Big Life

‘Keugh… This should be it, right?’

Ha Jae-Gun stopped outside a room and tapped the room key on the door lock sensor. He put the card into its slot on the wall, and the lights in the small, normal-looking room came on.

The room was smaller than Ha Jae-Gun’s studio. A bed and table took up half the room space, then there was also a TV, water purifier and a small refrigerator built-in.

Ha Jae-Gun sat at the foot of the bed and laid Da-Seul on the bed.

He put a pillow under her head and covered her with a blanket up to her chest.

‘Should I feed her a warm drink at least?’

Da-Seul frowned and moaned softly.

Ha Jae-Gun was worried, and he wondered about what he could do to help ease her pain.

'I should get some hangover medicine and something light for her to eat when she wakes up.'

Ha Jae-Gun knew that Da-Seul would definitely feel awful the moment she woke up later. Plus, the refrigerator was only filled with bottled water and canned drinks. Ha Jae-Gun put his bag down and left with only his wallet.

However, Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t take a step out.

Da-Seul had somehow woken up and hugged him from behind.

Before Ha Jae-Gun could turn around, Da-Seul whispered, "Don't go."

"I'm not leaving. I'm just going to get some medicine and things to eat—"

"I don't need anything else, so don't go." Her hands wrapped around Ha Jae-Gun's chest, and it seemed like she wouldn’t let go no matter what.

"Just stay with me like this."

Ha Jae-Gun swallowed silently instead of replying. "...!"

Da-Seul's breathing felt hot and moist. However, she soon realized that it was her tears. Now, Ha Jae-Gun was certain that something happened to her.

"All right." Ha Jae-Gun decided to stay with her until she slept. He reckoned that she was too unstable to be left alone. He also decided to postpone his questions later.

"I won't go anywhere, so just lie in bed." Ha Jae-Gun removed her hands and turned around to see her face stained with tears.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Don't you dare leave… and don't look at my face, I'm ashamed." Da-Seul collapsed onto the bed and covered her face before sobbing. Hot tears flowed out from between her fingers, and all Ha Jae-Gun could do was listen to her sobbing.

***

Wee-woo!

Sirens of the police cars patrolling the entertainment district sounded outside.

Ha Jae-Gun sat bolt upright upon waking up.

He looked around and saw the TV and refrigerator.

'Damn… Did I doze off?'

Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t really get a decent sleep recently due to his novel ideation and his visits to his father at the hospital. He yawned and sat up. Then, he saw the empty bed beside him.

He was sure that Da-Seul was lying in bed before he dozed off last night.

Ha Jae-Gun headed to check the bathroom but noticed that Da-Seul's shoes were missing.

— The number you have dialed is turned off; please leave a message…

Ha Jae-Gun put away his phone in frustration. Looking at the time, it had been less than three hours since he entered the room, so where did she disappear to during that short time?

Ha Jae-Gun got more anxious upon realizing that he couldn’t contact Da-Seul.

'Hmm…?'

Just then, something caught the corner of his eyes.

A folded note and necklace were in his bag.

The old-looking silver necklace was discolored in a few areas.

Ha Jae-Gun unfolded the note with trembling fingers as an ominous feeling enveloped him.

Writer Oppa,

I've thought a lot after reading Storm and Gale. You have no idea how happy and touched I was to see Eun-Young’s happy ending. I even read it thrice.

But… I'm afraid that I can’t be like Hye-Young.

You mentioned that I was Hye-Young’s model.

Hye-Young is the female lead in the novel, but I'm still not the main of my own life. I'm not sure how to become the main lead either.

I always get really happy whenever I see you, and you have always been looking out for me. You even listen to all my rants, and time always seems to fly whenever I’m with you.

I’m happy, but it pains me. I'm sorry, but it’s sad when someone like me hangs out with you.

So I'm running away from you.

But not forever…

I'll come back for the necklace once I’m prepared to stand before you again. That necklace is really precious to me. I haven't been able to wear that ever since you bought me a necklace. So hold onto it well for me until my return.

I'll definitely buy a copy of your book whenever you publish a new one.

