Big Life

Chapter 268. Ha Jae-Gun Isn’t A Big Deal After All (5)

[The tragedy of an adoptee’s solitude, a monster’s meaningless distinguishment between good and evil turns modern society into a frenzy

— Han Hae-Sun (Myungkyung University of the Arts Creative Writing Department Professor, Novelist)]

The September issue of the monthly Smashing Literacy magazine included Han Hae-Sun’s article. This article included a book review of a novel written by an unknown author from the U.S..

Covering four pages, the review was full of praise for the novel from start to end.

The magazine, Smashing Literacy, was a prestigious monthly publication among readers who cared and loved literary arts. On top of that, Han Hae-Sun was one of those capable of influencing the literary world greatly with just a single line from her.

Thus, her articles in the monthly magazine were much more popular than all the other corners available in it. It went without saying that the magazine was also popular among the students of the Creative Writing major from Myungkyung University of the Arts, who served Han Hae-Sun as their teacher.

It was lunchtime, and two students with a Creative Writing Major were sitting together in the library of Myungkyung University of the Arts. They were reading Han Hae-Sun’s review on Smashing Literacy.

One of them flipped the page and mumbled, “Eden Smith? Ye-In, have you heard of this author before?”

“No, I haven’t heard of that name before, but I want to read it. Since Professor Han Hae-Sun gave such high praise for the novel. I mean, I don’t think she had given such high praise when she reviewed Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s novel before.”

“You’re right. Maybe we can see if the library has added the novel to the collection. ...Huh? What’s this?”

“What’s wrong?”

“They added twenty copies of it, but they've been loaned out. It must be quite popular.”

“Let’s go get a copy from the bookstore after class.”

In fact, the popularity of The Malice was growing exponentially at Myungkyung University of the Arts. It was the result of Han Hae-Sun’s book review, which was well respected among the students with the Creative Writing major.

On that same afternoon, a copy of Smashing Literacy was sent to the editor-in-chief’s office at OongSung Publication Group.

Oh Myung-Suk looked down at it with one hand while on the call with the other hand.

”Yes, Professor Han Hae-Sun. Hello, this is OongSung’s editor-in-chief, Oh Myung-Suk. I have heard about it through Mr. Ha Jae-Gun. I’ve really enjoyed your book review; it’s great. Also, thank you for allowing us to use your book review for marketing purposes.”

Now there was another quote that Oh Myung-Suk could add to the back of the book. He had decided on what to write on the quote for the book.

‘A masterpiece praised by famous professor and novelist Han Hae-Sun.’

They had also agreed to publish the full review at the end of the book in the second reprint.

“Please check the servers. Make sure that everything is well prepared so as to not disrupt the printing and distribution schedule of the second print.”

“Yes, Editor-in-chief!” his subordinates replied in unison.

Oh Myung-Suk then continued with the aggressive marketing, starting with Han Hae-Sun’s book review.

There were no channels out of his reach—from radio, literary-related magazines, economic newspapers, to major internet portal sites. As time went on, the existence of The Malice became known to readers through various media outlets.

Soon, they could no longer forget the book.

In the second week of September, Oh Myung-Suk’s efforts began seeing the light of day. The number of mentions of The Malice on social media had increased significantly as word of mouth showed its full potential, making the book go viral.

The readers’ reviews of the book, which inundated the book like a deluge, were also looking positive.

“The responses are great, editor-in-chief. We’ve hit 60,000 copies now.”

“At this rate, we’ll be able to clear the second print without any difficulties.”

However, Oh Myung-Suk didn’t seem happy to hear his subordinates’ reports. He was still hungry for better performance.

After all, Eden Smith's real identity was Ha Jae-Gun. He was prepared and determined to make it reach and be read by readers ten or a hundred times more than the current number of readers.

“Please continue with the current marketing efforts. Deputy Park, please pay extra attention to the physical stores as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

Oh Myung-Suk wasn’t that satisfied, but the sales performance for The Malice was better than average. In fact, the novel could be considered a huge success, considering that it was written by a "rookie."

If the current momentum was maintained, the predicted sales would hit around 100,00 copies by next month. Moreover, they were OongSung, the largest publisher in Korea. They had a full grasp of marketing know-how and overflowing capital.

