“This is good, right?”
Assistant Manager Lee asked as she left. Somii put away the cash and nodded.
“Yes, I haven’t eaten fish in a long time. Thanks to Assistant Manager Lee, I got lunch.”
“Just call me informally, ahh it’s so cold.”
Lee straightened her clothes. Unlike her, Somii didn’t show that she was cold.
“I guess you’re not cold?”
“I’m from Donghae. This is nothing.”
“It’s cold there?”
“No, the wind is strong. The temperature is greater though. Ah, do you want to go into a cafe?”
“Sure, there’s a lot of time.”
The two people got something to drink. Instead of Lee who was preparing to take her card out, Somii gave her card to the employee.
“Why? Let’s pay separately.”
“It’s the stocking repayment.”
“You remember that?”
“Of course. I borrowed it, so I have to repay it.”
“Ok, I get it, thanks.”
The two people went inside, instead of sitting near the windows. Lee said as she rubbed her fingers on the hot drink.
“It’s already been one year since you came.”
“It’s been fast.”
“How is it? Editor.”
“It’s good, It’s fun.”
“What? Fun? Ahahaha.”
Lee did a throwing gesture and Somii laughed.
“Not fun to you?”
“Is that a joke? It’s definitely not fun. It just hurts when you say stuff and the work is unlimited. There’s nothing that shows you did good.”
Lee continued with a little sad face.
“Maybe if I get a boyfriend. Why is there no one good around me. I don’t even want much.”
“You want to marry?”
“I’ll have to see. I’m not in a hurry. The world is like that. I’m only 32 so it’s not that late. Right?”
“I think so too.”
“But my family is in a hurry. So get a date. I feel I’m gonna die when I go there.”
“Hahaha.”
“Funny? This is a pain. If you don’t have a boy, they say go meet one, and then when you get a boy, they say get married. And then when you get married, they say get a child.”
Lee poured out the stories in her heart as she looked outside.
“Really, I got a bit hurt by my last boyfriend.”
“Last… boyfriend?”
“About 2 years ago. It was good. He was humorous and romantic. Generous too. But it wasn’t good enough.”
Lee asked with a wink
“Guess his job.”
“Hm, I don’t know… I’m not good at these.”
Somii rubbed her hand together. Lee laughed and told her.
“Writer.”
“Writer?”
“Why are you surprised when you’re an editor? It’s the people we meet the most after our employees.”
“I didn’t know. StarBooks?”
“Secret. When you get one, you’ll know how they are. There are a lot of good writers, but there’s also a lot of bad ones. There’s also something weird every time.”
As she was listening.
Somii was thinking about Jaegun. Then his smile of the summer came up as well. And to that, she smiled happily.
“Ah? Somii, what is it?”
“…what?”
Somii asked as she woke up. Lee was tilting her head.
“You were smiling on your own. You have a person you like? Right?”
“N, nooo. Nothing like that…”
“What is it. Who? Tell me, hm?”
Beeep!
The phone rang at that time
Somii got the phone and asked for apologies.
“It’s Writer Ha. I asked him to call me for the Modern Ranking contract.”
“Go ahead.”
Somii took the call.
“Yes, hello Writer Ha.”
“Hello, did you eat?”
“I just ate. What about you, Writer Ha?”
“I just woke up. I called as soon as I saw your message. About the contract. I’m fine with whenever so you make the time.”
“Ok, then how’s between next Monday and Wednesday.”
“Ok, that’s good.”
Somii didn’t have anything to say and she felt a bit sad. It was a while since she had talked to him. She didn’t want to end without asking how he was so she continued.
“Writer Ha, has anything happened?”
“No, it’s the same. I just wrote and ate. What about you?”
“The same. Except the fact that I couldn’t read your writing as soon as it came out.”
“Thank you even though that’s not true. Oh, but I didn’t tell you about my new book. It’s for Munpia.”
“New book?!”
Somii’s eyes widened. She continued after seeing Lee’s glance of curiosity.
“Is it Dragon Rider?”
“Yes, but the title is changed. It’s called the Breathe. Search it up. I thought you knew. Don’t you go to Munpia to get new writer?”
“Ahaha… yes. But I was in romance for now so. There’s not many people here so I’m sorry.”
“What is there to be sorry about. Just give me feedback later. Your feedback is very important to me as well.”
“Yes, I’m do so. I’ll read it today.
“Thank you, and Somii, would you like to have dinner next week? I want to buy you something great.”
“Ah, really?”
Somii smiled widely. She nodded to the nonexistent Jaegun and answered cheerfully.
“Of course, Writer. I’ll get the schedule and call you back. Eat well.”
“You too.”
Somii hung up with a smiling face.
Lee asked immediately.
“What? A new novel?”
“Yes, pay per chapter. It’s the Dragon Rider. But a different title.”
“Yeah? But is it that bad? Why did nobody say anything?”
Lee went into Munpia.
“What’s the title?”
“The Breathe.”
“The Breathe? Let’s see… Hm?!”
Lee pulled her phone closer to her face. It was a face that was in disbelief.
It brought curiosity to Somii.
“What is it? Assistant Manager Lee?”
“No, no, there’s nothing to search for. Look.”
Somii got the phone from her. And like her, she lost her breath as soon as she saw the screen.
‘It’s … first?!’
Her glance couldn’t move away from Pyung Cheon Yu’s new novel, ‘The Breathe,’ It had twice as big of a size as the other novels. It was the power of the number 1 novel.
“If it’s number 1 on Munpia, that’s amazing. How many views?”
“Wait, wait, let’s look together.”
Somii put down the phone so Lee could see it and touched the screen. When the page came out, the two people opened their mouth and looked at each other.
“That’s amazing… Somii….!”
It wasn’t an over exaggeration.
A chapter’s payment values were almost up to 15,000. There were 41 books as well.
“Looking at the date, it’s 2 books per day? Wait, then let’s see. 30 dollars per day. If you include Munpia, it’s 63 dollars per 10,000 views? And then multiply by 30 is 1890, takeoff 30 percent and 1330 dollars! In one day!”
Lee couldn’t contain herself.
“I told you. This was going for success as soon as I read it. How could the new editor and Go miss something like this?”
“It’s amazing, Writer Ha.”
“Not just amazing! This is only Munpia. A month with 40,000 dollars. And then there’s the other companies. Navin and Cocoa come in and we have no idea how much it is. Wow, Writer Ha must be happy. So happy!”
Somii was just nodding her head.
She knew it would be good, but to be this good.
It was 3 times the 2nd rated book.
“You can see this kind of writer, right?”
“Yes?”
Lee laughed at the surprised Somii
“As we say it, he’s perfect? He’s a good person when I saw him at the writer’s meeting. He gets money. And finally …”
Lee pointed at Somii’s chest.
“You have Writer Ha inside of you.”
“Wh, what? No.”
With a red face, Somii refuted back. But Lee didn’t budge.
“I know. Your call. You were smiling all over the place?”
“No, no. You’re not right. Just Writer Ha was my personal writer and I met him a couple of times. We had stuff together so we are a bit closer than other writers. That’s only it.”
“Ok, ok I get it. Now just drink coffee. It’s gonna cool.”
Lee smiled and took a sip.
Somii fanned her face to cool her rising temperature.
It was going to be a while to get her heart back to its regular beating speed.