The rehearsal was being held on the stage. Fitting their genre of horror, dancers in bizarre paranormal clothing danced like ghosts in alignment with mysterious music. While the camera director and the audio director were pointing at different places with their fingers, various writers sitting in the audience seats were stealing glances at one person.
‘Hair Colour Broccoli’ was a person outside their expectations.
She was dumbfoundingly beautiful but there was a sense of distance alongside her beauty. They were scared to start a conversation with her but their curiosity made them continue stealing glances. Her slightly slanted eyes appeared decadently appealing while her indifferent pout made her look like a discontent goddess.
She didn’t seem like a ‘pretty girl’ and gave off a holy aura. Like an otherworldly person she appeared, and she in fact didn’t even seem like a human.
Whenever she looked back into their eyes, people felt stifled regardless of their gender.
That was when a faint smile appeared on her uninterested expression. It wasn’t something to be genuinely happy about however, as people unknowingly felt frightened. Carrying that mysterious atmosphere around her, she opened her mouth.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking. It’s my first time getting an award in my life, you see.”
Ah, right. Haha. Me too… It was when some of the other writers were looking for words to say. A middle-aged female writer opened her mouth after a little cough.
“By the way.”
“Yes.”
“That, Miss Carrot Girl said something before right?”
“Ah…”
She did call her hair-colour a tyre. Bom nodded as the middle-aged writer glanced at Carrot Girl sitting in the distance by herself with her legs crossed.
“Tch. It must have been your first time seeing her and I thought you might be surprised. But you don’t have to worry about it too much.”
Others nodded, seemingly in agreement.
“That person has always been very short-tempered.”
“She thinks she’s the best in the world so…”
It seemed that her reputation wasn’t good as they continued bad-mouthing her.
“Ah… I’m fine. Thank you. But did something happen to her? She wasn’t in a good mood.”
“I’m in the same company as her. It seems that she’s scrapping everything she writes these days.”
“Oh really?”
“Nothing to write anymore. Lack of inspiration. Things like that… It’s normal since she’s been writing stories non-stop for several years but the problem is that she’s blaming others for it.”
“Ahh…”
As people whispered, ‘Crazy…’ ‘Does she think she’s the only one with a writer’s block?’ Bom curiously asked another question.
“She must have gotten the Grand Prize because she can write horror novels though, right?”
“Of course. But that’s simply for her self-satisfaction.”
“Self-satisfaction?”
“Because she’s originally been a horror novelist. A hobby so to speak.”
Some of the writers gave a frown. A manuscript written as a hobby coming first did prove her talent but they were nonetheless discontent.
“But both her company and herself earn money with romance. Romance novels probably give her around 80 times more money than horror novels.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t know the details but it’s clear why she’s creating a mess all around. She’s just hysterical after losing her way to earn money.”
“That would be stressful.”
“She’s already earned a lot of money so how greedy can she be… But I don’t know the details. She doesn’t have many friends in the first place so… well, it’s just the staff of her company that are dying out in the process.”
Ehew. After another sigh, people continued talking behind her back. ‘How can a person like that write romance novels?’ ‘I know right. There won’t be anyone willing to take her.’ A few of them giggled while some threw glances at Carrot Girl.
Bom thought, is that so, and didn’t think much about it then.
***
Left alone, Carrot Girl remained in a corner until the start of the rehearsal.
She didn’t like her own habit of chewing her fingernails but today, she couldn’t help herself. The face of a man was stuck on her mind.
Dark lips and jawline, pale skin and an exhausted gaze that seemingly considered everything in the world beneath him.
He was a rather shocking man.
Carrot Girl bit her fingernails.
When she was young, there were a lot of tall and great people near her but as she aged, she realised that most of them were insignificant. By the time she became a bestselling author, called Korea’s Jowen K Rowling, the world became full of insignificant people for her.
She was still just 29 years old.
– Miss Juhee. No more no less. Let’s just do one more novel. China is going crazy right now. There are so many people waiting for your novel – are you going to betray all of them?
“Betray? Since when was it a mutual relationship. Aren’t those people going to point fingers at me straight away if I write a terrible novel?”
– Listen. Miss Juhee!
“Am I writing for loyalty? How many times do I need to say it? I’m going to do what I want to do now!”
