Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 51



Only Krnovel

EP 2 – Other

The rules at the daycare center are different from those for children at a girl’s home.

The top goals of ‘normal’ children are growth and education,

The primary mission of orphanage children is survival and unity.

This means that loyalty is more important than morality. You can tell just by looking at Ma Ki-hoon, who lacks wisdom and morals but is full of chivalry, that he is the leader of the orphanage.

What is the ‘Korean Association’?

It cannot be explained clearly because it is determined by the heart, not the head. But I can give an example.

Taking pocket money by lying to volunteers?

It is acceptable.

Telling a story about a friend who got his allowance by lying?

This is unacceptable.

Being criticized at school?

It is acceptable.

Not helping and running away during a confrontation?

This is unacceptable.

It was a story that would have people asking whether the orphanage was a den of animals, but these rules were not rules set by the teacher, but rather implicit rules that the children followed.

Because there is no one in this world who can defend orphans.

Therefore, orphans must protect themselves.

The method is force, and the spirit is chivalry.

Because we can only survive if we stick together as one, we turn a blind eye to even if our friends do immoral things.

Because we were people in the same fence.

Conversely, for this reason, it was absolutely unacceptable to engage in vicious acts against fellow students.

However, violence is okay. All you have to do is fight as much as you want and make up.

But theft is not allowed. That leaves a mark in my heart.

As for daycare allowance, that’s about it. Very few children save a lot of money.

In the meantime, you’re touching other people’s money?

From that moment on, the orphanage becomes a state of struggle of all against all. This means that the basic system is starting to collapse. And wherever you go in any era, the threat to the system was treason.

And treason was punishable by death.

“What a fucking bastard!”

Even before the teachers stepped forward, the seniors at the orphanage rolled their eyes.

The staff in charge of discipline at the orphanage were furious and hunted down the thief.

“Come out when I speak well. To be honest, I see it. “Turn yourself in.”

“Fuck you! Fuck! What a look! Hey, you son of a thief! Never get caught! “If I get caught, I’ll punish you!”

Even if an adult steals something, if he or she is taken to the police station, his or her legs will start shaking. People are not as good at lying as you think. What about children?

The culprit was found in an instant.

“Well, I was wrong! sorry!”

The culprit was a girl in the same grade as me.

He was a guy who always openly showed his jealousy towards me.

“why···?”

“I’m sorry… I was wrong…”

The child was dragged by the gang, including Ma Ki-hoon, and returned the money to me in tears.

Adults don’t entrust large amounts of money to children, but I entrusted a large amount of money to myself. Since I couldn’t even make a card, I only had cash, so the amount was significant.

“Well, I tried to hide it for a while and give it back, but I was scared because there was so much money, so I couldn’t say anything… I’m sorry…”

But the amount wasn’t important right now. The reason this incident shocked the internal community of the orphanage was because it was not a matter of amount but of trust.

But I was so embarrassed that I didn’t even feel embarrassed.

Still, I am a 23-year-old adult. It was a moment when I was trying to be polite and forgive him.

“Everyone pay attention.”

Ki-hoon Ma received official punishment after consultation with the student affairs director.

With key figures from the orphanage student community gathered together, Ma Ki-hoon solemnly pronounced his sentence.

“To my sister’s room.”

“Waaaaaa – !”

oh my god.

It’s my sister’s room.

A sister’s room means sleeping overnight in the room of a senior who is several grades higher than you. It was corporal punishment that came from the fact that children were more afraid of their seniors than their teachers.

As it was a punishment in which everyone participated, the reactions of other students were also enthusiastic.

“long time no see. Hey, I’ll be nice to you. “Look forward to it.”

“hey! Fuck! “Send us to our room!”

“I ate 200,000 won for 3 days at the bazaar, but how much did In-seop eat in one cue after emptying his wallet? “He’s a proper thief.”

Not only was he not from outside the orphanage, but he was never viewed kindly for his crime of stealing money from a student at the same orphanage.

Amidst the merciless ridicule showered upon him, the child who touched my wallet burst into tears.

But no one sympathized with the child. The laughter only grows louder.

Meanwhile.

In a memory I don’t know if it was from the past or a past life, I remembered a boy being surrounded by kids his age and being ridiculed. It’s mainly about me in high school.

Those terrible memories made my body move on its own.

“Everyone, stop it – !”

I turned my back to the child who was crying.

The children at the orphanage stopped laughing.

“Is this something to laugh at? “Is it laughable that people from the same orphanage are punishing and hitting each other?”

Someone shouted at me.

“The Dean of Student Affairs told me to go to my sister’s room because I stole money!”

“If you stole money, you should either make them write a letter of remorse or raise their hands and kneel. Does it make sense to throw them in the sisters’ room?”

I appealed to the orphanage students.

