Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 18



Only Krnovel

EP 1 – Cause of Death

Of course, if I want to sign a formal contract with the publishing management TF team, I need the approval of my legal representative.

And my legal representative was Director Choongjae Moon.

So, Lim Yang-wook and Baek-seol came to the Saebit Spring Orphanage, fully prepared to persuade Director Moon Chung-jae in case of an emergency.

If Director Moon Choong-jae is picky and swerves over various aspects of the contract, things will become very complicated.

However, the interview with Director Choongjae Moon did not last very long.

At the end of Lim Yang-wook’s explanation, he asked three questions.

– Inseop. Is this the path you want to take?

I said yes.

– Team leader Lim. Is this kid’s talent real?

Lim Yang-wook replied that he was sure.

– Employee Baek. Can I trust you?

Baek Seol nodded resolutely.

Then Moon Chung-jae signed without hesitation, and the meeting ended.

After that it was prayer time.

– Okay, everyone, hold hands here. I will pray. Our Father in heaven…

As if he were a pastor, Moon Chung-jae put the hands of Lim Yang-wook and Baek Seol together and prayed for a long time. He even prayed with tears in his eyes.

Among the three of us, none of us were Christians, so only Director Chungjae Moon was impressed, and the 20 minutes were a bit burdensome for us.

Too much favor can be tiring to those who are not ready to accept it. So Lim Yang-wook and Baek Seol left the director’s office half exhausted.

“I don’t know if it was a contract or a worship service…”

Lim Yang-wook received Baek Seol’s words.

“He is a good person.”

Now, if I end here by saying, ‘Director Moon Choong-jae is a good person with great faith,’ the conversation will end.

But I am a crooked person by nature, so I thought.

If Director Moon Choong-jae really thought of me as his child, would he have willingly signed the contract without even looking at it carefully?

Wouldn’t you be suspicious of tailors you meet for the first time and brush off every word of the contract? To protect me from unexpected danger?

If I had been in a past life, these words would have flown out of my mouth and gotten people into trouble, but fortunately, I have learned to refrain from saying them.

However, I couldn’t just casually agree and move on, so I suppressed the sudden craving for a cigarette and said this.

“Would you like to go out for a meal to celebrate the signing of the contract?”

“oh! Good meal! How about udon? “Do you like udon?”

“It looks like the company doesn’t even give out corporate cards.”

“It really looks like a ghost. “This guy.”

How did know!

* * *

“Here are three servings of udon.”

“yes! “Your order has been received!”

There were many people who wanted to eat cheap udon for lunch. Because the store is small, conversations at the table next to us are vivid. To put it negatively, it was noisy, and to put it positively, it was lively.

We sat around a table for four in a place filled with the smell of udon soup. Yangwook Lim sat alone, and Baekseol sat next to me. It must be a bit burdensome for a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s to sit side by side at a narrow table.

I stopped observing my surroundings, as was my habit.

Because I couldn’t write about the scenery of this udon restaurant.

What I was interested in now was the contract.

I felt like I could write with this.

I looked closely at the contract enclosed in a clear plastic file. To be exact, I looked into the name of Director Choongjae Moon.

Choongjae Moon.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that Director Moon Chung-jae doesn’t love me. But he signed the contract very lightly.

That must be the weight of his love.

Moon Chung-jae’s love is Christian love. He learned his beliefs from the Bible.

Moon Chung-jae’s love is God’s love. And God’s love has no cost. It’s just love being spread out.

So it’s light.

On the other hand, it was a fate that I had longed for my whole life but could not obtain from the moment I was born –

-Parental love has a price.

Parents hope for the growth of the species by passing on their genes to future generations, hope that their children will achieve the dreams they were unable to achieve, and hope that their children will grow up well and support them. This is because children are the alter egos of their parents. A child is a parent’s dream.

That’s why parents’ love is heavy.

God’s love and parental love.

Light love and heavy love.

What should I do to turn this into a beautiful story?

“Is the contract that good? “He’s really staring at me.”

I got out of my thoughts and raised my head.

Yangwook Lim, sitting across from me, is smiling mischievously.

“This, this, I thought he was a really old guy, but he has a cute side, right?”

Baek Seol criticized Lim Yang Wook.

“Team leader, you’re an old man? “Aren’t you speaking too harshly to our writer Moon?”

“hey! I found this one! “Whenever I saw him, he was ‘our’ writer Moon!”

“Does order matter? Being mindful is important. Writer Moon, do you think I’d be better than that guy who’s young and old? Is that right, Writer Moon?”

Perhaps because the contract was successfully concluded, the two adults were a little excited. They were so excited that they started making jokes about which of the two was better.

I changed the topic to get away from the difficult topic.

