Big Life

‘Why is this here…?’

Ha Jae-Gun’s debut fantasy novel was in the box, and it was a novel that was unfortunately axed due to his poor performance. Ha Jae-Gun had always found it painful to recall those times, and he was surprised to find his debut novel in a corner of his father’s study.

Ha Jae-Gun crouched next to the box and opened it.

The box was filled with his novels. It also contained his other two novels before his first commercial success novel—Records of the Murim Master—up until his latest novels. The only missing books were A 90s Kid and The Breath, as those books were only released electronically.

"Ha…" Ha Jae-Gun sighed before picking up a book from the box. It was then that he noticed that the books weren’t just collecting dust. Their pages had actually been flipped carefully quite a few times.

Ha Jae-Gun flipped and eventually arrived at the final page of the book…

- Ha Jae-Gun's first novel.

I'm not sure what's wrong, but it's disappointing that the novel was axed just as it reached the interesting part.

Ha Jae-Gun saw his father's rough scribblings. Ha Jae-Gun clenched his jaw and opened the other books to see if anything else was written in them.

- Ha Jae-Gun's second novel.

It feels lighter than the first.

- Ha Jae-Gun's third novel.

It was extremely interesting. I think the bad comments are there because the novel is too serious?

- Ha Jae-Gun's fourth novel.

My son is growing as a writer while I grow older.

- Ha Jae-Gun's fifth novel.

I like hearing about my son through my wife and daughter, but I'm not sure if I can smile freely.

The box contained more than just Ha Jae-Gun’s published novels.

There were even A4 papers of Ha Jae-Gun's practice manuscripts written during his university days at the bottom of the box. Those were the very same manuscripts that Ha Jae-Gun had torn apart because he didn't like how they turned out. They should have disappeared into the bin, but they were taped up nicely and kept in the box.

Ha Jae-Gun shut his eyes tightly and pinched the tip of his nose, trying to suppress the sour feeling with all his might. He would definitely think that he was a pathetic son for distancing himself from his father for so long if a single tear ever dropped.

Soon, Ha Jae-Gun composed himself. However, something else caught his eye.

It was an old bankbook. Why was it in the stash?

"Ah… Ugh… Uh…"

Ha Jae-Gun opened the bankbook and fell to his knees.

The bankbook contained the records of a savings account that his father had created for him, and there was a sticky note attached beneath the bank account number.

- Give to Ha Jae-Gun when he turns thirty.

Ha Jae-Gun saw that the savings account had been receiving 150,000 won every month since seven years ago when Ha Jae-Gun enrolled in the creative writing department.

It seemed that the savings account was for Ha Jae-Gun in the event that he failed to succeed as a writer because the deposit ended early summer of last year and in the same month when Records of the Murim Master saw its first commercial success.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun's phone rang. The call was coming from Ha Jae-In. However, Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t answer the call because he was still croaking in tears. Ha Jae-Gun's forehead touched the floor, and his hot tears dripped onto the cold floor.

***

"Ms. So-Mi, are you done? Let's go grab a meal."

"Okay, Sis."

Jung So-Mi saved the manuscript and turned off the monitor.

She stood up and flinched in shock upon turning around because Park Kyung-Wook was standing in front of her.

"What did you say just now, Ms. So-Mi?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm asking how you addressed Deputy Lee," Park Kyung-Wook asked haughtily.

Jung So-Mi realized what he was talking about, and she became embarrassed and at a loss for words.

Thankfully, Deputy Lee jumped in to explain. "Editor-in-chief, I told her to speak comfortably—"

"Is this your company, Deputy Lee?"

"Pardon?"

"Are you here to play? Who allowed both of you to become sisters? Shouldn't we keep to the basic discipline at the workplace at the very least? What you’ve done will mess up the hierarchy. Don't you know that?"

Jung So-Mi lowered her head and felt her heart pounding. Park Kyung-Wook’s reprimand flustered her, and she started blaming herself for getting Deputy Lee in trouble.

"I’ll be more careful from now on," Deputy Lee replied with her hands clasped.

Park Kyung-Wook snorted. He glanced at Jung So-Mi’s hair and added scathingly, "Oh, you aren't the bun-haired girl today?"

