Big Life

Chapter 124. There Was A Sea (6)

“Yes, Director.”

Lee Soo-Hee approached with her cup in hand. She noticed the serious look on Nam Gyu-Ho’s face as she pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you think of this?” Nam Gyu-Ho asked, showing her a copy of Oscar’s Dungeon.

Lee Soo-Hee immediately realized why he had stopped her and nodded in response.

“It’s a great novel. I think there’s no problem with us adapting it into a game. Its success as the original novel is relatively high, so I think it’ll be easy for us to market the game as well.”

“Hmm.”

Nam Gyu-Ho smiled faintly. This was why he liked Lee Soo-Hee. She was quick-witted, and her diligence in fulfilling all her duties without qualms was a great match with his long-standing way of running the team.

“Has he worked at a game company before?”

“Writer Ha? No.”

Nam Gyu-Ho lightly smacked the book cover and continued. “This book convinced me that he had some experience in game development. The system is almost perfect, and the world setting is great enough for a mobile game. We just have to refine the gameplay and economy.

”The characters and scenario are already available for us to use, so I think we can create an entire game within a short period of time with this book.”

“I feel the same as you, Director.” Lee Soo-Hee chuckled inwardly. Her intuition was right. From the day Ha Jae-Gun gave the lecture at their company, Nam Gyu-Ho started to take an interest in Ha Jae-Gun as a writer.

“But how is this writer’s work ethic?” Nam Gyu-Ho asked. He had to make sure that Ha Jae-Gun’s work ethic was great. He didn’t want to work with another Oh Myung-Hoon.

“Would he reject feedback or discussions made with regard to the game planning? If the writer is too sensitive to such things, I think it’d be better if we could take charge of editing the scenario ourselves.”

Lee Soo-Hee’s face turned serious, and shook her head. “He is quite broad-minded and knows to admit his mistakes if you point them out correctly.”

“Are you sure you’re not biased because he’s your batchmate?”

“Do you still not know my character after working together for so long?”

“All right, please contact him in the next few days.”

Nam Gyu-Ho had just tasked Lee Soo-Hee to sound out Ha Jae-Gun’s intention and arrange a meeting with him as soon as possible.

It would take a long time to produce an RPG mobile game. Unlike those puzzle or shooting games, which could be made with less than a hundred million won in just over half a year. In other words, it would be great to start working on it as soon as the decision was made.

“Yes, I will contact him and let you know.”

Lee Soo-Hee took out her phone and immediately put the task on her calendar.

Nam Gyu-Ho finished his now-cold cup of coffee and asked casually, “How’s the closed beta preparations for Dragon Knights?”

“It’s going swimmingly.”

Dragon Knights was a new mobile game that Oh Myung-Hoon had been working on. Its release date was approaching, but Nam Gyu-Ho wasn’t particularly excited about it. All he hoped for was that the game would break even eventually.

‘The game isn’t that bad overall, but something feels off…’

Nam Gyu-Ho would always feel some sort of discomfort whenever he thought of Dragon Knights. The part that disturbed him the most was the light atmosphere and unfitting scenario. The scenario was written in a serious and heavy tone, without an ounce of humor in the characters.

Of course, he was aware of the root cause.

Vague communications with the screenwriter during the development process.

Out of every five meetings, Oh Myung-Hoon would reluctantly appear in one, and even so, he would only sit quietly without voicing or participating in the scenario discussions.

He wouldn’t even respond to either Nam Gyu-Ho or Lee Soo-Hee’s opinions.

However, Oh Myung-Hoon was still the game’s screenwriter just because he had reflected everyone’s opinions accordingly in the scenario script.

There wasn’t any communication, but at the very least, he listened to their opinions.

He had completely edited the parts that Nam Gyu-Ho had pointed out. That was why Nam Gyu-Ho couldn’t openly voice out or argue over the fact that he felt somewhat disturbed and dissatisfied with the finished product.

Nam Gyu-Ho knew that his opinions couldn’t always be right, so he hoped that a rebuttal would be in place whenever he voiced his opinions. It was through his process of persuasion that the team would eventually build a great game.

However, they failed to resolve their issue with Oh Myung-Hoon.

Oh Myung-Hoon still looked stiff as usual.

‘This isn’t just a loss.’

Nam Gyu-Ho put on a weary smile and concluded his thoughts. He would never want to work with a dogmatic writer like Oh Myung-Hoon ever again, even if his life depended on it.

“Anyway, let’s try arranging a meeting with him first.” Nam Gyu-Ho stood up and left the pantry.

Lee Soo-Hee stood up briefly and greeted Nam Gyu-Ho as he left, then sat back down with her phone in hand. As usual, her heart was pounding as she wrote a text message to Ha Jae-Gun.

***

“Yeah, Jae-Gun. You’re out front? Okay, you know the password, right? Come up quickly. I’m starving to death waiting for you.”

Park Do-Joon hung up the call and put his phone back in his pocket, then grabbed the frying spatula. An unsightly and disfigured egg roll was sizzling in the frying pan.

