Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 166



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The Novelist Who Leapt Through Time Episode 166

“A spaceship is a ship and its crew are also sailors.

And sailors are prone to superstitions.

Rather than saying that some kind of universal law makes the ‘sailor’ profession a super-coward, it was closer to the mental vulnerability commonly complained about by those who are trapped in an isolated space and are in a situation where they do not know when they will die.

Therefore, superstitions still plague sailors.

The types of ghost stories are as diverse as the size of this infinitely vast universe.

There is a space station somewhere in the universe that eats people, or there is a giant squid as big as a planet… … .

or not… … .

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!!!

There is a navigator who measures the route with a protractor.

“I… ! Me, me, that bastard… … !!!”

A voice full of astonishment rang out on the bridge. The owner of the trembling fingers is Judy Capstan. He is the leader of a ‘vigilante group’ whose trademarks are a tank top and a shotgun.

During the riot, she rallied the industrial workers to occupy the armory and blew off the heads of the looters. She was shaking like a child who encountered a monster under the bed –

People who guessed that the identity of the ‘something’ that made a girlie-like scream from the woman known for her bravery was not unusual flocked to the bridge in a huff.

“what! Fuck! what’s the matter!”

“Captain Judy! “Go now!”

“Sigh! Somehow, they said accidents wouldn’t happen on this damn spaceship… … .”

A couple of gunmen who woke up, several of Judy Capstan’s gang, Mr. Patrick, the engineer who was working on the engine near the bridge, and others.

As it was a spaceship where hell had been going on not long ago, the passengers also flocked in fearlessly, armed with firearms, to chase away the unknown threat.

“Captain! Are you safe?”

“What, are you okay?”

However, the ‘cosmic horror’ that awaited them on the bridge was something that could not be resisted with just a firearm… … .

Judy Capstan, who sat down with her legs weakened like a newborn deer, pointed out the source of all evil to those who looked at her with puzzled eyes.

It was a young sailor boy, smiling mischievously and scratching his head.

“Why that guy?”

Judy Capstan answered in horror.

“That crazy guy was measuring the route with a protractor!”

“What the fuck-”

It didn’t take long for the bridge to be filled with the girlish screams of muscular middle-aged men with thick beards.

And it took quite a long time for the boy to make the pioneers of the interstellar frontier who had forgotten history understand that there was no essential difference between what he did and what a state-of-the-art navigation system did.

Their voyage was generally like this.”

EP 10 – Starry Sky

Human imagination is not infinite. The brain also has a certain capacity. It is a psychological defense mechanism to prevent brain overload.

This is why people go crazy when they encounter a cosmic horror that goes beyond the scope of imagination.

If you put something beyond what human understanding can accept, your brain will be destroyed in an instant.

Representative examples include Korean publishers who witnessed the Japanese publishing industry.

-Koreans who don’t read books… The difference in sensitivity… … .

-Korean people don’t read books… Like an animal… … .

-Resurgence of the Great Japanese Empire… That is the only salvation for the publishing industry… … .

The poor publishers, driven mad by something indescribable, are still shaking and muttering words to themselves that the average person cannot understand.

As these poor souls can attest, the scale of Japan’s publishing industry is literally at the level of cosmic horror compared to Korea’s.

However, the American publishing industry is larger than Japan.

The CEO of a large American publishing company visited Korea ‘for business’.

The person who made it happen was Parachute CEO.

What is the reaction of Baekhak Bookstore employees at this time?

-Kyaaaaaaaaa!

-Baekhak Library is invincible and President Baek is a god!

-When I saw Baekseolgi as a snack today, I suddenly felt that owner Baekseol’s foresight was amazing… … .

In this way, Baek Seol became a walking Second Coming Jesus.

In fact, it was impossible for Baek Sul, who could not graduate from Seoul National University but graduated from a university in a strange English village, to receive support from employees.

Where are you going to study at university? I’m going there to build connections. There is a reason why K-mass production elites first go to Seoul National University and then get an MBA from Harvard. In fact, if you go to Harvard without going to Seoul National University, you will be treated as a nosy person.

How much worse would Baekhak Library, which is tightly knit with the academicism of prestigious universities, be miserable? In the eyes of the academic cartel, Lim Yang-wook, who graduated from Jijab University, and Baek Seol, a student at Ok University, were the rice for the vegetables.

-Snow white? that person… … It’s a parachute, right?

