Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 74

TL: KSD

Korean entertainment companies are enormously bloated.

And among them, Baekhak Entertainment is especially so.

To give you an idea, if it were in the United States, it would have long exploded into a spray of blood from seven holes after being struck by the mighty technique known as the antitrust law. Indeed, the laws of the American martial world, which prides itself as the modern Central Plains, are strict.

Fortunately, Korea exists outside the reach of the martial world’s gaze, allowing these abnormal conglomerates called “major entertainment companies” to continue. It’s definitely not because the rights of celebrities are undervalued.

Unlike those individualistic Westerners who would go as far as destroying companies under the guise of protecting the rights of celebrities, the East has a beautiful custom of coming together in solidarity.

Of course, the survival of these major entertainment companies is not due to such sentiments.

It’s because of money.

Side EP–Automaton Murder Case

Culture turns into money.

Especially dramas, which bring in a lot of money.

However, in the complicated process of drama production, distribution, screening, and monetization, how much money someone makes is discretionary.

Appearance fees, licensing fees, investment, earnings, PPL, promotional effects, programming sales, broadcasting fees, etc.

The one who fights and wins takes the most.

Usually, the fight is over appearance fees between the talent agencies and production companies, and over licensing fees between the production companies and broadcasters-OTT…

In a bloated company like Baekhak Entertainment, conflicts that might occur between companies turn into disputes between departments.

With the drama “Guitar” entrusted to Baekhak Entertainment, the production department under Baekhak argued,

-Well… Since it’s a modern road movie, there’s no need for heavy CG, which is good. But since it’s a drama from one of the three major terrestrial broadcasters, we still need to meet certain standards, so the estimate would be around this much…

To which Baekhak Entertainment’s Creative & Contents (C&C) Headquarters responded,

-I object!

-What…!

-Why entrust it to an in-house production company with this amount of money? If you’re a subcontractor, act like one and don’t think about slashing prices. Act in the interest of Baekhak Entertainment!

-But, our employees need to make a living too…

-Shh! Want to taste what it’s like to have your contract terminated?

For the benefit of the company (and the promotion of the head of C&C), the Creative & Contents Headquarters tightened their purse strings.

This caused the management department to foam at the mouth.

-Hey, you fucking bastards, even if it’s produced by the same company, if you set the actors’ fees like this, are you telling them to starve to death?

-Aren’t we all part of the same company?

-You heartless bastards. You slash the actors’ fees like this and expect the drama OST singers to be top grade? Our people have schedules too.

-Right. ‘Our people’, aren’t they? If they’re Baekhak Entertainment singers, they should appear in dramas produced by Baekhak’s production companies out of camaraderie and even sing the OST…

-Then why do you slash ‘our company’ actors’ fees like ‘your company’?

-Hehe.

The main points of the meeting, which lasted about 2 hours, can be summarized as such.

As the meeting heated up, and the broadcaster felt they had said all there was to say, the guests, including writer Lim Song-i, quietly stood up.

“Shall we wrap up today’s meeting here? It seems like the rest is up to Baekhak Entertainment to coordinate, so it might be better for us outsiders to step out.”

“Oh, sure. We’ll see you out then.”

And so, today’s battle ended.

Writer Lim Song-i and the people from the broadcasting company left the reception room, while Baekhak Entertainment employees exchanged lengthy farewells with the broadcasters in the corridor for networking purposes.

Amidst a crowd that filled the corridor, two people stood distinctly apart, Lim Yang-wook and Moon In-seop from the Publishing Management Department.

Amid the fierce debates of Baekhak Entertainment’s core business divisions, the Publishing Management Department naturally didn’t say a word. It might also be due to Lim Yang-wook’s preference for handling matters in private rooms rather than in official meetings.

However, it was somewhat unexpected that Moon In-seop, the original author, also kept silent.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Lim Yang-wook quietly poked Moon In-seop in the ribs.

“What do you mean?”

“You, In-seop… didn’t say anything about the original work.”

Contrary to Lim Yang-wook’s expectation, Moon In-seop didn’t say a word during the discussions on adapting “Guitar” into a drama.

