Chapter 2: Poor and Unpopular (1)

Bzzt! Bzzt!

The handphone buried under the pillow sent powerful vibrations throughout Ha Jae-Gun. Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes opened in shock amidst his nap. He had to have been on edge, thinking that the call could be from the editor.

However, the caller was someone else—his classmate and close friend, Park Jung-Jin.

Ha Jae-Gun yawned and reached out to pick up the phone.

“Haello…”

— Did you get wisdom tooth surgery or something? What’s up with that way of speaking?

“I just woke up. I was in a rush because of the deadline earlier...”

— Oh, are you talking about that newly contracted martial arts novel of yours?

“Yeah, I just handed in volume two this morning. It’s another burden off my shoulders.”

— That’s good to hear. Remember to come by seven thirty later. Hippo at Sinchon.

Ha Jae-Gun looked up at Park Jung-Jin’s message and muttered, “Huh? What do you mean seven thirty at Hippo?

— You punk… don’t tell me that you forgot again? There’s an alumni gathering today.

“Oh, right…” Ha Jae-Gun muttered. It wasn’t really that unbelievable, thanks to the deadline he had to chase, but he had forgotten all about the Taeseo University creative writing major’s alumni gathering today.

“What time is it right now?”

— You don’t have a clock in your room? It’s five in the afternoon right now, so you better hurry. Aigoo. I’ve got a meeting to attend, so I’m off. See ya later.

Beep!

After the call, Ha Jae-Gun pulled himself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He had to be quick because if he were to take his sweet time, he wouldn’t make it in time.

Swaaah…!

‘Ugh, it’s cold!’

The cold water from the running shower head drenched Ha Jae-Gun all over. It was torture to shower in cold water when it was still June, but it was expensive to keep the boiler running, so he had to make do with it.

Ha Jae-Gun skipped around like a fish out of water during his shower, and he turned into a blur to wash up in record time.

Ha Jae-Gun picked out the tidy and cleanest-looking clothes he had in his repertoire and left his studio to go to the bus stop. On the way to the bus stop, he checked the bus arrival time on the APP.

It would take Ha Jae-Gun fifteen minutes on the feeder bus to reach the subway station, and it would take him another forty minutes to Sinchon station. Considering all that, it seemed that he would arrive well before the agreed-upon time.

‘This place really hasn’t changed at all.’

Ha Jae-Gun finally arrived at Pub Hippo, where the alumni gathering would be held, and he stood outside the storefront. His eyes became filled with nostalgia as he swept his gaze across the signboard and inspected it.

He had frequented this pub with his classmates back in his university days as their food was delicious and affordable. In addition, the owner was a very kindhearted person.

Tap!

Someone tapped Ha Jae-Gun on the back, catching him off guard. He turned around and saw Park Jung-Jin grinning at him.

“What the hell, man! You almost gave me a heart attack…”

“What are you doing standing here like a dog in the rain?”

“I was just reminiscing about the old days. How many years has it been?”

“I guess that makes sense. Even I still think of the old days. I think the last time we came here was before you enlisted in the military. Anyway, we should go in.”

The two entered the pub and spotted a large table set up in the innermost part of the pub. The table was huge and wide—it could definitely accommodate twenty people.

Aside from Ha Jae-Gun and Park Jung-Jin, there were a total of eighteen people who RSVPed to the gathering, and most of the attendees were already at the table.

“Hey! Long time no see!”

“Park Jung-Jin, Ha Jae-Gun. You guys have always been together, even when we were still students at the university, and you’re next to each other again. Are you guys in a relationship or something?”

As Park Jung-Jin and Ha Jae-Gun approached the table, their classmates smiled and greeted them.

“How are you guys? Hey, Hyo-Jin! I can see that you haven’t changed at all. You still look the same.”

“Stop teasing me. I’ve gotten so many wrinkles that I’m actually thinking of going for surgery,” Hyo-Jin fussed.

“You’re joking. You still haven’t even hit your thirties just yet, and you’re already thinking about going under the knife? Don’t do that to your pretty face,” Ha Jae-Gun replied.

“You have always been smooth with your compliments, Ha Jae-Gun. Come over here, and this noona[1] will take care of you today,” Hyo-Jin tapped on the sofa seat next to her, signaling him over. Speechless, Park Jung-Jin pushed Ha Jae-Gun away and inserted himself between them.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t be so interested in Ha Jae-Gun and take pity on this soulless production planner. I had to drink so much coffee over the week just to come up with a dungeon proposal, but I was rejected harshly despite my efforts,” Park Jung-Jin joined in the conversation.