“It’s weird. It’ll turn out delicious-looking whenever I’m cooking for myself, but now that I’ve got a guest coming, the appearance is way off the charts,” Park Do-Joon grumbled with dissatisfaction, tilting his head from side to side.

Park Do-Joon was waiting for Ha Jae-Gun at his studio today. Cameras were installed in the corners of the house by the broadcast crew, and there was a huge bear equipped with a camera—the program’s mascot—sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room.

Beep, beep, beep—

“Oh, I think he’s here.” Park Do-Joon was talking to himself more than usual today. The camera lens followed Park Do-Joon’s face and eyes closely as he looked toward the foyer.

The writer, standing at the border between the kitchen and the living room, nodded at Park Do-Joon.

“Why are you so late?”

“I was waiting for the elevator, it was all the way at the top.”

Ha Jae-Gun was smiling, but he looked slightly nervous. The screenwriter’s advice to talk comfortably like normal didn’t help at all. The clips would be edited, but whatever they were recording at the moment would still make it to the final broadcast version.

‘I’m not sure what to say.’

Ha Jae-Gun gulped to soothe his parched throat. He couldn’t help but be conscious of the multiple cameras and staffers watching his every move.

Meanwhile, Park Do-Joon was indeed a celebrity. There wasn’t much change in him aside from how he was slightly more excited and talking to himself more than usual.

“It looks like a mess, but just eat them. They’re all the same once it goes into your stomach,” Park Do-Joon said, transferring the messy egg roll onto a plate.

Ha Jae-Gun sat across from Park Do-Joon and picked up the chopsticks. “This is good enough. It’s already amazing that a man living alone was willing to try cooking egg rolls.”

“I know, right?”

“Yeah, I’m so lazy I actually just eat raw eggs for some protein.”

“Hey, that’s just too much,” Park Do-Joon asked, sounding incredulous before laughing.

Ha Jae-Gun stole a glance at the screenwriter and felt relieved.

‘Would this sort of conversation make the cut?’

Ha Jae-Gun’s nervousness was slowly going away.

“Isn’t that the leftover cheese from the last time I was here? You left it there without cleaning it away?”

“You should have pretended that you couldn’t see it if you’re my friend.”

“You didn’t wash the wine glasses, either?”

“I’ve been busy, man, so I haven’t come home for a while. Stop it already.”

Their friendly chat continued for quite a while. After finishing their meal and cleaning up, Park Do-Joon and Ha Jae-Gun sat down on the sofa next to each other.

Park Do-Joon turned on the TV while Ha Jae-Gun took out his laptop and started working on his scenario. Park Do-Joon sipped on his coffee and asked, “You’re working on the scenario, right? Are you almost done?”

“Yeah. I just have to complete the ending scene, and it’s done.”

“Do your best. I want to appear in my coolest form.”

“You already look cool as an actor, would the scenario even make any difference?”

“Wow, Writer Ha Jae-Gun. You’re saying all the good and kind words now with these cameras around us.”

“Nonsense, I speak only the truth.”

Park Do-Joon took another sip of coffee and asked again, “Did you meet any difficulties when writing the scenario?”

“Hmm…”

Ha Jae-Gun looked away from his laptop and pondered for a while. Park Do-Joon had just asked a question that required a bit more prudence to answer.

Of course, Ha Jae-Gun wasn’t really planning on saying anything that could be edited in a way that would make his words mean differently than what he truly meant.

“It’s all good, I didn’t have any tough times when working on it.”

“Really?”

“Director Yoon Tae-Sung takes my opinions positively, and we always discuss parts that need revisions, but there aren’t a lot of those either.”

“Do you think the movie will turn out like what you envisioned while writing the novel? That’s the reason you’re writing the scenario yourself, right?”

“Well, yeah. I think the atmosphere will transfer to the movie from the original novel. The director is highly capable, so I’m not exactly worried as well.”

Their talks about the movie ended there. The filming continued for a while more, and the cameramen finally took down the cameras after the filming was done.

“Thanks for the hard work. We got a few good scenes thanks to Writer Ha Jae-Gun.”

“I didn’t do anything much. Thank you for your hard work.”

Park Do-Joon left the house with Ha Jae-Gun to send him off. As they took the elevator, Park Do-Joon lightly tapped Ha Jae-Gun’s shoulders.

“How was it?”

“It was easier than I expected. I still couldn’t speak naturally with so many cameras around. Was I too stiff?”

“No. Your comments were witty, you were great at talking, too.”

They got off the elevator and arrived at Ha Jae-Gun’s car. Lee Yeon-Woo didn’t drive Ha Jae-Gun here today, as Ha Jae-Gun had personal things to attend to after the filming for I Live Alone.

“You’re heading down to Donghae City later at midnight, right?”

“Probably. I won’t be able to see you for two weeks. Why don’t you come down to hang out for a bit since you’re all done with the scenario and have nothing else urgent to tend to?”

“I might have something urgent coming up; who knows?”

“What would it be? Are you going to work on another new novel?”

“Not a new novel. I’ll let you know once it’s confirmed.”

“You just made me curious, but fine... Drive safely, and call me again.”

“Yeah, go back in.”

