Big Life

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 : No Money And No Recognition (3)

“Yes, yes, there is no problem . Go ahead and speak . ”

The editor in chief faltered a bit and continued speaking .

-Actually, we’re worried about your current project .

“Is that so…”

-The theme of a peerless martial arts master being transported to a fantasy world is good, but focusing mostly on the fantasy plot is a little… And on top of that, it’s not as if the main character is some completely overpowered munchkin; the plot development should be about meeting stronger and stronger enemies and cultivating, but his occupation as a blacksmith is a little too boring .

Jaegun plugged his mouth to stop himself from gasping . As he turned his head and looked in front of him, he saw countless amounts of people showing a happy smile and walking past him . It seemed as if everyone was living a happy daily life except for him .

The words of the editor in chief continued .

-Mr . Ha, you always seem to be writing diligently . I know that, but because your writing focuses heavily on not leaving any holes in the plot, you lose out many opportunities to bring out more entertainment in your stories .

“Yes…”

-If you insist on releasing your work like this, we can do it . However, your guaranteed compensation will be reduced by quite a bit and you shouldn’t expect much sales either . Also, your work might get an early termination . Instead of paper books, publishing e-books seems to be the better option for you .

Jaegun plopped down to a squat as he felt the darkness clouding his eyes .

The editor in chief added on with absolute firmness .

-You probably won’t be able to pass your previous performance, It might even be worse .

To say that I wouldn’t be able to do better than previous times . Jaegun’s heart seemed as if it would tear even though he knew the editor in chief was speaking with unbiased objectivism .

-Please think about it and contact me . There is still time left until the deadline so you have some breathing room .  

“Yes, editor in chief . Thank you very much, I’ll get back to you . ”

Jaegun hid his hurt feelings and intentionally replied with a vigorous voice and ended the call . Then, he opened a cigarette packet with a sigh and bit into it .

‘This is so shitty, really…!’

The previous work that the editor in chief was referring to was Jaegun’s fantasy novel that was published last year . In the end, the performance of that project was not really well received .

The series was finished with 5 books in total and the total amount of revenue that he received was less than 1,800,000 Won . You could say that each book brought in less than 360,000 Won . He had to spend a month of writing non-stop to complete a book so it was a shockingly low income .

(TL: 1,800,000 Won is roughly $1800 . Just take out 3 zeros in at the end for Won and you get dollars for future reference . )

It was said that because of the increase in popularity for e-books; the situation for authors became better, but that was a faraway land for Jaegun . The monthly income that Jaegun received from e-books were too embarrassing to even mention . There were many times when the income didn’t even go over 10,000 Won .

-Does that even pay? Does it even give 1,000,000 Won for a book?

The taunting face of Myunghoon lingered in his thoughts . Jaegun wrapped his head with both his hands while biting down on his cigarette . It seemed as if each book would not even produce 300,000 Won, let alone 1,000,000 Won . The guesses of the editor in chief were correct most of the time .

‘Should I quit now…’

He couldn’t live with an income of 300,000 Won per month . Including his current one room apartment’s rent plus various bills, there was no answer to be had .

He had only two choices to make . To get a part-time job in a convenience store like last year and continue writing, or to quit altogether .

His age was already 27 . There was no money saved in his bank account; a depressing life . Unknowingly, streams of tears fell from his two eyes . He felt as if there would never be a time where he would be able to laugh again . Jaegun couldn’t even wipe the tears that fell from his face as he blankly stood still .

“Go home safely . ”

Jaegun said as he got off the taxi . Jungjin in the backseat was passed out drunk .

“Yea, *hiccup* . Lesh talk t’morrow . Mishter Driver, drive away . *hiccup*”

The taxi drove off along with Jungjin’s slurred speech .

Jaegun put his hands in his pockets and lifelessly walked toward his home . He intentionally got off from a decently far away place from his home . It was because his one room apartment was a bad place for a car to drive to .

