Big Life

“The announcement should be made soon,” Jo Seo-Kyung said while standing behind Ha Jae-Gun with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

Just then, the soft background music in the store stopped playing.

Ha Jae-Gun was nervous. He sat up straight and nodded.

A few seconds later, the announcement that Jo Seo-Kyung had mentioned could be heard.

- This is an announcement for all customers of Bandi & Lunia. In five minutes, there will be a commemorative autograph event at the New Arrivals corner for the newly released book Storm and Gale by the winner of the 31st Modern Youth Literature Award, Writer Ha Jae-Gun. This is an announcement for all customers of Bandi & Lunia. In five minutes…

“Hmm? An autograph event?”

A few customers walking past Ha Jae-Gun stopped and listened to the announcement.

They realized that they were just in the area and looked in his direction.

“Do you know him? Storm and Gale?”

"Hey, let's just go. I'm hungry."

"All right, what do you want to eat?"

The customers lost their interest in Ha Jae-Gun and left the store.

Ha Jae-Gun himself wasn't affected that much. Jo Seo-Kyung smiled wryly and reassured, "Don't be concerned too over it, Mr. Ha."

"I'm not affected by it at all." Actually, hearing those words from her felt weird.

Ha Jae-Gun sat there quietly and looked down at his knees. He felt much more comfortable this way than looking at the passing crowd.

Time continued to pass, and after what seemed to be around ten minutes, Ha Jae-Gun looked at his wristwatch.

He gulped upon realizing that it had only been three minutes.

'Who knew I would one day receive such torture…?'

The number of readers who would attend the event didn’t really matter to him. He was fine, even if the event ended with just that one reader earlier. After all, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that the event would end up as a flop.

The real issue was that time was extremely slow from his perspective.

What if no other readers came to ask for his autograph, and he had to sit here for a few more hours? Would he have to sit there the entire time while everyone tossed him strange looks while walking past him?

Ha Jae-Gun felt a shiver down his spine at the mere thought of it.

"Please sign for me."

Ha Jae-Gun's reddened ears twitched.

He looked up and saw someone grinning at him as a greeting.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had work to do over the weekend?"

"I lied to surprise you, of course," Lee Soo-Hee replied. Her thick coat and flushed cheeks showed how cold the weather was outside.

"Aren't you going to sign it for me?"

"Oh, right."

Ha Jae-Gun took the book from her and signed the first page with all his might, as it was for Lee Soo-Hee. However, his overly ambitious wish to sign it well ruined the entire signature.

"I practiced a lot, but…"

Lee Soo-Hee received the book and chuckled at the result. "It's fine. It's cute, anyway. Anyway, how are you doing? You look nervous."

"I'm only human, after all. Ah, Jung-Jin is here too, did you see him?"

"Oh my, Jung-Jin is here too? I should go see him." Lee Soo-Hee walked toward Park Jung-Jin; her long boots and heels clicked against the floor.

Ha Jae-Gun stretched his shoulders and looked up ahead. Lee Soo-Hee’s unexpected visit gave him courage.

"Hello, can you please sign this for us?"

Two ladies came forward with Storm and Gale in their hands. They looked to be in their twenties, and they were smiling at Ha Jae-Gun with their pale-looking faces and plump cheeks.

Ha Jae-Gun took their books and said, "T-Thank you. What are your names?"

"It's Seo Ji-Soo."

"I'm Jung Ye-In. Oh, Writer Ha, I'm your university junior."

"Oh?"

"We're new students of the Creative Writing Department at Myungkyung University of the Arts."

They covered their smiles with their hands and giggled.

Ha Jae-Gun looked up at them in surprise while signing their books. "It's really nice to see you. I guess we’ll see each other again at the upcoming orientation."

"Oh, really? Writer—no, Senior, you're attending it as well? By any chance, are you going to hold a lecture?"

Ha Jae-Gun smiled wordlessly while signing their books.

