Life, Once Again!

Maru waved his hand in denial. “It’s not that bad. I’ll recover fully if I rest at home for a while, so don’t worry. I’m sure the bruises will subside in a few days.”

“Don’t try to hold it in thinking that a man should endure that much. Tell me as soon as you feel something off. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“Hyung, I’m halfway through my twenties right now. I’m not a kid anymore, so you should be rest assured and go do your work.”

“My work consists of looking after you. Anyway, give me a call if anything comes up.”

“Okay. Stop nagging and get going already. Good work driving me home today.”

“Not as much as you. Have a warm shower and get some sleep.”

Maru watched the van leave before going inside a convenience store. As he had spent the past few weeks at the set, he hadn’t been at home. His wife must have also been busy practicing for the musical, so the refrigerator was probably totally empty.

“Hello.”

The part-timer he had gotten pretty close to greeted him. It was a girl, which was rare to see working at night. He responded with a smile and grabbed some instant noodles, instant rice, a pack of salad, and some ready-cut fruits.

“Have you been traveling?”

“I haven’t been able to visit because I had a shoot in the countryside for a while.”

“For a movie? Or for a drama?”

“A movie.”

The part-timer stopped asking any further questions and proceeded with the payment. Maru was grateful that she knew when to stop.

He took the plastic bag and headed home. He heard a sound inside the house as soon as he started typing in the passcode. It was the sound of the cat scratching at the floor.

When he opened the door and went inside, he found the cat staring at him.

Ricebun — he tried calling out. The cat brushed her tail against the floor a few times before turning around to go inside the room.

“Fine, it’s my fault for expecting you to welcome me.”

There was a faint smell of cypress trees in the house. A diffuser he had not seen before was placed in front of the TV.

He placed his nose against the brown lead stick in the long ceramic bottle.

His nose stung from the pretty intense smell. It seemed that it hadn’t been long since it was opened.

He walked past the robot vacuum crawling across the floor of the living room and went to the bedroom.

The neatly laid out duvet, the neatly organized makeup table, and even the book placed under the bed lamp next to the table were the same as before he left for the movie shoot.

He could picture what kind of lifestyle Haneul must have had during the past while. She was probably doing her business alongside practicing for her musical and barely came home to get some sleep. He could picture her burying her face in the pillow and snoring softly.

“I just got home. Where are you now?”

-I’m at the office. The samples for the new product were thrown away, so I’m making them again in a hurry.

“I wonder who made my wife suffer.”

-It’s one of our new guys on the R&D team. He mixed up the sample and the scarps and threw them all away.

“That new guy must be feeling terrible right now.”

-He said he was okay, but I’m sure he’s feeling complicated inside. The manager seems to have scolded him separately as well.

“He should get scolded if he’s done something wrong. So, do you think you’re going to be late?”

-The manufacturing starts tomorrow, so I have to do this tonight. Everything else, I can hand the work to other people, but developing trial products needs me. I have practice for the musical tomorrow morning too.

“You should eat some vitamins and tonics.”

-Everyone has been eating that for a while now. Are you done with the shoot, sweetie?

He could hear someone call out ‘director’ amidst Haneul’s voice. It seemed they were really busy.

“Should I call you later if you’re busy?”

-No, she was just asking what I was going to eat. We have to eat to get some energy.

“That’s true. I’m done with the shoot. I don’t know if the director was considerate of me or not, but my death scene was the last one.”

-How was working with Geunsoo-oppa after a long time?

“It’s semi-joyful and semi-regretful. Looking at him act made me think that maybe he’s chosen by the God of Acting.”

-He might as well be.

“I can tell where I’m lacking wherever I act with him. Thanks to that, I had to gnash my teeth the whole time. I have no other choice if I don’t want to lag behind, right?”

-Your biggest advantage is your persistence. How about your injuries? You told me you twisted your wrist the last time we called.

“It wasn’t anything big. It healed in a short period of time.”

-Any other injuries?

“Nothing. I’m totally fine.”

He asked about the diffuser in the living room. His wife replied to him that it was a product that would go on sale.

-How’s the concentration of the fragrance? There are opinions that it’s too strong, but I think it’s okay.

