Chapter 112. Loud Cheers (7)

“What…?” Ha Jae-Gun muttered incredulously.

Woo Jae-Hoon’s words were no different from saying, “It’s all thanks to my directing that this movie could gain this much popularity.” Woo Jae-Hoon had concealed his usual flippant personality and expressed it in a roundabout manner because he was on a live broadcast.

‘Am I the only one taking this seriously?’

Ha Jae-Gun clenched his trembling fist in deep thought.

He wondered if it was all because he was the author of the original novel, and that was why he took it seriously and to heart that everyone else didn’t find the director’s remark to be an issue.

‘I can’t…’

Ha Jae-Gun realized one thing.

Ever since he had made the decision to go ahead with the movie adaptation and wash his hands off it, the issue still clung onto him, tugging so very often in the back of his mind.

He had been turning a blind eye to it, but he finally saw that his work—which was akin to his alter-ego—had been unreasonably looked down upon, and he was giddy with rage.

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun was surprised to see Lee Yeon-Woo calling him so late, as it was nearly midnight. He answered the call immediately, wondering what made the boy call him at this hour.

“Yeah, Lee Yeon-Woo.”

— Hyung, what’s going on? Did you see the broadcast?!

Lee Yeon-Woo’s furious voice was so loud that it hurt Ha Jae-Gun’s ears.

“Broadcast?”

— Did you see what bullshit that Director Woo Jae-Hoon—Ah, I’m sorry for raising my voice, hyung. I was just too angry.

Ha Jae-Gun could vividly imagine Lee Yeon-Woo’s furious look.

Ha Jae-Gun finally realized why Lee Yeon-Woo had called, and he frowned.

“So you saw it, too.”

— Hyung. How can anyone say something like that? Isn’t he just blatantly saying that the original novel was bad and the movie was this successful, all thanks to his skills?! Why didn’t the broadcast station edit that portion out of the show?!

“They must have thought that it wasn’t that excessive of a comment to be removed. Calm down.”

— How can I calm down? I’m going crazy about it. Wow, seriously! How dare he spit on the original novel when he’s just a stupid director who had ruined countless other movies?!

“All right, stop it.”

Ha Jae-Gun smiled. He was truly grateful that Lee Yeon-Woo was so furious as if this was his personal issue. Lee Yeon-Woo’s anger had assuaged his own anger before it could boil over.

— Hyung! Don’t give a shit about that sloppy director. That’s just shit barking and not human language. Okay?! Summer in My 20s is the best!

“I get it. Thank you. It’s late now, so go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office.”

— Okay, hyung. You should rest well, too, I’ll see you tomorrow. That bastard…!

Lee Yeon-Woo’s angry muttering could still be heard until the call ended. Ha Jae-Gun put his phone down and did some stretching. He was still smiling.

‘Thank you, Yeon-Woo.’

It would be absurd if a single call from Lee Yeon-Woo could erase all the anger in Ha Jae-Gun’s heart. However, he did receive some comfort from the latter. At least, the resentment that wouldn’t have helped him in any way had disappeared.

‘I don’t have to be worried about it. I just have to be myself as always.’

Ha Jae-Gun steeled his resolve, but he decided to lie down in his bed instead of returning to his desk. It was time for him to sleep and regain his energy. However, Park Jung-Jin was snoring loudly and was occupying the entire bed.

***

The next morning, Ha Jae-Gun woke Park Jung-Jin up, and the pair of best friends ate some lunch boxes that they had bought from the convenience store for breakfast.

“Are the lunchboxes at convenience stores getting better these days?”

“Yeah, but I get sick of them if I eat them too often.”

Park Jung-Jin chewed while looking around the studio. His eyes were filled with premature longing. “I think this will be my last day seeing this studio.”

“Nonsense, you should come help me on the moving day, too.”

Park Jung-Jin immediately pretended to throw up.

“Just hire some people to help you move, man! Why are you making your friend a slave when you’re earning so much money?”

“I’ve got important stuff, so help me with them.”

“You’ll be dead meat if you just treat me to black bean noodles afterward. Anyway, how much is your new house?”

“1.33 billion.”

