Chapter 17: Is This the Rumored Canned Food? (1)

“Sniff! At the pantry—sniff!”

Lee Soo-Hee headed for the pantry immediately and soon spotted Oh Myung-Hoon, who was seated on a rocking chair, slowly rocking himself while sipping on a cup of coffee. He heard the sound of clicking heels and was delighted to see Lee Soo-Hee upon turning around.

"Yo, Lee Soo-Hee! Whassup? Didn't you go for lunch?"

"I said not to call me that in the office!" Lee Soo-Hee hissed as she took a quick glance around the empty pantry. Oh Myung-Hoon stood up from the rocking chair and saluted in acknowledgment before saying, "I apologize, Team Leader Lee. Soo. Hee."

Lee Soo-Hee sighed at length. Oh Myung-Hoon had always never been the kind of person to be careful and change his ways. Lee Soo-He was already exhausted from the continuous crunch, and Oh Myung-Hoon's attitude triggered her.

"What's the matter this time?" Lee Soo-Hee went straight to the point. She didn't want to drag this out.

Oh Myung-Hoon grinned and sat on a chair. He was waving a short stack of papers in his hand, and it was the character brief Hye-Mi had done.

"Was her name Yeom Hye-Mi or something? I heard she majored in food and nutrition and was a specialist at that. But anyway, I can see it from her work. Don't you think it'll be better if she quits from Nextion and become a nutritionist at some high school cafeteria instead?"

"Just tell me what's this about," Lee Soo-Hee said. She barely managed to swallow down the anger surging within her.

Oh Myung-Hoon snorted and waved the stack of papers again.

"Is this really all she could come up with for her character brief? There's nothing I like at all, from the format to the settings. A 20-year-old female college student working part-time at a gas station met our racer protagonist while she was working? And she even fell in love with him?”

”There's a limit to how childish the story can get. How dare she bring such a third-rate setting and ask me to write a scenario for it?!" exclaimed Oh Myung-Hoon as he hurled the papers to the floor.

The papers scattered into the air before falling like petals to the floor.

"If you continue acting like this, it'll be hard for us to work together."

"Then, bring me something better," Oh Myung-Hoon retorted while shaking his leg.

Lee Soo-Hee's eyes turned cold in an instant.

"Are you sure that the issue isn't with your attitude?"

"Aigoo, is our team leader trying to get personal?"

"...Forget it."

Lee Soo-Hee bent down and collected all the papers on the floor. She picked up every last paper. Once she was done, she stood up and said, "Ms. Hye-Mi is an employee that I treat dearly. Regardless of her major, she's diligent and good at her work with a personality, unlike someone with a messed up attitude."

Oh Myung-Hoon’s mocking expression turned dark.

Lee Soo-Hee looked him in the eye and continued, "Personal attacks? I think you're the one who did that since you've been harping about her major and specialization…”

”You even said that it’s better for her to quit and become a food nutritionist instead and whatnot. How could you have forgotten whatever you, an arrogant WRITER, said just thirty seconds ago?"

"Let's stop, Lee Soo-Hee. Things are getting hot in here." Oh Myung-Hoon's face turned red.

Lee Soo-Hee snorted. She picked up the remote control for the air-conditioning and lowered the temperature.

"Finish up the draft in three days. We can't wait for you forever since we have a schedule to follow as well."

“Even a month’s time won’t be enough for me to finish the draft when all you have given me to work on is garbage like this,” said Oh Myung-Hoon.

"If you say so, then I'll go look for another writer to work on it."

Oh Myung-Hoon’s eyes widened at Lee Soo-Hee's words, albeit just for a short moment. He quickly let out a boisterous burst of laughter and threw his head back.

Lee Soo-Hee stared at him with a confident smile without saying anything.

"Find another writer? They'll need to come up with three main scenarios for each character and ten quest lines each within three days! Who would be able to write all of that within the deadline? It would probably take them an entire day just to grasp the entire plot setting!"

"Who knows? I might find someone like that if I look carefully."

"Forget about the work itself. How are you going to find them? Do you really think you could find someone of a similar career background as I do and successfully assign them the work? Hey, our beloved Team Leader, Lee Soo-Hee. It seems that you’re still the same naive little girl who doesn't know how the world works."

"I'll get going if you’re done saying your piece. Bye." Lee Soo-Hee turned around coldly.

Oh Myung-Hoon was seething in anger. He gnashed his teeth so hard that his chattering teeth could be heard, and fire seemed to be shooting out of his eyes as well as he watched her leave. If he were at home and not in the office, he would have smashed the cup in his hands into pieces.

Lee Soo-Hee soon returned to her desk and looked through her contacts on her phone. After some time, the name Park Jung-Jin and his number showed up on the screen. She drew in a deep breath and pressed the call button.

— Ayo, isn't this Lee Soo-Hee? What's up? It's rare to see you giving me a call.

"It's been a while. How are you?"