He returned them and finally said, "See you then."

"Thank you… Senior! Can we get a photo with you as well?"

Ha Jae-Gun hesitated and glanced at Jo Seo-Kyung.

Jo Seo-Kyung smiled gently and nodded lightly.

With that, the two ladies hurried over by his sides and kneeled down to take a wefie.

"Thank you so much, Senior. You write really well, and we always go around boasting that you're our senior."

"Stop it, he's busy right now. We'll get going, Senior. Good luck." The two ladies kept bowing to him as they left.

"Thank you as well. Stay safe," Ha Jae-Gun greeted them goodbye. As he watched them leave, his eyelids became filled with tears because his heart felt overwhelmed. He was happy to hear that he had become a senior capable of inspiring his juniors.

"Hello, Writer Ha. Please sign here for me."

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

After the juniors left, a few other readers came forward asking for his autograph on their copies of Storm and Gale. On average, one person would come forward every three to four minutes, but the number wasn’t enough to call them a large crowd.

‘Was the marketing not enough…?' Jo Seo-Kyung was worried.

It had been thirty since the autograph event started. However, only eleven readers stepped up to get an autograph with the novel Storm and Gale.

Park Jung-Jin and Lee Soo-Hee had the same worries while hanging around near the event. The number of people that had approached Ha Jae-Gun so far was much lesser than they expected.

'Hmm?'

All of a sudden, a lady approached Ha Jae-Gun with a book in tow.

Lee Soo-Hee blinked quickly at the sight because the lady looked familiar to her.

Lee Soo-Hee finally recalled that the lady used to be Ha Jae-Gun's editor for one of his fantasy novels, and she had met her at his place before.

"It's great to see you here, Ms. So-Mi." Ha Jae-Gun took over the book from Jung So-Mi's hands with a wide smile. He didn’t expect that she would come here to support him.

"Of course, I have to get your autograph because I'm your avid reader." Jung So-Mi smiled cutely and shook her head; her ponytail shook along with your head.

"Is the event going smoothly?"

"Of course. My wrist is throbbing because so many people have come up to get my autograph. I can’t even count them anymore, I think I've lost count after a hundred thousand."

Jung So-Mi burst into laughter at his joke.

Meanwhile, two teenagers came up to the table and flanked Ha Jae-Gun.

Jung So-Mi stood awkwardly as the two teenagers spoke.

"Um… Writer Poongchun-Yoo. Can you sign over here, please?"

"Me, too."

They handed him copies of Records of the Modern Master and Sword Master of Pezellon.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled and signed their books.

The excited teenagers grinned and left after thanking him.

"Ms. So-Mi, have you had lunch?" Ha Jae-Gun had just asked that question, but three more readers appeared out of nowhere. This time, they were carrying copies of the Records trilogy.

"Can you sign over here, please?"

"Of course, please give it to me. What is your name?" Ha Jae-Gun asked. While he was signing the books, he signaled Jung So-Mi with his eyes to wait just for a bit.

However, even before he could return the books, a new reader approached him.

"Ah, thank you. Please give it here. What's your name?"

"Kim Jung-Taek."

A few more readers queued up behind Kim Jung-Taek, and a line started forming from there.

Ha Jae-Gun was finally done signing for Kim Jung-Taek.

He looked up and saw over ten readers queuing up.

‘Huh? Why are there so many people?’

Ha Jae-Gun was surprised at the sudden influx of people, but he soon composed himself and started signing for them with all his might. However, these readers weren’t readers of Storm and Gale—they were readers of his fantasy novels.

“Writer Ha, please sign this for me. Are you not going to continue the Pezellon series anymore?”

“When will the Records webtoon be released? Ah, please sign all ten volumes for me, please.”

“Writer Ha, can you take a picture with me?”

The readers had many different questions and requests for Ha Jae-Gun while asking for his autograph. Ha Jae-Gun’s mouth and hands couldn’t rest at all. He could even feel sweat trickling down his temples.

