Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 220



Only Noblemtl

220.

July 16, 1986.

‘Kung-fury: Novel’, released with ‘Kung-fury: Comics’ Issue #4, has shown smooth sales as the officials had expected before the release. The method of naturally leading readers to the novel by piquing their curiosity and interest through the comics was bound to work well.

‘Because everyone will be so curious they can’t stand it.’

The good thing about this approach was that it could appeal to people who don’t read ‘novels’.

For example, elementary school students who are too young to read novels yet, or readers who only enjoy comics.

People of that type are usually not accustomed to the process of imagining through the medium of writing, and they tend to perceive novels as something extremely boring even before reading them.

And the first method that novels chose to attract their interest and lead them to read the novel was ‘reviews’.

‘The Losers series is a good example.’

The ‘Losers’ series was definitely a novel that was a bit heavy for the average reader of today. However, if a reader gained interest through the reviews and learned the necessary knowledge about the work, they could use that as a guide and read the novel more easily.

‘Yes, guide.’

I like that expression.

In addition to the review, the illustrations and media franchises included in the work also served as guides to help readers easily read the original work.

It’s a bit of a different story, but that’s why I couldn’t help but remember ‘Dead Man’s Heaven’, which was the biggest hit in my previous life, with a sore finger.

‘When it was made into a drama, it ended up with a different setting and ending than the original work, but it ended up having a bigger influence on me than the original work.’

But ‘Kung-fury’ wasn’t like that.

Although there were some changes in the order of the story, minor changes in the setting, and differences in the description due to the difference in the medium, the theme and subject matter of the work remained the same because I wrote the story myself with the help of DC Comics. In fact, I was able to describe the same work in a different way, so it was a lot of fun to work on.

‘Double Spy’, which was already popular when it was serialized, also had another comeback thanks to the comics.’

Anyway, the four issues mentioned above seemed to be appropriate publicity and a guide, and many people seemed to enjoy them.

As the person who wrote the piece, I was also very happy about this situation.

‘Kung-fury’ is a work that was created by mixing up a lot of ideas, and I had to put a lot of thought into bringing out a consistent theme along with black comedy. I couldn’t be happier that my efforts were rewarded with results.

‘I wonder how far it will go and how people will react.’

Two days had passed while I was leisurely spending my time with that kind of mindset.

Suddenly, I got a phone call and when I picked up, it was scalp.

[Help······.]

“huh?”

[I am standing in front of McDonald’s right now.]

“Downtown there?”

[Yeah, my patience is about to run out. God, help me······!]

“Wh, what are you talking about?”

[Ah, ah. Dad! I see a Big Mac!!]

And then the phone suddenly disconnects.

“······?”

I explained the situation to Jiwoo Jang, who was playing the guitar in the room, and we headed to McDonald’s downtown.

Downtown is full of people, perhaps because it’s a weekend evening.

I parked my car behind McDonald’s and walked towards a nearby phone booth, where I found a large, hunched over thing called a ‘scallop’.

“Hey, scalp?”

“······Something feels strange.”

Jiwoo approached first, tilting his head, and I followed him.

‘Dupi’ looked extremely gaunt.

His skin, which was always shiny and glossy, was now cracked and flaky like that of a boxer who was trying to lose weight, and his cheeks were so thin that it was hard to remember him from before.

He continued to mutter, holding a book in his arms like a Bible.

“I don’t support······. I don’t support······.”

But the scalp’s eyes are turned towards McDonald’s.

Jiwoo approached him and tried to speak to him.

“Scalp? We’re here. Are you okay?”

“Ah, Big Mac······.”

“Yes? It’s me, Jiwoo.”

“And then there’s the Quarter Pounder with Cheese.”

“······It’s serious.”

I roughly grasped the situation and sighed.

In the 80s, correct knowledge about the act of ‘dieting’ was virtually non-existent among the general public.

So it seemed like the scalp had been on a completely wrong diet.

‘When I said I was going on a diet before, I realized that I was thinking too much in terms of the future.’

The book in his arms was ‘Kung-fury: Novel’.

When I saw it, I felt a pain in my heart for some reason. My book and my lack of thoughtfulness had led to the wrong result.

‘To my best friend too.’

But there is always a chance to fix everything before it gets into serious trouble.

“Jiwoo.”

“Yes, brother.”

“Let’s take Scalp to McDonald’s.”

“yes?”

“Ah, ahhhh, no!”

The scalp resisted, shaking its head like a vampire trying to avoid the sun, but it could not overcome our strength in its current half-scalp state.

I grabbed his left arm and Jiwoo grabbed his right arm and dragged him along. And Doofy Kingston was dragged along without any resistance.

