Chapter 24  

“Hello, Writer Ha, Are you busy?”

“No . I sent in all the Modern Ranking Series and I’m pretty free . Tell me . ”

Jaegun’s voice was brighter than anytime before .

Tewon, with his tongue, wetted his dry lips . Feeling a unknowing anxiety, he carefully opened his mouth .

“I wanted to talk about the sequel . ”

“Ah, the sequel . ”

“I know it might be hard, but following this momentum, it might be good if we release another project . What do you think?”

“Hm, that…”

Jaegun’s voice lost a lot of strength on the other side of the phone .

Tewon also lost some energy . Jaegun answered back to Tewon who was sitting down in front of the convenience store .

I haven’t thought about the sequel yet . And recently I have been writing a lot of projects consecutively . ”

“It could be, there could be health issues . ”

“I’m telling you because you’re the editor, but I’m writing a different work that I’m planning to release it to an exhibition contest . ”

“Exhibition contest?”

“Yes, it’s called the Digital Literary Award that the Minister of Culture and Tourism is hosting . There was a novel that I was working on from my college days so I wanted to work on that and release it . ”

Tewon had a bitter smile on his lips .

“Ah, yes, OK . You write great so there will be a great result . ”

Tewon pressed his regret down and answered with encouragement . He knew that Jaegun was a person that had unlimited energy when writing . Therefore, even though his book didn’t sell well in the past, he opened his heart to him more than he did with the other writers .

“You’re coming to the Writer’s meeting on Saturday, right?”

“Yes . I should come . I promised Somii so I’ll be there . ”

“OK, Writer . Then keep working and I’ll see you in the weekend . ”

“Yes . You too, I’ll see you later . ”

Cutting the call, Tewon took out a cigarette and bit on it . And he realized he didn’t have a lighter .

‘Should I smoke later . ’

Tewon put away the cigarette back away and stood up . He was going to put away buying a lighter for later . In the cloudy summer sky, it was about to pour rain .

……

Vroom!

“Acck, Hey! Rika! You crazy?!”

Jaegun was startled when he came out of the shower .

Rika was scratching the T-shirts that Jaegun was going to wear when he was going out . There was already at least 3 holes .

“What are you doing? Are you telling me to not leave? Huh?”

Jaegun lifted Rika who made the T-shirt into a rag and asked . Rika only turned her head as if saying what did I do wrong .

“Ah, this is bad . This was the best that I could have worn . ”

He hadn’t bought any good clothes in the past years . Since his job of writing wasn’t turning out very well, he didn’t have time to care about clothes .

It was also because he was poor .

He had some times when he wanted to show off, but it was the days that he didn’t feel right even buying a shirt from a cheap mall .

“Rika, Let’s get your nails cut . I’ll learn once, and next time I’ll do it for you . ”

“Meow . ”

Jaegun shuffled through the smelly drawer and found a navy shirt .

It was old so the color on both shoulders and the back section was changed . It was better than the others, so he put the shirt on .

“Thanks Rika for making me spend money . I’ll come back as soon as I can so have fun . ”

“Meow, Meow,”

Jaegun left home and hurried .

It was Seoul, but it was a remote place so he had to walk a distance to get to the intersection with the subway . The sun was hot so soon, his back was sweating .

Jaegun arrived at the subway . He went into a building connected to the department store . The air conditioner air came and cooled down his heated body .

‘I should totally change my mold . ’

Jaegun thought as he looked at his clothes .

He was only going to buy the top . But now, everything from his jeans to the shoes were worn out . They were really old clothes that he had worn for a long time . It wasn’t a short time that he was a one-suit man .

Jaegun went around and moved to the store that fit his preferences . It was the brand that he didn’t even dare to look around in .

A girl employee smiling met him .

“Come in . Do you have anything you’re looking for?”

“I’ll search myself . ”

Jaegun picked a navy PK shirt and a baize slacks and put in on the counter .

As the barcode was scanned, the price on the monitor of the two clothes went over 400 dollars .

“Good work . ”

“Yes, Thank you . Come again . ”

Jaegun went to the shoe store and bought a summer ropper and went to the bathroom . Then on the closest stall, he changed clothes and came out .

