Chapter 133. I’m An Earthling (3)

"Ahh…" A groan with an unknown meaning escaped Kim Na-Yeon’s mouth. She unconsciously let go of her phone to grab a soju bottle. She drank straight from the bottle. She was currently in the studio where she shared and lived with Hong Ye-Seul.

Kim Na-Yeon's eyes looked empty under her loose and wild locks.

She grabbed her phone again and opened the browser once more.

- A host girl?;;; Filthy;;;

- To think that a girl like her selling her smiles and body is acting like a good girl character like Eun-Hee… The betrayal T.T

- Huh, no wonder I thought her charming eyes were rare… it’s actually because she’s been in those waters. Being a face reader runs in my family.

- I heard that this lady is famous in the North Gyeongsam province…

Kim Na-Yeon smiled mockingly at herself. Not only did the rumors keep coming back, but they were getting ridiculous and distorted as well. For example, she had never been to the North Gyeongsam province.

It was a simple problem with a simple solution: avoid reading those malicious comments. Both her roommate, Hong Ye-Seul, and Park Do-Joon, who gave her the courage to step onto the road of becoming an actor, had told her the same solution.

However, she kept drinking the concoction despite knowing full well that it was poison. Just like the soju beside her, which she was drinking with an empty stomach and without any accompaniment.

'Do-Joon oppa, what should I do? Please give me some advice…'

Beep, beep, BEEP!

A distinct noise echoed from the door, and the main door soon opened.

Kim Na-Yeon didn’t even bother turning around.

"Unni!" Hong Ye-Seul let out a shrill cry upon seeing Kim Na-Yeon. "You're drinking without eating anything again?! Where did you get that soju from? Did you go out and buy them back again?!"

"Stop shouting, my head hurts."

"Then you should not make me angry!" Hong Ye-Seul snatched the soju bottle from Kim Na-Yeon and poured its contents into the sink. She then turned on the lights in the room and drew the curtains open.

Kim Na-Yeon lay weakly on the floor.

"Let's have dinner, Unni. Should I make bean paste stew?"

"I don't have any appetite. You can go ahead and eat by yourself."

Hong Ye-Seul wanted to cry seeing Kim Na-Yeon’s state.

Kim Na-Yeon was extremely precious to her. Kim Na-Yeon had fed and let her stay with her when she had nowhere else to go. Kim Na-Yeon even gave her advice on her acting without expecting anything in return.

"Unni…" Hong Ye-Seul forcefully held back her tears. “Unni, don’t be like this. My heart hurts seeing you like this.”

“...”

Kim Na-Yeon closed her eyes, and a teardrop trickled down her cheek.

She buried her tear-stricken face into a large pillow.

Bzzt!

Hong Ye-Seul's phone rang.

She headed to the bathroom to answer the call.

"Hello, assistant director."

— I've just sent you the scenario. The director asked you to look at it and give him a call afterward.

"I'll check it out right away."

— What’s up with your voice? Are you sick?

"No, I think I'm just tired."

— You must have been quite nervous during the camera testing today. Take care of your health. I think the director has high expectations of you.

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

— Alright, I'll be hanging up.

Hong Ye-Seul hung up and opened her email inbox.

The script of a short film written personally by director Yoon Tae-Sung was in her inbox. She opened it to read, but she couldn’t quite grasp the words within it.

***

"Let's have the story up to volume three of Oscar's Dungeon made into Season 1 for the webtoon. Oscar should already be the owner of a dungeon by the time the players enter the game, and the antagonist would be the guild master, his enemy."

"I've got no objections."

"We've also started working on the original image for the dragon. It's not urgent, but if you could clean up the scenario first, the planning team will have an easier time working with it."

"I've got no objections to that either."

"You've seen the items list, right? Do you have any suggestions for the title?"

"I'm quite satisfied so far since you've done such a great job. I'm fine with it as is."

Ha Jae-Gun's positive response kept flowing like water. Meanwhile, seated across him was Nam Gyu-Ho, who looked like something was bugging him.

Nam Gyu-Ho, Lee Soo-Hee, three members of the planning team, and Ha Jae-Gun were having a meeting at a small conference room in Nextion's mobile planning department.

Ha Jae-Gun had been a receptive audience to the planning team’s plan so far.

'What's wrong with him? Is he really fine with everything? I thought he'd be quite picky, but this is the complete opposite of my expectations.'

