Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 94

TL: KSD

The lymphatic cancer that struck at the age of 32 was closer to a sentence than a diagnosis. Fortunately, Eun Byeol, although not particularly devout, was a Christian, so she could imagine a clearer image.

Jesus, often depicted as a white man despite likely being a Syrian Hebrew, with long hair, a long beard, and a crown of thorns, pounds a gavel while wearing judge’s robes.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Of course, the lymphatic cancer that took root in Eun Byeol’s body didn’t just pop up overnight with a cute sound effect. Life is similar to a play. There is foreshadowing in everything.

The alcohol she guzzled down in her reckless twenties, believing this worthless body to be everlasting, the dark resentment and bullying she endured while surviving as the youngest member of a theater company after college, the recent bitter breakup with a boyfriend she was sure she would marry, the life of an unknown actor struggling with low pay and slumps, proven unhealthy genetics, and even luck. These problems accumulated, ending up simply marked as ‘cancer’ on the diagnosis paper.

However, to Eun Byeol, it felt as though a sudden tsunami had demolished all the golden towers she had built up over her life, sweeping away even the debris into the muddy waters.

Cancer evaporated Eun Byeol’s life, values, and achievements.

There are a few heavy weights that keep people anchored to this world. Commonly called dreams, reality, family, love, responsibility, people, etc.

But value is always relative, and there is no weight heavier than death. When measured, they all turned out to be so insignificantly light.

The sparkling dreams she had while looking up to the idols of the silver screen, the reality of continuing to act every day out of habit, the relationship with her ex-boyfriend with whom she parted on bad terms but delusionally hoped to reunite, the position in the theater company she had secured after nearly a decade of effort.

Thinking of impending death made it all seem so futile.

Eun Byeol was no longer afraid of the theater director she had revered like a god for nearly a decade.

It was almost fascinating how things turned out this way.

All the driving forces that had led Eun Byeol’s life to this point, all those precious things that had kept her anchored to this world, were they all so empty and futile?

What a strange path she had followed, chasing after such worthless, unmeasured, and light things.

Deceived by illusions, striving for meaningless things, her life felt utterly meaningless.

Here’s a question.

A person is the sum of all they have built up over time.

Then, what exactly am ‘I’?

EP 6-The Show Must Go On

“The show must go on……”

Lim Yang-wook simply read the title written on the first page of the manuscript, but his reading carried a tone of admiration.

Indeed, there’s a unique talent in how authors title their works. There couldn’t be a more fitting title for a story dealing with the life of an artist with a terminal illness.

Freddy Mercury, the rock legend, died after being diagnosed with AIDS. And the title of the posthumous work he wrote while battling the illness was……

The Show Must Go On.

“Hmm!”

In the head of Lim Yang-wook, who had a deep understanding of popular culture (including otaku culture), ‘The Show Must Go On’ seemed to automatically play, as in the song.

Like that song, this novel too tells the story of the artist ‘Eun Byeol’, placed in a terminal situation.

The lymphatic cancer that found her in her youth put a ‘pause’ on the life of the actress Eun Byeol.

It dismantled all the values she cherished, took away her motivation to move forward, and led her into wandering.

The expression of weighing a person’s values on a scale is notable.

Cancer made Eun Byeol capable of fighting and winning against the artistic director of the theater company she had been afraid of and clung to for a decade, instilled sympathy in the heart of her departed lover to return to her, and stimulated fantasy of being a ‘terminally ill artist’ envied by the public, turning Eun Byeol into a superstar.

But the status, love, honor, and dreams she had longed for her entire life had long since become as light as feathers, reduced to mere illusions.

Even amidst the abundant love, sympathy, and envy spotlighted on her, Eun Byeol felt no excitement and thought to herself:

-Is this success my own doing? Or is it the work of my cancer cells?

“Indeed, a rather bleak scene…”

Truly an author’s doing. There’s a unique insight into rolling the protagonist through the mud. If the novel were a restaurant, the Moon-in would indeed be a chef with the talent of deliciously roasting emotions. With this thought, Lim Yang-wook smiled contentedly and closed his eyes.

And <Reader Lim Yang-wook>, who admired Author Moon-in, also closed his eyes.

Now, the harsh and merciless <Critic Lim Yang-wook> opened his eyes.

