Big Life

Chapter 5

Chapter 5


Chapter 5 : It’s an Incredible Gift (2)


“That d.a.m.ned old man… Sorry, it looks like you wanted to do a good deed, but it’s all a waste . I purposefully put them over there . ”


“Purposefully? I thought that these belonged to your dad? Aren’t the laptop and the gla.s.ses all of your dad’s treasures?”


“They’re all trash! Do whatever you want with them . Those are garbage that won’t sell anywhere . ”


He tried to shut the door .


Jaegun hurriedly held on to the door that was about to close and continued .


“Wait, what about Rika then?


The man looked at me with surprised eyes .


”Wait, how do you know that cat’s name?”


“It’s on the collar . Isn’t this your cat? I don’t know about anything else, but you should at least keep her . ”


The man smiled coldly and lifted his left hand . Only then, did Jaegun realize that his arm was in bandages .


“That d.a.m.nable cat was the one who did this to me . I tried to bring her back, but this is what I got . That cat; leave her on the streets for all I care . ”


“W-wait . ”


Jaegun resolutely held on to the door and asked the death-glaring man:


“One more question; what was your father’s job?”


It was a question asked thinking about Seo Gunwoo from his dreams . The man lowered his head and sighed before he spat out .


”A writer . ”


“Writer? A writer? He was a writer?”


“Yes! A writer! Now just leave me alone!”


-BLAM!


He shut the door . Rika was crying from the shock from his roughness .


‘To think that he was a writer…’


He supported himself on the rails; he had trouble standing . How could he have inherited the dead writer’s memories?


“Meow . Meow . ”


Jaegun looked at the crying Rika .


He suddenly remembered a theme from an occult book that he once read; a cat could be a bridge between the dead and the living .


“Rika, you know something, right?”


“Meow . ”


Jaegun sank to his knees . He had actually waited for an answer from a cat . A cat . He felt as though he lost himself . Is this what a madman feels like?


Lost in thought, he arrived home .


‘What? How did I come back?’


He didn’t remember leaving the subway; he didn’t remember leaving the bus station; he didn’t remember anything . Staggering as he walked, he stepped down the stairs to his room .


‘What could be in the labtop?’


He was very curious about the writer Seo Gunwoo . He only had some fragments of his memories, and he didn’t know very much about him . Before he even took his clothes off, he took out the laptop . When he plugged it in and pressed the power b.u.t.ton, it thankfully booted .


‘Wow, this is really old . ’


A hollow laugh came out of him as the labtop finished booting and came to the home screen .


The hard drive had only 256MB of RAM . On top of that, the memory s.p.a.ce had 40 Gigs of storage . Also, it was running Windows 98 . It was something that people would refuse to use for free .


‘There’s nothing in here . ’


He couldn’t find any information about the writer . There was no search history, nor was there programs except the common writing one .


Jaegun opened his own computer and he connected it to the internet . Then, he searched up the name: Seo Gunwoo . There were way too many people . Jaegun put in Seo Gunwoo’s birth and death date . Still, nothing happened .


‘Did he use a pen name?’


It was a world where writers used a pen name instead of their real name . Even he used one himself .


Anyway, since there were no results for Se Gunwoo, that could only mean two things: either he used a writing name or he didn’t have any released work .


-Wiiinnnngg!


The phone vibrated his entire body . On the phone’s screen, it showed: Ha Jaeyn . It was his three-years-older sister .


Jaegun didn’t pick up the called right away and hesitated . Due to her phone call, reality came rushing back to him . There was no good news to give to her . Even so, she would worry if he didn’t pick up . She was one that still considered her 27 year old brother, a child . Jaegun finally picked up the phone with a sigh .


“Hey . ”


-You picked up? I was just about to hang up because I thought you were sleeping . ”


“Nah . I was awake . ”


-Did you eat?”


“Of course . ”


Jaegun suppressed his grumbling in his belly .


-What did you eat?”


“I ate stuff . Stop asking me . I’m not a child anymore . ”


-Of course, little brother . ”


“Hey, hey . ”


His sister laughed across the phone . Then with a serious voice, she continued .


-You’re coming home tomorrow, right?”


“Yeah . ”


-Good . At least come and see our dad . He’s getting up there in age . ”


“Okay . ”


“What’s with your weak voice? Did something happen?”


She asked worriedly .


Jaegun felt bad, but he just couldn’t continue the conversation .


“Sorry, I’m just at a deadline right now . I can’t talk; I’ll see you later . ”


-Beep!


He cut off quickly . It was her sister who supported him writing every time . Therefore, she didn’t call again .


‘Sorry . ’


Her sister liked to call herself “gold miss . ” However, he knew better . He knew that she didn’t have time to date because of trying to keep up with her poor family .


‘This isn’t the time for this . ’


Jaegun turned on the computer and opened the word program . In his eyes, the book he just wrote came up .


‘What now…’


It didn’t look like a book, but rather, a jumbled cl.u.s.ter of sentences .


He scrolled up to the top; he was going to read it once more .


‘Hmm . ’


Jaegun’s face started to grow paler as he read on .


He didn’t think it was perfect, but to think it had this many issues . Mistakes that he didn’t see yesterday seemed to come up .


‘At this point, this information is unnecessary . The readers will be bored here . Delete everything . ’


‘This is a point where the main character learns a new skill and matures . This doesn’t have enough . It needs more detail . ’


‘How could this girl slap the main character like this . Is she crazy? She needs to get on her knees and beg . ’


-Tap! Tap! Taptap! Tap!


His ten fingers flew around the keyboard .


When was it; the last time when he was this motivated . He couldn’t even remember . A feeling that he didn’t have before urged his fingers on . It felt as if they had wings .