Big Life

The stairway of the building was covered in glass, so one could see from the outside. Oh Myung-Hoon stood against the wall, and his eyes were following Lee Soo-Hee and Ha Jae-Gun closely as they went up the stairs.

Both of them then disappeared into the corridor on the third floor. A while later, Oh Myung-Hoon spotted lights turning on at one of the units, and he was able to make out Lee Soo-Hee’s face through the slight gap between the drawn curtains at the window.

Ha Jae-Gun and himself were both her classmates. Ha Jae-Gun had to be here on a vacation as well. He had to have come here to see Lee Soo-Hee, who was working here and dropped by her house for a while.ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ Novᴇ(l)ꜰɪre .ɴᴇt

The sun was setting on the horizon.

Oh Myung-Hoon checked the time on his watch; it was 5 p.m. It was still early for dinner. He pondered for a while, and then he entered the cafe next door to soothe his anxious heart.

He was having difficulties calming his pounding heart.

There was no way Lee Soo-Hee and Ha Jae-Gun were in that kind of relationship.

Oh Myung-Hoon kept convincing himself.

Oh Myung-Hoon pulled out a small box from his pocket. It was a present he had gotten for Lee Soo-Hee. He bought it after carefully choosing a gift that was suitable to her taste.

Oh Myung-Hoon held it in his hand tightly to his forehead, praying earnestly.

Thirty minutes later, the curtains by the window were fully drawn. Oh Myung-Hoon started going crazy because he could no longer see inside. The time for him to finish a cup of tea had long passed. It was too much for him to wait any longer, so he pulled out his phone.

— The subscriber cannot be reached. Please try again later.

His phone slipped out of his hand and dropped on the tabletop. The light in that particular unit was slowly dimming.

Oh Myung-Hoon swallowed once as his insides trembled. He instinctively stood up. Oh Myung-Hoon could not stand watching the lights in the unit go out, but it turned off completely. The color drained from his face. His bluish lips dropped half open as he plopped back into his seat, looking as if his soul had left his body.

He clenched his teeth so hard that his gums turned red. Tears welled up in Oh Myung-Hoon’s eyes. He was confused, wondering how things had gone wrong.

He had now learned and became a man who knew how to distinguish between personal and work matters; he even worked hard to promote and sell the written by the person he hated the most in the U.S.

However, he couldn’t believe that this was the outcome he ended up achieving.

He slowly crushed the gift box in his hand. His eyes turned bloodshot as he ground his teeth in anger, and huge droplets of hot tears dropped from his eyes down his face.

Oh Myung-Hoon remained in his seat with lingering feelings that he couldn’t shake off. He had desperately hoped that this was just caused by a small misunderstanding.

Trusting that Lee Soo-Hee would be checking her phone about now…

Oh Myung-Hoon raised his head immediately. His momentarily happy face hardened into stone in an instant.

It wasn’t a call from Lee Soo-Hee but a call from his subordinate.

“...Hello.”

— Director, the promotions in Boston are going well currently. As mentioned, by noon tomorrow, Barnes & Noble, Trident, and Havard Square…

“Stop all of them.”

— Pardon? Director, what did you just say…

His subordinate sounded flustered.

— But, Director, we only have two days left until it starts, and we've made all the payments. Why are you stopping all promotions at this time…

Oh Myung-Hoon's eyes flipped right there and then.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?! I don't care about the money, just stop everything at once! Is the money coming out of your pocket?! It's my company's money!"

— I-I apologize! I- I- I will do as you say.

Oh Myung-Hoon hung up unilaterally. He was about to throw his phone at the wall but held himself back. If he did throw it, then his thread-like connection with Lee Soo-Hee would disappear entirely.

On that same night, the cafe owner found unattended items on a table—a crushed mobile phone missing a SIM and a valuable diamond ring.

***

"How was Taiwan? How dare you go there alone?"