Even if they had to publish a journal written by an average elementary school student, they would definitely be able to push it into a bestseller. Moreover, the novel they were pushing right now wasn’t written by an elementary school student but by the great writer Ha Jae-Gun, Korea’s best writer in the current era.

“Now, let’s put work aside and head out for lunch.”

As noon arrived, the entire editorial department, including Oh Myung-Suk, left the office. As they headed to the escalator that led to the canteen, Oh Myung-Suk’s phone rang. It was a call from his beloved wife, Chaee Yoo-Jin.

“Yeah, Yoo-Jin.”

— You’re on the way out for lunch? It’s noisy where you are.

“I came out with the staff; we’re about to head into a restaurant now. What about you?”

— I’m going to eat with Mother, too. Ah, I was on a call with Eden from Open House earlier. He said The Malice hit 200,000 copies in sales yesterday.

“Really? The scale is really different when they’re a much larger country. Both me and OongSung will have to work harder.”

— You’re doing very well now. Ah, and there’s something else. Strangely, the response in France is very good.

“Really? In France?” Oh Myung-Suk asked with a smile, finding the news quite unexpected.

The Malice was currently published in Korea, the U.S., France, and Germany. It was thanks to Chae Yoo-Jin’s efforts that things were progressing quickly and swimmingly. Negotiations with a few other European publishers for overseas distributions in other countries were ongoing as well.

— Maybe there’s something that the French readers could relate to in The Malice. One of the members of the French Literary Association also praised the work written by the "new" writer. I’ve kept the article in a scrapbook, so I’ll show it to you after work.

“All right, I got it. It’s been tough on you when you’re heavily pregnant, Yoo-Jin.”

— I know. Thankfully we’re in the high-tech era. We’re able to do so much work with just a computer connected to the Internet. I’ll hang up now; enjoy your lunch.

Oh Myung-Suk put away his phone and took his seat. As they ordered their meals, one of the employees on their phone mumbled, “The Malice is on the news again...”

”Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Ah, editor-in-chief. The movie director Woo Jae-Hoon seems to have read The Malice.”

“Woo Jae-Hoon?”

“Yes, but he also brought up Mr. Ha Jae-Gun here.”

“What did he say?” Oh Myung-Suk frowned slightly. As it was for Ha Jae-Gun, Oh Myung-Suk wasn’t happy to hear that name either. The scene where Woo Jae-Hoon appeared in a debate on TV and disparaged Ha Jae-Gun with groundless rumors surfaced in Oh Myung-Suk's mind.

“Let’s see.”

“Here it is.”

Oh Myung-Suk took his subordinate’s phone and read the article. Soon, his suppressed laughter escaped from his mouth. He just couldn’t resist laughing upon reading the content.

***

“I’m sorry, assistant secretary. I won’t be able to attend the policy debate.”

— So you’ve decided....

”Yes, I hope you can understand. I hope I didn’t put you in a tight spot, assistant secretary.”

The assistant secretary let out a heavy sigh. Knowing what it meant, Ha Jae-Gun then said, “Um, assistant secretary.”

— Yes, Mr. Ha? Please speak.

“Please don’t be apologetic about the last meeting.”

— Mr. Ha...

“I have no hard feelings against you. Even if you knew beforehand that Assemblyman Kwon Sung-Deuk and Department Head Lin Minhong would be there and still couldn’t inform me earlier, the outcome would have still been the same. I’ll think of it as if you had an inexplicable reason for doing so. I mean it.”

— I feel more ashamed when you say that...

“You’ve been looking out for me for so long, assistant secretary. You’ve treated me with equal respect and also left good memories of you with me. You’re still the same person I’m grateful for and admire.”

Park Do-Joon approached from behind and tapped Ha Jae-Gun on his shoulder. Ha Jae-Gun turned around, and Park Do-Joon mouthed. “The spicy seafood noodles are getting soggy.”

“Sorry, assistant secretary, I’ve got another appointment; I’ll have to hang up now.”

— I see; I’m sorry for keeping you back. I’ll contact you again.

Ha Jae-Gun and Park Do-Joon then went to sit down on the sofa. A bowl of spicy seafood noodles and black bean noodles were on the coffee table.

“Have you not gotten sick of black bean noodles?”

