Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 57

TL: KSD

Baekhak Entertainment’s Publishing Management Division is a place for managing authors, but there weren’t many people with actual publishing industry experience.

At best, there were Lim Yang-wook, the department head, Baek Seol, the deputy head, and Kim Ga-ryung, the traitor from the Publishing Planning Department who Lim Yang-wook had recruited after using him to deal with Yang Sung-jun.

The rest were all dispatched to this department due to the CEO’s sudden order for departmental transfer, and naturally, it was rare for anyone there to read more than two books a year.

These people unanimously said,

“……It’s interesting?”

“Like, like, I don’t know how to explain it. The first part was as bright as the second part was shocking, and as dark as the second part was, the ending was moving? I almost cried, actually.”

“I cried my eyes out.”

“Me too……”

Praises poured out from the mouths of the department employees gathered in the meeting room.

Watching this, Lim Yang-wook gained one conviction.

‘This is going to work……!’

For whom? For people who don’t read books.

Author Moon’s new work was providing fun and emotion even to those who usually don’t read books. And most people usually don’t read books.

In other words, this work had the potential to hit the entire market.

Of course, it’s still just a ‘potential’ for now.

If every well-written book sold well, the groans about the Korean publishing industry’s demise would have ceased long ago.

Is it just books? Artistic quality doesn’t guarantee popularity. It’s a rule that applies to all arts.

Therefore, we must maximize the chances of this book becoming a hit. In ways other than the work itself.

And that task now lay in the hands of Lim Yang-wook.

Lim Yang-wook closed his eyes for a moment to think.

Can I do it?

……He was confident.

Having made his decision, Lim Yang-wook stood up and declared.

“From now on, this book is a romance novel.”

“What?”

“Romance.”

“What do you mean, department head……?”

“Romance.”

As the employees looked at Lim Yang-wook with puzzled eyes, the quickest-witted employee from the PR team gasped in horror.

“Could it be……!”

How could they commit such a devilish act!

EP 5 – A Love Story

Winter is cold. When it’s cold, people don’t go outside. When people don’t gather, events are scarce. Therefore, Min Hyo-chan had nothing to do.

Min Hyo-chan had enjoyed the feeling of becoming a celebrity by touring several college festivals in the fall as the youngest member of the newly debuted boy group Rapid Boys.

And in winter, the season when all events ceased, Min Hyo-chan felt as if he had returned to his trainee days.

“So boring……”

Of course, there are many idols who keep busy in winter. But that’s because people seek them out.

However, Min Hyo-chan’s group was not at the level where people gathered to see them; they were at the level where they needed to go to where people were gathered to dance and sing to make their name known.

For this reason, Min Hyo-chan’s daily routine had entered an endless loop of hell: go to school – come home from school – lesson – go to school – come home from school – lesson.

Someone hit Min Hyo-chan on the back of his head. Without looking, it was obvious who it was. It was the leader.

“Ah, Lee Soo hyung!”

“Hyochan, you little brat, not even dying your hair during the off-season? You’re originally pink-haired, and everything else is just decoration, you know?”

The leader of Rapid Boys flopped down next to Min Hyo-chan sprawled in the practice room.

Min Hyo-chan complained about the sweat smell, but the leader wasn’t the type to care about such things.

“Hyochan. Did you read it?”

“Read what?”

“A Love Story.”

Min Hyo-chan made a smug face as if he knew all about it.

“Ah~ In-seop’s book?”

“Look at this kid, is Author Moon your friend?”

“He is my friend.”

“Stop pretending to be close. So, did you read it? Or not?”

Min Hyo-chan answered confidently.

Heroes don’t do something like study!

“I haven’t read it.”

The leader looked at Min Hyo-chan with a meaningful smile.

“Go read it.”

“I don’t really read books……”

“You say you’re friends with Author Moon? Pretending to be friends without even reading his books?”

“But……! That guy didn’t even buy our album!”

The leader, with a bright smile, picked up a slipper rolling on the floor like a sword and pushed it against Min Hyo-chan’s neck.

“Go read it.”

“Yes.”

So, when the weekend arrived, Min Hyo-chan finally made his way to the bookstore.

