Chapter 46
Chapter 46 – Follow Me If You Can
“How is it?”
“What do you think? It’s great . ”
Jaegun said positively at Somii’s thought .
Who would dislike their work becoming a comic?
Jaegun didn’t think of anything else .
And it was Comic KT, so there was no need to hesitate .
“But I have no knowledge of comics, so I have no idea about the profit distributions . ”
“I have no idea either…”
Somii explained with wide eyes .
“If you do this comic with Comic KT, that means your novel will be a contract . Comic KT will buy the drawer, the writer, and others . It’s also very hard to make the entire story into one comic . ”
“Yes . ”
“The editor said it will be about 10 percent . 10 percent of the webtoon . So 5 to 5 with StarBooks as well . Because it’s a derivative work . ”
“Hm, yes . ”
Jaegun was thinking about the contract that all had the word “derivate” work . Whether if it was a movie or comic remake, the original was his .
Jaegun didn’t pay any attention to this at all his entire life, because he didn’t know his work would be used for another work .
‘Modern Ranking will be made into a comic…!’
The movie that played in his mind was coming alive . It was Jaegun who still didn’t believe what was happening .
“There’s not gonna be a huge profit . If the profit is about 1000 dollars, you get about 50 dollars . ”
“Yes . ”
“But if the webtoon gets good, the novel gets good publicity too . The 3rd book of the Ranking series . If the paper books go out, then the electronic version goes out, and then you can let the webtoons go out . That would be great . ”
Jaegun smiled .
Tewon’s expression that said to not forget his focus came up in his mind . He could always trust that man .
“I’ll do it . ”
Jaegun decided without saying anything .
“I hope it goes to a good writer and becomes well made . ”
“I hope it does . Don’t worry . I’ll see if it’s good . And if the candidate is decided, I’ll send him or her to you and ask for your opinion . ”
“Thank you . ”
The food was brought in and they started to eat .
Jaegun ate happily with Somii . The finished work relieved him .
“Uh, Writer Ha . ”
Somii said as she poured him a cup of water .
“Are you writing anything?”
“No, Not really . ”
“Then… do you… do you have any chance of writing a sequel . ”
Jaegun was thinking ‘Of course’ as Somii struggled to speak .
As the 3rd book was done, StarBooks wanted a sequel . As Somii requested the webtoons first, the order was pushed back .
“I’m sorry, but I have no idea of story currently . I can’t think of anything either . ”
“You must be tired . Then I can’t really ask either . I’ll wait, sir . ”
Somii backed off quickly .
Jaegun felt relieved, but slightly suspicious . He knew Somii was the type to put all her energy into her work .
But she gave up this quickly
He thought she would ask a bit more .
‘Maybe she really thought of my well-being . ’
As lunch ended, Jaegun still thought it was suspicious . He glanced at her face, but still couldn’t see her feelings .
“That was a good meal, Somii . ”
“No, this meal was good because of you, writer . ”
The two people went outside and stood by the road .
The wind was cool and soft . The heat was mild as well, so it would be good to go out somewhere .
“Are you going back to work?”
“No, Comic KT . ”
“Now?”
“Yes, I’ve heard your response, so I should go ahead . It’s why I came out . ”
Somii smiled and said .
Her foot was brushing against the leaves on the ground .
Jaegun smiled as he thought of the time when Somii’s shoe came off during a writer’s meeting
“Why did you laugh?”
“No reason . ”
“I’m curious and you’re always like that . Like that writer’s meeting, hm…”
Somii smiled shyly and stopped . She thought of the time that Jaegun picked up the shoe . It wasn’t as embarrassing, but still was .
“Where is Comic KT?”
“Samsung . ”
“A bit of distance . ”
“About 30 minutes by subway . ”
The two people stood looking at different places but they had the same thoughts .
‘Should I go with her?”
‘Will he like it if I ask him to go along?’
There was no point in asking Jaegun really .
But Jaegun was the original writer for the webtoon novel . If he wanted to see the contract or the process, it wouldn’t be odd .
‘No, I can’t do this . ’
Jaegun made the decision before Somii .
He thought that he wanted to spend a bit more time with Somii . But now, it wasn’t as appealing .
Somii was working and there was no reason to follow and bother her .
“Let’s go the subway station then . ”
“Yes…”
Somii pushed aside her slightly disappointed feeling and followed Jaegun .
They walked slowly together along the red leaves .
Somii was avoiding the lines on the concrete .
“Are you going to go home right away?”
“I’m going to stop by a bookstore . ”
Jaegun answered .
He was going to stop by at the bookstore after meeting Somii . He didn’t get to read anything because he was writing so much .
As a writer, he needed to read a lot to write good works .
