How to Survive the Horror Novel I Wrote
Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Who is that? A sudden wave of fear washed over me. Lingering unnecessarily in front of the next-door unit, I stole glances at the man's appearance.
Semi-rimless glasses. An unassuming face. A gray suit. A black briefcase. Flanking him on either side were a red ginseng shopping bag and a fruit basket set on the floor.
He looked like a salesman, the red ginseng and fruit serving as bait or complimentary gifts. He was probably here to sell insurance or home-study workbooks. Or maybe he had come to sell red ginseng itself.
Do door-to-door salesmen really camp out in front of empty houses these days? I felt both pity and a sense of revulsion.
No, wait. He might be a robber disguised as a salesman. Who knew—there could be a knife hidden inside that briefcase.
As I kept glancing at him instead of going inside, he seemed to notice my gaze. Looking sheepish, he bowed his head slightly toward me and gave an awkward smile.
He didn't look like the type to pull a knife from a briefcase. That gave me the courage to speak up.
“Excuse me, but why are you in front of our house…?”
When I hesitated and approached to ask, the man countered with a bewildered look.
“Do you live here?”
“Yes, I do.”
He scrambled to his feet and held out a business card.
“Hello. Forgive my late introduction. My name is Oh Haejun.”
The business card he handed me bore a familiar publishing company logo.
‘Chaekdongne. Assistant Manager Oh Haejun’
“…!”
I was stunned. Chaekdongne was the publishing house contracted for the Night Series. Years had passed since I signed the contract, but this was the first time an employee had ever come to my house.
Why come to my house all of a sudden? Don't tell me he's here to catch me? Wait, where did my managing editor go? A storm of questions raged in my head.
I plucked out one of them.
“Where did my managing editor go, and why are you…”
“He was in a car accident a few days ago and is currently hospitalized.”
Then did that mean he took my call yesterday from a hospital bed? God, that makes me feel terrible…
“Are you Author Mun Seongwon's wife?”
Oh Haejun asked out of the blue.
“Pardon?”
I doubted my own ears.
Oh Haejun wore a completely clueless expression. It seemed the editor's claim—that only he and the president knew my true identity—had been true.
“Ah, yes.”
I didn't bother correcting his misunderstanding.
I was a masked author to begin with, and even if he was an employee at my publishing house, I had no desire to reveal my identity to someone who didn't already know it.
“I'd like to meet with Author Mun Seongwon. Is he out at the moment?”
Oh Haejun asked again.
Out, my foot. You're looking right at her.
“What is this regarding…?”
“Yesterday, the author unilaterally notified us that he would discontinue writing the Night Series. You're aware of this too, aren't you, ma'am?”
Ma'am. The polite form of address rolling off Oh Haejun's tongue grated uncomfortably against my ears, pricking both my conscience and my pride.
At twenty-nine, I'm not quite at the age to be called "ma'am."
“And what of it?”
“I don't know what change of heart made him decide to terminate the contract, but before being a publishing editor, as an avid reader of the Night Series myself, I simply couldn't just sit by…”
Oh Haejun rattled on and on.
Is he trying to broadcast to the entire neighborhood that Author Mun Seongwon lives here?
Anxiously looking around the apartment hallway, I checked to see if anyone was listening.
Feeling like he would keep blabbering forever at this rate, I decided to invite Oh Haejun inside for now.
“Please come in. You can speak inside.”
“Ah, thank you.”
I served Oh Haejun coffee while listening to his story.
Oh Haejun went in endless circles just to ask that the cancellation of the new Night Series contract be retracted.
“Could you perhaps persuade the author, ma'am?”
I wondered what kind of face this man would make if he found out that this "ma'am" was that very author.
“It won't do any good. My, my husband's resolve is exceedingly firm…”
I almost said "my resolve." Startled by my own slip, my heart pounded.
“Still, I think he would listen to you, ma'am. Don't you think it's a waste too? Giving up on a massive hit like the Night Series.”
I think it's a waste too. But what good is a massive hit? If I write a story about Ugeum killing someone, it happens in reality.
And the person who ends up dead by that bastard's hand might just be me. How am I supposed to write anything more under these circumstances?
With a heavy heart, I looked across the dining table at Oh Haejun. Contrary to his gentle appearance, he wasn't backing down easily.
Rather than flatly refusing, it would be better to pretend to be on his side while making him give up.
“I think it's a waste too. You have no idea how much I tried to stop my husband. But…”
Suddenly, the sound of typing began to drift out from the room.
Clack-clack, clack-clack-clack…
At that moment, a sharp chill surged through every vein in my body.
Ugeum was moving. Aside from that single time he went to the club to check on his prey, Ugeum had only ever moved to come see me.
Of all times, while I was with this man.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Oh Haejun said something while watching my expression, but the words didn't register.
