Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 134



Only Noblemtl

134.

I recalled a part of the traditional fairy tale ‘Cinderella’.

Cinderella attended the royal ball as she had longed for.

The feeling she had as she entered the castle at that time could be compared to the feeling Alexa and I had when we attended the prom.

‘Because we too were enchanted like Cinderella.’

In fact, ‘we’ had no choice but to be clumsy.

The party venue, which was remodeled from a school gymnasium, was made by a few students and teachers, so it was shabby. The lighting equipment was old and not very good, as it was used for regular school events. The party food was also not very good compared to first-class restaurants. And the students who attended were also immature. Even though they wore nice dresses and tuxedos, they were still ‘children’.

But that made it even more meaningful.

The awkwardness was replaced by excitement, and this special first experience was engraved at the very bottom of my emotions.

My first experience ever.

That was the beauty of Fromm.

It was a really great party.

More than any party I’ve ever been to in my past life.

‘I even went out with my friends and ate ice cream at the end.’

I held the fountain pen in my hand with a happy smile on my face.

Dark night, inside my room.

The best moment to write a novel.

I sat down and threw myself into a sea of ​​thoughts.

First of all, I added a filter called ‘About T’ to the emotions I felt while attending an event called ‘Prom Party’.

How will Tony and Alice, Hannah and May, the existing characters, move?

What kind of new characters would be suitable for this story that I want to tell?

‘First of all, the ending should be that Tony and Alice become a couple and attend prom.’

And in the process, we planned to confirm each other’s feelings and start dating officially.

After all, the readers are desperately hoping that the two of them will date. If we drag it out here too much, the readers won’t be able to focus on the other stories that will come up later. Also, showing the two of them being clumsy during the process of dating will be a selling point(?) of its own.

In other words, the novel was planned to follow two major trends.

The epic flow of going to prom together.

The emotional flow until the moment when one confirms their feelings for each other and begins a relationship.

‘I guess I have to show both the proposal and the confession differently.’

The reason such a clear expression of feelings was necessary was because the two were teenagers.

As adults, we live our lives and are worn down, so we come to know each other to some extent. However, teenagers are anxious creatures, and so they want to establish relationships in some way.

And given Alice’s personality, no matter how many times they date and how much Tony expresses his feelings, the chances of him understanding her are close to zero, so it would be better to confess directly.

‘I like you, is that okay?’

Next, I thought of stories that might come up during the process.

‘There could be some family drama. There could also be incidents between friends.’

Overall, it’s not too heavy, like the tone this piece has been creating.

But since it is a story about two people confirming their feelings for each other, the hardship is not too light.

As I gradually pieced together the stories that came to mind, I came to the conclusion that it would be better to make Tony the main narrator of the piece again.

And as I summarized the content of episode 1 to fit that, I found myself smiling bitterly.

‘Wow, he really is a kid.’

I saw a glimpse of myself from my past life in Tony.

‘Not when I was in high school······ It was like this around college.’

At that time, I was very naive and didn’t know anything about women.

I was terrified when women even breathed near me, and their behavior was completely incomprehensible.

Then, when I got my first girlfriend, I wondered what the hell I was doing. Until recently, we had been smiling and getting along comfortably, but when the change in our relationship occurred, even greeting each other became awkward.

‘I was vaguely afraid.’

That’s how our relationship has changed and moved forward.

But I took courage. Because I liked him. Because I wanted to continue to be with him and move forward in a special relationship that was different from others.

I mustered up my courage to hold her hand and we laughed together while dating. Then, like many couples, the end came.

At that time, I was so sad that I thought I would die, but now it has become a good memory that I can think about with a smile.

I thought of Tony as a boy who was going through the same process as me in the past.

But the one writing this Tony now was the current me.

I thoroughly analyzed the emotions I had felt and the situations I had experienced in the past.

The fountain pen traced ink-colored thread across the paper. The combination of lines became letters, and the letters gathered together became a series of thoughts.

I completed the planning for episode 15 without much difficulty, and upon checking it one last time, I came to this conclusion.

‘Are you okay?’

‘About T: Prom’.

This is the third work, and I think it is a story that will serve as a stepping stone for the next series to come out.

As I was looking at the outline of this work, someone suddenly came to mind.

‘Alexa.’

She and I have been going to school together since Prom and we are getting along just like before.

