Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 130



Only Noblemtl

130.

The next day after a successful date.

While I was looking at the store, I got a call from Julia.

[We have received an offer to make the About T series into a television drama.]

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but open my eyes wide.

‘It’s a dramatization?’

It suddenly felt like the size of the media franchise had jumped dramatically.

From radio dramas, comics, toys, to official setting additions, my works have been turned into media franchises in various forms. But still, a television drama?

‘I need to think about this more deeply.’

It was inevitable that I would have concerns.

Television dramas of the time, like many media in American society, were divided into regional dramas and national dramas. And, most likely, the proposal to dramatize ‘About T’ came from a regional drama production company. The novel was being serialized only in the Los Angeles Times.

‘No matter how famous Rotham was nationwide, in those days, there were different newspapers in the East and the South, so it wasn’t very big.’

However, the scale of the ripple effect itself was different.

If a work is made into a television drama, the writer’s income and the perception of the work itself change completely. Works like ‘murder, she wrote’ and ‘Highway to hell’ were both based on novels that were turned into dramas and then became huge hits.

‘Even without going too far, let’s just say ‘Dead Man’s Heaven’, which was a blockbuster hit from my previous life.’

But that’s why I couldn’t help but worry even more.

[Author?]

“Oh, yes. I’m listening.”

[We should proceed, right?]

“Ah, um······.”

[Is there anything you are worried about?]

“No, that’s not it. First of all, where is the production company?”

[It’s California Pictures. It’s a regional drama production company and a subsidiary of LBS.]

LBS, ‘Los-Angeles Broadcasting System’. It was a local broadcasting station with fairly good ratings in California. When I heard the name, I thought it was definitely a huge opportunity, but I also felt a little uneasy.

The big opportunity was that there were a lot of ‘dinosaurs’ interested in that pie.

‘A dinosaur called a corporation.’

As someone who has experienced the tyranny of that kind, I couldn’t help but be cautious about how to handle this proposal. I don’t know if something will happen without me knowing, in a way I don’t know. I couldn’t help it, since this is a world where the cold logic of capital takes precedence.

It will continue to be like this, especially as media franchises grow in size and become more entangled with corporations.

That’s why I thought it was fortunate that there was someone I could trust.

“Julia. Can I ask you one thing?”

[If it helps us, by all means.]

“I would like to proceed with the contract, but I don’t have much time these days because of the entrance exams.”

[Oh, I see. Can I send it to you after adjusting the conditions?]

“Yes, I really need you to take care of this part.”

[The author is asking for things that he normally wouldn’t. Is there anything you’re worried about?]

“······I’m just worried because the scale of the work is getting bigger. That doesn’t mean I don’t trust Julia. And we also have issues to discuss based on the terms of our contract, right?”

[That’s right. It was originally planned as a trilogy, but since there was an offer to make it into a drama, I may have to write more depending on what they think.]

“That’s right. I think we definitely need to discuss that part. Money and not having your rights taken away are important, but you know what I value most.”

[Okay. I understand what you’re worried about, and I’ll do my best to proceed.]

“thank you.”

After the call ended, which had been a bit more serious than usual, I let out a small sigh.

“Phew.”

This is it. If it weren’t for Julia, I would have had an even bigger headache than I already did.

‘······I need to write more about the ‘About T’ series than originally planned.’

I thought it was something that the company could easily propose.

But the problem stemmed from the fact that I had suffered a lot because of it in my past life.

‘I’ll think about it after the entrance exams are over.’

Because I had to go to Stanford University tomorrow to take the second round of admissions.

***

First, I cleared my mind and decided to focus only on the situation in front of me.

Yeah, when I think about it, those were some really amazing days. Especially these days.

When it was time to graduate from high school, things that had never happened in my past life started happening one after another.

I dated the cheerleader queen and school alpha girl and promised to go to prom with her.

And after receiving the offer for the drama, I vowed to focus only on my work, and traveled around the United States for two weeks to take the second round of entrance exams for the universities I was accepted to.

······Actually, this part was difficult.

‘I didn’t think everyone would pass the first round. I thought at least one would fail.’

