Big Life

Chapter 109. Loud Cheers (4)

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“It’s fine. Please take a seat, Writer Lee.”

Despite Ha Jae-Gun’s words, Lee Yeon-Woo still loitered around him, seemingly wondering if he could be helpful to Ha Jae-Gun in any way.

Once he realized that there was really nothing else for him to do, he took a seat in the middle of the front-row seats.

‘Hoo, a special seat.’

As the time for the lecture drew nearer, the auditorium seats started to get crowded. Lee Yeon-Woo’s heart fluttered in excitement as well, as he was going to listen to the lecture held by the writer he respected the most in the world.

‘Everything that happened to me this summer really feels like a dream.’

Lee Yeon-Woo watched Ha Jae-Gun review his materials on the rostrum as he recalled everything that had happened to him this summer. Ha Jae-Gun was just a mirage for Lee Yeon-Woo—like a celebrity whom he would only see on television.

Lee Yeon-Woo was both happy and satisfied by just loving Ha Jae-Gun’s novels and getting engrossed in the latter’s worlds. Ha Jae-Gun’s novels also provided him with the courage to endure his tough times in the military.

‘Now I’m working in the same officetel as Writer Ha Jae-Gun!’

Lee Yeon-Woo was dumbstruck when he first received the message from Ha Jae-Gun. After that, not only did he receive help from Ha Jae-Gun concerning his contract as a writer, but he even got to work in the same officetel as Ha Jae-Gun, have a meal with him—he even got to drive his car.

Lee Yeon-Woo wouldn’t even dare to imagine that he would one day experience such things back then. Lee Yeon-Woo recalled those events with joy. Seemingly still in disbelief, Lee Yeon-Woo kept rubbing both his eyes.

“Calm down. Don’t cry, shh.”

The voice coming from next to Lee Yeon-Woo pulled him back to reality.

Lee Yeon-Woo was seated next to a young housewife, seemingly in her mid to late twenties. She was comforting her child. Lee Yeon-Woo locked eyes with the child. He puffed up his cheeks, eliciting laughter from the child.

‘Wow, how come there are already so many people here?’

Lee Yeon-Woo’s jaws dropped upon looking around. There were still twenty more minutes before the lecture started, but the seats were already filled. Even Officer Mi-Joon looked both astonished and worried.

"Section Chief, did we ever get such high attendance before?"

"Never. I think all the seats have been filled up. But we can't send them back, so let's have them stand along the stairway on both sides and on the back of the hall."

Mi-Joon and the other officers got to work, guiding the attendees to the respective areas and filling up all the possible empty areas within the hall.

However, there were still people streaming in through the open doors. Most of them were housewives with their children from different age brackets.

'Wow, damn… I did a great job grabbing my seat in advance.'

Lee Yeon-Woo patted his chest, feeling relieved. If he hadn’t taken his seat earlier, he would have had to sit in the back of the hall. Only God would know if he could hear the lecture from so far away.

Soon, the auditorium was filled to the brim. The people behind the closed doors obviously looked disappointed.

Meanwhile, the spotlight was shining on Ha Jae-Gun standing in front of the rostrum.

"Hello, I am Ha Jae-Gun. I don't have much experience giving lectures aside from the one at my alumni university. I’m sure you’ll find my lecture lacking in some areas, so I seek all your kind understanding."

Upon his introduction, silence enveloped the rowdy auditorium. Ha Jae-Gun took in the audience members’ gazes before starting his lecture with a calm and composed tone of voice.

"...The power of creativity is infinite. It doesn't apply to writing alone. We have a lot of mothers joining us here today. I’m sure most of you already know, but creativity can also be applied to creation, such as clay making and beads-crafting."

Everyone seemed to have forgotten their parched mouths as they were unwittingly transfixed on Ha Jae-Gun. They were all listening to his lecture intently.

Most of the audience members were female readers who were thoroughly impressed by Summer in My 20s, so there was no way the level of attention would be low.

Even the library director and the officers stood on one side of the hall, listening to Ha Jae-Gun's lecture.

"The same subject would bring about different results. Even if the result is not what you have been expecting, the happiness born from completing your work will remain. Why? It was because the fun was during the journey. You were already enjoying it."

Ha Jae-Gun paused for a moment, then moved his gaze to the seats in the front row.

He saw a mother holding her child next to Lee Yeon-Woo. The baby kept reaching out to Ha Jae-Gun with their cute little hands while crying.

'That's not good.'

The mother was trying to calm her child down with a flushed face.

Ha Jae-Gun felt unfortunate. Had he not been down with a cold, he would have gone up to calm the child down himself. The mother eventually decided to leave the auditorium, no longer wishing to inconvenience the other attendees.

She hugged her child and picked up her bag.

Just then, Lee Yeon-Woo stepped in.