Lee Soo-Hee reached out for the book on her desk after extending that short greeting to Park Jung-Jin. All five of her pale, thin fingers were caressing the author's name, Poongchun-Yoo, that was printed on the book.

***

"Thank you for your hard work. Please have some of this on the way."

"Aigoo, how did you know that I like Buckas?[1] Thank you for the drink. Feel free to contact me if there are any problems."

"Sure, please be careful on the road." The service man drove away in his vehicle after he was done with the installation work.

Ha Jae-Gun looked down at Rika, who sat triumphantly on his bed with its front paws crossed. On the ceiling behind the cat was a newly installed air conditioner.

Ha Jae-Gun pointed at the air conditioner behind Rika and said, "Look at that, Rika. That's called an air conditioner. Looks awesome, right?"

"...Meow?"

"It's July now, and the heat will only get worse, but I'm not worried this time. I won’t be drenched in sweat anymore, and I don’t have to take a cold shower every thirty minutes. Huhuhu, you look curious, little fella…”

”Let me tell you; it's all because of this thing called the air conditioner," added Ha Jae-Gun.

"Meow, meow?" Rika only cried as it tilted its head sideways. It still couldn’t understand why Ha Jae-Gun was acting this way.

Unable to withstand Rika's cuteness, Ha Jae-Gun picked up Rika and hugged her[2] tightly.

"I don't have to worry anymore. I guess happiness really comes after all the suffering. I can finally live in joy and peace while writing the novels I like."

The combined royalties he would receive from both Records of the Murim Master and Modern Master totaled around five million won every month.

The Wizard of Pezellon, published under Haetae Media, was also doing well. It had reprinted another 1,500 copies after selling out. Thanks to that, Ma Jong-Goo was able to keep his position as the Department Head.

Bzzt!

A call came in. Ha Jae-Gun put Rika down and then jumped onto his bed before answering the call.

"Hi, noona."

— Are you busy? Mom made braised monkfish[3], so she asked you to come home for dinner.

"It hasn't been that long since she made so much of those boiled duck with rice[4]. Why is she making steamed monkfish now?"

— Are you even exercising? That’s a no, right? Anyway, your stamina has to remain the same, even if your only job is writing.

Ha Jae-Gun was suffering from the endless invitations he had received from his Mom and sister. Thanks to the thirty million won, the yearly deposit issue was resolved, and the atmosphere at home had turned for the better since then.

— Come home, Ha Jae-Gun. Why don't you just take the chance to move back? Hmm? Don't waste money on the monthly rent there.

Ha Jae-Gun looked out the window instead of answering her. His relationship with his father was still sour. Not a word of encouragement had come from his father even though he had been recently showing great performance.

Plus, there was something else that was more important.

Ha Jae-Gun could not leave this place immediately. More accurately speaking, he didn't wish to leave this area.

He couldn't understand why he was feeling that way, but he thought that it was somehow related to the fact that this area was where his benefactor’s resting place was located.

"Noona, I've got a call coming in. I'll call you again."

— Go, go.

Ha Jae-Gun ended the call with Ha Jae-In and answered the incoming call. It was from his closest friend, Park Jung-Jin.

"What is it?"

— Did you get a call?

"What are you saying out of the blue? What call?"

— Oh, it looks like she hasn't called you yet. It sounded quite urgent. Lee Soo-Hee contacted me all of a sudden, asking for your number and your address. So I gave it to her. That's fine, right?

"Lee Soo-Hee…? What happened?"

— I'm not sure either. I asked her briefly, and it seems like she wanted to ask you a favor? I think it’s related to the project Oh Myung-Hoon mentioned during the alumni gathering. The scenario that he was working on with Lee Soo-Hee's game development company, Nextion. Maybe there are some issues with his work, and she's trying to ask you for help?

"How could that be? I'm no one."

— You should take pride in yourself. Your novels are selling like hotcakes right now. Anyway, give me a call later tonight. Lunch is almost over, so I need to take a quick puff, wash up and head back to work.

"All right." Ha Jae-Gun ended the conversation with Park Jung-Jin and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

Lee Soo-Hee was Ha Jae-Gun's first love back when he was still in university.

His university days were when his future was extremely bleak. Those days were when he had to survive rather than live day by day. He had to let his first love go because he had nothing to his name and couldn't guarantee their future.

Ha Jae-Gun was unsure what made her come looking for him.

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun was surprised by the sudden vibration from his phone and sat up. An unknown number was shown on the screen, and the sound of an approaching car engine could be heard in the distance from outside the window.

1. The original name of the drink is Bacchus-D (박카스), the best-selling energy drink in Korea. ☜

2. Rika is too cute, but the raw still hasn’t given her a pronoun, so we decided to give Rika a pronoun! ☜

3. The common names in Korean are 아구찜 or 아귀찜. (food picture here) ☜

4. Similar to how the famous Samgyetang, or Ginseng Chicken, is cooked, the dish also includes many medicinal herbs. (food picture here) ☜