Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 174



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The Novelist Who Leapt Through Time Episode 174

Guy Yuna’s interview was a success.

He succeeded in throwing an oil can into a burning house.

The scale of attention paid to Gu Yuna was nothing compared to what it was before the interview.

Regardless of the type of attention, whether positive or negative, the attention increased exponentially.

Fortunately, positive public opinion prevailed, but that was that and this was this.

An accident was an accident.

“I’m sorry!”

That was the reason why Richelle Surface, who folded her hands together politely, closed her eyes and apologized.

Naturally, the person receiving the apology is Michael Collins, the CEO of Collins Press, who has earned the title of “practicing vulgar noise marketing.”

He smiled as if he was really okay, but no one could tell that he was okay.

“Hmm, it’s okay. are you okay.”

It wasn’t okay.

“But… Couldn’t you have edited the content a bit? “I heard it was a recorded broadcast?”

Anyone could have inferred the omitted afterword, ‘If it had been a recorded broadcast, you should have edited it yourself, you idiot’, by looking at the teeth that Michael Collins is clenching.

Richelle Surface trembled and answered.

“Well, that’s because Mr. Schneider was involved in the editing… .”

CEO Michael Collins slapped his forehead.

“Ah, so you did? Then I guess there was nothing I could do. Who on this floor could disobey Mr. Schneider?”

If Richelle Surface were Korean, she would have been able to express her regret with her whole body by showing off the flexible spine technique of bowing her head twice a second.

But since she was a cold American who was more accustomed to accusations than apologies, she had no other way to express this overflowing apology.

So her hands came together politely at her navel, and she waved them in the air to make excuses for her mistake, and eventually covered her face like a mask.

Richelle Surface covered her face with her hands.

As I was doing that, my situation was so pitiful that I cried for a moment.

Sniff-

It was a small sound, but it was very audible in a quiet office.

“Ooh, cry… ?”

Michael Collins felt his heart skip a beat. It’s normal to get upset when your subordinates are acting like idiots and dragging your feet, but I don’t know why your heart is pounding.

Fortunately, Richelle Surface was not that mentally weak.

She quickly gathered her emotions and lowered her hands that were covering her face.

Richelle Surface, who returned as a professional editor, made the ‘strongest’ apology that could be made in American society.

In Japanese terms, this is a Togeza-level expression.

“I will take responsibility.”

Friendly Asians have a warm culture where they will look after you for the sake of respect once you put your head down, but cold-hearted Westerners who follow pragmatism and rationalism do not know that world of strong consideration.

In such a world of pragmatism, the biggest apology is something that actually helps.

Therefore, Richelle Surface decided to take responsibility by burning one body.

“I will do my best to resolve this matter, and then I will take responsibility and step down… .”

“it’s okay.”

Michael Collins cut her off.

Out of concern for his loyal employees, he decided to show special mercy.

“Let’s stop talking about this now. The results weren’t all bad, right? I don’t really understand, but the younger generation these days really likes this kind of thing. Like Greta Thunberg… “Sassy girls.”

“… … .”

“Anyway, I’m not trying to talk about politics in front of my subordinates, and I haven’t achieved any results through this interview, so there’s no need to be so intimidated.”

Yes. Gu Yuna’s unconventional interview gained cult popularity among young people who revere ‘unconventional’. America has always liked this kind of thing.

However, that is for Gu Yuna’s benefit, not ‘Collins Press’. So, strictly speaking, Michael Collins’ claim was wrong.

But what mattered now was not logic. Michael Collins pretended to be so cool, picked up random words, and absolved Richelle Surface of her sins.

“So, just leave now. “I’ll look more closely next time.”

“… ! All right!”

As soon as Richelle Surface left the CEO’s office, she and Michael Collins simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

EP 10 – Starry Sky

「… … The long journey across the starry sky has come to an end.”

The long journey across a strange country where literature disappeared and only capital ruled came to an end.

Gu Yuna sat by the window of her familiar club room and closed the last page of ‘The Starry Sky.’

A cool autumn breeze slowly came in through the open window.

It was a signal that the intense summer that started that day on the school trip was over.

Gu Yuna’s dry eyes turned to the empty autumn sky.

“… … “It’s clear.”

