“I'm a writer.”
Not too long after her novel got published, Han Su-Yeong began introducing herself like that.
It was the same story during the blind dates she begrudgingly attended after her friend pleaded her to go.
“Ah! You're a writer!”
Her date must've heard about it before showing up here, so what was up with this fuss? The man quickly rolled his eyes around a little before asking her with a smile.
“Did you start your career through something like the annual literary contest in spring?”
“No.”
“Pardon? In that case….?”
“I write webnovels.”
“Webnovels?”
The problem always came after this bit.
She spotted the man's eyes sneakily scanning her worn, cheap-looking T-shirt.
“Aha, so, like… It's that, isn't it? Internet novels? Those with a lot of emojis in them….?”
“Ah, yes~. Exactly like that.”
“You know, there are lots of strange jobs to be found these days. Youtubers, internet authors….”
The man grinned and sipped the Americano resting right before himself. The watch attached to his wrist came from a pretty high-end brand.
….Hadn't she experienced a similar situation to this one plenty of times before?
“It's like everyone is trying to make easy money nowadays. Don't you think so?” said the man.
“Is there anyone who'd want to make money the hard way deliberately?”
“I make about ₩100,000,000 a year, but it's just not easy. So, like, whenever I see those types of people, I can only sigh, you know? Trying to pilfer other people's money the easy way….”
He must've already forgotten that this was a blind date judging from the tone of his voice. With just a hint of anger in his eyes, his gaze shifted over to the car keys resting on the table. Looked like they belonged to a foreign brand, perhaps a bit too expensive considering his age.
While letting the man's words go straight out of one ear, Han Su-Yeong switched on her smartphone. Alerts for new comments were clogging her inbox.
– Dear author-nim, isn't this too sweet-potato-like?
– Hmm…. The next chapter will start with a cider moment, right? If not, I'll be exiting right about now.
“People who never studied hard once when they were young, just stumbled into some random luck….” said the man.
Suddenly, it felt as if she could figure out why people read webnovels.
And she could also figure out why her friend introduced this sort of jerk-off to her, too. Apparently, she'd find out once she got here, and now, she could clearly see what that friend of hers was thinking about when setting her up with this 'meeting'.
Now normally, she'd let this slide because it was just too bothersome, but…
“So, like…. Were you listening?”
“Ah, yes, of course. Your annual salary was…?”
Only then did the man's eyes sparkle. His shoulders perked up as if he just knew she'd ask him about that subject again.
“It's ₩100,000,000 after tax.”
“Hmm. It's similar to mine.”
“Pardon?” The man smirked. “You're a writer, but your annual salary is ₩100,000,000?”
Han Su-Yeong shrugged her shoulders and pulled out her own car keys. It was the newest model from Porsche. More specifically, it was exactly three times more expensive than the man's own ride. Although, since she couldn't be bothered to, she rarely drove around in it.
The man's eyes shook in sync with the shaking keys. And an awkward smile floated up on his face next.
“Haha, but, uh…. a writer's income is inconsistent so it can't really be called 'annual salary', am I right? I mean, your wage can't be fixed, right?”
The man's lips ceaselessly bobbed up and down to yap on about the cliched stuff. It was just about adequate enough to be used as some line muttered out by a throwaway villain during the next chapter or some such. In that case, the protagonist would reply like this.
“But, I never said it's the annual salary?”
“Pardon? Ah, in that case, is it what you amassed so far?”
“No, I made ₩100,000,000 for the first half of this month, and hmm…. since there are two more weeks left in this month….”
“…..Excuse me?”
Only then the man seemed to have realised something, because his expression had changed quite drastically.
In the end, this whole thing had unfolded in the way her friend wanted to. If this was a novel, it'd have been a cider moment, but in reality, she didn't feel all that good about it.
The man was now hurriedly sending messages to someone. He was probably asking her friend that set this blind date up all sorts of questions.
“Excuse me, can you tell me the name of the novel you wrote….?”
Just as she began thinking that she didn't want this guy to know the title, Han Su-Yeong's smartphone issued an alarm tone.
– Hello there, author-nim. I'm just a reader who enjoys reading webnovels. I coincidentally ran across your novel and got to read it….
She wondered what sort of a long-winded message this was. She then tapped on the message without thinking too much about it. The tone of it was polite but old-fashioned, and on top of that, she felt just a tiny hint of naivete, too.
– The novel you have written is far too similar to a novel that I really treasure, the 'Three Ways of Surviving a Destroyed World'.
Chapter end
Report
|
Donate
Oh o, this user has not set a donation button.
|