“Oh, my! Jung-Jin, what happened?” Lee Soo-Hee lightly smacked Park Jung-Jin’s shoulder with a surprised look. She was astonished to see that a line had formed while she was in the washroom.

There weren’t that many people when she left, but now, she reckoned that there were at least thirty people in the queue.

“I’m not sure as well, but someone posted this on Twitter,” Park Jung-Jin showed her the Tweet that he had found earlier. “News of Writer Poongchun-Yoo doing an autograph event is spreading on Twitter and Facebook. I was so surprised by the sudden influx of people that I looked it up. The news matches the people here as well. They’re here to ask for autographs for either the Records or the Pezellon series in their hands.”

“I see. It seems like he has a stronger reader base from his fantasy novel.”

“I’m not sure. But look, it’s turning into a Poongchun-Yoo’s autograph event.” Park Jung-Jin giggled; he found the situation to be quite amusing.

Lee Soo-Hee smiled in amusement as well.

However, Jo Seo-Kyung didn’t find it amusing at all.

She was the person in charge of the Modern Youth Literature Award, after all.

‘This is bad.’

It was great that people were paying attention to Ha Jae-Gun’s autograph event, but the issue was that the event was supposed to highlight the novel Storm and Gale rather than Writer Ha Jae-Gun himself.

The line had become even bigger. Now, there were over fifty people in the queue, and it was starting to get difficult to see the end of the queue.

‘This can’t go on. I have to split this up.’ Jo Seo-Kyung took action. Although they were a minority, but there were still some readers of Storm and Gale who had come here to get an autograph.

They deserved to be prioritized.

“Mr. Ha, I’ll be splitting the line up,” said Jo Seo-Kyung.

She then explained the reason behind her actions.

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t slow down on his signing. He simply nodded in response.

With that, Jo Seo-Kyung hurriedly went to obtain a few items she needed to accomplish her goal.

‘Phew… I’m thirsty!’ Ha Jae-Gun wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

He had no time to take a breather. He surreptitiously glanced at the line in front of him, and it seemed like the line wouldn’t get any shorter anytime soon.

“Writer Ha, please have this while signing.” Jung So-Mi saw that he was getting thirsty, so she quickly handed him a cup of cold coffee. Ha Jae-Gun smiled and reached for it.

However, his hand ended up holding a cup of corn tea rather than the cup of cold coffee.

“The sugar in the coffee will make you thirstier. Drink this instead,” Lee Soo-Hee said as she stuffed the drink into Ha Jae-Gun’s hand. She was smiling, but she glanced warily at Jung So-Mi next to her before acting as if nothing had happened just now.

“T-that’s right. I didn’t think that far...” Embarrassed, Jung So-Mi put down her cup of coffee and greeted Lee Soo-Hee. “Hello, we’ve met before, I’m Jung So-Mi.”

“Hello,” Lee Soo-Hee returned the greetings but in a cold voice.

Their conversation ended right there. Ha Jae-Gun was too busy with the autograph event that he didn’t have the bandwidth to be concerned about the two ladies.

Just then, Park Jung-Jin ran to the group with a serious look.

“Hey, Jae-Gun. Where did your person in charge run off to? The line has extended all the way to the main entrance.”

“What? Really?”

“It’s getting cold here because the doors can’t be closed. The line has stopped the doors from closing, and we also can’t make the line turn a corner from the door. I think there are roughly two hundred people in the line. The news about how Writer Poongchun-Yoo is holding an autograph event here has already spread all over Twitter and Facebook.”

While Park Jung-Jin was talking, Lee Soo-Hee was already taking off her coat, revealing her beautiful figure in a one-piece dress with a navy ribbon-shaped belt that emphasized her curves.

“I’ll help with organizing the lines.”

“Hey, Soo-Hee. Will you be fine? You’re wearing heels, too. It’s going to be uncomfortable for you.”

