Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 116

TL: KSD

If we compare the rise and fall of literature to history, now is neither the ‘Dark Ages’ nor the ‘Decline’ but the ‘Post-Apocalypse’.

The world has already perished due to nuclear war, and the few survivors are barely scraping by amidst the ruins.

And, of course, they can’t help but fight among themselves, so there was no need to look far for a real-life version of The Walking Dead.

Anyway, this is the worst apocalypse ever to hit the literary world.

It’s called <People Not Reading Books>.

However, surprisingly, you can still find famous novelists in the Korean entertainment industry, but how is that possible?

There’s a secret hidden here too.

Famous novelists are generally not famous for their novels.

They are famous for movies based on their novels, or for appearing on variety shows.

Moon In is no exception.

If you ask who the novelist on the variety show ‘Peaceful Uninhabited Island’ is, most people will answer Moon In.

But if you ask them to name three of Moon In’s novels, most of them will go, ‘Um… Uh… What was it?’

Therefore, if you were to summarize the public’s perception of Moon In in one sentence, it would be <A poor genius boy who writes novels that bring glory to the nation>.

But the perception within the literary world was a bit different.

Moon In was not just a somewhat famous kid in the literary world.

Moon In-seop… He is a god!

He was a god.

EP 8 – Dark Adaptation

What is a ‘god’?

– The question has been debated throughout human history, but a definitive conclusion has not yet been reached.

However, gods described in folklore generally have superpowers like precognition, necromancy, psychic power, or duplicating fish.

And they use these powers to grant people’s wishes.

So, from the perspective of <a being that grants people’s wishes with seemingly impossible superpowers>, Moon In was indeed a god.

Because Moon In revived the already dead publishing industry.

Of course, the publishing industry, now as ever, is still teetering. But there’s a significant difference between a teetering zombie and a teetering sick person.

A teetering zombie is only left to rot away, but a teetering sick person can go to the hospital and recover.

Thus, he reversed the publishing industry’s plummeting graph, making it rise again, like a descending roller coaster suddenly going back up.

That was the miracle Moon In performed.

Despite being battered by K-dramas and gnawed away by web novels, the publishing industry’s scale slightly increased even amid all these disasters.

That was a miracle akin to duplicating money when there was almost nothing.

The kids at the New Light Spring Orphanage, who early on referred to Moon In as <the one who creates pizza and turns water into cola>, continue to be right on the mark today. As expected of kids from a Christian orphanage, they have a religious perspective.

Anyway, duplicating fish and duplicating money essentially have the common point of filling people up.

Just as the Hebrews decided to follow Jesus after getting fish and bread, the beneficiaries who firmly boarded the publishing boom initiated by Moon In did not hesitate to worship him.

Thus, Moon In became the child god of the Korean literary world and the publishing industry.

Although he exposed the practice of debut fees by buying 16 literary awards at the time of his debut, that was merely a dispute stirred up by treacherous ministers like Lim Yang-wook who blinded the holy one’s eyes. Naturally, if the rebels are eliminated and the king’s work is restored, everything will be fine.

(Originally, in Asia, this is how things were smoothed over when covering for superiors.)

Thus, the literary world, being people who make a living by writing, neatly revised history books. Some literary renegades dared to rebel, but they were easily crushed by the reputation of Gu Hak-jun.

In fact, with the joint guarantee of Gu Hak-jun, Park Chang-woon, and Seo Woon-pil, even a cat with ink-stained paws could now be considered part of the ‘literary family’. How much more so for Moon In?

Though Moon In was reborn as a member of the Korean literary world, the ‘literary magazine’ side, who could be said to have been directly slapped by Moon In, had a slightly different thought.

And.

That’s where all the butterfly effects began.

* * *

“Ah, damn it…”

“Why the long face so early in the morning?”

“Ah, the situation is just pissing me off. My pride is really hurt…”

As it’s the nature of the world for bad news to spread faster than good news, the authority of the literary magazine plummeted irreversibly after the exposé of the debut fee practice.

