Chapter 129. There Was A Sea (11)

There was no one in the room. The perfectly made bed astonished Kim Na-Yeon.

Did Hong Ye-Seul leave for Seoul while she was busy filming?

Just then, there was a click from the bathroom door.

"Hey, Hong Ye-Seul! You were in the toilet?" Kim Na-Yeon yelled.

"Yeaaaah… Unni, I'm about to shower. What's wrong?"

"I thought you had already left. Hurry up and come out, help us stand in for some supporting actors who couldn't make it."

"What?"

Hong Ye-Seul flung the bathroom door open. Hong Ye-Seul didn't even think of covering up herself as she stared at Kim Na-Yeon, completely bewildered.

"It's nothing much. It's just a fight scene between gangsters at a restaurant, you'll just be acting as a villager living here. There's nothing much for you to do either, so hurry up."

"Uh, unni. Can't you leave me out of this? I don't really look that good." Hong Ye-Seul slowly retreated. She wasn't afraid of going on camera. There Was A Sea was Ha Jae-Gun's movie. She was still not ready to show up in his movie.

"They don't care about looks at all, so just go. The assistant casting director asked me to get you on it. Help me out, will you?"

"..." Hong Ye-Seul wordlessly bit her lips.

Kim Na-Yeon's gaze suddenly traveled downward, and she gasped, "Look at this girl's hips! You're making me mad, huh?"

"Are you trying to embarrass me?"

"Just how much have you exercised? What are those abs?"

"Ah, ahaha! Stop touching me, unni!"

Hong Ye-Seul couldn’t withstand the tickles and fell.

Kim Na-Yeon fixed her towel-wrapped hair and turned around.

"I'll be waiting for you, so wash up and hurry on out," said Kim Na-Yeon as she closed the door behind her.

Hong Ye-Seul stood up. She turned, and her reflection in the mirror seemed to reflect all the worries in the world.

***

"Yeah, noona."

— You sent money to me again? Why did you send such a huge amount to me? I've already said countless times to stop sending me money. Should I really get angry at you?!

Ha Jae-Gun squinted one of his eyes and pulled his phone slightly away from his ear. Ha Jae-Gun waited until Ha Jae-In's nagging had simmered down before answering, "It's for you. Don’t you want to set up your own school? Isn't that more than enough for you to do it? How are Mom and Father?"

Ha Jae-Gun quickly changed the topic, afraid that her nagging would continue.

Ha Jae-In let out an audible sigh.

— Dad is out looking for jobs again.

"What? Why?"

— He's complaining that he’s feeling sore all over from just staying at home. I've nagged him and told him not to take up any dangerous or arduous work.

"Which job on earth isn't arduous? Please stop him, noona."

— Do you think he would listen to me?

"That's true, but…"

– What about you? How's life at Donghae? It should be quite cold since we're entering winter now.

"The wind is strong here, but the temperature is quite high compared to the metropolitan city. And it feels like a dream to be able to see the sea every morning when I wake up."

– Are you trying to tease me? You're making me want to go to the beach, too.

"Let's come together as a family again next time. And let's build a vacation house, too."

Ha Jae-Gun talked on the phone for a while more, then hung up. The world looked quite dreary when he looked out the window, so it wouldn't be weird if it started pouring all of a sudden.

The gray sea made the view look desolate as well.

'I didn’t expect that I’d stay here for so long.'

Ha Jae-Gun thought that he would be able to return after a week here, but it was already past half a month, and Ha Jae-Gun had even personally torn the month's page on the calendar in his room.

'Everyone should be doing fine, right?'

He thought of all the writers back at the office whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

How did Kang Min-Ho and Jang Eun-Young's relationship turn out? After them, the faces of Lee Soo-Hee, Park Jung-Jin, Kwon Tae-Won, Jung So-Mi, and finally Oh Myung-Suk, appeared in his mind.

"Meow."

Rika, sleeping in a corner of the room, approached Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun picked her up and placed her on his lap, then turned to his laptop. The screen showed the incomplete manuscript for volume seven of Oscar's Dungeon.

