Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 135



Only Noblemtl

135.

Not long after the serialization of ‘About T: Prom’ began, acceptance letters from four universities arrived at almost the same time.

Stanford, Iowa, Rice, and finally Harvard.

I was accepted to every university I applied to.

The mother was naturally overjoyed. She said that her son had studied hard and written essays to get into such a good university. Then she brought up the story of her late father and she even shed tears.

As a first-generation Korean immigrant, she lost her spouse, who she had relied on the most, after coming to a faraway foreign country. A mother who had no choice but to overcome her grief for the sake of her only remaining son.

For such a mother, her biggest wish was for her son to study hard and go to a good university.

Because for Asian immigrants in the 1980s, a good college was a measure of success.

And in this life, I can give you better results than before.

After we calmed down a bit after talking about our fathers and eating a delicious dinner, my mother contacted people at a nearby Korean church and bragged about me again.

It was a little awkward, but I felt grateful to see my mother so genuinely happy on my behalf.

Because, rather than being happy at that moment, I was ‘worried’ until the very end.

‘Which college should I go to?’

I asked my mother out of curiosity, but she just said that she was still thinking about it.

My mother said she would respect my choice, but she seemed to be secretly hoping that I would go to Harvard. In fact, Harvard was the school with the highest name value among the four schools I applied to.

‘Because it’s an Ivy League school.’

But I didn’t put much value on the name value, because I knew that college is not a place to go to get a name, but a place to gain deeper knowledge and insight.

As a writer, I needed special knowledge to write better in the future, and that was the reason why I decided to go to college after much thought.

‘Information is so limited these days.’

It was difficult to find really valuable information, but it was different from the future where you could get most of the information in the world in an instant just by searching on Google. In order to obtain the knowledge you wanted, going to college and taking classes or using the library to read specialized books was the best option in this era.

After much thought and consideration about what I wanted, I decided to attend Stanford University.

And Alexa’s reaction when she heard that was as follows:

“Stanford University is the best place?!”

She’s walking half-jogging next to me with her face flushed. She’s cute.

“Normally not.”

“Really? Then why did you decide to go to Stanford University?!”

“Hey, Alexa…? Can we talk quietly for a bit?”

“I don’t like it!”

“why?”

“You got into college! I’m so excited!”

“······wow.”

Somehow I felt like I lacked the ability to be happy about things like my mother or Alexa.

‘Is it because it feels new?’

No, that wasn’t the case at all.

No matter how good my grades were and how great my documents were, I still thought that getting into college was something that I had no idea how it would turn out until the very end, and I was definitely a little nervous before getting accepted. It’s probably because I’m not the type to show my emotions out loud, and I’m the complete opposite of Alexa or my mother.

Especially my mother, who seems to have a similar personality to me, is happier than anyone else when her son does well.

In fact, that’s what everyone said.

Before I found Alexa, when I went to my teachers to tell them about my college acceptance and my decision to go to Stanford, Mrs. Benaway and the teachers around me said similar things.

The literature is Iowa, the overall level is Harvard, and the up-and-coming university is Rice, so why the most ambiguous Stanford?

But as I said, the reason I went to college was because of novels. I could never make a decision without that.

As I walked toward the school gate with Alexa, I explained the decision I had reached after careful consideration.

“I chose Stanford because I thought it would be best to stay in California to pursue a career as a novelist.”

Currently, the author ‘SEEN’ is only widely known within the state of California.

There may be people in other regions who know me because I published a setting in the new rulebook of ‘KOG’ called ‘Other worlds’, and although ‘Double spy’ is doing well in the Sun Belt region, it is ultimately just a storm in a teacup for the entire United States.

That’s why, in order for me to continue working under good conditions, I had to work with the publisher here who knew my worth better than anyone else.

“Places like Guns and Sword magazine. There were people there like Julia that I continued to work with.”

“Hmm. Can’t you publish a book somewhere else? There’s something like a fax machine.”

“That’s true. But if I don’t know the reaction in a short period of time after publishing a work, I feel like I’m taking on a risk when doing something.”

