Big Life

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – I Am Generous

“Should I get you a cup of coffee?”

“No, I drank some already . I’m fine . ”

The three people sat on cushions in Jaegun’s room .  In the bleak room that was vacant for so long, Jaegun first said .

“I’ll forget everything that doesn’t have anything to do with business . I won’t say any words . ”

“Ahah, Yes…”

Manager Ma Jonggu could only put down his head because he felt a bit guilty . He knew it himself . It was the truth that he was harsh on the past no-name writer Jaegun . He could have done better to him, but he didn’t .

“You know the conditions that I gave to Gyungsu, right? I’ll start from there . ”

“That is, sir, the paper books conditions are fine, but the electronic book conditions are a bit… yes . Couldn’t you lengthen the contract length or give us more on the ratio? Couldn’t something like that occur?”

Jonggu was saying this, practically begging .

Even though he wasn’t the type to act like a baby, Jaegun looked around and let out a sight as if he was frustrated . Just with this, Jonggu and Gyungsu became afraid and shook .

“Then let’s do this . ”

Jaegun, even though he thought of this earlier, said like he just thought of it now .

“I’ll only take 10 percent for the paper books . I don’t need guaranteed circulation, and I’ll take 1 percent starting from 4000 copies . But I’ll keep the 2 year contract with the 7 and 3 ratio for the electronic books .

Jonggu’s face showed his complicated thoughts . Jaegun added as if he was being generous .

“I’m being generous . ”

“Ah, Yes . Sir… but…”

It was awkward for Jonggu to contract like this .

There was no way to see how many paper books were going to sell and the market wasn’t good as well . There was no guarantee that Jaegun’s books were going to be a string of successes . It was his honest thoughts that he wanted to take more on the electronic side of the business .

Just then, Jaegun held up his index finger and continued .

“If you listen to my personal request, I can maybe allow the contract year to increase to 3 years . Or maybe I can give you 1 more on the electronic settlement ratio .

“Personal request?”

Jaegun held up his middle finger and his ring finger as well and opened three fingers .

“Enter in 30,000 dollars in first . ”

Jonggu opened his mouth wide enough to show his uvula .

There was no way to know what Jaegun was going to write, how many books he was going to write; there was absolutely no information on his new works . And with that, an input of 30,000 dollars, that was a huge amount .

“Wr-writer Ha…”

Instead of the flabbergasted Jonggu, Gyungsu spoke up .

“This might be a bad question, but if you sign with use, how many books are you gonna write for the series . ”

“At least 10 books . ”

Gyungsu nodded his head and did the calculations .

The cost for a 10 book series is about 24,000 dollars if it’s 3000 copies per book . To not have any losses, there constantly needs to be at least 3000 copies selling or Jaegun had to increase the series length . There was no guarantee that even 3000 copies would be sold either .

‘If we contract and make a loss…’

The thing that was left was the electronic platform .

If there was a loss, the only way to make it up was like electronic books . Hetae Media went into the electronic market a bit late . To make a profit for the company, they needed some more time to grow .

“Hmm…”

Jonggu was deep in thought pressing on his nose .

It was Jonggu’s way of just throwing out writers who didn’t result in money . Therefore, that was why he was afraid . He was afraid if Jaegun was going to throw out Hetae Media the same way .

“10 books… Please, you need to write no matter what until the 10th book . ”
“I said it with my mouth . If the project needs more because of pacing, I would write more . ”

Jonggu felt somewhat relieved but one part of his mind was still hesitant . Jaegun pulled out his phone, checked it, and showed it to Jonggu .

“Would you look at this?”

Jonggu and Gyungsu’s eyes both went to the phone screen . It contained Starbooks’ Somii’s message .

The Modern Rankings is printing 2000 more copies . The Martial Rankings is also probably printing a thousand more copies . Now it’s 4000 copies and 5000 copies . Total of 9000 copies! This is good news so I thought to tell you as soon as the news was released . Good work today as well .

“Hmmm…”

From Jonggu’s mouth came a strange chime . Jaegun ignored it and continued .

“My value as a writer is rising by the minute . There might not be a contract condition like this any more . ”

“I- I’ll give it to you!”

Jonggu said with a determined face and pulled out his phone .

“Can I give a call to the General Manager?”

“You can do that . I’ll be out for a second to get some coffee and to give you some room . ”

Jaegun left his room and closed the door . Jaeyn, who was leaning against the wall, became surprised and straightened up .

“What are you doing?”

“I- I was getting some water and I was checking… . Jaegun, I just heard something but 30,000 dollars? Am I hearing that right? The book you’re writing goes for much money?!”

“I was going to give some money to mom, about 3000 dollars and it’s just one zero behind it . It’s nothing . ”

He was thinking before the contract . He was going to give all the money of the contract for the not so good living household . Jaeyn became excited .

“Not- not that much, with that much money, you can cover your entire rent fees…”

Jaegun with a bright face poured himself coffee .

The hot steaming water melted the coffee mix . Jaegun blew on the hot coffee a few times and drank a few sips . And before he drank all of it, the 30,000 dollars were deposited into his account .

“I’ve done it, sir . ”

To Jonggu who just left the room, Jaegun nodded .

“I’ve checked it, by the SMS notifications . Thank you . ”

Jaeyn couldn’t close her open mouth . Seriously, did 30,000 dollars of an amount just get deposited? To just a no-name writer like her brother?

Jaeyn wanted to ask her brother about his work or his writer . She didn’t want to give any pressure on her all ready tired brother . Also, she was really hurt from reading all the terrible comments on his books, so she didn’t bother with that either anymore . Therefore, she didn’t know that her brother had just broke the bank with his previous releases .

“I hope you will do good, sir . ”

At the front of the door, Jaegun and Jonggu shook hands .

There were smiles, not person to person, but from business to business .

“Thank you . I’ll try to send you about 5 books in a week . ”

You don’t have to be a friend, but don’t be an enemy .

Jaegun, with the teachings of his father, sent off Jonggu and Gyungsu with a smile . In his mind was already the making of a series that he was going to send to Hetae Media .

… .

“Team Leader, Aren’t you going to have lunch?”

“Go ahead . I bought a sandwich to eat while reading . ”

Game company Nexon mobile team office .

Team Leader Lee Suhee fixed her long hair reaching to the shoulder in a bun . Then with one hand, she ate a sandwich and started reading a book on her knees .

‘Hahaha, funny . ’

The book that she was reading was called the ‘Pegelon’s Magician’, a fantasy type book . It was also Pyung Cheon Yu’s new book . She finished reading his previous series and was just starting on the first book of ‘Pegelon’s Magician . ’

Suhee knew who Pyung Cheon Yu was . From his debut book that failed miserably to his newest books, everything he made was on her bookshelf . Pyung Cheon Yu was the only man who, in her 27 years, made her open her heart .

“Sob, sob . ”

Suhee turned her head to the random crying noise . The youngest employee Hyemi was coming to her seat rubbing her tears away .

“Hyemi, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Suhee comforted her and asked . Hyemi wiping her tears with a tissue cried .

“Sob, I’m sorry, team leader . But I really can’t work with Writer Oh . It’s so hard . . ”

Suhee opened her eyes wide .

It was already the 4th time that Myunghoon caused a problem, now it wasn’t a problem that was going to be fixed with nice words .

“Where is Writer Oh right now?!”