'I should start picking up the pace with this novel.'

Now that There Was A Sea had come to an end for him, he should put all his focus on Oscar's Dungeon, as it was contracted with Nextion for the game adaptation.

Ha Jae-Gun let out a sigh as he watched the flickering cursor on the screen.

He had been stuck on volume seven for the longest time now.

The content he had been writing couldn’t satisfy him.

Furthermore, there was an even larger issue than that.

'Please say something, Senior. What do you think of this scene where Oscar gets stuck in the dungeon because of the crumbled entrance? Is it interesting?'

However, Seo Gun-Woo didn’t reply to him.

He had asked countless questions while working on his novels, and Seo Gun-Woo had always replied to him. They had been able to hold long discussions over those questions. The conflicts they would find themselves in over the questions had always allowed Ha Jae-Gun to find the direction of his story.

However, the frequency of replies was decreasing. The same went for Oscar's Dungeon. As Ha Jae-Gun started writing volume seven, he had received zero responses from Seo Gun-Woo's soul, no matter how many questions he asked.

Ha Jae-Gun felt like his future was bleak.

Bzzt!

His phone rang; a text from Jung So-Mi had arrived.

- How's everything going? I've drafted episode one with the help of the storyboard artist that President Kwon introduced to me. I sent it to your inbox, so please take a look when you're free!

'That was fast.'

Ha Jae-Gun accessed his inbox and opened episode one of the webtoon Oscar's Dungeon.

He started smiling while reading it.

'Wow, this is good.'

He had always liked her drawing style, so there was nothing for him to fuss about.

The angle composition of each scene and position made the reading experience smooth.

Ha Jae-Gun sent Jung So-Mi a reply with a smile.

- It looks awesome. I can see that you've put a lot of effort into it. This is great.

- Thank you for the compliments. But is it alright to proceed with this?

- You should do as you feel, not based on my opinion. What I've said aren't empty words. If you were with me right now, I would have treated you to a huge meal!

- Oh my, you're making me want to teleport to Donghae right now!

Ha Jae-Gun put his phone down, and his smile disappeared completely after a while.

He felt more anxious about his writing after looking at the great work Jung So-Mi had produced for him.

"This can't go on, Rika. Regardless of the results, I should at least finish the draft manuscript and send it over to President Kwon as soon as possible. Otherwise, I might just end up working on volume seven until the end of this year."

"Meow."

Ha Jae-Gun closed his eyes momentarily and cleared his mind of all thoughts. He threw away the reliance he had on Seo Gun-Woo and stopped asking questions. His fingers on the keyboard started typing out the story development he had in mind.

***

"Cut!"

Director Yoon Tae-Sung shot his hand up high.

Sobbing in each other's embrace, Park Do-Joon and Kim Ji-Won finally broke off the hug and stood apart, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Great job, everyone! Let's head back up to Seoul now!"

The applause from the staffers echoed throughout the site. The scenes in Donghae had finally been filmed. A wave of sadness flashed across everyone’s faces who had finally been freed from the arduous routine.

“You've worked hard, Director."

"You too, Mr. Do-Joon and Ms. Ji-Won. The scenes were great. Where is the post-editing section chief? Where did they say the after-party was?"

A large crowd formed around Yoon Tae-Sung.

Meanwhile, Kim Na-Yeon and Hong Ye-Seul stood by the beach, far from the large crowd. They were drinking coffee from their paper cups.

Hong Ye-Seul had been acting as a stand-in for a few scenes in the last few days, so she wasn't in her usual outfit. She was currently in flowery work pants and rubber work boots that were stained all over with dirt.

"This suits you quite well, Hong Ye-Seul."

"Aish, why are you teasing me? Are you showing off that you're acting as Ba-Da's friend, and you get to look all pretty on screen?"

"So what? The movie hasn't premiered yet, and I've already gotten heaps of malicious comments on the Internet," Kim Na-Yeon said, mocking herself.

