Novelist Running Through Time

Chapter 134

TL: KSD

Baekhak Publishing has a ‘special thing’ that other publishers don’t have.

This is what made Baekhak Publishing the largest publisher in Korea.

This ‘special thing’ is their <offline bookstores scattered nationwide>.

Other publishers only make books, but Baekhak Publishing not only makes their own books but also sells them in their own stores.

Even other publishers have to supply their books to Baekhak Publishing’s stores, so who would dare to challenge Baekhak Publishing’s stronghold?

In fact, it’s clearly unfair competition, but since Baekhak Media Group, the parent company, controls the Korean press, no one dares to point fingers.

Anyhow, the reason Baekhak Publishing can dominate the publishing industry is not because of the ‘Publishing Business Division’ that makes books, but because of the ‘Book Distribution Division’ that manages bookstores…

Oddly enough, the captain of the Baekhak Publishing ship has always come from the ‘Publishing Business Division’. Even though the ‘Book Distribution Division’ makes much more money.

It’s because Baekhak Publishing was never meant to be a money-making company in the first place.

EP 8 – Dark Adaptation

Baekhak Publishing is a trophy of the Baekhak Group.

A trophy commemorating what?

A trophy commemorating the beginning.

The great founder of the Baekhak Group started with a small bookstore and built up the Baekhak Group.

And the successors must uphold the founder’s ideology for the sake of their own legitimacy.

That’s why the Baekhak Group stubbornly holds onto the publishing company that only makes losses.

Therefore, money is not important.

Rather than aggressive business expansion, the ability to manage the industry stably is more important.

A trophy’s job is not to strive to make money but to sit quietly and shine.

This conservative status quo ideology is also the fundamental reason why the reform proposed by the internal company innovators, including Lim Yang-wook in the past, was crushed.

<Who are they to gamble on the future of the publishing industry while receiving a salary just by staying put?>

– Without this tacit agreement from everyone, Kim Sang-guk, the then head of the Publishing Business Division, and Yang Sung-jun, the head of the Publishing Planning Department, could not have dismantled the well-functioning TF team.

And this ideology continued in the Publishing Planning Department even after Yang Sung-jun was sent off to Andromeda, and Kim Sang-guk became the CEO of Baekhak Publishing.

This was the reason why Woo Ki-tae, the head of the Publishing Planning Department, sneered coldly while reading ‘Dark Adaptation’.

“Tsk… How unfortunate.”

Despite expressing regret, the corners of Woo Ki-tae’s mouth curled up in a smirk.

It was because that damn Moon In’s new work had flopped.

“It’s too dark.”

Even though the ‘Publishing Management Division’, a new player, had entered the playing field of the ‘Publishing Business Division’ and the ‘Book Distribution Division’ that divided Baekhak Publishing,

It didn’t change the two-way battle into a three-way battle.

The Publishing Management Division is a <department that makes books> not a <department that sells books>.

Therefore, it doesn’t touch the rice bowl of the Book Distribution Division but but puts its spoon in Publishing Business Division’s bowl.

Hence, the recent internal conflict at Baekhak Publishing is none other than a one-on-one deathmatch between the Publishing Business Division and the Publishing Management Division.

And the knife that the damned Publishing Management Division is swinging around like a madman is none other than-

Moon In.

That damn Moon In.

“Phew, now it should be quiet for a while…”

During the frenzy of ‘Guitar’ sweeping through Korea and Japan, the core of the Publishing Business Division, the Publishing Planning Department, felt like they were sitting on a bed of nails.

No matter how small the sales revenue from Moon In’s books was compared to the study materials market, seeing the popularity and influence shake both countries made them naturally tremble.

This time, even the excuse that <Moon In is just an individual, a speck compared to the entire industry our department handles> didn’t work, as the Japanese yen poured in.

While all of CEO Kim Sang-guk’s attempts to suppress the Publishing Management Division were being blocked by orders from somewhere in the headquarters, the Publishing Planning Department’s stronghold was almost swept away by the tsunami called Moon In.

Fortunately, it turned out that this tsunami was a temporary phenomenon.

The newly released work ‘Dark Adaptation’, which came out while ‘Guitar’ was receiving unprecedented attention, met a cold defeat.

The reason was clear.

Department Head Woo Ki-tae grabbed a copy of the novel ‘Dark Adaptation’ and tapped it on the desk.

“Do you think such a dark book will work in today’s market?”

“That’s right. It doesn’t meet the needs of the public.”

“Because everyone around him kept hyping him up, he caught the ‘artistic disease,’ right?”

