Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 127



Only Noblemtl

127.

After Alexa ran away, I sat alone in the store, lost in thought.

‘When was the last time I met a girl?’

I remember it was around the late 30s.

A woman in her early 30s who attends a Korean church, introduced to me by her mother, who said she wanted to see her son get married before he passed away.

In fact, since we were both older, we didn’t fall in love at first sight. Instead, we met every weekend and talked to each other, trying to get to know each other a little better.

And in the process, I slowly realized.

I’m too old to love anyone.

The wall of reality that always came suddenly and crushed me. The futility of the past years that I endured by raising my thorns like a hedgehog. The countless traces of time that could be vaguely expressed in that way wore me down and took away the emotions inside me.

I just couldn’t ignite the pure, hot spark of love.

The other person realized it too, but since they still liked each other, he suggested that they get married and build a stable family.

The moment I heard that, I couldn’t help but admit it.

What a wise and upright man you are.

This person would be perfect as a partner to live life with.

But in the end, I ended up refusing.

The reason was simple.

‘Because I don’t want to use other people’s emotions as a means.’

The woman I was with was a very good person, and our marriage seemed like the best solution for preparing for old age and alleviating loneliness.

But I will probably go on with my married life with the thought that I have compromised with reality for the rest of my life.

And there will inevitably come a moment when you can’t control your emotions and end up sending a crooked smile to the other person.

What kind of guilt would I feel at that time? What kind of misery would the person who saw it feel?

I said goodbye like that because I didn’t think I could endure that scheduled moment.

After that, I decided that I would rather live my life enduring my dry emotions alone.

And even after returning from one life, I thought that fact would not really change.

No matter how difficult it became, the existence of ‘me’ remained the same. Because I was a man who had experienced the hardships of life, was exhausted, and felt that the process of mixing emotions with someone and becoming emotionally one with them was meaningless and uncomfortable.

But at some point, someone planted a seed in the dry land.

It was Alexa Flair.

A first meeting that can’t be said to be all that good.

Since we spent time together, I never really felt like she was a good fit for me.

That’s understandable, we were so different.

While I liked to stay indoors and read books, Alexa liked to run around.

While I liked comic book stores, Alexa liked roller skating.

I was the nerd and the model student, and Alexa was the school idol, more famous than the cheerleading captain and football quarterback.

Still, we continued hanging out.

‘Why is that?’

First of all, it was because they saw each other as they really were.

No, it wasn’t just Alexa, it was Doofy and Jiwoo too. We spoke our minds without looking at each other, and accepted each other as we were most comfortable.

So, if that was the case, Alexa and I would have remained just good friends.

But at some point, the seed Alexa had planted began to blossom.

There was no particular reason for that.

Just······ At some point, the image of you always reading my novels with interest and giving me the biggest reaction of anyone else kept lingering in my head.

No matter what happens, you take my side, we go home together, buy ice cream, meet up with V, and go to the comic book store together.

Meanwhile, flowers bloomed again in my heart.

As if it were the providence of nature.

My insides were filled with her. She made me human again.

The moment I realized that feeling was when I was going through the cheerleading club thing.

The moment I saw her, who usually always had a bright smile, looking down, I wanted to solve the problem by any means necessary. There was a reason for the novel, but even without that, I would have done my best to help Alexa. I even used my power as a writer, which I usually didn’t use.

My heart was instantly relieved when I saw Alexa jumping for joy.

And only then was I able to acknowledge the feelings that had grown inside me.

Perhaps, if this feeling was just my own, I would have just quietly stayed grateful for the miracle of flowers blooming again in my dry inner self.

but······.

‘If you show it off like that, who would know?’

It feels like a golden retriever, which likes people even when it’s still and its tail wags, is especially fond of people and is rushing to them.

So when Alexa brought up the prom topic, I kind of figured out what she was getting into.

And then the worries continued.

Should I approach Alexa? Should I go to prom with her?

But even though she was hesitant, I didn’t want to see her go to prom with someone other than me.

Finally, I came to that conclusion and decided to change my life again.

‘No matter what happens to our relationship after this.’

I will go to the prom as Alexa’s partner.

‘Well, he ran away when I said I would propose.’

When I recall that scene, a smile comes to my face without me knowing.

It’s cute. Really.

That pure affection. That confused look on his face as he couldn’t hide his overflowing emotions.

However, I couldn’t deny that in a corner of my heart, I was worried whether I was the right person for her.

I couldn’t say that I had been through all sorts of things, but despite my appearance, I was definitely an old man who had lived a long life. I analyzed and thought about how Alexa would act and what she would say, and where it came from. I even adapted the content and wrote it into a novel.

Will Alexa accept this worn-out me?

Sure, I’ll accept it now. But is that really the right thing to do?

Can I accept this relationship even though I am the only one who knows it?

‘No, stop self-harming.’

I’m tired of denying myself now. Didn’t I do enough in my past life?

