#5. Phone

"Minho. Why do you keep trying to explain with words instead of models or drawings?",

"Architecture is not something you do with words. We are people who talk with images, not novelists or orators.",

"Later, you're going to take these models to the building owners and sit there explaining them at length?',

...Ah. I'm going to have to get off.

Not long after Hanna Eun's evaluation, my name was called.

I barely managed to print the panel and started to present in front of the professors with wide eyes.

But the response was, as expected, harsh criticism.

There were glue marks here and there.

There were marks here and there that looked like they had been cut because the knife was not cut straight.

It was impossible to ask the professors, who were used to being meticulous and neat, to look favorably on my work.

"The concept itself... isn't bad. But now, in terms of the way this is expressed or the completeness of this work itself…',

In fact, I don't know about other departments, but do you know that there aren't many people in the Department of Architecture who do their final presentations in their right minds?

The girls put on makeup and the guys dress up and stand in front of the professors, but they are just like corpses.

No one who does the PT has slept for a long time.

It's probably common to see people who haven't slept for 36 hours straight.

I wasn't much different.

As always, I just waited for their whining to end.

Their comments flowed in through my left ear and out through my right.

"Anyway. Well. You worked hard. Be sure to remember the advice the professors gave you during critique today, and then go to the next person."

As soon as my turn was over, I ran home.

After-party? I didn't need that.

Sleep came first.

I threw myself on the bed without washing and picked up my phone.

I always checked the comments on my novel before going to bed.

Oh... The number of views was decent and the comment section... Let's see...

It was different every day, but I felt happy when I saw the nicknames that I always saw.

[Bye-i 234]

[Going Home 22]

In particular, I had almost all of the nicknames of the readers who had followed me from the beginning of the work until now memorized.

Is that person not here?

The person who made my novel so popular.

［White Snow Flower］.

I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from going up as I scrolled down.

'Oh, really, author, why are you here... Ah... Please... Yeoncham...'

［White Snow Flower］. You still read my writing these days.

I thought that this might be the most rewarding moment while working as a writer.

Of course, I felt really good on the day my income came in, but it was a different feeling.

I thought that comments like those were the driving force that made me, exhausted, get up and write the next episode.

Haa... I still have about two episodes left, so I guess I can sleep now.

The Nam Ga-yeon episode is almost over, so who should be the next heroine...

I was wondering if there was a concept that I could really like, and I fell asleep.

—

...What time is it? Right now.

The clock was pointing to 12:00 in the evening.

What the... It's not that long since I thought.

I got home around 12:00, so I only slept for three hours, so why am I up again?

I checked my phone, still covering myself with the blanket like a snail.

There was a message from Hwi-min in my unread messages.

[Hey. Lee Min-ho. The professor was looking for you.]

...Huh? The professor? Me? Why? How?

I thought I should just accept the grades as they were, but when I heard that the professor

looked for me, I felt anxious.

I urgently called Hwi-min.

[Hey. What. The professor said he was looking for me.]

[Hey. Where were you? I got a notice telling me not to go until the end.]

What? There was something like that?

I guess I didn't check because I was working on my own work.

[So? Was there something special?]

Surely he wouldn't mercilessly lower my grade by half a level, right?

[No, not really. I just said that I had a hard time and asked the people who were going to the after-party to go.]

[Ah... Thank goodness... I was so surprised. I got a call.]

[But you're the only one who didn't come.]

That's a bit too much...

Hey. What can I do about something that's already happened?

[Ah~ I don't know. I'll just go back to sleep.]

After hanging up on Hwi-min, I naturally looked at the translation of the call that was on the screen.

［Hanna Eun］

That's right... This guy...

Author HNE...

It definitely happened this morning, but it felt like a dream.

I never thought Hanna Eun would be my illustrator...

Suddenly, I remembered the things I said to her.

Do you want your life to end? Answer my calls.

"Ahhhh!"

Hyun-ta screamed in my room with a loud voice.

Crazy bastard. Crazy bastard.

What are you talking about when your brain is full of erotic novels?

I thought of her face looking at me with pitiful eyes.

Ugh... You must think I'm a really pathetic bastard, right?

Since I even knew her author's name, she could have guessed that I was a serious person in erotic fiction to the point that I could identify the author of erotic fiction just by the style of the drawings.

But... Even the artist who draws them can't just call me a pervert...

I sat in front of the computer and read all the emails I'd exchanged with HNE author so far.

They were full of obscene words that I couldn't read outside the room.

Is Hanna Eun... a pervert?

If she was a man, I would have naturally thought of her as someone with similar tastes but if she was a woman, I didn't know how to take this.

Since we hardly had any private conversations, I could hardly

know anything about her as a person.

I had no way of knowing if she was a thorough professional spirit or if she really liked such things and had such conversations with me.

It would be funny to ask the author, "Are you a woman?" by email.

Then... just... like Han Na-eun said, just get her number and end it...?

This is so huge and so futile.

It wasn't a normal route, but I succeeded in getting a woman's number for the first time.

I was 26 years old. I had achieved something worth recording in my life, and now I'm ending it here?

I stared at the monitor with my arms crossed for a moment and made up my mind.

First of all. Let's not be like the main character of my novel, "I Locked Her Up." ■Lee Jin-seong

The main character of my novel was a crazy person who couldn't exist in real life.

When Lee Jin-seong found a weakness, he never missed his prey the moment he found the weakness.

Lee Jin-seong cooked the heroines deliciously like a tightly woven spider web.

He would sometimes find another weakness through a weakness and squeeze the nape of their necks even more, and sometimes he would instill fear in the heroines with brute force.

He was an example of someone you should never. In reality. follow.

Yeah. Don't expect much and let's just have a meal.

Honestly, you might think it's a small request, but from my perspective, it was a very trembling event.

Me... asking someone like Hanna-eun to go out for a meal...

I probably wouldn't be able to refuse, right?

This was a semi-threat.

If the reaction isn't bad, should I call her out again?

Who knows? Maybe I can communicate well with her?

And... if the relationship progresses that well...

Naeun is my... girlfriend.

Is she becoming my girlfriend!

Haa... Is the spring that makes my heart flutter finally coming to me?

I was embarrassed to imagine this at the age of 26, but... I thought it was just my delusions so it didn't matter.

I took a deep breath and stared at my phone.

Damn... Should I suggest something gentle?

No. No.

I shouldn't be mistaken about my current situation.

I almost accidentally assumed she was my crush and filmed a romance on my own.

What kind of person am I to her...

From her perspective, I'm a lethal and lowly senior who clings to weaknesses.

So I decided that at least for now, I should act accordingly.

After a few beeps, I heard her voice.

[Hello.]

[Hey.]

[...Why.]

[Come out to Exit 2 of Huin Station by tomorrow at 11:00.]

The point was the tone of voice that seemed like there was no negotiation.

[...Huin Station?]

Actually, I just called because it was in front of my studio.

There was no other reason.

[Uh. You know what if I don't come?]

An important point is not to give me a chance to say no!

[Ah... I understand.]

Isn't that a bright voice to say I'm scared?

No? Am I imagining it?

[Hangs up.]

I pretended to be cool and hung up, and I was genuinely impressed by my acting skills.

Wow! Lee Min-ho! It seemed okay!

Ah ahem... Where would be a good restaurant in front of my house...

I hummed a tune and thought about where to eat with Han Na-eun.

The Sundaeguk restaurant is amazing... but Sundaeguk is a bit too much...

I want to eat a hamburger too... If you call me here and tell me to go to Wackdonald's, it's a bit much, right?

And I never imagined that we would go to a place that was even more amazing than I thought.