“Even if your body says no, your mouth is honest.”

“Usually it’s the other way around, oppa.”

That’s how we entered McDonald’s.

I sat down with my tired scalp and went to order the menu.

“What do you want to eat, Jiwoo?”

“Oh, then I’ll have a cheeseburger.”

“Set? Individual?”

“set!”

I ordered the menu.

Cheeseburger set, Coke. Double Cheeseburger set, Diet Coke. And after thinking about it for a moment, I ordered a Big Mac set with Diet Coke and went back with the menu that came out quickly.

The scalp had the look of a starving bear standing in front of a honeycomb for about three days.

“Ah, ah······.”

“Eat first.”

“I, I can’t stand it anymore! God!”

Rain, rain, rain.

Scalp, who had ripped open the package, inhaled the burger, fries, and cola.

That was the end of his self-control.

“Ugh, diet cola······!”

“Oh, maybe regular cola would be better?”

Would it be rude to secretly find it amusing to see the sight of a scalp that has lost its sense of reason?

Doopi, who had jumped up, went to the counter to order a menu. The sparrow, who was eating the cheeseburger in small portions like bird feed, no······ Jiwoo Jang looked back at me with a slightly worried expression and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, they say that if you eat something spicy like that after starving for a long time, your stomach won’t be able to handle it, but since it’s your scalp, it’ll be okay, right?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ve been dieting hard up until now.”

Jiwoo eating French fries.

“It was a diet that was doomed to failure from the start.”

Before that, I made a light conclusion.

Meanwhile, Doofy brought seven more burger sets.

It was a half-forgotten setting, but even the burger joint’s ‘The Seven’ bill was surprising.

Jiwoo and I were left speechless.

“······.”

“······.”

“Sorry, sorry! Star Chaser······!”

Isn’t that something you should say before you inevitably kill Star Chaser?

Pride, stinginess, envy, anger, lust, greed, sloth. I named each burger like that, and Doofy killed them one by one. A burger went into my mouth, and then a second one went into my mouth. It reminded me of Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None.

Only after finishing the Seven Deadly Sins Burger in five minutes did Doofi repent.

“What, what did I do······.”

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“God······. Ugh, I’m sorry. Jiwoo, I’m sorry.”

“I’m a Big Mac.”

“I’m so ashamed… for calling you Big Mac and Quarter Pounder with Cheese…!”

“How on earth did you go about your diet?”

“I starved.”

“How many days?”

“Two days······. The book has been published and I can’t delay it any longer······.”

From the way he spoke, it seemed like those two days had felt like two hundred years in hell to Doopi.

“To be defeated by desire so miserably······.”

As soon as I came to my senses, my scalp started to droop with a gloomy expression.

Then he started muttering to himself.

“I also wanted to confidently express myself like a Star Chaser. I guess I just don’t have the will to do that. What should I do? Do I have to live like this for the rest of my life?”

“······.”

“Hey, Brother Shin.”

“Yeah, Jiwoo.”

“Your scalp looks very tired.”

“i think so too.”

The question was how to solve it.

I thought I needed to calm down before we started talking, so I waited quietly, and while I watched her groan as her scalp turned into a dark scalp, I threw out a topic that would distract her.

“How was the novel?”

“It was my life’s work.”

The scalp spoke firmly.

Jiwoo, who was sitting next to me, smiled a little awkwardly.

“I, I guess it was too provocative for me? But everyone was cool in the end.”

“Because I wrote it like that.”

When I wrote ‘Kung-fury’, I tried to express the many aspects of human nature.

Racism and superheroes. At first glance, they don’t seem to connect very well.

But I thought that was a sore spot for the ‘superhero’ genre. It had to adapt to the ever-changing times while always dealing with the subject of ‘heroes’ without changing its fundamentals.

So in the future, there were many people who raised issues with the ‘superhero stuff’ itself. For example, in the original comics, there was no such big role, but heroes were suddenly pushed for racial or gender diversity.

A superhero manufactured with classic values ​​in mind.

But there is a contradiction in that it has to change with the times.

I tried to embrace all of that with ‘Kung-fury’.

In a way, this work was not simply a story limited to a single superhero named ‘Kung-Fury’. ‘Sodapop’ and ‘Star Chaser’ each had their own worries as heroes, and the process of resolving them had a structure similar to a troupe drama.

‘However, in the novel, it was depicted only from Kung Fury’s perspective as much as possible, and in the comic, the perspective was completely different.’

In a novel, you can just increase the description, but in the case of comics, on the contrary, if you keep putting Kung Fury on a limited screen, it would break the focus on each character, so they intentionally chose a different development like that.

