Chapter 132. I’m An Earthling (2)

It was ultimately not a fancy beginning.

Amongst the overseas blockbusters that occupied the huge screen before, the title There Was A Sea filled the screen silently. It was a slight disappointment to see that the movie only attracted 500,000 audiences in its first week.

"Would it be alright, editor-in-chief?"

"Don't worry. This is just the beginning."

The employees of OongSung Mysterium were filled with worry, but Oh Myung-Suk was calm as the sea.

The movie turned out well—way better than expected. He firmly believed that the audience who had watched and read both the movie and the original novel would start talking about the movie.

"Ah, editor-in-chief. The novel hit a million copies sold yesterday."

"Really? Contact Reporter Park from Movie Walker and Reporter Oh from Cine2000. Let's change some advertisements on radios as well."

"Yes, I understand."

Oh Myung-Suk's bold investment had led to the success of the movie's marketing campaign. This was only possible due to his trust in Ha Jae-Gun as a writer, as well as his novels.

He wanted to prove that he had a good eye for people. If he failed, it meant that he didn’t have a good eye for people. It was soon the second week since the movie was released, and his good eye for people was starting to take effect.

The audience who had watched the movie began sharing their praise for the movie all over the internet.

- The best Korean film of all in recent times. A miscalculation if you miss out on this movie because of Summer in My 20s. (Not referring to Osan in Gyeonggi-do heh.)

- The difference in movie quality after changing the director;;;

- I watched this movie while crying and sobbing T.T I was very worried because of Summer in My 20s, but both my boyfriend and I were crying during the entire movie. Extremely touching T.T T.T T.T

- Although a rookie, Director Yoon Tae-Sung is still great. Seems like his chemistry with Ha Jae-Gun is quite good as well. I read that Ha Jae-Gun wrote the entire script himself.

- I never knew Park Do-Joon was such a great actor…

-Writer Ha Jae-Gun! I think you'll be enjoying a few drinks with Park Do-Joon oppa this time!

The news traveled far and wide.

Word of mouth exerted greater influence than investing high marketing dollars. The positive image of popular actor Park Do-Joon and original author Ha Jae-Gun also played a huge role.

After the audience response came the reviews of the movie critics.

[No such thing as gangsters, the true report behind the life of a thug - Cine2000 Kim Hyo-Sang]

[Great plot and details, a movie unbelievable to be called the work of a rookie Director - Movie Walker Kang Hyung-Suk]

[The name Yoon Tae-Sung engraved on Chungmuro - Movie Journalist Park Paeng-Shik]

[Strong understanding of noir and drama genres, charming characters, and well-thought-out plot creates great catharsis - Movie Journalist Kim Joo-Yeon]

[A genre that captures humans and the era all in one, a struggling life. Korea's Noir scene starts now - Columnist Heo Ji-Wan]

The ratings on the largest portal site in Korea, Navin, recorded a score of 9.1 stars. The netizens gave the movie a relatively high score as well, which was 8.9 stars.

The high reviews added more to the influence. The audience count increased at an alarming rate, pushing past the harsh winter weather into the theaters just to watch There Was A Sea.

Soon, it was the third week since the movie's release.

The audience count had hit over three million.

Various media outlets broadcasted about how the locally produced movie was struggling alone at the box office in this off-peak season.

Even the past novels by the original author and his TV appearances were pouring out in the news once more. The number of people who could recognize Ha Jae-Gun had increased exponentially overnight.

***

'Darn it…!' Woo Jae-Hoon crumpled the newspaper and threw it into a corner of the room. He was furious at the public's praise of There Was A Sea.

'Are all the critics high on drugs or something? 9.5 stars from Cine2000's Kim Hyo-Sang? When he knows full well how I'm feeling right now?!'

He was currently in Park Seok-Ji's personal editing office, where There Was A Sea had done its post-editing as well. He was there to watch over the post-edits for The Himalayas, as it would be released a week later.

"Fuck this shit! How come I’m already out of cigarettes?!" Woo Jae-Hoon picked up a cigarette stub that was smoked midway and tapped the ashes on it away before igniting it once more.

His stubby fingers were trembling. His confidence level dropped as the day of the release drew near.

“Damn it… I’m not going to worry about it… I’m Woo Jae-Hoon…!” Woo Jae-Hoon murmured, encouraging himself.

The Himalayas was a simple, well-liked, and well-known movie. On top of that, the movie was also made available for all ages, and it also had impeccable marketing efforts on TV, radio, and on the Internet.

“Director Woo, Please come in and take a look,” said Park Seok-Ji as she opened the door.

Woo Jae-Hoon rubbed the cigarette stub on the ashtray again and shook his head.

