Big Life

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Chapter 52 – Follow Me If You Can

Dongmi’s prayer worked .

The success didn’t stop after a day or two .

Finally, after the attention of the readers, the novel entered the top 10 . It became a success not even a week into the release .

The readers of ‘The Breathe’ also included employees from Jongjin’s company .

“Manager, aren’t you gonna eat?”

Jongjin asked Manager Lee . It was 12 o’clock .

Lee didn’t move from his monitor and answered .

“Yeah, you go eat . I’m gonna read a novel so I brought food . ”

“Novel? Another martial arts one?”

Jongjin asked and moved closer .

Lee was removing the wrappers from his lunch but didn’t change his attention from the monitor .

“What is this? The Breathe? Fantasy?”

Jongjin tilted his head after seeing the title .

“You don’t read fantasy, though?”

“Yeah, but I read Pyung Cheon Yu no matter what . ”

“What? Who?”

“Pyung Cheon Yu . You know, the Ranking series writer . The new novel isn’t a paper book but a pay per chapter . I like paper, but oh well . ”

Jongjin’s face couldn’t hide his surprise .

“… . !”

Many thoughts flowed into his mind .

A new novel as a fantasy . Jongjin thought he was writing a short story about a karaoke bar . Maybe he gave up, he thought .

“Anyways, sorry . Go eat . ”

“Ah, yes… ok . ”

Jongjin immediately called Jaegun after he left .

The ringtone continued for a while, and finally, Jaegun picked up .

“… . Ah, Jongjin . ”

“Were you sleeping? Sorry . Go sleep . I’ll call later . ”

“No it’s fine, I had to get up anyway . What’s up?”

“Yeah? But anyway, you released a fantasy? ‘The Breathe’?”

“That was quick . Yes, you probably didn’t read it . Is it that manager again/”

“Wow, straight on . Yes . The manager was reading your story while eating lunch . How did you manage to capture a guy who only reads martial arts?”

“I simply write . I’m thankful that your manager reads my stories . ”

“But what happened to that story with the karaoke helper . Did you quit?”

“Oh, I finished and entered it already . ”

“Ah really? What’s the competition?”

“I’ll tell you when I win . If I don’t say anything, you’ll know I lost so just be quiet . ”

“I get it, but you write too fast . How much did you write this year? Are you taking care of yourself? I’m worried . ”

“It’s fine . ”

“Alright then . Go eat . ”

“Thanks, you too . Talk later . ”

***

Beep!

Jaegun put down his phone and turned to sleep .

Rika was lying down in front of him . She turned to him with tired eyes .

“You sleep well? I slept without knowing . Maybe the weather . ”

The weather was cloudy .

Jaegun pulled away from his blanket and stood up . Rika stood up, too .

“Maybe I should rest . I finished about 100 chapters . About 4 books . ”

Jaegun lifted Rika and asked . Rika tried to pull away, but Jaegun pulled her closer .

“No, it’s fine . I’ll write . I can do whatever I want because it’s a pay per chapter . It’s better to end quickly, right?”

“Meow . . !”

“You hate me that much? Go away . ”

Ring!

He put Rika down on the floor and the bell rung .

Jaegun asked as he went to the front door .

“Who is it?”

“Open, you idiot . ”

“Sister?”

Jaegun opened it immediately . Jaeyn was standing there . In her two hands, there were food ingredients .

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? What is it?”

Jaegun took the bags and moved away .

Jaeyn started to pull her boots off as she went inside .

“I wanted to surprise you . You didn’t eat since you woke up, right? I know it . . ”

“I woke up 10 minutes ago?”

“Is that a brag? The sun’s already about to set?”

“It’s cloudy, what sun . ”

Even with his attitude, Jaegun was secretly happy . He was glad to see his sister coming from far away .

“I’ll give you some Shabu-shabu, ok?”

Jaeyn asked as she took off her coat .

There were definitely no complaints .

Her sister was a great cook . No restaurant could match her amazing cooking .

“It’ll take about 20 minutes . You clean up . ”

“OK . ”

“And shave that beard . Don’t be a pirate . You need to be clean . ”

“Ok . I get it . ”

Jaegun went into the bathroom . Jaeyn started to cook .

When Jaegun came out of the shower, the kitchen was filled with ingredients .

“Should I clean the floor?”

“Hm, yeah . There’s nothing to prepare other than the broth . It’s good . ”

The food was laid down . And around it were vegetables and meat .

“I’ll eat as well . I’ll see how much you eat . Don’t you dare leave any . ”

Jaegun tried some .

It was his sister . The food was amazing .

“It’s amazing . ”

“Eat the meat . A Lot of it . And a lot of vegetables . ”

Jaegun ate a lot as to not disappoint her .

Jaeyn who looked satisfied gave him meat and vegetables on his plate .

“What’s up with father and mom?”

Jaegun asked .