“Everyone knows! What would happen to that child if he went into the sisters’ room! Surrounded by older sisters who are one or two grades older than you, they tell you to pretend to be a stray cat, tell you to kneel and look at the wall until they punish you, and when you lie down to sleep at night, the older sisters pinch your sides with their big toes and giggle! “This is nothing more or less than a legacy of violence!”

The atmosphere suddenly became solemn.

I gathered momentum and continued speaking.

“Is it fair to be punished like this for stealing some money? Is it right to resolve all wrongdoing with violence? I will talk to the Dean of Student Affairs and change it into a reflection paper. Aren’t you just a 6th grade elementary school student? “You may feel jealous of children your own age.”

Daycare teachers tend not to hit children directly.

There are people who hit people directly, but it becomes a problem if they get caught. So, the ones who corporally punish children at the orphanage are the students at the same orphanage. This was violence of an informal yet official nature.

So, among us, there was not a child who had never been hit by a senior.

Violence was passed down like that.

But that has to change now.

I spoke passionately with that feeling.

“I understand how that friend feels. “The gloomy boy who always read books in the corner of his room was suddenly told that he was a masterpiece or a genius, that he was appearing on TV and earning a lot of money, and some would have said no.”

Shock behind me! I felt like that.

“Aren’t we all in a similar situation? When we go to school, other kids use smartphones, but we can’t. Even if I want to buy something at a stationery store, I have to go to the teacher and open my hands…”

“But suddenly the kid who was bullied at school is spending a lot of money, so you might feel like you’re worse than him!”

“Maybe that friend isn’t really greedy for money. “My mind was so complicated these days that I couldn’t bear the relative deprivation and tried to comfort myself by taking things from myself.”

“With such frustration, I might touch my friend’s wallet-”

Wow.

Ki-hoon Ma stopped talking, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“stop···”

“yes?”

“Stop the fuck. You bastard. please···”

When I turned around, I saw the child lying on the floor, covering his face and wailing. I cried so desperately that it was incomparable to before.

The scary sisters, who just a moment ago had every intention of tormenting the child, instead patted and comforted the child.

In the end, the child went into her sister’s room while being comforted by her sisters. I looked at that figure with a blank expression.

The other children shook their heads as if they had lost all steam and dispersed. And as he left, he left a few words for me.

“You are the worst, you bastard…”

“No, I didn’t mean to do this…!”

“That was a scary bastard…”

* * *

“This happened…”

I complained to Yangwook Lim across the table where two cups of coffee were placed.

However, Lim Yang-wook responded in an ambiguous voice.

“···What does that have to do with not being able to film commercials?”

“Even with this level of popularity, I can’t make a proper living. If I film a commercial here, go on a variety show, and get into the entertainment industry, will I be able to live a normal life? “Wouldn’t it just mean less time to write?”

“A lot has happened at the orphanage for me to say I’m full…”

“Actually, what you really mean is that you’re full, right?”

“huh···”

“It’s nice to be honest.”

Even I didn’t have ordinary circumstances.

Saebit Spring Orphanage is always visited by volunteers, and events are often held where outsiders come to visit. Do I have to go through these four months every time that happens?

Besides, I share a room with 4 people. Of course, you can’t lock the door. So another kid comes into the room and takes money out of her wallet.

After explaining the situation, Yangwook Lim made this suggestion.

“Inseop. So how about doing it like this? The company will find a studio for me, so I can live there. If that’s burdensome, you can commute to the studio. Or, you can look for real estate in all four names. I looked into it, and it was only possible with the signature of a legal representative. “I will help you.”

“Thank you for your words, but…”

“But?”

“Still, some commercials and entertainment shows.”

“Ahh! driving me crazy!”

Lim Yang-wook squeezed his scalp with his fingers.

He continued to persuade me with a stuffy expression.

“okay! call! Let’s proceed with publishing and broadcasting activities at the same time! Okay then? Are you going to film a CF?”

“no.”

“Inseop. If you keep ignoring my persuasion like this, I have no choice. So please, let’s film some CF. huh?”

“Umm…”

“Money and fame aren’t that dirty and dirty. Don’t you think that if you earn money while you can, you will be able to write elegantly later on? “Wouldn’t it be better to be depressed in a penthouse with a view of the Han River rather than lamenting about life in a single room?”

It is understandable that Lim Yang-wook is frustrated. You wonder why they are like this because they offer to feed them wealth and fame, but they don’t receive it.

But I know that things like money, popularity, and fame are illusions that can collapse at any time.

I had the experience of everything in the world being turned upside down due to a providence beyond human control. One day, the whole world suddenly returned to the way it was 10 years ago.

Since that day, I sometimes feel this fear.

If something has already happened once, is there any guarantee that it won’t happen again?

Even if I live like this for 10 years, won’t everything suddenly disappear and I’ll return to the past?

I was the only human being who experienced that my fate was in the hands of an absolute providence, so irresistible that it could be called God.