“But that’s as far as it goes.”

Lim Yang-wook looked at the manuscript with the kind of unenviable gaze his colleagues from a few years back secretly wished they could squeeze ink out of.

He dissected the manuscript with a gaze devoid of warm human emotions.

From that perspective, the Moon-in’s new work, ‘The Show Must Go On,’ was a dissatisfying read.

First of all, the subject matter was too cliché.

Cancer is undoubtedly a significant trial, but, in literary terms, it’s a subject that could be considered a ‘franchise crisis.’

War, famine, pestilence, political purges, etc., in a modern era where premodern disasters have all but vanished, cancer remains a well-preserved tragedy.

It’s rare to find someone who hasn’t lost a precious someone to cancer.

Therefore, cancer in literary works intensifies the reader’s emotions.

It could be seen as a cowardly act, but it’s also a very effective technique.

In the 21st century’s modern society, more people would empathize with a protagonist facing cancer than one experiencing tragedy through war and famine.

And the core theme of the work, artistic supremacy, might seem rare at first glance but is actually quite cliché.

The evidence flashed through Lim Yang-wook’s mind: Gold Rush, Inferno, Whiplash, Birdman, Black Swan…

Aestheticism – Hedonism – Art supremacy are genres favored not by the public but by artists, hence many artists have explored them.

In that context, it was hard to see the Moon-in’s ‘The Show Must Go On’ achieving any unique or special literary accomplishment.

Of course, literature doesn’t necessarily have to be unique to be enjoyable, but the world of critique is different. After all, doctoral degrees are awarded to those who explore new knowledge.

A story where the protagonist, halted in life’s stage by the trial of cancer, experiences various intriguing events and gains enlightenment about life, continuing the stage of life, is certainly praiseworthy…

But that praise is for a well-crafted story, not for literary innovation.

Therefore, the overall rating given by <Critic Lim Yang-wook> is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

It could be considered a common yet pitiable one-act drama woven clearly with identity and rebirth.

“Hmm…….”

Of course, whatever <Critic Lim Yang-wook> rambles on about, <Editor Lim Yang-wook> couldn’t care less.

To put it bluntly, as long as the book sells well, what more could one want?

In Lim Yang-wook’s inner world, <Editor Lim Yang-wook> mercilessly swings a magical hammer, driving out <Critic Lim Yang-wook>.

<Editor Lim Yang-wook> is a salaried worker who needs to make a living from selling books, so while literature is important, business is equally so.

And there are times when business takes precedence over literature, especially when things are serious.

That time is now.

The fate of the Publishing Management Division hinges on this quarter’s performance.

Lim Yang-wook, Baek Seol, and the Publishing Management Division must succeed.

They were not fighting against Kim Sang-guk, the CEO of Baekhak Publishing, as an individual but against the system of Baekhak Publishing represented by CEO Kim Sang-guk.

The elitism and harmful monopoly policies that have led Baekhak Publishing until now are saying this:

– It’s been sufficient doing it this way until now, hasn’t it?

And Lim Yang-wook has already called for innovation from the heart of the problem.

-No! You bastards!

The calm before the storm. Now, who the problem is depends on performance. The incompetent one will be cleanly swept away and expelled from the company.

At this crucial juncture, if the business is ruined, not only Baek Seol’s uncle but even the grandfather in his coffin wouldn’t be able to cover for it.

It’s not because the grandfather is dead, but because the shares of the previous chairman have already been inherited by his second son.

“Phew…….”

Fortunately, the first button was without issues.

Despite the other employees of Baekhak Publishing using coercion, persuasion, and feints to the extent they could be called ‘crazy,’ Author Moon supported Lim Yang-wook.

As soon as Lim Yang-wook returned, Author Moon, the idol of the literary world, unexpectedly participated in the variety show he so despised, and even wrote his next work there.

-In-seop! Please! Just go on TV once for me, I beg you!

-Tsk, fine.

Although the facts were slightly distorted, that’s how it appeared to others.

Thus, the first button was neatly fastened.

Author Moon went on TV, overcame his slump, and even brought back his next work.

And the manuscript before Lim Yang-wook is the second button leading to the success of the Publishing Management.

<Editor Lim Yang-wook> quietly observed the manuscript in front of him.