One could say that the decline of the Korean publishing industry is evident from the fact that these days, young people only step into a bookstore when threatened with a knife.

“Wow……”

Astonishment flowed from Min Hyo-chan’s lips, visiting the bookstore after a long time.

In his memory, bookstores had an old and stale image, but the one he visited was surprisingly large, stylish, and gave off a vintage vibe.

The moment he entered, a sweet fragrance tickled his nose. It was probably because of the perfumes displayed at the fancy stationery stand.

Like many others, Min Hyo-chan came to buy books but was lured to the fancy stationery stand, picking up a squishy cat cushion and three intriguing pens.

Thus, Min Hyo-chan fell victim to the evil interior designers of Baekhak Publishing’s Book Distribution Headquarters, who meticulously designed a human brainwashing device. He belatedly came to his senses and started looking for the book.

It was easy to find. It was already in the bestseller corner.

“Wow……”

The first “Wow” was filled with admiration.

Seeing a book by an author he knew displayed in such a revered position naturally made him feel a bit proud, even though it wasn’t his achievement.

“Wow……”

The second “Wow” had a slightly lower tone than the first. If the first “Wow” was in a major key, the second was in a minor key.

This “Wow” contained the sorrow of seeing a younger sibling achieve commercial success while he roamed around jobless, like a vagabond.

But as someone in the entertainment industry, harboring a bit of inferiority complex is always kept close to the heart.

Min Hyo-chan had the talent to not dwell too long on negative emotions and quickly emerged from them.

“Is this it?”

The book was pink. But there are types of pink. He remembered receiving a lecture about colors from the stylist unnie when dying his hair pink.

Of course, he had forgotten all of it.

Some pinks are luxurious, and some are cheap, but anyway, the cover of “A Love Story” was a luxurious pink.

There was a picture that looked like modern art in the middle of the cover, and the title “A Love Story” was written in a neat font without any spaces.

Luckily, it wasn’t wrapped in plastic, so it seemed like he could start reading right away.

Min Hyo-chan headed to a reading space in the corner of the bookstore.

Comfortable chairs, desks, and bean bags were placed there.

And there, the avid readers crowded into the space were all holding a pink book.

The same book that Min Hyo-chan was holding.

“It really is popular……”

But their expressions were all different.

“What’s this?”

A woman who looked like an office worker was reading the book with a love-struck expression. Her hands turned each page gently, as if she wished this beautiful story would never end.

But a young man with headphones around his neck was bulging his eyes and clenching his teeth, making strange screams like “Eek…! Eeeeek…!” He looked insane.

Some were even crying while reading the book. A middle-aged man who seemed very dignified was crying as he read. At his age, he should be living and dying by his dignity, but he was sniffling and blowing his nose with a handkerchief as if he was alone in the bookstore.

“What kind of book is this……”

Min Hyo-chan became slightly scared.

What kind of book makes its readers react like this?

But the only thing written on the band around the book was this:

<Is there a love that remains unchanged over time?>

<A beautiful story of love presented by Author Moon>

“Hmm……”

What? It’s just a common love story, right?

With that thought, Min Hyo-chan reassured himself and settled into a bean bag sofa to start reading.

* * *

“Did you really have to feel satisfied only after doing it like that?”

Between winter break and spring break, there’s about a week of school days. That’s when the school year finally wraps up.

Gu Yu-na and I were becoming second-year middle school students, and Kim Byul was graduating from Baekhak Arts Middle School.

Even I, who skips school as if it’s a meal, couldn’t miss Kim Byul’s graduation ceremony.

So, when I finally went to school after a while, Min…

Min…

Min…

What was it again?

I couldn’t remember the name of the pink-haired senior who grabbed me by the collar, seeing him for the first time in a month.

“Did you have to completely destroy the first part to feel satisfied, you asshole!”

“Destroy it? I went all the way to the U.S. to write the first part. It’s an important moment. It highlights the moment love falls apart.”

“So, you did destroy it!”

Min Hyo-chan shook me by the collar, and I flopped around like a deflated balloon doll.

“Move.”

“Aargh!”

Finally, after Gu Yu-na pinched Min Hyo-chan’s side, I was freed from his grasp.

