Day Off

Day Off is the first book of the series. It introduces Walter Jung, and follows him on what is supposed to be an ordinary day off from work. Instead, the day rapidly spirals out of control, eventually ending in insult, injury, and damaged property.

Plot
At the beginning of Day Off, Walter comes home from a long Friday. Fridays are the days his show airs, and when any last minute segments need to be filmed. He arrives home worn down and tired, and immediately begins to make japchae for himself. He spends the evening flipping through the news, catching up on whatever he missed during the day while he was working on his own show.

The next morning, Walter wakes up near dawn and immediately heads to the gym. It’s the first time he’s gone in weeks, since he avoids going while the New Year Resolutioners are crowding the place. He intends to run himself ragged on the treadmill, but is stopped short of his goal when a ferret throws a dumbbell across the room, nearly striking Walter. At this point, Walter decides to go home. There, he finds multiple helicopters circling above his house, and finds that a neighbour’s landscaping attempts have caused part of the hill to collapse, partially burying a house below. Unable to do anything about it, Walter goes back inside to change his clothes and clean up.

Later in the morning, he heads back into town to get his hair cut, and to buy some new running shoes. Between the salon and the shoe store, Walter is rear-ended by an uninsured driver. He almost gets into a physical fight with the driver, but stops himself when he notices police are already present. While Walter is unharmed, his Audi has taken a serious beating in the crash. After dealing with the police and the insurance, Walter heads to the shoe store to find a new pair of running shoes, where he is unsubtly stalked by an employee who recognises him from TV. Walter pretends not to notice and buys his shoes. As he leaves the shoe store, he is bombarded with a string of texts from Nichola, his producer. While Walter reads the messages, he is sucker punched in the face by a teenager, while another films with his phone. Walter reacts automatically and fights back, punching the teen in the ribs, and then kicking him in the knee. When the teens flee, Walter realises what just happened, and immediately contacts Nichola about the incident. He then silences his phone, cleans up, and finds somewhere to go for lunch.

After lunch, Walter contacts Nichola again. He instructs her to spin the story in his favour, and to find the video and remove it from the internet. He also tells her to book him on a regional morning show for damage control. Tired and strung out, Walter heads home. By the time he gets home, it’s raining and the helicopters are gone. He also finds his trash cans knocked over, with trash spilled out all over the street. After cleaning up the mess in the rain, Walter heads inside to take a bath. He removes the rest of his japchae from the fridge, and spends the rest of his night in front of the TV.

Characters Introduced

 * Walter Jung
 * Nichola Stevens