What brought her to the top funnily enough was ‘romance novels’, which she had started writing just to earn some cash.
She wasn’t interested in romance and she preferred horror which touched the depths of a human.
But as she continued writing, Carrot Girl became dissatisfied with her own work. Perhaps it was because she had been writing romance novels for a long time but now, she could only write a novel that others enjoyed, and forgot how to write what she herself wanted.
She had gotten awards from it but it honestly didn’t make her feel any better.
This wasn’t the horror novel she wanted to write, and she had become a broken author who didn’t even know what to write.
A life that others might see as blessed. While she was going through a hellish time all alone – that was when she saw him.
“…”
When researching for materials to write about, she had visited a superhuman mental hospital, interviewed a haunted criminal, met actual ghosts and talked with murderers. Those were all ‘comprehensible’ things.
But today, she met an incomprehensible person for the first time. Despite a short eye contact, there was tons of inspiration filling her mind.
She wanted to know him better. She wanted to talk with him. What did he think about and how could she best express a person like that?
The things she had long forgotten were coming back to life.
Dante the poet had Beatrice while Nietzsche, Freud and Rilke had all been courting for Lou Andreas-Salome’s attention.
It had been her lifelong question. How would it feel to have a ‘muse’? A person whose existence alone flooded out inspirations?
Today, she had found the answer to that question.
“Manager.”
“Yes!”
“The idol kids just then.”
“Ahh, you mean the Gold Prize writer, right?”
“Yes. Whatever. Do you remember the man that was with them? The one with a good body.”
“Ah, yes of course.”
“What was that person like?”
In response, the younger manager who had been left inside the waiting room, replied.
“Hmm, he looked really kind.”
“Kind?”
“Yes. Not sure if kind is the right word… but he was a very good listener, and the girls that were with the writer Hair Colour Broccoli all looked very attached to him.”
He was kind?
It was a little weird but that would be even better. Thinking that, she dropped a bombshell.
“I’m thinking of meeting him.”
“Sorry?”
“Bring him to me. Whatever it takes.”
It was an absurd statement but the manager was already used to it. ‘Only if I was rich…’ grumbled the manager as he awkwardly looked for the said man and requested some of his time for dinner.
However, the words that came back from him were firm.
“Sorry but no.”
“Sorry?”
“I have no plans on meeting her.”
The manager felt as if he had become a door-to-door salesman.
Doesn’t he know who Carrot Girl is?
“Umm, we will be happy to give quite some cash for compensation.”
“That’ll be fine thanks.”
The manager would even cling to his pants if he could, but for some reason he just couldn’t bring himself to do so. With no other choice, the manager reluctantly called Carrot Girl and conveyed the situation.
– @#%@%!!!
From the other side of the watch rang a deafening voice. With beads of sweat, he tried to pacify her over the watch for a few minutes but the call suddenly ended.
The manager was sweating profusely wondering what was happening when he suddenly heard her voice from a distance.
“Where is he!” shouted Carrot Girl, who had run all the way in a one-piece dress, drenched in sweat.
“Huh, uh?! Miss? Weren’t you in the middle of a rehearsal?”
The manager startledly opened an umbrella to block the sunlight but Carrot Girl disregarded his question and shouted.
“Like I said, just tell me where that man is!”
***
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae was calling the Association in preparation for the upcoming ‘Second Night’.
After ending the call with Jefferson, he turned his body and was about to head back inside to watch the rehearsal. That was when a set of hurried footsteps were heard as a woman suddenly jumped out from the corner of the building.
“Ah, you…!”
It was the orange-haired woman whom he had seen at the waiting room.
“Hey. Let’s talk for a little.”
“Regarding what.”
It seemed that she had been running wearing heels. She was gasping for breath and appeared to be lacking in stamina despite being a superhuman. Repeatedly, she wiped the sweat falling from her forehead and took a deep breath in, before finally opening her mouth.
“I know it’s impolite to do this when it’s our first time seeing each other but listen. Me. I earn a million a month.”
Yu Jitae was speechless.
So what?
“I have a lot of successful pieces – around 10 of them. Five of my novels were adapted into dramas and two of them recorded the best rating for their broadcasting channels. You might not know but I’m the only one in Korea who has 750 million e-book downloads. The one under me doesn’t even reach 100 million. And, also I’m…”
“Wait. I get it. So what’s your business.”