Hong Ye-Seul stomped angrily and yelled, "How dare they say all those things about you! They should learn how to mind their business! You shouldn’t worry about those malicious rumors."

"Well, it's not all rumors—"

"Unni!"

"All right, I'm sorry."

Kim Na-Yeon placed her paper cup down and pulled Hong Ye-Seul into a hug. She was grateful to Hong Ye-Seul for getting mad for her sake. Of course, she was also thankful that the latter was trying to cheer her up.

"Cheer up, Unni. Don't look back, just focus on the road in front of you. Hmm? How can extras do this to a supporting actor? Hehe."

"Yeah, I will. I've gone through so much to make this happen."

"Yes, of course."

Hong Ye-Seul hugged Kim Na-Yeon by the waist and tapped her back. She clearly knew Kim Na-Yeon's passion for acting, even though she had to enter the streets of the late-night entertainment district due to her family's financial difficulties.

"You've made a great decision to get out of that hell hole early. You didn't have to see the darkness of that world. If you had… you would have turned out just like me."

"What do you mean, turn out like you? Why are you always saying that? What's wrong with being like you?!"

Just then, a commotion echoed somewhere else.

Kim Na-Yeon and Hong Ye-Seul let go of each other and turned.

"Looks like it's Writer Ha Jae-Gun."

"...?!" Hong Ye-Seul abruptly turned pale

Kim Na-Yeon was right. Twenty steps away from them were Park Do-Joon and Ha Jae-Gun talking to each other.

"Writer oppa—no, why is Writer Ha here?" Hong Ye-Seul quickly corrected herself and asked Kim Na-Yeon.

Kim Na-Yeon nodded in their direction without looking away and said, "I have no idea, but they said that the director and writer would discuss changes in the script during on-site filming. That's why he's here and staying at the bed and breakfast."

Hong Ye-Seul's lips trembled, and she looked down at her outfit.

She started retreating.

"What's wrong?"

"Mm… I don’t feel good. I want to go back and rest."

In truth, Hong Ye-Seul didn't want to meet Ha Jae-Gun in her current state, as she had declared that she would only appear in front of him once she could face him with confidence. She was also not prepared to get her necklace back just yet.

"Ms. Na-Yeon, Ms. Ye-Seul. You guys were here?"

The assistant casting director recognized the two and approached them.

"We're going to have a small after-party at a sashimi restaurant. There are more than enough seats, so do join us together with your sister."

"Okay, we will be there soon. Thank you for the invite."

Kim Na-Yeon turned around after finishing the conversation with the assistant casting director to see Hong Ye-Seul already walking far ahead toward their accommodation.

Kim Na-Yeon ran over and stopped the latter, asking, “What’s wrong? You were fine all this while, but you’re suddenly feeling sick?”

“I don’t know; I feel a bit hot. I don’t think I can go to the after-party. Unni, you should go and enjoy yourself there.”

“In that case, you should eat something before going back. You’ll need to eat something before having medicine, anyway.”

Hong Ye-Seul smiled wearily and shook her head. “I’ll get myself a roll of kimbap and head back. Don’t worry about me and go, Unni.”

“All right… I’ll be back soon.”

“No, I’ll be sleeping anyway, so you should enjoy yourself there. Bye.”

Hong Ye-Seul wrapped her arms around herself and headed back to the accommodation.

Kim Na-Yeon watched Hong Ye-Seul leave before turning around to head to the sashimi restaurant.

***

“Auntie, please give us another plate of sashimi!”

“We don’t have enough soju here! Just bring them by the boxes, not in bottles!”

The after-party was held at the largest sashimi restaurant in the area.

Dozens of staffers and actors chattered loudly among themselves.

“Assistant Director, please have a shot.”

“No, Writer Ha. I should offer you first.”

“I’m the first to offer, so you should accept mine first.”

The assistant director received the drink with much reluctance, and then he poured a shot for Ha Jae-Gun.