"Ah goo, goo. Ah goo, goo."

Lee Yeon-Woo sought consent from the mother using his eyes and took the baby from her arms. Like a miracle, the baby's cries abruptly stopped.

Lee Yeon-Woo gently rocked himself with the baby in his arms and signaled to Ha Jae-Gun to continue the lecture.

"That man is my colleague. He’s good at looking after kids, even though he’s a writer,[1] so please don't be worried, madam."

A wave of chuckles echoed throughout the hall.

The baby's mother covered her mouth and laughed shyly as well.

The rest of the lecture went on smoothly. It came to an end after an hour and thirty minutes, including a Q&A session and a short break in between.

There was a thunderous round of applause as Ha Jae-Gun walked down the rostrum.

"Wow, you were amazing, Writer Ha! You're the best!" Lee Yeon-Woo exclaimed as he approached Ha Jae-Gun. "Honestly, I thought it would be a boring lecture. Lectures are mostly boring and dull, but the information you shared didn’t bore me at all. Really, I'm not joking."

"Don't compliment me too much. I actually prepared a few jokes as well in case the atmosphere turned bad, but thanks to you, I didn't have to use them at all."

"What kind of jokes did you prepare? You've got me all curious now."

"Please don't ask."

Their paths were blocked as they were about to leave the auditorium.

The attendees had surrounded them.

“Mr. Ha, please sign on my book.”

“Ah, sure.”

“Me too. And Mr. Ha, my child has to write an essay, but how should he prepare for it?”

“Ah, essays? He will have to read the books a few times…”

“Mr. Ha, what’s the genre of your next novel? Will it be adapted into a movie as well?”

“I don’t think I have the answer to that yet…”

“Mr. Ha, do you have a girlfriend?”

There was no way Ha Jae-Gun could answer the questions the attendees were throwing at him. He tried his best to give out his autograph to those who requested it.

He took photos and answered their questions while heading toward the exit. The auditorium wasn’t that huge, but it took them over thirty minutes to reach the exit.

‘Oh my gosh…!’

Both Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Yeon-Woo freaked out after barely managing to escape the hall. They didn’t freak out because of the travel time from the hall to the exit of the auditorium.

They freaked out because there were twice as many people from the auditorium standing in the hallway outside the auditorium. There were even reporters from the local media outlets with their massive cameras.

“Writer Ha, will we be able to go home today?”

“Ahahaha…”

Ha Jae-Gun ended up spending over an hour at the library before he could finally escape. The tension in him dissipated, and fatigue finally struck him once more.

“You must be exhausted, Writer Ha. Please come in, I’ll drive you back.”

Ha Jae-Gun limped his way over to the car with Lee Yeon-Woo

He opened the car door, but a voice called out to him softly from behind.

“Excuse me, Mr. Ha Jae-Gun?”

Ha Jae-Gun turned around to see the mother seated next to Lee Yeon-Woo during the lecture. She bowed while carrying her baby. “I couldn’t find a chance to thank you earlier. I really enjoyed your lecture today.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I came here because it was your lecture… I barely managed to take a day off to attend. I don’t have anyone else to look after my baby, so I brought him along, but I’m sorry that he made a fuss earlier.” Her eyes turned red, tears welling up in them.

Ha Jae-Gun’s heart softened at the sight.

The mother then turned to Lee Yeon-Woo and bowed to show her gratitude. “Thank you for looking after my baby. I enjoyed the lecture, all thanks to you. Thank you… so much, and I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Aigoo, it’s alright. I like looking after babies, anyway. You don’t have to apologize at all. Peekaboo, peekaboo. See you again, mm? Woohehehe.”

“Um, Mr. Ha. I brought my copy of Summer in My 20s, could you sign it as well?”

“Of course, I’ll sign it.”

“Ah, but it’s in my bag…”

“I’ll take it out for you. Is it in here?” Lee Yeon-Woo took out the book from her bag and handed it to Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun signed her book and returned it to the happy mother, who departed soon afterward.

“Actually, I just completed my self-reflection,” Lee Yeon-Woo blurted while staring at the mother’s departing figure.

Ha Jae-Gun made a sidelong glance at him in confusion.

Lee Yeon-Woo explained, “I actually thought that the lecture was lame at first. More specifically, I thought—no way Writer Ha is good enough to give a lecture to a crowd, even if it’s in a library auditorium.”

Lee Yeon-Woo scratched the back of his head and looked down before letting out a sigh.

“I feel quite proud seeing that mother’s reaction. It wasn’t about the scale of the event but rather about how much help Writer Ha had provided to the people attending it. My vocabulary is weak, so I can’t express this in more detail, but that’s how I felt.”

Ha Jae-Gun smiled and nodded. The crude and clumsy boy’s honest words made him feel warm inside.

