Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 211



Only Noblemtl

211.

One deep, dark night.

Smoke billows out like thick fog from the alleyway vents, and evil lurks between them. Hooligans who are not doing their jobs but just hanging around, waiting for their victims to show up. Unfortunately, today, a male office worker who is working overtime and coming home late passes by.

An office worker who was surrounded by a group of thugs as if it were a given and lost his money and life.

Just then, a passing Joe happened to spot them.

‘Oh my, what should I do?’

Because this area is not safe, incidents like this happen often.

Joe, who had always pretended not to know, was now a little worried. That was because the person exposed to the threat of crime was Mario, an employee at Shifu’s kung fu dojo.

Joe, who had been thinking for a moment, quickly stepped forward and started fighting to repel the thugs.

In the past, he had superhuman physical strength due to a national experiment, and he ran like an angry tiger, knocking down one guy in one breath and attacking the second guy who was holding Mario by the collar.

It was that very moment.

Bang-!

The bullet pierced his heart with a cracking sound.

The third guy was so shocked by Joe’s monstrous appearance that he pulled out his gun and shot him.

No matter how much strength you gain through all kinds of drugs and genetic manipulation, humans are still humans.

‘Oh, shit. There was a gun.’

Joe falls over with a sigh.

“······?”

“huh?”

“Eeing······?”

“What is this?”

Each editorial team leader at DC Comics who was reading the manuscript from the hard-boiled publisher was momentarily dumbfounded by the shocking and unexpected development and had no choice but to turn the page.

That’s how Joe died.

‘It’s like this?’

‘Is the main character being replaced?’

‘Even superhumans get shot and die quite often. But this easily?’

‘Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne?’

Those who feel strange.

But then Joe goes back in time.

Even the ‘country’ that made him like this was unaware of Joe’s true ability.

‘Time travel!’

‘Interesting!’

Time-related material has been dealt with frequently before. However, the fact that the trigger is death is quite impressive. Most superheroes have time-related abilities, but they are devices used to perform heroic deeds to save the world or to show off their own strength.

Then, for one issue, time was used as a material, and so on, but it was not often adopted as the first ability shown by the main character.

Moreover, the condition for activating the ability is death.

The powerful ability to turn back time was made even more special by giving it irresistible powers.

When he woke up from death, he remembered everything that had happened to him.

Joe, who went back to the moment just before he died, or rather just before he saw what was happening in the alley, started the second fight while realizing that his opponent had a gun. And since he knew the situation in advance, he easily subdued the group of thugs and saved Mario.

But in the process, he unknowingly demonstrated endurance and strength beyond that of a human.

After seeing Mario’s expression as if he had witnessed a monster, Joe sighed at the thought that he had been caught for nothing, took the gun out of the criminal’s arms, put it to his forehead, and pulled the trigger.

Third ‘repeat’.

He fought with his face hidden by pulling over the hood of the jacket he was wearing. He also adjusted his strength appropriately to ‘considerate’ Mario so that he wouldn’t be scared, and Joe finished the job as he wanted.

It was the emergence of a hero.

Mario asked, kneeling in awe.

Who are you? How could you do that?

Joe responds to that.

No name to reveal, just kung fu or acting.

······Those words became the trigger.

A few days later, a huge crowd of prospective students gathered at the kung fu dojo.

Shifu shouted in joy.

‘Yeah, this is it!!’

Their bloody battle to revive the kung fu dojo and steal Americans’ money began.

Joe started going out into the streets every night wearing a hood and mask and fighting.

With a kung fu dojo advertisement pinned to his back.

“Puhahahaha! ······Huh.”

“Ahem, ahem. Ahem······.”

“Phew, phew······.”

Everyone couldn’t hold back their laughter for a moment and burst out laughing.

‘Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen a work that I’m this excited about just with a proposal.’

‘I think it would be better to tell the director and proceed with the work.’

As such, after a good laugh, everyone came to the same conclusion.

And at the same time, Robert, the editor-in-chief, was with them.

‘There seems to be no room for disagreement.’

Whether this piece will sell well or not will be known only after the actual results are released, but one thing is certain.

