Chapter 51: Follow Me If You Can (6)
“Ah,?you’re not the editor-in-chief, I guess. I think I’ve got the wrong person. I’m really sorry. Please excuse me. Should I turn back and leave from the same route I took?”
Kwon Tae-Won slowly turned around to see that the person behind him was Ha Jae-Gun. Ha Jae-Gun was smiling mischievously at him with his phone held to his ear.
“Writer Ha? How are you… here?” Kwon Tae-Won was flustered. He wasn’t the type to get surprised by most things, so one could only imagine the shock he felt upon seeing Ha Jae-Gun.
Ha Jae-Gun kept the phone in his pocket and looked around while answering, “You mentioned that you lived in this area before, so I just recalled which apartment complex it was. It didn’t seem like you were going to answer the call, but my timing is impeccable, right? If I had gotten unlucky, I could have left without seeing you here at all.”
“Ah,?Writer Ha. Please don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I didn’t want to answer your call, but I’m in a bit of a complicated situation right now…”
Ha Jae-Gun frowned lightly and waved his hand. “Why are you doing this? It’s unlike your usual self. I’m fine. But will you please check your email inbox?”
“My email inbox?”
“Yes, your personal email inbox.” Ha Jae-Gun pointed at Kwon Tae-Won’s phone in his hand.
Kwon Tae-Won looked down at his phone in a daze and accessed his inbox. An email with the subject titled Dragon Rider with three volumes of the manuscript was sent to him.
“Writer Ha, this is…?” Kwon Tae-Won was too stunned to continue his question. He knew very well why Ha Jae-Gun was here, but he still chose to ask the obvious.
He had bowed too much to the writers he had been meeting recently, begging for them to trust him that he would do his best and send their novels his way—he bowed as deeply as he could until he almost felt like his head would fall off.
But none of them, regardless if they were popular or not, responded positively. They all refused him for various reasons. Not one of them had trusted and followed him and his new management company.
However, Ha Jae-Gun, whom Kwon Tae-Won had never approached before, came to see Kwon Tae-Won on his own.
The very same writer, who was no longer an unknown writer but a popular best-seller, had approached Kwon Tae-Won out of his own accord, even to the extent of looking him up and going to his house.
“It’s my new novel. Please read it and give me your feedback.”
“Writer Ha…” A shaky breath escaped from Kwon Tae-Won.
He was all too familiar with Ha Jae-Gun, and that was the reason he had been putting off and keeping the news of his resignation under wraps. He didn’t want to see Ha Jae-Gun suffer any losses if he were to sign a contract with Ha Jae-Gun.
“I’ve come all the way here, so I’m not going back empty-handed,” Ha Jae-Gun said. He bent down to fix his shoelaces and added. “I’ll return after hearing your feedback. If you’d like to sleep early today, you’ll have to start reading now.”
Kwon Tae-Won’s eyes slowly looked at his phone. His vision was turning blurry, and it was getting hard for him to read anything on the screen.
Kwon Tae-Won adjusted his glasses and replied, “I’ll have to read it quickly then. Ah,?you wrote it quite fast this time as well.”
“I guess I’m really on a roll this year.” Ha Jae-Gun grinned as he straightened up.
Not far beyond the nearest street lamp was an apartment complex. Ha Jae-Gun pointed in that direction and said, “Editor-in-chief, I still haven’t had dinner. If you haven’t had dinner as well, how about we grab a meal together over there? I see a pub on the first floor there.”
“Ah… Sure, let’s go.”
Kwon Tae-Won took his eyes off of his phone and led the way to the pub; he also needed a place to focus on reading Ha Jae-Gun’s novel.
“What would you like to have, Writer Ha? Please choose what you want.”
“What about chicken? It’s the easiest menu, so it’s often served fast.”
“All right.”
“Hello. Please give us a portion of fried chicken, and umm…” Ha Jae-Gun trailed off to ask Kwon Tae-Won, “Should I get a pint for each of us?”
“Sure.”
“Please give us two pints of beer.”
The two pints of beer were served first before their food. Ha Jae-Gun grabbed his glass to drink while Kwon Tae-Won started reading Ha Jae-Gun’s novel. Kwon Tae-Won’s eyes started shining like an actual editor-in-chief while he was reading it.
“Here’s your fried chicken.” Their food was served just as Ha Jae-Gun had emptied his pint of beer mid-way. Kwon Tae-Won, on the other hand, hadn’t looked up from his phone even once. The gas from his beer was rapidly escaping.
