Big Life

Chapter 227. People Are Important (6)

“Ah, ahaha. Yes, of course, I should stand in line as well. I just decided to say hello to you first...” Yang Beom-Shik scrambled for an excuse while looking around him. A drop of sweat rolled down his temple.

“Then let’s see, the line... do I go that way?”

“I-I think so. Sir, let’s go this way.” The civil servants accompanying Yang Beom-Shik turned pale instantly. The group that had fallen into disgrace hurried to the end of the line as if running away from the scene.

Ha Jae-Gun finished the autograph he was signing. When he looked up, he saw the stunned expression on his reader’s face.

“Here you go.”

“Ah... Yes.” The reader took back their book, astonished by Ha Jae-Gun's firm and decisive side of Ha Jae-Gun. The side Ha Jae-Gun had shown just now was entirely different from his calm and gentle side on TV.

“T-thank you. I’ll enjoy it, Writer Ha.”

“Thank you as well. Goodbye.” Ha Jae-Gun was still smiling brightly as usual.

However, chills went down the spine of the staff of the bookstore who had been standing next to Ha Jae-Gun. They had no idea that Ha Jae-Gun could be quite scary despite an indifferent face.

“Hello, Writer Jae-Gun. Please help me sign this and take a photo with me.”

“Sure. Can I have the book, please?” Ha Jae-Gun could not take a moment to pause with the long line of readers waiting for him. The continuous signing soon got Ha Jae-Gun’s wrist aching, but he considered this pain a type of joy.

“I’m sorry, everyone. We’ll have to stop the line from here on because of time constraints. Please do not line up anymore. Due to time constraints...”

The bookstore employees cut off the line after a while. If the line were not managed soon, Ha Jae-Gun would have to give out autographs way past midnight. The readers who couldn't join the line earlier grumbled, expressing their discontent.

“Mr. Ha, please continue for another hour. Shall I get another bottle of cold bottled water for you?”

“I’m alright. This is still cold.”

Ha Jae-Gun took a sip of his water to moisten his throat. He then grabbed the pen once more. The next moment, two extremely familiar-looking ladies stood before him.

“Jae-Gun oppa must be exhausted.”

“Chae-Rin... You’re here too, Ms. Yu-Na?”

The two ladies smiled brightly at him, and there was a copy of Market Place in each of their hands.

“Hehe, we came as readers today. Please help us sign our books.”

“Thank you. You must be busy with the song recording these days.”

“We’re not that busy to the point that we can’t get our autographs here from you.”

“I think we gave out a hundred autographs to our fans while lining up to get yours ourselves.”

“Okay, C.Y will become a huge hit. Thank you for coming. Ms. Yu-Na, too.”

The camera shutters flashed at high speed with their appearance, as they were the very idol members from AppleT and HyperSoda respectively, who were currently actively promoting themselves.

Taking the initials from their names, C.Y is the name of their unit group, and the name had just been recently revealed to the public. Their appearance was also a great scoop for the reporters present here.

“We’re going to be in your way if we keep hanging around here. We’ll leave today for now. See you after our song recording, oppa.”

“Okay, be safe. Goodbye, Ms. Han Yu-Na.”

The autograph event ended a long time after Lee Chae-Rin and Han Yu-Na left.

Ha Jae-Gun massaged his sore wrist while standing up from his seat, then realized that the people from the district office did not show up after their rude appearance.

Had they left, or had they gotten cut off at the line? Regardless, it wasn't important to Ha Jae-Gun.

“Mr. Ha, shall we head over to the interview location?”

“Ah, sure.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of Ha Jae-Gun’s day. He followed the person in charge and headed toward the office that the bookstore had arranged for him. A reporter from both MBS and Hyun Sung-Beom from Weekly Trends was waiting for him.

Ha Jae-Gun’s arrangement allowed Hyun Sung-Beom to participate in the interview.

“First of all, we would like to know your thoughts about the publication of Market Place.”