“It stung my nose when I smelled it up close, but no one’s buying diffusers to do that, so I think it should be fine?”

-If it’s like that, then I guess a warning label should do it. Oh, how about dinner? There shouldn’t be anything to eat at home.

“I thought about that and got something to eat at the convenience store. Don’t worry about me and just focus on your work.”

-Okay. Also, I think Ricebun’s been feeling lonely these days. She should have gotten adjusted to the new house after we moved in, but she still looks somewhat depressed. Should we get her a friend since we have a bigger house now?

“I’ll look into adopting abandoned cats.”

His wife shouted ‘I’ll be right there.’ It seemed that someone was looking for her.

“Be on your way then.”

-Okay. See you later.

“I’ll be sleeping though.”

-It’s okay, I’m going to wake you up.

“I guess I have to lock the door then.”

-If you wish to hear me wail in front of the door, then sure.

He hung up and then went out to the kitchen. The cat, which was looking at what he was doing from her own abode, came to the living room. The way she glared at him looked like a native resident looking at a foreigner.

He cooked some instant noodles and warmed up the instant rice. Inside the refrigerator, which they bought a new one when they moved, was just a single box of kimchi that he brought from his own house. If his mother saw this, then she would scold him, asking if this place was inhabited at all.

He took some of the kimchi out onto a plate. Rice, instant noodles, and kimchi — he ate a meal with the food loved by all people living alone in South Korea.

He then turned on the TV and picked up his phone.

“Park Daemyung. You still alive?”

-I’m half alive, I guess.

Daemyung responded in an exhausted voice.

“Where are you right now?”

-The office. The lonely office where I’m by myself. The office where no one comes to visit. The office where Haneul only occasionally visits to toss some food at me.

“Sounds like half of your soul has left you. How’s the writing coming along?”

-The scenario is done, and I’m polishing the script. The writing is going well, but I don’t think I’m well. It wasn’t this bad when I was working at the shipyard. Home, work, home, work… even modern-day slaves would cry at the sight of my schedule.

“It’s you who keeps coming to work even though we told you to rest.”

-That’s because it’s fun. I’m also writing my own novel while I’m at it.

“Now you sound like you have some time to do other things, huh? Let me have a look once you’re done with the draft.”

-I’m still far from done. I think I’ll only be able to get a firm grasp on it after I’m done with the script.

Maru laughed and asked, “What’s it going to be about?”

-The life story of a full-time writer who met a quiet death in a small room somewhere.

“And the writer’s named Park Daemyung?”

-Should I go with that?

Daemyung giggled but said that he hadn’t decided on anything concrete yet. Apparently, there was nothing he could tell Maru because he had only put the first dot on a piece of blank paper.

“Then I hope you can write some great lines in that script. Don’t forget that I’ll be acting based on that.”

-Don’t give me so much pressure. It’s enough as it is already. It would’ve been better if you let me do this when you were moderately famous. There’s a lot of pressure on me when I think that I’ll be writing something that Han Maru will be doing.

“That’s the point. I’ll visit you tomorrow or the day after.”

-You finished your shoot?

“Yeah. I’m back at home right now.”

-Good work. Come over and buy me some meat.

“That’ll depend on how good the script is.”

-You two really are a match made in heaven. You’re both quite vicious. Haneul nags me like that too.

Daemyung hung up. After all he said, he seemed to be enjoying writing.

Maru called the next man. He originally should’ve gotten a call during the day, but from how there was nothing, it seemed things didn’t go according to plan.

“Yoonseok.”

He called out his name after the calling beeps ended, but Yoonseok did not reply. Maru once again called out to him in a soft voice.

-Uhm, hyung.

“You don’t sound energetic. Were you sleeping?”

-No.

“According to my memory, you were supposed to call me earlier today.”

Yoonseok fell silent again. Maru sat down on the sofa and waited for Yoonseok’s answer.

-Uhm, hyung. I received an email and I checked it… and I didn’t get the support program. Someone else was chosen instead.

His sighs were very loud. Maru did not say anything and kept listening.

-I looked into banks as well, but even the 2nd financial sector seems difficult. I saw a few posts on the interest about loans for college students, but all of them are shady with phone loans and fake employment loans or whatever.