And his life became more lax, so he wanted to read a lot .
“Be careful . ”
“You too, Somii . ”
The two people scanned their cards at their respective booths .
As they were about to go down the stairs, Jaegun turned around . At that moment, Somii looked towards Jaegun as well .
The two people’s glances went through the huge crowd .
Jaegun first smiled and lifted his hand . Somii again did a 90 degree greet and disappeared down the stairs .
‘Yeah, I should work too . ’
Jaegun focused his mind . After seeing the hard working Somii, he felt better .
‘Let’s read some novels . Maybe an idea will come up . ”
Using the karaoke helper Dasul to write that novel all occurred because of new experiences .
The ideas came up in unexpected places .
Jaegun was thinking that as he rode the train .
After about 20 minutes, he got off . He was headed to the bookstore that was connected to the mall .
‘There’s a lot of people . ’
Even though it was afternoon, there were surprising a lot of people .
Jaegun moved his steps to the new books sections .
Out of the books, one book caught his eyes .
It was A Dumb Woman .
It had the DIgital Literary Contest winner banner around .
Jaegun stood there for about 30 minutes looking through the new section . And then he searced the people who were reading .
There were about 10 people who picked up his book . And most of them only looked through a few pages and put it down . No one bought it .
‘It might be hard for more . ’
Jaegun smiled bitterly .
The 20,000 dollars were up front . To get the rest, he needed to get 20,000 dollars of books sold .
About 20000 books sold if one book was 1 dollar .
It was a world where paper books were terrible sellers .
He had no expectations of getting over 20000 books .
This reflected his position as a new writer who had just begun to show off his name .
‘Let’s start . ’
Jaegun pulled out Se Gunwoo’s glasses and put them on . It was something to help him read fast .
He could read about 15 books in 1 hour at the least .
“Ah this is really good . ”
It was when he went by the fantasy section .
He could hear the conversation between two college kids .
Jaegun’s two eyes caught the two people . One person was holding Pegelon’s Swordsman and was speaking .
“The prequel one was Pegelon’s Magician and it was beast . I read it and I couldn’t read anything else for a while . You know him?”
“Yeah, it’s Pyung Cheon Yu . Haven’t you seen the Ranking series?”
“Of course I’ve seen those . Ah frick . I want to read it, but it’s wrapped . Ah, I’ll just buy it . It’s Pyung Cheon Yu . ”
The man pulled out every book in the Pegelon’s Swordsman series and went to the clerk .
Jaegun couldn’t move .
He could only listen to the employees and the money that went into his bank . But he never really saw the reader’s reactions as close as this .
He was very thankful to the man that said his work was fun .
Jaegun held his gracious mind and walked toward the genre mixture section .
“Hm, this is good . Romance has this feeling . ”
“Ah, this guy was the criminal? Wow?”
“Was this writer always this hardcore? This is kind of awkward . It’s violent but it doesn’t have the feeling . ”
“Ah, ah, this guy isn’t very good . ”
About 2 hours since he came in .
His hands almost couldn’t be seen .
Jaegun was leaning his body in corner and was flipping through the pages very quickly . The people who passed in front of him all looked Jaegun with curious eyes .
‘Ah, this line is done so let’s go here . ’
Jaegun was reading through books at a massive pace .
He wasn’t just flipping through them
He was reading at the speed of light with these glasses .
Jaegun’s 1 year average reading was about 150 books . Even if he read 3-4 books in a week, he could only read about 150 books .
But now in just 2 hours, he had read over 50 books .
A writer learns from reading .
At this point, Jaegun was maturing at a writer, in this corner of a bookstore
***
‘That person is always like that .
The girl employee looked towards Jaegun and widened her eyes .
It was a strange customer that she couldn’t just pass .
He was flipping through pages and putting them back . And then he pulled another and put that back… it was about 2 hours of the same thing .
‘Is he looking at something?’
Jaegun’s hand became faster and faster as she looked on .
The girl employee went to organize the book and slightly stood next to Jaegun . As she glanced at her face, she could see his eyes . His eyes were shaking, looking at the pages as he flipped .
‘Really…?’
The girl couldn’t believe it .
‘…is he reading?’
At that moment .
Rippp!
“Ugh!”
Jaegun sighed as the book ripped . It was a consequence of his hands moving too fast .
Jaegun lifted his head and noticed the employee and said to her .
“I’m sorry . I flipped it to fast that I ripped it . I’ll buy this book . ”
“Ahha, yes… . Hm…?’
The girl employee stared blankly . Jaegun’s face looked familiar to her .
“Uh… . uh… . Um…”
“Yes?”
“Are you… . . Writer Ha Jaegun?”