Big Life

“Yeah, I found it weird when I saw it.”

“Is this related to the recent cultural exchange meeting with the Chinese delegates?”

“You know something about it, right? I’m curious. Could you tellabout it? Please?”

The writers tossed him all kinds of questions, but there was no answer Kang Min-Ho could give them. In fact, he wasn’t aware of it, and even if he knew anything, he was in no position to share it with them.

“I’m sorry, but I know nothing about it.”

Thankfully, the was written by Ha Jae-Gun, otherwise, everyone would have been clicking their tongues in disapproval, commenting that Star Books had basically decided to throw all of their money into the boundless ocean.

Since it had cto his attention, Kang Min-Ho decided to ask Ha Jae-Gun about it.

He left the restaurant for a quieter corner to call Ha Jae-Gun, but he received no response despite waiting for quite a while.

The moment Kang Min-Ho put away his phone and turned around, Park Kyung-Wook stepped out of the restaurant and pulled out a stick of cigarette.

“No, I’ve quit smoking.”

“I see. It’s hard forto quit smoking. Hahaha.” Park Kyung-Wook’s forced chuckle did not help Kang Min-Ho feel that he’d grown closer to Park Kyung-Wook. As Kang Min-Ho responded with a forced smile, Park Kyung-Wook continued, “Writer Kang Min-Ho, everything I said earlier was not just talk.”

“Pardon?”

“Please sign one with us if you have any prepared. Star Books has also established our online marketing channels, not just Laugh Books. We’ll provide you with the best treatment possible.”

Park Kyung-Wook then approached with a slightly more persistent look. “How does Laugh Books operate? Do they help the writer to plan the s?”

“No, well… if we have any writer's block, the writers themselves and the CEO would have a discussion on it; they don’t really get involved with the story planning.”

“Which means you’ll have to solve the writer’s block yourself if you get one? Without any help from others?” Park Kyung-Wook jumped in with a question.

Kang Min-Ho couldn’t reply to Park Kyung-Wook’s conclusion, which seemed biased. Park Kyung-Wook took Kang Min-Ho’s silence as an agreement and continued with determination, “Star Books’ editorial department has been renewed ever since I took over, and as I’ve mentioned earlier, we do our best to make sure our writers feel as comfortable as possible in all aspects.

"We’ll even provide you with an office if you require one.”

“I obviously get help from him just by using that office itself.”

“We can provide that shelp to you as well. Well, please don’t misunderstand me, but I personally think that working in the sspace with someone as famous as Writer Ha might cause more damage than help.”

“Damage?”

Kang Min-Ho was disgusted. He could tell that Park Kyung-Wook was indirectly talking negatively about Ha Jae-Gun.

“I’m sorry, but I keep getting calls from home.” Kang Min-Ho pretended to be in a difficult position, holding tightly onto his phone in the pocket, which remained stationary.

“I’ll take this call and go back in later.”

Kang Min-Ho only returned to the restaurant after staying outside for a while. He saw Park Kyung-Wook sitting with the other writers, putting up a plausible argument.

“...Writers, it’s exhausting to put up with a famous writer’s power. Aren’t fantasy or martial arts s a kind of artwork as well? You’ll gloss it over at first, but if it’s interesting, you will do everything in your power. But those famous writers are like those strict trainers, saying that they have to work hard like artisans, plus most of them only got to where they were out of sheer luck.”

There seemed to be several writers around him paying attention to his words.

Kang Min-Ho decided not to go back to that atrocious setting and turned around.

There was no longer a reason for him to stay on in this authors’ meet.

***

The curtains in the room were drawn inside the dark room, where Ha Jae-Gun was typing away on the keyboard, forgetting the passing of time. He had traveled all the way to China, but his daily life was no different from when he was in Korea.

The massive welche had received at the airport was just the tip of the iceberg. The treatment from the Chinese government and Teencent was beyond his imagination.

The hotel room he was staying in now was so huge that he had almost lost his way to the bathroom. There was also the luxury car that he found burdensto board, the staffers, the guide, and the interpreter sent to take care of him.

Ha Jae-Gun could ask just about anything, and what he had asked for would be handed over to him on a silver platter.

“Are you taking a break, Writer Ha?”

“Yes, I can’t seem to focus today.”

Kwon Tae-Won smiled bitterly as he knew why Ha Jae-Gun’s concentration had declined significantly recently.

“You must be upset, right?”