-How long do we have to treat someone who is an ‘obvious winner’ of the Booker International Prize as a genius translator?

-Aren’t you suddenly telling me to call you by your English name just because you graduated from a British university?

Even though she looked scary (full of makeup), the foundation was soon revealed, so it was really just a parachute whose only advantage was ‘cuteness’.

However, if the original parachute is attacked by armed air force, it becomes an airborne unit from that moment.

“But it’s not like they were armed communists, but they took everything from Kim Il-sung, so how terrible is it?”

“The example is too old.”

“Black, man… … .”

Yangwook Lim and the writer looked down from the railing on the second floor of Baekhak Library to the lobby filled with enthusiasm and joy.

Michael Collins, CEO of Clean Press, was receiving treatment almost equivalent to a state visit.

There are no ’employees’ among the tailors who are lined up at knife angles and bend their waists flexibly at 90 degrees.

They were all executives.

To top it off, even a former member of the National Assembly who had never come to work after receiving an outside director’s business card came forward.

The employees just raised their tiptoes like dogs watching the king’s procession and glanced at the noble person from afar.

And CEO Michael Collins smiled brightly and shook hands with people like a cheerful and friendly American.

“It’s nice to meet someone who is doing very meaningful work in the American publishing industry… … “He says.”

“is it so? haha! “Please tell me that I am also very happy to meet you.”

Meanwhile, CEO Michael Collins, as a ruthless economic animal than anyone else, regarded all this red tape as unbecoming.

‘People who can’t even speak English waste time using interpreters… … .’

However, he knew that the formality of maintaining a good image even in front of useless people was helpful in its own way.

Even if you routinely evade astronomical amounts of money in taxes, if you regularly visit environmental groups and children’s donation foundations and take pictures, the police will hesitate to take action.

Likewise, all of this red tape at Baekhak Bookstore was a build-up to achieve a certain goal for Michael Collins.

Show off your power to make it easier to persuade the ‘target’,

Create a good image for the ‘target’,

Showing presence to the ‘target’… … .

It is a kind of aiming process.

Therefore, Michael Collins spent his time giving lectures, touring, donating, and eating at Baekhak Library.

And fired toward the target.

Naturally, the ‘target’ was a writer.

* * *

“Ah, nice to meet you.”

The place where CEO Michael Collins spoke his first sincere words was on the living room sofa in the president’s office of Baekhak Bookstore.

The interpreter was Baek Seol, a world-class translator who received a Booker International nomination, and sitting across from her was the boy genius we had been waiting for.

Michael Collins looked the blanketed boy up and down.

“hmm… … .”

A calm expression, unkempt hair, and tired eyes.

And, eyes that don’t look like a child.

The boy I met in person was smaller than what I saw on the screen, and he looked more mature than what I saw on the screen.

Above all, I wasn’t nervous at all.

The sight of him calmly sipping coffee in front of the head of a major American publishing company is impressive.

Whether it was that he did not value worldly things or that he did not know how the world was going was a question that needed to be investigated from now on.

In any case, Michael Collins slightly lowered the possibility that the boy’s reputation was a fabrication.

And smiled gentlemanly.

“Did you know that I decided to go to Korea because of writer Moon?”

“ah… … . “I didn’t know.”

“Then I guess I can explain it to you step by step from now on! Nice to meet you. “This is Michael Collins from Collins Press.”

“This is novelist Moon In-seop. “I am writing under a pen name.”

“aha… … . The pen name ‘Literator’ was taken from your name, right? What does Munin mean in Korean?”

Michael Collins knew what ‘literary person’ means and sounds like in Korean. Because he received the report from his secretary in advance.

Therefore, I brought it up first because I thought it would be a pretty good conversation piece. And she naturally began to narrow the distance between herself and the literary world.

Ask questions and admire.

Ask questions and empathize.

Ask questions – agree.

The astute businessman in the American publishing industry led the conversation through systematic communication.

The unsociable boy only spoke of ‘answer’, ‘thank you’, and ‘humility’ the whole time, and since Michael Collins only induced such passive answers, the conversation naturally reached a certain point.

Michael Collins’ strategic target was the ‘starry sky’.

“The starry sky… … . Personally, I don’t like the socialist Georg Lukacs very much, but this sentence he left is worth remembering. In an age where civilization has driven out the unknown, where should a traveler who follows the starlight go? It’s a very literary topic. Impressive. So, the moment I saw a book that developed this topic and turned it into a science fiction novel… … .”