Nam Gyu-Ho was getting frustrated as he couldn’t deduce Ha Jae-Gun’s thoughts.

He was the type to get angry if he couldn't grasp the other party's thoughts, and he found it absurd that he was slightly apologetic toward Ha Jae-Gun.

'I want to start an argument, but there's no way for me to…!'

The scenario Ha Jae-Gun had sent over was close to perfect. The simple worldview and charming characters were a great fit with what Nam Gyu-Ho and Lee Soo-Hee had envisioned.

"Shall we end the meeting here today, then?" Nam Gyu-Ho asked with nothing more to say, and he began arranging the documents on hand.

Just then, Hye-Mi reached her hand into her pocket for her phone, which had been recording the entire meeting's content.

"Please continue to do a good job, Writer Ha."

"Same here, director. I'll see everyone next week then."

"Yes, please stay safe on the way back."

Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee left the meeting room first.

Nam Gyu-Ho sat back down in his chair and looked through the proposal once more. The remaining team members gathered around him and started asking flatteringly.

"You're really fine with Writer Ha's scenario, right? You’ve always been meticulous, so we're not that worried."

"I found the scenario slightly boring before, but you've done a good job improving it with the suggested edits, Director."

Nam Gyu-Ho looked up from the proposal and said, "What are all of you saying? Are you playing with me?"

"Pardon…?"

The faces of the team members turned pale in an instant.

Nam Gyu-Ho fixed his loosened necktie and stood up.

"We've already talked it all out during the meeting earlier. All of you kept praising his scenario during the meeting, but now that he's gone, you're saying the opposite? Are you telling me that everything you said during the meeting was a lie? Are we playing games right now?"

"I'm sorry, Director. We didn't mean it that way…"

The members couldn't even protest properly.

With a contemptuous look, Nam Gyu-Ho looked at each of them with a smile.

"Aha…! Are all of you still not sure about my working style? We're not gamers—we’re game producers. Stop spouting nonsense and get to work. Understood?"

"I…I understand."

"I'm really sorry, Director."

Nam Gyu-Ho strode out of the meeting room. The team members lost all strength in their legs, and they fell back into their seats.

Meanwhile, Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee were standing in the lobby, waiting for the elevator.

"Are you really okay with everything, Ha Jae-Gun?"

"That's surprising."

"What is?"

"I thought you’d made sure everything was cleared during the meeting."

"..."

Lee Soo-Hee bit her lips. If the person standing before her were someone else, she wouldn't have been acting this way.

"I'm really okay with everything. I thought you planned it out with the director. The proposal looks entertaining enough, and it felt like I was already playing the game."

"I feel better when you say that."

"I don't have any objections to the items that were brought up at the end either. Actually, I just realized that my naming sense is bad."

"Really? I found your naming sense unacceptable since our university days."

"That's too much coming from you, Team Leader Lee Soo-Hee. Shall I give up on this deal right now? You really put your all into poking me at where it hurts."

Lee Soo-Hee covered her mouth, chuckling away.

The elevator doors opened before Ha Jae-Gun.

"See you again a few days later. I'll call you."

"Mm, stay safe, and make sure you have dinner."

Ha Jae-Gun stepped into the basement carpark and opened the passenger door to his car.

Lee Yeon-Woo was in the driver’s seat. He was browsing the Internet with his laptop.

He looked up at Ha Jae-Gun with a smile and said, "That was quick, hyung."

"Did something good happen?"

"Look at this. Director Woo's The Himalayas just released, but it only got an average rating of 5 stars from the critics."

"And I thought there was something else that made you so happy."

"What a refreshing news—Ah, hyung. Yeah, this is what you call a true beatdown. He had been dissing you in his interviews, but look, your movie hit the first in the box office rankings just last weekend! There's no way The Himalayas in its first week can beat There Was A Sea in its fourth week!"

"Calm down. We should go now."

"Hahaha, okay. We're heading to Mugyo-dong, right? Ah, I'm really happy. I can't wait to see how much There Was A Sea, with a production cost of five billion won, would surpass The Himalayas with a production fee of eleven billion won."

Lee Yeon-Woo grinned and chattered even as he started the car engine and keyed in the address of their next destination.

Ha Jae-Gun only smiled silently and leaned back in his seat.

Just then, he picked up a book. It was Oh Tae-Jin’s Your Tragedy.

'Oh no… I totally forgot to read this after purchasing it!'

