Big Life

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – I Am Generous

“I should have already mentioned her during that phone call . She is the head editor for your project, Writer Ha . Sit down, Miss . ”

Somii sat down next to Tewon . She reached for the cup and poured some water . Jaegun said .

“You must be tired after reading over my lacking books . ”

“What are you talking about . The book is so entertaining that work doesn’t seem like work . ”

“Thanks for the made up words . ”

Somii wrinkled her face as if she was suffering unfairness . .

“I’m serious, Mister . I’m not used to the martial arts genre, but I read your books well . ”

Jaegun shyly laughed and shook his head .

It’s common for writers to get praise from the editors .

It’s more of an encouragement to help the suffering writers than a compliment .

In the past when Jaegun didn’t sell well, he let the compliments slip through his ear . However, with this new book in the market, it felt different now . Somii’s complements as an editor were finally reaching his heart .

Everyone’s cups were full of soju, and with Somii’s skillful hands, the meat was roasting well .

Common talks about daily life went back and forth across the table . When the second bottle of soju was being opened, Tewon spoke .

“Writer Ha, about the suggestion I mentioned earlier…”

Jaegun, with meat in his mouth, shook his head .

His eyes were stuck on the grill and he was deep in thought . Tewon waited calmly without intervening or adding .

“I’m sorry, but I can’t lengthen the book . ”

“I see…”

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“I feel like I completely finished the series in 10 books . Of course, if I lengthen the series, I would get more profit, but to the perspective of the readers, I feel like that would be hard . ”

Tewon’s disappointment was on his face .

Unexperienced at these kind of talks, Somii sat tight mouthed . Her two ears were perked up trying to make sense of the atmosphere .

“If Writer Ha says so, I guess there’s nothing else to say . OK . Actually, it’s pretty good just the way it is . ”

“But…”

Tewon, wondering what he was going to say, opened his eyes wide and held out the cup with two hands . Jaegun poured soju and continued .

“I will contract the next work right now . ”

“A sequel contract?”

Jaegun laughed and replied back with a mischievous tone .

“Why are you so surprised? I thought you were going to mention first about making a sequel contract . ”

“N, No . It would be great if you could do that . But with the end of the series, you must be tired and in need of some rest…”

Jaegun shook his head and cut him off .

“I’m fine . When I have momentum, I should pull it with me . I’ll send the synopsis tomorrow . And I’ll finish about 5 books before a week . ”

Tewon almost spit out the drink in his mouth .

“5 books in a week?! Do you think that would be possible?”

“Actually I have some in reserve . I think I can do it . ”

It was a lie .

He didn’t have a word of reserve . It was just that he had the skill of writing 10,000 words per hour now . So he was ranting about it .

“The problem is to make the rough copy good for you, but I’ll try as much as I did for Martial Rankings . ”

“I believe in your writing skills . I think you have the feeling now so the sequel would be good as well . ”

Jaegun drank a sip of water with a calm expression .

It was time to bring up the hard topics .

Now he was a ‘selling writer’ so it was time to bring up his worth .

Tewon was a humanly good editor who helped Jaegun from the nameless days till now . So it was harder for Jaegun to bring up the topic .

“Writer Ha, what are you thinking so hard about?”

Jaegun firmly lifted his head . With the mental attitude to talk not to editor Tewon, but to the entire Starbooks, he opened his mouth .

“Now I want to edit the contract details . ”

“Ah . Yes . Of course, writer . We can’t have the same contract as last time, of course . ”

“I didn’t completely make a big success yet so I have no mind to reach for unreachable conditions . Just with 9 percent royalties with a bonus over 3000 copies and…”

Suddenly Tewon took out sheets of paper from the bag . And he pulled out a contract and gave it to Jaegun .

“Would you look at this for a moment?”

“… A contract?”

“I prepared this because I thought I would be contracting for a sequel with you . Please look through the contents . “

Jaegun shaking his puzzled head opened the contract . As he turned the pages, the feeling of surprise was getting added . In the contract were conditions better than what Jaegun secretly wanted .

“Editor, this…?”

Jaegun couldn’t continue .

Basically with 10 percent royalties and 1 percent added every time 1000 copies were printed after the basic 3000 copies . The settlement ratio for the electronic books were also 6 and 4, Jaegun with 6 .

Jaegun’s contract way’s were basically paper books .

Paper books have larger cost and there are larger risks of loss .

The publishers obviously make contracts with the electronic market in their mind . Therefore, without being a great writer, it’s hard to get over 5 . To Jaegun who only got one good writing, it was an unconventional condition .

“Editor? Did you prepare this earlier?”

“I thought we needed to do at least that much as a starter . Rather, I’m sorry that we could only do that much . If you blast this new work as well, then I’ll try and fry the representative to get a higher condition . ”

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Jaegun’s heart was pounding and he could only shake his head .

He was so happy to this editor’s patronizing mind that cared for him so much .

“Now, I think all the important things have been taken care of so let’s concentrate and eat?”

“Yes . Of course . Eat . You too, Miss . ”

“Eat and get strength, writer . ”

The three people lifted their cups .

The surroundings got louder as more people came in . Even with the loudness, inside Jaegun’s mind was the makings of the sequel . It was quickly taking form .

… .

‘No . What is this?’

Hetae Media’s main editorial department .

Assistant manager Park Gyungsoo was looking at his monitor at his spot .

Filled on the screen was the comments on StarBooks’ writer Pyung Cheon Yu’s new work ‘Martial Rankings . ’

Man in 20s: When is the 3rd book coming out . Woman in 30s: It’s really fun . Man in 40s frequent visitor: Absolutely getting the 3rd book . Man in 10s student visitor: my friends at school don’t read anything except the Martial Ranking series . We overfilled the volume of the first book so we couldn’t get the book . Sadness .

Gyungsoo’s face felt more pale because of the light from the monitor .

Gyungsoo couldn’t believe it .

It has been only 8 days since he met Jaegun . But now he was on the sequel and it was starting to grow more popular than the previous work .

It was just then .

“WHERE IS GENERAL MANAGER MA?!”

The representative with rage came in to the editorial office .

Gyungsoo went pale and stood up shaking .

“Ah, I don’t think he’s in work yet…”

“Does that man know what time is it and he’s still not showing his face? Does he think he can be late just because he’s the general manager?! Call him and tell him to run! Tell him to come to my room as soon as he’s here . ”

“Yes, representative . ”

The representative went back furiously .

Gyungsoo plopped down on to his seat . It was terrifying just thinking of how bad manager Ma was going to get chewed after missing a hit writer .