Will this novel be successful?

Can it meet the expectations for Author Moon’s next work, being the biggest prospect in the literary world?

It’s a novel that <Critic Lim Yang-wook> gave 3.5 out of 5 stars.

And Lim Yang-wook’s judgment was…

An undeniable ‘Yes’.

“Good…….”

<Critic Lim Yang-wook> is a fastidious, arrogant critic with strong pride, the kind that that routinely makes his coworkers feel homicidal.

Receiving 3.5 stars from such a bastard means the novel exceeds the standards.

In other words, it’s a masterpiece.

It may not be a legendary work that will go down in history, but it’s certainly worthy of the praise “excellent”.

And Lim Yang-wook was confident enough to turn a “masterpiece” into a “legendary work”.

With the right promotion, turning a masterpiece into a legendary work was possible in this field. To name the tricks specifically: promotion, TV commercials, special exhibitions, adjusting shelf placements, spreading internet reviews, emotional marketing, creating luxury covers, noise marketing, etc.

It’s not because Baekhak Publishing is a corrupt enterprise dominating the publishing industry, nor because the public’s perception of literature lacks the expertise to distinguish between a masterpiece and a legendary work.

It’s just that books have always been like that.

The boundary between a masterpiece and a legendary work in literature is ambiguous as long as it meets a certain standard.

The value of a book is not determined at the moment of its production but in the inner world of the reader.

Borrowing a memorable expression from Author Moon, the only word that can describe a book is its title.

Literature is an item containing the author’s ego.

And the human ego is a life trajectory that cannot be replicated.

That’s why it’s extremely difficult to determine the superiority and inferiority of literary works that exceed a certain standard of quality.

Even if Author Moon is currently the hottest novelist, it can’t be said that Moon’s writing surpasses that of Gu Hak-jun.

Even if Gu Hak-jun is the only Asian to have won the Goncourt Prize in France, it can’t be said that his novels are superior to those of Park Chang-woon.

Even if Park Chang-woon is a great author who has left significant marks on modern and contemporary Korean history, it can’t be said he writes better than Seo Woon-pil.

And even if Seo Woon-pil is the most influential senior in the Korean literary world, making comparisons with Author Moon’s career pointless, it can’t be said that Seo Woon-pil is a better author than Moon.

Of course, in describing the landscapes of nature, Gu Hak-jun surpasses Author Moon. Since he is fluent in several languages, his imagination for expression is broader than that of Author Moon.

And if we were to judge the authenticity of literature, Park Chang-woon writes more truthful works than Seo Woon-pil. Anyone familiar with modern and contemporary history would say the same.

However, when evaluating literature as a whole, rather than just one part of a novel, it’s actually impossible to determine superiority.

Postmodernism has deconstructed the authority of the creator. Now, the value of a book is determined within the inner world of the reader. Thus, there are no classes in literature.

In such an era, Lim Yang-wook can move the placement of books in a bookstore, hire internet commenters, and run TV ads to sway people’s hearts, turning Author Moon’s “masterpiece” into a “legendary work”.

And if by such means Author Moon’s next work achieves commercial success…

The Publishing Management Division can secure a victory.

“Phew…!”

With the manuscript of ‘The Show Must Go On’ in front of him, Lim Yang-wook concluded his long contemplation.

It’s really the calm before the storm now.

It’s time to do what needs to be done.

And that was selling books.

“Alright. Let’s give it a shot…!”

Lim Yang-wook called together the staff of the Publishing Management Headquarters.

And they started a long marathon meeting.

Lim Yang-wook had never been given such manpower before. The manpower of the Publishing Management Division had already surpassed the force of the past Publishing Management Task Force.

This force was superior not only in material aspects but also in spirit. Simply put, the staff of the current Publishing Management Division were more passionately dedicated to this project than those of the previous Publishing Management Task Force.

Probably, they all resonated with Lim Yang-wook’s vision to end the long dark age of the literary world and breathe new life into the Korean publishing industry. It was not just a gathering of sycophants flattering Director Baek.

Anyway, for whatever reason, these highly motivated individuals came up with all sorts of ideas, and their business planning continued for weeks.

However, had they known that all their plans wouldn’t be as effective as a single well-received variety show appearance, they probably wouldn’t have worked as hard.

*****

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