Chapter 61: Not Alone (6)

“I really enjoyed the king crab.”

“...?!”

They had just eaten their meal, and they were now having fruits for dessert. Ha Jae-Gun, who was picking up a piece of apple mid-way, thought that he had misheard something.

Ha Suk-Jae was seated across from Ha Jae-Gun, and he looked down at the latter, looking all brusque as he continued. "It tasted even more delicious and was even more enjoyable because it was my final meal of the year with my family, including my son.”

Ha Jae-Gun's mother and sister, Myung-Ja and Ha Jae-In were stupefied. Their faces had the word disbelief written all over them because Ha Suk-Jae would usually speak not a single word whenever Ha Jae-Gun was home.

"O-oh my… What's wrong with you today?"

"Well, it was delicious, and I saw that you enjoyed it a lot, too."

Myung-Ja beamed, and Ha Jae-In's face was shining proudly. It had actually been quite a while since the family atmosphere felt this warm, and they had been missing this feeling for a long—long time.

It was December 31st—the final day of the year, and the dinner they just had together was their final meal of the year.

Ha Jae-Gun was overwhelmed with emotions. While he was buying crabs at the fish market, he had never expected to hear any good words from his father. He was actually hoping that the night would pass smoothly with his father eating quietly at the table with them without getting angry at him.

However, he couldn’t have imagined that his father would say that he enjoyed the meal and that he even enjoyed it more because his son was around.

Ha Jae-Gun was touched, and it was because he knew very well that his father had never been the type to say empty words, especially on the final day of the year.

"I should get going."

Ha Suk-Jae put down his fork and stood up. Myung-Ja threw a look of regret at him as he picked up the coat that he had laid out on the sofa earlier. "Seriously, it's the end of the year holidays, why can't you take a day off?"

"Do you really think that an apartment complex's security guard can take a day off whenever they like? There's no one else available to work today. Isn’t that why I took a day off on Christmas?"

Ha Jae-Gun stood up as well and followed Ha Suk-Jae.

Rika had been quietly playing by herself on the sofa, but she immediately stopped playing and quickly followed Ha Jae-Gun.

"Let me send you to the apartment complex."

"You don't have to—stay with your mom and sister."

"I also have to go back home, anyway."

Ha Jae-In chimed in upon hearing that. "It’s the holidays, so you should stay over."

"I have to be somewhere for work. I'll come and visit again soon. Plus, Suwon isn't all that far, anyway."

The father and son pair were finally sent off by Myung-Ja and Ha Jae-In.

Ha Jae-Gun had turned on his car engine remotely, and it buzzed silently at the parking lot in front of the apartment building.

He opened the passenger seat door for Ha Suk-Jae.

At the sight, Ha Suk-Jae muttered, "It's just a short walk away."

"It's very cold out here, so let's just take the car."

The drive was extremely short. It didn’t even take a few minutes by car. Ha Jae-Gun focused on his driving while Ha Suk-Jae looked out the window at the passing scenery. It was awkward because they didn’t talk at all during the journey.

"Father."

Ha Jae-Gun finally broke the silence upon pulling up at the entrance of the apartment complex where Ha Suk-Jae was supposed to work today.

"Please stop working as a security guard," said Ha Jae-Gun.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

That was it; he didn’t say anything afterward.

Ha Suk-Jae's eyes widened in surprise, but he soon recovered his composure.

He patted Ha Jae-Gun's shoulder and said, "Thank you for the lift."

"Father…"

"Be careful on your way back, and come back to visit us again sometime," Ha Suk-Jae said and closed the passenger seat door behind him.

Ha Jae-Gun watched as his father walked away. He continued staring blankly into the space, even though his father had already disappeared from his sight.

“

Meow

.” Rika cried out. She moved from the back passenger seat onto the front passenger seat. Ha Jae-Gun came back to her senses upon hearing her cry.

“Sorry, Rika, I was thinking about something.”

Ha Jae-Gun slapped both of his cheeks to keep himself awake.

Then, he stepped on the accelerator. He made a decision to work even harder next year, which was tomorrow. He had to keep working until his father couldn’t stop smiling. As if mimicking his resolve, his car ran at full speed.

“Wow, Min-Ho Hyung, your novel got three thousand views?”

Yang Hyun-Kyung exclaimed in surprise while sipping on his cup of coffee in their shabby office at Guro station. Kang Min-Ho’s new serialized novel,

The Demon Lord Crashed-Landed In Earth

, was performing relatively well so far, even though there were only twenty-five available chapters.

“You must be happy… At this rate, the paid serialization service will be completely viable for your book.

Argh

, I should complete my manuscript as soon as possible,” added Yang Hyun-Kyung.