He even remained silent when they decided to raise the protagonist’s age, add a love line, and then involve drugs.

Lim Yang-wook was anxious, wondering when Moon In-seop would explode, but it was the opposite of what he thought.

Moon In-seop looked calm, almost indifferent.

And it turned out he was indeed indifferent, not just calm.

“I don’t really feel anything. However they adapt it…”

“Oh?”

Lim Yang-wook looked at the boy with a surprised expression. He had thought that the Moon In-seop he knew would rush in like a Chihuahua the moment someone touched his work…

“Is it because an artist respects another artist’s art…”

“It’s not something grand like that. I don’t consider the drama ‘Guitar’ as my work since it belongs to writer Lim Song-i and their staff.”

“Really? That’s unexpected. What if it fails?”

“Even if the drama fails, it doesn’t mean I’ve failed, right?”

“Ahaha.”

“Similarly, if the drama succeeds, it doesn’t mean I’ve succeeded. I’m a novelist, after all. A caterpillar eats pine leaves…”

“Hmm-”

Lim Yang-wook glanced at Moon In-seop.

“Then, you’re not interested in the drama’s licensing revenue either?”

“Well, you know…”

Lim Yang-wook scrapped the plan he had just devised, <Since when did you think the rights were in your hands? Nobody can produce the drama until 100 million is deposited>.

“Shall we go eat some udon then?”

“Sure, why not.”

“The drama might help sell books if it’s successful. But this industry is unpredictable… No matter how hard you try to make a drama, a lawyer on the autism spectrum who loves whales might suddenly appear and blow all the other dramas out of the water. So, just think of it as if you’ve buried stocks.” (TL: lawyer on the autism spectrum who loves whales = some of you might know and if you know comment below and if you don’t and want to know ping me in discord chat)

“Well, I’m telling you, I’m not worried about it.”

Moon In-seop had already achieved a goal more important than licensing revenue. The boy’s gaze drifted in that direction.

“Oh, are you two that close?”

“That’s right, she always stuck by me at school. How is it? Feels nice to hug, doesn’t it?”

“Ho ho, indeed. The kid is really calm and cute.”

“Calm… me? Ha ha…”

While writer Lim Song-i and Kim Byul were having a warm conversation, Gu Yu-na was shyly nestled in Lim Song-i’s arms.

The boy’s gaze was fixed on Gu Yu-na. But it was not Gu Yu-na herself he was looking at, but the literature that the girl would bloom.

“…”

Lim Song-i would be the right fertilizer for Gu Yu-na.

Unlike himself, who was merely a clown dancing in the grasp of time, Gu Yu-na’s talent had already shone on its own.

And much brighter than his own.

* * *

Gu Hak-jun has a phrase he often repeats when teaching his students.

-Writing is done with the butt.

It means that to write novels, one needs the perseverance to sit for long hours.

A novelist is not a wage worker who follows someone else’s orders but a self-employed person who decides their own labor.

The most important thing is self-discipline.

Even though effort and output do not always correlate fairly in the arts, the reverse also implies that they do correlate to some extent.

Thus, Gu Yu-na developed the habit of sitting for at least 3 hours after dinner and before going to sleep.

Now, it’s a battle of concentration.

She turns off her phone, locks the door, draws the curtains, and focuses on writing. Time has density. Depending on the concentration, the same amount of time invested can yield different results.

Gu Yu-na’s mind, atop her desk, now travels not through reality but the world of imagination.

As she enters the realm of creation, she hears the words of writer Lim Song-i.

-You said you’re writing a mystery, right? What kind of mystery are you trying to write?

-Haha, mysteries aren’t just one type. Of course, works that move from clues to conclusions, ah, that is, deductive reasoning, can all be considered part of the mystery genre. There are classical, social issue, special setting mysteries, hardboiled, courtroom dramas, and even thrillers, suspense, and heist stories that fall within the realm of mysteries.

-But if there are two things you must know…

The prototypes of mystery.

Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle.

