Chapter 62: A Rise in Ratings (1)
"Hello, Writer Kang Min-Ho. This is Kwon Tae-Won. Your novel's performance is good. Let's maintain this and make sure your story development does not deviate from the main protagonist's growth."
"Hello, Writer Yang Hyun-Kyung. This is Shin Dong-Mi from Laugh Books. Yes, congratulations on achieving 6,000 favorited counts for Slater. We will start paid serialization from next Friday onward."
The only two staffers of Laugh Books were starting to get busy.
Laugh Books had just signed two new novels after having only The Breath in their library for quite a while now. One was Kang Min-Ho's Demon Lord Returns, and the other was Yang Hyun-Kyung's Slater.
The two novels were performing better than expected, thanks to Ha Jae-Gun's help.
He had been dropping by their office every few days to supervise their work and give them various advice.
It was on an extremely windy day in January, and Ha Jae-Gun came to the shabby office once again to spend some time with them. He wasn't here just to supervise their novels. He was also here to work on his own novel by using one of the computers available here.
'It feels pretty good to do this once or twice every week.' Ha Jae-Gun thought as he worked away on the keyboard.
Ha Jae-Gun hadn't experienced working on his novel with other writers around until he met Kang Min-Ho and Yang Hyun-Kyung. It felt refreshing to be working with other people around compared to working alone. He also liked that there were times when he would get new ideas during their conversations.
"Wow, it's already past 5 p.m. Writer Ha, are you not hungry? If you aren't in a hurry, how about we have a meal together?"
"Ah, sure. Please order whatever you want," Ha Jae-Gun replied as he stopped typing on the keyboard. He was making great progress today, and he decided to keep on working after dinner before heading back home.
He wasn’t working as fast as usual because Seo Gun-Woo’s laptop wasn’t with him, but it didn't really matter because he had many chapters in his stockpile.
Bzzt!
All of a sudden, an unknown number started calling him.
"Hello?" Ha Jae-Gun answered the call with his phone held between his face and shoulder. His fingers were still typing away on the keyboard to continue the unfinished sentences on the monitor.
— Hello, is this Writer Ha Jae-Gun?
“Yes, Ha Jae-Gun, speaking. Who is this?”
— I am Jo Seo-Kyung, the person in charge of the Modern Youth Literature Award contest.
Ha Jae-Gun abruptly stopped typing. He removed his phone from his shoulder and held it properly.
— Hello? Writer Ha Jae-Gun?
“Ah, yes. Please speak. I-I’m listening…”
Ha Jae-Gun could hear his voice trembling from the anticipation. His heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it would explode anytime soon, and a hot tingling sensation was coming up from the pit of his stomach up to his head.
— Congratulations. Your submitted work for the Modern Youth Literature Award, Storm and Gale, was selected as the final winner.
Ha Jae-Gun's breathing turned rough. He had expected it when the other party revealed themselves as the person in charge of the contest because he wasn't really expecting any calls from anyone else.
'I…!'
The annual Modern Youth Literature Award would only pick one novel to award.
The competition was intense because winning the award meant that one would be acknowledged by the entire literary society. Therefore, Ha Jae-Gun was understandably dumbfounded upon hearing that he won the award.
"Writer Ha, what's wrong? Did they say bad things to you? Is it a bad news?"
"Shhh, be quiet."
Kang Min-Ho and Yang Hyun-Kyung noticed something strange, so they left the living room and entered the common room so that Ha Jae-Gun could continue his call in private.
Ha Jae-Gun didn’t notice the departure of the two younger men.
— There are a few more days until the official announcement date for the winner of the contest, so please keep things confidential until then. You will have to draft an award acceptance speech as well, so please prepare one that is around…
The person on the other line kept talking. Ha Jae-Gun tried his best to focus on the information that was being shared with him, but the words of the person on the other end of the line were lost to the void for him.
— I will contact you again soon, then.
"Yes, sure. Thank…you."
When the call ended, Ha Jae-Gun looked up at the ceiling in a daze with his now-empty mind. He stared that way for a while. As time passed, the face of a woman appeared and filled the ceiling in all directions, making him feel dizzy.
'I have to meet her…!'
Ha Jae-Gun picked up Rika and his coat immediately. There was someone he had to convey this good news to right now, as it was thanks to her that he was able to complete Storm and Gale.
"Writer Kang, Writer Yang. I'm sorry, but I have to go somewhere right now."