Work hard, eat well, and don't fall sick!

Ha Jae-Gun picked up the necklace after reading the note. He opened the pendant, and an old photo was revealed.

It showed a lady in her twenties looking exactly like Da-Seul.

"This is…" Ha Jae-Gun realized that the lady was Da-Seul's mother.

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his bag in a hurry and ran out of the motel.

The smell of alcohol in the streets fired him up, but he couldn’t spot Da-Seul’s bright smile.

"Haaa… huff… haaa…"

Ha Jae-Gun ran around for a while and finally stopped next to a telephone pole to catch his breath. At last, He finally realized that the night’s guardian wasn’t with him today.

Da-Seul vanished from his world after helping him obtain another achievement in his career as a writer with Storm and Gale.

***

"Would you like another glass?"

"No, the explanation will just drag out if I drink anymore."

Ha Jae-Gun was at a luxury Korean restaurant with Moon Sang-Ok, a former forensic doctor.

Ha Suk-Jae was the reason Ha Jae-Gun was in a meeting with Moon Sang-Ok.

Moon Sang-Ok was his father's long-time friend and clubmate during their university days.

"All right, I assume you know that a corpse with an unknown cause of death is a bit trickier to handle than ordinary corpses, right? A prosecutor has to give permission for us to bury or cremate that kind of corpse. Until the corpse is delivered to the bereaved family, it will be managed by the relevant department."

Ha Jae-Gun asked for a moment to note down the important points from Moon Sang-Ok's explanation while perking his ears up to listen more intently. Moon Sang-Ok’s words were crucial information he needed to work on his mystery novel.

"If the female student's cause of death was indeed suicide like what you asked, then the prosecutor’s instruction will be like this—the corpse will be handed over to the bereaved family if there are no suspicions of foul play. The decision to conduct an autopsy lies solely on the prosecutor, and if there are signs of foul play involved, an autopsy will still go on even if the bereaved family objects to it."

Moon Sang-Ok paused to moisten his throat with a large gulp of water.

Ha Jae-Gun was getting impatient to hear the next piece of information, but he held it in because the details coming directly from a former forensic doctor were extremely vivid and exciting to him.

“So, you’re asking if you can identify the guy who impregnated the female student through a DNA test so further investigations can be conducted on him?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“An autopsy is only conducted if signs of foul play are found. Pregnancy is irrelevant, so a separate investigation cannot be done. Things will be different if someone from the bereaved family claims that the deceased was coerced into committing suicide by the same man who impregnated her. Aside from the autopsy, their calls, texts, emails, and other sources of information will be investigated. However, it’ll be difficult to prove that without concrete evidence.”

Ha Jae-Gun continued to type away.

When Moon Sang-Ok saw how Ha Jae-Gun was working hard to note down every single word he was saying, Moon Sang-Ok decided to continue at a slower pace.

“After receiving the body from the police, the bereaved family can request for the DNA test to be done through a university hospital, and then they’ll get the autopsy and examination done. However, without the target’s DNA, there’s nothing for you to compare it with, so it’s almost equivalent to not obtaining any information at all.”

Moon Sang-Ok finished his explanation.

Moments later, Ha Jae-Gun stopped typing on his keyboard as well.

Ha Jae-Gun saved the document and bowed politely to Moon Sang-Ok before saying, “Thank you so much for your help. Thanks to you, I feel like I can finally write a proper novel now.”

“That sounds great. I think your novel will turn out great as well, considering the kind of information you decided to ask me today.”

“No, I’m going to turn it into something more relatable.”

Moon Sang-Ok’s hand stopped midway through grabbing a piece of short rib, and he looked at Ha Jae-Gun.

“Something relatable?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m not going to write something that is only for trivial excitement. I want to portray the callousness of modern people by showing the entire process of how everyone else, related to the female student, had only watched or ignored her situation until the female student finally committed suicide.”

Moon Sang-Ok nodded with pride as he watched Ha Jae-Gun speak with honor. Moon Sang-Ok picked up the soju bottle, and Ha Jae-Gun quickly reacted by picking up his own glass with both hands and accepting a glass from the older man.