Ha Jae-Gun entered the address to Nextion’s headquarters on the navigator and drove out onto the road. He soon arrived at their office since it wasn’t that far from Park Do-Joon’s house.

“Ha Jae-Gun, over here.”

Lee Soo-Hee was standing by the roadside and waved at him.

Ha Jae-Gun parked his car by the road, and Lee Soo-Hee quickly hopped onto the front passenger seat.

“Why are you standing out here waiting? You might catch a cold. I said I’d call you when I arrive.”

“I saw that it’s almost time for you to arrive, so I just came out first. Let’s go, the cars are coming in behind.”

Ha Jae-Gun met Lee Soo-Hee to talk about the game adaptation of Oscar’s Dungeon and for a simple housewarming session as well. They had decided to have dinner at Ha Jae-Gun’s house, so Lee Soo-Hee didn’t drive to work today.

“Did the filming for I Live Alone end well?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t as difficult as I expected.”

“You’ll become more popular once the episode is live.”

“I don’t think so. My face is quite common.”

The traffic was quite bad since it was peak hours when everyone was getting off work. It took a while for them to arrive at Ha Jae-Gun’s house finally, and Ha Jae-Gun parked in the garage.

‘Huh?’

Ha Jae-Gun subconsciously stepped on the brakes, and his eyes widened in shock upon seeing Ha Jae-In’s car in the garage.

“Whose car is that?”

“Ah… It’s my sister’s.”

Ha Jae-Gun then recalled the phone conversation he had with Ha Jae-In.

Ha Jae-Gun said that she could come over anytime when she wanted to drop by this week with the kimchi she made. He had totally forgotten about it since it had happened a few days ago, so he didn’t expect that she would drop by today.

Ha Jae-In heard the sound of a car engine outside and came out to the foyer. Her eyes then met with Ha Jae-Gun and Lee Soo-Hee. She stared at them alternately before saying, “Oh my, she’s… your batchmate, Ms. Soo-Hee, right?”

“Hello, it’s been a while.” Lee Soo-Hee calmly alighted from the car and greeted Ha Jae-In politely.

Ha Jae-In covered her smile with her hands, unsure of what to do.

“Uh, wait… Hello. Oh my, look at me. Seriously, Jae-Gun. If you were going to be with Ms. Soo-Hee, you should have called me in advance. I had no idea that he would have a guest, I’m sorry I came out looking like this.”

“Noona, Soo-Hee is here for work today.”

Ha Jae-In led Lee Soo-Hee into the house, ignoring her brother’s words.

“Come in. Jae-Gun doesn’t really clean the house much, so it’s quite messy. I hope you’ll understand.”

Ha Jae-In brought Lee Soo-Hee to the dining table and served her a cup of coffee. After a short talk, Ha Jae-In quickly took her empty cup and stood up. “I’m leaving now.”

“Already?”

Ha Jae-In grinned and picked up her coat.

“You said you’re meeting for work, so I shouldn’t take up too much of your time. I bought ingredients for shabu-shabu, so make some for yourself.”

Lee Soo-Hee stood up as well and said, “Have dinner with us, unni.”

“Hmm…? But if I’m around, what about your work…”

“Thirty minutes are more than enough for us to talk about work. It’s been a while since I last met you, so I would like to talk with you more. I’ll help with preparations for the shabu-shabu, too.”

Ha Jae-In was ecstatic to hear that, but she still glanced at Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun didn’t reply. He headed to the sink and took out an onion from the mesh bag.

“Are five onions enough?”

“Hey, you should just stay put. You’ll just become a hindrance if you help out.”

Ha Jae-In pushed Ha Jae-Gun out of the kitchen and put on the apron.

Lee Soo-Hee followed suit, wearing an apron over her sweater.

“Should I slice the meat? Or prep the vegetables first?”

“What? Ahhh…”

Another wave of admiration appeared on Ha Jae-In’s face. Such questions like that meant that Lee Soo-Hee had never stepped into the kitchen much and wouldn’t be helpful at all.

Lee Soo-Hee revealed her kitchen skills right off the bat by asking such a question.

“Ah, if so… can you help with the vegetables, Ms. Soo-Hee?”

“Okay.”

Lee Soo-Hee immediately took out the cutting board and knife, and then she started working on the vegetables. Ha Jae-In smiled, seeing her trim the vegetables.

“I’m quite surprised, Ms. Soo-Hee. It’s cheating if a career woman is great in the kitchen as well, really.”

“No, unni. I’m still lacking in many areas. Please speak comfortably to me like you would with Jung-Jin.”

The laughter from the kitchen traveled to Ha Jae-Gun’s ears.

Ha Jae-Gun was sitting on the sofa in a daze, predicting what would happen.

Ha Jae-In had fallen hard for Lee Soo-Hee the moment they first met, and it seemed that it was still true to this day. Ha Jae-Gun could only pray hard that his sister wouldn’t spout nonsense to Lee Soo-Hee.

Bzzt!

A phone call came in. The number shown on the screen made Ha Jae-Gun narrow his eyes, as there wasn’t any reason for this person to contact him at all.

“Hello?”