Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 167



Only Noblemtl

167.

“······God, Han?”

The moment their eyes met, Kate tilted her head.

I felt an awkward moment and laughed.

“Oh, hello?”

“Why are you here?”

“Why are you here? Of course I came to buy cosmetics.”

“Cosmetics? Even though you’re a man?”

Wow, that’s a really bad word.

Men can also apply some basic cosmetics.

I understand. It wasn’t exactly illegal for a man to enter a cosmetics store, but it was hardly socially acceptable in this day and age.

Nana John Smith came into the cosmetics store and it was strange.

‘Even if I were to say so.’

How awake was John Smith that he came in with me so nonchalantly?

As I thought about that, the guy who came up to me with sparkling eyes smiled brightly and held out his hand.

“Hello~! Stanford?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. You seem to know me? I’m John Smith, a freshman in the Creative Writing Department, just like you.”

Suddenly, a conversation began.

John Smith, who has a personality that seems to be split in half by adding Alexa and Doofy. He has great sociability.

I watched curiously to see what Kate’s reaction would be, and it was exactly as I expected.

“······I’m Kate Moore, a first-year sociology student. Nice to meet you, John.”

Kate shakes hands with John in a neat and socially acceptable manner.

Then, the conversation naturally turned to questions.

“What brings you here?”

“Oh, I came out for a bit to buy some necessities, but God told me to come.”

“I see. What are you going to buy?”

“······.”

Kate pretends not to notice as I squint my eyes and look at her.

I wondered if it was the same guy who had just been surprised and said, “What kind of cosmetics does a man have?” in front of me while John couldn’t hear me.

But since I was used to such a two-faced guy, I adjusted to it.

“Lotion. You?”

“Oh, I was just watching.”

Kate puts down the colored cosmetics she was holding in her hand.

Then he narrowed his eyes and looked at me as if he was dissatisfied with something.

“Whose novel said this?”

“······?”

“I’m talking about ‘About T’.”

What the heck, kid.

Why is it ticking even though John Smith is right next to me? Is it a configuration error?

“Oh, Kate, are you a fan of ‘About T’ too?”

“It’s my life’s novel. You too, John?”

“I am······.”

“Don’t worry about what others think.”

John laughed awkwardly as I gently pushed his back.

“Not to that extent, but yeah! I’m a fan!”

Why did the topic of ‘About T’ suddenly catch fire in a cosmetics store?

Anyway, John continued talking with a twinkle in his eye.

“Isn’t this story really good? Alice meets a lot of people outside of school, sees all kinds of interesting things, and then comes back and makes a clear conclusion about what she wants to do now.”

“That’s right. I wanted to experience that same refreshing process.”

“Oh, I did that too! After reading ‘About T: College’, I realized that I’m not really studying hard anymore, but rather just doing it out of habit and being chased by time!”

“That’s right. It’s a really great novel. ······Huh?”

“God, why are you hiding in the corner?”

“Oh, no.”

I was embarrassed to hear the two people talking about my novel, so I hid behind a pillar and barely managed to come out again.

During the autograph session, I was okay because it was work, but in a situation like this where there were no safety measures at all, I still ended up getting red in the face.

Anyway, I stood in front of the two people again and sorted out the situation.

“Well, if both of you were inspired by ‘About T’, then that’s good.”

“It’s all thanks to our writer.”

“I want to thank you, God. If something as fun as Alice’s happened to me today, I’ll tell you when we meet again.”

“Oh, thank you.”

After wrapping up the conversation like that, I bought some lotion and went out with John.

At first I was a little taken aback, but soon a smile appeared on my face.

‘It seems like you have your own way of recognizing the problem and wanting to solve it.’

It seems that the experience at the autograph session and the message of ‘About T: College’ had a strong impact.

In many ways, it felt like Kate Moore was finally getting back on track, but I thought things would be okay now.

***

Deep night.

“Phew.”

Kate Moore entered the room with tired steps from a day’s walk.

His hands were full of the spoils of his day out.

Usually, she would think of the homework she had to do that day first when she came back to her room, but today she was extremely tired. After saying goodbye to her roommate who was doing her homework in the room, she changed into her pajamas, barely finished washing her face, and then fell onto the bed.

