Big Life

Chapter 41

Chapter 41 – With the Night’s Protection

“Yes?”

The girl shivered and lifted her head . Her expression was one that was fearful of him . She was fearful of the favor that he would want .

“I want to ask a favor so I came here . ”

“What favor?”

“Instead of singing, could you talk with me? Of course, I’ll pay you with the same fee . ”

The girl thought his words were weird .

There were a lot of people who looked for karaoke helpers because of their loneliness .

But the young man in front of her put talking as the main purpose .

“Talking comes with playing and singing . ”

“I want to have a serious conversation . Things about your work . Of course, if it doesn’t bother you . ”

“My work? Why?”

The girl asked surprisingly .

Jaegun thought he couldn’t hide it anymore and said the truth .

“I’m a writer . ”

“Writ…er? Writer?”

“Yes . ”

“I thought you go around and sell electric pads . ”

“It was a joke . I’m a writer . ”

Jaegun never introduced himself as a writer first . The weight of being a writer was very heavy . And he was not mature enough to consider himself that .

“When I met you yesterday and came home, I thought of a story . I wanted to make a female main with karaoke helper as their job so I made a quick plot . ”

The girl was listening to hims with wide open eyes .

“But I got stuck . I have no idea about the job of an karoake helper . I can’t writer anything like this . So I came here to ask you for information . ”

Jaegun’s words went into the girl’s ears clearly .

But the girl was still staring blankly .

“Is it hard?”

“No, no . ”

The girl lifted her head .

She was rubbing her sweat filled hands on her ankles .

“It’s not hard, but it’s a bit surprising . ”

“I understand . There’s no customer like me . ”

“So it’s only a conversation?”

“Yes, as I said . ”

“If I just answer things, I get the same amount of money .

“Of course . ”

The girl smiled widely after asking again . Her lips deep with lipstick was sparking .

“It would be stupid to refuse . It’s good for me . ”

The girl reached out and opened the two bottles of beer .

“Cheers . ”

“I’m sorry but I don’t…”

Jaegun refused politely . If he drank, his mind would be befuddled and he wouldn’t be able to write . He didn’t want to drink .

But the girl didn’t back off .

With a frown, she turned around and muttered .

“No cheers means no contract . ”

“Then… just one drink . ”

Jaegun gave in and picked up the bottle .

The girl immediately brightened and cheered .

“One shot . ”

“Yes? This thing?”

The girl was already driving the beer into her mouth .

Jaegun swallowed once and with a fierce face, he started to drink .

He cliched his eyes closed because of the drink .

The girl, who finished drinking, was looking at Jaegun with a smile .

“Khhhhhhhhh… . !”

Jaegun barely drank the entire thing and moaned as he put it down .

He crumpled the empty can unintentionally .

“What kind of man is this?”

The girl smiled as she looked at the coughing Jaegun . And she lighted a cigarette . Between her lips, a bunch of smoke came out .

“The time is ticking . Start . Ask me anything . ”

“Kh… Yes . ”

Jaegun took out the memo and the pen .

He regretted not having his laptop and asked his first question .

“I want to know the beginning of this job . ”

The girl looked at the ceiling .

“I dropped out of high school . The relationship between my new mom and me was bad . So I left . After I worked in many places, I found this job . It’s only been a month . ”

“Yes… . ”

Jaegun was surprised . .

Instead of just saying that worked here for money, she voluntarily talked about her personal information .

It was nice news for Jaegun . It was going to be a easier making the female main character .

“How did you find out…?”

“The internet . After I saw it, I got an interview from the person here at a cafe, then I came to work the next day . I come at 8 and until 2 . If there’s a lot of people, I end at 4 too . ”

“Ah 8 to 2 . Aren’t there tips?”

“The frequent people give tips . If they aren’t frequent, some people give it depending on their moods . There’s always the people who give 10 dollars and make a fuss about it . It’s tiring . ”

“Yes, it must be tiring . ”

Jaegun didn’t rest at all even while responding back . The white paper was slowly filling up with words .

***

‘Why is it so quiet?’

The owner at the counter felt it was weird .

It was too quiet .

Even though a lot of time passed, there wasn’t a song coming out at all .

‘Did something happen?’

It was a world with weird people .

There’s no way to see inside a person .

Sort of nervous, the owner went to Jaegun’s room

‘Hm? They’re just talking . ’

As she looked inside, the girl and Jaegun was facing each other and talking .

The owner became curious .

What are these two people talking about so intently even if they only met yesterday .

“Hey, give us 4 more bottles!”

“Yes, I’ll be there . ”

The owner went straight back to the refrigerator .

There was too much work to be done to care about one person . So that ended her interest in Jaegun .

The night creeped in .