“Most people in Korea agree that an autopsy is basically killing the person twice, and that’s why most bereaved families wouldn’t want an autopsy,” Moon Sang-Ok said.

His eyes lost focus as his memories flashed past in his eyes.

“I’ve participated in countless autopsies, and every time I thought of the bereaved families, I realized that a beautiful death is more important to them than the process that led to the death itself. I really hope that your wish will come true.”

“Thank you so much,” said Ha Jae-Gun.

They clinked glasses, and Ha Jae-Gun turned away from Moon Sang-Ok to drink. He silently expressed his deep gratitude to both his father and Moon Sang-Ok for his great harvest today.

Now that he had acquired the most important information he needed, all he had to do was create the world of his story from scratch.

***

Ha Jae-Gun officially went into work mode on his novel.

He woke up at 7 a.m. and had his breakfast, and then he started writing from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Afterward, he went to the library to rest and enjoyed some leisure reading. He then returned home at 6 p.m. for dinner and continued working on his novel until 1 a.m.

He repeated the same routine for three weeks. However, there was a drastic difference between his current routine and his routine back then, when he would work until he collapsed from exhaustion.

It was the result of taking on his father’s advice to take care of his health. Ha Jae-Gun had always considered his father’s words as nagging, but he finally decided to listen to his father this time.

Tadadak! Tak! Tadadadak!

Ha Jae-Gun’s fingers flew across the keyboard. He was using the laptop that allowed him to type 10,000 characters per hour, but he wasn’t actually writing that many characters today.

‘Disgusting How can my work be this nasty?! There’s zero coherence!’

Ha Jae-Gun kept typing out unsatisfactory scenes one after another, and he would delete them as fast as he had written them. His breathing grew rough, and it soon went as fast as his words per minute.

‘Phew…! Time for a break!’

When he decided to take a break, he realized that it was exactly 12 p.m. As usual, Ha Jae-Gun put on his horn-rimmed glasses and headed to the library. His feet carried him over to the mystery genre section.

Ha Jae-Gun read around fifty books from this section per day. He would pick a spot where people wouldn't spot him so easily and flip through the pages of the books at lightning speed.

'Right! There was this mechanic! This is the trick! I’ll remember that!'

'Yes, changing the speaker brings change as well! I should use this as the introduction to the second chapter of my novel too!'

'Wow, this is incredible…! Is this writer really human? How did they think of this?!'

Ha Jae-Gun read passionately and absorbed the key points he needed to use in his own novel. He was learning at an alarming rate. Of course, no one would really acknowledge or compliment his own growth aside from himself.

"Custodian, that man is back doing weird things again,” said the part-timer with a terrified look. She was talking to the library custodian next to her.

The library custodian observed Ha Jae-Gun with a straight face.

“Did he just read that book all by himself?”

“Yes. I think it only takes him around five minutes to read each book. He did the same thing last time and accidentally tore a book, but he apologized and bought the book afterward… Anyway, what is he actually doing?”

“I’m not so sure either. He’s not doing anything suspicious, right?”

“Yeah, he just reads books and leaves in the evening.”

“Leave him alone, then. There are many different people in this world, anyway. However, he actually looks kind of familiar to me… I just can’t quite grasp it.” The library custodian tilted her head, but she eventually turned around to leave.

The part-timer also left to do her own task.

Ha Jae-Gun got so engrossed in his reading that he never thought that someone would be watching him. It couldn’t be helped because he had always been the type of person to get engrossed in both his reading and writing.

Ha Jae-Gun had become stricter with himself after Da-Seul’s disappearance, as he would always think of her and get worried about her whenever he relaxed.

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

He was about to open his 48th book for the day, but he had to take his phone out of his pocket, looking annoyed.

‘Hmm? Who is this?’

An unknown number was on the screen. He had reminded all the writers in the office that he would focus on writing his novel for the time being.

Ha Jae-Gun put the books away and stepped out to head for the stairway near the rest area, and it was then that he finally answered the call.

“Hello?”