“I should help at times like this. I’ll take enough interest from you later, so just be prepared.” Lee Soo-Hee grinned.

The dazed Jung So-Mi finally recovered. She revealed a determined look before taking off her jacket as well and saying, “I’ll help out, too. I’ll try to compress the end of the line.”

“Ah, I’m sorry for making you do this, Ms. So-Mi. I’ll make sure to repay you.”

“No, it’s fine. I find it fun as well.”

With that, Lee Soo-Hee and Jung So-Mi both headed off to do what they had to.

Meanwhile, Park Jung-Jin was standing around. He had no idea how to start helping. Fortunately, Jo Seo-Kyung had come returned with some of the items she needed, along with a staff member of the bookstore.

“You are Mr. Ha’s friend, right? I’m sorry, but can you help us set this up?”

“Ah, sure. Please give it to me.”

Finally, Park Jung-Jin now had a job to do.

The line seemed like it wouldn’t end anytime soon.

Even the staff members from the genre novel section got extremely busy.

“Ms. Young-Ah, do we have any more Records of the Modern Master?”

“Deputy Lee went to the storeroom to get more. Ah, I think we’ll run out of the Pezellon series faster than Records of the Modern Master.”

“What? Didn’t we have a hundred copies of it on the shelves? Grab the rest from the storeroom as well. Wait, call him first.”

Writer Poongchun-Yoo’s books were selling like hotcakes. The books that had been filling the shelves were quickly running out. The staff members had to put on work gloves and work on refilling them nonstop.

It had only been slightly over an hour since the autograph event started, but it was already this crowded.

Meanwhile, a photo was uploaded to the Internet by a reader. The photo depicted the snaking line in the bookstore, which also showed the number of readers who came to the bookstore for Writer Poongchun-Yoo’s autograph event.

- Oh, kekeke! it’s Writer Poongchun-Yoo’s autograph event kekeke one defeat for Writer Ha Jae-Gun, who did nothing wrong kekeke.

- I came to get an autograph for Storm and Gale and barely got it when the line was so long. T.T Even if the line was split up, it got messy mid-way…

- I don’t like this autograph event. Did they not expect so many people to come to the event? I know that this isn’t the Writer’s fault but;;;

- Poongchun-Yoo’s novels are all sold out at Bandi & Lunia. There’s no more kekeke They can’t sell more now kekeke.

- Hahahaha Are all of you at Ban&Lu now? I’m waiting in line as well.

As the number of replies, shares, and retweets increased, the number of engagements increased as well. However, it seemed that the netizens were mostly interested in the two women helping out at the autograph event.

- I’m in the line as well kekeke. I was in the area and came here directly after seeing the tweet. But the lady helping to organize the line is really pretty;;;

- Ah, the bunned-hair lady? I saw her, too. She looks so cute and pretty.

- Not her, but the lady in a one-piece dress, I think???

- I’m not sure what you’re saying;;; Her hair is in a bun, and she’s wearing skinny jeans and sports shoes.

- No, I’m referring to the lady in a one-piece dress with a navy-colored ribbon. She’s also in coffee-colored stockings; her curves are incredible. Sheeesh.

- They are different people. I saw both of them, and I think the writer knows them personally.

- Wow, I talked to the one-piece lady earlier. Wow, she’s incredibly beautiful;;; My heart was pounding like crazy because I thought that she was a celebrity for a moment~ Is she Writer Poongchun-Yoo’s girlfriend???

- What? kekekeke! Why are you guys not talking about the autograph event itself? I’m heading over there right now.

- I’m running over now, too. I’m going to check out how pretty the ladies are gogogo

- I find the bunned-haired lady cute. Totally a puppy-faced lady, totally my cup of tea ^^

The group had no idea that the netizens had labeled Lee Soo-Hee and Jung So-Mi as one-piece dress lady and bunned-haired lady respectively. They were too busy helping out, so they weren’t aware of what was happening on the Internet.