Novelist Running Through Time
Chapter 162

TL: KSD

「The ecology of humans is like that of trees.

They take root in one place, absorb nutrients, and in the struggle of survival, seeds that are pushed out perish, and eventually, they slowly grow outward.

Even if these highly evolved primates call themselves the masters of all things, under the solemn laws of nature, all things are equal.

This law remained unchanged even when humanity became an interstellar civilization ruling 42 planets.

Life sprouts, grows, competes, perishes, and eventually stretches outward.

Thus, human civilization took the form of a massive root spreading out from Earth.

At the very tips of the roots, there are parts that extend little by little.

Breaking into the infinite void, pushing resources upstream in even the smallest amounts, the farthest ends of the roots.

As always, the most burdensome positions are given to the weakest among them.

“Are you out of your mind?”

Outer Space Pioneering Fleet.

No one willingly enters that place.

It is where fragile leaves that failed to take root are cast away. The poor, retired soldiers, debtors, political prisoners, refugees, immigrants, vagrants…

Even they do not willingly place themselves into the fleet.

Society forces them into it.

Like the Puritans who boarded the Mayflower to escape persecution, like the impoverished who ventured into the wilderness believing there was gold in the West, pioneers are the pitiable ones. Only the pitiable leave their homelands.

They move toward potentially habitable planets, like explorers searching for the New World. And they entrust their lives to fortune, like sailors who starved to death at sea.

Scattering the cheapest and most dispensable humans in all directions to discover precious planets, this is the reality of outer space pioneering, disguised as exploration and glory.

But the boy said.

“Please, let me join the pioneering fleet.”

The recruitment officer looked down at the boy with a dumbfounded expression.

At the boy with only one leg…」

EP 10 – Starry Sky

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Co-writing with Gu Yu-na, or more accurately, co-writing under Gu Yu-na’s lead, was progressing in a way where I referred to her ‘original’ and wrote the novel from scratch.

But Gu Yu-na, who had self-proclaimed herself as my mentor, often interfered with my writing. It made me wonder where the person who supposedly loved my literature so much had disappeared to.

This time was no different.

Gu Yu-na grabbed my wrist as I was busily typing away on my laptop.

“Stop right there.”

Her tone was icy. A dagger pierced my chest.

Gu Yu-na stared at me with sharp eyes, like a detective catching a gambler red-handed for cheating.

Swallowing nervously under the inexplicable pressure, I heard her ask with a deadly seriousness:

“…When did the protagonist lose his leg again?”

“Ah- that?”

I thought she was going to ask something serious.

A sigh of relief escaped me almost automatically.

It wasn’t even a difficult question, so I responded with what I thought was a completely obvious ‘common sense’ answer.

“Why? Isn’t it good?”

“What is?”

“The idea of a protagonist with some physical flaw overcoming harsh reality through sheer willpower…”

Smack! Gu Yu-na covered her forehead and eyes with her hand.

Her expression screamed that she was looking at a headache-inducing troublemaker she could barely stand.

But isn’t the biggest troublemaker in the history of Baekhak Arts Middle School none other than Gu Yu-na?

Just as I was about to protest my innocence, an order as shocking as thunder struck me.

“Put the leg back.”

“Wh-what…!”

Gu Yu-na pointed at me with a slight motion of her finger.

“Put it back.”

“T-this is…! To highlight the contrast between a physically impaired protagonist and their mental fortitude…!”

“That obsession with ‘flaws’… And it’s even overlapping with the other female lead. Put the protagonist’s leg back.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Put the leg back.”

“No way!”

“Put it back.”

A novel is like a child created by its author. And since this novel is still in the early stages of writing, it’s equivalent to a baby in human terms. It must be protected.

With desperate fatherly love, I closed my laptop and threw myself over it, adopting a posture much like a turtle.

Despite expressing my determination to protect it with my entire body, the merciless hands of Gu Yu-na showed no sign of compassion.

“Ow! How can you hit me!”

“Put. The. Leg. Back.”

Smack! Smack! Gu Yu-na’s sharp palm struck my back. It was painful, but I had to endure it. How could someone who takes up the pen as their livelihood abandon integrity and resolve to avoid personal pain?

However, that resolve evaporated the moment I met Gu Yu-na’s gaze.

“Put the leg back.”

If I held out any longer, it felt like she wouldn’t just make me put the protagonist’s leg back but twist my own leg 180 degrees. In the end, I succumbed to external pressure.