Gu Yu-na looked at me expressionlessly.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“Not really.”

“Did you enjoy the book?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you share your thoughts?”

“I don’t have any, really.”

Gu Yu-na, who praised my book by saying there was nothing to criticize, quickly turned around and headed to the auditorium.

With a pleased heart, I followed Gu Yu-na to the auditorium.

Min, the senior who followed belatedly, slapped me on the shoulder and made a fuss, saying it was a joke earlier and that he enjoyed the book.

What awaited us in the auditorium were students and parents waiting for the graduation ceremony, among them, was Kim Byul.

“Hi, guys. Long time no see.”

Gu Yu-na ran towards Kim Byul and hugged her.

However, as soon as Kim Byul happily stroked Gu Yu-na’s head, Gu Yu-na ran away, telling her not to touch her hair.

I greeted Kim Byul, who looked bemusedly at Gu Yu-na.

“Long time no see, Kim sunbae. Did you finish shooting well?”

“Yeah. The shooting is done, and it’s in the editing stage now.”

I felt calluses slightly in the grip of Kim Byul’s handshake.

Looking closely at Kim Byul’s face, it seemed slightly tanned.

“Did you have a hard time in Manchuria?”

“……Ah.”

Kim Byul cleared her throat with a lowered voice. A determined spirit started to shine in her eyes.

Then, in front of me, a warrior roaming the snowfields on a horse appeared.

“I learned the laws of the grasslands……”

“What law?”

“I wonder if my horse is doing well. It must be roaming the fields freely. We may never meet again. But it’s okay. Someday, we’ll all return to the sky, become the flesh and blood of eagles, and meet again……”

This was a dubious thing for a middle school girl (soon to be high school girl) to say. It seemed like she hadn’t fully shed her actor’s skin.

Soon after, Kim Byul, like a nimble hunter, grabbed Gu Yu-na and hugged her, and Gu Yu-na, unable to overcome the evolved strength of Kim Byul, quietly became a plush doll sitting on Kim Byul’s lap.

“Where are you going, Min sunbae?”

“I’m staying here. Second years are on the first floor of the auditorium. First years are on the second floor, so you should go up there.”

“Thank you. See you next time.”

After saying goodbye to senior Min and taking Gu Yu-na from Kim Byul, I went up to the second floor of the auditorium, where the literary department kids were gathering in small groups, preparing to watch the graduation ceremony.

The literary department kids looked at me and were about to swarm over, but someone beat them to it, striding up the stairs quickly.

“Aigoo, has our Moon In arrived!”

Park Chang-woon, the veteran novelist who teaches at a middle school as a hobby.

Wearing a brown modernized hanbok, he was charging at me with his white beard fluttering.

As soon as I made eye contact with him, who was longing for me with bloodshot eyes, I couldn’t withstand his madness and ended up throwing Gu Yu-na at him and running away.

* * *

The novel “A Love Story” swept through the industry upon its publication.

The marketing disguised as a romance novel was effective.

To be precise, it wasn’t just misleading people into thinking this was a simple romance novel.

The marketing focused on the fact that “although this book appears to be a romance novel, it actually isn’t, and there’s a twist to it.”

Twists are, one way or another, something people enjoy. Even knowing there’s a twist, people still love twists.

The same goes for love. Love appears almost universally across content, yet, stories about love still manage to be hits.

So, no matter how much movie buffs bleed out saying, “Don’t advertise a movie with a twist as having a twist,” or “Please don’t shove romance into a perfectly fine movie,” it’s all in vain.

Of course, such marketing doesn’t just happen on its own.

“Department Head Lim! This isn’t right! Where do you see spending this much money on marketing a single book?!”

“Ah, it’s because I’m confident we’ll make even more than this.”

“But still, this amount is not reasonable!”

“If you really have a complaint, I can arrange a meeting with our operational staff.”

“Yes! If you’re going to scale up to this size, you should consult with us too!”

“Baek Seol, Deputy Head? Could you come here for a moment?”

“Upon reconsideration, it seems like the budget could be managed at the discretion of the release department.”