In today’s market where superhero films that exquisitely reflect reality are mainstream, it was clear that Shin’s ‘Kung-Fury’ would be an interesting work that would create a buzz in the market.

This work reflects reality in a different way than ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ or ‘Watchmen’, which is currently in the process of story development.

The reality of discrimination that is rampant in American society.

And I really liked how it was presented in a humorous way from the perspective of the underdog.

‘This kind of work can easily cause backlash because it deals with social issues that are too close to everyday life.’

In fact, I was a bit worried about that part. Whether it was a confirmed fact or not, there was a possibility that the characters’ descriptions and actions in this work could have an influence on children.

Comics have always been the underdog. They have had to suffer from all kinds of censorship because they were said to have a negative influence on young children who read books, and this is still the case today.

Robert was particularly concerned that the work addressed social issues that we all face through superheroes.

Marvel Comics’ X-Men, which also deals with discrimination, also presents a fictional character called a “mutant” and asks readers to substitute their own version of the problem.

However, if it were to reveal the problem of ‘racial discrimination’ that actually exists in reality, wouldn’t it not only draw many people deeply into the story, but also create a huge social controversy?

Looking back at himself thinking that way, Robert couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

‘I never thought you would plan a work like this.’

I thought he was a great writer after reading the ‘Losers’ series, but I didn’t know he was this good.

Robert laughed lightly and continued his worries.

***

Suddenly, I remembered something I had heard somewhere.

‘Asian Americans are like C3POs in America. People don’t particularly dislike them, but they like them for being good at their jobs and being friendly. But they’re not people.’

I disagree with this statement.

The droid ‘C3PO’ in Star Wars was a character that played a supporting role in the story. He was a coward and clumsy person, so he got into trouble here and there, but thanks to his friend R2-D2, he was able to escape from danger several times.

Instead, I wanted to correct it like this.

‘Asian Americans are a combination of C3PO and R2-D2. They help each other out, have no flaws, and are well-liked by people, but they are never treated equally.’

So I wanted to highlight the evil(?) side of those Orientals.

‘To be precise, it’s different from how it’s portrayed in the media.’

The media portrays evil Asians.

In reality, there are kind Oriental people.

Those two things combined to make me think that Asians were treated as ‘unintelligible friends’ by other races. In reality, we were trying to survive by preserving our culture rather than blending into American society, and that’s how places like Koreatown and Chinatown were born.

But as time passed and the next generation of Korean Americans like me were born, things changed a lot.

We think as Americans, but at the same time, we have a Korean cultural background. However, outsiders tend to lump us together and consume us as images such as ‘ninja’ and ‘kung fu’.

‘Now I’ve come to accept that there were times like that.’

I’ll just tell my story my way.

So, funny enough, the ability I, as a writer, gave to the main character was ‘time travel’.

‘Actually, it’s not a common material these days.’

The plot where the main character dies, goes back in time, corrects his mistakes, and solves the case was a very common theme in the distant future. At some point, it became such a cliché that some people got tired of it.

But in order to bring to life the themes of ‘censorship’ and ‘control’ that I think of, the main character absolutely needed to have ‘something special’.

‘Because it’s a worldview that can’t be handled by just a slightly stronger person.’

By describing it that way, I took into consideration that this work would not end up as a mere black comedy.

“······Then, please take care of me today as well.”

I ‘fired up’ the word processor.

The boot screen, which was set to black, came to mind.

I picked up the floppy disk I had placed next to me and inserted it into the device.

Clink! Bang!

It sounds like someone is loading a revolver.

“Ugh.”

As expected, new stuff is good.

Sorry, Hardboiled Nine Thousand.

After the screen had finished loading, I started typing on the keyboard and typing on the word processor.

At first, it felt like a novelty, like the feeling I had when I wrote on a computer a long time ago, but soon my mind became one with my body and I didn’t even know what I was doing.

About an hour like that.

I’ve finished organizing the plot that I had written out by hand on paper in detail, and I’ve finished all the planning for the comic story that I’ve organized through discussions with Simon.

I expected it to be a long task, with work lasting until dawn, but that wasn’t the case.