But the girl’s heart wasn’t like that. Gu Yuna’s eyes returned to the book again.

The cover of ‘The Starry Sky’ was very stylish. White starlight was crossing the black sky. The title, written in neat Korean, was so beautiful that it could be called art in itself.

But this too is just vanity. Gu Yuna did not see the simple beauty of the blank space on the cover, but rather a fawning attempt to make readers who purchased this book feel satisfied.

It’s downright vulgar.

The band surrounding the book was proof of that.

If possible, publishers do not include ‘secular’ phrases on the cover. The cover recites a poem, pretending to be pure and poor, like a nobleman receiving bribes.

The dirty work is done by laborers. The book band was the book band. All kinds of nonsense is written on the strip, which can be torn off at any time and thrown away like a consumable.

How many people bought it, how many countries it was published in, how many awards it won, how many times it was broadcast, how many, how many, and how many… .

Words such as ‘topic bestseller’ are often written on the belt.

And the band of the ‘Starry Sky’ changed dozens of times throughout the summer.

In order to attract people who were crazy about waiting in line, if a slightly better record came out somewhere, the band was quickly changed and published.

And finally, when the promotional campaign for ‘The Starry Sky’ was completed, the most glorious achievement recorded in this book was written on the band.

Hugo Award.

Hugo Award.

This award, called the Nobel Prize of the science fiction world, was the greatest achievement of ‘The Starry Sky’.

“ha… … .”

Gu Yuna is not an ordinary person, but she is an ordinary aspiring novelist.

So, like other ordinary aspiring novelists, I once had the delusion that a novel I wrote would win ‘the world’s leading literary awards.’

The Hugo Award was the ‘world’s leading literary award.’

This was the most famous, most prestigious, and most honorable award that science fiction literature could have. No one can refute this.

But Gu Yuna wanted to refute this.

This is not the award Gu Yuna received. She is not an award received by a literary person.

This Hugo Award belonged to Yangwook Lim.

“… … .”

Although everyone is applauding the literary achievements of Gu Yuna and other writers, Gu Yuna watched Lim Yang-wook’s business from beginning to end.

And that wise brain was able to see through the truth contained in editor Lim Yang-wook’s actions.

In her opinion, Lim Yang-wook was only targeting the Hugo Award from the beginning.

Carrying out noise marketing while receiving criticism from others, showing public-friendly behavior through social media, and emphasizing the Asian element were all paving the way for the Hugo Award.

This is because the Hugo Awards are chosen through voting… .

‘The Starry Sky’ was selected as Best Novel at the world science fiction competition, Worldcon.

Everyone praised this as an achievement that would go down in history, but Gu Yuna thought it was strange that she did not receive the award.

It’s not because the novel is good.

It was an election that was already over before it even started.

The Hugo Award has a reputation as an award that is selected by votes from science fiction fans around the world, rather than experts buzzing around behind closed doors.

However, the ‘global SF fandom’ is none other than paid members who sign up for Worldcon membership and pay membership fees.

They number only in the thousands, and even fewer actually vote.

And most of them are Americans.

They have tended to vote for Asian science fiction novelists in the past 10 years, and have high pride in the non-mainstream literary genre of science fiction.

There was no reason for them not to exercise their right to vote for the Asian science fiction girl who is heating up the mainstream of American society.

Moreover, that fussy and cute girl has been touring all kinds of YouTube, radio, TV, politician charity events, and book launch events over the past few months, creating a kind of… .

That is, if you did an .

It was like that. All of Yuna Gu’s actions were election campaigns.

Lim Yang-wook’s systematically organized schedule was by no means a simple promotional event.

There was a clear political intention there. The goal is the ‘Hugo Award’.

The star-spangled sky’s Hugo Award win functioned as if it were part of a grand plan.

The ‘famous for being famous’ novel had unfounded authority and was facing strong criticism as a result.

However, the Hugo Award solved the final puzzle. With the Hugo Award’s endorsement, ‘The Starry Sky’ has become a complete myth.

‘Simon Publishers’ realized belatedly that they had fallen into a trap and complained that ‘Collins Press’ had stolen the Hugo Award in a despicable way, but their remarks, which had continued with strong black propaganda over the past few months, were ignored.