“You can speak comfortably, editor.”

“no. You put your stamp on the contract. So from now on, author Moon is our customer. “There are probably a lot of people who look at me with suspicion because of my age, so I have to be careful about what I say.”

Baekseol used the English word ‘customer’ with a very fluent pronunciation.

My eyes widened for a moment, and Lim Yang-wook, who saw that, smiled and answered.

“Baekseol, do you speak English well? “Oxford English Department.”

“Ay, team leader! “Why are you talking about that!”

“I want to become a translator, so if your novel becomes a hit and is exported, Baekseol will translate it for you? Show it well in advance.”

Oxford!

Suddenly, Baek Seol’s messy hair looked like the leisure of an eccentric, highly educated person who was indifferent to self-care, not because she didn’t comb it.

The dark circles around my eyes didn’t look like they were because I stayed up all night watching YouTube last night, but because I stayed up all night reading an academic paper last night.

I politely poured water into a white stainless steel water cup with both hands.

“Actually, I think I like Editor Baek better than Team Manager Lim.”

“Is it already late?”

Baekseol joked back, but smiled and drank the water I poured for him.

I didn’t bother to ask why such a talented person was rotting in the underground parking lot of Baekhak Entertainment.

I just think the situation is a bit complicated.

Anyway, this is my second life as a writer. It was eventful from the start. I can’t believe I signed a contract with a bizarre editorial department that uses an office in an underground parking lot. I can never forget the strange sight of a warehouse converted into an office.

Still, things will work out somehow since Lim Yang-wook will become an executive at Baekhak Bookstore in 10 years, but worries about his uncertain future have not completely disappeared.

“ha···”

I sighed after eating a bowl of salted udon noodles that had just arrived.

Then Lim Yang-wook flinched.

“Are you sure udon doesn’t suit your taste? sorry. “Because I don’t have money… the bad guys didn’t even give me a corporate credit card.”

“No, I just have complicated thoughts. “After putting the director’s stamp on the contract, my mind was confused.”

“okay? Don’t think about it too complicated. Just think of it as joining an agency! From now on, you are our writer. “For the next three years.”

Baekseol smiled softly and accepted the words.

“The term ‘publishing management’ may seem difficult, but it is simpler than you might think. On behalf of author Moon, we will negotiate with the publisher, do marketing, and represent everything from book design to distribution. “If we go on a variety show or something, we will accept it, negotiate well, and act as managers.”

“In a word, it’s the writer’s version of management!”

“that’s right. Writer Moon, from now on, you just have to concentrate on writing comfortably. “We’ll do everything else!”

“okay! Trust me and leave it to me! “We have everything to do with this!”

“manager!”

“why? It’s true. “If I can’t get him off the ground, I’ll resign immediately.”

“Ha… But in front of the child…”

Even though Baek-seol spoke politely, he still viewed me as a child, and Lim Yang-wook treated me like an adult even though he spoke carelessly.

Perhaps because I myself came from an institution, I know from experience that children can grow up prematurely.

Or maybe you came to understand me after reading my book. Or maybe my personality is just like that…

As I was quietly observing Lim Yang-wook and Baek Seol, Lim Yang-wook suddenly felt my gaze and looked at me.

“Are you looking at my head?”

“Ah, ah, that’s not it…!”

“What’s wrong?”

Lim Yang-wook smiled casually and smoothed his smooth hair.

“I started losing hair at a young age. So rather than live with the shameful M symbol, I threw it all away with honor.”

“I see…”

I didn’t really want to know.

Yangwook Lim asked me after taking a bite of udon.

“Oh, do you have a pre-determined pen name?”

“A pen name?”

“okay. Because of your age, I don’t think I can reveal your identity right away. First of all, I will publish the book anonymously at first. Once the book becomes somewhat popular, I’ll show you to the world. how is it? “Not bad, right?”

“yes. I just need to be able to publish a book. “To be precise, it doesn’t matter as long as you can write.”

“good. “Then, do you have any other pen names in mind?”

“ah···”

It’s a pen name.

It has a name that was originally used.

“A literary person. “There is a person on the door.”

“oh! So you just removed ‘Seop’ from your name? That’s fine. “It feels like the name is a bit innate.”

“When I get older, I plan to change my real name to that.”

“what? Did you even change your name? why?”

That’s right…

Because I didn’t want college to find out that I was from an orphanage.

Because I was sick of the derogatory term ‘Seopseop’ that I heard throughout my school days.

Because I didn’t want to live my whole life with a name I didn’t make up.

And now there is one more reason.

Because Moon In-seop is already dead.

I couldn’t explain all of these complex and subtle feelings.

So I said this.

“It’s just that it feels a bit old-fashioned.”

The two adults who heard me had complicated expressions.