Oh Haejun. An editor who came to meet the author of the Night Series.
If Ugeum met Oh Haejun, he would figure out my identity in an instant.
‘You won't be able to write things like this anymore.’
‘There is only one thing I cannot tolerate. Lies.’
If I'm caught, I die. If I betray him, I die. My heart detonated fiercely over and over. I shot up from my seat. Oh Haejun looked up at me with a puzzled expression.
I have to get rid of this man right now.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang. Oh Haejun and I turned our heads toward the intercom at the same time.
Ugeum was here.
“…!”
Fright nearly knocked me senseless. This fast?
“Is that the author?”
Oh Haejun asked, brightening up.
Without a word of explanation, I grabbed his arm and hauled him up. Whipping my head around, I searched for a place to hide a person, but there was nowhere suitable in the kitchen or living room. Why doesn't my place have built-in closets in the living room?
The bathroom? Ugeum might go in there—no. The balcony? No, too risky.
“Ma'am, what are you doing?”
Oh Haejun asked in a flustered voice.
Ding-dong.
Ugeum rang the doorbell once more.
Startled, my heart leaped into my throat. There was no time. In a panic, I dragged Oh Haejun toward the bedroom.
“I'm sorry, but please just hide without asking any questions.”
“Wait, ma'am, I came to see the author…”
Shoving Oh Haejun into the room as he protested in sheer disbelief, I pleaded frantically.
“If he catches me with an editor, I'm in huge trouble. Please save me. Please. I'm begging you.”
Oh Haejun opened and closed his mouth with a troubled look. He seemed to be agonizing over what to do. Taking advantage of the gap, I slammed the bedroom door shut.
Coffee—I need to hide only Oh Haejun's cup in the cupboard and leave mine behind. Since the kitchen smells like coffee anyway.
Catching sight of the black briefcase, the red shopping bag of red ginseng, and the colorful fruit basket sitting under Oh Haejun's chair with their heavy presence, irritation flared up. Why did he have to bring so much stuff?
I shoved all of those into the room as well. Oh Haejun's stunned face disappeared behind the closing door.
Finally, after hiding Oh Haejun's dress shoes inside the shoe cabinet in the entryway, I opened the front door.
Dressed in a black suit, Ugeum stepped briskly into the entryway and asked in a smooth voice,
“What were you doing?”
I read the reproach hidden between the lines. What were you doing that took you so long to open the door?
“Sorry. I was in the bathroom.”
Only after the reflex lie slipped out did I realize I had just lied to Ugeum.
But there was no turning back. Getting caught in a lie was better than getting caught as Author Mun Seongwon.
“Honey.”
I quickly grabbed Ugeum's arm as he moved to take off his shoes.
Ugeum looked down at me with a rare expression of surprise.
“Honey?”
Why are you so shocked? My shoulders shrank back self-consciously.
I didn't know Ugeum's age. Age unknown. Identity unknown. That was Ugeum's character profile. The setting was that everything about him was shrouded in mystery.
Without knowing if he was older or younger than me, I couldn't call him oppa or carelessly throw around his name. It wasn't like we had pet names, either. I didn't want to use "darling" lest the words become reality.
I had always referred to Ugeum as "you," but addressing him that way felt awkward. So I went with "honey," but…
“Say that again.”
Trapping me against the front door between his two arms, Ugeum whispered with burning eyes—and I regretted my choice considerably.
I knew I had to create a romance to survive, but right now, there was an audience. An audience who absolutely must not cross paths with Ugeum.
“Honey, I really, really want some ice cream right now… Could you go buy some for me?”
I asked in the sweetest, gentlest voice I could muster.
At that, Ugeum murmured, his fingers idly brushing against my lower lip.
“I'd rather eat you.”
I froze. What was I supposed to say to that? How was I going to get this bastard out the door? I was completely at a loss.
Gazing down at me as if ready to devour me whole, Ugeum suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
“I'll go get it.”
Lightly pinching my cheek with the hand that had been caressing my lips, Ugeum readily left the apartment. As expected, he was a master at playing with people.
Pressing my ear against the front door, I waited until I heard his footsteps recede, the elevator chime, and the doors slide open and shut before sprinting to the bedroom.
“Thank you so much for hiding, Assistant Manager. I'd really appreciate it if you could leave now. Quickly, before my husband gets back.”
“Ma'am, as I mentioned earlier, I came to meet the author…”
Oh Haejun said with an awkward look.
“I'll try to persuade him myself. That'll do, right?”
Oh Haejun left, his face a mix of dissatisfaction, doubt, and resignation.
Anxious that Ugeum might have noticed something, or that he might be waiting for the man on the ground floor, I checked the Cursed Manuscript.
Fortunately, Ugeum hadn't noticed a thing and was on his way to run the ice cream errand.
However, the manuscript also contained Oh Haejun's point of view.
