Big Life

“Aigoo, Eun-Chae dearie. Granny is finally able to carry you.” Ha Jae-Gun could not even reply to his mother’s chattiness.

Ha Jae-Gun’s eyes were fixed on the screen; he was stimulated and excited by what he had just read. Was this what Oh Tae-Jin wrote in the past?

“Where did Jae-Gun go?”

“There’s something I have to read. I’ll be in my room for a while.”

Knowing her son’s attachment to novels, Myung-Ja did not probe further. Ha Jae-Gun stepped into the study and closed the door tightly behind him. Rika had been at the windowsill and jumped down, approaching Ha Jae-Gun.

“Meow.”

“Rika, wait a minute. Let me finish reading this before playing with you.” Ha Jae-Gun stroked Rika as she jumped onto his lap and turned on his laptop. He then opened Oh Tae-Jin’s manuscript.

Five Dreams was a coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s. The main characters were five fourteen-year-old boys born into poor families. They were childhood friends, and all five had something in common: they had a crush on a beautiful female teacher.

On top of that, the five boys each have their own dreams. "A" was dreaming of becoming an acoustic guitar singer, "B" was dreaming of becoming a professional track and field runner, "C" was dreaming of becoming a world-renowned Go player, and "D" was dreaming of becoming a top writer.

Embarrassingly, "E" was dreaming of becoming a con artist. It was in his personality, and he would lie to others like it was something natural. It was like he was saying that he had inherited his father’s sly disposition, even though he had been a vocal critic of his father, who was serving a life sentence in prison for fraud.

On one summer day, the five boys were playing in the neighborhood when they heard a piece of shocking news. The female teacher whom they liked a lot had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Back then, there was no cure for it.

The five boys also accidentally learned that the female teacher had been longing for a man. They took advantage of the school vacation and left Seoul for Busan with only a few pieces of information on hand, trying to bring the man to meet their dying female teacher.

However, even before they could reach halfway to Busan, their travel expenses had emptied out. The five boys tried to continue their journey by making use of their own talents.

However, the reality was harsh.

"A" busked on his acoustic guitar the entire day, but the donated money was taken away by a group of thugs. The track and field runner, ‘B,’ was caught by the police after trying to snatch the money back from the thugs. ‘C’ visited the clubhouse trying to play a round of betting Go but was stopped at the door because he was too young. The five boys gathered at the police station all because of ‘B.’

The parents came rushing to the police station after hearing the news, and the five boys ended up revealing the reason behind their going on this trip.

Although the police chief thought it was nonsense, he still helped them to identify the man, but the Busan man in question had already passed away.

Drip!

Rika curled up on Ha Jae-Gun’s lap turned and saw a drop of tear rolling down Ha Jae-Gun’s face and dropping on her nose.

“Haa…!” Ha Jae-Gun's gasp echoed from his slightly ajar mouth. He stopped reading for a while as he held back his tingling nose. He deeply sympathized with the five boys, and tears welled in his eyes for a while.

“This novel is amazing, Rika.”

“Meow?”

“I’m seeing the Chairman in a new light. I never knew he had written such a great story… I should at least finish this first.”

***

Ha Jae-Gun swallowed his tears and finished reading the rest of the manuscript. After reading that last sentence, he let out a long sigh and laid his head on the table.

‘It’s incredible…’ His chest wouldn't stop expanding and contracting. As the joy experienced by a reader left, the shock he was experiencing as a writer overwhelmed him. How could the style of writing change in just a few months?

The narrator of the five boys looking into the world and sentences expressing their imagery felt entirely different. Ha Jae-Gun thought that Oh Tae-Jin had been carefully editing the story over the years.

Bzzt!

Ha Jae-Gun’s phone rang. It was a call from Park Do-Joon. Ha Jae-Gun cleared his throat and answered it.

“Yeah, Do-Joon.”

— Why do you sound like you just woke up? Or did you catch a cold?

“No.”

— Then what is it?

Ha Jae-Gun hesitated for a while before he revealed awkwardly, “Um… I read a novel and… maybe it’s something like an after-effect? It’s so good that I felt dizzy from it.”

— If Ha Jae-Gun was so impressed by it, I wonder how great this novel really is. You’re making me curious already. Who wrote it?

