Chapter 106
TL: KSD
Be careful when you look into the abyss.
For the abyss will look back at you.
-So goes the saying.
Commonly known as a paradox of human goodness from Friedrich Nietzsche, this is a misunderstanding by Muggles unaware of black magic.
Wizards versed in black magic would already know the true meaning of this saying. Namely, that there is always a price to pay for practicing black magic.
Shim Yeon-ho, the dark mage of South Korea’s showbiz industry, was not unaware of the true meaning of these words.
After all, didn’t he just use a sinister black magic spell that shocked everyone to swap CEO’s back health for TV ratings?
Naturally, a price had to be paid.
Shim Yeon-ho saw CEO Kim Seung-hwan bowing and scraping as he saw off Author Seo Woon-pil.
And beyond the slit of CEO Kim Seung-hwan’s smiling squint-eyes, he saw the chilling gaze staring back at him.
Spine-chilling–!
Shim Yeon-ho hastily averted his gaze, muttering under his breath.
“…Fuck…I’m screwed.”
It is a known horror that characters who normally squint reveal a terrifying side when they open their eyes fully. The head writer who glimpsed this shard of madness could not contain his fear.
The trembling head writer spoke.
“Wi-will we be alright…?”
Of course, there’s no need to write a report just because you’ve invited monster-level guests three times in a row and caused the network CEO’s back to bend horribly.
The internal rules of the broadcasting station are not child’s play.
However, the logic of human nature doesn’t stray far from that of a children’s playground. If CEO Kim Seung-hwan goes ‘Hmph, I’m offended, I won’t give you the budget,’ things turn to shit.
But a skilled dark mage knows very well how to overcome such difficulties.
Shim Yeon-ho cast “Spell: Pay It Back.”
“Borrow more and pay it back.”
The saying “Just borrow more and pay it back” could also mean “So we can borrow even more.” How terrifying and dreadful a thought is that?
Shim Yeon-ho, already tainted by darkness, looked at the head writer with determined eyes.
“Let’s expand the scale. Since it has come to this, let’s invite other novelists too.”
“Oh dear. Will those people really come?”
“…We already had Gu Hak-jun, Park Chang-woon, and Seo Woon-pil, didn’t we?”
“Hm?”
The head writer suddenly remembered a story from a friend who worked at EBS.
It was about a program that invited famous speakers for lectures. They had to scramble to secure guests for Season 1, but from Season 2, merely showing the list of Season 1 participants was enough to naturally gather people.
Amused by the story, the head writer chuckled.
“Don’t tell me… you’re planning to lure other novelists using the reputation of Gu Hak-jun, Park Chang-woon, and Seo Woon-pil?”
“…….”
PD Shim Yeon-ho just stared intently at the head writer with determined eyes.
The smile faded from the head writer’s lips.
“Ah, no way…?”
“……….”
“Right…?”
EP 7 – Isomer
I arrived at school early for a change. It was because my shooting schedule had become more relaxed.
I heard they succeeded in inviting other teachers besides me.
Of course, more teachers in a novelist training program is a good thing.
But being someone from this industry, I know the going rate for top-notch novelist lecturers.
So naturally, I couldn’t help but be skeptical. It can’t be cheap, right?
Probably, PD Shim Yeon-ho managed it somehow.
People who have learned their lessons don’t start something without a plan, right?
Putting aside my concerns about the variety show, which isn’t even my job, I decided to catch up on some overdue tasks now that I was here.
The most important was registering new club member.
A girl with beige hair and a plain look.
Min……
Min……
“My name is Min Hyo-min.”
Hyo-min.
Right.
The commendable literature-kitten Min Hyo-min politely greeted the club supervisor, Park Chang-woon.
But unexpectedly, Park Chang-woon already knew Min Hyo-min? Park Chang-woon laughed heartily.
“Wow, Hyo-min, you’re joining the literature club?”
“Yes, I want to learn about novels…”
“Good, good, you made the right decision!”
I laughed heartily and asked Teacher Park Chang-woon while he stamped the approval.
“How do you know Min Hyo-min?”
“Why wouldn’t I? She’s the most famous student in the practical arts department!”
“Practical arts? Oh, practical dance…”
Apparently, she’s an honor student famous even outside her department.
But an honor student from the dance department? Now she has been replaced by a trainee in the creative writing department.
If anyone has complaints, they can take it up with the National Institute of the Korean Language.
“Here, this is the club room.”
So, I led the lamb, who had converted from practical dance to creative writing, to the club room.