With the increasing number of customers singing, the night was getting hotter . But one room stayed quiet till the end .

“Phew… Thank you . ’

It was about 2 hours when Jaegun put away the pen .

He had gotten the answers to a lot of the questions .

If he wrote a bit more, he was going to find more information he needed . He didn’t know at this point what sort of information he was going to need .

“Thank you . I’ll use the information you gave me today very well . Could I ask you again if I have more questions?”

The girl pulled out another cigarette and nodded .

Her eyebrows were shivering on top the narrow eyes . The girl was also a bit tired after the 2 hour talk .

“I work at 8 so as early as possible . If it’s later, I’ll drink more and I can’t talk too much then . ”

“I get it . It was tiring right?”

The girl shook her hand and laughed .

“Not really . It was fun . ”

“Fun?”

“It’s the first time I’ve gotten question like these . It feels like I’m a star . Like that . ”

She let out her tongue . Then her face seemed very youthful . It was probably more younger if she didn’t have the makeup .

“Call me there . Not to here . ”

The girl gave a phone number and the name Dasul on the memo .

Jaegun smiled and thanked inside .

To the girl who had saved him . For real .

***

The draft started .

Days that began with writing and ended with writing went fast . He wrote at least 16 hours a day but he couldn’t see the end .

‘I don’t get it . It doesn’t make sense!’

If it was the length, he would have finished a long time ago .

He had the special notebook that made him write very fast .

But he just didn’t like the writing that he wrote . The writing that he kept and the writing that he erased were about equal in amount .

Jaegun typed and asked his master .

‘Sir, how do you think of this moment when the helper goes to the motel with him?’

-Don’t ask . There’s no answer . It’s just that the writing is a bit too much . The important thing is that two people met each other but the writing is ruining it . Erase it all .

‘Is it . I don’t want the writing to be too light . I’m not writing a simple romance novel . This is also a growing up novel with the mains growing up . ’

-You care too much about the quality that it might be harmful . Don’t worry about that . Worry about the sincerity . Use the words that come to your head first . That’s real writer .

‘Yes sir . I’ll remember it . ’

Se Gunwoo was teaching his student with effort .

Jaegun was writing with the same amount of energy .

‘Ah I got stuck again…! Not enough!’

Jaegun was stuck again and he touched his forehead .

There were too many issues with the female main .

‘It can’t always be like this . It can’t end with always singing and drinking a few bottles . I need more information!’

He already thought that this was about to happen .

He didn’t ask about the embarrassing things when he met Dasul .

It was the first conversation and there was the feeling that he could ask again later .

‘Can I ask again right now,’

It was about 9 .

There was a huge possibility that she was helping other customers .

But he decided to send a message at least .

-Hello, I’m the writer from before . I’m sorry it’s too late, but could we meet?

Jaegun hurried because he was going so well until this . He wanted to see her today as fast as he could and listen to her .

Her reply didn’t come too fast .

Jaegun was nervous enough because he knew that she was busy .

He waited about one hour .

The phone vibrated .

Jaegun lifted himself up from the floor .

-Sorry, was working . Right now?

-I’ll go . Hub?

-There’s a Hansung Pocha . I’ll be there .

-Ok, 20 minutes .

Jaegun switched clothes to a shirt and jeans and left . He thought about driving but it was a bar so he felt that girl would make him drink some .

“Here!”

Dasul held her hand up as he went in . She was in the corner .

Jaegun passed through the hall and sat down next to her . There was a bean sprout stew and a bottle of beer in front of the circular table .

“We’re not going to sing, so this place is better . ”

Dasul smiled after she said .

There was almost no make up this time .

The clothes were not flashy and normal . It was a brown jacket and tight jeans that girls in their 20s wore .

‘Pretty . ’

He thought she was pretty in the beginning . But now she was really pretty .

She was a natural beauty . There was light on her face without any help .

“Did you eat dinner? I’m hungry . ”

“I didn’t eat . You can eat whatever you want . ”

“Can I get anything I want? I love spicy things?”

“I do too . ”

“OK . Hey! Give us some chicken!”

Dasul offered a cup to Jaegun after she ordered .

Jaegun thought it was good that he didn’t bring the car and took the drink .

“So what are you wondering?”

“Um, that’s… it’s…”

It was hard to ask as the first word .

He didn’t want to drink but his mouth went to the drink anyway .

“They are things that aren’t good . Or things that are a bit inappropriate . ”

“What’s that? You’re saying it very strangely . ”

“It’s… The customers won’t always just go and sing only, right?”

“Hm?”

Dasul looked with narrowed eyes .

Jaegun, embarrassed, picked up his chopsticks .

As he picked up a bean sprout . Dasul laughed with her mouth half opened like she understood

“You’re curious about that? Do they go to a motel and have sex? ”