Through smooth communication and consultation between departments, Lim Yang-wook managed to pull in an enormous marketing budget.

However, the initial sales did not rise significantly.

If throwing marketing money at it guaranteed increased book sales, then the groans about the downfall of the Korean publishing industry would have ceased long ago.

Korean literature is already being sustained by a handful of avid readers, and those within this small group who match the taste are already buying Moon’s books.

So, it was like advertising to people who were already going to buy the product, a waste of money.

Just when questions about Lim Yang-wook’s capabilities started to arise within Baekhak Entertainment, Lim Yang-wook began to manipulate public opinion with reckless spending.

“Spoiler) Did anyone else feel like they got hit in the head with a hammer when transitioning from part 1 to part 2 of ‘A Love Story’??”

└LOL, you too?

└I thought I was the only one.

└222

└3333333

“I recommended ‘A Love Story’ to a close friend. Of course, as a romance ^^”

└You evil devil

└I can’t be the only one to suffer lolololol

└Such a book shouldn’t exist. But if it does, I shouldn’t be the only one to see it.

” Isn’t ‘A Love Story’ a masterpiece? Why are there so many people hating on it,,, Am I the weird one?”

└Don’t worry, teacher, they’re all just playing around.

└Ah, I see. You scared me for a moment. ^^

└A famous YouTuber did a book review in such a comedic tone, and many are following suit. Yes.

└TikTok and Shorts have already been taken over. Please stop showing it.

└You’re still watching that stuff??

“If the ending was a little less moving, Moon would have been buried already.”

└Reason: Because I would have buried him.

└Officer, this person right here

└I wanted to stalk the author after moving from part 1 to part 2, but after searching, found out he’s just a kid. Too cute, so I let it be.

└?

└????

└-Hell’s Mouthpiece-

No matter how fragmented public opinion has become in this era, a mainstream trend still exists, albeit weakly.

And trends, one way or another, are driven by the younger generation, whose directions are set on the internet.

Lim Yang-wook attempted groundbreaking marketing by entrusting book advertisements to YouTubers who had never reviewed a book in their life, deployed part-timers across video platforms and community sites,

And finally succeeded in establishing the image of “A Love Story” as a novel thought to be an ordinary romance but actually contains a twist.

At that moment, the game was over.

Now, people enjoyed recommending this book as if playing a game of hot potato, and with each spread of this act, “A Love Story” was steadily exposed to the public.

Eventually, as the pinnacle achievement, “A Love Story” made its way into the news.

Baekhak Cultural Broadcasting, having received the advertising payment, opened the floodgates.

[Our next story. A novel that has become a topic of conversation among the younger generation recently…]

News broadcasts do not casually advertise books. Time is a resource.

The news is fundamentally a medium for delivering information, and how that information is delivered can change the thoughts of many.

Thus, a segment in the news could potentially destroy a business, sway the outcome of an election, or even save or end a life.

Using such a powerful segment of the news for something as trivial as a book advertisement is a tremendous waste of resources. Unfortunately, books do not hold the cultural, hobbyist, or media value to justify such use.

A book appears in the news for advertising when a great author with the influence comparable to a corporation releases a new work, and the corporation backing the author pays the necessary amount.

Or if the novel itself contains information worthy of news coverage.

In this case, Lim Yang-wook artificially created the latter situation. A trend of a novel spreading among the younger generation. That’s newsworthy.

Lim Yang-wook used this situation as a basis to approach Baekhak Cultural Broadcasting, and fortunately, Author Moon was a family member of Baekhak Entertainment and a regular guest on BMB’s variety shows.

Gathering these various reasons, Author Moon’s news barely made it through the editorial department and succeeded in informing the public in front of the TV about the book “A Love Story.”

For the first time, not only the younger generation but all generations were made aware of its existence.

What followed was straightforward.

From there on, it was by the book.

Lim Yang-wook launched advertisements for “A Love Story” across all major search platforms.

Just as one would typically do when a popular author’s book is published.

However, the impact of such advertising, after going through this buildup, was on another level.

Eventually, a massive wave swept through public opinion.

<Author Moon’s new work ‘A Love Story’. ‘Number 1’ in sales for the first half of the year>

*****

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