Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 178



Only Noblemtl

178.

Why am I here?

When I first got the call, I readily agreed, and when I told the other guys around me about it, they were all over the place with joy.

But the moment they arrived at the promised place at the promised time, Bill began to think that he might have made the wrong choice.

“Hello! You······.”

“Rain, Bill.”

“Oh, Tim Keaton’s Comic Book Store? Nice to meet you. I’m Chelsea Peterson, author of ‘California Nights.’ Your name is… Bill Evans, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Do you play the piano?”

“Oh, no.”

“Haha, you hear that a lot, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Bill nodded absentmindedly.

Bill Evans.

That was the full name of Bill, the ‘Master’ of Kitten’s Comic Book Store and ‘The Seven’ of Burger Shop.

Named after legendary jazz pianist and musician Bill Evans.

Bill’s first social experience was always having that fact pointed out in front of people he met for the first time, but unfortunately, he never once responded to the joke properly and created a pleasant atmosphere.

He was the ‘Comic Book Master’.

That is to say, once you move away from the topic of comic books, it becomes infinitely smaller.

‘Shit.’

Cold sweat poured down my thick back, soaking my underwear. It felt like a faucet was running on my temples too.

He pretended to be Darth Vader and promised to do well in front of his friends like Fred and Nick, but when he got to the real world, he ended up like this.

But it wasn’t easy for him, who was living in a fantasy world.

“Then sit comfortably.”

The radio control room looked like the inside of a spaceship.

Amidst the sound control devices, headphones hanging everywhere, and machines for broadcasting, Bill sat in a corner like an ostrich trying to escape reality. And as he watched the people moving around preparing for the broadcast, he was overcome by a new sense of insignificance and wretchedness.

Actually, I felt that way even more when I met the editor-in-chief of Guns and Sword magazine later.

Because I was intimidated by the professional vibe that came naturally from him.

“Hello, this is Arthur Reynolds from Guns and Sword Magazine.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Chelsea Peterson. I really enjoy reading your magazine.”

Chelsea greeted Arthur and Bill with a bright smile and introduced them to each other.

“This is Bill Evans, who will be joining us on the broadcast today.”

“This is Arthur Reynolds. I received your writing in advance and enjoyed it very much.”

“Ah, thank you. This is Bill Evans.”

“Oh, you have talents beyond jazz.”

Arthur is also whining.

Bill sat back down in the corner, smiling awkwardly.

The broadcast starts at 8pm.

Arthur, who sat next to him, occasionally spoke to him, but Bill could not answer confidently like he did in the comic book store. His whole body was covered in cold sweat, and as the time approached, his body trembled like someone waiting to be executed.

It was not something I could do in my right mind, to be on a broadcast that went all over California.

I thought, ‘Is this what it feels like to drink alcohol?’ but I had never actually tried drinking alcohol before. Furthermore, if I got too drunk, I would end up causing trouble.

“Okay.”

Bill, groaning and unable to do anything.

It was just then.

“Bill?”

“Oh, yes!”

“I got a call from someone looking for Bill.”

The eyes of the employee who approached me were wide open.

‘Who, who is it?’

Bill tilted his head, unable to think of anywhere he would get a phone call from, and followed the employee outside.

And the employee who took him to the office next to the broadcast control room handed him the receiver that was on the desk without any explanation, as requested, ‘Please do not reveal your identity.’

“Here it is.”

“Oh, yes. ······Hello?”

[Bill? It’s me. God.]

“Poem, God?!”

[I heard the story roughly through the editor, and I thought you might be there by now. I called because I had something to tell you.]

“What, what is it?”

[I read the joint review collection and it was fun.]

“······Uh, and?”

[That’s all.]

“entire?”

[Yes. It was fun to create a joint collection of comments made by you and your ‘colleagues’ who believe in you.]

Those words strangely resonated with Bill.

‘colleague.’

Yeah, I forgot.

You are not alone here now.

The hearts of the colleagues who created the joint project by trusting and relying on each other are together.

“Yeah······. Fred said, ‘Leave this to me and go!’”

[······Oh, it looks like some dangerous switch has been pressed.]

“It’s okay, God. It’s okay.”

Bill tapped the tip of his glasses, which had been sticking out from behind his ear on the other side of the receiver, and the glasses, which had been hanging limply just a moment ago, snapped back into place.

“Let’s try to believe in the ‘we’ that believes in me.”

[Hey, you might regret this later when you come to your senses?]

God’s advice was no longer heeded by him.

Now that I was back to my original self, I didn’t need to listen to it anymore.

Bill, who had become ‘The Comic Book Master’ for the first time outside of a comic book store, hung up the phone and walked out with a proud face.

***

Chelsea Peterson was a young broadcast writer who was building her career in the industry.