A grand journey across the United States, starting from Stanford in California, then the University of Iowa in Iowa, Rice University in Texas, and finally Harvard University in Massachusetts.

In addition, since I had at least two days of tests and interviews at each school, I felt like I had gone on a long trip. In my previous life, I had been to various events such as autograph sessions as a writer, but it felt a little different then. I wondered why, and soon this answer came to me.

‘Because in my past life, I didn’t do it because I wanted to.’

At first, I was excited and stuff, but after I got caught up in the thought that ‘Dead Man’s Heaven’ wasn’t entirely my work, I felt like I was being dragged around, and I remember feeling a little uncomfortable when fans asked for autographs right in front of me.

But not now.

I planned to go to college solely of my own choice.

‘To get help writing the work I want to write.’

If I think about it, my life after returning has definitely been subjective.

After returning to my first year of high school, I started working on my first work, ‘Mother’, and tried to change my life proactively. Thanks to that, I was able to have all kinds of experiences that I had not had in my previous life.

Through this, I realized that the things I feared and wanted to avoid, and the unhappy childhood I felt were not all like that.

These were all changes that came about as I lived the life I chose for myself.

Because of this, I have consciously accepted that everything is relative and that it is important what kind of mindset I have before it.

‘Of course, that would be a natural result.’

Now that I have returned to a past life, I am naturally more mentally mature and complete than when I was a boy in my previous life. So, I was able to deal with the same situation in a more mature way, and it is true that this has made my life better.

So sometimes, I think that maybe I am a narrow-minded and incompetent person.

Because I didn’t intend to do my best in the life that was originally given to me, but thanks to this opportunity, things changed. And even that wasn’t fair competition since I still had memories of my past life.

‘But if that’s the person I am, then there’s nothing I can do.’

Unlike others, I have been given the opportunity to straighten out my life in the direction I want. So I just have to do my best not to miss it and give back to others as much as I have been given.

This was also an attitude that came about as a result of a change in mindset.

Of course, I had no intention of saying that just writing a novel would accomplish that, as a basketball player who had an accident said, “I will repay you with basketball.”

I decided to move in a better direction by taking each step to make sure I was doing what I needed to do.

Alexa Flare, University, Novel.

I vowed to myself that I would never miss any calling or opportunity that was given to me.

With that determination, I did my best to take the exam four times, and after a long time, I returned to my alma mater, Central City Value High School.

······But somehow, it seemed like the school atmosphere had changed a lot.

“······?”

On my way to school, I saw students around me whispering something to me. I couldn’t hear the details of their conversation, but I could clearly feel their gazes.

It was definitely not a mistake, because I had already experienced something similar in the past.

‘This feeling······ It was during ‘Princess Quest’.’

The nightmare of when I, the Master, was left behind and my friends were talking to each other came back to me. Suddenly, the trauma switch was pressed.

Ugh, guys. Let me join in the conversation. It reminds me of when I used to hang out with Kate and the broadcasting club kids!

“Is that him?”

“Yeah. Is it like the rumors?”

“Wow, awesome······.”

What could it be?

If I were a pure high school student, I would have been happy just by the fact that I was getting other people’s attention in this situation, but unfortunately, I was a pure old man who was fooled. I just wondered what the heck was going on.

As I walked to the front gate, I saw two familiar people standing there.

It was scalp and eraser.

“You’re back, God.”

“Brother! It’s been a while!”

“How are you? Alexa?”

Unlike before, I started looking for ‘that guy’ who was not in sight.

Then, Jiwoo, who had been looking around, came over and whispered.

“I’ll wait for you at the back of the gym.”

“What’s going on?”

“Hahaha, I think you’ll understand once you go.”

What the heck. What the hell is going on?

“Oh, congratulations! Prom!”

“Congratulations, God. I heard the news, but I just met you now.”

“Oh, thank you.”

It seemed like both of them knew that they were going to prom with Alexa.

After the cheerleader club’s morning practice, I hurried to the back of the gym, thinking about her who would be waiting for me. And then, after two weeks, I finally met Alexa Flair face to face.

“Oh, God. You’re here.”

“Sorry, did you keep me waiting long?”

“No, no. How was the test?”

