Big Life

Chapter 114. Loud Cheers (9)

There were only ten minutes left until 7 p.m.

The train had come to a stop at Apgujeong station. Crowds started streaming through the open subway doors, and among them was Ha Jae-Gun. Unsure if they might have alcohol later, he chose not to drive and took public transport instead.

Ha Jae-Gun looked for the exit. It might have been his first time heading to the agreed location, but it wasn’t difficult for him to find his way around since he had looked up the directions earlier.

Just as Ha Jae-Gun left the station…

“Um, excuse me.”

A group of five or six high school students surrounded Ha Jae-Gun out of the blue.

A young man with a relatively large build was one of the high school students.

The sudden turn of events caught Ha Jae-Gun off guard.

“Excuse me, are you Writer Ha Jae-Gun, who appeared in A Writer’s Study?”

Ha Jae-Gun’s rigid expression softened, and he replied with a smile, “Ah… Yes.”

The female students exclaimed in excitement and held each other's hands while jumping for joy.

"I knew it! I'll never forget a face I've seen!"

"After watching Summer in My 20s, I even went to read the book! But I think the book is much more interesting than the movie…"

"Writer Ha, are you close to AppleT's Chae-Rin unnie?! Do you meet up and hang out often?"

"Do you know the other members of AppleT?"

"Have you met Do-Joon oppa during the filming period?"

The students chattered for a while. Ha Jae-Gun had to take photos and give his autograph to each of them before he could finally escape from the group.

'Oh no, I'm going to be late.'

Ha Jae-Gun picked up the pace as he looked down at his wristwatch.

The Korean restaurant where they had agreed to meet wasn’t that far from the station, so it didn’t take him that long to arrive.

Two female staff greeted Ha Jae-Gun at the door.

"Hello, I'm here under a reservation."

"What is the name used for the reservation?"

"It should be under the name Park Do-Joon. My name is Ha Jae-Gun."

"Ah, I see. Please come this way." A female staffer led Ha Jae-Gun to a corner near the back of the restaurant. The area was surrounded by a wooden partition, blocking it from other diners. Ha Jae-Gun walked around the partition and finally found the space leading to the table.

"Ah, welcome." Park Do-Joon stood up and greeted Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun was dumbfounded. Park Do-Joon wasn't by himself.

Director Woo Jae-Hoon was present as well.

"Hello. I heard from Do-Joon that he's meeting you for dinner tonight, so I shamelessly invited myself to join you. I have quite a few things to discuss with you myself."

"..." Ha Jae-Gun remained silent.

Were Woo Jae-Hoon's words the truth? Did he use Park Do-Joon to meet him?

Regardless, Ha Jae-Gun felt uncomfortable.

He thought that Park Do-Joon should have given him a heads-up.

"Writer Ha, please take a seat here."

Park Do-Joon gestured to Ha Jae-Gun, worried that he might leave.

Fortunately, Ha Jae-Gun took the seat, albeit with a complex expression.

Park Do-Joon moved to the seat next to him.

"First of all, I would like to apologize to you about the incident on the broadcast interview," Woo Jae-Hoon jumped at the chance and started the conversation at the table.

"It was due to malicious editing. It was never my intention to say that your original novel had issues. I was referring to the issues that occurred during the process of turning the original novel into a movie—"

"It's fine." Ha Jae-Gun cut him off after drinking a dip of water. "It's water under the bridge, and I've long forgotten it. I don't think there’s going to be any difference even if we talk about it here."

"Ahaha…! Yes, of course. I understand." Woo Jae-Hoon burst into laughter, even though there wasn’t anything funny.

Even the most slow-witted person out there would be able to see that an apology wouldn’t move Ha Jae-Gun’s heart. Ha Jae-Gun didn’t accept Woo Jae-Hoon’s apology. Instead, he had shown Woo Jae-Hoon that the latter had made a mistake.

'Keugh, this arrogant punk…!'

Woo Jae-Hoon clenched his trembling fist and calmed himself down. Meanwhile, the food that was ordered had arrived and was being set up on the table. Both Woo Jae-Hoon and Park Do-Joon picked up their chopsticks, but Ha Jae-Gun sat motionless, lost in thought.