“Really?”

-I’m out of options now. I can’t just rent a single camera like before and shoot with that. It’ll take money to rent out that store too.

“There are no other options?”

-There isn’t anything I can choose right now.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

-I’m really sorry about this, but I don’t think I can do the shoot.

“Are you giving up?”

-No, I’m not giving up. I think we need to delay it a little. I did earn some money through part-time jobs throughout summer vacation, but it’s nowhere near enough. That’s why I plan to apply for a gap year and earn money properly.

“Your family will find out if you apply for a gap year.”

-I’ll gloss it over just once. I’ll tell them that I feel insufficient after getting discharged and that I need to study before going back. Of course, I’ll do my studies as well. If I earn money for a full year, I think I’ll manage to scrape together 20 million won.

“20 million? That’s going to be hard.”

-I just have to keep up what I’m doing now. I’m doing part-time jobs on weekdays and weekends. Also, I’m running chauffeur service whenever I have time. The earnings are pretty decent. Though I have to admit, it’s quite taxing.

“If you spend a year like that, you’ll ruin your body.”

-There are people who provide for their families like this, so I can do it when I’m in my prime. Hyung, so can you just wait one more year? With 20 million, that should be sufficient for a minimum production budget.

“Minimum production budget,” Maru repeated Yoonseok’s words.

“The city-funded support programs for indie movies was 500 million, right? How many minutes of the final film do you think you can make with that?”

Yoonseok did not reply.

“And how many minutes can you make with 20 million? You’ll use half of it for rental fees like cameras, lights, and the building.”

-Will it be too difficult after all?

“You’re at the stage where it’s no longer a hobby anymore. There is one reason why directors who have shot a good work take years to start on their next work. It’s money, so, the production budget. I’ll just conform to whatever payment you’ll give me, but what are you going to do for the other people like the production staff? Is 20 million really going to cut it?”

-No, it won’t.

“I’ll ask again. What are you going to do?”

-There’s no option. Finding an investor is no good, and me earning money is no good either.

“Have you looked for investors?”

-Where would you find people to invest in someone like me? I mean, I didn’t make the support program, so there’s that. I actually knew that I wouldn’t make it. That’s why I couldn’t call you even though I knew I had to. No, I guess I didn’t call you. I was afraid of having you tell me that there is no answer.

Yoonseok laughed before continuing.

-If there’s another opportunity later, then you can listen to me then. I don’t know if I will ever get one though.

“Are you giving up?”

-For now, I don’t have a choice. If one year isn’t enough, then I just have to bide my time for two or three years and try again at that time. I’m still in my early twenties, aren’t I? I’m still too young to blame the world. If there’s a problem, I guess it’s that your payment will have gone up even more by then. I know I’m being shameless, but can I ask you next time too?

“I don’t think I can do it next time.”

-Then I guess I can’t help it. Working with you once felt like a dream to me. I’ve realized reality now, so I have to get ready. I’ll hang up now. I’m working right now too.

“Alright then. Good luck with work.”

Yoonseok, who said he was going to hang up, did not end the call for a long while. Maru waited patiently.

-Uhm, hyung.

“Speak.”

-I know I’m being crazy, but can I ask you for something even more shameless than before?

“What is it?”

-Are you perhaps interested in investing in me?

His voice was shaking like crazy. He must have gone through a lot of hurdles just to say those words. Shame, guilt… despite all those feelings, his persistence and his desire to work on film must have overcome everything to ask that question.

“Of course, the answer is yes.”

-...What?

“I said I’ll invest in you.”

-Really?

“If you asked me for an investment at the beginning, I would’ve taken care of it right away. Why go through so much trouble?” Maru said while laughing.

On the other side of the phone, Yoonseok huffed and puffed for a while before turning silent, then ended up chuckling.

-How could I say that? I\'m a nobody.

His voice sounded tearful.

“Don’t cry. The person next to you will look at you strangely.”

-I’m not crying!

“Let’s talk about the details once we meet up. Cut some slack on the part-time work and watch out for your stamina. You’ll be having the hardest time once the shoot starts.”

Yoonseok muttered something intelligible for a while before thanking him and hanging up. Maru smiled and put down his phone.