"Who's the one who said that they couldn't step away because of the academy?" Ha Jae-Gun said as he turned the steering wheel, driving into the carpark of the hypermarket.

Ha Jae-Gun went to Suwon immediately after touching down in Korea to have lunch with his family and to look at the land where they would be building their new house.

"I saw the blueprint, I think it's going to turn out great."

"Yeah, the architect is also Dad's friend, so I'm quite relieved."

"The wall must be built high enough."

"How many times must I say it? It will be built high enough."

Ha Jae-In kept fidgeting with her phone throughout their entire conversation.

Ha Jae-In continued while replying to a message on her phone. "We asked to include six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living rooms, and a study. We even asked to design the rooftop like a cafe's terrace. The garage will also be built beside the garden."

"That's even better than my place in Seoul."

"All thanks to my famous younger brother."

They parked at one of the many parking lots in the carpark. Ha Jae-Gun turned off the engine and told off Jae-In, who was still fidgeting with her phone.

“Why are you so busy on your phone? Playing games?”

“Huh? N-no. When did we arrive? Let’s go.”

Ha Jae-In seemingly hid her phone and slipped it into her pocket, and then she opened the door.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled lightly and took out a 100-won coin to take a cart.

“It’s Director Nam, right?” he asked.

“...”

“Why are you blushing like a teenager?”

“Are you asking for a scolding?”

“Are you dating him seriously?”

“That’s called dating.”

“...”

Ha Jae-Gun pushed the cart onto the escalator and said, “I’m just telling you, but I’m happy for you.”

“...Really?”

“Yeah, so don’t worry about me and go date him.”

That was all Ha Jae-Gun said for Ha Jae-In on that matter. Ha Jae-Gun was worried that he couldn’t help her much. After all, he was aware of just what kind of family Nam Gyu-Ho had. Would they eventually get together? Or would they break up and hurt each other in the end?

He stole a glance at Ha Jae-In, who was still replying to messages on her phone.

Ha Jae-Gun nodded his head, organizing his thoughts.

The siblings soon finished their shopping and returned to the cart full of groceries. While he loaded the trunk with his groceries, a message came in from Content Producer Bae.

Although it didn’t say much, he could tell that Content Producer Bae was waiting for his reply.

While contemplating, a call from Kwon Tae-Won came in.

“Yes, President.”

— How was your trip to Taiwan?

“It was great. How have you been?”

“Wow, it’s now in third place?”

— Yes. I think the ebook cumulative sales have hit about 1.5 million copies sold.

“1.5 million?”

The had just been released not so long ago, but it had already reached 1.5 million copies sold. Ha Jae-Gun finally understood the difference in the market size between both countries.

Kwon Tae-Won laughed heartily, but he soon calmed down.

— But Writer Ha, I went to the office in the morning, and all the writers seemed to be looking depressed.

“Why is that?”

— I’m not sure what’s wrong either. I can only say that he’s been unlucky looking at the market trends recently. I can only say that it’s by random and by luck. His sentences have improved by leaps and bounds, and the story development is easy to follow. Does it have to do with the plot itself?

“There’s nothing else I can say if that’s the conclusion you’ve come up with. I will stop by the office later then.”

Ha Jae-Gun hung up the phone, feeling uncomfortable. Lee Yeon-Woo’s gloomy face appeared before his eyes. Lee Yeon-Woo always looked many times sadder than others when he was actually depressed but still tried hard not to lose his smile.

“Noona, I don’t think we can have lunch together today.” Ha Jae-Gun had made up his mind.

Ha Jae-In looked at him and asked, “Why? Aren’t you meeting Jung-Jin and Hyo-Jin for dinner?”

“I forgot that I had to go to the writer’s office today. I’ll come back again in a few days.”

Ha Jae-Gun dropped Ha Jae-In back home and then started driving to Bucheon.

It was still midday, so the traffic was smooth.