The name was obviously different . Dad became father while mom was still mom .

“Not much . But mom is still worried . She’s not sure if you’re eating well . So I came to check . ”

Jaeyn pinched his cheek and laughed .

“You’re funny . Well now . It’s close to the holidays . You should come home sometimes”

“I can’t . ”

“Why?”

Jaegun didn’t answer and chewed .

Jaeyn didn’t ask again .

She knew Jaegun and dad had a difficult relationship . She had no persuasion power either to talk to dad about it .

“Wait, until I get the money to buy a house . ”

…

“House?”

Jaeyn looked with a surprised face

“What house?”

“I said before . Don’t continue to rent and go buy a house and move out . Not an apartment but a house . Why are you surprised?”

Jaeyn couldn’t answer and only blinked .

She knew that a house was very expensive and so did everyone else .

Jaegun continued nonchalantly

“Take the money out of the current villa, and you have the money I’ve given before . If I get the money of the new book, I can buy a house right now . Something’s that’s big and has about 4-5 rooms . ”

“That big?”

Jaeyn was shocked .

For a house like that, Jaegun needed about 500,000 dollars

This was cheap compared to Seoul’s houses .

“You know . The house next to the barber of mom’s and the one next to the park . ”

“Yeah I know . ”

There was no way not to know . She went there a lot . It was a 2-floor house . It had only been about 5 years since it was built .

“I was searching and it came up . I think it will be good . Hopefully, it doesn’t sell . ”

Jaegun thought of his parents living in that house .

Mom was gardening while dad was studying alone .

“How… how much does it cost?”

Jaeyn asked quietly

Jaegun immediately answered .

“I don’t know . About 500,000 dollars?”

“That’s expensive!”

“Don’t worry . I’ll get that in one year . ”

“One year?!”

She couldn’t understand her brother’s confidence .

The money from Jaegun and the villa money combined only added up to 150,000 dollars . He’s gonna get 400,000 dollars in a year .

It wasn’t baseless confidence .

Jaegun gave a lot of money to his family with his books .

But this was too much .

She worried how much he would hurt himself over this money .

“I’ll take care of you after the house . ”

“What . What now . ”

“I’m going to get an academy for you built . ”

Jaeyn widened her eyes at that . Her current job was a tutor . She had to visit people’s houses to tutor them . And she had no driver’s license or a car . It made it worse .

“Just watch . I’ll make you the principal . What, you seem very disbelieving?”

Jaeyn shook her hand, with a crying look .

“No, I believe you . You’re amazing . It’s just, I’m worried . ”

Jaeyn’s hands held Jaegun’s two cheeks .

“Don’t try too much . The disappointment is big if the goal is too big . Don’t be too fast . ”

“I know . ”

“And your health . It’s more important than money . How are you gonna write if you’re dead . ”

“Ah, the stress . I shouldn’t have said it . ”

“Promise me . Take care of yourself . ”

Jaeyn stuck her pinky finger at him . Jaegun pulled himself away .

“Don’t do this . I’m 27 . ”

“I don’t care . Come on . ”

Jaeyn frowned .

Jaegun finally stuck his finger out .

“Promise . ”

“Phew… . ”

“Copy . ”

“AH, come on… . !

“Do it . ”

“Fine?”

“Ok . ”

“Yes yes, I get it . Obviously .

Jaegun finally got freed .

Jaeyn smiled after and filled up the broth .

“Ok! What about that Suhee girl?”

Jaegun stayed silent . He knew she would ask something like this .

“Hm? Are you meeting her . ”

“Sometimes . ”

“Yeah?”

“I saw her before . I have work too . ”

“Go meet her . She’s good . ”

“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself . ”

“Bring her home sometimes? Hm?”

Beep!

Jaegun’s phone vibrated .

It was a call from Tewon .

Jaegun brightened and took the call .

“Yes, editor . No representative . ”

“Just call me whatever . Did you eat?”

“Yes, I ate . You?”

“I ate . I wanted to talk to you about the paid chapters . ”

“Paid chapters? Already? It’s only been about 20 books . ”

“Not now but next week Friday . It’s going up 2 chapters per day so then it will be about 30 chapters . The likes will go over 10,000 . And on the main site, there’s a banner promotion . Go there . ”

“Yes . Thank you . ”

“No, It’s the first Laugh Book’s project . You should be our priority . It’ll be good . Trust me . ”

“If you say so, that relieves me . ”

Jaeyn was searching her brother . She asked as he hung up .

“It’s the new novel? What’s pay per chapter?”

“Ah, I didn’t say it . The new novel is a pay per chapter style . ”

Jaegun explained it to her basically . Jaeyn nodded her head .

“It’ll be good . I say it a lot, but I trust Tewon . He has great skills so he can do very well . ”

“I think so too . Now let’s just eat . You have so much . ”

“Ok . Let’s do it . I’m gonna eat for real now . ”