“Fucking expensive. What’s with the thirty million at the end? Can’t they just give you the discount?”

“It was 1.4 billion, but I negotiated a seventy million discount.”

Their conversation ended there.

Park Jung-Jin hurried to the shower and put his clothes back on. He patted down his crumpled shirt and grumbled, “Damn, I’ll have to go to work looking like this again. I should have gone straight home last night.”

“Hey, everyone else stopped you, but you wanted to go for a third round, and that’s how we ended back at my house, right?”

“Whatever. I’m going to take a walk to sober up; don’t follow me.” Park Jung-Jin was about to step out, but he turned around and said, “Don’t mind that dumbass director.”

“You’ve already looked it up on the internet?”

“I’m going now.” Park Jung-Jin stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled once more, grateful to his best friend. Park Jung-Jin was never really good at consoling others, but he did it for Ha Jae-Gun, anyway.

It was time for Ha Jae-Gun to prepare to head out for work.

The morning air was unusually fresh today.

“Let’s go, Rika.”

Ha Jae-Gun started working at 9 a.m. The feeling of typing away on the keyboard while sipping his hot coffee seemed much more enjoyable today.

“Writer Ha, you seem to be in a good mood today,” Jung So-Mi asked as they stepped out for lunch.

Jung So-Mi would usually come to the office whenever she had to work on the illustrations, as the computers in the office had better specifications.

“Well, it’s all because the weather is great today,” said Ha Jae-Gun with a bright smile, but he lied.

He had actually been linked to Jung So-Mi’s emotions the entire morning while working on Gangster’s Sea. Thanks to her, it was easier for him to pen the descriptions for the charms and psychology of the female character, Ba-Da.

After lunch, Ha Jae-Gun continued working. Thankfully, Jung So-Mi did not step out of the office and continued working in the office as well.

‘Mm…!’

It was already past 3 p.m. Ha Jae-Gun paused his work and stretched his back.

The evident fatigue was weighing down on him.

‘I got tired much faster today than yesterday. Is it because of the drinks I had with them last night?’

However, he hadn’t drunk a lot last night. He had less than a bottle of soju, as he was worried about his work for the next day.

Ha Jae-Gun stood up and was about to make himself another cup of coffee, but he spotted Rika lying down by the windowsill.

‘...Rika?’

Ha Jae-Gun approached Rika quietly and waved his finger over her face.

She didn’t respond.

‘Hmm?’

Rika would usually curl up and nap whenever Ha Jae-Gun was working, but she would immediately wake up whenever Ha Jae-Gun moved.

“Rika, are you sleeping?” Ha Jae-Gun asked, gently stroking her neck.

Rika opened her sleepy eyes and stared at Ha Jae-Gun before letting out a soft cry.

‘Wait…!’

Ha Jae-Gun suddenly thought of something the moment his gaze met with Rika’s.

He had never thought of it before, but his jaw dropped open upon recalling the previous instances.

‘Now that I think about it, I get tired faster than usual whenever I use Rika’s ability, and there were also a couple of times when I fell asleep without realizing it.’

Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes remained on Rika as he slowly made the connection.

Could it be that Rika would also get exhausted while they were connected? Perhaps it was much more taxing on Rika, as she was the medium that had to keep the connection up between Ha Jae-Gun and his target.

‘Rika, am I right?’

Ha Jae-Gun asked inwardly as he got on his knee and stared at her at eye level. Rika yawned before slowly picking herself up. She then licked his nose in reply to his question.

Jang Eun-Young turned around and saw Ha Jae-Gun staring at Rika

“Writer Ha? Is Rika feeling unwell?” she asked.

“No, I’m just… talking to her.”

Jang Eun-Young grinned, then burst into a chuckle. “I get jealous of your relationship sometimes. Are you sure you’re not going to marry Rika?”

“...!” Jung So-Mi flinched and paused. She turned around wide-eyed. The other party was Rika, but the word marry had caught her attention.

‘Sorry, Rika. I won’t go over an hour a day next time.’

‘Meow.’

Ha Jae-Gun and Rika replied to each other telepathically. Ha Jae-Gun hugged Rika once more and had his coffee before returning to his desk. He reached out for his keyboard and took a deep breath.