“You’re a good person, Writer Lee.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m tired. Please drive me back home,” said Ha Jae-Gun before hopping into the back of the car.

Lee Yeon-Woo tilted his head in confusion but nevertheless got into the driver’s seat and started the car engine. Soon, the car exited the quiet library’s parking lot.

***

“Yeah, Soo-Hee. I’ve given two lectures now, so I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. Yeah, I think I can do well in the lecture for JoyM, so don’t worry.

”Okay, seems like we’ll see each other again on the day of the lecture. Have a good day, I’ll call you again.”

Ha Jae-Gun hung up the call and finished up the last line of the scenario before standing up.

The clock on the wall showed noon.

“Everyone, let’s have lunch.” Ha Jae-Gun clapped his hands to catch their attention before saying, “Let’s continue working after eating.”

“Don’t you guys think that we should be the ones who should tell him to eat?”

“Yeah. It seems like he has recovered from his cold as well.”

“I recovered ages ago. Let’s go. Writer Lee, what are you doing?” Ha Jae-Gun asked as he turned to look at Lee Yeon-Woo.

Lee Yeon-Woo’s face was so close to the monitor screen. He was looking at a website instead of his Word document.

“Writer Ha, look at this. Your library lecture has gone on the real-time search rankings. The baby’s mother even wrote a review for you. The retweets on Twitter are going crazy,” Lee Yeon-Woo said.

Ha Jae-Gun chuckled. He wasn’t that surprised by now whenever something related to him managed to get on the real-time search rankings.

“Wow, Writer Ha! She even wrote something about me! She even thanked me for taking care of her baby! Wow, no way! I’m on the Internet! Oh my god!”

“Writer Lee, you’ll faint at this rate.”

Just then, the door opened.

Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Kwon Tae-Won and Jung So-Mi.

“Oh? Why are both of you here without notice?”

“Tadah!”

Kwon Tae-Won smiled and put out his hands.

His left hand was holding the physical copy of Oscar’s Dungeon volume one while the other was holding a copy of The Breath volume one.

“I secured a copy for you before they were sent to the exclusive distributor.”

“Ah, the physical books are out. Wow, they’re beautiful.” Ha Jae-Gun smiled as he stroked the book covers. Ebooks were getting popular these days, but nothing could still beat the feeling that physical books gave.

“The preorders this time were crazy. The preorders for The Breath aren’t that high because people can also read it online, but I’m sure Oscar’s Dungeon will be a hot topic tomorrow since it’s your latest novel.”

“Thank you so much. Ms. So-Mi—no, Deputy Jung, thank you so much for the illustrations that you’ve done. Please keep it up for volumes five, six, and seven.”

“Pffft! Of course.” Jung So-Mi erupted into a chuckle.

She then pulled out the physical copies of Martial God Management volumes one and two from her bag before handing them over to Lee Yeon-Woo.

“Writer Lee, your book has been printed, too. Here you go.”

“Ah, thank you!” Lee Yeon-Woo exclaimed. He was deeply moved as he accepted the books. He gnashed his teeth and quivered ever so slightly while staring at the books.

“Are you that happy?”

“Wow, I had never imagined that my novel would one day be printed from the same factory as Writer Ha’s books. I really think I have to buy a lottery ticket soon. Thank you very much, really.”

Ha Jae-Gun looked around the office before suggesting, “I think we should have a company dinner tonight. What do you all think?”

“Are you asking the obvious? Of course, I’m down.”

“Will we be going for round two? What about the karaoke?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

The smile on Ha Jae-Gun’s face didn’t go away for a long time. Not only was he enjoying his time working at the office with the other writers, but he had also recovered from his cold.

‘I’ll just have to wait until I’m done with the lecture for JoyM. I’ll focus on working on Gangster’s Sea by then.’

Ha Jae-Gun plotted his schedule for the near future beneath the blue skies of summer.

Hours later, the group stepped out for dinner.

***

Tadadadak! Tadak! Tak! Tadak!

Meanwhile, there was a writer fighting desperately by himself all this while.

The writer’s complexion was as blue as the monitor in front of him. The writer had been rewriting his scenario so many times now that he was no longer allowed to revise it any further. It was the final revision that allowed no compromises.

‘This is the end…!’

He put the final period on the manuscript before uploading it to the planning team’s server. He stepped into the pantry and made himself a cup of strong coffee. He was so tired after staying awake for two nights straight that he had no appetite for lunch.

“Ah, here you are.”

He was about to drink, but a voice echoed behind him. He turned around, and his jaw quivered upon seeing the man clad in a luxurious navy suit approaching him.

The man was none other than the director of the planning department—Nam Gyu-Ho.

1. I think the joke here is that a writer has no time to do something else other than writing? Lol. - Veela ☜