Today was the day he was scheduled to have dinner with OongSung's President Oh Tae-Jin, and his eldest son and editor-in-chief, Oh Myung-Suk.

The time was 5:20 PM, and there was only an hour left until their dinner arrangement.

'I never thought I’d be so desperate for the horn-rimmed glasses I left back at home.'

Ha Jae-Gun opened the book and started reading. Noticing that Ha Jae-Gun was focused on his reading, Lee Yeon-Woo turned off the radio and drove the car carefully, making sure that Ha Jae-Gun wouldn’t be disturbed.

'Oh, it's in the first person narrative.'

The novel started off by introducing the three main characters in the story. The speaker Me/My, and My’s friend You, as well as That Girl/She whom both Me and You liked.

'He must have been an aspiring writer.'

Me and You were first-year students of the creative writing department, dreaming of becoming writers. The story was written from My’s perspective of observing You.

I am a youth, who writes more diligently than anyone else.

However, I haven’t been able to catch up to my friend, You, no matter how much effort I put in. Even so, I do not feel any malicious or contemptuous inferiority to You. Instead, I respected and tried to learn from You.

You only know of writing and words. You would even stop eating or drinking just to write, making my heart ache.

All of a sudden, she appeared in front of us.

"..."

Ha Jae-Gun had fallen deep into the story even before he could flip past page ten. The understated narrative drew his attention, making it feel as if he were watching a real-life story unfolding before his eyes.

Soon, the car arrived at its destination.

Ha Jae-Gun was still immersed in the story, oblivious to his surroundings. Lee Yeon-Woo didn’t disturb him, waiting quietly for Ha Jae-Gun.

Roughly twenty minutes later, Ha Jae-Gun closed the book and looked up in surprise.

"Oh, what? When did we arrive?" he muttered in astonishment.

Lee Yeon-Woo chuckled in the driver's seat and said, "I was waiting quietly for a while, seeing how engrossed you were in the book. There's still, let's see… seven minutes until your next appointment. Was it an interesting book?"

"Yep. You should read it, too."

Ha Jae-Gun picked up his coat and opened the door.

"Thank you for today. You can go back to the office now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"All right, hyung. Enjoy your dinner."

Ha Jae-Gun turned around and saw the entrance of a restaurant.

He verified the name of the pufferfish specialty restaurant and headed in.

"Welcome, sir. This way, please."

Oh Tae-Jin and Oh Myung-Suk had already arrived at the neat restaurant.

Ha Jae-Gun hurried over to them and said, "I didn't know you'd be here so early. I should have come earlier to wait for your arrival, I apologize."

"It's still early until our agreed time. It's because my son—no, the editor-in-chief and I, had nothing else to do, so we decided to come earlier. Hohoho."

Oh Tae-Jin laughed heartily and reached out his fleshy hand. As he shared a handshake with Ha Jae-Gun, he continued, "My name is Oh Tae-Jin. I'm extremely happy to meet you, Writer Ha. Thank you for bringing in profits to OongSung."

"I'm ashamed. It's my honor to meet the president of OongSung Publication Group."

Ha Jae-Gun sat across from the older man and engraved the latter’s appearance into his mind.

The grayish yet thick eyebrows and his sturdy build had a touch of unkempt appearance to it. Oh Tae-Jin had to have done some exercises to maintain his good health. Ha Jae-Gun was envious of the regular routine the old man had been maintaining, as he had been having the toughest time maintaining a routine.

"The restaurant is quite shabby, but I vouch for their food. This restaurant has been running for over thirty years, and I've been frequenting this place since my thirties."

"It's not shabby at all."

Amongst the dishes laid out on the table before them were pufferfish skin, salted fish with sauce, fresh kimchi, Korean-style pancakes, and other side dishes.

Ha Jae-Gun took off his coat and took his seat. Then, he spoke in a respectful tone of voice, "I would like to ask a favor from you, President."

"Hahaha, from me? What is it? Please speak."

"Could I get your autograph?"

Ha Jae-Gun asked and placed his copy of Your Tragedy on the table. Oh Tae-Jin's face, while pouring water into his own cup with a smile, hardened evidently.

"I was impressed while reading this. The story was extremely vivid; is this based on a true story?" Ha Jae-Gun asked.

Clack!

Oh Tae-Jin flinched, and the cup in his hand slipped.

The spilled water flowed and trickled down the table.