Michael Collins’ words once again contained sincerity.

“Do you think I fell in love?”

But before anyone could read his sincerity, he hid it with a sociable smile.

“Haha, I’m sorry for reading a novel that hasn’t even been published yet. I heard that CEO Baeksul here translates something by hand, so I was curious about it, so as a senior in college, I forced myself to take it and read it. “I had no idea I would find such a treasure there.”

“ah… … . Thank you for a good look.”

“no. I am more grateful! “Because you wrote such a great article!”

Michael Collins chose this next sentence carefully.

I came all the way to Korea to get a ‘YES’ answer to that question.

And all the build-up so far was for this purpose. Whether it is a formal event, an intimate expression, or a speech technique that makes the other person feel good and indebted… … .

Just as a veteran samurai drew his sword, a veteran businessman drew his horse.

“I won’t talk too much. I suggest it bluntly. Would you like to publish ‘The Starry Sky’ at our company? Of course, only in the US. Baekhak Bookstore should continue to dominate the Asian market. In any case, as a reliable partner of Baekhak Bookstore, we are fully willing to become a literary writer’s second friend!”

I intentionally held back on the words, ‘The more friends you have, the better, right?’

Because those were very sincere words.

The strategic goal of Collins Press is to deal directly with writers without going through Baekhak Bookstore.

Rather than signing a contract with a ‘writer of Baekhak Bookstore’, Baekhak Bookstore becomes the writer’s Asian partner, and Collins Press becomes the American partner.

Naturally, if you become a US partner, you will also become a UK partner, and if you become an Anglo-American partner, you will also naturally have a European partner.

Because that is the ‘Western world’.

That’s the natural flow.

And before you know it, it will become a natural flow for your second friend to change into your first friend.

‘It’s the perfect plan!’

They say popularity depends on the sky, but the story changes when it comes to Collins Press. Sufficient capital can upset the harmony of heaven and earth. That is capitalism.

It’s not even ‘the child writes’, but ‘the child writes well’. Even with these weapons, if you can’t create an international star writer, the president’s business card should be taken away.

Didn’t even that incompetent Oxford junior turn this boy into a star writer in Japan?

Munin is a stock whose price is scheduled to reach its upper limit. Michael Collins was confident that if a writer were to fall into his hands, he would sweep away money and popularity more easily than twisting a child’s wrist.

Still, Michael Collins was merciful in the fact that he did not completely steal away the writers as he had initially planned. Baekhak Bookstore will continue to remain a literary partner in Asia.

Of course, Korea is completely dominated by Baekhak Bookstore, and China is difficult for American publishers to enter, but if Collins Press decides to do so, it can easily take over Japan.

Therefore, giving Asia to Baekhak Library was truly a favor shown to a junior student at Ok University.

Michael Collins, known as ‘Snake Tongue’, a professional charlatan, is also doing business honestly for the first time in a long time.

“sorry.”

“… … !!!”

One, it was rejected.

“This is a difficult proposition for me to answer right now.”

The boy in front of me gave the answer “NO” to Michael Collins, the strongest man in the publishing industry!

Michael Collins said, ‘Hey, I…’ ! To this guy… … !’ He was caught up in a sense of helpless failure, like many final bosses who died shouting out lines like this.

“The book is not finished yet.”

Even the reason was incomprehensible. Michael Collins has already seen the ending of ‘The Starry Sky’. That means the book was already finished.

Even though I urged him to do so, the writer only responded curtly, like an old man sharpening a bat, asking, ‘Can raw rice become rice if you urge it?’

“The book is not finished yet.”

* * *

A writer did not live a life like a nervous potter smashing scratched pottery, tearing up manuscript paper and shouting, ‘This isn’t it!’

Rather, writers viewed a novelist who screamed while tearing up a healthy manuscript as a somewhat self-absorbed lunatic.

Why do you tear up a perfectly fine manuscript paper? The reason it’s not so good is probably because of the writing skills.

For a writer who saves only a small amount of pocket money to buy manuscript paper, wasting paper is unthinkable.

Therefore, the reason for the delay in writing ‘The Starry Sky’ did not lie with the writer.

“This isn’t it!”

Jiik- Jiik-

The writer stared blankly at Gu Yuna, who was screaming and tearing up the manuscript in the club room.