After successfully preserving the health of the protagonist’s leg, Gu Yu-na smiled (very slightly) contentedly as if a decade-old indigestion had been cured and smoothed her chest.

“Phew…”

This was how Gu Yu-na harshly disciplined me whenever my writing deviated from her guidelines.

But something felt off. Even though I had surrendered because I valued my life, the strange feeling wouldn’t go away.

It was as if Gu Yu-na was deliberately steering the novel toward brighter, lighter choices.

“You’ve figured it out.”

“What?! Really?”

Gu Yu-na admitted my suspicion.

I widened my eyes in shock, but Gu Yu-na simply gestured for me to move on to the next section without answering further.

Where had the Gu Yu-na gone, who had once firmly upheld her principles during the era when everyone screamed that my work was too dark…?

“Hurry up and write.”

“Okay…”

Although I had lingering doubts, I didn’t even have time to dwell on them, as Gu Yu-na’s relentless pressure forced me to start typing again.

* * *

Moon In wrote novels at an exceptionally fast pace.

This was originally because the driving force behind his creativity was the agony of his desperate life. Having spent every waking moment immersed in writing without taking breaks, this speed had become second nature to him.

Even now, with his writing habits unchanged, his quick output pleased both the readers who often received new works and the editors who benefited from selling them.

However, the pace of writing ‘Starry Sky’ was unprecedentedly fast. It wasn’t just because the physical pain of Gu Yu-na’s slaps on his back had become a new driving force for his creativity.

‘Starry Sky’ was a novel with an existing original.

It was none other than Gu Yu-na’s polished work, which she had spent months writing.

Moon In, under Gu Yu-na’s insistence, was reworking it from scratch in his own style, which allowed them to call this process ‘education’ or ‘co-writing’.

However, this justification only worked within the nuanced perspectives of artists.

To an outsider, it would seem reasonable to question the point of rewriting an already completed novel from the beginning with another person and to criticize the cancellation of business schedules over something like that.

Thus, Moon In brushed over the detailed circumstances and vaguely explained to Lim Yang-wook that he was suddenly struck with inspiration and was now working on a new project with Gu Yu-na.

Thanks to this, upon receiving the draft of the new manuscript, Lim Yang-wook uttered pure admiration rather than thinking, “What kind of nonsense is this guy up to?”

“Already?!”

Lim Yang-wook casually flipped through the manuscript sent from Korea.

The concept was good, the atmosphere was solid, and the flavor was stable.

Although a detailed evaluation would require a thorough read, based on the pace of writing, it seemed unlikely that the U.S. trip schedule would be delayed further.

Good.

Then he could leave the book in Moon In’s hands and focus on selling it. A simple and straightforward strategy, as always.

“It’s not possible.”

However, the execution wasn’t going to be that simple.

“This is an unacceptable request.”

“Sigh…”

Just when he thought relief pitcher Baek Seol might appear and succeed in sales with her killer alcohol strategy, Collins Press editor Rachel Surface turned out to be someone who clearly separated public and private matters.

The points of contention were varied: the promotion strategy, internet bookstore banners, Moon In’s potential TV appearances, and so on…

But in the end, it all boiled down to one thing: selling books.

Both Baekhak Publishing and Collins Press had positions they couldn’t compromise on as publishers.

First of all, Baekhak Publishing’s goal was to break into the U.S. market.

To achieve that, an aggressive promotion strategy was essential.

They needed to go all in, punching a hole through this massive wall, so that starting with Moon In, other authors could barely begin to poke their heads into the U.S. market.

What did that mean? It meant putting an end to the long decline of Korea’s publishing industry. This would undoubtedly be an achievement that no one could dispute.

Strictly speaking, Baekhak Publishing’s ultimate goal wasn’t just to sell Moon In’s books. It was to establish a stable route for exporting books to the U.S. market.

In that sense, Moon In could be seen as a delicious bait product.

On the other hand, for the American publisher Collins Press, it was in their best interest to simply snatch that bait.

To put it bluntly, Collins Press had no particular reason to import Korean literature.

The U.S. publishing industry was already the best in the world. Every book in existence wanted to be translated into English and enter this paradise. So there was no need for them to cling to Korean literature.

What Collins Press was clinging to was Moon In.

It wasn’t necessarily because he had made the Booker International Prize longlist or because he had written the screenplay that birthed an actress who won Best Actress at Cannes. Those weren’t the key reasons.