Within the broadcasting station, she was mostly evaluated as ‘acting well for a woman’, but she didn’t really pay much attention to such nonsense. She was busy with the broadcast schedule that was piling up every day, and she didn’t have time to open her eyes.

‘California Nights’, an FM radio station broadcast throughout California.

It was a popular program that aired five times a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, during prime time, and consisted mainly of gossip, music, stories, and viewer participation segments from that day.

And it was also the program that Chelsea was currently working on as a broadcast writer.

Of course, Chelsea wasn’t the only writer for this program, and other writers were also involved.

However, due to the nature of the radio broadcast starting late in the evening, work continued until the night, and she worked harder than anyone else in the role given to her, with a passion for her work and a desire to support and send her only younger sibling to college.

Not only that, he also had an excellent ability to catch trends, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a top contributor to coming up with many good ideas at a young age, and receiving postcards with mixed reviews.

As a result, Chelsea Peterson has become one of the show’s indispensable central figures.

And recently, she was contemplating about ‘Country of Losers’ while listening to the talk of the twin comedians ‘Ross Brothers’ who are hosting the show.

There was a barrier to entry to this novel.

The volume and sentences are incredibly dense.

Shin, a popular genre novelist, wrote novels that were different from those he had previously written.

When the water is deep, only a diver with the ability to swim and dive in it can jump into it without hesitation.

And ‘Country of Losers’ was a novel of such depth that it could be compared to a trench.

Even if you are captivated by the beautiful, luxurious hardcover design and the drama surrounding it, you will find yourself putting off reading the book as you are struck by the depth of the content and the pressure of the type that comes with it from the moment you open the page.

People who live busy lives, caught up in reality, and read novels to clear their heads and rest.

From their perspective, when they come across a novel that is difficult to read and requires deep thought, they have no choice but to pass it over, saying, “I’ll read it when I have time.”

Anyway, ‘Country of Losers’ was bought by many people, and it was clear that even those who didn’t buy it were interested in the recent commotion.

So, if we take advantage of this trend and organize a special corner, we can get a considerable response.

Chelsea came home from work late as usual, thinking about it, and found that her younger brother Max, who usually reads genre fiction, had read ‘Country of Losers’ with the help of a self-published magazine.

Inspired by that, she took up recruiting with her signature execution, and the fluttering wings that started at a comic book store brought about a tremendous butterfly effect.

Finally, the broadcast began, and the conversation began to flow in an unexpected direction.

‘what?’

Chelsea continued to laugh out loud as she listened to the radio broadcast that followed.

It was because of the ‘talk show’ that took place inside the broadcast booth, featuring an amateur named Bill Evans, a professional named Arthur Reynolds, and lastly the Ross Brothers.

‘Yeah, I was expecting something like this.’

She expected ‘expertise’ from the editors who dealt with the genre, and ‘purity’ from the amateur fans.

And when I first got here, the amateur side was really nervous and I was worried if things would go well, but things turned out as I had hoped.

[FM Radio! It’s California Nights. I’ve just heard a short commercial. It looks like Bill Evans of Tim Keaton’s Comic Book Store is having a hard time holding back his feelings. What do you think, Bill? Do you still have something to say about this novel?]

[I can say as much as I want. I want to fill the entire broadcast with this!]

[Poohaha! Okay! Okay! Let’s do more! Actually, both I and my brother Rick feel that this novel is quite difficult. I wonder what the editor thinks about this.]

[Well, I would like to put it this way. ‘Country of Losers’ definitely has a high barrier to entry, but once you get into it, it’s a novel that anyone can’t help but fall in love with.]

[What does Bill think?]

[That’s right! This novel doesn’t end with you being satisfied with having read it! In fact, that’s where it begins!]

[As Bill said earlier, it’s a piece that gives you a lot to think about.]

[So, what should we focus on when looking at this work, Editor-in-Chief?]

[······hmm.]

[Can I give you a moment to think about it?]

[Oh, no. Let me get straight to the point. I······ want to emphasize that when you read this novel, you should put down your faith in humanity. Aren’t we currently trying to ‘do well again’?]

[I’m curious as to what you mean by that.]

[President Reagan’s slogan, ‘Make America great again’, and looking at the current situation, with Gorbachev taking office in the Soviet Union… Oh, can I say something like that? On a radio broadcast?]

[Hahaha, it’s already too late, let’s continue.]

[Well, I think the ‘Cold War mood’ is fading these days. I think the world will finally become peaceful again, and we who have overcome all kinds of wars and deaths will be able to unite for peace. But when you read this novel, your thoughts will completely change.]

Even if the war between each country ends.

[The war between humans never ends. Awesome, Editor-in-Chief. That’s a great statement.]

