Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 176



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The Novelist Who Leapt Through Time Episode 176

The world is not made up of numbers.

The world is made up of subjects who are incalculable, capricious, and largely emotional, and who simultaneously create countless variables: humans.

Sometimes, highly educated experts get kicked in the ass for forgetting this self-evident fact.

For example, the famous British university professor Isaac New

The same was true for ‘The Starry Sky’.

Although the two authors treat the Hugo Award as a bonus, the new record that the book achieved did not end with just a record on paper.

That record came to fruition and brought about numerous changes.

“Congratulations! president!”

The crown of Vice President Kim Geun-tae’s head, which was removed before Baek Seol’s eyes, was an example of this ‘change’.

Side EP-Lucky Day

Kim Geun-tae, vice president of Baekhak Bookstore, had worked as the head of the book distribution division for a long time and had a thorough understanding of how the company operated.

And Baekhak Bookstore was like a trophy that was set up for its brand value, cultural influence, and to please the chairman, even if it suffered huge losses.

In such a company, a young CEO who is fussing about global business and expansion into the U.S. has no choice but to leave everything behind and be treated like a brat.

And this…

It was also a cliché that was more familiar than expected.

If you’re an office worker in Korea, you can’t be unaware of seasonal events that come up from time to time.

The outline of the event is as follows.

1. The royal parachute fell on a company that was operating normally.

2. Global blah-blah operation by a young and passionate management (who treats existing executives like assholes).

3. Make a big deal out of it and replace the player.

Since then, there have been sub-events such as ‘death game to select responsible person’ and ‘accounting fraud to prevent stock price decline’, but the moral of this story is always the same.

That means .

Wouldn’t the executives of the existing Baekhak Bookstore have dreamed of entering the U.S. market? Of course I tried it.

Almost every publisher has a romantic dream of ‘resurrecting the industry’ in their hearts.

But the dream is high, but the reality is a gutter.

I tried tapping on a calculator, and I mustered up the courage to dip my toes in it. But I didn’t do it because I didn’t think it would work.

Entering the US? It’s difficult to avoid a deficit this quarter right now, so what kind of nonsense is that?

– No matter how much you don’t know about physics, it’s true…

– Aren’t you a very young person? They tell you to do whatever you want. It won’t work anyway. haha.

– If New Face goes out of business and resigns, the vice president will be promoted to take care of things, so we have to take good care of him then. what.

Therefore, the seasoned Baek Seol men thought that Baek Seol was someone who would soon disappear.

It’s a regular occurrence to bring in new faces to change the atmosphere and pretend to innovate. It is also common for new faces to go out of business and run away.

In such vacant positions, experienced existing personnel have no choice but to be brought in to fill those positions. Therefore, people who think they have an eye for the future are quick to join the vice president line.

And those who had an accurate understanding of the political situation knew long ago that Baek Seol was a kind of scarecrow, so they did their job.

But the scarecrow won the Hugo Award.

“ah… !”

Taking responsibility for all the indifference and alienation that had been pouring on Baek Seol, who was talking to a plant in the president’s office, Vice President Kim Geun-tae had to shout, ‘I was believing it.’

“also… ! People who came back after studying abroad are different!”

“Eh, ehehe… Oh, no… ”

“We can solve the long-awaited project of Baekhak Library in one queue!”

For reference, Vice President Kim Geun-tae’s daughter is three years younger than Baek Seol.

Making a living was such a difficult task.

* * *

The Hugo Award was a sacred object with enough divine power to transform Baek Seol, who was something like a succulent plant for the president’s office, into a wise man.

And even without the Hugo Award, the book value that Baekhak Bookstore collected this quarter was enormous.

The number of ‘0’s attached to the digits was different.

It is a self-evident fact that even the imperialist powers of the 19th century knew that economic downturns could be resolved by entering overseas markets. It was not for nothing that the British went to India armed with guns and swords.