Besides, my body is the same age as Alexa’s. That means, from the outside, there is absolutely no problem.

Above all, no matter how much I thought about it, one thing was certain.

From the moment I accepted that she was important to me, a kind of possessiveness began to blossom.

It was a very hot and sticky feeling that I had forgotten for so long.

I used it as fuel to renew my resolve.

‘I won’t let that kid go to prom with some other guy.’

So I will definitely do it right.

Prompose.

‘······But how did you do it?’

The old man said he doesn’t remember that kind of thing very well.

***

······Fortunately, good ‘examples’ started to appear from the very next day.

It was like that even when I went to school.

“Jamie! Come to prom with me!”

“Gyaaaah-!!”

“I’m crazy-!!”

A boy appeared in front of a girl carrying a huge pizza box. The students gathered around him were blowing whistles with their hands and it was complete chaos. And the girl was embarrassed, but she didn’t seem to mind.

A pizza box so huge that each slice seems to be about the size of a whole pizza.

When he opened it, a card with the word ‘Prom?’ written on it appeared, and the girls gathered around him let out another loud scream.

I thought as I looked at it.

‘Surely people had no shame back then.’

No, is it just them?

Malcolm, standing there proudly, was a high school football player, and he lived in a completely different world from people like me. As a member of the sports team, he was confident anytime and anywhere, and he even helped his football team members carry a huge pizza box for the proposal.

“Take it! Take it! Jamie!”

“Awesome! You guys!!”

“Are we the first prom couple of the year?!”

The third-year students, now about to graduate, seemed even more excited.

Prom was an event that had such a special meaning to the students, perhaps even bigger than Homecoming Day.

Students were more excited about the prom, a party for students, than Homecoming Day, which had a strong meaning as a local event that met certain standards. It couldn’t have been otherwise. They just had to have fun.

Eventually, Jamie accepted Malcolm’s proposal.

[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhh-!!]

A tremendous cheer erupted throughout the area.

‘This is like a reaction to some pro wrestling show.’

Thanks to them, everyone was happy and joyful.

“Come on! Those who haven’t eaten breakfast, come and get some pizza! Oh-! God!”

“Good morning, Malcolm.”

“You go eat some pizza too! Hehe.”

Malcolm smiles innocently with a bright red face.

Instead of turning down his offer, I picked up a slice of pizza that someone had skillfully cut into a suitable size.

Students gradually gathered and a small pizza party was held in front of the school gate.

Mmm, mmm, it’s delicious.

‘Should I have just one more?’

Because it doesn’t taste good when it gets cold.

As I was thinking that and reaching out, Malcolm, who had been offering pizza to people, came up to me again.

“Huh? Why?”

“Hey, but. What are you going to do?”

“······well.”

“What are you going to do? Promote. To the ‘queen’ of this school.”

“When did you ascend to the throne?”

“There have already been three.”

“okay?”

“Yeah, he refused like a knife. Hurry up and do it before there are more victims.”

“her······.”

It seemed like we had no choice but to bring forward the scheduled date.

As my mind was becoming more complicated, a black hand reached out and reached for a giant pizza box. It was Doofy Kingston, the truest cowboy in the school.

“Good morning, Scalp.”

“hmm.”

A scalp that inhales a slice of pizza without even chewing.

“Congratulations, Malcolm. That was a great proposal.”

“Thank you! Scalp! Come on, don’t be shy and eat as much as you want!”

“Then it would be rude to refuse.”

Well well well well well.

The scalp killed the pizza army in an instant.

Despite this, there were still a lot of pizza slices left, and the pizza party continued until the teachers noticed the situation and stopped the students.

After a while, as soon as I saw the teachers who had become this old man running out, I and Doopi got out of my seat. And then, as I was looking around because I felt something was missing, our member’s youngest daughter Jiwoo suddenly jumped out from behind Doopi.

A father koala and a baby koala.

“hello!”

“Hello, Jiwoo. Did you sleep well?”

“Good morning. Jiwoo.”

“It’s noisy since the morning. Is it because it’s right before the prom?”

“It’s going to get noisier from now on. There will be proposals everywhere.”

“Wow······.”

Jiwoo looks around with interest at Malcolm and his friends who are being scolded from afar.

I gently led the two of them into the school.

“Hey, Alexa, can I wait?”

“Maybe. Today will be fine. By the way, have you never been to a prom before?”

“Yeah, because we have to move every time we have a prom. Ahaha.”

“······.”

Behind Jiwoo, who was smiling awkwardly, Doopi’s glasses flashed coldly with a sense of cool duty.

‘This will create another prom couple.’

So I thought now was a good time to ask.

“Scalp.”

“hmm.”

“Do you have someone to propose to?”

“Well, a man’s secret is buried beyond the setting sun.”

“······What are you going to do for the proposal?”

“It’s the same.”

“Then let me change the question.”

I thought it might be difficult to answer directly since Jiwoo was right next to me, so I asked back with honest curiosity.

