Big Life

Chapter 147. Tremble in Fear (6)

“We’ll be going too, noona.”

“Okay. Thanks a lot for today. See you again, Ms. Lee Soo-Hee. And thank you for the cup, it’s pretty.”

“You’re welcome, unni. I hope your academy prospers. I’ll come by again.”

As Ha Jae-Gun did not drive here, he took the front passenger seat in Lee Soo-Hee’s car. Lee Soo-Hee put on her seatbelt and asked, “Are you going back home? Or back to the writer’s office?”

“I’m still in the midst of clearing up the structure of the story, and I like working on that by myself, so I haven’t really been going to the writer’s office recently.”

“Alright, let’s go to your house then.”

Ha Jae-Gun pecked Lee Soo-Hee’s cheeks.

Lee Soo-Hee’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s been tough holding back.” Ha Jae-Gun kissed her again but on the lips.

He went for her lips again and again.

Lee Soo-Hee quivered ever so lightly.

“Stop it now.”

“I haven’t even started yet, why are you asking me to stop?”

Ha Jae-Gun turned more audacious and pulled Lee Soo-Hee in by her shoulders.

Their tongues entangled through their lips that stuck together like a magnet.

Lee Soo-Hee clenched her fists. She felt light-headed, and her heart pounded madly against her chest.

“Haa…”

Ha Jae-Gun finally let go of Lee Soo-Hee. The air in the car was hot. Lee Soo-Hee fanned herself with her hands and slowed her breathing.

“Is it hot?”

“Are you asking the obvious? I can’t drive now. You drive.”

“Can I continue then?”

“We should get going. Rika is waiting for you at home.”

“So you’re saying we can continue once we reach my house?”

“…” Lee Soo-Hee looked down again as her face flushed bright red.

Ha Jae-Gun continued teasing her as he found her reaction to be quite cute.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Lee Soo-Hee?”

“I don’t wanna talk to you,” Lee Soo-Hee said, sounding angry before stepping on the accelerator.

The traffic was smooth, as it was still before office hours.

They soon arrived at Ha Jae-Gun's house.

Ha Jae-Gun immediately made another move on Lee Soo-Hee once the car was parked in the garage. He hadn’t been able to touch her throughout the entire ride, even though she was just next to him, so he had been suffering in silence.

As she was pulled in for a kiss, Lee Soo-Hee tiptoed and accepted his attacks.

No one was watching, so she didn't struggle or fight back.

Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t hold back any longer and carried her up, heading into the house.

The raging storm finally calmed down.

Wrapped in a blanket, Lee Soo-Hee went around the house, picking up the pieces of clothes that were strewn across the floor.

Her face contorted as she said, "My stockings are torn. You're so rough."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it…"

"I'll be showering first."

"Do you want to shower together?"

"No, who knows what tricks are up your sleeves this time."

"Soo-Hee."

"Whatever you say, no."

"Not that, I'm asking if you want to visit my family."

"...!"

Lee Soo-Hee stopped just as she was about to step into the bathroom.

Ha Jae-Gun sat up in the bed. He was still drenched in sweat.

“My parents asked me to bring you back one day. They really like you, both my sister and Mom,” he said.

Lee Soo-Hee’s eyes shone as she smiled. She had been hoping to officially meet Ha Jae-Gun’s parents, so she was happy with the news that he had shared with her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Can you come?”

“Of course. Just give me a date,” Lee Soo-Hee answered and entered the bathroom.

Ha Jae-Gun went into another bathroom and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

While he was drying his hair with a towel, Rika approached him.

“Where have you been, Rika? Come here.”

“Meow.”

Ha Jae-Gun sat Rika on his lap and turned on his laptop. He opened the Word document for Gyeoja Bathhouse and started typing away. Thanks to his meeting with Nam Gyu-Ho, his fingers were working at top speed.

“You’re already working?” Lee Soo-Hee approached from behind with her hair wrapped in a towel. Two cups of coffee were in both of her hands.

Ha Jae-Gun accepted a cup of coffee and nodded.

“I felt like I had to pick up the pace after meeting Director Nam.”

“How long will the manuscript take?”

“If the structure is great, it won’t take that long. The manuscript won’t be long either, I think it’ll end with around 120,000 characters.”

Lee Soo-Hee took a sip of her coffee and said, “It’s going to work out well this time, too. Even Director Nam thought so, too. He believes in your work, and that’s why he made that decision.”

“It’s not because of your support?”

Lee Soo-Hee touched Ha Jae-Gun’s ears and smiled.

“Well, I can’t deny that. Anyway, come down when it’s time for dinner. I’ll be watching a movie with Rika in the meantime.”

“All right, thank you.”

Lee Soo-Hee took Rika to the first floor.