Jung So-Mi was speechless, and she stood frozen by her desk.

The netizens had labeled her bun-haired girl when a photo of her from Ha Jae-Gun’s autograph event went viral on the Internet. Since then, Park Kyung-Wook had been holding a grudge against her, and he had brought it up several times by now.

Jung So-Mi and Deputy Lee concluded that the snitch had to be Deputy Ko.

"Hey, Deputy Ko. Let's go have lunch."

"Sure, Editor-in-chief. Let's go."

Park Kyung-Wook left the office with Deputy Ko.

Deputy Lee finally walked over to Jung So-Mi when their footsteps could no longer be heard.

"Ms. So-Mi, are you alright?"

"I'm sorry… because of me—"

"No, it's my mistake. I didn’t expect that he’ll be so mean. He's really childish," Deputy Lee said and patted Jung So-Mi’s back, comforting her.

Jung So-Mi smiled, pretending that she was fine. If it hadn’t been for Deputy Lee, she would have already burst into tears.

"How about having fish roe bibimbap today?" Deputy Lee asked.

"Okay..."

The ladies left the office and entered a restaurant at the building arcade to order their meals. Deputy Lee poured water into their cups and said, "Men are usually childish, so don’t take it to heart."

"..."

"You must be feeling tired recently, right? Even I think that he has been grilling you too much recently. Maybe he's venting his hatred for Writer Ha Jae-Gun on you. Actually, he has been hitting on me and has only stopped recently.”

Jung So-Mi’s astonished eyes turned to Deputy Lee.

"Editor-in-chief hit on you?"

"Just call me Sis when it's just us outside. Anyway, sigh… you’re the only one who knows. He has been trying to ask me out for meals and drinks, and he scolded me for rejecting his advances." Deputy Lee gulped her cup of water and said, "There was even one time when he called me past eleven. He said it was tough being the editor-in-chief, so he had been drinking, and he asked if I could go see him. What, does he think I’m crazy? Of course, I rejected him and drew a line. How dare he think that I'm an easy girl."

Just then, Jung So-Mi received a message on her phone.

Jung So-Mi read the message and smiled.

It was from Ha Jae-Gun.

- Writer Jang Eun-Young likes your draft a lot. I think you’re having lunch right now, right? Please enjoy your meal and cheer up.

"It's from Writer Ha, right?" Deputy Lee smirked teasingly.

Jung So-Mi's face flushed, and she asked, "How did you know?"

"Just look in the mirror. You look so happy right now. What is it about?"

"He just gave me an update about what the writer thinks about my illustration."

Deputy Lee was the only one in Star Books who knew that Jung So-Mi was moonlighting. At the same time, Jung So-Mi was the only one who knew that Deputy Lee was also moonlighting as an editor during the weekends.

"Mm, you should earn as much money as you can while you can. It’s not like your illustrations are hindering your primary work, too. The salary in the publishing industry isn’t that high as well," Deputy Lee remarked.

Meanwhile, their meals were finally served.

Deputy Lee started mixing her rice with a spoon.

Jung So-Mi sent a reply to Ha Jae-Gun before eating. She had typed and deleted her message a few times, afraid that her reply would reveal her feelings.

***

- It's thanks to you, Writer Ha ^^ Please enjoy your lunch as well, and be careful not to catch the flu. If you need any help, no matter how minor it is, please give me a call. Fighting!

Ha Jae-Gun read the message and returned the phone to his pocket.

He looked up. He was in the pantry of the hospital. His sister had gone to work, and his mother had an errand to run and had been missing since early morning, so he received the task of taking care of his father.

'It's almost time for his lunch.'

Ha Jae-Gun turned off his laptop. His face looked grim because he stumbled upon a creative block during his ideation.

'I lack knowledge…'

Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t help but think that he had thought too lightly of the mystery—no, crime-solving genre. He knew little to none of the legal system related to crime as well as the practices of the police force, along with other related matters.

There was definitely a limit to how much detail he could write without knowing the nitty-gritty. Right now, he even thought that the novel he was about to write wasn’t really that interesting.

