Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 110

TL: KSD

「Han Ye-won’s parents were against our union. Their main argument was that a health teacher, being a public education officer, was not on the same level as a PhD student.

I tried to convince them that the social gap was not significant, citing the wealth I inherited from my parents, but such class distinctions based on profession seemed to depend not only on wealth and income but also on social perception.

Thus, Han Ye-won’s parents took great pride in their daughter’s social status as a health teacher.

Then, how far had Han Ye-won’s class fallen after she suffered brain damage and lost her job?

It was a difficult question to answer, but from the moment her own family refused to care for her during her illness, it seemed that Han Ye-won had completely lost her social status.

The slow observation of humans being abandoned by their families when they can no longer function economically was evident.

From here, I confirmed that social status is indeed a component of being human, and I found another reason to assert that Health Teacher Han Ye-won and Incompetent Han Ye-won were not the same person.

But this was not enough.

More evidence was needed.

Thus, the experiment was not yet over, so I continued to care for Han Ye-won. I am not sure why the hospital staff’s attitude towards me became unusually friendly around that time.」

EP 7–Isomer

As someone born in Paris, France, Gu Hak-jun only drank hot coffee.

Putting ice in coffee was something only demons from hell would do.

Thus, the Parisian Gu Hak-jun always enjoyed his hot espresso, but the problem was that if you spit it out, it could burn your chest.

The reason Koreans, who cherish the body inherited from their parent, put ice in coffee could be seen from this.

However, for Gu Hak-jun, the hot espresso dripping onto his chest was not as important as Gu Yu-na.

“Yu, Yu-na, what are you saying…?”

“So if I get heatstroke and my brain gets fried, leading to memory loss, how will our family inheritance-”

Feeling dizzy from the conversation, Gu Hak-jun had to put down his coffee cup.

But it’s a well-known fact that excessive caffeine intake is harmful to the body.

So, can’t Gu Yu-na’s action of forcibly discontinuing Gu Hak-jun’s coffee consumption while presenting a <unique perspective on inheritance> also be seen as a kind of filial piety, right?

Of course, Gu Hak-jun, who suddenly heard his daughter, who said she was writing a novel with a friend, talking about what would happen if her brain got fried from heatstroke, might have a different opinion.

But the act of a swordsman,

No, the act of a filial daughter is originally unhindered.

It’s hard to get off when riding a tiger, and the great way has no gate.

Killing Buddha and ancestors, amd a matter of righteousness and reason. (TL: In the these two lines author have used 4 different Chinese Idioms in Hanja which I am not good with but still have translated them based on the meaning I found on the internet.)

Once a man draws his sword with determination, there is only moving forward from there.

Thus, unencumbered by trivialities, Gu Yu-na moved forward without hesitation to establish her intentions.

It meant she often did this at school too.

“Is a person without intelligence closer to a human or an animal? An animal? If intelligence is the criterion for defining a human, why call a criminal of high intelligence an animal? Are human standards based on intelligence or virtue?”

“The law takes away rights from people who cannot function normally. But that’s just an intangible norm. But if social consensus enters human standards, isn’t a person not noble just because they are born? Does human nobility stem from law or morality?”

“Alright, I’ll stop questioning about humans now. There’s still a question about love left. Love is… Where are you going?”

“Aaaargh! Save me!”

The cruel tentacles of the serial-question monster struck the 2nd-year classroom of Baekhak Arts Middle School’s Creative Writing department.

The students, who had been tormented by Gu Yu-na’s barrage of questions, were terrified at the mere sight of her.

A rule was established:

<Creative Writing Department Safety Rule No. 1: If you encounter a short girl walking down the hall with a pen and paper, never make eye contact.

If that girl asks you a question, do not answer under any circumstances and escape from her line of sight immediately.

But do not run.

Her running speed is faster than yours.>

Given the situation, it was inevitable that Park Chang-woon, the department head of Creative Writing, would hear about it.

Around the time when Gu Yu-na was becoming something akin to a ghost story rather than a human being, Park Chang-woon, having heard the desperate grievances of the students, accepted the mission of the Ghostbusters.

The literature teacher, clad in a brown modernized hanbok, performed an exorcism with a bamboo flute in hand.