However, after Japan’s economic policy, which tried to eat Joseon with a gun and sword, and then tried to eat China as well, failed due to side effects similar to a nuclear bomb, the key to the next generation’s economic policy became as follows.

How do you expand your market without a sword?

Numerous experiments have been conducted to solve this difficult problem. Failure to engage in free trade will cause a financial crisis, purge those with poor urban development performance, build missile bases near other people’s capitals, etc.

However, this is a story at the national level.

Private companies without a Wall Street-level lobbyist financial group, a reserve currency such as the dollar, or at least a military organization such as the People’s Liberation Army must use a slightly more old-fashioned method.

For example, feeding liquor to staff or reporters.

That is usually called ‘sales’.

In that sense, the ‘sales’ of Lim Yang-wook, who verbally beat up the working staff of large Japanese and American publishing companies, advanced into the United States through a tripartite alliance, and won a Hugo Award through strategic maneuver, was close to a miracle.

“Hey… “It’s really amazing, it’s amazing.”

The people at Baekhak Library are not stupid either.

There were (few) people who believed that the success of ‘The Starry Sky’ in the United States was due to Snow White’s bloodline sanctity.

People knew who the real protagonist was.

“Im Yang-wook… “I approve of you.”

Woo Ki-tae, head of the Publication Planning Department, was Lim Yang-wook’s senior. While he was working as an assistant manager, Lim Yang-wook came into the temple.

Although he graduated from a local university, he has seen Lim Yang-wook being attacked by seniors from prestigious universities, and he has also seen Lim being gradually chipped away at by being beaten around.

And when Yang-wook Lim and the innovators in the Publication Planning Department suffered a miserable decline and were kicked out of the company, Ki-tae Woo was an onlooker who just watched and clicked his tongue.

But they both know that a bystander in that position cannot be a pure bystander. Woo Ki-tae is somewhat responsible for Lim Yang-wook’s downfall.

Since the words ‘I admit’ came out of Woo Ki-tae’s mouth, those words must have been bittersweet.

As soon as Woo Ki-tae finished speaking, he rinsed his mouth with strong soju.

However, the bitter taste had not yet gone away, so I stumbled while sitting and was unable to straighten my body.

It was Lim Yang-wook who accepted the large body that looked like it was about to fall off the chair.

“senior. “Come to your senses.”

“Ah, I came to my senses. I came to my senses… ”

“You’re completely drunk… ”

When Lim Yang-wook saw it, Woo Ki-tae was already speechless.

The following words proved this.

“Hey, do you know what our kids are saying? Yangwook Lim: I wonder if he got his money from that nobleman’s underground parking lot. He said he would go into the underground parking lot, practice on the face wall, and then return… ”

“Who said that?”

“huh? Mincheol? Mincheol… ”

“Yes. I see.”

One person was added to the killing list in Lim Yang-wook’s mind.

Manager Woo Ki-tae, whether aware of his terrifying intentions or not, kept stumbling around drunk.

The strong smell of alcohol coming from Woo Ki-tae’s body was more terrible than the smell of odeng soup that filled the food stall.

What on earth made this person so drunk?

Feeling inferiority because you were pushed out by a junior you were once close with?

The fear of having to look at the opinions of the juniors they kicked out?

Or is it the feeling of self-destruction that they cannot accept the fact that they were wrong and Lim Yang-wook was right?

You never know.

Unless it is him, Lim Yang-wook will never know their feelings.

As if they could never understand what Lim Yang-wook was thinking while staying in the underground parking lot for two years…

“ah… Yangwook… ”

Senior and junior, who could never be connected again, were able to exchange sincere affection far outside the company, and only with the help of alcohol.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” ”

“… … ”

“I was wrong. huh? I did something really bad to you… ”

However, the sincerity that comes out while drunk is limited to the realm outside of the company. It is an area that belongs to human-human relationships, not trustworthy contracts.

And people stop trusting people over 30 years old. The sincerity exchanged under such a premise is a defective sincerity in which neither the conveyer nor the receiver can be trusted.