"Writer Ha, the food here is delicious. Please have some."

"Director, you're here to see me because of Gangster's Sea, right?"

Ha Jae-Gun went straight to the point with a grave look. He obviously didn't want to drag this out and went straight for the jugular.

"Mm, yes. That's right," Woo Jae-Hoon replied obediently while scratching the back of his head. "The story of your next novel is great. Please leave the movie adaptation to me as well. I understand that you're quite upset over the Summer in My 20s, but I will ensure that your concerns will be addressed.

”I will complete the film to my best efforts."

"Thank you for viewing it so positively, even though both the novel and script are still not complete."

"Your skills have already been verified and acknowledged, plus I trust my gut feeling as well. Hahaha." Woo Jae-Hoon burst into laughter.

However, Ha Jae-Gun remained expressionless as he said, "I can't guarantee if the novel will get adapted into a movie, but as usual, I'm leaving the details like copyright fees and other additional clauses in the contract to Editor-in-chief Oh Myung-Suk."

"Ah, I see."

"There's only one thing that’s important to me," Ha Jae-Gun stressed the importance of his words and raised his index finger. "I would like the movie to inherit the same emotions and atmosphere from my novel.

”I can vaguely understand the difficulties of adapting the world that was originally in words into movie form, but at least…"

Ha Jae-Gun swallowed before continuing. "I hope that the scenario which I've written will be used in its entirety. That's my only condition."

"Hmm…" Woo Jae-Hoon couldn’t give an immediate answer. He understood the underlying meaning behind Ha Jae-Gun's words: Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t trust him.

'This prideful greenhorn…! If it weren't for the investors, I would have abandoned this project! Ah, should I just walk away now?'

Woo Jae-Hoon revealed a displeased look. Who was he? He was one of the top film directors in Korea, and he had several hit titles under his belt.

Ha Jae-Gun was indeed a greenhorn compared to him. Furthermore, Ha Jae-Gun was much younger than he was, but he actually dared to express his opinions without compromising.

"Director?" Ha Jae-Gun said calmly.

Woo Jae-Hoon suppressed his surging anger and replied, "I understand. I'll make sure that your scenario will be used."

Those words he uttered meant that he had given in and had abandoned his pride as a famous director.

However, Ha Jae-Gun wasn’t done just yet.

"Please write it down clearly in the contract as one of the clauses."

"Pardon?"

"Please make sure to indicate in the clause that all scenes in the movie will strictly follow my scenario. Of course, I will make edits to areas that do not fit, but those changes must also be discussed with me before they are filmed."

Woo Jae-Hoon could no longer keep himself composed. His ears turned red, and his cheeks trembled in anger.

"Look here, Writer Ha…!" Woo Jae-Hoon growled and narrowed his eyes. "Do you really think that a scenario writer can stand above the director?"

"Your phrasing is weird. I'm not saying that I wish to stand above you. I just want a legal agreement that my scenario script will be used accordingly."

"Isn't that the same thing? Directors exist for a reason! If what you said is allowed, then the writers could just film the movies themselves. It's natural to meet variables while filming, and that's why the story will change at the director's discretion!" Woo Jae-Hoon shouted.

However, Ha Jae-Gun remained unaffected, and he replied calmly, "The changes aren’t that serious. I just don’t want to see an ordinary female high school student fighting a former martial arts athlete one-on-one.

“I also don’t want to see characters confessing their love for each other while they’re being pursued by a criminal down the streets.”

"What?!" Woo Jae-Hoon leaped on his feet. A few diners from beyond the partition stood up and stared in their direction, wondering what the commotion was about. "Writer Ha, are you playing with me?!"

"I just want to stop any more of my works from getting changed into an entirely different movie in the future," Ha Jae-Gun answered without backing down.

Just then, a young male staffer approached their table and hesitantly said to Woo Jae-Hoon, "I'm sorry, customer… but other diners are complaining about the commotion you've caused."