However, the practice of debut fees, meaning the act of selling literary awards or demanding money from the winners, wasn’t something that just started yesterday or the day before.

And it wasn’t a grand, malevolent act where a sinister and powerful entity within the literary world extended its claws to form a fearsome cartel of vested interests.

It was more like… civilians raiding a convenience store for food in the face of an apocalypse. In other words, it was a form of corruption born out of necessity.

Would they have done this if literary magazines sold well in the first place? Isn’t it because people didn’t buy literary magazines that they had to resort to desperate measures? So isn’t it the world that’s at fault? And isn’t Moon In, who harassed poor us, also at fault?

In the end, it’s the light of philosophy and reason that saves the confused human mind. Thus, the people at the literary magazine found peace of mind through philosophical reflection. It was a great triumph of the spirit.

But, like all philosophers, they faced an unavoidable philosophical dilemma.

The dilemma was whether to give an award to Moon In.

“…What should we do, guys?”

“…What does the editor-in-chief say?”

“He’s just smoking cigarettes like a chimney…”

Around spring, similar discussions were happening in most literary magazines.

‘Should we give an award to Moon In, who elevated his own honor by exposing a corruption that everyone knew about but everyone ignored, making us the victims?’

Of course, the real culprit would be Lim Yang-wook of Baekhak Publishing (no way an elementary school kid could be the mastermind, right?), but Moon In’s unintended suffering wasn’t the main concern.

This was not about Moon In’s honor, but the honor of the literary magazine industry.

In fact, it wasn’t just about honor.

Money, subscribers, the credibility of literary awards, the recruitment rate of new writers, connections, loyalty, reputation, profit structure, innovation, internal politics, the gaze of the publishing industry, the stance difference between minor and major literary magazines, and so on…

Because so many complicated issues were intertwined, the discussions did not easily reach a conclusion.

There was no distinction between major and minor literary magazines. Since everyone knew each other through one or two connections, it was a matter concerning the future of the entire literary magazine industry.

“We should just apologize cleanly and give Moon In the award! What are we even doing here?”

“Then thousands of small literary magazines across the country will close. Local literary circles will dry up. Do you think the practice of debut fees will disappear in this situation? Everyone will continue to do it to survive.”

“A magazine with no money can easily say whatever they want, but our lives are on the line here. Certification exams also charge money, so why can’t the debut fee, which is essentially a writer’s certification, charge money?”

“No! It’s about buying honor with money!”

“Why not? Some shabby countries sell noble titles for money. They even ship them via international delivery.”

“That’s why it’s not okay! You’re making the honor of Korean literature as cheap as those shabby countries selling noble titles!”

“So, in the end, to save face, you want all the small literary magazines to starve to death?”

“Please, seniors, don’t fight and let’s talk…”

“We are talking, aren’t we? The rich and famous literary magazines are basically telling us all to die because they’re embarrassed. I shouldn’t have joined this newspaper…”

“Hyung-pil, that’s not what I meant…”

“Enough. I’ll just go have a smoke before I go into my coffin. If only I hadn’t fallen for your plea about your pregnant wife and moving to the countryside…”

“Ah, Hyung-pil!”

“But, well… if you calculate it, it does make sense to just give Moon In the award. Lim Yang-wook has returned to Baekhak Publishing now. They say he’s just using the department head as a puppet…”

“Damn it, we may have no money, but we still have pride!”

“Good point. Why do people buy and read literary magazines? Frankly, it’s because they want to show off, to say ‘I’m an intellectual’. But if that pride is shattered, will people still read literary magazines?”

“We don’t have enough subscribers to know much about that.”

“Oh, really…”

“Ah, why did Lim Yang-wook have to complicate things so much…”

This story, which began to circulate around autumn, kept the editors of literary magazines stressed throughout the winter.

They had to reach a conclusion by spring somehow, as the Annual Spring Literary Contest was approaching.

Therefore, a unified response plan had to be established for the literary magazines by the time the contest announcements were made.

Individual actions would not be tolerated. If they scattered now, it would truly be the end for everyone.