I couldn’t bear that gaze and turned away.

“Anyway, can you give me the book quickly?”

“then! of course!”

* * *

“no.”

Baekhak Bookstore Publication Planning Department Manager Seong-Jun Yang confirmed.

He was a publishing planner.

Whether it’s a novel, a workbook, a cookbook, a history book, anything.

Publishers usually decide everything before publishing a book. A book with a certain concept is entrusted to a certain author, with a certain design, a certain marketing method is used, a certain printing company is used, and the method of publication is planned in advance.

It is called “planned publishing” and is the most common business model.

Therefore, the head of the publishing planning department in charge of ‘planning’ was a very powerful position.

Naturally, unless an accident occurs, it is a customary position to go directly to the position of head of the division in charge of the entire ‘Publishing Business Division’.

Naturally, Yang Seong-jun was a direct line of the current head of the publishing business division, and was no different from his limbs.

At the same time, he was also the one who destroyed Lim Yang-wook’s company life.

“Hey, Team Leader Lim. You have to bring something that makes sense. “If he suddenly comes with a manuscript and asks me to hand over this book, how should I accept that?”

“Why on earth do you say it can’t be done? “Isn’t the Publication Management TF the same kid from Baekhak Bookstore?”

“Ha… Indeed. “It’s gross, really.”

The Publication Planning Department office had an atmosphere like a sheet of thin ice. Since the co-worker who was demoted came back and started making trouble, all work for employees below the manager level was suspended.

Even if you put aside personal feelings, there is no other spectacle like this.

“Could it be that he is Lim Yang-wook?”

“I think so…”

“Are you still at the company? “It’s poisonous, it’s poisonous…”

Manager Yang Seong-jun felt the atmosphere of the office and smiled crookedly.

“hey. Team leader Lim. “Let’s say it out loud.”

“Tell me. Why on earth can’t you publish this manuscript as a book?”

“No… not the book, I mean you, you.”

Director Yang Sung-jun’s index finger snapped and pointed at Lim Yang-wook.

“The fact that you, who ruined the entire TF team, still haven’t submitted your resignation is… let’s say that. Because like the mavericks that sometimes appear in the news, you probably have a story about stealing your salary. “Then you’ll just think you’re grateful to the company and stay in silence. How dare you order the manager to come to the headquarters and write a book?”

Lim Yang-wook did not ask whether you and Ni Oyabung knew in advance about the sexual scandal of the writer in charge, which was the reason the task force disappeared, and then exposed it.

Also, he didn’t even ask whether it was impossible for you to reject the publication management TF’s plan in this way due to company regulations.

Because it was meaningless.

He asked instead:

“······Then let’s talk about the book, not about me. “Director, in your opinion, is this manuscript too good to be published as a book?”

no. It was enough to pay. That is Seongjun Yang’s judgment.

But what does that mean?

Cause of death? It’s not bad. It’s pro level.

What does that mean?

Even if you publish a novel like this, at most, only critics will read it. They end up talking among themselves about how they liked this part or that part of the narrow water.

If it had been published in a major spring literary contest, it would have been possible to aim for the grand prize depending on the judges’ tendencies. And he must have debuted brilliantly as a star writer. By borrowing the power of newspaper companies and literary circles.

But what does that mean?

There are many other writers besides this guy.

Anyway, once you get to the pro level, the quality of the books is there. From then on, each writer only has their own unique characteristics and strengths and weaknesses. Except for the level of world literature.

In this reality, all that remains is the value of the name.

What literary awards did they win, how many fandoms did they have, which politicians did they sharply criticize, and how much marketing money did they spend?

Sales volume is determined by those things, not the work.

It’s that kind of era.

In such a situation, there are so many famous writers knocking on the door of Baekhak Bookstore, but how can they come here with the writings of an unknown newcomer and ask them to publish it as a book?

Even if a pretty guy brought it to me, I wasn’t sure if I would give it to him or not, but the manuscript came from the world’s most hated guy. Do you want to give it to me?

All Manager Yang Yang-jun could give back was a snort.

“In my opinion, this manuscript is trash.”

Seongjun Yang threw the manuscript on the floor.

“Take it back. “To your office.”

Lim Yang-wook remained silent with a shocked expression.

Then, humiliatingly, he bowed down and picked up the manuscript.

Seongjun Yang looked at that and muttered quietly.

“Yangwook is very discouraged…”

Lim Yang-wook pretended not to notice Yang Seong-jun’s ridicule and turned around with a stern face and left.

Without even having time to look back at the sights of the Publication Planning Department, where he returned after a long absence, he got into the elevator amidst the whispers of his old colleagues.

Lim Yang-wook maintained a stern expression even when he was left alone in the elevator.