Not even the Pope is more convinced of the existence of God than I am. He believes in the existence of God, but I have experienced the existence of God.

And that providence can return me to the past at any time. It felt like someone was pointing a gun at my head at every moment.

For example, it is Sun Wukong in the palm of Buddha. I am living in the palm of God’s hand. The moment he grabs his hand I die.

Every time I remembered that fact, I would feel a cold fear sinking into my bones. I inadvertently put a strain on the hand holding the blanket.

The way to overcome that fear is simple.

Rather than focusing on the world around me, I focus on the world within me.

Money and fame can disappear at any time, but writing remains forever. where? In my heart.

I think, therefore I exist. As long as I exist, my writing will remain in my heart forever.

Even if I go back 10 years, what I wrote remains within me.

So writing is truly everything to me and the driving force that makes me live.

A person can only live by dreams, not by gold and fame.

I spoke to Lim Yang-wook with that realization.

“Still, CF is a bit…”

“hey – !”

Lim Yang-wook’s face turned bright red after being rejected so many times that he couldn’t even count.

“Whoa… whoo…”

Lim Yang-wook, who looked like a boiled octopus, took a deep breath to calm himself down. I felt sorry and looked at his eyes.

Meanwhile.

Lim Yang-wook instinctively sensed that enough ‘sorry’ had accumulated in Moon In-seop’s heart and began to criticize the actions he had prepared in advance.

He sighed with a relieved expression.

“Haha… then there’s nothing we can do. “If you want to focus on writing for the sake of quality rather than popularity, I have no choice but to respect that.”

“I’m sorry, Manager.”

“no. are you okay. It must have been very confusing for you who lived as an ordinary person to suddenly become like a celebrity, but I think we lacked mental care. “I apologize.”

“No, I am more…”

“Hey, don’t compete to see who is more sorry. Instead, please take care of this one schedule.”

“As long as it’s not a CF…”

He seems like a terrible guy.

In the meantime, are you leaving CF aside?

But this won’t go away.

Lim Yang-wook smiled cunningly on the inside, with a smile on his face that was not at all greedy.

And they threw in a bait that any creator could never refuse.

“I heard that Sign is being made into a movie?”

“···!!! ”

* * *

“what it this? sign?”

Child actor Kim Byeol frowned as she looked at the script handed to her by her manager.

In the middle of filming a drama, they suddenly hand you a movie script?

I’m sure you’re not saying to film them at the same time…

“Is this my next project? manager?”

“No, that’s not it. I think I’ll have to take a short picture soon. “Maybe next week?”

“yes-?!”

When Kim Byeol raised her eyes, the manager began to gently coax her.

“Hey, it’s just a short short film. I heard it was written by a famous writer these days. You know the movie based on the novel? Since fans watch it without fail, it sells to some extent. Safe bread, safe bread. “Think of it as a side job.”

“But still, how can I film this right away!”

“Look at the script! There’s barely any dialogue! It’s a one-person play that lasts less than 20 minutes. It’s just a role of shaking in a room alone. “He commits suicide in the end.”

“But this isn’t some kind of convenience store pinch-hit job. What if I’m suddenly asked to play the lead role in a short film while I’m filming a drama? “What about emotions?”

Instead of slowly persuading Kim Byeol, the manager chose a quick and easy method. It is absolutely impossible for me to fail to follow instructions from the boss, let alone the manager.

“hey. Byul Kim.”

The team leader-level manager, who was more than 10 years older than her, looked at her with a straight face and frowned, and Kim Byeol, who was questioning her harshly, instinctively felt intimidated.

Instead of using this momentum to scold Kim Byeol, the manager relaxed his shoulders and sighed helplessly.

“Ugh… no. “What right do I have to scold you?”

Then, Kim Byeol couldn’t even stand up to him and lowered his gaze because he was so intimidated.

“S-sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing when you haven’t done anything wrong? It’s all my fault. It’s my fault. Still, I’m worried about your writing quality, so I asked for a good project, but there’s nothing I can do if you’re having a hard time. what…”

“……”

“How can I tell a kid who debuted so quickly to do this or that? If you don’t like it, don’t do it. “You probably know this floor better than I do.”

At the end of all the gaslighting, the manager reached a climax by stimulating Kim Byeol’s vulnerabilities.

Child actor Kim Byeol. 16 years old.

We are now at an age where the title ‘child actor’ is slowly disappearing.

Succeed in transforming your image and become ‘just’ an actor,

I have to be forgotten by people and become a ‘former’ actor.

And she wanted to remain an actress.

Because my mom ordered it.

“Ha, I will…”

“···okay? “Well thought out.”

* * *

‘I want to hit the smoke…’

Kim Byul was sprawled out like green onion kimchi on the sofa in the waiting room at the filming location of the movie ‘Sign.’