— Today?

"Yes, do you have another appointment?"

— Mm…

Silence followed as Ha Jae-Gun did not reply immediately.

Kwon Tae-Won got nervous by the second. He had been working as an editor-in-chief for so many years that he had developed an intuition for such situations. And he had that very intuition alarming right now.

Writer Ha might have already…

— I'm sorry.

Ha Jae-Gun paused for a while before continuing.

— I think I pressed the wrong button on the touch screen. Did you ask to meet tonight over dinner?

"That's right. Is that alright?"

— Of course. I've completed the entire novel, so I'm free right now. Where should we meet? Our usual place?

"I will head over to your area."

— No, there's nothing much to eat here. Let's meet at Guro station since it's not too far away. What do you think about seven this evening?

"Sure, that would be great. Oh, and…" Kwon Tae-Won trailed off as he glanced at the editing department. Jung So-Mi was focused on her monitor, typing away on her keyboard. It seemed like she had already started editing Ha Jae-Gun's novel.

She had always been the type to take the initiative when it came to working. One didn’t have to tell her to work because she would do it even without telling her.

Jung So-Mi also wasn’t the type of person to get intimidated by a ton of workload, and she knew how to manage her time well as well as prioritize the manuscripts that had to be edited first before anything else.

Upon being reminded of Jung So-Mi’s commendable work ethic, Kwon Tae-Won asked, "Is it alright if your editor joins us for this dinner?"

It would be a great help if the editor working on the novel would also be able to meet their assigned author, even more so if it were an author like Ha Jae-Gun, who was akin to a shooting star like now, especially when it came to his popularity which was still rising by the minute. Kwon Tae-Won wanted to provide Jung So-Mi with various opportunities to gain and accumulate her work experience.

Ha Jae-Gun also accepted the offer.

— Of course, I should use the chance to greet them and have a chat.

"Thank you, Writer Ha. I'll see you later at seven this evening."

— Yes, I'll see you later.

Kwon Tae-Won stretched for a while after ending the call. He somehow felt more refreshed after talking with Ha Jae-Gun after realizing that his so-called intuition was utterly wrong. He was happy to find that Ha Jae-Gun hadn't changed a single bit and that he was as diligent and kind as always.

"Oh? President." Kwon Tae-Won stood up in a hurry upon seeing a man in his sixties with gray-white hair loitering nearby. It was the President of Star Books, Park Jae-Gook.

"Sit, sit. Just remain in your seat." The older man walked in with both hands behind him, then pressed Kwon Tae-Won down into his seat on his shoulder and pulled out a chair for himself before asking, "So, which novels have been performing well?"

"Aside from Records of the Murim Master that I had mentioned before, the others are still performing the same."

"Geez, the market is in a mess," muttered Park Jae-Gook while scratching his nape.

He glanced at the list of scheduled manuscripts stuck next to Kwon Tae-Won’s monitor and asked, "How is it? I mean, how is Records of the Murim Master doing?"

"The response is great since we're on exclusive distribution, and we're also printing four thousand copies from the fourth volume onward. We might have to reprint more as well, depending on the response."

"Mm, that's great. It'll be great if the author could submit the complete manuscript earlier. We would then be able to profit more after publishing all the paperback editions and moving on to ebook distribution. Even my son doesn't read paperback books now; he does almost everything using his phone."

"Well, times are changing. We can't help it."

"Editor-in-chief, how about we delay each volume and start with ebook service now?"

"There's something I would like to discuss with you as well, President. We have received the completed manuscript of the novel."

"Huh? When?"

"It was sent over yesterday. Ms. So-Mi did a quick check and said that they didn’t have that many issues."

"All ten volumes? Wait, the author said he would end it with just ten volumes? But you said it's popular, so can't he extend it to twenty volumes?"

Publishing companies would always try everything they could to extend the length of a novel that was selling well for the sake of raking in more profits.

Kwon Tae-Won could understand where Park Jae-Gook was coming from, so he nodded and replied, “I’m going to meet him later in the evening. We will be talking about contracting his next work. I’m also going to ask him if he has any thoughts on extending his Records of the Murim Master.”