“Say! Yu-na, you’ve been quite talkative these days, haven’t you?”

Gu Yu-na, who was called to the faculty office, tilted her head as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.

Park Chang-woon briefly clutched his heart and staggered. Truly, a troublesome ghost.

“Acting cute won’t help! I thought you were doing well these days, but why are you tormenting your friends! Ah, it really pains me…”

“Ah.”

Gu Yu-na, who prioritizes her own literature over others’ affairs but is certainly not lacking in intelligence, quickly grasped the context and explained the whole story.

“What? Isomer?”

And for Park Chang-woon too, the big news that Moon In was writing a new work was more important than the students’ whining, so the conversation quickly shifted to that topic.

(Pushing aside the exorcism of the serial-question monster), when Park Chang-woon learned that Gu Yu-na was writing with Moon In, he regretted not having been approached first.

“Ah, why didn’t Moon In come to me first…”

But as they say, if not a pheasant, then a chicken will do, so Park Chang-woon, eager to get involved, asked Gu Yu-na to show him the manuscript of ‘Isomer’ she was currently working on.

And surprisingly, Gu Yu-na just showed it to him.

A beast recognizes a beast!

Though infamous among her peers in the Creative Writing department for her brutal methods, Gu Yu-na was merely a minor figure in the literary world. She couldn’t hope to match Park Chang-woon’s bizarre fame.

After all, wasn’t Park Chang-woon a strange figure whose very clothes seemed to emit a faint madness?

Gu Yu-na effortlessly read the intense obsession with literature in Park Chang-woon’s eyes.

As the saying goes in the martial world, beware of women and the elderly, so these two, fitting into the <be cautious> category, respected each other to avoid conflict.

“Hoh….”

And as Gu Yu-na expected, Park Chang-woon showed his profound skills worthy of his reputation.

Unlike Min Hyo-min and Shim Yeon-ho, who fled as if they had seen a forbidden demonic scripture upon looking at the lines, Park Chang-woon was utterly calm.

“Um, department head, you need to go into the 3rd-year class…”

“Let Teacher Kim handle it.”

“Yes, sir!”

Park Chang-woon, who read the novel leisurely while commanding the Creative Writing department teachers as if they were his limbs, even left such a remark.

“It’s quite orthodox.”

Gu Yu-na nodded as if she had heard something obvious.

***

Unlike Min Hyo-min and Shim Yeon-ho, who as soon as they opened the first page, reacted as if they had seen the Necronomicon made of human skin, foaming at the mouth. Surprisingly, ‘Isomer’ was closer to being an orthodox rather than an evil novel.

Of course, the Moon In had deliberately recreated the dark internal energy of Gu Yu-na from ‘those days’, but not everything that is dark is evil.

(Initially, the orthodox literary circles deemed genre novel and web novels as the true villains)

In truth, literature has a historical duty to shine a light on society’s darkness, and because it typically provides less sensory stimulation than other media, it tends to explore deeper levels of expression.

Min Hyo-min and Shim Yeon-ho, being outsiders to the literary circle, were unaware of this rationale.

On the other hand, Park Chang-woon, one of the esteemed veterans of the literary world, clearly understood the identity of this novel.

Naturally, his words carried depth.

‘Orthodox.’

The term orthodox not only means ‘correct’ but also implies ‘inheriting something.’

Therefore, by evaluating ‘Isomer,’ Park Chang-woon stated that it had rightfully inherited something.

That would obviously be pure literature—

Pure literature.

However, the term ‘pure literature’ has recently been used to imply purity in the sense of being unadulterated, not mixed with impure elements like genre novels or web novels—

This shift is due to genre literature emerging as the main enemy of pure literature in contemporary times, but it also signifies a departure from the original meaning of the word pure literature.

Park Chang-woon, of course, knew the old meaning of pure literature.

Being a walking fossil and a guardian of ancient secrets, it was only natural for him.

Originally, the antithesis of pure literature wasn’t genre literature but ‘engaged literature.’

Literature is called engaged literature because it participates in key societal sectors to foster change and innovation.

And since there were many aspects that needed to be addressed in literature after the year 1910 (the year of the Japanese annexation of Korea), naturally, the mainstream literature of this country had to be engaged literature.