When he cut her words off short, Carrot Girl gave a big frown, but she wiped her sweat and returned to her prideful smile.
“Looking at you gives me tons of inspiration. This is my first time. This might sound weird but it is very important for me because each of my novels are worth millions of dollars. But these days, I haven’t been getting many ideas…”
Her words were about to get longer again so Yu Jitae growled with a lower voice.
“Your business–”
His low growl with the resonance like that of a beast silenced the high-toned voice.
Carrot Girl was visibly surprised and clenched her lips. But despite that, there was a look of satisfaction on her face for an unknown reason.
“No more no less. Just meet me five times.”
“Meet you? Why.”
“I told you. I’m getting inspirations from you. I also want to know you better. It won’t take long. Just a meal along with some conversations.”
“Don’t need it. You should go.”
“What? Wait! I’m not just trying to meet you for free. You are probably also busy with your work.”
“Like I said, I’m not doing it.”
“Why are you so rash? You won’t lose anything. How about I buy your time. Ten thousand dollars an hour. How is that? I can give you more. That much is nothing to me.”
A smile full of confidence flashed past her lips. It was the attitude of a person who thought everything went according to their wishes and was an attitude he had seen often from superhuman rankers.
Her neck without a single wrinkle was very thin.
During her chatter, he imagined grabbing and twisting that neck. It would be an effective method for silence but that would ruin Bom’s awarding ceremony.
“Do you understand human words.”
“Sorry? What did…”
“Go before I break your neck.”
A sense of disgust was overflowing from his voice.
“W, w, why do you say such a thing?”
“Go away.”
Frozen stiff, she stopped on the spot. What? Wasn’t he kind…? She was speechless and she couldn’t open her mouth but at the same time, she felt satisfied. Right, a man like him should be like that of course…
However, him turning around and heading into the building wasn’t a welcome sight.
“W, wait! Wait a second!”
With her heels clicking against the floor, Carrot Girl ran in an attempt to grab him.
However, her heels broke in the process due to the unreasonable pace. “Akk–!” About to miserably fall on the ground, she shouted and that was when the man turned around. His wide chest was right in front of her.
There’s no way he doesn’t catch me right? She thought, but Yu Jitae slightly pulled his body away and Carrot Girl ended up straight on the asphalt floor with a large thud.
“…”
Yu Jitae was dumbfounded from that slapstick comedy or whatever it was meant to be when Carrot Girl flicked her head up.
“Why, why did you pull back? No. Whatever. That’s alright. Is there something you wish by any chance?”
Drip… The moment she raised her head, blood dripped from her nose. Seemingly ignoring that, she reached her hands out and grabbed him by his pants.
“A, are you dissatisfied because I was trying to buy you with money? Let me apologise then. I’ll apologise.”
“Let go.”
“W, wait. The second place! Broccoli! Are you her boyfriend? You’re not, right? Besides, I’m not doing this because I’m interested in you as a man or something!”
At this point, even he felt doubtful.
Yu Jitae was suppressing her right now with quite a bit of killing intent. It was hard for anyone to be this desperate even if it was their life that was on the line. That in turn meant that she was so desperate to the point that she was literally about to die.
However, that was none of his business. Whether she was desperate or not, everything else apart from the hatchlings had no meaning to Yu Jitae. He stepped on her hands that were grasping at his pants as a sharp shout echoed across.
“Ahhkkk–!”
He was about to turn around when the woman shouted again.
“Wait! Wait! Th, the contest! Right. Only the Grand Prize is guaranteed for an OSMU movie adaptation! I’ll help with that. That girl got a Gold Prize right? I’ll help you with the movie adaptation! I know a lot of people that work there!”
But this time, the woman proposed a decent offer. A bit of money and authority couldn’t be compared to the power born from connections – the power created over a long time as money, connections and credit built upon each other.
“Do you still hate it that much? Just having a meal with me?”
Yu Jitae thought to himself.
Bom had been very happy when she got the message saying that she would be getting an award. It was extremely rare for her to be that happy.
If her novel were to be adapted into a movie, how happy would she be…?