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? ”