Therefore, Lim Yang-wook also gave an answer that sounded like a defective product. The answer is like a cheap plastic toy sold at Daiso.

“Ah, it’s okay, calm down, senior. “You don’t have to go home.”

“That’s right- that’s right. I have to go see my family… ”

“I’ll get you a taxi. “You used to live there, but are you still living there?”

“no. I moved… ”

“Try calling the address… Oh my. “You went to a good place.”

Lim Yang-wook lowered his head until the taxi carrying Woo Ki-tae disappeared from sight. Even though he was a manager-level official, he just did that. Just like the old days when I was a new employee with strict military discipline…

However, the rewarding smile that the new employee, Lim Yang-wook, had as the young man raised his head after bowing at 90 degrees, was not seen again in Manager Lim Yang-wook.

Lim Yang-wook’s expression was dull when he lowered his waist and then raised his head again.

It’s dull and business-like. At first glance, he even looked tired.

For a salesman who had achieved record-breaking results in the company’s history, he had a very dry attitude.

In fact, Lim Yang-wook is now closer to 40, not 30. He can’t stand it.

I had to go home right away and lie down to sleep so I could wake up tomorrow morning.

I was overcome with such fatigue that I got on the subway on my way home from work.

Fortunately, it was late at night so I was able to sit down.

“… … ”

I imitated the shaking of Bupyeong Elementary School by leaving my body to the shaking of the subway, and looked at the bizarre human figures that never disappeared on Line 1 even late at night –

Yangwook Lim suddenly realized that what he had just experienced was not unusual.

It was never normal.

This is because it was a wish that Lim Yang-wook had longed for as he endured it for two years in an underground parking lot.

“ah.”

Belated realization came to me.

He finally…

He received an apology from the mean seniors who kicked him out of the company, saying that they were wrong and Lim Yang-wook was right, and that they were sorry.

Then, the angels had to come down and set off fireworks, and the world that Lim Yang-wook was looking at was shining in all kinds of colors and the phrase ‘Congratulations!’ had to be displayed.

Obviously, it had to be that way.

“ah… … ”

Lim Yang-wook endured two years in an underground parking lot, looking only for this day. And the long period of humiliation returned with even greater success.

Lim Yang-wook became the company’s hero, and the people who kicked him out became obsolete. He even took revenge with his own hands.

But the angels did not come down, and the world did not shine in all its glory.

The world that Lim Yang-wook sees is the same as Line 1, where a drunkard stumbles.

Why?

I don’t know.

Have your emotions dried up?

To confirm this, Lim Yang-wook took out the text message received at 2:32 pm today and checked it again.

– Congratulations.

Managing Director Baek Do-hyeon’s right-hand man, Managing Director Kim Myeong-woon, sent a text message saying that Lim Yang-wook’s promotion to executive was confirmed.

As Baek Do-hyun is the head of the human resources support team in the strategic planning office at the headquarters, it was news that could never be wrong. Because he meant that they pushed him.

But my heart doesn’t stop beating when I look at it.

Why?

“ha… ”

To use a literary analogy, I felt like I had become a regressor whose emotions had dried up after returning tens of thousands of times.

Lim Yang-wook muttered something that a regressor like that would say.

“You’re lucky…” ”

But suddenly, Lim Yang-wook had an ominous feeling that if he returned home alone like this, he would not be able to avoid feeling gloomy all night.

So, Lim Yang-wook sent a text message to his young friend in a somewhat immature tone.

– Hey, Inseop. Can I sleep in your studio today?

The answer was, of course, OK. Lim Yang-wook was already thinking about what to buy for a late-night snack.

okay. Pig’s feet would be nice. I think it would make me feel better if I bought some hot pig’s feet and dumplings and boasted about being promoted to an executive.

But looking at the reply that came back right away.

Lim Yang-wook felt his heart pounding, like ‘a regressor whose emotions have dried up after returning tens of thousands of times.’

However, it wasn’t a pleasant thrill.

– I’ll be out of writing for a while.

Somehow, I thought it was a lucky day.