(This includes the brief period in the middle when it was united with the neighboring country) (TL: aka both North and South Korea as one)

Park Chang-woon and Seo Woon-pil, if their lineage had to be categorized, would be closer to engaged literature. Although their political leanings were extreme opposites, both primarily wrote literature that engaged with society.

In contrast, pure literature focuses on the beauty of the writing itself.

This is the original meaning of pure literature.

And what Park Chang-woon discovered in ‘Isomer’ was precisely this type of pure literature.

It even possessed a literary quality reminiscent of Gu Hak-jun, the patriarch of pure literature, as if it had inherited his literary essence.

“It seems like Hak-jun’s influence is showing…”

Gu Yu-na cast an annoyed look at Park Chang-woon for daring to compare the Moon In’s writing to her father, but this was the highest compliment Park Chang-woon could offer.

That’s because Park Chang-woon recognized Gu Hak-jun as the greatest pure literature novelist he knew, a sentiment widely shared by many others.

People often focus on Gu Hak-jun’s political achievements during bleak times, but literary figures highly value his literary accomplishments.

He fused Western and Eastern literatures, introducing a new type of pure literature to Korea.

This was precisely why Gu Hak-jun won the Goncourt Prize.

Like all pioneers, Gu Hak-jun might have become part of the cliché today, but in his time, he brought about striking innovations.

The basis of these innovations was ‘philosophy.’

Unlike Easterners who often regard philosophy as inherently complex, Westerners consider philosophy a part of everyday life.

Ancient Greek philosophy is the foundation of Western civilization, central to Christian and Islamic philosophies, and the driving force behind all they have achieved.

(Of course, the reason Easterners find philosophy difficult is not due to a lack of intelligence but because Westerners have obliterated all philosophies except those they created.)

Thus, Westerners have always treated philosophy as part of their daily lives, and naturally, France was no exception.

Gu Hak-jun, who grew up in a country where people sit in a cafe near the library with a book, engage in a heated debate with a stranger next to them about the book, fight, reconcile over a glass of wine, and then part ways, was naturally greatly influenced.

It is an undeniable fact that the Korean pure literature world, which used to think of beautiful nature and the happiness of a simple life when it came to pure literature due to the influence of Confucianism and the scholarly influences, was greatly shocked by Gu Hak-jun’s intellectual play that freely controlled Western philosophy.

(It was the opposite in France)

In Gu Hak-jun’s writings, philosophy was an inseparable theme, and Park Chang-woon saw such hues in Moon In’s work too.

This was why Park Chang-woon, the great senior of the literary circle, gasped in amazement with his eyes wide open.

“Ah!”

Park Chang-woon paused mid-reading, gasping as he looked up at the ceiling.

The dim fluorescent light on the ceiling seemed like the sun that would illuminate the future of the Korean literary world.

Although Gu Yu-na looked at him as if seeing a peculiar person, Park Chang-woon, unfazed by the gaze of others, muttered his astonishments for a while, calming his excitement.

To pull in philosophical dilemmas not just as a part of literature but as the central theme, and to unfold the story based solely on that?

“A bold attempt. And it’s a very challenging piece of writing…”

Especially knowing that Moon In had never formally received teachings from Gu Hak-jun, Park Chang-woon seemed to have his eyes opened once again to Moon In’s peculiar genius.

How does this young man write such things?

With no way to solve that mystery,

All he could do was admire.

And Park Chang-woon, the novelist.

He wasn’t one to hide his admiration.

“Hey. Did you guys read it?”

“What?”

“Isomer!”

Park Chang-woon expressed his admiration in front of the classroom students.

“Ah, teachers, have you read it?”

“If you mention it, I’ll look at it right away.”

“Uh huh, you can’t read it immediately, but it’s called ‘Isomer’…”

Park Chang-woon expressed his admiration in front of the teachers in the staff room.

“Hey, Lee Hyun-ah. Have you read it?”

“The official letter from the National Tax Service? Of course I saw it.”

“No, not that! Isomer!”

Park Chang-woon expressed his admiration in front of the director at the Teacher Training Institute.

“Honey, have you read it?”