Although it was customary for subordinates to unanimously agree with the Department Head’s opinion, and they all shouted ‘Exactly’ in unison,

Woo Ki-tae himself, despite opening the floodgates of mockery, felt uncomfortable with the term ‘artistic disease’.

“…Yes. It’s a disease. Artistic disease is still a disease.”

Inside ‘Department Head Woo Ki-tae,’ there exists ‘Reader Woo Ki-tae’ who loves novels.

And that Woo Ki-tae was sighing with regret as he witnessed the commercial failure of Dark Adaptation.

Either way,

if he didn’t love books, he wouldn’t have gotten into the business of making them.

* * *

「The world could not accept a person who had killed two people.

I was imprisoned for a very long time in the jail I had so desperately wanted.

But originally, I wanted to enter prison to pay the price for my sins and thereby receive forgiveness.

But now, it’s different.

Sin is an illusion. There is no judgment. There is only torment and other forms of torment.

This society defines the sin of killing someone as something specific that can be washed away by spending a specific period surrounded by specific people in a specific building.

But sin is not specific. Sin is not something specific, but something that exists in the heart. The desire to torment someone is sin, and no one judges that sin.

Judgment, too, is an illusion.

The world does not judge sin. It does not judge torment. What the world calls judgment is people who want to pretend to be righteous, people who dislike society becoming noisy, people who have found someone they can torment, tormenting the sinner. And it’s a kind of game.

Once, I believed in sin.

Not the silly jokes people talk about, but I believed in a clear sin engraved on the soul of a being. And that belief was crushed like the bluebird crushed under a shoe.

Torment! It is like a fish nibbling on its own kind. Like a boy’s prank of stomping on a bluebird. Like the malice of pointing fingers at an innocent person.

It’s the way of nature.

Beasts torment others for their own sake, and humans torment others for their own sake. When hungry, they bite; when uncomfortable, they slander; when they want to be great, they trample; and when they feel they’ve become too bad, they point fingers at those who can be tormented – it’s the law of the jungle.

There is only darkness! There is only pain!

It would have been better if I had not seen anything, but now that I am in the darkness, I can clearly see the darkness. The darkness is too clear.

I tried to hang myself several times to escape this cycle of torment, but the guards always pulled me back from death and locked me in the punishment called life.

Thus, 20 years passed.

When wrinkles appeared on my face, I finally came out into the world, but my punishment was not yet over.

Only when the moment comes to leave this world will I be able to end my long punishment.

On a snowy winter day, as the cold air seeped into my lungs, I thought this as I walked out of the prison.

Now, I should die.

No one will stop me anymore, and I have finally gained the freedom to die. I must escape from this hell where one can only live by tormenting others.

With such a mindset, I walked slowly.

Then, someone grabbed my wrist.

It was a woman with a pale face.

– Excuse me.

The woman wearing a knitted wool hat and mittens looked at me with wide eyes and asked.

-Are you the person who killed my aunt?

While other released prisoners were met by their families, it seemed that an avenger had come to greet me. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Thus, I felt more welcomed than bewildered when I saw Jonathan’s daughter. She was the conclusion that had come to me.

-Kill me.

-What?

-Didn’t you come for revenge?

-What are you talking about? Forget killing, just give me the donation money.

At that moment, I felt more bewilderment than welcome.

The donation money was the money people had given me.

It was coins thrown at me saying they felt relieved that I had avenged the woman who committed suicide due to bullying.

Some called me a martyr who alerted society to the social lynching culture rotting the country, some called me a righteous man who judged the unreasonable educational administration that put too much responsibility on teachers, and some said I was a real man who protected the honor of a lover who had been slandered to death.

Some said they pitied me for my tragic family background and upbringing that led to my downfall, some asked for forgiveness for their participation in the bullying from behind anonymity by giving me this money, and some simply said they felt relieved watching my retaliatory actions and wanted to give me money.

Those were the reasons why they gave me money.

And it was clear that all these donations were actions for themselves, not for others. It was them enjoying tormenting the girl who died by my hands, and I didn’t want to participate in this torment, so I didn’t touch that money.

Let alone hesitate to return it to the owner.

-I’ll give it all to you, take it.

-No, just give me half.

She took exactly half of the 82,412,064 won in the prison account.

Then, with a delighted smile, she offered to buy me a meal.

I could only be dragged along with a dumbfounded expression.」

* * *

Whether it was because she met a good friend or a bad one, Kim Byul developed the peculiar hobby of ‘literature’ in the 21st century.