‘Classical’ mysteries.

-First, classical mysteries. When mystery stories first appeared, the mysteries written by people who remembered that era are called classical mystery novels.

-Yukito Ayatsuji explained it well. The great detective, the mansion, strange characters, a bloody tragedy, the realization of impossible crimes, astonishing tricks…

-The deduction battle between the detective and the criminal, and on another level, the deduction battle between the author and the reader. Being faithful to that is the essence of classical mysteries.

Upon hearing this, Gu Yu-na had responded:

-…Isn’t that too boring?

Lim Song-i laughs heartily.

-There were people before you who thought the same.

Later generations of writers must surpass their predecessors. Thus, the crimes and tricks in mystery stories became more complex over time.

Someone might ask:

‘If all mystery novels can offer is complex problems, how are they any different from collections of riddles?’

So, they changed the detective to a police officer.

The mansion to an apartment.

Mysterious murders to brutal serial killings.

The protagonist’s adversary from a criminal to the ills of society itself.

Thus, mystery novels could address not just detectives and criminals but the entirety of society.

They refer to these people as…

‘Social’ mysteries.

-Social issue mysteries expanded the spectrum of mystery novels. As they began to deal with reality, the themes became more diverse. You could chase a horrific serial killer, fight against corrupt politicians who deliberately let criminals go, or even find that the criminal is a high-ranking member of society.

-‘Veteran’ and ‘The Outlaws’ are examples of works that follow the genre of social issue mysteries. But here’s a question, who would call ‘Veteran’ or ‘The Outlaws’ a mystery? (TL: talking about 베테랑 [Veteran] and 범죄도시[THE OUTLAWS])

-No one, right? In fact, social issue mysteries created a burden for themselves. They became too popular and joined the mainstream of literature. And because people liked them, too many formulaic works were produced…

-Well, that’s why some returned to classical mysteries, leading to the emergence of neo-classical mysteries. But explaining that to you might be too soon. Anyway, the two main distinctions within the mystery genre are these: classical and social issue mysteries.

Writer Lim Song-i smiles and asks:

-Our budding writer, Gu Yu-na?

-Which path will you choose?

Gu Yu-na stands at a crossroads.

Her young self trembles indecisively at the junction.

Unlike the real Gu Yu-na, the imaginative Gu Yu-na shows a range of expressions.

Gu Yu-na with a face fitting her age, on the brink of tears, asks:

‘What do I do now…?’

Moon In-seop answers:

-Nobody can teach you that.

-They can teach you how to write.

-But no one can teach you what to write.

Moon In-seop, as seen by Gu Yu-na, is like the sun. A great author with achievements beyond his years.

A prodigy, a prophet gifted with divine talent, has given Gu Yu-na a revelation.

-You have to write what you want to say to the world.

At the crossroads of two paths, Gu Yu-na suddenly opens her eyes wide.

What do I want to say to the world? There’s too much. This bizarre world has never fully accepted me.

People wrapped themselves in pretense as naturally as breathing, and while they said they preferred honesty, they hated honest words.

They publish textbooks that preach about becoming righteous people, yet they ostracize the righteous to the point of driving them to suicide.

Such rules of the world, Gu Yu-na finds utterly incomprehensible.

She was born into this.

To this, Moon In-seop says:

-That’s your literature.

Gu Yu-na moves straight ahead.

Not towards the bifurcation of the road but through the reeds in the middle, towards her own path.

The third way.

Modern mystery novels.

So diverse that they cannot be confined to a single genre, pioneering uncharted territories at the forefront of literature.

The most challenging path, yet also the one where the greatest glory awaits.

Gu Yu-na advances towards that path.

* * *

19th Century London.

The era when factory steam clouded the skies, when Queen Victoria’s army painted the Indian subcontinent with the Union Jack, and when the heart of the workers were gradually turning red.

At the detective office of Baker Street. A detective sat with his back to the desk, smoking a cherrywood pipe and reading the newspaper.

While reading, did he come across some distressing news?

Cat ears sprouted from his head and perked up alertly.

*****

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