Yang Hyun-Kyung was twenty-five years old, and it had already been a month since he got discharged from the military and left his hometown to join the other writers here in this office. His motive was clear—to write an exciting novel and accomplish his dream of living as a writer.

However, he had yet to start on a proper novel.

Whatever he wrote couldn’t excite him; he would spend the entire day writing about a different topic and deleting them.

He would then repeat the same cycle at least twelve times a day, and it seemed that it would be the same even on the final day of the year.

“

Haa

, this damned editor and my trash writing! What should I write? Someone, please throw me a great subject that’ll become a hit!

Ah,

I want to leave this place. I got no money and no woman; what kind of year-end is this?!” Yang Hyun-Kyung shouted in frustration, ruffling his hair up in the process.

All of a sudden, the door opened after the sound of someone keying in the passcode rang. Thinking that it was Kang Min-Ho, Yang Hyun-Kyung didn’t even turn around as he continued pulling on his hair.

“Excuse me.”

“

…Hmm?!

” The unfamiliar voice made Yang Hyun-Kyung look up in surprise.

The person standing on the porch was Ha Jae-Gun. He was holding a box of pizza and a box of chicken in his hand while Rika was circling around his feet.

“I’m friends with Writer Kang Min-Ho. I called him earlier, and he said that he’ll be out for a while, so he gave me the passcode.” Ha Jae-Gun explained.

In a daze, Yang Hyun-Kyung nodded and stood up.

It was his first time meeting Ha Jae-Gun.

“Please come in and have a seat. He should be back soon.”

“Thank you.” Ha Jae-Gun entered and placed the boxes on the dining table.

Yang Hyun-Kyung’s mouth started salivating upon seeing the pizza and the chicken. He hadn’t made his debut just yet, so those were luxurious menu items that only the bourgeoisie could enjoy.

‘

Hyung, hurry up and come back…!

’ He was desperately praying that Kang Min-Ho would return sooner rather than later so that he could sink his teeth into the delicious food in front of him.

Yang Hyun-Kyung suppressed his desire to unbox the food and sat back in his chair.

He resumed browsing Munpiang with a hand supporting his chin.

“

Haa…

” A heavy sigh came out from habit.

He was on the page of

The Breath

, written by Poongchun-Yoo, which was ranked first place on the platform. His envy toward the successful writer was overwhelming him, even though he hadn’t even written a single novel just yet.

Of course, even Yang Hyun-Kyung himself thought that he was pathetic.

“He must have earned at least 200 million won this month alone.”

Ha Jae-Gun, who was reading a book behind Yang Hyun-Kyung, took a peek at the monitor over the latter’s shoulders. He smiled bitterly upon seeing

The Breath

on the monitor. He shrugged and continued reading the book in his hand.

“He must be eating well and playing at fun places, right?”

Ha Jae-Gun looked up again. There was no way he could respond since Yang Hyun-Kyung was busy with his monologue.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Poongchun-Yoo. Kang Min-Ho Hyung said that he’s in his twenties, but since he is now sitting on a huge mountain of cash, he must be busy spending them right now, right? He must be having a crazy night somewhere.

Haa

, I’m so jealous…”

”Meanwhile, I’m stuck here in this basement on the final day of the year, burying my head in writing and hoping to earn at least a million from it. It’s the end of the year, so what am I even doing?”

Yang Hyun-Kyung opened

Word

while complaining without expecting any response from his guest. The draft of his newly written fantasy novel filled the monitor.

“

Ah,

my future is really bleak.”

“Is that a novel you’re working on?”

Yang Hyun-Kyung turned around and nodded in response. “Yes, do you perhaps like fantasy novels?”

“Of course.”

“Would you like to take a look? I’m not sure if this is actually interesting or not, especially since I’m the one who wrote it.”

“Sure.”

Yang Hyun-Kyung then stood up for Ha Jae-Gun to take over the seat. He stood behind Ha Jae-Gun with his arms crossed as he continued. “It’s around 15,000 characters; just think of this as an introduction to the novel.”

“

Mm,

okay.”

It was a short draft, so there was no need for Ha Jae-Gun to use the brown horn-rimmed glasses. Ha Jae-Gun grabbed the mouse and started reading the document while scrolling down the document.

‘

It’s a real mess.

’ Ha Jae-Gun came to that conclusion mid-way through the document.

It was a story about a monster-infested modern-day Korea. There was a ton of head-hopping and foreshadowing. There were also too many characters, and it was actually difficult to identify the main character.

‘

Writer Kang Min-Ho’s draft was much better than this.

’

After reading the entire document, Ha Jae-Gun finally stood up.