The moment I slid open the door to the club room, I saw our precious ones, who looked like they’d hurt a lot if put in the eye.
I first pointed out Gu Yu-na, who was lying on the sofa in a mummy-like pose despite someone entering, not giving any attention.
“That one over there, hugging a yellow furry creature and lying down, is Gu Yu-na. She’s a second-year in the literature department, same age as us. Be careful, she might bite if you touch her carelessly.”
Next, I pointed to Min Sunbae, who was sitting on the opposite side of the classroom in a back-breaking posture playing a mobile game, with pink hair.
“That over there is from the dance department, Min… Min… just call him Min Sunbae. He’s a third-year and will be gone next year, so no need to bother remembering his name.”
Of course, it’s not that I still can’t remember Min Sunbae’s name. Whether it’s Min Hyo-chan or Min Hyo-jun, I get confused sometimes, but I can guess it correctly about 65% of the time. So introducing Min-Hyo-Something Sunbae to Min Hyo-min as Min Sunbae was my own bit of wit.
But it turned out Min Hyo-min already knew Min Hyo-chan?
“Min Hyo-chan?”
Min Hyo-chan also already knew Min Hyo-min.
Min Hyo-chan, engrossed in a Chinese otaku game, jumped up startled.
“Hey! What are you doing here?”
Since Min Hyo-chan is a year senior in practical dance to Min Hyo-min, it wouldn’t be strange for him to know her.
But suddenly, Min Hyo-min started speaking informally to Min Hyo-chan?
“Why are you here, Min Hyo-chan?”
“……!”
I was shocked by the surprising hierarchical order in the dance department. Could it be that middle schoolers wearing crop tops during sports festivals don’t even respect seniority? It really is a terrifying world.
But that misunderstanding didn’t last long.
An angry Min Hyo-chan revealed their relationship.
“Hey! I told you not to speak informally to your oppa!”
“Hmph!”
* * *
“……”
“……”
“……”
2:32 PM. The 6th period, club time during school hours. It was the time when warm sunlight softly seeped through the windows.
From the next classroom, which hosts a board game club (disguised as a mahjong club), noises of a fight could be heard.
Wrapped in silence, the Pop Culture and Arts Research club members were all silently staring at my hands.
And my hand was whirling around with a paper, repeatedly drawing circles and slashes with a red colored pencil.
“Hmm…”
The grading was over. It was a Korean language ability test made by Gu Yu-na in 5 minutes.
Surprisingly, Min Hyo-min passed Gu Yu-na’s test with 85 points.
“85 points.”
“Yay!”
“What the…”
The fortunes of Min Hyo-min and Min Hyo-chan were reversed.
Min Hyo-chan (35 points) was infuriated and stood up from his desk to protest.
“That makes no sense!”
It seemed hard for Min Hyo-chan (35 points) to accept that his younger sister had a better command of the Korean language than he did.
“How can she be better at Korean than me!”
“Well, it’s possible.”
“I, I’m a writer who has even written web novels!”
Min Hyo-chan (35 points), responsible for the ‘Min’ in the pen name ‘MooninKimByulGuYunaMin’ from ‘Demonic Sword~nim, Please Control Me!’, found reality hard to believe.
So I let the 35-point (Min Hyo-chan) writer know about reality.
“You failed to differentiate between ‘?’ (dwi) and ‘?’ (dwae), while she managed it.” (TL: It’s hard to explain for me to non-koreans but I you can thing of it as something similar like the difference between ‘Your’ and ‘You’re’)
“Wh-what did you say…?!”
Indeed, it would be hard to believe.
‘?’ and ‘?’.
Distinguishing between these is nearly impossible for a second-year academy student. It’s because the red devil that eats up human time, YouTube, has cursed an entire generation with ‘language intelligence decline’.
Nowadays, kids might be able to follow dance moves on TikTok, but they struggle to differentiate between ‘dwi’ and ‘dwae’. And this is the era when we call a perfectly good dog a ‘puppy’.
It’s indeed an age of great confusion.
Amidst this, a talent who knows the difference between ‘dwi’ and ‘dwae’ has joined…
“An SSS-grade Korean language genius…”
“That much, really…?”
I reassured the uneasy Min Hyo-min.
“Don’t worry. Your talent is equal to or greater than mine.”
This comment was perhaps too flattering, as Min Hyo-chan, Gu Yu-na, and Min Hyo-min all looked at me like I was a weirdo.
But it’s a universal truth that when a new member joins the lab, you need to initiate them so they can’t escape.