They were currently seated at the innermost corner of the restaurant. Ha Jae-Gun, Yoon Tae-Sung, the assistant director, and Park Do-Joon were seated at this table.

“Ha Jae-Gun, what’s this? Where’s my shot?” Park Do-Joon asked and tapped Ha Jae-Gun on the shoulder.

With his back leaning against the wall, Park Do-Joon stretched his long legs out and swung them side to side as if he were an octopus.

“You drank a lot. Look at your face, it’s all red.”

“It’s fine. Just pour me a shot, quick,” Park Do-Joon urged.

“Whatever…” Ha Jae-Gun knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop Park Do-Joon, so he eventually poured him a glass.

Park Do-Joon slowly lifted his glass and spoke with hiccups, “Hey, Ha Jae-Gun, I’m not saying that because I’m drunk—Hicc!”

Unlike his words, Park Do-Joon’s gaze looked extremely relaxed. He had become much more susceptible to alcohol since the filming had finally ended, which meant that he was no longer nervous.

Park Do-Joon patted his chest slowly and said, “You don’t know how happy I was to be able to act as the male lead of your novel.”

“I’m happy to have you acting as my novel’s male lead.”

“Ah, I’m really happy to have known a writer like you. This isn’t just empty words. I originally thought you were quite arrogant at first and thought you’d be a handful to deal with—hicc! But it turns out that you’re a kind person. I really have to thank Chae-Rin—eup!”

Park Do-Joon couldn’t complete his sentence because Ha Jae-Gun had covered his mouth. Ha Jae-Gun whispered into his ear, “Are you crazy? There are so many people here…!”

Park Do-Joon seemed to have understood as he nodded in response.

He had almost revealed his relationship with Chae-Rin.

Ha Jae-Gun released his grip on Park Do-Joon and poured a glass of cold water for the man. Park Do-Joon downed the glass and shook his head violently. “Wow, I can’t go on. I think I should go out for some fresh air.”

“I’ll go with you.” Worried for Park Do-Joon, Ha Jae-Gun followed suit.

The two stepped out with the slippers provided by the restaurant and headed to the carpark behind.

Just then, Ha Jae-Gun’s phone rang.

“I’ll answer this call for a while. Hello?”

— Hello Writer Ha. Have you had dinner yet?

Kwon Tae-Won’s voice sounded unusually bright.

Ha Jae-Gun watched as Park Do-Joon curled on the bench and replied, “Yes, we’re having an after-party. Today’s our final day here. What about you, President Kwon? Have you had dinner yet?”

— Yes, I’m already full. Ah, I’ve read the draft for Oscar’s Dungeon volume seven.

“Ahh, I see… What do you think?” Ha Jae-Gun asked in a worried tone.

Kwon Tae-Won’s reply was unexpected.

— I think it’s great. It was fun. The parts that you pointed out in the email weren’t weird to me at all.

“Really?”

— I don’t say empty words, Writer Ha. You kept saying how you’re meeting difficulties while working on volume seven and thinking that it’s very boring. I was honestly worried, but it’s great. Ms. So-Mi thought the same as well.

“I’m very glad to hear that…” Ha Jae-Gun heaved a long sigh of relief.

Seo Gun-Woo’s absence had been weighing down on his mind. He felt relief as the burdensome weight he had on his mind was lifted off of his mind.

“Yes, President. I’ll see you soon when I head back up.”

Ha Jae-Gun spoke on the phone for a while more before ending the call.

Meanwhile, Park Do-Joon was curled up on the bench, scrolling through his own Twitter feed on his phone.

“Shall we head back? You’ll catch a cold at this rate.”

“Hey, Jae-Gun, let’s take a photo together for a keepsake. I want to upload it on Twitter.”

“Will you be alright? Your face looks quite red.”

“My life motto is to be natural. Come quick.”

Park Do-Joon put his arms around Ha Jae-Gun’s and tapped on the capture button. The faces of the two men smiling broadly at the camera looked heartwarming rather than absurd.