Chapter 24

Jin Rak felt bad about lying, but he was almost done. A few more panels to go, then the webtoon would be complete. It had been difficult without the help of Dong Hoon, but he'd gotten it done as quickly as it could. Maybe it wasn't the best quality, but it was something.

As far as Jin Rak knew, Dong Hoon hadn't found out what he was doing, but he knew Jin Rak was doing something.

"Please tell me you're almost done with your super-secret project," Dong Hoon asked while he was getting ready for work.

"It's not 'super-secret' it's just… something" Jin Rak replied

"Well whatever it is better make us some money" he said dryly, "If we're not careful, we're going to be short on rent this month"

"Don't be so paranoid, Dong Hoon" Jin Rak said, trying not to get annoyed at his work being interrupted, "With Editor as your girlfriend, we can pitch her anything and she'll at least run it for a few chapters"

"That's only if I'm working with you though" he said, "And I'm not sure if I can with you putting out half thought out soap operas that barely make sense every month"

"Are you saying you're quitting?"

"No," he said quickly, "not yet anyways. I don't know what you're working on, but you need to finish it soon so we can work on something good"

"This is good!" Jin Rak insisted

"But we're not selling it," he replied, "Listen, Jin Rak; you're a talented writer and my best friend. I love working with you."

"But?" Jin Rak continued

"But Seul Gi puts up with a lot from you, and I can't keep convincing her not to fire us," Dong Hoon said, "We became an asset to her with "Flower Boy Next Door", but we can't ride on those coattails forever"

"Maybe those coattails are longer than we thought" Jin Rak said under his breath

"What was that?" Dong Hoon said

"Nothing" Jin Rak replied quickly. He should have said that. Dong Hoon wasn't a complete idiot, he could put two and two together.

Dong Hoon looked at him for a moment before slipping on his coat, "all right" he said. But Jin Rak could clearly hear the I'll let it go this time, in the alright, "But you better have a new webtoon idea when I come back tomorrow"

"Or what, you'll walk?" Jin Rak said sarcastically

"Maybe, Oh Jin Rak," Dong Hoon replied

"Wait, seriously?"

"I have bills to pay too," he replied, "And if not with webtoons, then with something else"

"Okay listen," Jin Rak said, "I can't explain everything right now, but just trust me. This time, trust me"

"Last time I trusted you-"

"You ended up with a girlfriend" he finished, "So don't say I've never done anything for you"

Dong Hoon walked towards the door, "Fine, you have another week. I'll tell Seul Gi something"

"Thank you, Dong Hoon," Jin Rak said, "You won't regret this"

"I doubt that," he muttered before walking through the door.

With that taken care of, Jin Rak returned to his computer. There wasn't much left to do, but what remained was giving him trouble. He couldn't figure out just how to end the story. It would obviously have Enrique and Dok Mi in a relationship, but he wasn't sure how to get there.

What was difficult is Jin Rak was making everything up now. The original Flower Boy Next Door had taken place in real time, with Jin Rak just writing down what he heard. But Jin Rak hadn't really talked to Enrique or Dok Mi much since the accident. Almost everything now was Jin Rak's original work. He was beginning to believe that he actually couldn't come up with anything original. He'd even come to terms with Zombie Soccer being partly plagiarized.

Right now, Enrique and Dok Mi were at an airport, with Enrique planning on returning to Spain. But Jin Rak couldn't decide if he would leave her there, if they would both remain in Korea, or if they would go together.

In real life, Enrique had left. But he didn't want to go by real life right now. Besides, he had already left Dok Mi once before. If the real Dok Mi was going to be affected by this, it all had to be fast paced and exciting.

Maybe they should both go, Jin Rak thought. But Dok Mi didn't have any luggage and it was probably too late to buy a ticket anyways. Then Enrique has to stay, but he had already said he would leave Dok Mi again. Jin Rak put his head in his hands. Why couldn't everything be simple?

Maybe to get inspiration, he should go directly to the source. Well, I did tell Enrique I would go talk to Dok Mi. Jin Rak on his coat and went out the door.

It had been days since the mail incident. Would she even let him in? Probably not, but he had to try. He promised Enrique he'd try again. As he knocked on the door, Jin Rak wondered just when he had stopped seeing Enrique as a rival and started seeing him as a friend.

Dok Mi answered the door after 4 knocks. She at least opened it fully instead of just the sliver she did last time

"Yes?" she asked.

Jin Rak seemed silent. He hadn't really thought about the possibility of her opening the door.

"Um…" he said, "I was wondering if…" Jin Rak stammered. He probably should've had a plan before coming over.

"Jin Rak?" Dok Mi asked

"Yeah?"

"Did Enrique call you?"

"N-No" he lied. She didn't seem convinced, "Really, he didn't"

"Good" she said. She sounded confident. It was a rare thing to hear in her voice, "Because if he had, someone should tell him that if he wanted to talk to me, he should come over and do it himself"

"Well, un, he didn't so-"

"Then why are you here?" she asked. It was strange to see her this annoyed. Strange and rather intriguing.

"Well" he said, trying to think up a lie, "We used to go to the movies, um, together on Saturdays. And um, I was, uh, wondering if you maybe wanted to?" god, this might be the dumbest story he'd ever come up with.

"But it's Friday" she said,

"Is it?" Jin Rak asked, feeling like a bigger idiot, "Then never mind, I guess"

"Wait," she said. She let out a deep breath, "I'm sorry for snapping at. It's just…"

"I understand," Jin Rak replied. He couldn't even imagine how hard this had been on her.

"But tomorrow" she said, "Maybe we could see that movie"

"What? Really?" he asked,

"Yeah," she said with a small smile, "Really."

"Okay, then," he said, "I guess I'll pick you up at 8 then"

"I'll see you then" she said before closing the door. Jin Rak stood there for a minute. What just happened? A few days ago, she had barely said a word to him and now they were going out? Maybe she wanted something familiar. Or… something she thought was familiar. Jin Rak had to remind himself that it was a lie.

He walked back to his apartment and sat down at his desk. He still didn't know how the end the webtoon, but he couldn't show it to her unfinished. He began to draw the pictures, saving the dialogue for when he decided on an actual ending. He was just fishing another panel when his phone rang."

"Hello" Jin Rak said, not bothering to glance at the caller id

"Oh Jin Rak?" a familiar voice said, "It's been a while"

"Do Hwi?" Jin Rak asked, stopping the drawing he was working on

"I know I'm no friend of yours," she began, cutting straight to the point, "and I have no right to call you. But I've been trying to get a hold of Dok Mi. She obviously won't pick up my calls. But there's something really important I need to tell her."

"What? That you're sorry? Because we both know you aren't"

"Will you just listen to me," she insisted, "I hurt Dok Mi the most, but I wasn't the only one. Almost everyone in that school grew to hate her-"

"Because of you"

"Listen, Jin Rak. I still keep in touch with some of those people," she took a deep breath, "They're coming back to Seule."

"What?"

"I just thought she deserved a warning," Do Hwi replied before hanging up.

Jin Rak sat there with the phone in his hand. Having Do Hwi here had hurt Dok Mi enough. What if she ran into them? That's why Do Hwi called, idiot, Jin Rak thought. She had done something horrible to Dok Mi, but Jin Rak thought she was legitimately sorry now. Whoever these people were, Jin Rak knew he had to keep them away from Dok Mi. no matter what it took.