This is because the public is already tired of negativity.

If Simon Publishers had launched its attack just a few months later, this year’s Hugo Awards would have been marked by a serious failure of democracy. However, their criticism was treated as nonsense that those who lost the election usually cry.

Since it was a fight that started for fun from the beginning, the fight ended the moment the public decided that Gu Yuna winning the Hugo Award would be a more interesting development.

‘Publisher Simon’ became the devil, Gu Yuna became a warrior who defeated the devil and received a happy ending, and the public lost interest in the story they had finished and left to look for the next kindling to criticize.

Although it seemed plausible on the surface, it was a truly romantic story.

Therefore, Gu Yuna also did not feel romantic in this Hugo Award.

My childhood dream disappeared when I entered the extremely shallow publishing industry.

A world without art would be truly dreary.

Is this really what the world a writer sees? You never know.

But there is one thing I know.

Gu Yuna would not give in to such superficiality.

“Yuna, what are you doing?”

“Read a book.”

“How many times do you read the book you wrote?”

“Because it’s good.”

Postmodernism dismantled all cultural authority. The cry of why such talented, rational, rational, and intelligent people killed so many people through war changed everything.

Therefore, people evaluated Gu Yuna as the vanguard of postmodernism.

It was said that in the apocalypse of modernism brought about by the ‘rational’ way of thinking, the ‘starry sky’ depicts the image of humans embracing each other with irrational warmth.

Critics exclaim:

ah! How beautiful was the life of the poets, wanderers, and wanderers of old who wandered the world looking at the starry sky.

It was bullshit.

The reason Gu Yuna wrote ‘The Starry Sky’ did not originate from the complex and bizarre art trends of Westerners such as modernism or post-modernism.

Gu Yuna just wanted to help one person.

Gu Yuna was a defective product.

It is an abnormality that has defects from birth. Her older sister is a human scum, a scumbag, a fool, and a psychopath who pours boiling water over her for playing a trick.

Even her mother, who gave birth to her, trembled and cried, saying that you should go to a mental hospital instead of school.

In the meantime, the moment she thought, ‘What on earth is wrong?’, Gu Yuna realized that something was wrong with her.

no. It’s Yuna.

You just have to learn. If you don’t know something, just learn it… .

So let’s not give up. huh?

However, Gu Hak-jun believed that he could become perfect.

The greatest novelist in the world believed in him.

So Gu Yuna began to learn literature. She let go of her imperfect self and set out on a path to become a more perfect person.

But one day I met a strange boy.

The boy looked at himself as he was.

You are a talented novelist.

Others say it’s a disadvantage, but it’s the biggest advantage.

It’s because our Yuna doesn’t know how to speak, but what a warm-hearted person she is.

How beautiful it is to meet a friend who sees you as you are and embraces even your flaws.

Yuna Gu learned the warmth of fully affirming even her imperfect self.

Of course, just because a writer tells you what to do, it doesn’t mean your flaws will disappear. Know.

Gu Yuna is a human being with flaws, and those flaws can hurt others.

So, just like cutting off a part of the body, one day you have to cut out your mind.

However, returning even a little of the warmth you received would not be an excessive desire.

“Hey, it’s Yuna.”

“why.”

Two people sat side by side in the club room and read a book. It was a book the two of them wrote together.

The boy thrust the book he was reading towards the girl.

Then he pointed to a part of the novel with his finger.

“There’s something the boy here says to the android ‘Nine’… … .”

“huh.”

“Are you by any chance telling me this?”

An android saw an infinite universe. It is a universe full of darkness, madness, and uncertainty. The android girl trembled in fear.

The boy spoke to the android.

“So, Nine. I wish you weren’t so afraid of the unknown. It’s a world full of starlight. How beautiful… 」

「… … .」

“You won’t know until you open it all. Will something good happen or will something bad happen? Even if something bad happens, we can cry together and laugh together. “At least you’re not on a journey alone, right?”

Gu Yuna felt joy slowly welling up in her heart. That’s correct.

Many critics made a fuss and attached various meanings to the novel. Everything was wrong.

The opinion that interpretation is up to the reader does not apply to tyrants like Manger Yuna.

