I haven’t been able to ask you since you’re so busy.”

Lee Soo-Hee was so flustered that she even forgot that she was still upset with him.

How did the conversation end up like this?

“It’s already slightly past 8 p.m. Since we’re going to have beer for round two, why not have some while reading my novel? Then, I’ll send you home afterward. How’s that?”

“Huh…? Sounds good, but…”

“We’re already done with dinner, so let’s go. I’ll foot the bill first.”

Ha Jae-Gun took the bill and headed straight for the counter. He looked pretty excited. For a writer, the best feeling was hearing that someone was excited to read their novels, and Ha Jae-Gun was no exception to that. Moreover, the reader was Lee Soo-Hee—his smart classmate—so he was naturally excited.

“You didn’t drive here, right? Let’s take the taxi.”

“Uh? Yeah…”

The two of them climbed into the back seat of the taxi. Lee Soo-Hee’s eyes were fixated on the windows as she watched the streets outside zipping past, but her heart was pounding uncontrollably.

‘He didn’t suggest it in passing, but why did I yield too easily? He’s not going to think that I’m weird or anything, right?’

Lee Soo-Hee was excited but worried at the same time. She had visited his place during daylight but never at night. Plus, she was currently tipsy due to the alcohol in her system, and she was currently heading to a single man’s house.

The man was Ha Jae-Gun, but Lee Soo-Hee was still worried. While her mind was running amok from the anxiety, the taxi remained indifferent and continued rolling away toward their destination.