Woo Jae-Hoon glared at the staffer. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Pardon? Ah, I-I'm sorry." Flustered, the staffer apologized. He only recognized Park Do-Joon, the actor, and no one else at the table. It wasn’t strange because directors were famous for the works they had created instead of their faces.

“Why are you smiling? Is there something funny?”

“No, it’s not. I’m sorry, I’ll leave…” The staffer erased the smile on his face and shook his head. As he left, Woo Jae-Hoon muttered, “Youngsters these days are hopeless. They don’t know how to respect their seniors and are only looking out for their personal interests. That’s why the country is turning out this way.”

Park Do-Joon’s face darkened. Woo Jae-Hoon was badmouthing the staffer and Ha Jae-Gun at the same time.

Ha Jae-Gun only smiled softly. He didn’t want to waste his time on unnecessary arguments. Woo Jae-Hoon’s words were so childish that he couldn’t even get angry.

“Sorry, I don’t feel that good.” Ha Jae-Gun stood up from his seat and said, “I’ll be leaving first. Please enjoy your dinner, and feel free to contact me again.”

Ha Jae-Gun greeted both Park Do-Joon and Woo Jae-Hoon before leaving.

As soon as Ha Jae-Gun left the restaurant, Woo Jae-Hoon slammed his fist on the table in anger.

Meanwhile, Park Do-Joon silently felt anxious.

‘This shouldn’t have happened.’

Park Do-Joon had been looking up all of Ha Jae-Gun’s works and reading them all during his free time. He had cried and laughed countless times in the fantasy worlds that Ha Jae-Gun had created.

Ha Jae-Gun was the writer who taught him the joy of reading.

And that was why Park Do-Joon was anxious…

Ha Jae-Gun had become a special existence to him. The more he read Ha Jae-Gun’s novels, the stronger his respect for Ha Jae-Gun grew, even though they were of the same age.

After a while, Park Do-Joon stood up. He had called to meet Ha Jae-Gun here, so he thought that there was no way he could let Ha Jae-Gun go just like that.

“Are you going to the washroom?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll be leaving first.”

“What? Why? Are you…? Park Do-Joon! Come back here!”

Woo Jae-Hoon’s eyes flipped when he realized what Park Do-Joon was planning on doing. Park Do-Joon was a precious talent at the peak of his popularity. He had a cold exterior, but he was an extremely loyal person inside, so he had always been easy to handle.

Woo Jae-Hoon had been planning to cast Park Do-Joon as the male lead of his next movie, even if the movie’s original writer wasn’t Ha Jae-Gun. So how could he let Park Do-Joon abandon him to chase after Ha Jae-Gun?

Woo Jae-Hoon was in a frenzy.

“I’ll give you a call later, Director.”

“Hey! Do-Joon!”

Park Do-Joon ignored Woo Jae-Hoon and left the restaurant.

The two managers standing at the entrance stopped Park Do-Joon. “

“Do-Joon, where are you going?”

“Hyung, where did he go?”

“He was heading to the subway station. Huh? Hey, Park Do-Joon! There are so many people on the streets, where are you going by yourself?”

Park Do-Joon ran toward the subway station cutting through the crowd. Many recognized him despite him having a pair of sunglasses on, and most of them whipped out their cameras to capture Park Do-Joon chasing after someone.

“Writer Ha!” Park Do-Joon called out after discovering Ha Jae-Gun. Ha Jae-Gun was about to head down the stairway into the subway station, but he came to a halt and turned around after hearing his name.

Park Do-Joon stopped in front of him and bent down, catching his breath.

“Why did you run after me?” Ha Jae-Gun asked, looking puzzled. Soon, a huge crowd surrounded them, and the way down to the subway station was totally blocked off.

“Haa…! I-I want to tell you something.”

“To me?”

Park Do-Joon nodded and straightened himself up. Park Do-Joon took a moment to catch his breath, and his expression turned grim afterward. Moments later, he performed a 90-degree bow to Ha Jae-Gun.

“W-what are you doing?!” asked Ha Jae-Gun.

“I apologize for today.”

The picture of Park Do-Joon bowing respectfully to the confused-looking Ha Jae-Gun quickly went viral on the Internet.