All characters and plots are sharply controlled at Gu Yuna’s fingertips. With one purpose.

And the purpose is… .

It was a word of comfort to a boy who had adapted to this world full of darkness, that there was not only darkness in this world.

Therefore, the ‘starry sky’ is a long rebuttal to ‘dark adaptation’.

Ah, I feel like I went round and round so hard just to say that one word.

This is all because of a boy who has no sense or understanding.

So, Gu Yuna smiled and gave him a handout.

“Do you understand now?”

* * *

“It was a war against non-understanding. It was a war against intolerance. It was a war against a world full of infinite darkness.

Science says: The world is made of darkness, and that darkness is infinite.

But the boy saw stars in the darkness.

Even if the starlight was the cold remains of a corpse that died hundreds of millions of years ago, the starlight clearly contained hope.

Therefore, the starlight originates from the heart. It was not the truth that something had to be taken in order to survive, but the starlight that whispered a vague belief that if you held out your hand, someone would take it.

The wanderers traversed the cold, infinite void, relying on the light of the stars.

At the end of the journey, the travelers finally gathered at the window and cried, laughed, hugged, cheered, gave thanks, prayed, danced, and sang.

The answer given to them could be clearly seen even on the empty bridge. The boy chasing the star and the android girl looked at the answer given to them.

A huge green planet with lush green vegetation spread out before my eyes.

The long journey across the starry sky has come to an end.”

* * *

“Ah, there’s something I don’t like about this… .”

“what.”

The writer grumbled until the end.

“Wouldn’t it have been a better ending for the descendants, rather than the main character, to reach a resting place? Common sense tells us that it is impossible to traverse that long route within a human lifespan. And, rather than a completely happy ending, something with a slightly sad element is more likely to remain in readers’ memories… .”

“… … .”

“Or the ending where the boy dies of old age and only the android girl reaches the resting place… .”

Gu Yuna picked up the book and poked the writer’s side.

“Because this isn’t that kind of novel.”

“Then what kind of novel is it?”

Gu Yuna thought calmly. She closed her eyes, leaned against the wall, and put into her mouth only the answers she had most carefully conceived.

“It’s a fairy tale. A fairy tale for those who are not yet complete… So it has to have a happy ending.”

The autumn breeze blew in through the still open window. She closed her eyes and leaned against the window of her club room, her hair fluttering softly.

The writer laughed quietly as he saw this.

And he nodded.

“is it… .”

The writer’s eyes turned to the book again, and Gu Yuna closed her eyes and stared into space. Although we did not make eye contact, the conversation continued like that.

“Moon In-seop.”

“why.”

“Did you have fun writing this book?”

“huh.”

“Much more than dark adaptation?”

“Much more.”

“Do you think you will be able to write happily in the future?”

“huh. Thanks to.”

“That’s it then.”

Gu Yuna smiled softly. Mission success. Let the boy who sees the world in darkness know that starlight exists even in that darkness. And tell them that the starlight contains the warmth that comes from the heart… .

That was the only reason the novel ‘The Starry Sky’ was created, and because it was successful, the stain left by the superficiality I experienced in America seemed to be washed away from my mind.

In this way, Gu Yuna succeeded in returning a little of the warmth she received from the writer. What can I say, I feel like I’ve become a little more human. We are getting closer to ‘perfection’.

but… .

little bit more.

Just a little more… .

I decided to show my greed, or perhaps my courage.

A quiet club room with just the two of us.

The autumn breeze gently blows through the windows,

While only the sound of the boy turning the pages of a book can be heard.

Guy Yuna, who was leaning against the window and closing her eyes, spoke.

“Do you want to date us?”

committed.

After Gu Yuna said that, she opened her eyes, feeling her heart beating as if it was about to explode.

And then looked at the boy.

The boy’s complexion had changed.

Not red, but white.

As if he had encountered what he feared most.

Out of fear.

“no.”

Gu Yuna is not swayed by emotions.

I asked a question and got an answer.

Then it is your turn to be convinced.

“I see.”

Gu Yuna stood up quietly.

“That doesn’t work…” .”

Gu Yuna left.

In the classroom where the girl left, the boy was left alone.

The boy trapped in the maze of time muttered in fear.

“no… … .”