“I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”

“I’ve talked on the phone with the CEO of Star Books, but I never expected things would turn out this way.”

Ha Jae-Gun felt like he was backstabbed. He was originally relieved since Kwon Tae-Won had put in word for Star Books CEO, but how could they announce printing 50,000 copies out of the blue? It was too atrocious of them when he had notified them of the retraction of the publication rights.

“I don’t exactly know why this happened, but…” Kwon Tae-Won trailed off, frustrated at the turn of events. There wasn’t any clause stating that the publisher had to cto a decision after discussing with the author the ’s publication type and typesetting, nor did they have to notify the author before publishing. Of course, this didn't just apply to Star Books. There were no companies in the publication industry that held such a practice of notifying their authors of every single publication decision.

Taking legal action against Star Books would only lead to both parties falling into the gutter. Even Kwon Tae-Won, who had been working in the industry for many years, couldn’t do anything about it.

Kwon Tae-Won’s phone rang. He answered it immediately upon seeing the caller ID.

~

After a few moments, a visitor cknocking on the hotel room where Kwon Tae-Won and Ha Jae-Gun were staying. The visitor was a meticulous-looking man in his late forties, Lin Minhong. He was the head of Teencent Literature’s strategic planning department.

“Hello, Mr. Ha. I hope you liked this hotel.”

“It’s great, although I often get lost in this hotel. It’s my first tstaying in such a huge hotel,” Ha Jae-Gun replied casually, raising the man’s mood as he led him to take a seat.

Lin Minhong was fluent in Korean, so they could communicate freely without an interpreter.

“Thank you. It feels great to hear that from you.”

“But Mr. Ha…” Lin Minhong started cautiously. “The main character of the story is still a Korean.”

“Is there a problem with that…?”

“No, Mr. Ha. It’s not exactly a problem.” Lin Minhong smiled an embarrassed smile, waving his hands. “The ’s background has been changed from Korea to China, so I thought the main character's nationality would change to Chinese as well.”

“Ah, yes. I have decided to keep the main character’s nationality as Korean. He's a young Korean who decided to go to China to find a job.”

Lin Minhong frowned deeply, seemingly perplexed. Before Ha Jae-Gun could ask, he continued, “I’m really sorry, but could you reconsider that decision?”

“Are you askingto change the main character into a Chinese individual?”

“Yes. First of all, I’d like to apologize for not making it clear to you about that in advance. However, the main character of the has to be a Chinese individual. Not just in the but in all the other adaptations. Since we will also have to take into consideration the actors during casting for the movie production.”

"So it has to be two characters from two different countries meeting and getting into a conflict, then slowly coming together to understand each other for the story to be interesting.”

There was also another reason behind Ha Jae-Gun's decision to maintain the nationality of the main character in the second story. However, he hadn’t brought this up to Lin Minhong as Ha Jae-Gun thought that it was still too early to share.

“Yes, please.”

After that conversation, Lin Minhong and Ha Jae-Gun continued discussing other parts of the . Lin Minhong left after saying goodbye. As soon as he left, Kwon Tae-Won’s phone rang again.

“Hello? Yes, that’s right. Pardon? What did you say?” Kwon Tae-Won asked in surprise. He covered the receiver part of his phone and asked Ha Jae-Gun, “Writer Ha, Ms. Yang Ying’s manager just called me.”

“Why did they call?”

“They would like to treat you to a meal since you’re here in China. But of course, informally and in a quiet setting.”

“What would you like to do, Writer Ha?”

“Thank her for her intentions, but decline it politely, please.” Ha Jae-Gun replied softly.

They didn't have a personal relationship with each other, and there was no reason for them to meet by avoiding the public’s eye.

“I’m sorry, but Writer Ha has declined your kind offer. Yes, he’s also busy with writing. No, it’s not really an issue with the schedule…” The phone call was extended due to the continued entreaties. Kwon Tae-Won barely managed to hang up after a while. He rubbed his forehead and let out a sigh.

“They’re really persistent.”

“Why did they want to meet me? They wouldn’t ask to meet if they didn’t have a favor to ask…”

“I think your guess might be right. I think they have a favor to ask of you regarding the Records series, as there’s also the casting issue.”

“Mm… I see.”

Ha Jae-Gun nodded, slapping himself awake. The actors he had already long decided wouldn't be replaced by someone else no matter what. Meanwhile, the setting sun slowly dyed the cityscape of Beijing in its colors.