“I'll tell you next time.”

— What's with the suspense? Anyway, don't be late for dinner.

“Dinner? Oh right, we agreed to meet for dinner.”

— Look at you; you've totally forgotten about it. Sigh. Hey, Jae-Gun, I'm getting stared down by Tae-Bong hyung. I'm at the studio recording for a CF. See you later.

“Alright, work hard. I'll see you later.”

Ha Jae-Gun hung up the phone and sent out a text message to Oh Myung-Suk, updating that he had finished reading the manuscript and asking Oh Myung-Suk to call him after work.

However, it took less than a minute since he sent out the message for Oh Myung-Suk to call him.

“Yes, Chairman Oh.”

— I called immediately as I was curious about your feedback. How did you find it?

“It was very touching.” Ha Jae-Gun sounded excited as he said, “The story development, sentences, even the novel’s engagement, I couldn’t find even an area to comment on. Not only that, I even thought there were many places I could learn from it. I was so shocked, and I even felt so emotional that I cried while reading it. The Chairman is incredible.”

Ha Jae-Gun quickly shared the rest of his review, not allowing Oh Myung-Suk to respond. “I love how the five boys were used in the novel. Although the man whom the female teacher loved had died, the boys did not give up either way. You have read it too, right?”

— Yes, I have read it too. As per the last boy whose dream was to be a con artist, they decided to conceal the fact that the man had died. It was the first white lie he had ever told.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why the boy who dreams of being a writer wrote a letter to the female teacher as if the dead man had written it. And the female teacher eventually died with happiness, feeling the 'love' from him in the letter.”

Ha Jae-Gun reminisced about the ending vividly with a smile. “The smile that female teacher had on her face as she passed away showed the five boys’ dreams… The description of that scene was truly… great. I really appreciate the Chairman's kindness for letting me read such a great novel.”

— I think my father will be extremely happy when I share your review of his novel with him.

“No, I should draft up my review personally. Ah, but…!” Ha Jae-Gun belatedly thought of something and raised his voice. “There’s something I’d like to point out. Aren’t Cheomseongdae and the Anapji Pond… Gyeongju’s cultural assets?”

— Yes, that’s right. But why did you ask about it suddenly…

Ha Jae-Gun quickly read through the manuscript once more and said, “It’s not that important of a scene, but in the first half when the five boys were on the way to Busan, they were having a conversation among themselves. They were asking what’s there to see upon their arrival and mentioned those two places.”

— …?!

“Hello? Chairman Oh?”

— Ah, I’m sorry… I’m listening.

Oh Myung-Suk’s belated reply sounded hesitant, and Ha Jae-Gun briefly felt that something was off.

Now that he thought about it, Oh Myung-Suk’s voice seemed to have calmed for some reason during the call even when he was praising his father’s own novel, but Oh Myung-Suk didn’t sound quite happy.

— Thank you for letting me in on the positive review, Mr. Ha…

Oh Myung-Suk’s voice, which seemed to sound infinitely smaller, felt much distant now. Just what had happened? Ha Jae-Gun did not get his answer, as Oh Myung-Suk ended the call unilaterally, giving an excuse that something urgent at work had come up.

***

Knock, knock.

“Yeah, come in.”

The door to the study opened, and Oh Myung-Suk entered. Oh Tae-Jin was typing away on his keyboard with his back facing the door when he stopped upon smelling the alcohol from Oh Myung-Suk.

“Did you have a drink?”

“Yes, Father. I had a drink alone before coming home.”

“Alone? Did you get stressed from work?” Oh Tae-Jin stood up looking worried.

Oh Myung-Suk shook his head and let out a sigh. “No, it’s not because of work.”

“Then?”

“It’s because of your novel, Father.”

Oh Tae-Jin narrowed his eyes, which were filled with suspicion. He was sure Oh Myung-Suk was referring to the manuscript of Five Dreams.

“Father…”

“What is it? Say it.”

“It wasn’t…”

“What wasn’t? What nonsense are you spouting?”

Oh Myung-Suk took off his glasses and massaged his temples hard. He stumbled a few steps with a pained look then finally said, “I’m saying that…the novel wasn’t written by you.”

