Chapter 20
Chapter 20 – Is This Canned Food .
“Canned Food?”
Somii frowned and warily squinted at Jaegun .
The random remark from Jaegun made no sense .
“Do you not know the term . The writer’s canned food…”
Jaegun slurred his words and asked with his eyes .
After staring blankly and meeting each other glances, Somii could think of the term “canned food” from a dinner spot
“Are you talking about… that canned food?”
Even a newcomer employee like Somii knew what canned food meant .
Canned food was a term that meant caging a writer in a specific place and forcing him to write .
It was basically squeezing words out of writers who were struggling to write and their deadline was up ahead .
Either they were lazy and liked playing around, they were having too much thoughts about their project, or their mentality is floored because they are suffering from bad reviews . It wasn’t one or two so it was hard to figure out .
Jaegun, before his debut, laughed when he heard that term . He didn’t feel that since it was a work that all people do, they wouldn’t completely force someone to write like that .
But it was real .
It was during his 2nd series .
Jaegun was struggling because of the lack of sales so he was holding on to the 3rd book in the series for 2 months . And during that time, he got a call from the still head editor at that time, Tewon .
“Writer Ha, the writing isn’t going well, right? The weather is good so you should have lunch with me to change your mood . Wear something comfortable .
Tewon said in his usual tender tone of voice .
It was weird that he asked for comfortable clothes, but Jaegun brushed it off and went to the meeting place . And as soon as he got on Tewon’s car, he got dragged to the publisher’s office and ate lunch with fried rice .
“Have a smoke on the roof . ”
They were Tewon’s words to Jaegun who finished eating . He wasn’t telling him to go home . He was telling him to smoke and come back .
Feeling weird, Jaegun’s eyes slowly saw the office corner’s scenery .
It was a rectangular shaped room with a thin and long dimension .
In the room was a computer, a table, and a small bed . The walls were half gla.s.s so the outside could see the inside .
Called the canned food jail .
It was the moment that he saw the reality .
Jaegun lived there for a week since that day .
The 3 meals of each day was solved by the editors that delivered food . After the employee’s left, he went to the public restroom, locked it, connected a hose, and took a shower there .
When he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he invested everything into writing . Since the only method of escape was through finishing his work, he put all his effort into it .
Then Jaegun realized .
Words could be written if they were squeezed hard enough .
He couldn’t stand the employee’s glances without writing anything . When he couldn’t think of anything, he recited the national anthem from 1st verse to the 4th and stood strong . Therefore, Jaegun could finish it in just a week and went home dejected .
“I have to write something fast right now . There’s no writer who would ask canned food, so this may be weird, but when you’re around, it feels like I can think and write better . ”
Jaegun blocked Somii and laid out his words .
The only excuse he could think of was this .
He was sharing her emotions through Rika . If she leaves, then he can’t finish Oh Sumin’s dialogue perfectly .
“Do you understand?”
“Ye-? Yes, writer… . I understand . ”
Somii confusedly bit her lips .
Jaegun continued as his heart was burning with urgency .
“I won’t ask you to stay long . Just please stay until your remaining time . I feel like I need a editor next to me so I can write fast . ”
“But with your Ranking series, that seems fast enough . ”
“That was actually written before . ”
Jaegun cut her off .
Somii hesitant looked at her feet . Then she checked her phone and looked up .
“About 2 hours to 3 hours…”
“Really?”
Jaegun opened his wides wide . It was way longer than he expected . Somii nodded her head awkwardly smiling .
“I have time because I finished my work early . I don’t need to return to my office after I finish, so I was thinking to go to a cafe and edit there . ”
“Do it here, the wifi is great . ”
“Can I do that?”
“Of course, use the desk here, there’s c.o.ke, juice and cookies in the refrigerator so take them as you want .
Jaegun quickly set up a workplace for Somii .
Somii modestly sat in front of the desk and opened her bag . She had her laptop everywhere so she could work anytime .
‘A very strange person . ’
Somii thought as she took out her notebook .
Asking for canned food to an editor who came to give a present .
It wasn’t long since she started her job as an editor, but a writer like this was a first . And it looked like there wouldn’t be another one .
But strangely a laugh came .
A man like Jaegun who randomly asked for canned food didn’t bother her at all . The room that she had never seen looked like a comfortable s.p.a.ce that she had been to many times before .
Tap! Tap! Taptaptap! Tap!
Jaegun was already concentrating and typing .
With the energetic typing, Somii also started her editing work with new found energy .
‘Yeah, this is good, the first conservation is done . Next is at the convenience store date .
Jaegun with Somii’s help wrote Oh Sumin’s dialogue .
He had lost the power to write 10,000 words per hour, but this moment was inspiring . The wrote continuously kept filling the screen .
Beep! Beep!
Jaegun’s phone that was on the bed vibrated .
It was between the bed, and Jaegun was concentrating on his work, thus he didn’t hear it .
“There, Writer . ”
It was after 2 hours, Somii said .
“Yes, go ahead . ”
“Editor Tewon sent a message . There’s a StarBooks writer meeting next week, Writer Ha has to come this time . ”
“Writer metting… sure . ”
Jaegun didn’t think long before he accepted . His two eyes were stuck on the screen .
In the past, Tewon asked him to go to writer meetings . But he never answered . Because he was a writer that didn’t sell well . When he thought that he would be between the selling writers, He just started drinking again and again, he didn’t want to attend at all .
“Tell him I’m totally going . ”
Jaegun added .
Now the situation was completely different . Now he was a dark horse and a new selling writer, so there was no reason to not attend .
“Wow, I’m hungry, Somii, do you want to eat?”
Jaegun asked as he turned around in his chair . He didn’t eat anything from morning so he was starving .
“Ah, I am a bit hungry . Should I order something from the chinese restaurant?”
“That is convenient, but I never ordered before…”
“I’ll search it up, hm, there’s a lot of them, what’s should I order . ”
“I’ll take the black bean noodles, you can order something expensive . I’m buying . ”
“OK . I’ll get something very expensive . ”
Somii, smiling, called the restaurant . The expensive thing that she ordered was the black bean noodles, same as Jaegun . After she said the address, she cut off .
“It’ll take about 10 minutes . ”
“The chinese restaurants are fast . ”
Jaegun answered and stood up to pour coffee .
It was about 1 minute since he turned on the coffee pot and boil the water . As he was pouring the boiling water, the doorbell rang .
“This is so fast? Do they make these before?”
Jaegun went to the door and opened the door . But the person who was in front of the door wasn’t the deliveryman with the metal bag .