Anyway, I understood why this ‘Kung-fury’ became a masterpiece for Doopi.

“Star Chaser is a really cool hero. While holding onto his own worries, he also works hard to save the world, and in the end, he reveals everything about himself to the world and becomes a true hero.”

“Scalp.”

“I couldn’t do that. I failed.”

“Scalp. Come to your senses and listen to me.”

I spoke in a stiff, nerdy tone.

It was because between Doopi and me, we felt it was easier to persuade him that way.

“Star Chaser takes off his mask. But that’s just acknowledging his true self.”

“Is that so?”

“‘Self-image’ is different for everyone. Doopi, your courage to become a better version of yourself is worthy of respect. In other words, you are currently making a suit. Of course, you may fail and collapse in the process. But······ As Star Chaser said, right?”

“’To reach for the stars, you must have an intense energy in your body and mind that you cannot control.’”

“Aren’t you going to go?”

“······god.”

“······Scalp.”

“god······!”

“Scalp······!”

We shared a fierce friendship.

And then I heard Jiwoo, who was watching our hot appearance from the side, muttering softly.

“But can’t you just not eat it?”

Jiwoo, are you T?

······Oh my, that’s an idea that doesn’t fit the times.

***

The three people who had hit it off at McDonald’s returned together to Doofy Kingston’s house.

This was because God, who could not just leave the scalp like that, said this.

“Let me help you out. Even though I look like this, I’m actually quite good at dieting.”

“Can I call you Shifu?”

“No, call me ‘Master.’”

“Sue-Song-Lim?”

“······Just call me by my name.”

Thinking that the pronunciation would be too difficult for Americans, Shin first figured out the entire life of Doopi.

Then, just as the sun was starting to set, Alexa joined us as she returned from filming.

After hugging Shin once, she sat down at the table with Jiwoo and began to watch Shin and Doopi with interest.

“What happened?”

“Duppy ate eight burgers.”

“······? aha?”

“Eight French fries and eight glasses of cola.”

“Wow, you’re a big eater~. You’re amazing~.”

“So, Shin Oppa said he would help me with my scalp diet.”

“Oh?”

Alexa watches with interest.

His black eyes sparkled like stars. There was something sexy about the way he looked now, concentrating so earnestly on something and trying to solve a problem. It was the same when he was in the cheerleading club in high school.

Meanwhile, Shin spoke to Doopi and brought a large box separately, then opened the refrigerator and slowly looked through its contents.

“······Scalp?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“No more cola.”

“Why?”

“The biggest enemy of dieting is ‘sugar.’”

“Why?”

“Oh, I’m curious about that too.”

“Me too~.”

“It’s complicated to say, but anyway, that’s it.”

“How do you know that?”

“············I once did an experiment with rats when I was young. Rats that ate sugar water grew fatter and were obsessed with food even when their bellies were full.”

“You’re going too far!”

“This villain!”

Even in the face of Jiwoo and Alexa’s fierce criticism, Shin remained steadfast.

But there was no other way to say it. Even if you knew some facts, it was never easy to explain them to someone who didn’t know much about them, with only basic knowledge that was at the level of common sense.

Take out the cola, and also take out the ice cream.

After organizing all the so-called ‘high-fructose corn syrup’ and ‘refined foods’ that were rampant in the United States and placing them on the table, Shin looked back at his panicked scalp.

The scalp asked with a gaunt face like a bear starving before hibernation.

“Hey, if not this, then what else should I eat?”

“You can eat everything else, but just follow these three rules.”

“What is it?”

“I will cook for myself. I will cut my food intake in half. I will consume as little sugar as possible.”

“So, four burgers?”

“······Let’s go in groups of three.”

Considering the daily calorie requirement of a scalp accustomed to overeating and the psychological hurdles, it seemed right to start at that level.

“Next is exercise.”

“······Do I really have to do this?”

“I’d rather do it. Otherwise, your skin will sag when you lose weight. Is that okay?”

“Poetry, I don’t like it.”

“Okay. Let’s go underground first.”

The last time I visited this house, I saw a dusty sandbag hanging in the basement, so Shin walked straight down to the basement.

Alexa, who had been watching the two people’s serious appearance, turned to Jiwoo and asked.

“Why did you suddenly decide to go on a diet, Scalp?”

“Ah, that’s what happened after reading Mr. Shin’s new novel.”

“’Kung-fury’? I’ve only bought it, but haven’t read it.”

As she spoke, at the end of her gaze, the ‘Kung-fury: novel’ that Doopi had left on the table caught her eye.

Alexa naturally reached out and picked up the book, and opened it without thinking.

And then a unique word entered those blue eyes.

It was none other than ‘Sodapop’.