Big Life

Chapter 195. What? Dragon Rider? (1)

“I’m all for it.”

“You’re really sure that you don’t mind if I get married first?”

“Look at the era we’re living in now; why should I get petty over such things? Mom and Dad are just worried about me, so they didn’t mention it, but I’m sure they’ll be very happy. You should bring her to meet them once she’s back.” Ha Jae-In smiled brightly while fixing Ha Jae-Gun’s clothes.

Ha Jae-Gun was dressed in a stylish suit instead of his usual attire, as he was going to have dinner with Oh Myung-Suk and Oh Tae-Jin.

“My younger brother is looking cool. Always getting me excited when I see you.”

“I’m turning thirty the day after. Stop it, ah...”

Ha Jae-Gun was about to turn around when he snapped his fingers and asked, “Noona, how about you?”

“Me? What about me?”

“What happened with Director Nam after that time?”

“Ah... That...”

“You’re always turning red and trailing off when I ask you about it; how is that a proper answer to my question? Answer me, or I’m going to ask him directly.”

“N-no, don’t.” A worried expression filled Ha Jae-In’s face, and her shoulders shrank.

Ha Jae-Gun shook his head slowly with a frustrated look. “You’re seeing him with positive feelings, right?”

“...”

“Just tell me that. Are you sure about it?”

“Mm...”

“Just be sure of your feelings, whatever happens. Don’t make others worry about you.”

“All right, I know. It’s scary when you do this. You should get going now.” Ha Jae-In pushed Ha Jae-Gun away.

Ha Jae-Gun walked through the empty living room and to the door, putting on his shoes.

“Father and Mom are coming back late?” he asked.

“Whenever they attend a married couple’s meeting, they’ll always have dinner before coming back. Still, they should be back in a few hours.”

Ha Jae-In saw Ha Jae-Gun off at the garage, watching the wonderful car Ha Jae-Gun had received as a gift from Oh Myung-Suk.

“Noona, go back in.” Ha Jae-Gun opened the car door and took the driver’s seat.

As Ha Jae-Gun started the engine, Ha Jae-In said, “Come to think of it, I was on the phone with Director Nam, and he mentioned The Breath; he told me a few times that he really enjoyed the story. He was even looking at different business mediums for it.”

“Really? Does he want to make another mobile game from it?”

“I’m not sure either. Anyway, Oscar’s Dungeon was a huge hit, so he must want to hold on to Writer Ha Jae-Gun tightly.” Ha Jae-In smiled and pinched Ha Jae-Gun’s cheeks lightly.

Ha Jae-Gun put on his safety belt with a pout. It seemed that the kids' treatment he was getting from Ha Jae-In would continue even beyond sixty.

“I’m going now. You should have dinner, noona.”

“Mm, I’m meeting Teacher Yoo from the academy later for dinner. Don’t worry, and drive safely.”

Ha Jae-Gun wound up his car window and stepped on the accelerator. As he drove out into the road, he thought of Oh Tae-Jin, whom he would be meeting in a while. More specifically, he was thinking about the novel that Oh Tae-Jin had written.

‘It was a great novel...’

He felt as though electricity was coursing through his body while he was reading that novel. The novel’s main character was a ruined man who had lost both his friend and his woman. He even quit his job and wandered around the world, working daily wages for his livelihood. In the process, he met people from all walks of life. He then got hurt and grew stronger from his experience.

‘I should be able to read until the end of that novel, right?’

Ha Jae-Gun had only received half of the manuscript from Oh Tae-Jin, thanks to Oh Myung-Suk for sending it over after the revision was completed. He would be able to gain access and read the remainder of the novel over dinner.

‘Will I be able to write such a great novel after accumulating more experience?’

In fact, Ha Jae-Gun had not been able to work on his writings recently due to the withdrawals after reading Oh Tae-Jin’s novel. There was nothing else coming to his mind aside from the extremely well-written novel.

It was an unfamiliar sensation he had felt in a long time. He was dumbfounded at himself, but it was definitely envy that he was feeling.

Ha Jae-Gun felt that his own works were atrocious and even humiliating after reading Oh Tae-Jin’s novel, especially Foolish Woman, A 90s Kid, and all his other earlier works.

He would even secretly drink alone at night while struggling in anguish, thinking about how good novels were good. That fateful lonely night was painted once more before his eyes, and he smiled bitterly.

‘The traffic is pretty heavy today.’

As it was near peak hours, it was taking him some time to arrive at the destination. But thankfully, he had left the house earlier, so he was able to arrive twenty minutes earlier than the agreed meeting time.

“Mr. Ha, you’re early!”

“Ah, editor-in-chief!”

