Big Life

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Is This Canned Food .

“Canned Food?”

Somii frowned and warily squinted at Jaegun .

The random remark from Jaegun made no sense .

“Do you not know the term . The writer’s canned food…”

Jaegun slurred his words and asked with his eyes .

After staring blankly and meeting each other glances, Somii could think of the term “canned food” from a dinner spot

“Are you talking about… that canned food?”

Even a newcomer employee like Somii knew what canned food meant .

Canned food was a term that meant caging a writer in a specific place and forcing him to write .

It was basically squeezing words out of writers who were struggling to write and their deadline was up ahead .

Either they were lazy and liked playing around, they were having too much thoughts about their project, or their mentality is floored because they are suffering from bad reviews . It wasn’t one or two so it was hard to figure out .

Jaegun, before his debut, laughed when he heard that term . He didn’t feel that since it was a work that all people do, they wouldn’t completely force someone to write like that .

But it was real .

It was during his 2nd series .

Jaegun was struggling because of the lack of sales so he was holding on to the 3rd book in the series for 2 months . And during that time, he got a call from the still head editor at that time, Tewon .

“Writer Ha, the writing isn’t going well, right? The weather is good so you should have lunch with me to change your mood . Wear something comfortable .

Tewon said in his usual tender tone of voice .

It was weird that he asked for comfortable clothes, but Jaegun brushed it off and went to the meeting place . And as soon as he got on Tewon’s car, he got dragged to the publisher’s office and ate lunch with fried rice .

“Have a smoke on the roof . ”

They were Tewon’s words to Jaegun who finished eating . He wasn’t telling him to go home . He was telling him to smoke and come back .

Feeling weird, Jaegun’s eyes slowly saw the office corner’s scenery .

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It was a rectangular shaped room with a thin and long dimension .

In the room was a computer, a table, and a small bed . The walls were half glass so the outside could see the inside .

Called the canned food jail .

It was the moment that he saw the reality .

Jaegun lived there for a week since that day .

The 3 meals of each day was solved by the editors that delivered food . After the employee’s left, he went to the public restroom, locked it, connected a hose, and took a shower there .

When he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he invested everything into writing . Since the only method of escape was through finishing his work, he put all his effort into it .

Then Jaegun realized .

Words could be written if they were squeezed hard enough .

He couldn’t stand the employee’s glances without writing anything . When he couldn’t think of anything, he recited the national anthem from 1st verse to the 4th and stood strong . Therefore, Jaegun could finish it in just a week and went home dejected .

“I have to write something fast right now . There’s no writer who would ask canned food, so this may be weird, but when you’re around, it feels like I can think and write better . ”

Jaegun blocked Somii and laid out his words .

The only excuse he could think of was this .

He was sharing her emotions through Rika . If she leaves, then he can’t finish Oh Sumin’s dialogue perfectly .

“Do you understand?”

“Ye-? Yes, writer… . I understand . ”

Somii confusedly bit her lips .

Jaegun continued as his heart was burning with urgency .

“I won’t ask you to stay long . Just please stay until your remaining time . I feel like I need a editor next to me so I can write fast . ”

“But with your Ranking series, that seems fast enough . ”

“That was actually written before . ”

Jaegun cut her off .

Somii hesitant looked at her feet . Then she checked her phone and looked up .

“About 2 hours to 3 hours…”

“Really?”

Jaegun opened his wides wide . It was way longer than he expected . Somii nodded her head awkwardly smiling .

“I have time because I finished my work early . I don’t need to return to my office after I finish, so I was thinking to go to a cafe and edit there . ”

“Do it here, the wifi is great . ”

“Can I do that?”

“Of course, use the desk here, there’s coke, juice and cookies in the refrigerator so take them as you want .

Jaegun quickly set up a workplace for Somii .

Somii modestly sat in front of the desk and opened her bag . She had her laptop everywhere so she could work anytime .

‘A very strange person . ’

Somii thought as she took out her notebook .

Asking for canned food to an editor who came to give a present .

It wasn’t long since she started her job as an editor, but a writer like this was a first . And it looked like there wouldn’t be another one .

But strangely a laugh came .

A man like Jaegun who randomly asked for canned food didn’t bother her at all . The room that she had never seen looked like a comfortable space that she had been to many times before .

Tap! Tap! Taptaptap! Tap!

Jaegun was already concentrating and typing .

With the energetic typing, Somii also started her editing work with new found energy .

‘Yeah, this is good, the first conservation is done . Next is at the convenience store date .

Jaegun with Somii’s help wrote Oh Sumin’s dialogue .

He had lost the power to write 10,000 words per hour, but this moment was inspiring . The wrote continuously kept filling the screen .

Beep! Beep!

Jaegun’s phone that was on the bed vibrated .

It was between the bed, and Jaegun was concentrating on his work, thus he didn’t hear it .

“There, Writer . ”

It was after 2 hours, Somii said .

“Yes, go ahead . ”

“Editor Tewon sent a message . There’s a StarBooks writer meeting next week, Writer Ha has to come this time . ”

“Writer metting… sure . ”

Jaegun didn’t think long before he accepted . His two eyes were stuck on the screen .

In the past, Tewon asked him to go to writer meetings . But he never answered . Because he was a writer that didn’t sell well . When he thought that he would be between the selling writers, He just started drinking again and again, he didn’t want to attend at all .

“Tell him I’m totally going . ”

Jaegun added .

Now the situation was completely different . Now he was a dark horse and a new selling writer, so there was no reason to not attend .

“Wow, I’m hungry, Somii, do you want to eat?”

Jaegun asked as he turned around in his chair . He didn’t eat anything from morning so he was starving .

“Ah, I am a bit hungry . Should I order something from the chinese restaurant?”

“That is convenient, but I never ordered before…”

“I’ll search it up, hm, there’s a lot of them, what’s should I order . ”

“I’ll take the black bean noodles, you can order something expensive . I’m buying . ”

“OK . I’ll get something very expensive . ”

Somii, smiling, called the restaurant . The expensive thing that she ordered was the black bean noodles, same as Jaegun . After she said the address, she cut off .

“It’ll take about 10 minutes . ”

“The chinese restaurants are fast . ”

Jaegun answered and stood up to pour coffee .

It was about 1 minute since he turned on the coffee pot and boil the water . As he was pouring the boiling water, the doorbell rang .

“This is so fast? Do they make these before?”

Jaegun went to the door and opened the door . But the person who was in front of the door wasn’t the deliveryman with the metal bag .