I wonder if they’re waiting for me to be a little more proactive in asking her out and expressing my interest…

***

The serialization of ‘About T: Prom’ has begun.

It was a bit earlier than expected, but it was the result of the writer’s own wishes and the Los Angeles Times’ requests fitting together well.

Shin hoped that the series would be finished by the end of July at the latest. That was because by then, there would be a high school graduation ceremony, and after that, there would be a lot of busy times related to going to college. Things like contracts for a studio or dormitory, and processing various documents.

From the Los Angeles Times’ perspective, in order for the talks regarding the dramatization contract for ‘About T’ to proceed amicably, it was decided that it would be better for the series to continue.

And most importantly, a key factor in reaching this conclusion was that both sides agreed that this was a good time to read it.

Thus, on June 15, 1984, the serialization notice for ‘About T: Prom’ was made.

Two days later, the series began.

Many Californians spread out their newspapers.

As soon as they saw the subtitle ‘Prom’, a smile appeared on their lips and they began to read the first episode slowly with anticipation.

But not everyone was like that.

Edward McMillan, a full professor at Stanford University, was just such a case.

He enjoyed reading the Los Angeles Times and was flipping through the pages without much thought when he came across the serial ‘About T: Prom’ in the culture section.

And after reading that title, I paused for a moment, lost in thought.

‘It looks like they’ve started serializing it again.’

He knew who the author of this currently popular work was.

I applied to Stanford University’s Department of Literature, and since I was perfect in every way, I was guaranteed top honors and a full scholarship.

Now that you’ve lined up the universities you’ve been accepted to, and you’ve weighed the various conditions and chosen the one you like the most, you’ll decide whether or not you want to come here.

But apart from such a perfectly reasonable conclusion, Edward MacMillan himself had complicated feelings about this boy called ‘Shin’.

It was because of the conversation I had with him during the interview.

The boundary between genre literature and pure literature is ultimately nothing.

It’s just a difference in what you’re aiming for. That’s why a novel is just a novel.

I knew it well in my head.

But when I read a novel that features sexually exaggerated men and women who are a kind of pornography and break people’s skulls, my mind suddenly becomes dizzy and I want to shout, “You genre literature bastard! This is a duel!”

However, I do not want to completely deny the value that only such novels have.

‘It’s a bit difficult, you know.’

And this ‘About T: Prom’ that was placed before our eyes was the public’s pick.

In other words, from a commercial standpoint, it is a very good novel.

As I started reading with that in mind, Edward MacMillan naturally had no choice but to analyze why people were so enthusiastic about this novel from an expert’s perspective rather than enjoying the work itself.

『About T: Prom Episode 1.

After the game, there was a lot of talk in the football club’s locker room.

The topics of conversation were varied. Who did well today? What happened at school? Then I went to the movie theater and the girl selling the tickets was so pretty that my heart stopped. Most of the topics were light, like popcorn, and not very nutritious.

But not today.

The process by which the conversation began was also different.

“Hey you guys!”

The team’s offensive lineman, Karl Payton, stepped onto the bench in front of the locker and climbed up.

And when he came out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around his waist, his teammates booed.

[Boooooo-!!]

“Come down now!!”

“Where did you bring that ugly thing?!”

Tony, who was watching the scene, snickered and took off his inner shirt.

Broad shoulders, muscles that are well-defined here and there. Team quarterback Anthony Miles is more of a listener than a mood-maker after the game. This tendency became stronger after he met a girl and became close to her, and many people around him said that he became calmer.

So I tried to ignore the commotion and go to the shower, but my body stopped when I heard Carl’s words.

“I’m going to propose to Trinity! And I’m going to kill anyone who touches me!!”

The football club members inside the locker room looked around in surprise.

Now that I think about it, it was almost time for prom.』

‘Interesting.’

Edward Macmillan’s assessment after reading it was as follows:

Teenage romance. It was a very popular genre in the United States.

But perhaps because the writer is a current high school student, the psychological portrayal of this character named ‘Tony’ was very refreshing.

‘It seems to have a somewhat delicate and somewhat gloomy side.’

He wasn’t the typical protagonist you see in typical teenage romances, but that made him feel even more alive. But that doesn’t mean he was portrayed in a heavy manner in his dialogue or sentences.

Not only was the main character interesting, but the portrayal of the various supporting characters also felt realistic.