“Phew.”

Another sigh follows.

Uh, what should I say?

‘I didn’t expect that at all.’

I felt a great sense of satisfaction.

She kept thinking about the wonderful things that had happened that day until just before falling asleep.

It was very full.

The ‘perfect person’ that I had been pursuing in my head for so long was briefly erased today.

Stanford University, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, has had a great influence on the surrounding cities as well as its status.

A representative example is Palo Alto, located right in front of Stanford. This city, which includes Stanford, and other nearby cities were the cradle of cutting-edge American companies and research institutes. The so-called Silicon Valley was located here, and the enthusiasm for education was fierce and housing prices were extremely high.

The complex cultural complex and park were well-organized, so even if a woman walked around alone, she wouldn’t be bored.

I left the dorm early in the morning and planned out my trip to the just-opened bookstore to buy a guidebook.

And while drinking my morning coffee at a cafe, I circled the places I wanted to go.

I really wasn’t going to think about anything today.

She wanted to do the work of completely emptying herself like Alice did and building a new self inside of her. After finishing that resolution, she finished her coffee and started walking around Palo Alto, relying on her sturdiest sneakers.

It was a little awkward at first.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve rarely had a day where I could spend time alone and at ease.

Even though I had decided to watch the movie alone, I hesitated until I was about to buy the ticket. The movie itself was a romance genre that she liked, so it was easy to get into. That made it even more enjoyable.

From then on, Kate’s mind was at ease and she enjoyed sweet desserts alone, and while walking in the park, she bought pigeon feed and played with it by scattering it on the ground.

And then, a kind-looking old lady who approached me left a strong impression on me.

[Oh my, I’ve been robbed of my work today.]

After retirement, the grandmother spends her days gathering pigeons for fun.

At first, Kate was not sure how to respond, but she thought of Alice in her mind. Alice, like herself, had difficulty talking to complete strangers, but after plucking up her courage, she ended up having wonderful experiences.

Kate was the same.

My grandmother, who was impressed by the story of her attending Stanford, told me a small epiphany from her long life. She had been a teacher since a young age, but in fact, she wanted to study more. It is a hundred times better to regret it than not to do it.

Kate felt those words sink deep into her heart for some reason.

‘Yeah. That was a relief.’

And then I met God at the cosmetics store.

The author of the novel that had such a great influence on me.

By then, Kate had already relaxed a great deal, so she thought she could treat him with an attitude that was neither her social self nor her always-ticking self.

‘If I think about it, he really is a great friend.’

And now, sometimes when I don’t see his face, I wonder what’s going on.

From now on, I wanted to be a little more friendly when we met.

Like the conversation I had with the store employee at the dinner table afterward, or the conversation I had with the young man who worked at the factory on the way back to the dormitory, when I had to muster up the last bit of courage to talk to him.

Each and every one of them, it felt like they had given me a new world.

Kate scanned the memories in her head one by one with blurry eyes, and then fell into a deep sleep for the first time in a long while without thinking about anything.

***

A few days after John and I went downtown.

It was the time when the first year final exams were approaching.

I completed the manuscript of ‘About T: College’, which was planned to be 25 episodes long, and sent it to the Los Angeles Times, and decided to focus on my studies for a while.

The novel, which has been serialized up to the current 8th episode, was planned to develop in a ‘About T’-like manner with more proper events occurring thereafter.

What kind of novel was ‘About T’ in the first place?

It was a story about ‘T’.

And in this series, for Tony it was ‘Training’, and for Alice it could be replaced with the word ‘Trouble’.

Originally, this novel had the characteristics of a mystery novel with a teenage romance. I gradually used those elements again, and built up the story in which Alice naturally becomes friendly with people at school as certain events unfold.

Of course not, indiscriminate serial murders taking place at school under the cover of darkness.

The milk theft case.

In the process of deducing who the culprit is, Alice makes new friends.

The series was, of course, well-received.

This fact can be seen just by looking at Kate Moore, who is currently the biggest fan of ‘About T’.

“God, let me ask you one thing.”

“······What is it?”

“Who is the culprit? Please tell me.”