Ha Jae-Gun parked his car and alighted, greeting Oh Myung-Suk with open arms.

He smiled lightly and hugged the man.

“Why are you here so early? I thought I read the time wrongly.”

“I came earlier to just hang out around here for a while. Since you always come early, I thought of coming out here to see if you’ve arrived. As expected, my intuition is never wrong. Let’s go in.”

Ha Jae-Gun followed Oh Myung-Suk into the same pufferfish restaurant where he met Oh Tae-Jin for the first time.

As they took the stairs up the building, Oh Myung-Suk said, “You must like the food here, seeing that you agreed to have dinner here.”

“Yes, the food here truly surprised me. I told myself that I should come back again, and thanks to you, I'm about to eat their dishes again.”

They spotted Oh Tae-Jin as soon as they entered the restaurant. Oh Tae-Jin was reviewing his manuscript seriously. Oh Tae-Jin didn't notice Ha Jae-Gun entering the restaurant even until he was at the table.

“Father, Mr. Ha is here.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Welcome, Mr. Ha.”

Oh Tae-Jin smiled as he stood up in a hurry. Ha Jae-Gun shook hands with Oh Tae-Jin, whose hands were thick and looking healthy.

“It was a pity that we couldn’t talk much during the Popular Arts Awards.”

“I agree. President, congratulations once more on receiving the Geumgwan Order of Culture Merit Award.”

“Mr. Ha’s commendation by the Minister of Culture has much more value. I think that you’ll be able to receive the Geumgwan Order of Culture Merit in your forties. I’m only getting this now because I’m old.”

“You’re too humble, President.”

After a round of greetings, they sat around the table. They continued with small talk for a while over trivial matters in the literary world, as well as the achievements and overseas expansions Ha Jae-Gun had attained.

As the hotpot boiled down by half, Ha Jae-Gun found an opportunity and made his request. “Um, President, about the remainder of the manuscript...”

“Ahh, right. I was waiting for you to bring it up first, as I was too embarrassed to bring it up first. Anyway, here it is.” Oh Tae-Jin said as he handed the manuscript to Ha Jae-Gun with his face flushed. He looked like an affectionate young girl giving a hand-written heartfelt love letter.

“I’ve read the first half of the novel,” Ha Jae-Gun mentioned as he took the manuscript.

Oh Tae-Jin gulped, looking nervous. “What do you think, Mr. Ha.”

“It’s great.” Ha Jae-Gun said and looked at Oh Tae-Jin with determination before adding, "It was so good that I felt inferior."

"Hohoho..."

"I'm not saying it to get into your good books. There was a period when I couldn't work on my own novels after reading your work."

Ha Jae-Gun never beat about the bush when talking about writing or novels. He would always express his feelings as they were as it was for the development of his own and others' works. He had inherited his persistence from Professor Han Hae-Sun.

"Thank you so much for letting me read such a great novel earlier than any other readers in the world."

Ha Jae-Gun stood up and gave a deep bow to Oh Tae-Jin. Taken aback, both Oh Myung-Suk and Oh Tae-Jin hurriedly stood up and bowed in return as well.

“Oh my... Hoho, thank you. Thank you so much. I hope there’s a hole for me to hide around here, but at the same time, my heart is pounding because I’m so happy... What senseless talk at my age.” Oh Tae-Jin scrambled with joy.

Even Oh Myung-Suk was laughing uncontrollably in surprise. Oh Myung-Suk was confident, but he hadn’t expected such high praises coming from Ha Jae-Gun.

Ha Jae-Gun sat back down in his chair and picked up the manuscript. “Excuse me, but may I finish reading the rest of the novel right now, please?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, but... right now?” Oh Tae-Jin asked, dumbfounded.

Even if it was the second half of the novel, it was still around 80,000 characters long. If Ha Jae-Gun was going to appreciate its contents, it should take him over thirty minutes to finish it at the very least.

“I would at least love to find out about the story’s development with a quick read. I’ve been very curious how the story would end, you see. I apologize for doing this in the middle of our dinner, but I’ll be extremely grateful if you could allow me to read it now.”

“S-sure. It’s my pleasure. Don’t mind us.” Oh Tae-Jin tried his best to suppress his pounding heart. He was also excited to hear Ha Jae-Gun's final review.

“I’ll read this in my car for a moment so that I won’t affect you having dinner.”

“No, you don’t have to.”

“It’s because I’m already done with my dinner. I’ll return in thirty minutes.”

There was a reason why Ha Jae-Gun had to leave the restaurant to read in the car. He took out Seo Gun-Woo’s horn-rimmed glasses from the glove box. As soon as he put it on, he began flipping through the pages of the manuscript. The fine print on the manuscript began flowing into his eyes.