Genre literature writers had to be sensitive to trends and reader reactions.

I never intended to deviate from the standards and framework I had set, no matter how much investment capital large capital offered, if the proposal was unreasonable.

But there was one being who could change my mind.

“It’s the reader.”

Those who read and respond to the fictional stories I write, which may seem like nothing more than a fantasy.

“Kids like the ‘About T’ fan club at our school?”

Hehehe, Alexa smiled slightly playfully.

But I nodded seriously.

“Yeah, including them. Anyway, being here allows me to get real-time feedback from my readers.”

From a business perspective, it was more convenient to be in California. If something suddenly came up with a problem related to the work or a face-to-face meeting was needed, I could just fly out to Los Angeles and meet with Julianna Simon.

“In the end, neither side has the heart to give up.”

Alexa was right.

I didn’t want to give up either ‘Shin’ or ‘SEEN’.

I smiled and looked back at Alexa.

While waiting for the bus, I thought it was time to explain the second reason.

“Anyway, that was my reason as the writer ‘SEEN’. There’s also my reason as the student ‘Shin’.”

“Oh, what is it?”

Alexa is smiling brightly without knowing anything.

I took his hand secretly.

“Because I don’t want to be far away from you.”

“······yes?”

“Alexa, I’m talking about when you’re still in Los Angeles.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“why?”

“Because I like it.”

“Me? Why?”

“······no.”

Wasn’t it already half-verified at one point when you proposed?

But even so, she was cute. Her eyes were spinning around, unable to find her way home, and her body started to tremble. She squeezed my hand just as hard as I did, then released it repeatedly before finally opening her mouth.

“You’re not going to another university because of me, are you?!”

“Is that somewhat true?”

“You, you don’t have to do that······!”

“I do that because I want to.”

Of course, Doopi, Jiwoo, and Mother are still here, so I can continue to interact with them as well.

But their presence alone did not have a significant impact on this choice. Nor did business partners.

There was only Alexa.

Leaving everything aside, one person who could be mentioned as one of the reasons why I want to continue to stay here is.

“How about it, Alexa? Are you thinking of staying in Los Angeles?”

“······Yeah, for now. And me too. I’ll think about it seriously.”

“what?”

“About the future. I’m not just staying in Los Angeles because I want to be with you. I want to find something I want to do like you, and I want to continue to be by your side with that. Because, uh… I like you.”

She came closer, grabbing my collar stealthily, but couldn’t bring herself to meet my gaze.

The moment when you realize that you feel the same way as the person you love is so special.

The two of us continued to stand in front of the bus stop with our mouths shut as several buses passed by.

Just when I was thinking that I, being the adult that I am, should be the first to say something, Alexa shouted.

“Then, me! There’s a place I want to go with you, like ‘About T’!”

“Anywhere is fine.”

“Do you want to go watch baseball together?”

“Wow. This will be so much fun.”

“············.”

“Just kidding. Just kidding.”

I answered with a snicker.

Rather, I thought that there would be many things I could learn from working with Alexa, who is completely different from me.

Right here in Los Angeles, California. Just her and me, no one else.

***

LBS was a broadcasting station that was highly regarded among industry insiders.

A large number of filmmakers and related professionals within the United States flocked to Hollywood, and many of them who failed to achieve the results they wanted settled in the area and flowed into LBS.

Of course, there were big differences between producing TV shows and producing movies, but the end result was similar.

Even though they were new employees, those who joined LBS quickly adapted to the TV production environment, and as a result, they produced many programs with good visuals and good planning.

Jeremy Thompson, a drama producer who worked at LBS for 15 years, got married here, and even had a child, followed that exact route.

He came to California with all his money, dreaming of making movies, but was frustrated by the gap between reality and his ideals. He met a woman at the time and got married, which led to where he is now. After working hard at California Pictures, he quickly rose to the position of drama PD.

As a drama producer, he has mainly pursued dramas that ‘anyone can watch easily and comfortably.’