“Please give me another pint of beer.” Another pint of beer was soon served to Ha Jae-Gun. During that short period of time, Kwon Tae-Won had finished reading volume one and was now reading volume two.
Thirty minutes—no, even an hour later, the two still hadn’t talked to each other. It was only after two hours when Kwon Tae-Won finally looked up with a smile.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“How was it? What do you think?”
“First of all, it’s really interesting.”
Kwon Tae-Won’s first words made Ha Jae-Gun uneasy. He had expected those exact words from him, and he also expected that Kwon Tae-Won’s compliments would end there.
After all, Kwon Tae-Won wasn’t the type to give unnecessary praise.
‘First of all? Which means that he’ll be pointing out all the problems from now on.’
At least, Kwon Tae-Won was the only one whose eye of judgment for fantasy and martial arts genre novels he could trust the most. Ha Jae-Gun nervously took a huge mouthful of beer while Kwon Tae-Won showed him three fingers.
“There are three problems.”
“Keugh, that’s a lot. Please go ahead.”
“I’ll start with the least problematic one. First of all, the title isn’t all that appealing. As far as I know, there’s another writer who has published a fantasy novel with the same title.”
Ha Jae-Gun chuckled upon hearing that. Of course, changing to a better title wouldn’t be that huge of an issue. Ha Jae-Gun continued listening with glistening eyes and perked ears.
“Secondly… Writer Ha, you know that the management I had just set up would be focusing mainly on paid serializations, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Paid serializations refer to releasing chapters with roughly 5,500 characters, so the pace would be different compared to paperback books. And if possible, every chapter needed an introduction, development, turn, and conclusion; the ending of each chapter would also require some sort of cliffhanger, like a drama—it would pull people in to read the next chapter.”
“Yes, I understand.” Ha Jae-Gun nodded. This was something he could achieve if he made slight adjustments to his work, and he had also been reading quite a few paid serialization works recently, so he was confident in it.
“What’s the last problem?” Ha Jae-Gun asked.
However, Kwon Tae-Won didn’t give him an immediate answer, as it was the most serious problem of all. Before answering, Kwon Tae-Won cleared his throat and drank half of his beer which had lost almost all of its gas.
“To be honest, I was warned not to poach any of the writers from Star Books before resigning,” Kwon Tae-Won said without beating around the bush. There was no way he could keep this under wraps any longer, especially when Ha Jae-Gun had approached him first.
If he continued to conceal the truth before him, it would be tantamount to disrespecting Ha Jae-Gun. Thus, he had made the decision to come clean with the latter.
“Star Books is worried that they’ll lose you, Writer Ha. You’d suffer some kind of damage if you were to sign with me.”
“Exactly what kind of damage would I suffer?”
“It might interfere with the marketing of your works,” Kwon Tae-Won said flatly.
“It’s fine if we don’t do anything about the serialization sites like Munpiang and Joayo[1] because those sites are built to be more transparent and fair for everyone. As long as your novel is interesting, the readers would definitely read them,” Kwon Tae-Won added.
“Mm, I see…”
“But it would be different for some other companies. There are many places where novels don’t perform if there are no marketing efforts, and those are the platforms that would provide us with high sales returns…” Kwon Tae-Won spoke so fast that his throat felt parched, making him empty the remaining beer in his glass.
Ha Jae-Gun ordered another pint of glass for Kwon Tae-Won while Kwon Tae-Won continued speaking, “They could give excuses such as there are no more marketing spaces for banners, or their marketing timeline is too tight to fit us in, among many other reasons…”
”This industry is also run by humans and connections, so there are times when these are decided based on these variables. I’ve been dealing with various small business managers in the past week, and my entertainment budget has gone well over 500,000 won.”
Ha Jae-Gun’s jaws dropped in astonishment while Kwon Tae-Won smiled bitterly. The two of them paused the conversation for a moment and bumped their glasses together. Then, they downed their beers until the gas in the beer stung their throats.
“Keugh… I’m sorry, Writer Ha. I’m sorry for putting you under pressure.”
“What are you talking about? It’s nothing like that,” Ha Jae-Gun said as he put down his glass. Now that Kwon Tae-Won had finished his piece, it was time for Ha Jae-Gun to express his thoughts on the matter.
“What do you think, editor-in-chief?”
“My thoughts?”