Bill speaks without the host’s direction.

It was often taboo on radio broadcasts because it could confuse who was talking, but when the mood on the ‘show’ got going, improvisation would naturally occur.

[That’s right, Bill. It makes me wonder if humans aren’t made to hate each other endlessly.]

[The Internet, a public forum for everyone, allows us to endlessly compare ourselves to one another······.]

In the midst of such serious conversation between them.

“Hmm.”

Meshbeard Al was back home after a long time and was listening to the radio.

I never imagined that a story like this would come out on a broadcast I often listened to.

His home in a remote trailer village was a cozy space run solely by him.

A few months ago, I was blessed with what was called a ‘divorce’ in exchange for giving up my original home and a significant portion of my income in child support.

When he had time to relax alone after driving trucks across the vast United States, he would stuff his heavy body into an old recliner, drink beer, and mindlessly watch football games or listen to the radio.

But today was different than usual.

Since I was interested from the beginning, I naturally turned my ears to the radio and my consciousness was focused there.

‘You have to put down your faith in humanity.’

He had already put it down a long time ago.

Living a rough life as a trucker, you can’t help but meet all kinds of people. Also, didn’t you put an end to the love you thought would last forever with your wife?

The hobby of reading novels, which began by chance in such a daily life, unknowingly played a large role in Meshbeard Al’s life.

Starting with ‘Mother’ and continuing with the seemingly incongruous ‘About T’, it is confined to the novels of a writer he calls ‘God’, who he believes saved his life.

Perhaps it was because he often ordered sweet food from the trucker restaurant, knowingly or unknowingly. He was able to enjoy even the sweet and sour teenage romance stories that went beyond his personality, and he even went to the autograph session of his favorite author a while ago.

However, I quickly put down the newly released novel of God.

‘What on earth is the Internet?’

The explanation was clearly written in detail, but I didn’t quite understand it.

As I was lost in thought for a moment, words coming from the radio rang in my ears.

[So, let’s imagine what the Internet is. What if you were doing a radio broadcast like this and could communicate with the listeners who were listening to the broadcast in real time? If there was a virtual space where anyone could write something and people all over the world could immediately read it and express their opinions, what would people say?]

‘Is that the Internet?’

Meshbeard Al’s eyes widened.

And because it is not used often, I thought of it with a vaguer imagination than it originally was.

If I could say something on the radio, I’m sure I would say something like this.

“Sex●.”

Because it’s funny.

Even if someone laughs at him, he won’t really care. His rough friends will all be holding their stomachs in laughter.

‘Ah, that won’t do.’

If I said that, Nick, the little boy who lived in the trailer house in front of his house, might get a shock when he heard it.

But······ in a situation filled with people from all over the world, would Nick be able to hear what he said?

Perhaps because he was using his head more than usual, Meshbeard Al felt his mind becoming very complicated.

And as I was nodding my head to relieve the tension and looking around, my eyes were caught by the cover of ‘Country of Losers’ that was carelessly placed on the display case.

“······.”

He was now standing in front of the diving board.

In front of the novel of God, I hesitated to jump in because I was worried about when I would be able to come out again due to the depth that seemed endless.

Arthur and Bill, who were swimming first in the clear, shining sea, waved their hands.

And Meshbeard Al wasn’t the only one to ‘see’ a vision similar to this one.

“Is that really the time coming?”

For example, in a mansion in California.

As Martha Fisher picked up the book that had been placed next to her bed, her husband Felix Fisher, who ran a glass factory, clicked his tongue.

“I’m worried about my children’s education.”

“That’s right. I think I’ll learn all kinds of curses.”

“It won’t work. I’ll have to check tonight to see what it is.”

So, all of those who were scattered throughout California, who bought this book but hesitated in front of the diving board.

‘Wow, that’s an interesting story, isn’t it?’

‘It seemed really complicated. But it’s probably easier to read than I thought.’

‘How much fun must it have been to read it to be so excited and chatty?’

After listening to the radio broadcast from their respective places – in the store, office, car, bed, sofa, bathtub, etc. – they picked up the book.

with a plop-.

And one by one, I threw myself into the sea of ​​sentences whose depth I could not fathom.

One day in April 1985.

It was the moment when a novel that depicted a future several decades from now and added deep imagination to it began to dig deep into people’s hearts.

***

Meanwhile, at that time.

There were still some who viewed this book only as a ‘product.’

That was Remy Martin, a man sitting alone in his home, drinking and listening to the radio.

[Anyway, it’s really fun!]

[It seems like a novel that will have an impact beyond California and throughout American society.]

‘That’s right.’

Like Archibald Pfeiffer, vice president of Guns ‘n’ Sword magazine, he took an interest in the novel from a strictly business perspective.