#88. Preview
#88. Preview
The Modern Architecture exam boasted a dizzyingly tough difficulty level, much like how the midterm was described as downright evil.
"Heh heh heh."
The students were buzzing right after the exam ended.
What they were letting out wasn't voices, but groans.
Even Hwi-min, who always studies diligently and is dead serious about architecture, seemed unable to tough out this exam.
"Ah. This is really not okay. This is fucking bullshit."
Hwi-min vented to me about how narrow-minded the exam questions were, claiming the professor's intentions were impure.
"You're right."
Truth be told, I'd been half-assing my studies, so I figured my crap answers were because I hadn't studied enough, but nope—it was just straight-up hard.
With each exam wrapping up, I felt like the guy holding a hand full of cards in a game where collecting five wins—like that moment of victory was creeping closer.
The approaching End of Semester wasn't just handing out a vacation.
Leave of absence. My long-cherished dream.
In the Department of Architecture, a single-semester Leave of absence didn't exist.
Since the Design Class curriculum was structured in one-year blocks, anyone taking a break had to commit to a full year.
Just one more week, and I'd have a full year plus three months granted to me.
Hang in there, Lee Min-ho.
You can do it, Lee Min-ho.
I hurried home, tossed my bag onto the bed, and dove straight into Manuscript work.
Like I felt during the last Manuscript Deadline, this trifecta of exam deadlines and Manuscript deadlines was no joke—suicidal thoughts seemed to pop up a few times a day, honestly.
The newly launched character's name this time was Song Han-byeol.
I was gonna go with a Park surname based on Na-eun's advice, but Song Han-byeol just felt right, so I stuck with it.
[That cover you did last time got such a great response, and the novel's sales skyrocketed, so I wanna treat you to a nice meal somewhere as thanks—got time?]
[Uh...? Dinner...? Oh... I've never met any clients offline before, so kinda...]
[Don't feel burdened, please. I'm just asking out of genuine gratitude, and I wanna request the next cover too—thought it'd be better to talk in person.]
[If you're saying it like that... When works for you?]
[Just tell me a time that's good for you, Author-nim, and I'll make the reservation around it.]
This episode's buildup had Lee Jin-seong pretending to be a full-time Web Novel author to approach the illustrator Song Han-byeol.
Unable to find a connection to Song Han-byeol from the outside due to his unemployed freelancer status, he decided to approach her as a client.
Of course, for a perfect alibi, he'd actually written a novel and even gotten offers from multiple management companies.
For a perfectionist like him, writing the novel was a meticulously calculated labor of the brain.
But despite the surprisingly high returns, Lee Jin-seong had zero interest in novel writing.
All that was in his head was turning this foolish girl who only knew how to draw pictures into his personal fuckhouse.
He wanted to remodel her—a girl who only drew all-ages illustrations—into a fucking pervert bitch who only drew sleazy Erotic Illustrations.
Degrading her into an Adult Comic illustrator who draws Erotic Illustrations while panting for filthy sex.
Even I thought this setup was kinda fucked up.
Na-eun helped a ton with piecing together the premise.
Haa... This definitely provided huge help professionally...
But hearing my girlfriend teach me 'How to Train an Illustrator' felt so damn weird.
Even as I listened, I kept thinking, is this for real?
And it was so plausibly suspicious that it was even more disconcerting.
Anyway, after cleanly finishing one chapter, I stretched long and hard.
"Ugh. Let's take a quick break."
With both architecture work and novel drafting all done on the computer via keyboard, I had to give my wrists periodic rests.
Stories of authors sidelined by wrist issues were all over the internet.
I popped in my wireless earbuds and called Na-eun.
[Hello?]
Na-eun's voice sounded a bit tired.
[Hey.]
[What.]
[Whatcha doing.]
[Putting furniture in the 3rd floor floor plan.]
If she was in furniture-placement mode, I'd called at the perfect damn time.
Drawing furniture on floor plans was just neatly stitching together sourced images from everywhere.