Even if it doesn’t hit the ratings record high, it’s a work that always has a steady audience.

The company also highly evaluated his performance and entrusted him with the production of this work.

The working title of the project is ‘About T: TV series’.

As was typical for American television networks, a pilot episode would be produced between winter and spring, screened internally to gauge reactions, and then full-scale series production would begin.

A while ago, he met with the new writer and Los Angeles Times reporter Julia Chandler in person to finalize the contract, and Jeremy was reading ‘About T: Prom’, which had started serialization again, and was forming an image in his mind.

The contract took a little longer than originally expected, which made things tighter, but it was okay.

‘There’s no particular problem with this kind of writing.’

Because it had solid characters and themes, and it was a good story.

Combined with the fact that it didn’t require much effort on location, it seemed like the production would be easy overall.

‘The filming plan is also being organized step by step.’

One of the most important parts of drama production is transferring the world the writer wrote using the tool of ‘writing’ into ‘video’.

And Jeremy, who had been reading the ‘About T’ series many times, had already finalized the plan in his mind and was discussing it with the staff every day to refine the idea.

And reading the ongoing serial ‘About T: Prom’ was a pretty good way to reconfirm the image within myself. The novel itself was also very interesting.

The story, which portrays the growth and harmony of a boy and a girl, seemed to pose a question to some era. The quarterback and the nerd girl did not fully understand each other, but that was not the important issue. The two simply ‘accepted’ each other. That alone made the story somewhat touching.

Is it just Tony and Alice?

The characters of May and Hannah were also definitely attractive.

And the part where they each receive the ‘recognition’ they so desperately wanted from each other warmed the hearts of the readers.

『“Alice······!”

While organizing her books, Alice’s shoulders flinched when she heard someone calling her name.

When she turned around, May was standing there. May Jo, a Korean-American. She had been visiting the library occasionally lately and telling Alice to go home together. She didn’t mind it, but Alice hesitated for a moment because she was aware of the people around her, and then smiled awkwardly and spoke.

“Joe, can you wait a moment? I’m not finished organizing the books yet.”

“Yeah. Should I sit down?”

“Whatever you want, read a book.”

“Is there a book about rock?”

“Hmm, this?”

The title was ‘The History of Stones’.

“Phuha······!”

“Mei, mei!”

“Oh, I told you to be quiet in the library. Sorry.”

May Jo, who always showed an attitude that directly went against the standards set by the world by talking about ‘rock spirit’. However, even she respected the opinions of Alice, whom she ‘acknowledged’.

Alice quickly finished organizing her books and picked up her bag, glancing at May sitting there looking bored.

“let’s go.”

“Oh, okay.”

May smiles slyly.

The two people who came out like that walked through the hallway where there were hardly any people. What did you do today? What kind of music is amazing? May was the one who talked the most, and Alice just nodded her head repeatedly while listening to her stories.

Then the two of them soon ran into Hannah at the end of the hallway.

“Hannah Anderson!”

“······What? May Jo.”

“You haven’t gone home yet?”

“Yeah, I’m busy preparing for the prom.”

“Oh my, now that I think about it, prom is coming up soon.”

“Are you going to school? Aren’t there a lot of kids proposing these days?”

“That has nothing to do with the rock spirit. What kind of prom is this? You should play the guitar one more time during that time.”

“You’re not very good, but I agree with that. What kind of prom is this… Alice, what about you?”

“Me, me? Well.”

“Doesn’t Alice have a partner?”

“······.”

“Ah~. That guy.”

Hannah’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Alice felt the cold sweat running down her back and made an excuse.

“That, that can’t be true! Why would he do something like me!”

“I never said who it was.”

“ah.”

“Just kidding. Just kidding. We both, no, all three of us have a rough idea who it is.”

Hannah smiled faintly and looked at Alice, making a mischievous joke.

“If you don’t hurry, I’ll take that guy? That guy.”

“Oh my.”

Jeremy smiled after reading the last scene of the novel that was serialized today.

Come to this point, it’s a ‘love triangle’.

End

(135)