'How do I solve this? Should I head to the nearest police station and request an interview? Perhaps consult at a law firm?'

Ha Jae-Gun thought of all the possibilities while heading to his father's ward. Upon entering the ward, Ha Jae-Gun saw his father sitting up in his bed and was receiving his meal from the nurse.

Ha Jae-Gun was snapped back to reality and hurried over to his father.

"I'm sorry, Father. I should have brought the food over to you."

"Would it be tastier if you brought it over?"

"Please eat before the food turns cold."

"What about you? You should eat something, too."

"I've grabbed myself a burger and a cup noodles from the convenience store."

Ha Suk-Jae frowned. "You should have a proper meal, punk. Don't just have burgers and cup noodles."

"I’ve gotten tired of rice. Anyway, let me heat my food up."

Ha Jae-Gun headed to the pantry and heated up his food using the microwave.

Upon returning to the ward, he found that his father wasn’t eating.

"Why aren’t you eating?"

"I'm about to eat," Ha Suk-Jae replied bluntly and picked up his spoon.

Ha Jae-Gun sat beside his father with a wry smile after realizing that his father had been waiting for him to come back so he could eat with him.

"Are you having trouble with your writing?" Ha Suk-Jae asked all of a sudden as he took a spoonful of his seaweed soup.

Ha Jae-Gun was about to take a mouthful of noodles, but he came to a halt and looked up at his father.

How did he know that he was struggling?

"What is it about?" asked Ha Suk-Jae.

"Ah, it's… a mystery novel."

"Mystery? You write those as well?"

"I'm giving it a try."

Admiration filled Ha Suk-Jae's eyes for a moment, but Ha Jae-Gun didn’t notice it.

Ha Suk-Jae asked calmly, "So what's the story?"

"Um, about that… A female student was sexually assaulted when she went to an MT at school. She committed suicide afterward and…" Ha Jae-Gun explained the idea he had in mind for his novel.

Ha Suk-Jae ate slowly while listening to his son's story.

It was an interaction between a writer and a reader rather than between a father and a son.

"...But I'm stuck in a lot of areas. I'm not familiar with the law. I spent a lot of time researching on the Internet, but it's still kind of vague. Plus, I'm curious about a lot of things in the practical aspect,” said Ha Jae-Gun with his mouth full.

Once he was done speaking, he finally chewed the burger and swallowed it.

"I’m hoping to meet someone in this line, but there's no one like that in my circle of friends. So I was thinking of visiting the police station. I’ll bring a box of Buckas and hope that the detectives will answer my questions." Ha Jae-Gun chuckled, ending his explanation with a joke.

Ha Suk-Jae smiled softly.

"Oh my, it's so nice to see the father and son enjoying their lunch," Myung-Ja commented. She entered the ward just as the men finished their meals.

Ha Suk-Jae covered up his embarrassment and waved his hand.

"You can go now since your mom is here."

"I can stay for a while longer."

"Ah, just go. It's annoying to see you around here."

"Okay. Please take care of yourself, I'll be back again."

"Don't come."

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his bag and left the ward.

Ha Suk-Jae fell into deep contemplation. Eventually, he picked up his phone from the bedside table and started looking through his contact list.

"Who are you going to call?"

"Someone."

Ha Suk-Jae wanted to help his son somehow because he had never really been able to help his son before. However, Ha Suk-Jae could finally help his son because he had a solution to his son’s issue. Ha Suk-Jae dialed the number he found.

Ringgg.

The ringtone rang for a while, and he soon heard the voice of his university classmate from the other end of the line.

— Who's this?! Ha Suk-Jae?! You cold-hearted punk!

"How have you been? Are you living life a comfortable life as a retiree?"

— Bull—I should find some work like you instead. It feels like hell staying at home after working all my life. Playing Go and fishing is just temporary joy, too. Ah, I'm already missing the days when I had to look at corpses every day.

"Hahaha. Who wouldn’t get tired of a routine like that?"

— Whatever. When do you want to meet up for a drink? You didn’t just call me to check up on me, right? Hmm?

Ha Suk-Jae cleared his throat and gulped. He avoided Myung-Ja’s gaze and asked in a low voice, "Can you help my son out?"