“Oh, my, is that so? Come over, dearie. Have a drink with noona.”

“Heheheh, thank you, noo-nim[2]. I will serve you until the end of today’s gathering,” Park Jung-Jin replied while grinning from ear to ear with a glass in hand.

Min-Ah, who was seated opposite them, stared at them with her large round eyes and teased. “Hey, it’s still early, alright? You might end up getting together for real before we disperse! Ha Jae-Gun, they’re acting strange, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Ha Jae-Gun replied with a seemingly grim look.

The expressions of the pair in question crumpled as they looked at each other, and the sight made Ha Jae-Gun burst into laughter.

Tip-tap, tip-tap.

The sound of heels hitting the floor rang as someone approached the large group. Everyone looked in the direction of the entrance and saw a man in a gray suit smiling with confidence and waving at them. It was Oh Myung-Hoon.

“Hey, Oh Myung-Hoon! It’s been a while!” They waved back at Myung-Hoon in delight. They reacted much better at Oh Myung-Hoon’s arrival compared to when Ha Jae-Gun and Park Jung-Jin arrived, especially the ladies.

“The rumors about you succeeding in life has to be real. You now look like some socialite in Cheongdam-dong,” remarked someone from the group.

“Hahaha, stop with the praises. I’m just starting out.” Oh Myung-Hoon replied coolly and took his seat opposite Ha Jae-Gun. He reached out for a handshake to Ha Jae-Gun. “Hey Ha Jae-Gun, it’s been a while.”

“Mm, yeah.” Ha Jae-Gun revealed an awkward smile as he shook Oh Myung-Hoon’s hand. He wanted to act normal and natural, but his actions weren’t going according to plan.

Graduating from the creative writing major didn’t mean that everyone would take writing as their career.

It was actually the opposite.

However, they couldn’t really be blamed for their decision because writing had always been a tough career to make decent money. One needed a breakthrough or perhaps even a lucky break to become popular before one could turn writing into one’s livelihood.

Therefore, many creative writing major graduates often worked in fields distant and oftentimes completely unrelated to their major.

Park Jung-Jin was an employee of a game developer company, and his job was composing narratives and quests. People like Park Jung-Jin were considered lucky because his main job was related to his major.

There were only a handful of people who decided to become a writer like Ha Jae-Gun after they graduated. In their cohort, there were only two of them, including Ha Jae-Gun. As for the other one? It was none other than Oh Myung-Hoon.

Ha Jae-Gun felt extremely uncomfortable in the presence of Oh Myung-Hoon, and it was all because Oh Myung-Hoon’s three new romance titles simultaneously became popular.

One of them was even awarded the first prize in the competition held by the Korea Creative Content Agency. It got so popular that there were even some rumors about how it could be adapted into a television series.

Thanks to the book, Oh Myung-Hoon had gotten much more popular among writers.

In fact, his profits had apparently long exceeded a hundred million won.

“How’s your work? What are you up to right now?” asked Oh Myung-Hoon.

Ha Jae-Gun choked. He didn’t know what to say. Oh Myung-Hoon definitely knew that Ha Jae-Gun had always been trying to make a living as a writer, yet Oh Myung-Hoon still chose to ask that kind of question.

Knowing what Ha Jae-Gun was thinking, Park Jung-Jin answered in his stead.

“What else? A writer’s got to write.”

“Oh, is that so? You’re still writing?” Oh Myung-Hoon put a subtle emphasis on the word ‘still’ in his question.

Ha Jae-Gun smiled nonchalantly and picked up the bottle in front of him. “Yeah, I’m still writing. Here, have a glass. Soju is fine, right?”

“Ah, thanks.”

“I heard that you’ve gotten more popular recently. Congrats.”

“It’s nothing. At most, it’s just going to be adapted into a drama.”

Ha Jae-Gun’s hand holding the soju bottle trembled ever so slightly. He quickly withdrew his hand after pouring Oh Myung-Hoon a shot of soju to conceal his trembling hand.

“Ha Jae-Gun, what are you writing right now?”

“Me? My martial arts novel recently got a contract, so I’m writing to complete that nowadays.” It was now Oh Myung-Hoon’s turn to pour Ha Jae-Gun a shot. The two clinked their glasses and took a sip of the alcohol.

“Ah, martial arts? Does it sell? Maybe a million won per volume every month?”

1. Noona is often used when addressing older sisters (blood-related or not) in Korean. Over here, it’s because of the compliments she received that she’s treating Ha Jae-Gun like a younger brother and want to shower him with love. ☜

2. Noo-nim is a more polite version of Noona. ☜