Who in the world, in the 21st century, would painstakingly read stories that don’t make any sound or move!

Kim Byul got so immersed in this peculiar hobby that she even bought and read books by other authors besides Moon In with her own money.

It could be said that Moon In had thoroughly ruined a person.

However, as Kim Byul began to learn literature in her own way, she experienced a slightly ironic situation…

The more she read works by authors other than Moon In, the more she got to know about the author Moon In.

“Hmm…”

Interestingly, when she only knew Moon In’s writings, she didn’t know what kind of author Moon In was.

But having a point of comparison, she seemed to finally understand what kind of style Moon In had.

First of all, Moon In was weak in descriptions.

He couldn’t write beautifully about nature’s beauty, cascading waterfalls, fields full of buckwheat flowers, or any backgrounds with beautiful scenery.

His expressions weren’t particularly varied either. It felt like a writer whose habits had hardened, using similar terms repeatedly.

Overall, his writing didn’t feel like that of a young writer. Although he was famous for being the youngest. Anyway.

And, though it might be a bit much to say, the depictions of family relationships were somewhat awkward, the characters overly calculating or emotional…

How to put it…

Overall, the literature seemed to lack a bit of humanity.

This was the messy impression of amateur reader Kim Byul about Moon In.

Gu Hak-jun might have summarized all these evaluations with the phrase ‘not lyrical’.

But amateur reader Kim Byul’s perspective was vaguely hitting the mark, possible because she had lived a life practicing for hours to embody a single line of script.

Therefore, conversely, Kim Byul could roughly grasp the strengths of the writer Moon In.

First of all, he wrote good stories.

Particularly, it’s hard to describe, but while reading the novel, you feel a certain flow, and Moon In seemed to handle that flow with ease.

The tension would rises up to your neck and then dissolves into emptiness. It transitions from a peaceful atmosphere to a sudden, chilling presence… that kind of feeling.

To Kim Byul, all those flows felt like a meticulously designed machine. To put it in an actor’s terms, the novel felt like a pre-produced drama that had been prepared for two years.

That’s the feeling.

This too could be summed up by Gu Hak-jun as ‘strong in narrative’.

In any case, the subtly professional amateur Kim Byul quite enjoyed reading the novel ‘Dark Adaptation’.

She deeply resonated with the topics of sins unpunishable by law, humans who can only live by tormenting others, and the hell created by the ugly and dark human nature.

After all, being a celebrity was a job of enduring such torment.

However, the only people who could feel entertained by such a novel were the very few who could continue the boring reading to clearly understand a single moment of irony.

It’s a world where the talent to find charm in dry text has become extremely rare.

In a world full of things more interesting than novels, there’s no place for such a novel.

Kim Byul, being someone who made those <things more interesting than novels>, understood that fact very well.

And as an amateur reader, she couldn’t help but feel regret.

Understanding why it failed, yet feeling so sorry that it did fail, was a paradoxical emotion.

“Sigh…”

Kim Byul closed the book, feeling such complex emotions.

There was actually one more emotion added to this.

As an artist, a reader, and most importantly as a friend of Moon In, Kim Byul had watched how much effort he put into writing this book.

He had become so thin, with dark circles reaching down to his cheeks.

She didn’t know why this particular novel was especially difficult for him, but from what she overheard him whispering with Gu Yu-na, there seemed to be a reason.

And to think that such a painstakingly written novel was ignored by the public. It even became a reason for people to point fingers, saying Moon In’s talent had dried up.

Having experienced countless failures with dramas she had acted in with all her might, Kim Byul could genuinely empathize with that pain.

And at this moment,

There was someone who was thinking similarly to Kim Byul.

* * *

“……”

An old man closed a book.

He savored the lingering emotions with his eyes closed,

Then quietly muttered.

“What a pity.”

The old man had many people who would pick up and carefully attend to even his quietest murmurs, so there was an immediate response from beside him.

“Could you please repeat that?”

“I just said it while reading a book.”

The man in the suit, who inquired about the old man’s intentions, bowed apologetically as if he were sorry for troubling him by reacting to his monologue and retreated.

The old man accepted this attitude naturally and turned his head suddenly.

“This author is…”

“Moon In-seop, sir. Currently a 3rd-year student at Baekhak Arts Middle School, and an author affiliated with Baekhak Publishing. Recently, he was shortlisted for the Booker International…”

“I know. Arrange a meal with him sometime soon.”

“Understood.”

The chief secretary fixed the schedule and carefully withdrew from the office.

He retreated from the office of the Chairman of Baekhak Group.

*****

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