“...?!” Oh Tae-Jin’s eyes widened in shock. The veins along his neck were beginning to pop, and Oh Tae-Jin almost forgot to breathe. “What do y-you mean…”

“I can tell, father. I’ve been your most competent editor-in-chief your entire life, and I’ve read every one of your novels countless times. So…” Oh Myung-Suk tailed off, dropping his head.

Oh Myung-Suk was more certain than ever after reading Five Dreams. It was the inferiority complex that his father was plagued by in his old age along with the repeated nightmares.

“Please… at least be honest with me.”

“What… what are you saying?!” Oh Tae-Jin roared. He already had one hand grabbing onto the bookshelf behind him for support, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to support himself.

“Did you… just imply that I had plagiarized someone else’s work? Is that what you want to say?!”

“I hope you’ll clarify that, Father.”

Slam!

Oh Tae-Jin threw a punch on the side of the desk, which shook from the impact, causing several books to fall off. “How can you…! As my eldest son, say that to me!”

“Father…!”

“Disregard that we’re father and son, how can you say something so insulting as writer to writer…! How can you babble away so senselessly when I’m your father!”

“I’ve struggled a lot internally too…! Otherwise, why would I drink alone?! It’s all because I wasn’t confident about it!” Oh Myung-Suk took a step forward and continued harshly, “Let me change my question! Please tell me what inspired you to write that novel! This isn’t completed by you alone!”

“You punk!”

“Not just the five dreams, but also the difference I felt compared to The Last Trip; you have to explain all of that to me today!”

“W-what…?!”

Oh Tae-Jin’s face turned blue like the corpse in morgues. His lips trembled violently like a carp out of water as Oh Myung-Suk cornered him. “I became certain about it after reading Five Dreams. You told me that you’ve been writing this novel for many years, but no…. you’re not the type to do something like that. If you had completed it much earlier, you would have already shown it to me a long time ago.”

“I-It’s just that the heart and soul of this novel—” Oh Tae-Jin tried to come up with an excuse while gasping for air, but it didn’t work at all.

For the first time in his life as the polite eldest son, Oh Myung-Suk cut his father off. “And there’s also Cheomseongdae and Anapji Pond.”

“...?!”

“Why did the five boys heading to Busan talk about those places? There’s no way you’d be mistaken about such details. You must have overlooked it without doing a proper review. Which means this…!” Oh Myung-Suk chose to take a breather.

Oh Tae-Jin wanted to cover up his ears very much.

“The destination was changed from Gyeongju to Busan.”

“M-Myung-Suk…!”

“The original destination in Five Dreams wasn’t Busan but Gyeongju. I’m not sure why you changed it to Busan, but you must have also deleted most descriptions pertaining to Gyeongju in the manuscript. It must be why the pace nearing the ending felt faster than usual.”

Oh Myung-Suk was holding onto the manuscript of Five Dreams in his hand. He kept his eyes on his father, who couldn’t look back at him in the eye, and said, “There must be something you’re trying to hide from the world.”

“Shut up!” Oh Tae-Jin yelled as he looked down at the carpet. “I wrote it! I wrote this novel!”

“My father was an accomplished businessman and made his honorable name known far and wide. I even felt that you were remarkable and wonderful up until when you announced your retirement. How much applause you must have received, so please…” Hot tears poured out of Oh Myung-Suk’s eyes. “Please keep that spectacular image of yours in not just mine but in the minds of countless others as well.”

“Get… get out right now! Get out of my study now!”

The growing commotion made Oh Tae-Jin’s wife, who was standing outside the door with hesitation, step in. Oh Myung-Suk’s tears did not stop even when he was dragged out by her. He felt sorry for his father, who was suffering from that one thing he couldn’t have in hand despite achieving wealth and honor.

“Why are you asking for the truth?! Yes, the truth is that I wrote the novel! How dare you say that I plagiarized it! Didn’t you say that you know me well because you’re my son? Bring me evidence, then! This is my novel, and it’ll definitely be published! Just be aware of that! I don’t even need Oongsung's help!” Oh Tae-Jin roared in a malicious voice as he stared at Oh Myung-Suk retreating down the hallway.

Regardless of their own reasons, that fateful night was a long and difficult time for both the father and son.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com