Of course, there was the option for all the literary magazines to band together to destroy Moon In. This would involve bombarding him with ridiculously harsh criticism.

However, with Gu Hak-jun saying “Ahem”, Seo Woon-pil saying “Hmm”, and Park Chang-woon cursing “You fucking bastards”, it was clear that a tough stance would be useless.

Moreover, the image of the Korean literary magazine critique scene attacking a writer who had even been a Booker International Prize candidate was anything but dignified.

Yet, they couldn’t just smile and give him the award either.

Neither this nor that worked.

A machine would display an error code and crash spectacularly in such a situation.

But humans can’t do that. They have families to feed.

Therefore, the editors of literary magazines spent a miserable winter, staring blankly into space in their offices like broken computers.

There was no proper solution, but the Annual Spring Literary Contest was slowly approaching. Their hearts tightened, and their phones were constantly ringing. Something had to be done.

Just as the editors of literary magazines were shivering in anxiety.

A lifeline descended upon them.

A lifeline called 「Student Serial Killer」.

* * *

To begin with, it is worth noting that Gu Yubin’s the 「Student Serial Killer」 was clearly a piece deserving of a literary award.

However, coincidentally, there was also a political reason to award this novel.

Gu Yubin was the daughter of Gu Hak-jun, affiliated with Baekhak Publishing, and already a well-known novelist in the literary circle.

This meant that there were no grounds for criticism even if she received the award.

Moreover, until the emergence of Moon In, Gu Yubin had been the greatest prospect in Korean literature.

She was always referred to as a ‘genius’ whenever her name came up.

However, due to the public’s preference for an elementary school student writing novels over a middle school student writing poems, Gu Yubin was temporarily forgotten.

In this context, each literary magazine took action.

The ‘genius literary girl’ had returned.

[Genius Girl Gu Yubin Returns to the Literary World After Two Years, Shocking Sensational Work!]

[Review, 「Student Serial Killer」, A Raw Look at School from a Student Writer.]

Fortunately, Moon In had not submitted his work to any specific literary magazine. Therefore, there was no need to eliminate his work in any competition’s judging process.

Thus, the remaining awards were comprehensive categories like ‘Novel of the Year’ evaluated by the literary magazines themselves, where Gu Yubin pushed Moon In aside and took the spotlight.

Of course, there was significant backlash.

Many of Moon In’s fans sent protest letters to the literary magazines. Generally, these messages could be summarized as <You fucking bastards>.

Moreover, these were originally high-interest individuals with a keen interest in literature, significantly overlapping with the main subscribers of the literary magazines.

Thus, the literary magazines found themselves clashing with their biggest customers.

But did the literary magazines fail to anticipate this outcome?

No, they did not.

People tend to focus on the immediate crisis when it strikes. Humans are not particularly intelligent creatures.

Of course, occasionally, there are mutants who can see further, but these smart individuals generally act alone and cannot influence mainstream opinion.

This was why Seo Woon-pil, the representative of Korea’s largest literary magazine, had kept his mouth shut all winter. Seo Woon-pil had already cleverly maneuvered his way out.

So, as the literary magazines, focusing only on the immediate crisis, faced a deluge of protest letters from readers, they were stunned.

“Oh, right. His fans and our subscribers are the same people..”

“…What should we do, senior?”

“We’re fucked, that’s what.”

Fortunately, the literary magazines, being more inclined toward the scholar’s way of the brush rather than the sword, did not adopt the samurai spirit of committing seppuku instead of apologizing when fighting with their customers.

The literary magazines quietly prepared an apology.

However, that apology was never formally published because a wave from the ‘outside world’, incomparable to the affairs within the literary circle, struck.

Indeed.

The mainstream public took notice of Gu Yubin.

The reason was simple.

She was beautiful.

[Student Serial Killer… Number 1 Bestseller in One Week of Release]

[Exclusive Interview with the Star of the Gu Yubin Syndrome!]

[The Emergence of the Genius Literary Girl, Is Spring Coming to Korean Literature?]

Thus, the unexpected queen of spring was born.

It was the beginning of the Gu Yubin syndrome.

*****

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