“And now welcoming,” The MC said, “Jung Daehyun to the stage!”

The audience roared with applause as the novelist walked up to the stage, carefully placing each one of his footsteps. As soon as he reached the stage, he bowed countless times to the stage while beaming with a smile plastered on his face.

“Annyeonghaesayo Jung Daehyun-sshi.” The MC said as Daehyun took one of the seats on the stage. The stage was surrounded by an audience on all sides, making the small circular stage the attention no matter which way you turned to. The lights shone directly down on Daehyun’s light brown hair as he leaned back in his reclining chair.

“Annyeonghaesayo.” Daehyun replied simply and briskly.

“It’s such a pleasure for us to have an author as successful as you with us today. You have a new novel coming out soon, is that correct?”

“That is correct.” Daehyun answered.

“Wow, for an author you sure say little.” The MC teased. Daehyun raised the corners of his mouth a little, but it was obvious he was not pleased by the MC’s statement.

“I prefer to keep my ideas on paper.” He said back. He cleared his voice and continued talking. “My new book is titled Abyss. It’s a very simple book that anybody can pick up and understand, like the majority of my other books.”

“Is there a romance line in it?” The MC asked.

Daehyun raised an eyebrow at him. “Why, may I ask, is that the first thing you ask?” He said, earning a laugh from the audience.

The MC chuckled before replying. “Well of your other 9 books, you’ve only had one book with a romance line in it.”

Daehyun looked confused. “Are you sure? I don’t remember writing any book with a romance in it.”

That must have been before… Daehyun thought.

 “I’m late, I’m late…” I muttered to myself as I ran across the street to the writing convention.

I slowly entered the large building that was covered with glass windows and slowly opened the door to the auditorium. It was completely dark except for two intercepting rays of light that were aimed right at the stage.

“Yah, Moon Sojung!” I heard a voice call me from three rows in front of me.

“Oh, Taeri-ah!” I whispered when I saw her. I slowly made my way to where she was and took the seat next to her.

“Why are you always late?” Taeri asked me.

“Sorry, Yongguk was insisting that we finish editing the chapter and we lost track of time.” I replied.

“He’s always keeping you late. Are you sure he’s not into you or something?”

Before I could answer, the person next to us shushed us and I brought my attention to the stage. I looked at Jung Daehyun and well, they didn’t say that he was the most attractive genius the world has seen for no reason. I’ve seen plenty of pictures of him and watched plenty of his interviews, but this was the first time I had an opportunity to meet him in real life. I was determined to learn his secrets in writing the most realistic, gripping novels.

“-I don’t remember writing any book with a romance line in it.” He said. Well it was somewhat true. Most of his books included a character that was heartbroken. His first book though, remarkably less dark than his other works, included a romance story. It was rumored that Daehyun’s heart was broken right after the publication of that book, and that was why the rest of his books seemed so much darker.

There was silence within the audience as they registered what Daehyun just said. It was weird that an author wouldn’t remember one of his own books. But for an author, it was reasonable. Daehyun had written 9, nearly 10, books in the past two years. That averages about a novel every two to three months.

“I’m sorry.” Daehyun immediately said. “It’s hard to keep track when I’m always searching for new topics to write about.”

“Ah, it’s okay.” The flustered MC said. I eyed the MC questionably. From the few minutes that I was here, I could already pick up on the fact that the MC didn’t really know what he was doing. For such a professional author like Daehyun, it was quite irritating.

The interview passed by in a flash and at the end, I looked at my notes and there were scribbles on nearly everything that Jung Daehyun had said, but I wasn’t done. I still had to meet with him.

Unfortunately for me, as soon as Daehyun finished his interview, a ton of authors crowded around him to meet up with him. Daehyun strained to smile as the crowd tried to talk to him all at once.

Fortunately, Jung Daehyun wasn’t an idiot so he just left the crowd but left his business cards on the table with his phone number on it. He casually stuck his hands in his pockets and walked off of the stage. I watched his every step from where I was standing.

“Why does someone like him exist?” Taeri said to me.

“What?” I asked her.

“I mean, look at him.” She paused. “He’s got the looks and he’s got the talent. What else does he need in life?”

I chuckled. “He looks mighty lonely if you ask me.” I said before realizing what I just uttered.

Taeri looked at me strangely. “Authors are so weird these days.” She said while shrugging.

I walked up to where Daehyun was sitting and grabbed one of his business cards. It was printed on a gray background which seemed to have a picture of a desk with a single rose lying on top of it. His phone number and address were printed in white.

“A single red rose.” I said slowly. “How romantic for someone who doesn’t write romance.”

“BANG YONGGUK CAN WE FINISH THIS ALREADY?” I complained. Yongguk was insisting on editing every single one of my sentences to the degree of perfections, and let’s be honest, I don’t have the patience for that. “I NEED TO CALL DAEHYUN TO SCHEDULE A MEETING.”

“I already did that.” He said casually.

“You did?” I asked.

“Yeah. You think I could ignore that Daehyun business card on your desk?” He said sarcastically. “Besides, I’m good friends with his editor.”

My eyed widened when he said that. “YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH HIS EDITOR AND YOU DIDN’T PLAN THIS EARLIER?”

I slumped down on the couch and sighed. Yongguk and I were at his office at the publishing company. It was a room that rang of brown. Brown bookcases, brown couches, brown carpet, even brown curtains. One wall was covered with three bookcases, full of works by Korea’s most successful authors. The other was occupied by his desk and a couch.

“Anyway, you can meet up with him tonight. I called him before the convention so I got an early appointment.”

“Tonight?” I sat up.

“Yep. Tonight.” He confirmed.

a/n: annyeong readers! how was the first chapter?