“Hello, I’m Writer Ha Jae-Gun. Market Place is a collection of short stories set in a market. Each story depicts the lives of various people living there. I hope everyone will enjoy the stories.”

Many questions about Market Place were exchanged. Ha Jae-Gun replied to each of the questions with sincerity and added his final words at the end of the interview.

“I began writing Market Place because of the socially underprivileged. I had, in fact, experienced some injustice in the past... And I am currently pondering how I can best use the proceeds from the novel. I want to use them in a good place.”

“Can you please elaborate? Are you looking to donate them?”

“Of course, donation is one of the many ways. Aside from that, I could also create a foundation, but I'm still contemplating about it. I will share this with you once I have a clearer idea.”

While Ha Jae-Gun was replying to the MBS reporter, Hyun Sung-Beom was typing away diligently on his laptop, drafting his article. As he was specially invited to join this interview, it would be weird in his position to be asking questions instead.

“There are a few things I’d like to ask about the autograph event earlier. It’s become a hot topic on the internet after AppleT’s Ms. Lee Chae-Rin and HyperSoda’s Ms. Han Yu-Na had come here earlier to get your autograph.”

“Wow, news on the internet does spread fast.”

“Yes indeed. Anyway, it’s a known fact that both you and Ms. Lee Chae-Rin hold a close relationship, but how did you get close to Ms. Han Yu-Na?”

“What we’ve shared on I Live Alone was the truth. Ms. Lee Chae-Rin and Ms. Han Yu-Na had known each other during their trainee days, and they love reading...”

“Especially novels written by yourself, right?”

“Hahaha... It’s embarrassing for me to answer such questions myself.”

“It’s just a joke. We all know that both the ladies have just begun promoting as C.Y recently, and I heard that the lyrics to their debut track were written by you, is that true?”

“Yes, their agency first came to me with the offer for me to write the song lyrics... It’s my first time attempting to write something like that, and I wanted to try it out as well. I looked at it as a challenge. It was difficult but fun.”

“Actually, prior to this interview, I had already heard through a representative from the agency of C.Y that the lyrics contain emotions unique to a city, but they're quite worried since the song title hasn’t been decided yet. May I ask what this is about?”

“I do not have the talent for naming things. I’m sure everyone has heard about this a few times before. I couldn’t decide on a title due to my inability to come up with a good one.”

Light laughter rang through the office.

Just then, the door opened gently, and Content Producer Bae from MBS stepped in. He gave an eye signal to the reporter and sat down quietly in a corner, waiting for the interview to end.

“Thank you, Mr. Ha. The interview is now over.”

The interview ended after a while.

Content Producer Bae stood up and approached Ha Jae-Gun. The cameraman and reporter greeted Content Producer Bae before leaving the office.

“Aigoo, Mr. Ha. It’s been a while.”

“Oh, Content Producer Bae? When did you arrive?”

Ha Jae-Gun gave a forced smile as he greeted Content Producer Bae, clearly knowing that the man was here to talk about turning Market Place into a drama.

There were already signs showing that his 30th was going to be a crazy year for him.

***

[‘Please line up if you’d like to get an autograph,’ Writer Ha took a shot at the head of the district office—a hot topic on social media]

[Ha Jae-Gun’s Market Place topped the bestseller list a week after release; would it achieve a million copies sold this time, too?]

[Another short story in Market Place to be turned into a drama? MBS representative: Still discussing with Writer Ha Jae-Gun]

[The affectionate life of a karaoke helper shown through Storm and Gale, to be shown soon through movie preview]

[AppleT’s Lee Chae-Rin and HyperSoda’s Han Yu-Na joint unit C.Y’s debut song, ‘City Emotions,' written by Ha Jae-Gun, to be released tomorrow at noon]

~

The cold winter passed, and the blossoming March arrived.

Ha Jae-Gun’s works, which have been in the works for a long time, were finally seeing the light in the world. His new novel, drama, movie, and song sung by a pair of idols were all by Ha Jae-Gun.