Ah. I’ll just let you live like you always did, hiding your true feelings.

Did I meddle in this for nothing?

The ticking attitude was still the same, but there was a strangely lively feeling mixed in, so I felt uncomfortable because of the sense of alienation that only I felt.

Still, I thought it was fortunate that she had enjoyed reading my novel. In her existing network of relationships, she was still ‘that Kate Moore’, but when I just looked at her face, I felt that the emptiness that had previously existed had been greatly reduced.

Like Alice in ‘About T: College’, I was able to prepare for my final exams with a bit more ease, as if I had solved a real-life case.

The tone was similar to that of the fall semester.

Although I did my best to prepare, I had no intention of breaking my established routine. I dated Alexa, wrote a novel, and drove around when I was bored. While I was preparing without overdoing it, I discovered a problem with this approach.

That was the fact that someone other than me could interrupt this routine.

‘Novel Criticism Theory II’ is an extension of ‘Novel Criticism Theory I’, which I took in the fall semester.

As the name suggests, it was a lecture with a curriculum that selected one work, criticized it from various angles, and listened to an explanation of its theory.

But as final exams approached, the class took an unexpected turn.

“Uh······ So······.”

The professor in charge of that class was an attractive white man with gray hair, Rene McCoy.

Because his voice was so quiet, we always had to strain our ears in that class, and because he spoke so slowly, everyone became incredibly nervous when it came time to present their assignments.

“This time, the final is······assignment······.”

I know. I know.

Damn, why do universities always have professors like this?

“I will replace it······. But now, here······, let’s form a team······.”

I’m out of breath!

“Then······I will announce it.”

The professor turned around, shivering like a poodle with all its fur shaved except its head, and began writing on the blackboard with chalk. His handwriting was old-fashioned and elegant, as if it were a reflection of his personality.

And as I watched the sentence slowly being completed, my eyes widened.

《Final Assignment: Presentation of analysis and critique of a work that reinterprets the ‘heroic tale’ in a modern way.》

“······huh?”

I had no choice but to rest my chin on my hand and cry out loud.

A hero’s tale.

‘This is totally my area of ​​expertise.’

There were dozens of works that immediately came to mind.

And then Professor Dupree looked back again after what felt like an eternity and spoke.

“The team consists of three people······.”

Then, for some reason, I felt like there were a lot of eyes on me.

That’s exactly what happened. All twenty of these first-year Stanford creative writing students turned to me for a split second.

The class was still slowly declared over, and the students flinched as if they were about to rise from their seats at any moment as Professor Rene Dupree slowly walked out.

As soon as that slow, sloth-like movement left the classroom, a crowd of students stood up from their seats and turned to look at me.

“god!”

“God, come with me!”

“Come to our team!!”

“······.”

I kind of expected this to happen.

I was already the type of person who was preferred in team projects, but this reaction was very different. Everyone got up from their seats and came to me, and I was stuck in a circle, so I was at a loss for words.

‘No, it’s really my specialty.’

To begin with, genre novels were mostly stories about heroes.

Hero. One who accomplishes great things.

Genre novels with a clear protagonist at the center of the story inevitably tend to have similar tendencies to heroic tales. That is why genre novels, especially works of the sword and sorcery genre, often draw their foundations from chivalric literature or classical tales.

Above all, genre novels are meant to be read to kill time, but what fun is there in reading them if the main characters only seem to be insignificant?

And anyway, I was working as a genre fiction writer.

What I meant was, I’m pretty knowledgeable about it.

‘It’s amazing how these guys were able to capture it in an instant and move it.’

As I was standing there with no reaction, someone reached out and reached out to the students.

“Shall we do it together? Brother?”

“······Who is your brother?”

I thought it was too early to give an answer to this question, so I waved John Smith’s hand away.

‘I need to think about who to do it with.’

Anyway, these are faces I’ll see all the time, and from my perspective, the scope is so broad that I need time to organize my thoughts on the topic. And even if people who get along well form a team first, it doesn’t really matter.

The moment I reached that conclusion, someone spoke to me more directly.

“God, let’s do it together.”

Rebecca Wong, one of only two Asians in our department.

End

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