“How do you usually propose?”

“It varies. Pizza boxes are commonly used, but each person has a special story about the person they care about.”

“ah.”

Several memories came to mind.

Yes, in those days, proposals were usually······ something special to the other person and to oneself. If you were to request a proposal, you couldn’t possibly know each other at all.

‘Of course, there are those who just blindly rush in, like Alexa is experiencing now.’

If it’s between a football player and a cheerleader, there are times when they get help from the football club members, like before, and vice versa.

I remember nerds putting notes in each other’s favorite books and giving them to each other, but since they don’t prepare flashy and loud proposals like this, it was hard to see them at school.

After that, various types of proposals continued to take place on campus.

In the case of a drama club, they would do an improvisation and then suddenly say, ‘So, let’s go to the prom together!’

One of the basketball club boys told me to hold the makeshift goal, then he made a nice basket and handed me a ‘Prom?’ card that was stuck on the back of the goal.

“Hmm.”

Perhaps because I had intuition about numerous references, a good method started to come to mind by the time school ended.

‘That’s all there is to it.’

Wow, but no matter how much I thought about it, this was something only I could do······ but at the same time, it seemed incredibly childish.

But isn’t that childishness a taste that only teenagers can enjoy?

***

“Ah, ahh, Alexa!”

“······huh?”

“Come to prom with me!”

“Oh, sorry. I don’t like it.”

In the words of Alexa ‘The Black Mamba Mode’ Flare, another boy is faced with the frustration of becoming a man.

But seeing that sight made Alexa feel even more determined.

In order to achieve what you want, you have to know how to hurt someone. Since God had declared that he would propose, he was in a position where he had to reject any proposal he received.

‘Because I want to go with him!’

After that day, her worries subsided and Alexa became full of energy again.

······But that doesn’t mean I can look at God’s face without any worries. I sighed deeply, feeling ashamed of myself for not being able to speak to God again today.

The cheerleading club’s practice, which lasted until late at night, has ended.

And on the way back, I received a proposal, and today was already the sixth time I had to reject someone.

Alexa looked at the boys who were going back, crumpling up their ‘Prom?’ cards and not being able to find their match, and then she remembered God’s promise and turned around with a stern expression.

Then the three cheerleaders standing next to her asked in a sly voice.

“Who could it be~?”

“Who is Alexa’s waiting prom partner?”

“Is that the tall, cute, Asian guy?”

“······.”

Alexa walks away in silence, undeterred by the provocation.

But those ears were bright red. The three people who each accepted the proposal today giggled at the cute sight and headed to the school gate together.

And they discovered something in front of the school gate that wasn’t there until this afternoon.

“Ice cream truck?”

“Why is that here?”

The girls tilted their heads in front of a truck with a giant ice cream cone panel attached to the top of the loading bay that was in charge of storing the ice cream.

The famous truck that usually sells homemade gelato ice cream all over the downtown area is doing business in front of the school gate. I thought it was some kind of fantasy, but it was proven to be real when several students who came out late like them bought ice cream.

The steps of teenage girls, who were more hungry than usual due to the rigorous club activities, could not help but naturally move forward.

“Choco.”

“vanilla.”

“strawberry.”

Without even looking at the menu, we each smoothly ordered one item according to our tastes, and Alexa followed suit and chose her most pick.

“Mint chocolate.”

“OK, accepted.”

The owner, whose face was very familiar to Alexa, filled the cones with homemade gelato ice cream one by one. Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry came out in that order, and the three girls began to eat them greedily, squealing.

And the boss glanced at Alexa’s face, which was filled with anticipation, and then spoke as if he was troubled.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but the mint chocolate is sold out.”

“Oh, really? Then······.”

It was the moment when Alexa was about to choose another menu.

A translucent plastic container filled with mint chocolate ice cream protruded from the back of the truck.

“uh?”

As soon as she looked at it, wondering what it was, she felt as if her heart had stopped beating for a moment.

A boy with a more serious expression on his face than the girl knew walked out from behind the truck.

“I bought everything. I’m going to give it to you.”

Although he was trying to speak bluntly, the god’s face was flushed bright red. And Alexa’s face was also beginning to turn the same color.

The cheerleaders who were eating ice cream were shocked by the unexpected proposal, and the president smiled happily with his thick arms crossed.

“So, come to prom with me.”

“Uh, uh······?”

God approached Alexa, who was still unresponsive, and placed a container of mint chocolate ice cream in her arms.

Then he took out a card that had the word ‘Prom?’ written on it and handed it to me.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaah-!!”

“You’re crazy! You’re crazy! You’re absolutely crazy!”

“I can’t believe I’m witnessing this moment in real time!”

A brief moment of silence passed between the two, separate from the cheerleaders’ excitement and loud cheering.

And Alexa Flair’s reaction was:

“Ppuaaa …

Now, as if he had finally felt relieved, he began to cry out loud like a little child.

End

(127)