Chapter 116

Chapter 116

TL: KSD

If we compare the rise and fall of literature to history, now is neither the ‘Dark Ages’ nor the ‘Decline’ but the ‘Post-Apocalypse’.

The world has already perished due to nuclear war, and the few survivors are barely scraping by amidst the ruins.

And, of course, they can’t help but fight among themselves, so there was no need to look far for a real-life version of The Walking Dead.

Anyway, this is the worst apocalypse ever to hit the literary world.

It’s called <People Not Reading Books>.

However, surprisingly, you can still find famous novelists in the Korean entertainment industry, but how is that possible?

There’s a secret hidden here too.

Famous novelists are generally not famous for their novels.

They are famous for movies based on their novels, or for appearing on variety shows.

Moon In is no exception.

If you ask who the novelist on the variety show ‘Peaceful Uninhabited Island’ is, most people will answer Moon In.

But if you ask them to name three of Moon In’s novels, most of them will go, ‘Um... Uh... What was it?’

Therefore, if you were to summarize the public’s perception of Moon In in one sentence, it would be <A poor genius boy who writes novels that bring glory to the nation>.

But the perception within the literary world was a bit different.

Moon In was not just a somewhat famous kid in the literary world.

Moon In-seop... He is a god!

He was a god.

EP 8 – Dark Adaptation

What is a ‘god’?

– The question has been debated throughout human history, but a definitive conclusion has not yet been reached.

However, gods described in folklore generally have superpowers like precognition, necromancy, psychic power, or duplicating fish.

And they use these powers to grant people’s wishes.

So, from the perspective of <a being that grants people’s wishes with seemingly impossible superpowers>, Moon In was indeed a god.

Because Moon In revived the already dead publishing industry.

Of course, the publishing industry, now as ever, is still teetering. But there’s a significant difference between a teetering zombie and a teetering sick person.

A teetering zombie is only left to rot away, but a teetering sick person can go to the hospital and recover.

Thus, he reversed the publishing industry’s plummeting graph, making it rise again, like a descending roller coaster suddenly going back up.

That was the miracle Moon In performed.

Despite being battered by K-dramas and gnawed away by web novels, the publishing industry’s scale slightly increased even amid all these disasters.

That was a miracle akin to duplicating money when there was almost nothing.

The kids at the New Light Spring Orphanage, who early on referred to Moon In as <the one who creates pizza and turns water into cola>, continue to be right on the mark today. As expected of kids from a Christian orphanage, they have a religious perspective.

Anyway, duplicating fish and duplicating money essentially have the common point of filling people up.

Just as the Hebrews decided to follow Jesus after getting fish and bread, the beneficiaries who firmly boarded the publishing boom initiated by Moon In did not hesitate to worship him.

Thus, Moon In became the child god of the Korean literary world and the publishing industry.

Although he exposed the practice of debut fees by buying 16 literary awards at the time of his debut, that was merely a dispute stirred up by treacherous ministers like Lim Yang-wook who blinded the holy one’s eyes. Naturally, if the rebels are eliminated and the king’s work is restored, everything will be fine.

(Originally, in Asia, this is how things were smoothed over when covering for superiors.)

Thus, the literary world, being people who make a living by writing, neatly revised history books. Some literary renegades dared to rebel, but they were easily crushed by the reputation of Gu Hak-jun.

In fact, with the joint guarantee of Gu Hak-jun, Park Chang-woon, and Seo Woon-pil, even a cat with ink-stained paws could now be considered part of the ‘literary family’. How much more so for Moon In?

Though Moon In was reborn as a member of the Korean literary world, the ‘literary magazine’ side, who could be said to have been directly slapped by Moon In, had a slightly different thought.

And.

That’s where all the butterfly effects began.

* * *

“Ah, damn it...”

“Why the long face so early in the morning?”

“Ah, the situation is just pissing me off. My pride is really hurt...”

As it’s the nature of the world for bad news to spread faster than good news, the authority of the literary magazine plummeted irreversibly after the exposé of the debut fee practice.

Therefore, the editors of literary magazines spent a miserable winter, staring blankly into space in their offices like broken computers.

There was no proper solution, but the Annual Spring Literary Contest was slowly approaching. Their hearts tightened, and their phones were constantly ringing. Something had to be done.

Just as the editors of literary magazines were shivering in anxiety.

A lifeline descended upon them.

A lifeline called 「Student Serial Killer」.

* * *

To begin with, it is worth noting that Gu Yubin’s the 「Student Serial Killer」 was clearly a piece deserving of a literary award.

However, coincidentally, there was also a political reason to award this novel.

Gu Yubin was the daughter of Gu Hak-jun, affiliated with Baekhak Publishing, and already a well-known novelist in the literary circle.

This meant that there were no grounds for criticism even if she received the award.

Moreover, until the emergence of Moon In, Gu Yubin had been the greatest prospect in Korean literature.

She was always referred to as a ‘genius’ whenever her name came up.

However, due to the public’s preference for an elementary school student writing novels over a middle school student writing poems, Gu Yubin was temporarily forgotten.

In this context, each literary magazine took action.

The ‘genius literary girl’ had returned.

[Genius Girl Gu Yubin Returns to the Literary World After Two Years, Shocking Sensational Work!]

[Review, 「Student Serial Killer」, A Raw Look at School from a Student Writer.]

Fortunately, Moon In had not submitted his work to any specific literary magazine. Therefore, there was no need to eliminate his work in any competition’s judging process.

Thus, the remaining awards were comprehensive categories like ‘Novel of the Year’ evaluated by the literary magazines themselves, where Gu Yubin pushed Moon In aside and took the spotlight.

Of course, there was significant backlash.

Many of Moon In’s fans sent protest letters to the literary magazines. Generally, these messages could be summarized as <You fucking bastards>.

Moreover, these were originally high-interest individuals with a keen interest in literature, significantly overlapping with the main subscribers of the literary magazines.

Thus, the literary magazines found themselves clashing with their biggest customers.

But did the literary magazines fail to anticipate this outcome?

No, they did not.

People tend to focus on the immediate crisis when it strikes. Humans are not particularly intelligent creatures.

Of course, occasionally, there are mutants who can see further, but these smart individuals generally act alone and cannot influence mainstream opinion.

This was why Seo Woon-pil, the representative of Korea’s largest literary magazine, had kept his mouth shut all winter. Seo Woon-pil had already cleverly maneuvered his way out.

So, as the literary magazines, focusing only on the immediate crisis, faced a deluge of protest letters from readers, they were stunned.

“Oh, right. His fans and our subscribers are the same people..”

“...What should we do, senior?”

“We’re fucked, that’s what.”

Fortunately, the literary magazines, being more inclined toward the scholar’s way of the brush rather than the sword, did not adopt the samurai spirit of committing seppuku instead of apologizing when fighting with their customers.

The literary magazines quietly prepared an apology.

However, that apology was never formally published because a wave from the ‘outside world’, incomparable to the affairs within the literary circle, struck.

Indeed.

The mainstream public took notice of Gu Yubin.

The reason was simple.

She was beautiful.

[Student Serial Killer... Number 1 Bestseller in One Week of Release]

[Exclusive Interview with the Star of the Gu Yubin Syndrome!]

[The Emergence of the Genius Literary Girl, Is Spring Coming to Korean Literature?]

Thus, the unexpected queen of spring was born.

It was the beginning of the Gu Yubin syndrome.

*****

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