"Nice, good job." Park Jae-Gook patted Kwon Tae-Won's shoulder and stood up. "Eat something expensive; it doesn't matter if it's three or four hundred thousand won. It's fine even if it's special sashimi; you should eat more and coax him well. We have to tie him down."

"Haha, I understand, President."

"These days, it's hard to find new writers whose works are so popular that their books had to be reprinted, and I'm thankful that we have one with us. Anyway, we have to tie our golden goose down. Ehem,” said Park Jae-Gook before walking away with his hands behind him, similar to how he approached Kwon Tae-Won.

Kwon Tae-Won watched the leaving president's back with mixed feelings.

It had been nine years since he became an employee of Star Books, and the president had grown visibly older as the years went on. The man was still a bachelor back then, but he had already become a father of two.

It seemed that many things had truly changed over the years.

"Ms. So-Mi, you will be joining me for an appointment outside the office tonight, so make sure to wrap up by six-thirty this evening."

"Yes, Editor-in-chief!" Jung So-Mi's energetic response could be heard over the partition.

Kwon Tae-Won opened the company's common access email inbox and started reading the manuscript of Records of the Murim Master. He was the editor-in-chief, but he had actually fallen in love with the novel and became a reader himself as well.

***

'Shall I get moving?'

It was already six in the evening, and Ha Jae-Gun was preparing to head out.

Bzzt!

The phone in his pocket started ringing just as he was wearing his shoes. His face turned cold at the caller ID shown on the screen.

- Haetae Media Deputy Park Kyung-Soo 

'Hmm?'

Ha Jae-Gun fell into deep contemplation. He didn’t immediately pick up the call.

There was a reason he kept Park Kyung-Soo's number despite having deleted Ma Jong-Goo from his contacts.

Park Kyung-Soo was the only person kind enough to consider Ha Jae-Gun's situation, even though he didn’t really have any reason to do that for Ha Jae-Gun.

'Are they using Mr. Kyung-Soo to get me to sign a contract with them? If so, that's a huge miscalculation.'

Ha Jae-Gun sneered at the thought. He had always been the type of person to draw a clear line between work and personal issues, so Park Kyung-Soo's character didn't matter in this issue.

Ha Jae-Gun finally picked up the call and said, "Deputy Park?"

— Ah, you have my number saved. Hello, Writer Ha. How has it been going?

Park Kyung-Soo’s voice still sounded as weak-willed and indecisive as ever. The apologetic feeling that Ha Jae-Gun had felt back then came back to him like a deluge.

"Yes, I'm fine. I hope you've been doing well too."

—Yes, I have. Hahaha.

Ha Jae-Gun's eyes were following the hour hand on the wall clock. Afraid that he would be late for dinner, Ha Jae-Gun decided to talk on the phone while heading to his destination.

"Did Department Head Ma ask you to get a contract signed with me?" Ha Jae-Gun asked as he left his apartment and walked down the corridor.

He didn't want to beat around the bush since Park Kyung-Soo was weak-minded, so he would put in the effort and be sincere with every word he said. It was best to be straightforward with people like him.

— Ah, um… I was curious about how you were doing and also wanted to ask about that…

"I'm sorry, but I have no intentions of signing a contract with Haetae Media. Wait, this is work, so I shouldn't be apologetic to you. I have no bad feelings toward you. You know that, right?"

Ha Jae-Gun's affirmative tone resulted in more urgency coming from Park Kyung-Soo's voice.

— Uh, Writer Ha. Department Head Ma says he would do his best to accept whatever conditions you put out. He wants to bring you on board with the best conditions possible. Yes, I’m not lying. Why don't you talk it out with him?

"Deputy, I think that you don't quite understand me—" Ha Jae-Gun stopped mid-sentence when he spotted a compact car parked a short distance away from the entrance of his apartment block.

Crouching next to the compact car was Park Kyung-Soo holding a phone to his ear.

"Ah… Writer Ha." Park Kyung-Soo smiled awkwardly and put his phone away after spotting Ha Jae-Gun.

However, Ha Jae-Gun couldn’t return the gesture in kind and just stood there with a cold look. Only the employees of Star Books knew his current location after Ha Jae-Gun had moved out of Suwon. Did his personal information get leaked?