Collins Press was a giant publisher capable of easily publishing Booker-winning novels or the novelizations of Cannes-awarded screenplays.

What drew their attention to Moon In was…

His age.

There were plenty of Booker International Prize nominees.

But none of them were minors.

Nowhere in the world could one find an author who had achieved such remarkable literary accomplishments at Moon In’s age.

This was less of a common occurrence and more of a phenomenon bordering on a miracle. And miracles translate into money.

Thus, Collins Press’s business strategy was clear:

Take the treasure Baekhak Publishing was holding onto, Moon In.

Even if it was just for a few months of U.S. activities, they wanted the management rights transferred to them so they could spin him through variety shows across America, stirring the nation to tears.

Collins Press had already completed their investigation into Moon In’s family background and upbringing. This kid’s life was a movie. With a polished script and a well-produced broadcast, he was guaranteed to attract tremendous attention.

At the decisive moment, they would capture the entire U.S. publishing industry’s attention and sell the books in a big way.

Collins Press would then sit atop a pile of money, editor Rachel Surface would earn a promotion with a bright smile, and Baekhak Publishing, which had begged for Korean literature to be accepted in the U.S., could be cut loose at that point.

And if, after showing Moon In what real money tasted like over a few months, they could pay off the penalty fee and snatch him for themselves, that would be the icing on the cake.

Summing up the differences in their positions went something like this:

– It seems like you don’t understand the situation… We’re not handing over Moon In until you buy into all of Korean literature.

– Oh. Cut the bullshit and hand over Moon In and get lost-

This wasn’t because the representatives from either side were particularly cunning; it was simply an inevitable clash arising from their respective companies’ interests.

And since this wasn’t an issue stemming from the whims of human emotions but rather one based on objectively analyzable economic reasons, both parties fully understood each other’s positions.

A card game where both sides could clearly see the other’s hand wouldn’t end easily.

That was why the negotiations between Lim Yang-wook and Rachel Surface couldn’t be resolved quickly.

Even before Lim Yang-wook flew to Los Angeles, the negotiations between the two had been raging fiercely for months across the Pacific via email and phone calls.

‘Please… just today…’

A great deal was riding on Lim Yang-wook’s shoulders.

In smaller terms, it was a question of whether the collaboration between Baekhak Publishing and Collins Press would end as a one-time deal or continue as a long-term partnership.

In broader terms, it was about whether they could deliver a much-needed injection of U.S. dollars into the long-parched Korean publishing industry.

To the point where Lim Yang-wook prayed to God that the outcome of the negotiation would favor Baekhak Publishing.

And then, divine grace answered Lim Yang-wook’s prayer.

“What…!”

The name of this divine intervention was Baek Seol.

***

To summarize the holy miracle that took place that day at the Collins Press headquarters:

When Baek Seol of Baekhak Publishing arrived in Los Angeles, news quickly spread that “the CEO herself” had appeared, prompting the CEO of Collins Press to make an appearance as well.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Michael Collins.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Baek Seol, CEO of Baekhak Publishing.”

“You speak English very well!”

“Oh, it’s nothing, hehe…”

“Judging by your accent, you must’ve studied in the UK?”

Some pleasantries were exchanged to break the ice.

“Moon In’s works, regardless of age, are truly remarkable for their vivid descriptions and emotional depth. It’s astonishing that such a genius exists in the world.”

“I’m often astonished myself…”

“Hahaha, and the English translations, my goodness, the quality is so impressive, I was genuinely amazed.”

Flattered by what was clearly a polite compliment, Baek Seol beamed with pride.

“Oh! I translated it myself!”

“Huh? I thought there was a separate translator who made the Booker International Prize longlist…”

“That was me!”

“My goodness. So you’ve been promoted to CEO in the meantime? That’s incredible!”

The Collins Press CEO poured out praise, clearly intending to toy with the seemingly inexperienced new CEO, as if she were a ball resting in the palm of his hand.

“To become a CEO at such a young age and to excel as a translator as well… Truly remarkable.”

“Heh, hehe, heheh…”

“By the way, where did you study in the UK?”

“Ah, um, I studied English Literature at Oxford…”

At that moment, the Collins Press CEO froze in place.

“…Which college, if I may ask?”

“Lincoln College.”

The Collins Press CEO broke into a broad smile.

Lim Yang-wook had a feeling he understood the meaning behind that smile.

*****

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