Left all alone, Ha Jae-Gun focused and continued writing.

The sound of his fingers hitting the keyboard incessantly filled the room.

‘The older brother, who felt inferior due to the coloring materials, left the bathhouse first, while the little girl, who secretly has a crush on him, cried out loud. During that time, the younger brother opened the little girl’s treasure box and stole a piece of chocolate from it before heading back home.

’On their way to school the next morning, policemen and passersby gathered outside the bathhouse. The younger brother discovered that the little girl had gotten into an accident overnight and…’

Tadadak! Tadadadak! Tak!

‘The younger brother has been having nightmares every day since the little girl died. The nightmares were always identical. The horribly sporadic little girl kept chasing after him, asking him to return her chocolate. While running away, the younger brother ran into the sauna room and closed the door.

’The little girl would then peek through the glass window and hit her head against it until her forehead bled. The window eventually broke, and she reached out, grabbing the younger brother by the collar. He would cry out and wake up from his dream…!’

Even while he was furiously typing away, Ha Jae-Gun kept on recalling the scene he had seen in the bathhouse at Gyeongju. The dark, dreary and lonely sight overlapped with his screen.

‘The nightmares and guilt made the younger brother confess to his older brother. He confessed that he had stolen a piece of chocolate from her, crying and spouting gibberish that he had caused her death.

’However, the older brother was shocked upon learning about the dream.

‘They had been having the same dream…!’

Tadadadak! Tadak!

Ha Jae-Gun was covered in sweat once more.

He couldn’t feel the passage of time as his fingers continued working like fish in water.

“Jae-Gun, take a break,” Lee Soo-Hee said from behind.

Ha Jae-Gun flinched in surprise. He didn’t even realize that she was so close to him.

“How long have you been standing there for?”

“Probably for five minutes? Your concentration is insane. I’m going to make dinner, what do you want?”

“I’m fine with anything. We can go out for dinner, too.”

“There are ingredients at home. Maybe some soybean paste stew?”

“Sounds great. Please make some egg rolls, too.”

“Alright. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

Lee Soo-Hee went back down, and Ha Jae-Gun turned back to his screen.

As he was cut off midway due to the conversation, Ha Jae-Gun decided to take a break and scrolled up the document. A sense of sudden worry came to him as he read through everything he had written so far.

'Is this really scary?'

The genre of this novel was horror mystery, and its objective was to make its reader tremble in fear. However, Ha Jae-Gun was worried if the story could truly instill fear as he planned.

'I find it interesting but… I'm not sure if it's actually scary.'

Ha Jae-Gun cocked his head to the side and let out a long sigh, wondering how great it would be if the elder were around to give him assurance.

Just then…

- I find it scary.

"...?!"

Ha Jae-Gun looked up instantaneously with eyes widened.

The short sentence just now had echoed in his head.

The voice definitely belonged to the Elder.

'Elder? Is that you, Elder?'

Ha Jae-Gun looked into the air in front of him with respect.

The elder hadn’t answered any of his questions when Ha Jae-Gun was working on Oscar's Dungeon. However, the elder whom he thought had left him entirely, returned while he was working on Gyeoja Bathhouse.

- I'm curious about how the story will develop, so keep working on it.

'Yes, I understand! I'll start work on the remainder of the plot now!'

Tadadadak! Tadadak!

Ha Jae-Gun was now bursting with confidence and began typing away on his keyboard once more.

'Elder, this is what will happen next: afraid of the nightmare, the brothers held hands to sleep. However, the younger brother still had the same dream up until the part when he was in the sauna room. But from here, his older brother appeared in it, carrying a picture of the little girl.'

- Hmm…

'The little girl took the picture from the older brother and smiled happily before going back home. The younger brother plopped down to the ground in relief. As morning came, he woke up from the dream and realized that his older brother wasn’t next to him.'

- What happened to the older brother?

'He went missing. He disappeared while holding hands with the younger brother while sleeping. The younger brother waited for a day and the next, but his older brother did not return. Their mother reported it to the police, but they could not find any traces of him.'

- I'm not asking as a reader, but asking you, the writer.

'Ah, I see. A year later, the mother and son moved again due to the issues that came up at the mother's factory. A few days before they moved, the younger brother recalled the chocolate that he had stolen from Gyeoja Bathhouse. He had kept it hidden under his bed out of guilt. However, when he went to check, there were dozens of the same chocolate there when there should have been only one there.'

- The older brother must have stolen more and put them there then.

'I think so, too, but I'm not going to put that explicitly in the story. Anyway, the younger brother decided to go back to Gyeoja Bathhouse that very night. He was late to return the chocolate he had stolen, but he still wanted to be forgiven by the little girl.'