‘Is this a work that tends to be consumed as a character piece?’

Overall, episode 1 served as a kind of prologue.

It shows the anticipation for an event called prom from the perspective of teenagers, and naturally captures the interest of readers by lightly mentioning the circumstances of various characters, including the main character, in the process.

After thinking that he would have to watch it till the end, Edward ended up laughing awkwardly.

‘Should this also be considered an occupational disease?’

But it couldn’t be helped.

As someone who has been immersed in the vast world of literature, I have also turned my attention to the field of ‘genre novels’ that many people are currently enthusiastic about, through the boy named ‘Shin Han’.

So one day passed and the next day came.

‘uh?’

Edward tilted his head and opened his mouth as he was flipping through the Los Angeles Times that his graduate student had delivered that morning.

“Hey, hey buddy.”

“Oh, yes, professor.”

“Does the original genre novel end in one episode?”

“······?”

The gazes of the professor, who had not noticed that the novel was serialized every two days, and the graduate student who had stayed up the night before crossed in the professor’s office.

***

After Prom, Alexa Flair became something that could be defined in one word.

It was ‘Huh?’

An exclamation used when dozens of emotions, including absurdity, mysteriously mix together and unexpectedly come rushing in.

What this means is that Alexa was in a ‘what the heck?’ state the whole time after prom.

Except for her, everything seemed to have returned to normal.

The final days of high school life.

As if students who had been accepted to college sometimes came out and held a ceremony, things that were considered ‘final’ began to happen amidst the repetition of the same scenery as usual.

Alexa graduated from the Black Unicorns after three years as a cheerleader, and received many congratulations along the way.

The next captain’s speech at the final congratulatory address, in which he pledged to carry on the spirit of his predecessors, was very impressive. He also declared that he would never lose to the girls’ school team from the rich neighborhood that Mrs. Harvey coached, even though they had come up from the bottom.

“Umm······.”

It felt like everything was slowly fading away, like the setting sun.

The night that comes after that is, what should I say?

‘I don’t know.’

After school, Alexa was left alone in the classroom, staring out the window, feeling vague emotions she couldn’t explain.

Could it be because I haven’t decided on my future path after graduating from high school?

I was at a loss as to what to do in front of the dying embers, but I tried to spend my days as usual as possible. I graduated from Black Unicorns and no longer had to come out so early in the morning, but I still came out a little early.

While I was walking around the school and having fun discovering places I hadn’t noticed in three years, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of anxiety that still lingered in a corner of my heart.

‘What should I do?’

Unlike Shin and Dopi, he didn’t really have anything he wanted to do after graduation.

I had been contacted by a few cheerleading teams the other day and asked if I wanted to audition, but no matter how much I thought about it, I wasn’t a cheerleader. The process of dancing and doing all kinds of difficult moves with my teammates was really fun, but that was it.

‘Should I try working as a waitress for now?’

A leisurely restaurant or something along the highway.

I wanted to meet and talk to people from outside of California.

‘Oh, maybe it’ll be okay?’

Alexa’s mouth, which had been thinking like that, soon closed.

‘Outside’ California.

A place I haven’t been to yet.

And perhaps, the place where God will go.

“······.”

Alexa tries to ignore the sudden pounding in her chest.

Even though I won the national competition, and no matter how well I did in this small school and had many friends, I still felt like a child compared to God.

He was already an adult. And just thinking about that fact made Alexa feel uneasy.

Because I was worried that he might go somewhere far away.

‘······Are you going?’

It was definitely something to celebrate, but something felt disappointing.

‘Let’s keep in touch. Let’s meet often.’ We did say things like that, but I know.

‘I can never come back this time, right?’

As I was thinking that and smiling bitterly, the door suddenly opened.

When Alexa turned around, she found God standing there, panting.

“Poem, God?”

“Ah······ You really kept looking for me.”

“Me? Why?”

“I have something to say. Is now a good time?”

“Yes, it is possible.”

“Let’s go eat something delicious.”

Alexa slowly stood up from her seat as she watched the god making a powerful(?) recommendation.

Then, the god approached me with a big smile on his face, grabbed my hand as if nothing was wrong, and said.

“First of all, I’m going to Stanford.”

“······.”

A single word that makes the anxiety that had been building in my chest disappear for a moment.

Alexa felt tears welling up in her eyes for some reason.

End

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