‘I should get a haircut, too . ’

Since he changed into the new clothes, now the dirt hair came into view . Since he didn’t have much time left, he pushed going to the barber to tomorrow .

Jaegun only put the jeans in his bag and threw away the shirt and shoes in the trash can and left .

When he looked at the clock, there was only 30 minutes until the meeting time of 4 .

It was going to be late if he rode the subway so he took the cab, which was almost unplanned for . All of them were Hesun’s students and Jaegun’s alumni . Suhee was also in between them .

“Hello, professor, you seem younger than last year . ”

“I’ve read the review on the scholarly world monthly about the plagiarism issue . I thought, of course it’s by the professor . Very witty and piercing without any hesitation . ”

The students all fought to give compliments to Hesun . It was like a madhouse .

There was even a student that even acted like he was dying .

Only Suhee pushed away from the crowd and was bitterly laughing .

“Professor, I wanted to bring Jaegun, but he said he had an appointment today . ”

Suhee said after the greetings . Hesun with a smiling face nodded .

“I know, he gave me a call and came here already . ”

“He came … here?” Why?”

“He wanted me to see his novel . ”

She lifted the novel bunch in her hand .

‘A child of the 90s’ on the title with ‘Ha Jaegun’ as the name, Suhee widened her eyes when she saw that .

“What, Ha Jaegun has no manners at all . ”

Another student behind her sneered and joined in .

The students as if they were waiting all answered .

“Yeah, he can’t even come to the professor’s dinner but he came to show his work, is that guy crazy or what?”

“That guy is funny, professor, you don’t even have to read a work made by a guy like that . ”

The student who spoke last couldn’t possibly say ‘Read my work instead of Jaegun’s . ’ and saved his words .

All of these students except for Suhee was all writing .

They were people who were busy with their work but didn’t lose their dreams of a writer .

Congratulating the professor’s birthday . wasn’t the only reason that they came here .

“Did you read it?”

Suhee asked .

Hesun, instead of an answer, showed the last sentence that Jaegun wrote . Suhee when she saw that, let a laugh .

“How was it? Do you think he could win the Digital Literary Award?”

At the mention of Digital Literary Award, a few students had a surprised look on their face .

They all brought drafts that they were going to enter to the Digital Literary Contest . As The Sun was one of the checkers, this was one of the main reasons that they came here .

“Hm, probably?”

Hesun said that and put Jaegun’s draft in the bag .

A girl student who was planning to enter anxiety gazing asked .

“Is, is his work that good? What is it about? Is the sentences and the descriptions good?”

“No comment, the result must be said . Why are you so curious? Aha, you guys are planning to enter the Digital Literary Contest, right?”

The girl student pushed her gaze down .

Hesun stood up and continued .

“Since I became a judge, don’t have any personal expectation . You know me? Myunghoon came here days ago with his draft . I scolded him because he said to be lenient on him because you’re a judge . ”

“Myunghoon… is also entering?”

The students’ faces darkened .

Jaegun and Myunghoon are both entering .

These two were the best writers between their same college .

“Oh wait, look at myself, you have reserved a dinner? Let’s go before we’re late . I’m hungry . ”

“Yes, professor, Let’s go . ”

Suhee with Hesun went out first .

Behind them, the students were all walking limply, their confidence dropped .

… .

“That writer is Oh Myunghoon . ”

“Ah, the writer who work the Sweet Girl’s room?”

“Yes, the project that being worked into a drama right now . ”

Across the table, there were writers whispering . They were looking at Myunghoon

Myunghoon who was dressed in expensive brands was talking together in between many writers . The writers around him were mostly girls who write romance .

“Maybe if I write romance, I could get the attention of the girls . ”

“Hahaha, don’t say that . You’re making me gloomy too . ”

This was a expensive restaurant called Yaettodamgeol .

StarBooks have borrowed this place for today . There was no other customers except for the 50plus StarBooks writers in the restaurant .

“When I see, it seems like his house also has a lot of money . ”

“Yeah . I feel a bit sick just looking at him . ”

Just then .

The door entered and a person entered the restaurant .

The writer’s glances all came to him . It was a face that they hadn’t seen before .

“Who is that? A writer?”

“Isn’t he a new StarBooks employee?”

Somii, who was cleaning up the table, stood up and turned around . As she looked at the person, a smile appeared on her face .