‘Let me try this on my own. I shouldn’t depend too much on her if it’s tiring her out.’

Ha Jae-Gun slowly closed his eyes.

He recalled all the moments he had come into contact with Jung So-Mi, and his fingers moved slowly as he typed genuine lines while imagining Jung So-Mi as Ba-Da.

***

- Editor-in-chief, I’m sending you the draft of Gangster’s Sea. Please look through it and give me a call afterward.

“Hmm? He’s already done with the first draft?”

Oh Myung-Suk looked at the calendar, double-checking that it had indeed been a week since he had asked Ha Jae-Gun to start working on the novel.

“Was he already writing it before I asked him? He’s so diligent, as always.”

Oh Myung-Suk chuckled and accessed his email inbox. He clicked on the email section and opened the attached document.

‘He’s great as usual. It’s as interesting as the scenario.’

Oh Myung-Suk was engrossed in Ha Jae-Gun’s novel right off the bat.

Cho Kang-Jae was the leader of the gang dominating Seoul and Incheon. He was hired to attack Kim Pil-Woo, the head of his rival gang, in exchange for money that would resolve the issue of his parents’ hospital bills. However, he failed, and his attack ended up as an attempted murder case.

He withdrew his initial plan to turn himself in and chose to flee.

A huge gang war occurred between Cho Kang-Jae and Kim Pil-Woo’s gangs, and new information traveled to Cho Kang-Jae’s ears. Kim Pil-Woo apparently had a secret daughter.

Cho Kang-Jae devised a plan to make use of Ba-Da on the negotiation table, and that was how he embarked on the journey to a small city in the East Sea looking for Ba-Da.

Oh Myung-Suk finished reading the draft in slightly over an hour.

While making himself a cup of coffee, he called Ha Jae-Gun.

— Hello, editor-in-chief.

“Hello, Mr. Ha. I’ve finished reading the draft for Gangster’s Sea. It’s great. When did you write this?”

— Well, the first half of the scenario is done, and we’ve already agreed on the ending for it as well, so it wasn’t that difficult. However, the scenario isn’t complete yet. How did you find the novel?

“I already told you that it was great, didn’t I? I think it’s as interesting as Summer in My 20s, but it’s much more outstanding. Our domestic readers love some drama, so I’m sure it’ll be a hit. I don’t think it’s too much of an issue even if we push ahead with the draft alone.”

— Thank you, but I’ll still have to make revisions.

“I’m sorry, but I might need you to hurry on the revisions if possible. Summer in My 20s is still going strong, and if we release a novel to ride that momentum, the sales will reach greater heights.”

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

— I guess I’ll have to do that. Can you give me about a week’s time?

“What? A week? Hahaha, you don’t have to push that far. We can do with a month for the novel’s revision.”

— Okay, that’s more than enough time for me. I’ll try my best to submit it earlier. Is there anything else you want to point out about the novel?

“Ah, mm. It’s not really that important…” Oh Myung-Suk trailed off as he looked at the novel’s title. “I was thinking that we might have to change the novel’s title.”

— Ah, the title… I thought it wasn’t that bad because the female character’s name is called Ba-Da, and she lives by the sea as well…

Hearing Ha Jae-Gun’s dejected tone, Oh Myung-Suk hurriedly said, “Yes, the title is not bad. But… it feels weird with the word gangster in it. It feels somewhat harsh and stark.”

— How about A Wastrel’s Sea?

Oh Myung-Suk almost let out an audible sigh.

“Um, Writer Ha. How about we consider taking another perspective to come up with the title? I’ll come up with a few options as well.”

— Thank you as always…

Oh Myung-Suk stayed on the call for a while more before hanging up. He then called an employee of Mysterium’s editing department.

“Please inform the entire editorial department. Have everyone read the draft of Gangster’s Sea and come up with at least ten decent titles to be submitted by tomorrow.”

With that, Oh Myung-Suk looked out the window and stared at the clear blue skies of late summer.

He sipped on his coffee while trying to come up with a few decent titles himself. He also started mentally listing a few directors just in case the novel got popular enough to get adapted into a movie.