“Why would I take a look? It’s out of my hands now,” Woo Jae-Hoon said curtly, then picked up his coat and stood up.

As soon as Woo Jae-Hoon stepped out of the door, Park Seok-Ji let out a sigh. ‘Why did he film this kind of trash?’

In her eyes, The Himalayas was the worst movie she had ever worked on.

The clips that Woo Jae-Hoon had brought over to her weren’t touching at all, and it felt as if he was trying to force the audience to empathize and cry at the scenes. Park Seok-Ji didn’t feel anything other than disgust at the scenes.

‘It’s absurd to expect a good quality meal made out of rotten ingredients… Sigh, whatever.’

Bzzt!

Her phone in her pocket vibrated.

She grinned upon seeing the name on the screen.

It was a message from Ha Jae-Gun.

- We’re receiving positive reviews from everyone, thanks to your great editing. I’m sure you must be busy, but I just sent over three pizza pans. Don’t just have black bean noodles, and please enjoy the pizza with your team.

Park Seok-Ji accepted the pizza gifticons[1] and immediately sent a reply.

- We’ll enjoy the pizzas, Writer Ha! ^^ See you at the Baeksong Arts Award!

***

“Hahaha.”

“Why are you laughing to yourself?”

“No, I was just talking to the editor of There Was A Sea, and she said that she’ll see me at the Baeksong Arts Award. I feel good hearing that from her.”

“Well, it’s a possibility. The movie was awesome.”

They were at a shabby soondae restaurant near Nakwon Shopping Centre in Jongno.

It had been a while since Ha Jae-Gun had met up with Park Jung-Jin and had a plate of meat as accompaniment over some soju. Park Jung-Jin had just finished watching There Was A Sea by himself before meeting up with Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun filled Park Jung-Jin's empty shot glass with soju and said, "You're always with me regardless of whether I'm struggling or having good days."

"You just had a shot, so how come you’re already drunk?"

"You don't know how grateful I am to you for staying by my side."

"Stop it, punk. If you want to thank me, just treat me to a second round."

"Of course."

Park Jung-Jin filled Ha Jae-Gun's glass and asked, "You're free now, right? Oh, wait, no. You have to get busy with the game scenario for Oscar's Dungeon, right?"

"I'm not rewriting it. It’s my novel, so it's not going to be that tough."

"But why do you look like that? You look tired."

"..."

Ha Jae-Gun downed the cold soju instead of replying. Seo Gun-Woo hadn't replied even once to his questions while he was working on the game scenarios. Ha Jae-Gun had finally realized that he had been relying too much on the Elder.

Ha Jae-Gun put down his shot glass and said, "Hmm, I think I'm just not confident."

"Not confident?"

“I'm not sure if the scenario I wrote was entertaining."

"What did Soo-Hee say?"

"She said it's entertaining."

"Isn't that good enough, then? Soo-Hee wouldn't say nice things to you just because you're batchmates. If she said it's entertaining, it must be entertaining."

"Really?"

“Look at this million-bestselling author spouting nonsense. What? Not confident? Are those words, or were you just barking? Just hand me the drinks."

Bzzt!

Park Do-Joon called.

Ha Jae-Gun put down the soju bottle and answered the call.

"Yeah, Do-Joon."

Hearing Park Do-Joon's name, Park Jung-Jin's eyes widened in shock.

— So noisy. Where are you now?

"Ah, I'm at a restaurant, having dinner and drinks with my friend."

— Friend? Which friend? Are you closer to them than me?

"What kind of question is that? He's my close friend from university."

— Ah, is he Park Jung-Jin? The one you mentioned before?

"Wow, you have a great memory, Do-Joon."

— Can I join you guys, then? I've actually got something to tell you, so I think it's better if I told you personally. Introduce me to your friend, too.

"Is it going to be fine? There are many people here, though?"

— There are already pictures of us eating at Kimbab Heaven on the Internet, so what’s there for me to worry about? Send me the address.

Ha Jae-Gun ended the call and asked Park Jung-Jin for his understanding.

However, Park Jung-Jin’s face brightened upon hearing that Park Do-Joon would join them.

"Hey, of course, it's no problem. I'm glad to have him join us, actually. When will I ever get to drink with such a popular celebrity, anyway? Is he really coming, though?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Thirty minutes after Ha Jae-Gun sent the address to Park Do-Joon, the entrance to the restaurant opened, and a tall man wearing a hat and sunglasses walked in. There weren’t many young people in the restaurant, so no one recognized him yet.

"Over here." Ha Jae-Gun waved.

Park Do-Joon took off his sunglasses and sat down at the table.