No creative thinking needed—just repetitive, factory-line labor.
[Once our deadlines are done, where should we go play?]
Better to talk hopeful stuff than keep droning on about Design Class or work.
[You mean a trip?]
[Yeah. Trip sounds good, right?]
[...How about Las Vegas?]
[Outta nowhere?]
Her random answer made me snort with laughter.
I'd figured the farthest she'd been was Busan or Jeju, but America?
[I've always wanted to go there.]
[Why?]
[It's all sparkly.]
Explaining why she wants to visit a specific city by saying it's sparkly.
Our department professors would cry. Damn.
Of course, to my ears, it just sounded cute.
[Hmm... But for a first trip, wouldn't domestic be better?]
[Maybe. But I wanna go to America.]
[We can do it as our honeymoon later.]
I slipped in a marriage mention while she was off-balance.
Sure, we were still undergrads who hadn't even graduated.
I wasn't dead serious, but I was curious about her reaction.
[Ah... But by then, we might have a kid, and it'd be tough...?]
She replied to my words with a worried tone.
[True... With a kid, overseas trips are hard...]
Wait. Something's off here?
[Hey. Honeymoon, remember? Why would we have a kid?]
[Oppa. At this pace, aren't we on track for a shotgun wedding?]
She dropped the heavy line as casually as saying, 'I had toast for breakfast this morning.'
[No no. We get married first, then have a kid. That's the right order. What are you even saying.]
I almost nodded along without thinking at her words.
[Hmm... I guess...]
Her nonchalant reply left me dumbfounded.
[We gotta buy a proper house first. A car. Save up money steadily. Then think kids, you know.]
That's how I saw it, at least.
Having a kid unprepared is exhausting for both parents and child.
Better not to take on what you can't responsibly handle.
[...Seriously, you sound so level-headed just talking like this—how'd you write over 200 of those fucking pervert novels?]
Her words shut me up cold.
Yeah... Even I'm shocked by my own talents sometimes...
[It's all prep for a stable future, right?]
I couldn't spit out something like 'Popping cherries never gets old, no matter how many times I write it,' so I slapped on a plausible excuse.
[But I'm not just saving aimlessly either, you know? I've been saving pretty steadily.]
True, we hadn't been together that long, but Na-eun didn't seem like the type to blow money despite her earnings.
She bought pretty clothes often, but no flashy logoed luxury stuff.
With her skills, she could've afforded a few without issue.
[Yeah... Save up nice and steady, and it'll be comfy later.]
[Oppa spends too much. Kinda. You're not scraping by on pennies, so stop wearing those ratty clothes all the time.]
[...Mom got 'em for me.]
Silence descended.
I checked my phone screen, thinking the call dropped, but it was still connected.
[Aww~ It's got that sentimental charm~ The ratty part's just 'cause Oppa doesn't do laundry right~ Not that the clothes suck or anything—don't get the wrong idea~ Got it?]
Hey. Too late. You.
If you were gonna make excuses, do it quicker.
Who'd buy it with timing this off?
If it were chat, it'd probably be [lololol].
[But you know I don't care about clothes.]
[Still, ugh... Next time, let's hit a department store together.]
She couldn't nag more after I brought up Mom, so she suggested a department store date instead.
[I'll pick out cute clothes for you. Just wear what I say. Okay?]
Times like this, she was just the cute, adorable girlfriend.
[Yeah. Sounds good.]
A pleased smile tugged at my lips as I leaned back in my chair.
[But hey, Oppa.]
She trailed off upward, like she had a question.
[Yeah? What.]
Feeling good, I hummed along as I replied.
[If we prep for 5 boys and 6 girls and then make the baby... wouldn't that be too late?]
Fair point, for sure.
Raising 11 kids properly would cost a fortune.
Might not save up till my 30s.
I hesitated on a reply, then a good analogy hit me.
[Nah. Web novels give the first 5 chapters free, right?]
Sorry, firstborn. You're just the preview.