“Ah~. I feel like I did my best.”

“That’s good. Yeah.”

There was a bit of an awkward air.

The two of us just stood there, looking into each other’s eyes for a moment.

And then I slowly approached him and asked him this.

“······What on earth is going on?”

“That, that. Uh. It seems like the kids were really curious about who my prom partner would be? And you can’t stop rumors, right? When you proposed, there were some kids that were there too. I told them the next day. I told Jiwoo and Doopi the same.”

“so?”

“But from that day on, the school was in chaos because you and I were going to prom together.”

“······Why.”

“I know.”

We both felt equally bewildered.

But the incident had already happened.

***

‘For now, let’s act as normal as possible.’

‘OK.’

After that kind of discussion(?), Alexa and I headed to the classroom together.

As expected, most of the students were looking at us and whispering as we walked down the hall. But whatever. We were confident. I proposed first, and after we dated, Alexa even proposed back to me, and we promised to go to prom together.

But the confidence I had built inside collapsed like a sand castle as soon as I entered the classroom.

It was because of the extremely strong reaction.

“Huh?! It’s God and Alexa!”

Everyone’s attention turned to the shout of Malcolm, the linesman of the American football club who was the first to notice our appearance.

“They’re here! They’re here! The King and Queen of this year!”

“This is crazy!”

“Hey! Our hero has arrived-!”

Even my nerd friends came up to me, all excited.

They came rushing towards me like a horde of zombies from the movie ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and started spewing out all sorts of questions and words that I couldn’t hear, and Alexa hid behind me, her usual image completely shattered by the sight.

“Hey, God! Isn’t that right?! Rumors have already spread all over the school!”

“The combination of the top student in the entire school and the cheerleader queen-! Whoa! This is crazy!”

“Isn’t this a gender-reversed version of About T?!”

······To be exact, that one is a gender-reversed version.

“What happened to you, you punk! How did you steal Alexa’s heart!”

“Everyone, please calm down for a moment······.”

Of course, my words didn’t get through.

“But you know what’s funny?! And yet, there are so many guys proposing to Alexa these days!”

“The cheerleading club girls even came out and started a ‘Stop Prom-pose’ movement!”

It seemed like a lot of scary things had happened while I was away.

As I was laughing awkwardly, Alexa heard what was said from behind and stepped forward as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

And then he let out a little cheer.

“Hey guys?”

She spoke with a bright smile. But everyone froze in front of her for a moment.

“Class will start soon. Should I go back to my seat?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Ah, what was the first class today?”

His face was smiling, but his speech gave off no such vibe.

The students who sensed the cool threat of the Black Mamba returned to their seats without looking at each other. But even in the midst of all this, Malcolm, who had remained behind, approached me, put his arm around my shoulder, and whispered.

“Hey, God. Aren’t you that?”

“What kind?”

“Our quarterback’s kid was also hitting on Alexa. He said, ‘Let’s go with him instead of that Asian guy.’ I really wanted to tell you that Alexa kicked that kid in the balls.”

“Hey! Malcolm!”

“Ouch, oh my. Your Majesty, please excuse me. I’m not even wearing a safety cup.”

Malcolm groans and runs away when Alexa suddenly changes and yells at him for the first time today.

‘What was the safety cup?’

Oh, that’s right. It’s the thing worn under a football uniform to protect the national flag.

As I was thinking about the information I had learned while researching for ‘About T’, Alexa came up to me, grabbed my shirt, and spoke.

“God, don’t ever worry about it.”

“Huh? What kind?”

“······Ma, what Malcolm just said. Got it? You mustn’t pay any attention to it.”

Alexa, who says that, is also concerned about me.

I felt happy and thought I should do as she asked, so I smiled and answered.

“Don’t worry. I don’t care at all. You wouldn’t do that to me.”

Then, Alexa suddenly turns her gaze away.

The students who were watching us from afar, including the scalp, smiled happily, and Malcolm was dizzy next to them.

I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m the main character of a sitcom. Like the future ‘Friends’ or the future ‘Big Bang Theory’. The teenage version of that.

“Yeah, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM-!”

······Malcolm’s son, was he originally like this?

End

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