"I-it's not anything bad, right?"
"No. I'll contact you again soon."
Ha Jae-Gun put Rika in the passenger seat and started his car.
Then, he looked up Da-Seul's contact on his phone and dialed her number.
— The number you dialed cannot be reached, please leave a voice message or try again later…
'Damn it!'
Ha Jae-Gun dropped his phone upsettingly. Just why? Why was her phone turned off right now of all times? He couldn’t understand it, especially when he was extremely excited to share the good news he had just heard.
Guessing that she could be changing her phone battery right at this moment, Ha Jae-Gun decided to call again after waiting for a few more minutes, but her phone service was still turned off.
She guessed that she might be charging her phone right now, so Ha Jae-Gun decided to call her again a few minutes later. However, her phone still couldn’t be reached.
'I should have asked about her address...'
Ha Jae-Gun stepped on the accelerator and headed to the place where he met her for the first time. He thought that she would be working during these hours.
It wasn’t that from the shabby office, so he quickly arrived at his destination.
Ha Jae-Gun parked his car right outside the building and carried Rika in his arms before alighting.
As usual, the signboard to Herb Karaoke was blinking wildly.
Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t wait for the elevator. He dashed up using the stairs instead. He tried calling Da-Seul while he was running up the stairs, but her phone still couldn’t be reached.
"Welcome." The lady boss with thick makeup greeted Ha Jae-Gun as he stepped into the karaoke outlet.
Ha Jae-Gun bowed slightly to her before asking, "Hello, do you still remember me?"
"Hmm? Now that I think about it—Ah!" The lady boss clapped and exclaimed, "You're the young man who dabbles in ink!"
"Yes, that's right. I'm here to ask about the karaoke helper I was looking for the previous time, Ms. Da-Seul. Her phone is turned off, so I'm wondering if there are any other ways to contact her. It's urgent."
"Hmm, I haven't seen her around for quite some time, though?"
"Huh? Why?"
"I don’t know. I said that because I really haven't seen her around for quite a while now, plus I'm not close enough with the uncle in the office to ask her whereabouts. Why is she not answering her phone? Did she borrow money from you?" The lady boss asked with narrowed eyes.
Ha Jae-Gun held his forehead and shook his head. "When did you last see here?"
"Hmm, probably a week ago."
"Could you… possibly help me look into it through the office?" Ha Jae-Gun asked in a hopeful voice.
However, the lady boss revealed a firm look and shook her head. "I can't help you this time, Mister. I could get myself into a sticky situation if I were to do that. You understand, right?"
"...Okay, I understand."
"I think you should just wait. Perhaps she broke her phone, and she sent it for repairs," the lady boss comforted the disappointed Ha Jae-Gun. She stared at him as if he were pitiful.
Ha Jae-Gun bowed weakly to the lady boss before leaving.
"Sigh… Rika, where can I find her?" Ha Jae-Gun asked Rika in his arms as he stood in the bustling street while staring at the passing crowd in a daze.
"Thinking back, I feel guilty. She had texted me a few times asking to meet up for dinner, but I always rejected her with excuses, saying that I was busy. I said that I would contact her, but I didn't hold up my end of the deal."
Guilt surged in him, especially when he recalled her teary look as she poured her heart out to him with the determination to find her mother after becoming a celebrity.
"Meow, meow."
Rika struggled to get out of Ha Jae-Gun's arms. She finally managed to jump down Ha Jae-Gun’s arms when the guilty Ha Jae-Gun started to feel weak.
However, the street was packed with people, so Ha Jae-Gun said worriedly, "Rika, don't go too far. Come back here."
Rika was walking elegantly along the run-down walls of the building before finally stopping at the foot of a woman wearing a pair of sports shoes.
"Oh, my, you're so cute. What's your name?"
"...?!" Ha Jae-Gun's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The reflection of the woman kneeling in front of Rika appeared in his eyes.
"Are you a Russian Blue? Are you a female? Where's your owner?" asked the woman with her nose crinkled. However, the woman was none other than Da-Seul.
Ha Jae-Gun slowly took a step and another toward her. He felt as if an unknown force was pulling him toward her. Noticing a shadow looming over her, Da-Seul looked up.
"Oh? Writer Oppa?" Da-Seul greeted him with a smile. She looked exactly the same when she met her last time, there was almost no traces of makeup on her face.
Ha Jae-Gun stared down at her and smiled.