“I’ll always order it whenever I come to a new neighborhood; I’m trying to find a better restaurant.” Park Do-Joon then looked around the apartment. He admired the black and white interior. “So Soo-Hee lived here alone before you guys started dating? She definitely has a good aesthetic sense. Her place is clean, and the interior is well decorated; it balances out everything.”

“She likes being clean.”

“She’s the complete opposite of Chae-Rin. The person Lee Chae-Rin as an idol is only pretty, clean, and cute on TV, but she's actually a pig at home.”

“You’re exaggerating things again.”

“I’m not. Do you know what happened last August? I opened her bathroom door and shuddered at the sight. She left her clothes in a basin for a week. She was supposed to wash them by hand, but she left them there because it was troublesome. And wouldn't the water turn bad in summer? What a mess, really.”

“Stop it and start eating.”

The two of them finished their meal and cleaned up. Then, they enjoyed a cup of coffee. As Park Do-Joon was barely able to meet after squeezing out some time from his busy schedule, they had seemingly endless topics of conversation.

“How’s The Malice? Is it selling well?”

“Yeah, the response isn’t bad. Editor-in-chief Oh Myung-Suk is usually good at marketing, and there’s also the book review by Professor Han Hae-Sun.”

“What about the U.S.? I heard it’s doing better there.”

“Well, they’re a huge country and have more population after all. But strangely, France is seeing better responses instead.”

“France? Ah, I heard that the novel was also signed with a publishing company from France right? So The Malice clicks with the readers in France, huh? Come to think of it, didn’t The Breath also sell quite well there?”

“I’m not sure; we’ll have to wait and see.” Park Do-Joon sprawled out on the sofa and said with a grim look, “My mouth is itching so much that I'm going crazy. You wrote such a great novel, yet I can't even write a recommendation post about it. How is this liberal democracy?!”

“Endure it. It's because people will definitely think of me once you upload it. Do you want another cup of coffee?”

“Forget about coffee and just watch TV. It’s time for Immediate News now.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll know in a bit. Hand me the remote control.” Park Do-Joon took the remote control and turned on the TV to the channel he wanted to watch. The program he had mentioned had just begun playing.

As soon as the show host’s huge face appeared on the screen, Park Do-Joon burst into giggles as he explained to Ha Jae-Gun what the show was about. “This program has been popular recently, known for putting your lives on the line. This means that they would say anything and everything. They usually reveal issues about celebrities; it’s really candid.”

“So you’re now hooked on this program instead of Let’s Watch A Movie?”

“Watch it first. Anyway, they said the broadcast level has increased, and this program is really no joke; they talk a lot of nonsense. They also have this corner called Foolish Comments; you’ll definitely be shocked at it.”

As soon as Park Do-Joon finished his explanation, the LED screen lit up behind the show host. Park Do-Joon’s words turned into reality within moments, shocking Ha Jae-Gun to no end. The TV screen had Ha Jae-Gun’s face plastered all over it. They were photos of him taken during the Baeksong Arts Awards.

“But Ha Jae-Gun, why are you... on it?”

”You’re wrong. How would I know?”

The two men were speechless as the two show hosts began their conversation.

[Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s popularity is exploding, right? We can easily find people nowadays saying that those who don’t know him were spies, and even have memes about it. But of course, he had become such a huge success that it was natural for the people to say that.]

[That’s right, but he has also formed many enemies at the same time. There’s no way we could leave out the once-legendary movie director in Korea, Woo Jae-Hoon, here. We heard that he’s been looking for investments for his movie. But during that period, Director Woo has been criticizing Writer Ha through various media channels, isn’t that right?]

[It’s more of a condemnation than criticism. Director Woo is known for his street fighting instead of movies, and rumors are rampant about his fiery temperament. Now, let’s take a look at Director Woo Jae-Hoon’s social media channels from yesterday, shall we?]

The LED behind the two show hosts screened posts from Jae-Hoon’s social media.

[Let me read them out first. A masterpiece written by a new overseas writer. This is what I call a true novel. A Korean writer who only reveals their earnings and writes light novels should reflect on themselves. Look, his ranking had already fallen below The Malice. Taken from a certain large bookstore’s bestseller list, look at the bold text from it.]

