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 t.i.tle .
“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 compet.i.tion?”
“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 att.i.tude, 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 princ.i.p.al . 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 . ”