"What are you doing here? How have you been?" asked Da-Seul.
"It's final."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The story that I wrote with you as the female lead has been selected as the winning novel."
The smile on Da-Seul's lips stiffened. The bustling streets were noisy, but silence engulfed the pair in the middle of the street as they stared at each other.
"Meow." Rika broke the silence and walked in between them.
The two finally looked away from each other and stared at Rika instead.
"Why is your phone turned off?"
"Ah, the screen died, so I sent it for repair." Da-Seul stood up because her legs were starting to cramp. "I encountered a violent customer. I sent a message and put my phone on the table, but he knocked it over, so the phone fell and broke. Of course, he paid me to have it repaired."
"I see."
Da-Seul grinned and took a step forward. She stared into Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes and tilted her head from side to side while saying. "So? Did you come here just to tell me that?"
"You know you’re the reason I managed to complete it."
"No way. You’re a great writer, so you would have been fine even without me. I think that was also the reason why your novel got selected."
"Are you not working today?"
Da-Seul seemed shocked to hear that as she looked down at her own outfit.
She was wearing a baggy sweater and jeans. "How can I work in this? And I haven't been working for almost a week now. I’m not really my best right now, and it's the end of the year, too."
"I see… So what are you planning to do now?"
"I have nothing to do, so I'm out here buying myself some beer, of course."
"What a coincidence."
"What, coincidence?"
"I'm thinking of fulfilling the promise I made about how I will treat you to a good meal someday."
“Pfft!”
Da-Seul burst out into laughter.
Ha Jae-Gun grinned while looking down at Rika in his arms.
"How long ago was that? The interest rate is high, so it’ll be expensive to pay it straight."
"You can decide; whatever you want."
"I'll rip you off right down to your bones."
"It doesn't matter."
Da-Seul stood right next to Ha Jae-Gun and linked arms with him brazenly as if they were long-time friends or even lovers. He already knew of her free soul-like personality, so he wasn’t flustered by her actions at all.
"But what about your cat? I don't think we can enter most places with her."
"There must be somewhere that will allow her. Of course, I can also leave her at home. I don't live too far from here, anyway. Hop on board."
Ha Jae-Gun walked ahead of Da-Seul and led the way to his car.
Da-Seul was surprised. "Writer Oppa, you must be earning a lot, huh? You even have a car now."
"It's not an expensive car. Come on."
The two of them got into the car with Rika and slowly left the bustling street. Little did they know that Rika’s eyes were emitting beams of light while she was all curled up in the car.
***
"Are you saying to hire Writer Oh Myung-Hoon again?"
There were only two people in Nextion's small meeting room. One of them was Lee Soo-Hee, the team leader of the planning team, while the other was the director of the development department.
"It has been agreed. You can listen to the details from Director Park when he returns."
Lee Soo-Hee looked down and bit her lips. Their company was developing a new RPG game with a high degree of freedom.
The game's story was about sixty percent complete, and they were currently discussing who they should hire to work on the game's scenarios.
"Anyway, I've got nothing more to say. You can ask about the reason and all from Director Park yourself, so arrange a meeting with Writer Oh Myung-Hoon tomorrow. Bye." Game Director Park wrapped up the meeting and left the room immediately afterward.
The shell-shocked Lee Soo-Hee leaned in her chair.
The news left her reeling.
'How…? Jae-Gun is not inferior in any way compared to Myung-Hoon. Jae-Gun has released many popular novels, and he even won the Digital Literature Award as well.'
Was there a powerful force pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Lee Soo-Hee had been planning on making Ha Jae-Gun the scenario writer for this large-scale game because the racing game that he had worked on back then ended up being canceled.
Ha Jae-Gun’s work was still with her, and everyone on the team had long acknowledged his writing chops.
However, Oh Myung-Hoon was suddenly added to the picture. Lee Soo-Hee immediately judged that Oh Myung-Hoon wasn’t fit for the job due to his work ethic, even though his writing was good enough.
However, work done alone and with a team were two entirely different things. She could never accept how Oh Myung-Hoon would always throw a huge fuss and actively strive to make everyone’s lives harder.
"Hoo, my head." Lee Soo-Hee massaged her pounding head and stood up.
She was in desperate need of a cup of coffee.
She dragged her feet and headed to the pantry. However, she could have never expected that guest who was waiting for her in the pantry.
"Do you want some coffee?"
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