[I can see it very clearly. My eyesight is at 0.2 and 0.3, so I can clearly see that Writer Ha Jae-Gun’s novel title was emphasized. It’s a clear bold font style. But why would Director Woo go so far as to attack Writer Ha this badly?]

As it was broadcast live, the two show hosts could not mention it in full, but Ha Jae-Gun could tell right away.

Park Do-Joon was already looking up Woo Jae-Hoon’s social media as the program went on.

“Wow, I’m really speechless. How can he compare Market Place to The Malice when it’s been ages since the former's release? He’s going crazy trying to put you down.”

“Whatever, they’re both written by me anyway.”

Pat!

Park Do-Joon turned off the TV and fell sprawled out on the sofa, glaring at the ceiling as he mumbled, “Thank god I cut ties with him long ago.”

“Why did you turn it off? Don’t worry about me and watch it.”

“I’m not watching because it’s not interesting. Hey, Jae-Gun, can’t I just reveal it? Can’t I reveal that it’s written by you?”

“What’s wrong? I’m grateful to Director Woo, actually.”

“What about?”

“He’s helping me by advertising my book. Even my anti-fans are supporting The Malice, and I’ll be more thankful if they buy more copies of it.”

“I can’t understand your logic.” Park Do-Joon shook his head and buried his head into the cushion.

Ha Jae-Gun shrugged with a smile.

***

Indeed, the “Woo Jae-Hoon effect” seemed to have shown its powers. Unsure if it was really thanks to that, the sales for The Malice had been growing remarkably day by day. The Malice had gone up to the 6th on Bandi & Lunia’s bestseller list in its fourth week of release.

There was a festive mood in the editorial department of OongSung’s Publication Group. Three of the novels on the list were overseen by Oh Myung-Suk. Oh Tae-Jin’s The Last Trip on third place, Eden Smith’s The Malice on sixth place, and lastly Ha Jae-Gun’s Market Place on tenth place.

The reviews from readers on The Malice kept on coming on the Internet.

- I’ve read it three times. It’s been a while since I’ve read such an intense novel that even penetrated my heart. Seems like there’s no limit to how much evil there is that a person’s heart can hold.

- I think Eden Smith is a Korean-American. The part about how he was given sugar coated tomato by his biological mother when he was young made me wonder who the writer actually is.

- I can guarantee that there is a 99999% chance that this was written by an experienced writer with a new pen name, like in Romain Gary’s case.

- Are you seeing this, Ha Jae-Gun? Market Place has already lost to The Malice. Your era has passed. Stop writing novels that sell and think about what a true writer is.

? I respect your opinion, but let’s get the facts right. Ha Jae-Gun’s Market Place was published a while back, and it has already sold over a million copies. How is it appropriate for you to compare based on weekly best sales?

?Isn't that Director Woo Jae-Hoon? And did Ha Jae-Gun only write novels that sell?

?Yeah, Woo Jae-Hoon’s social media post on Immediate News was really out of the blue kekekeke I still can’t understand and am speechless why he would bring up Ha Jae-Gun there when he was talking about The Malice.

Just as the Korean publishing market was bustling with The Malice, Open House’s editor-in-chief, Eden, had just received a call in the U.S. It was a call from an employee of a publishing company in France with the publication rights to The Malice.

“You want to know the identity of Eden Smith? Why?”

— It’s for the Prix Goncourt.

“Prix Goncourt?” Eden stood up unknowingly and in disbelief. Of course, he knew what the Prix Goncourt was. The Prix Goncourt was the most prestigious literary award in France; it had a history as long as the Nobel Prize with just a year difference. There was no way Eden wouldn’t know about it.

— Eden Smith’s The Malice will be the first on the nominations list for the Prix Goncourt.

“Pardon? Is that true?” Eden’s jaws dropped.

He knew that France was responding well to The Malice, but it actually ended up getting nominated for the Prix Goncourt? How could things go so well? Eden couldn't quite believe it as if were a lie.

— We called immediately as soon as we got a call from the French Literary Association. We’d like to discuss more in advance depending on how things progress in the future. Hello? Mr. Smith? Are you listening?

Eden was at a loss for words. He looked around the office with a puzzled look and thought to himself, 'Open House might be able to move to a new office soon, and I might get an office twice as large as my current office.'

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