Ha Jae-Gun was about to begin his explanation for the story's ending when he heard Lee Soo-Hee calling him from downstairs.

"Jae-Gun! Dinner is almost done. Come down here!"

Her call made him stop working. Ha Jae-Gun wanted to continue working to keep the momentum going, but the elder stopped him.

- Go have dinner before continuing.

'Oh, okay, Elder…'

He couldn't disobey the elder.

Ha Jae-Gun obediently saved the Word document and headed downstairs.

Various side dishes were laid out on the table, and there was a pot of soybean paste stew in the middle of it.

"Looks delicious."

"Dig in. You look like you're destroying your keyboard at the rate you're typing. I can hear the sound from here."

"Yeah, I suddenly feel motivated. I have a good feeling about it."

"I said that it'll turn out well. It'll definitely be an interesting read."

"Of course, but more importantly, it should be scary."

"The scary part should come together. Why are you smiling so much?"

"I'm happy that it's coming to me so smoothly," Ha Jae-Gun said before putting a huge spoonful of rice into his mouth.

He could not stop smiling as Lee Soo-Hee's food was delicious.

He was also grateful to the elder for his advice.

***

"Wow, it's so scary...!"

Lee Yeon-Woo had just finished reading the manuscript for Gyeoja Bathhouse.

He was massaging both of his arms to get rid of the goosebumps.

The story was so gruesome and scary that goosebumps broke out all over him.

"Jae-Gun hyung, I'm not really that brave. Can you not write such stories?"

"It’s great that you find it scary."

"But hyung. The scene where the young brother went to the bathhouse to return the chocolate… He picked up a picture of the little girl that his older brother had drawn, right?

”How did that happen? The older brother didn't even have any coloring materials, so how did he complete it? Did he bring it over after the girl died? Or did he complete it and gave it to her before she died?"

"Yeah, I wonder how that happened?"

"If the older brother gave it before she died, it meant that he went to the bathhouse on the day she died. Does that mean that the older brother is the one who killed the little girl?"

"I don't know either."

"Ah, hyung. Please tell me. I'm going crazy out of curiosity."

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun's phone rang, and an unknown number showed on the screen

Ha Jae-Gun signaled to Lee Yeon-Woo and answered it immediately.

"Hello?"

— Hello, Writer Ha. This is Nam Gyu-Ho.

"Ahh, yes. Hello."

— I've read through the manuscript you've sent over. It's great.

"I'm relieved to hear that."

— I have a question. When the younger brother went to the bathhouse to return the chocolate, he found the picture of the little girl that his older brother had drawn, right?

Nam Gyu-Ho was asking the same question as Lee Yeon-Woo.

— He then found red traces that were indecipherable, whether they were coloring materials or blood. He followed it, which led him to the vents, and opened it. At that moment, something black fell with a thud.

"Yes, that's right."

Nam Gyu-Ho let out a long sigh and then continued,

— What fell to the ground? What was it that made him fall to the ground in shock? And how did he come to terms with the fact that there were dozens of chocolates hidden under his bed?

"I assumed that it was the older brother's corpse, but I decided not to say it explicitly to give the readers space for imagination."

– Hmm, I see. So that's why you concluded with this line—Strangely, fear did not grip him when he saw what had dropped in front of him—You wrote that on purpose rather than the story being incomplete, right?

"Yes, that's right. Do you think that it's better to reveal the truth?"

— No, this is good as it is. I like endings like this. You've done a great job. I'll be contacting you again.

"Oh, please wait, Director Nam."

— Yes?

Avoiding Lee Yeon-Woo's ears, Ha Jae-Gun whispered softly into the phone, "Is the title alright?"

— Gyeoja Bathhouse? It's good.

"Really?" Ha Jae-Gun asked once more for confirmation.

Ha Jae-Gun’s naming sense was abysmal, so he found it difficult to believe Nam Gyu-Ho's words.

— It is closely related to the story, and I like it. You can keep it as it is. Why? You want to change it?

"No, no. If you think it's alright, we can go with this."

— Okay. I'll be hanging up then. Please enjoy your lunch.

"You too, Director."

Ha Jae-Gun smiled faintly after hanging up.

Lee Yeon-Woo, who was reading the manuscript, looked up and asked, "Who was it? Was it the director who looks like he’s a student president from some academy?"

"Yeah."

"What did you talk about? You look happy."

"Despite his looks, I think Director Nam Gyu-Ho is a good person."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Let's go have lunch, I'm hungry."

Before they headed out for lunch, Ha Jae-Gun sent out another email to both Oh Myung-Suk and Yoon Tae-Sung. Of course, the attached file in the email contained the complete manuscript of Gyeoja Bathhouse.