Ha Jae-Gun flinched instinctively as soon as he opened the door to the office. Lee Yeon-Woo laid his head at his table with one hand supporting his head, while Yang Hyun-Kyung stood leaning against the window with his head dropped. Then there was Kang Min-Ho on the sofa, messing up his hair with both hands.

Everyone was occupied deep in their own thoughts; they didn't even notice Ha Jae-Gun’s arrival.

“What is everyone doing?”

“...Oh? Writer Ha, you’ve returned?” Kang Min-Ho stopped his antics and stood up.

Yang Hyun-Kyung followed and turned around while Lee Yeon-Woo looked up.

They all looked like living corpses.

“What's up with the listless look? The lights are all out, too. Where is everyone else?”

“Deputy Jung and Director Lee took Rika and Nun-Sol to the vet. Eun-Young is having a bad headache, and she's sleeping right now.”

“I see. Has everyone had lunch? Yeon-Woo, have you eaten?”

“I’m sorry, hyung. I don’t have the appetite today,” Lee Yeon-Woo said.

“I’m feeling bloated as well, so I won’t be eating,” Yang Hyun-Kyung replied.

Ha Jae-Gun thought for a while, then signaled to Kang Min-Ho to talk to him separately.

Kang Min-Ho understood the signal and followed Ha Jae-Gun out of the office.

“What happened? I heard that Yeon-Woo was depressed because of his new work, but what about you and Writer Yang?”

“There’s a woman that Yang Hyun-Kyung likes… and he heard that she’s getting married next week.”

“...” Ha Jae-Gun was at a loss for words and looked out the window.

After a few seconds of silence, both of them smiled bitterly and nodded at each other.

“He can find someone better.”

“Of course.”

“So… what about you?”

“I um…” Kang Min-Ho scratched the back of his head and let out a sigh first. His expression turned serious, then looked around them before answering, “I actually have something to tell you, Writer Ha.”

“Please speak.”

“Actually… Jang Eun-Young and I are dating.”

“Wow, that’s great news. I’m surprised.” Ha Jae-Gun replied, clapping his hands. However, he didn’t look as surprised.

“So you knew about it all this while…”

“How can I not know when it’s so obvious? I can finally congratulate you now.”

Kang Min-Ho shook his head and sighed. His eyes wandered around the ground, and then finally looked at Ha Jae-Gun again.

“Well, it’s just that.”

“What?”

“Both Hyun-Kyung and Yeon-Woo are suffering so much that it made me wonder if it’s alright for both of us to be feeling so happy all the time.” Kang Min-Ho smiled softly.

Of course, Ha Jae-Gun didn't believe his words. He could tell that Kang Min-Ho was hiding something from him.

“Writer Kang.” Ha Jae-Gun took a step forward and continued, “Please tell me what’s worrying you if it’s not something huge that you have to hide from me.”

“It’s nothing like that, really. Why would I hide things from you, Writer Ha.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That’s all. Aren’t there such days that come to you out of the blue? I think Yeon-Woo and Hyun-Kyung’s sadness is contagious. Hahaha.”

There was no way Ha Jae-Gun could ask further. Kang Min-Ho retreated and then made his leave first. “I think I have to go wake Eun-Young up first.”

“Ah, yes… Please go ahead.”

Kang Min-Ho then went back into the office and closed the door behind him. Ha Jae-Gun stood in the middle of the corridor and looked at the closed door.

He suddenly felt a distance between the writers whom he had thought he had been considerably close with.

The door would be easily opened with a four-digit password, yet he felt as if he wouldn’t be able to pass through it like a thick wall.

Ha Jae-Gun thought he had done his best so far, sparing everything in his means to support the writers in the office. But was that really the case?

Could he have been neglecting them without realizing it? Maybe he had been too occupied with his own growth and could not look out for the others.

Eventually, Ha Jae-Gun turned around and walked away. He realized that there was nothing he could do, even if he were in the office today. It was only near midnight that day when he found out that Kang Min-Ho and Jang Eun-Young were struggling with their lease loan problem.

J. Andie's Thoughts

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