“……”

“I’ve been into ‘Isomer’ lately…”

Park Chang-woon expressed his admiration in front of his wife.

[Guys, have you read it?]

[Read what]

[Isomer]

[Is it a new book? Where is it from?]

[It hasn’t been published yet]

[Then how the hell are we supposed to read it, you bastard]

Park Chang-woon expressed his admiration in front of his group chat.

In fact, that was the most decisive thing.

* * *

Criticism of the literary power structure often invokes a vast, shadowy force purportedly controlling the literary world from behind the scenes, but in reality, no such thing exists.

(The evil dark corporate Baekhak Publishing is strictly speaking not part of the literary world but the publishing industry, and power doesn’t actually reside there.)

Primarily because the revenue structure of writers resembles that of independent contractors, where organization is not crucial, and because writers stereotypically lack sociability.

Therefore, ‘authors,’ generally a profession of friendless outsiders, tend to gather with like-minded individuals rather than forming large organizations.

Park Chang-woon was no exception.

He primarily engaged in social activities within a small group chat that included Gu Hak-jun.

For the record, Seo Woon-pil isn’t there. Seo Woon-pil is an unusual case of a writer who owns a large organization.

However, Park Chang-woon and Gu Hak-jun’s ‘group chat’ also exaggeratedly had an influence comparable to Seo Woon-pil’s literary magazine, because the members of that group chat were people of considerable renown.

One of them was Cheong In-ha.

“The old man is talking nonsense again….”

The poet and novelist Cheong In-ha checked the chat and frowned in displeasure.

Anyway, Park Chang-woon that guy never knows how to have fun quietly.

Just as in every organization, from the kindergarten class to the Blue House cabinet, there were cliques within the group chat as well.

Cheong In-ha is a traditionalist.

She participated in offline gatherings where they would recite poetry, drink tea, send sparkling mobile GIFs during holidays, and enjoy the mainstream culture of her peers by sending Bible verses to the group chat every morning—a typical person in her 60s.

However, even within the group chat, Park Chang-woon was considered an eccentric.

What kind of old man plays Battle Royale games?

Every evening when a message popped up asking, <BG?>, Cheong In-ha would sigh heavily before anything else.

Moreover, as far as she knew, he didn’t even play the game properly. Four of them would gather in the game world for a walk and just chat over voice, but among them, only Gu Hak-jun actually played properly, leading to frequent quarrels in the group chat.

If it became known that esteemed literary figures were doing this, many literature enthusiasts would be dumbfounded.

Anyway, Park Chang-woon was someone who lived a bit too youthfully for his age, always causing a stir in the group chat with what the young people these days call <creating chaos>.

Cheong In-ha, fueled by anger, furiously typed on her phone using the ‘doksuri tapping’ method. (TL: See image below)

[Listen, Minister Park,, when a person gets old, one should show behavior befitting their age to set a good example and cultivate dignity,, please demonstrate decorum in your actions and words,,,]

The reply came quickly.

[ㅇㅉㅌㅂ] (TL: Korean slang which means ‘So what? go watch TV’. )

Cheong In-ha, not sure what it meant but sensing deep malice in the response, was infuriated.

Her furious ‘doksuri tapping’ continued on her phone screen.

[Bringing up an unpublished novel, boasting as if you have read it—how is this different from a child showing off? Please exercise restraint,,,]

[In-ha, right now our Moon In is working on a new piece, do you think I have the luxury to hold back???]

Oh.

Then the story is a bit different.

Cheong In-ha, slightly suppressing her fiery temper, gently prodded Park Chang-woon.

[Send it to me once. I’ve always been interested in that young friend’s writing,,]

[?]

[I could give it a review if needed,,,]

If Cheong In-ha’s students saw this, they would be wide-eyed and jaw-dropped to hear their teacher speak so softly and amiably, but Park Chang-woon didn’t care.

[I can’t send it to you ㅅㄱ] (TL: another slang which in here means ‘nice try’)

Veins throbbed on Cheong In-ha’s forehead.

Just as she was about to continue her furious typing, Park Chang-woon added another comment.

[Contact PD Shim Yeon-ho at BMB Entertainment’s variety department; if you arrange a lesson with him, you might get a chance to see it]

“Oh…?”

*****

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