I thought, stretching slightly.

‘I guess I should study.’

Because final exams are coming up soon.

***

As final exams were about to begin, we went out for our last volunteer activity.

I had told the kids in advance that I wouldn’t be coming for a while, so I was considerate enough to make the brief separation not feel sudden, so even though it was the last time, I didn’t feel burdened.

However, to relieve the remaining regret, I prepared a gift of candy and chocolate, packaged in small portions that would not harm the children’s health. The amount of work was not small, but John helped me a lot.

The car carrying my friends on the road arrived at school.

Miss Remington, our school teacher who always greeted us and explained the things we should pay attention to that day, smiled slightly at me and spoke to me.

“Okay. I think it would be better to go to the gym for a bit later.”

“yes?”

“I guess the kids are waiting. It looks like they’ve prepared something special.”

“Oh, I understand.”

What did the kids prepare? I didn’t expect anything like this.

I tilted my head slightly.

Miss Remington added a few words as John, Kate, and even Rebecca laughed as if they had known this would happen.

“It was a hot topic among the teachers. It was the first time I’ve seen a student come to volunteer work and play with the kids so well.”

“······Did you know everything?”

“Yes. I couldn’t say anything because the kids looked so happy.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

“How did you capture the hearts of children like that?”

“that.”

I paused for a moment and added:

“Maybe it’s because I’m a ninja.”

“Ninja······?”

Miss Remington tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

Since I didn’t mean to expect understanding, I just smiled awkwardly and went to the school janitor’s office to greet Murphy, who was waiting for me.

He was blunt at first, and he’s still blunt now, but he told me kindly that I had had a hard time and that I was doing well wherever I went. He also told me that he would be here, so I could come visit him whenever I had time.

After exchanging a quick greeting with him, I headed outside and returned to my parked car, thinking about what gifts I would give to the children.

‘It was certainly a brief encounter.’

It was a moment where I learned a lot in my own way.

Interactions with others, experiences, and growth through them that were not possible in a previous life.

I used to live in an imaginary world to relieve my inexpressible anger and depression, but now, with the help of others, I have learned how to express myself properly. And finally, I have become someone who can communicate with innocent beings like children.

Although it was a brief meeting, I felt a little sad about saying goodbye to this school.

‘You can come anytime.’

Because we each live in different worlds, it can’t continue like that.

It was a similar situation with Alexa, Jiwoo, Doofy, and my friends at the Comic Book Store. Their presence was always a precious memory to me, but as we continued to move forward in our own universes called life, we sometimes had to experience being apart from each other.

‘What is this feeling?’

Since I started living a new life, I felt like a new emotion was growing inside me.

‘Let’s remember this for now.’

I headed to the gym with the individually wrapped gifts I had left in my trunk, thinking I should focus on my current feelings, and found the kids scattered around the area in groups of three or four.

“Master!”

When someone shouted loudly, everyone rushed in.

Hero Union, Ninja Union, Villain Union.

There weren’t any special incidents today, except for one child crying in shock at the sight of the vegetable monster in the cafeteria, John Smith, falling down with a fountain of blood (ketchup) gushing from his chest after being stabbed by a ninja.

When the sealed demon in the library, Rebecca Wong, said, “You guys are still focusing on role-playing. It’s a long-standing tradition from ancient Greece,” everyone would say, “What’s wrong, Sister? It’s not fun,” and walk away. It was always the case.

Anyway, it was the end of childhood, when everyone had fun adding weight to their bodies.

“Master! Are you going today?!”

“You’re not coming anymore?!”

“Who should we follow now!”

“······First, take these one by one.”

I brushed my beard (none) away and handed them each a candy.

Looking at the complicated expressions of regret and joy, I said this.

“Even if I disappear, the time we spent together will not disappear. When I and you face difficulties in life, let’s use each other’s memories as a light to move forward.”

“Ugh, ugh······!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

“Ppuaaa …

The children were so moved by my words that they each burst into tears.

In front of him, I too thought the same thing with tears in my eyes.

‘Ninja Master Han, complete.’

Today, one superhero(?) story came to an end.