Anyway, having sufficiently initiated SSS-grade Korean language genius Min Hyo-min, I turned to SSSSS EX transcendental Korean language genius Gu Yu-na and asked.
“Yu-na, did you finish writing the report?”
“Yes.”
I sneakily took a look at the club activity report Gu Yu-na was scribbling.
「To commemorate the upcoming Hangul Day, all club members independently created and solved a Korean language test to enhance language intelligence and preserve Hangul. Following this, they discussed the seriousness of current misuses of Hangul among the present generation and held a fellowship time praising those who scored well.」
Hmm.
“Perfect.”
Having successfully faked club activities within 20 minutes, we now had free time until school ended.
I threw away the test papers of Min Hyo-min and Min Hyo-chan into the recycling bin and spoke to Min Hyo-chan, who had his eyes wide open like a large dog waiting for food.
“You can go back to your game now, subae.”
“Okay!”
Min Hyo-chan returned to the corner of the classroom and resumed his Chinese otaku game in a posture that looked like it would wreck his back.
Min Hyo-min looked at her own brother with a bewildered expression. I snapped my fingers to catch her gaze.
“Hey.”
“Ah!”
“You said you wanted to write novels, right?”
I crossed my legs and leaned back in the chair like Sherlock Holmes from ‘Automaton Murder Case,’ the master detective.
My faithful assistant Gu Yu-na also subtly moved closer like John Watson and struck a pose.
I confidently posed the question as if greeting a client who had come to a detective office.
“Let’s start with this. Why do you want to write novels?”
The girl with beige hair touched her index fingers together as she opened up about her story.
“Actually… the reason is a bit different from what was said at the broadcasting station…”
“Hm? Broadcasting station?”
“That… I mean in the variety show studio. ‘Let’s Become a Novelist!'”
“Ah.”
The fragments of déjà vu scattered in my mind slowly started to take shape like a puzzle.
When the puzzle pieces fit together, I could see in this plain girl the image of an idol who had gone through elaborate makeup.
“Ah! Min Hyo-min Hyo-min!”
“……”
“……”
* * *
Min Hyo-min or reveresed Min Hyo-min, the cute maknae of Benivis, had the following reason for wanting to write novels.
「I want to discover the art within me!」
However, the reason why Min Hyo-min, a second-year student in the dance department at Baekhak Arts Middle School, wanted to write novels was a bit different.
“I don’t have a concept…”
“A concept?”
“Um. How should I explain this…”
Min Hyo-min hesitated for a moment, then pointed to her beige-colored hair.
“Actually… I didn’t want to dye it this color. It looks like the color of a Sigorjab dog…”
“Why didn’t you say you didn’t like it?”
“I, I couldn’t. It was the result of several days of meetings by the artist team…”
Min Hyo-min pouted her lips and drooped her shoulders.
“Being an idol is like this. Everything is decided from above, the songs, the choreography, the concept, everything…”
The idol girl group Min Hyo-min was active in, ‘Benivis’, was a creation of CEO Baek Seung-won.
And CEO Baek Seung-won’s nickname was ‘Factory Manager’.
Idols are produced like they are churned out of a factory, hence the nickname.
And there is no artistic philosophy in mass-produced goods.
They merely follow the footsteps of innovators for commercial success.
However, even mass-produced goods sometimes want to think for themselves.
“But I… I don’t really know.”
“Hmm.”
“My identity is just being the maknae. A fan-attracting fairy? A geek-attracting fairy? They say I’m the member who draws in the fans, but I don’t really understand that concept… I just wear the costumes they give me and perform my parts. That’s it.”
It’s not like Min Hyo-min had any particularly outstanding talents either.
She sang worse than the members who sang well, acted worse than the members who acted well, and danced worse than the members who danced well.
In the end, driven to a corner, Min Hyo-min clasped her hands together earnestly.
“So…! I really want to try something in this variety show! If I can complete a real masterpiece on ‘Let’s Become a Novelist!’, maybe people will see me differently…?”
“Hmm…”
“I think the company might give me a more serious concept too…”
“Hmm…”
“That, that’s why I want to learn about writing novels…”
Min Hyo-min finished speaking with an increasingly less confident demeanor.
However, Author Moon succinctly summarized Min Hyo-min’s rambling words.
“In a nutshell… you want to become a literary idol?”
“Ah, I guess so?”
Just then, a man in the corner of the classroom fervently stood up.
“Bullshit. Complete nonsense.”
His name was Min Hyo-chan.
He was a rapper from the boy band ‘Rapid Boys’ and a failed idol whose comeback album flopped miserably.
*****
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