Chapter 14
General Manager Ma Jonggu got the call and came after an hour .
He was covered in sweat because he was meeting with a writer for a contract .
As soon as Manager Ma went into the office, screams loud enough that the entire room could hear the noise . ‘You know you’ve done, so you fix it!’ came before the ‘ACKKK!’, scream .
Then, the office door opened and Manager Ma came out . Limping because he was kicked in the shin, he gloomily went up to Gyungsu and said .
“Call with your phone . ”
“What? W-where?”
“Ha Jaegun! Call Ha Jaegun! He blocked my phone you idiot . !”
Manager Ma shouted as he crashed his fist on to the desk
Surprised by the outburst, Gyungsu hurriedly took out his phone . Manager Ma was crouching with his hands behind his head, right before him .
At the same time .
Jaegun rang the doorbell of his parent’s house . He could hear his sister Jaeyn’s voice .
“Who is i… is it Jaegun?”
Recognizing Jaegun from the interphone, Jaeyn opened the door . Jaegun smiled and entered the house .
“What is it? I got no call either”
“Nothing, just it’s your day off as well . ”
“Funny, that’s why you asked my days off yesterday? What wind blew today? You never came when I sang for you to come . ”
Jaegun answered back with a laugh .
He lived like a no name writer that struggled to keep his body healthy . He was embarrassed to even show his face to his family and so that’s why he refused her invitations .
However, now it was different .
Because of Martial Rankings and the sequel, the reviews were good . Now feeling the moment, he decided to visit his family . It was to give his mom a present and to alert his situation .
“Where are mom and dad?”
“Mom is in the barber, dad is at morning shift since yesterday .
Jaegun’s dad lost his job three years ago at the rescue workplace . Since then, he’s been working as a security guard at a condominium . It was a hard job with changing shift times but he never missed work other than the holidays .
“Have you eaten breakfast?”
“Yeah, it’s late, ah, wait, a call . ”
Pulled out his phone, Jaegun’s eye twitched .
It was Gyungsu of Hetae Media .
Knowing what this was about, Jaegun having a small smile took the call .
“Hello . ”
“Writer Ha, Hello . This is Hetae Media’s Gyungsu . ”
“Yes . What is it?”
Jaegun said coldly . As he expected, Gyungsu spit out a string of words .
“Ah, yes, this is about the contract I’ve mentioned . I’ll have to meet you and see you and talk about the contract but I think we can make your agreements . If today is good, we would like to see you .
“I’ve mentioned that day . I wanted an answer on that day . But now it’s already been a week . ”
“Th,thaat . That is because of the meetings and the internal situations we had here so we needed some time .
“I don’t care what internal meetings Hetae Media had . The important thing is that I got no reply . So I’ll cut off if you have nothing else to say . ”
The voice on the other side changed as Jaegun was going to cut off .
“Writer Ha, This is General Manager Ma Jonggu . I’m sorry that we couldn’t give you a call right away . Please give us one more chance to redeem ourselves . I’ll try not to disappoint you . Please don’t cut off . Yes? I’m begging you, sir . ”
Manager Ma, afraid of Jaegun cutting off, spit out the words fast . Jaegun looked up at the ceiling and thought . It was true that he felt bad that they were begging to him this badly .
“Hello? Sir? Sir?”
“I’m thinking . ”
“S-sorry . I can wait . ”
Jaegun ignored Jaeyn’s look of what is it and closed his eyes . Manager’s Ma uneven breathing could be heard across the phone .
“OK . I’ll see . ”
Jaegun opened his mouth reaching a decision .
“I’ll believe in your words of not disappointing me, General Manager Ma . ”
“Th-Thank you . Thank you . Sir . Really thank you . When should I go? I’ll go and visit you . ”
“I’m at my Suwon home . I’ll be up there by 4-5 so about…”
Manager Ma quickly cut him off .
“If you’re in Suwon, it’s that place with your family? Then I’ll go over there . I can get there by an hour . ”
It was the address that he made a contract with his debut work . Jaegun, somewhat surprised, looked at the wall clock and nodded his head .
“Then I’ll do that . I’ll wait . ”
“Yes, sir . I’ll be right over . ”
Jaegun put his phone away in his pocket . He pulled out a bottle of milk from the fridge . Jaeyn, who was waiting, asked .
“What is it? Publisher? Listening to it, it seemed they were begging to you?”
“They’re asking for a sequel contract . ”
“…sequel?”
Jaeyn just asked that and swallowed her other words .
It might be that if she continued, she might breach her brother’s sensitive parts .
It was a pain but Jaeyn knew . Her brother wasn’t a writer that a publisher would be begging this much for . He wasn’t that popular of a writer . So she was more curious about that phone call .
“I’ll go to a cafe and come back later . They should come in about an hour from Seoul . ”
But Jaegun predictions were wrong .
It was about 30 minutes before the bell rang . As he looked at the interphone, it was Manager’s Ma and Gyungsu’s faces . They must have ignored all the signals coming here .
“I’ll be in the room then . ”
“Sorry . I’ll be quick . ”
“No it’s fine . Take it slow . ”
Jaeyn went into her room and Jaegun opened the door .
“Ah . Hello, sir . ”
In Manager’s Ma and Gyungsu’s hands were an expensive beef ribs set and a ginseng set . Manager Ma lifted it up and said .
“I’m sorry we came unexpectedly so we couldn’t have time to select a proper gift . I hope they will be good for you . ”
“Thank you . I’ll take them . ”
Jaegun was surprised .
He never had gotten such an expensive gift even on holidays .
The best was just a tuna set and a ham set that employees got .
In middle of receiving such a gift, Jaegun felt it again . His value has gone way up .
“Come in . ”
Jaegun went sideways and told them to come in . since they came to the house, there was no point going to a cafe . It was better to just talk in his room . Manager Ma and Gyungsu took off their boots and came in .