“If I really do suffer some sort of damage, it won’t be just my problem, right? Your management will also be affected, so I’m asking if you’re still willing to sign a contract with me.”
“Yes, I would sign with you,” Kwon Tae-Won answered without an ounce of hesitation. The game was set, and all their cards were already out in the open. “I would definitely wish to sign with you, even if my management goes under. Of course, I don’t think that would happen.”
“Pardon?” Ha Jae-Gun seemed doubtful.
“It’s because… your novels are really interesting. Regardless of what methods they use to stop us, interesting novels will always sell well. I’m sure of that, at the very least.”
They laughed almost at the same time. They then raised their glasses up high as Ha Jae-Gun said, “We didn’t get to do paid serialization for Records of the Other World, but we’ll be doing it for my new novel. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“It’s the same for me, I’m looking forward to working with you. I’ll do my best.”
“I trust you, editor-in-chief. Wait, you’re the president now. It’ll take some time for me to get used to that.”
“Feel free to address me however you like.”
“Hmm, what’s the name of your management?”
“It’s Laugh Books—so that only happy things happen. It’s better than Smile Books, isn’t it?”
“Wait, editor-in-chief. Aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black here when you basically said that my naming sense is bad?”
“What? I think it’s a good name, plus my wife named it.”
“Hmm, now that I think about it, it sounds like a great name.”
“Hey, look at that quick change of attitude. Anyway, there’s a reason that paid serialization is much more popular recently. The novels using that method have a higher potential to earn more as long as they are in harmony with the company.”
“Yes, I’ll do my best. Where will we start the serialization, then?”
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“I think it’s better if we start from Navin Store or Munpiang.”
“I understand. Let’s toast, President.”
“Sure.”
The friend chicken that had turned cold and the beer that had lost its gas did not bother the two men at all. They continued talking well into the night.
***
“Why are you all so pathetic?!”
It was another day chaotic day in Star Books. The veins on Park Jae-Gook’s neck bulged after hearing the report from his own son and the new editor-in-chief Park Kyung-Wook seated on the sofa diagonally across from him with a gloomy look.
Behind Park Kyung-Wook sat Deputy Ko, whose hands were clasped tightly as he trembled in fear.
“We tried calling him over ten times, I even sent Deputy Ko to find Writer Ha at his residence, but we still couldn’t get hold of him. What more can I do? I did my best, Father.”
“What? Sure, calling him a few times and then sending your own subordinate to him was the best thing that you could have done?! Tae-Won would have repeated it a hundred more times without complaining! And here you are whining to me? You should have that much patience when working in a publishing company!”
Park Kyung-Wook got emotional at his father’s words and raised his voice to protest. “Then, you should have tried to keep him, Father! Why did you let him resign and put me in this position?”
“You punk, just how old are you?! I’ve spent a ton of money to send you to university, and you dare speak to me like this?!”
“Christ! Why are you bringing that up here?”
“You punk!” Park Jae-Gook’s eyes bulged, and they looked like they would fall off their sockets. He even raised in hand in anger.
At the sight, Park Kyung-Wook immediately stood up from his seat, looking all defiant as he said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”
“You, you, you…! Come back here!” Park Jae-Gook yelled.
However, Park Kyung-Wook pretended not to hear his father’s yelling and left the office. Park Jae-Gook clicked his tongue several times in the direction of the door and plopped back onto the sofa. Deputy Ko, who was still in the office, stood awkwardly while still feeling flustered.
“If you have cigarettes on you, just give me a stick.”
“Ah, yes. Here it is, sir.”
Park Jae-Gook took the cigarette and put it in his mouth. Deputy Ko then offered to light the stick up for him with his visibly trembling hands. However, Park Jae-Gook snatched the lighter from him, looking evidently annoyed as he lit the stick himself.
“Seems like the two would join hands eventually. Damn it.”
Deputy Ko could only listen to him quietly with his head lowered.
After puffing an entire stick, Park Jae-Gook said in a softer voice, “Don’t kick up a fuss.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t think of chasing the bus that has left us, and don’t even think of sabotaging them. They have cut ties with us entirely, so let them survive on their own.”
“I understand.”
“Tell this to that punk as well. Off you go.”
“Yes, sir.” Deputy Ko left the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
“Hoo…” Park Jae-Gook sunk back into his sofa and looked up at the ceiling.
He could finally feel the loss that he had sustained, and it weighed heavily on his heart.
1. These are famous Korean novel sites, Munpia and Joara. 👈
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