‘Hmm...?!’

Ha Jae-Gun frowned after going through a few pages. Amidst the wrinkles that were formed on his face, Ha Jae-Gun was filled with unexpected doubts and disappointment.

‘Why does this read weird? How can it turn out like this...?’

The novel was still going well for the first ten thousand characters. However, the problem came from the novel’s core story. There was a strong contrast between the heterogeneous style of writing and the monotonous narratives.

It felt as if another writer had taken over.

Ha Jae-Gun sat alone in the car as he fell into deep confusion.

‘What? It’s flowing naturally again from this point on?’

Ha Jae-Gun’s mouth dropped open, stunned. The story returned to its original flow at around 10,000 characters before the novel’s ending.

The main character reunited with the love of his life, and the book ended with them looking at each other from afar.

Ha Jae-Gun stared at that certain part of the book for quite a while.

‘Was I too strict?’ He began suspecting the glasses themselves. Could he, perhaps, be using Seo Gun-Woo’s sharp judgment while reading the novel? Ha Jae-Gun took off the glasses and decided to go over the novel once more.

‘No, it wasn’t an illusion....’ The results remained the same.

The feelings from earlier didn't change a single bit.

Ha Jae-Gun put down the stack of papers on his lap and let out a long sigh.

He regretted giving such high praises in the first half of the novel back in the restaurant. He never expected that a novel written by the same person could bring such a huge disparity.

Looking at the time, it was well past his promised thirty-minute mark.

Ha Jae-Gun returned to the restaurant. As soon as he stepped through the door, he saw Oh Tae-Jin and Oh Myung-Suk waiting for him anxiously.

“You’re really back in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, I thought I couldn’t take too long, so I did some speed reading.”

Oh Tae-Jin’s eyes were filled with expectations.

Ha Jae-Gun cleared his throat and began speaking truthfully. “Is it alright if I write a proper review after reading it more in detail and send it over to you via email? I think it’s rude to give you my reviews when I’ve only done a brief read-through.”

“Ahh, sure... I’ll be grateful if you could do that.” Oh Tae-Jin nodded slowly before letting out a sigh that had a mix of sadness and relief.

He desperately needed reviews, but it wasn't just because he was a writer. There was another reason behind it.

“Now, Mr. Ha, please have a glass.”

“Thank you. I’ll pour you a glass as well.”

The three men raised their glasses and shared a toast. However, Oh Tae-Jin felt extremely anxious. After living for a good sixty years, he had learned to read the expressions on people’s faces.

And Ha Jae-Gun had been acting quite rigid ever since his return.

Although Oh Tae-Jin had a lot of questions in his mind, he could not speak of them freely. His eldest son seemed to be the only one enjoying himself while talking to Ha Jae-Gun.

***

[An explosive effect on Oscar’s Dungeon, Nextion’s mobile game sales grew 24% year-on-year]

[Huge achievement in both Korea and China, counting down to the next release of Oscar’s Dungeon in Taiwan]

[Nextion’s planning director, Nam Gyu-Ho: Development of the game Gyeoja Bathhouse is going well, thanks to the power of the original novel.]

[Concerned voices from local women groups: Game restriction age for Oscar’s Dungeon should be raised to prevent students’ addiction to the game]

Nam Gyu-Ho was currently reading the news on his phone alone in the pantry, there was no one else around in the early morning. The performance remained great, and the popularity of Oscar’s Dungeon in Korea and China increased exponentially day by day.

‘I never knew it would rake in so much popularity.’

The cumulative number of downloads and sales had exceeded expectations by a huge margin. Nam Gyu-Ho exclaimed, rolling his tongue in his mouth. He then moved his finger on the screen, clicking on the ebook of the first volume of The Breath.

‘Next would be you...’

It had been a while since he started thinking about The Breath. They were a game company, so it was natural that he would want to turn this novel into a game as well.

However, the issue was the platform that the game would go on.

‘It would look good either way, regardless of the platform.’

Nam Gyu-Ho scrolled through the ebook mindlessly as he fell into deep thoughts. He had read the novel countless times, but he would always fall in love with it over and over again.

He had always believed in his own judgment. He believed that this novel would definitely become a huge hit as a game, regardless of the platform. Accepting his extreme conclusion, he burst into laughter once more.

“Kekekek... Hahahaha!” His laughter was both contrived and sinister.

He was at the scene where the main character had lost his colleague and had almost lost his mind.

Just then, an employee had stepped through the door to the pantry, his face turning pale.

Bzzt!

Nam Gyu-Ho’s phone rang, and his screen showed the caller ID.

Nam Gyu-Ho immediately stopped laughing and answered the call.

“Hello, this is Nam Gyu-Ho.”