— All I see on the internet is news about you, Jae-Gun. I enjoyed Market Place, too. My cute little student didn’t disappoint me this time, either.

“I’m really relieved to hear that from you, Professor. You must have been busy recently because of the new semester, right? I would like to buy you a meal sometime soon, Professor.”

— Sure, let’s have something delicious. I’m fine with whenever, so just give me a call a day before. Ah, is Soo-Hee doing well?

“Yes, Soo-Hee is doing great, but she’s a busy bee as usual.”

Ha Jae-Gun did not stop smiling throughout the call with Han Hae-Sun. She was his largest benefactor and had helped him become a writer. He was planning on asking her to officiate his marriage to Lee Soo-Hee.

“I’ll give you a call again. Please enjoy your meal. Yes, Professor. Have a good day.”

Ha Jae-Gun hung up the call and hurried to leave. Today was the movie preview of Storm and Gale.

‘It should be well done.’ He had trust in the director and the actors in the movie, so he wasn’t particularly worried, but he still couldn’t help but feel nervous. Ha Jae-Gun said goodbye to Rika and Nun-Sol before leaving the house.

***

Most of the invitees had arrived when Ha Jae-Gun reached the venue. Ha Jae-Gun walked over to Park Do-Joon and his manager, Woo Tae-Bong.

“Do-Joon. Tae-Bong hyung, hello.”

“Why are you so late?”

“What do you mean? There are still twenty minutes left.”

Park Do-Joon looked nervous.

Ha Jae-Gun found it strange and asked, “You don’t look so good. What’s wrong?”

“Jae-Gun, look over there. Do you see that guy with horn-rimmed glasses?” Park Do-Joon whispered.

Ha Jae-Gun followed Park Do-Joon's finger and squinted. He saw a smart-looking middle-aged man in horn-rimmed glasses standing alone in a corner, using his phone.

“Who is that?”

“Park Paeng-Shik.”

“Park Paeng-Shik? Ah, that movie journalist?”

“Don’t you feel scared just looking at him? I feel like my heart’s going to explode.” Ha Jae-Gun grinned. The man was famous for his bad scoring of movies, so the public’s opinions of the movies he had reviewed had always been on the extreme end.

“Why do you have to be worried? His reviews of Director Yoon were favorable. Hadn't he given us a positive review before? Tae-Sung’s name was engraved on Chungmuro.”

“But there’s no guarantee that he’d give another positive review. Ah, I’m dying of nervousness.”

Soon, Director Yoon Tae-Sung, Head Editor Park Seok-Ji, HongYe-Seul, and many other familiar faces appeared at the venue. Ha Jae-Gun greeted everyone and headed into the theater hall on time.

‘He’s seated next to me...’ Park Paeng-Shik was seated on the left of Ha Jae-Gun, and he couldn’t help but start feeling nervous as well. Being assigned a seat next to the man had made Ha Jae-Gun feel like something was going to happen.

“Hey, Jae-Gun. I feel like something’s wrong.”

“Stop with the fussing.”

The lights in the hall dimmed, and the screening began. Ha Jae-Gun threw a side glance at the critic next to him. The man was so expressionless that it was hard for Ha Jae-Gun to tell what he was thinking.

The man’s eyes were fixated on the screen.

‘Let’s just focus on the movie.’ Ha Jae-Gun decided to withdraw his attention from Park Paeng-Shik and turned toward the large screen. The salaried worker Park Do-Joon, fed up with the harsh social life, was vomiting on the streets at night.

Ha Jae-Gun soon forgot about his reality and got fully immersed in the movie.

An hour and a half later, Ha Jae-Gun started crying as the movie reached its climax. Ha Jae-Gun was so unwittingly transfixed on the movie that he didn't see it. He didn't see the lone tear that dripped down Park Paeng-Shik's cheek, who was famous for his poker face.