"Say your hellos. This is my friend, Park Jung-Jin, and this is Mr. Worldwide, Park Do-Joon."

"Hello, I'm Park Do-Joon."

"Ah, ahahah. He's, it's really nice to meet you. I'm Park Jung-Jin, Jae-Gun's friend."

Park Jung-Jin seemed out of it. It seemed that he still found it hard to believe that Park Do-Joon was sitting at the same table as him.

"Let me pour you a glass."

"Ah, aigoo. I'm sorry. I should have poured you a glass first. Let me pour you a glass afterward. I really enjoyed the new movie, and you're a really great actor, too."

"Thank you. I put in a lot more effort since it was adapted from Ha Jae-Gun's novel."

The three raised their glasses for a toast before emptying their glasses.

Ha Jae-Gun turned to Park Do-Joon and asked, "Where's Tae-Bong hyung? Ask him to join us if he's waiting outside."

"I came alone. Tae-Bong hyung went to attend his friend's wedding."

"I see. Anyway, what did you want to tell me?"

"Let me take a bite of the meat first."

Park Do-Joon took a piece of the meat and dipped it into the salted shrimp before putting it into his mouth. Meanwhile, Park Jung-Jin was staring at Park Do-Joon in a daze.

"You know Three Meals A Day, right?"

"Three Meals A Day? Is that a variety show?"

"You don't know the show? The one with Cha Song-Won and Yoo Hee-Jin. They went to a fishing village to catch meat and prepare their own meals."

"Ohh, that one? I know that." Ha Jae-Gun nodded.

He didn't know the show's title, but the description matched something he had seen before. It was a show that his mother and sister liked a lot.

"What do you think of going on that show?"

"Three Meals A Day? Both of us?"

"Yeah. A close producer friend of mine called me, saying that he wanted to cast us on the show. He said we look good together.”

Ha Jae-Gun was about to reply, but Park Jung-Jin beat him to the chase.

Park Jung-Jin clapped his hands once and said, “Wow! A casting offer from Three Meals A Day? Hey, Jae-Gun, you definitely should go on the show. That’s a really good show.”

“Mm… I’m not sure, I’ll have to think it through.”

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t dare to speak absolutes, as he had no idea how his schedule would turn out in the future. Plus, he had already decided not to appear in any broadcasts without a clear motive for joining them.

Bzzt!

“It’s a call from OongSung’s editor-in-chief. I’ll be back.”

“Hurry up.”

Ha Jae-Gun left the busy restaurant and answered the call.

“Hello, editor-in-chief.”

— Hello, Writer Ha. We’ve recorded four million audience counts this week.

“This is all thanks to you. I really can’t thank you enough.”

— It’s nothing. The script and directing were great; that’s how results are produced. Are you possibly in the middle of dinner?

“It’s fine, please speak.”

— The president of OongSung has asked me to arrange a dinner meeting with you. He wants to thank you for producing two bestselling books in a row.

“OongSung’s president?”

— Yes, hahaha.

Oh Myung-Suk sounded happy. Knowing that Oh Myung-Suk was the eldest son of the president, Ha Jae-Gun chuckled.

“Of course, it’d be my honor. Please let me know when.”

— All right, I’ll arrange for it sometime next week. I’ll let you know once it’s confirmed.

Hanging up the phone, Ha Jae-Gun did not head back into the restaurant but searched for Oh Tae-Jin on his phone. He recalled that Oh Tae-Jin was also a writer before he became the president of OongSung.

‘I should read all his books just in case.’

He ordered Oh Tae-Jin’s latest novel, Your Tragedy, online and then headed back.

“Have a shot, Park Jung-Jin.”

“No, let me pour you one first.”

Ha Jae-Gun returned to his seat and smiled at the sight that welcomed him. In the short while he was away, Park Jung-Jin and Park Do-Joon had already dropped all formalities.

“You guys are already so close?”

“We have a lot in common, and he’s good at billiards, too. We should have a game sometime at Jae-Gun’s basement and use black bean noodles as a bet.”

“Sure. Jae-Gun sucks at billiards, so he can just watch us from the sidelines.”

“Ah, so you know that, too. Humanly speaking, he’s really bad at it. I’ll still win even if I give him a three-cushion handicap.”

“Ugh, you guys. Hey, let’s bet on darts instead.”

The group erupted into laughter.

Amidst the laughter, Park Do-Joon pulled out his vibrating phone.

The name Kim Na-Yeon appeared on the caller ID, but he didn’t answer the call. He slipped the phone back into his pocket and acted as if he hadn’t received any calls in the first place.

1. This is what they call e-gift cards in Korea. ☜