To the left of the lonely road was a small river and to the right was a gloomy mountain . The road that always had a lack of people was walked by Jaegun alone with a depressed mood .

‘Mm?’

In one moment, Jaegun’s footsteps suddenly stopped . Something unnatural came into his line of sight . He looked back at the road that he came from while second-guessing himself due to his drunken state .

His vision came to a focus in between the slopes of the hill . It was a place where someone’s gravestone lied . As if the bereaved family didn’t take care of it for a long time, weeds grew in spades and the grave gave off a ghastly aura .

However, the thing that caught Jaegun’s attention was something else . The tombstone that stood still was fallen to the ground .

‘Did somebody take it down on purpose?’

Maybe the sympathy was due to the alcoholic influence . He felt sympathy for the owner of the desolate grave . On the other hand, he became curious . What kind of life must the owner have lived so the owner was abandoned by his family without a second glance . He saw the grave every day but it was his first time feeling this .

Whatever the case might have been, it was currently not important to Jaegun . As if he was drawn to the grave, he walked up the hills where there were no roads and approached the grave .

‘Wow, this… is bigger than I expected?’

The gravestone that seemed small from far away was considerably big . He pulled both his sleeves up and grabbed on to the gravestone .

-Grunt

As he exerted his strength and grunted, the fallen gravestone slowly came back up . Veins began to show on his blood-red face .

“Rurrggggh…!”

-Kroom!

The massive gravestone was restored to its previous state . Jaegun’s knees were supporting his hands as he gasped for breath .

“Haa! Ha! Ha! Blu, bluurrgggh…!”

The sound of heaving came out after he exerted his strength after drinking alcohol . Jaegun threw up a mouthful of spit and then plugged his throat . If he threw up anymore, it seemed like everything he ate for dinner would come back up .

“Hheu… Hheu…”

Jaegun gathered his breath and looked down at the clothes he was wearing . Both his arms and hands were covered with dirt from the gravestone .

‘Dirt is already on me so whatever . ’

Jaegun walked towards the grave and started pulling the weeds that grew too much . They were more grounded than they looked so it took quite a bit of strength . It would have been good if there was a weed cutter lying around, but of course, there was no such thing .

It was the moment when he roughly cleared up the front of the grave and turned around to walk away .

“Meee~oowww”

“Woah! God damn!”

Jaegun fell backwards onto his butt . A cat was sitting there with its tail pointed upward . It was a kitten that had a short, deep-blue coat .

“What are you . You, you’re a house cat?”

Jaegun asked the cat . Around its neck was a red collar . On it, the Korean characters ‘Rika’ was inscribed .

“Rika? Your name is Rika?”

“Meow . ”

“Why are you in a place like this? Did you lose your way?”

“Meow . ”

The kitten looked up at Jaegun and continuously mewed . He felt as if the eye level of the kitten was high . As he looked down, the kitten was sitting on top of some box . It was a ramen box covered in duct tape .

“What is this now? This is weird . ”

Maybe because this was a world where it was overflowing with bad news, scary thoughts came into his mind first . Jaegun swallowed a ball of spit, gathered courage and stretched out his hand toward the box . He steeled his resolve and decided that he would investigate it even more if it was related to a crime . The kitten came down from the box and stood next to Jaegun .

“Mmm? A notebook?”

After locating the entrance of the box, Jaegun muttered with a stupefied expression . A notebook was inside the box . You could tell it was an old, worn-out notebook . Aside from the notebook, there was a fountain pen, a mug and a brown-rimmed pair of glasses neatly laid inside the box .

“These, do these items belong to your owner?”

“Meow, meow . ”

As if the kitten understood, it raised its head and cried out . Jaegun carefully reached out his hand and scratched the kitten’s neck . The kitten must have liked the sensation of the first time meeting Jaegun’s hands and stuck closer to him .

It was at that moment .

“Wuh-What?!”