Chapter 195

I didn’t say it directly, but I was writing as much as I could every day. The problem, however, was that it wasn’t a new work but rather Seol-guk’s story.

Seol-guk, the girl who stole the name.

It was a novel that went against Han-bom’s advice to go for a romantic fantasy route and instead took on the feel of a traditional fantasy. Writing about Seol-guk was enjoyable, but I couldn’t help the various worries that arose.

What should I do about a new work? Do I have something in mind right now? No. I’ve already drawn out everything within me with the two novels I wrote before. There might be some new things filling me up, but they were still too soft to bring out. They needed more time to mature.

What about Seol-guk? I decided not to serialize it as a web novel. Publishing this kind of story was naturally out of the question. The publisher probably wouldn’t accept it. After all, I hadn’t written this novel with publication in mind, so the format didn’t fit.

I just wrote what I wanted to write. So the story continued back and forth, and the amount of writing built up quite a bit. But a work that no one sees is like having no meaning at all. I sometimes showed it to Han-bom, but she was hardly anyone else.

Moreover, Han-bom kept pestering me to write more about the love line between Seol-guk and Ivan. I told her I wouldn’t go that route. It was annoying, really.

Seol-guk sacrifices her destiny to avoid losing the name she stole. Ivan can’t bear to see the poor girl who inherited his sister’s fate. But that’s not love. To Seol-guk, Ivan was a benefactor. A friend. A comrade. To Ivan, Seol-guk was a sister. Someone he had to take responsibility for. A partner.

It was something bigger than friendship. But it wasn’t heading in the direction of love. This novel isn’t a romance. Just because friendship grows doesn’t mean it turns into love. Sometimes, there can be friendships that are greater than love.

The subtle lines of emotion between them might exist, but they were definitely not the main point of this novel.

The digression was long. In any case, when it came to my concerns about Seol-guk, they were simply straightforward. I wanted to show it to someone. At first, I didn’t have that intention, but as the amount piled up, that desire became stronger. Initially, I didn’t think I would write for this long, so it was something I hadn’t considered.

But I’ve already said I wouldn’t serialize it on the internet. It wouldn’t particularly matter if I changed my mind now. Park Chan-wook would probably just tease me a couple of times. After all, he knows that this novel won’t make any money.

My unnecessary pride was blocking me. Since I said I wouldn’t do it, I couldn’t. But I wanted to show it. To be honest, I wanted attention. Not the kind that comes from videos singing anime openings or wearing skirts, but attention from my writing. I wanted to show my true self.

The contemplation was long. I couldn’t think of a new work and had no idea what to do with Seol-guk. Eventually, I consulted with Han-bom, my only reader. Han-bom answered with a look that said I was worrying about something useless.

“Isn’t it simple?”

“Simple?”

“Just serialize it for free.”

… Ah, that method existed.

It’s still internet serialization, but it’s different from what Park Chan-wook said about how a pure literature author looked down on web novels and came to make money. If I don’t receive money, there’s no problem in the end.

After discussing it a bit more with Han-bom, I uploaded Seol-guk’s story to a web novel site I frequented. Since it had already piled up quite a bit, there were a lot of episodes. I intended to upload them all at once, but Han-bom advised against it.

“Don’t do that. At first, just upload around ten episodes. Then release three episodes every day.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“To tease the readers a bit more so they keep coming back. If you upload everything from the start without any recognition, people might not read it and could feel overwhelmed. And change your nickname.”

“Why?”

“Your nickname is Kim Seol-guk. You’ll definitely get exposed if you keep that. The writing style will give you away. Of course, if people find out who the author is, you might get a little boost, but you don’t want that, right?”

That’s right. Normally, I would have said something like that. I only wanted to be evaluated based on my pure effort. Things like that, thoughts like that.

But now, my thoughts had changed a bit. That fame was ultimately because of me, so would using it really hurt my pride that much? The situation is a bit different, but Hwa-won made a similar choice.

If Hwa-won could do it, there was no reason I couldn’t.

“Just leave it. If it gets revealed, it gets revealed.”

“…Who are you?”

“Excuse me?”

Han-bom started mumbling something that was hard to understand again. Or rather, should I say she was being overly dramatic.

“Our Seol-i wouldn’t say that!!”

“She does.”

“Seol-i is corrupted!”

“No, I’m Seol-i, or rather Seol-guk.”

“That’s just an official name decided by someone else!”

Han-bom’s strange way of calling me by odd names made her look quite pitiful. I knew this was all a type of performance that Han-bom exaggeratedly staged on purpose, but what can I do about a silly thing like that?

But what could I do? I permitted it. I regretted it a bit now, but it was past and I couldn’t help it. As I’ve mentioned before, the name Seol-guk was really uncomfortable to say. Seol-guk, Seol-guk.

Um, the sound of that really wasn’t great.

Still, I had to mention this.

“That’s all fine, but don’t call me that when you’re with Hwa-won.”

“…Why?”

“Because it’s embarrassing.”

“Okay, well. I also don’t want to share Seol-i with that kid.”

What was she really talking about? It was already a headache with Eun-a teasing me like that.

… Come to think of it, Eun-a calling me that doesn’t mean Mira will catch on, right? Of course, there wouldn’t be any real problem with being called that, but I was somewhat worried that my title would be entirely fixed.

“Done. I’ve uploaded everything. It’s over.”

“Don’t expect tremendous interest for a free serialization, especially since it’s a female lead story.”

“I know about the paid version, but with it being free… Wouldn’t more people actually read it?”

“Since it doesn’t make money, it gets less exposure on the site. Do you see any free serializations that you read?”

Thinking about it, there were indeed none.

“And in the male category, female lead stories aren’t really popular. It’s difficult to immerse yourself. There are various reasons beyond that, but that’s the biggest issue.”

“I can see why it’s hard to succeed.”

I, the writer, am (was) a man too.

“But still! If it’s a romantic fantasy, there might be possibilities…!”

“Nope.”

“Hmph.”

I didn’t expect overwhelming interest either. I just hoped that perhaps I could find some potential with Seol-guk. Seol-guk was fundamentally closer to the style of short stories than my long novels.

People who liked my short stories didn’t really enjoy my long ones. It was somewhat surprising that the two reader groups were entirely different. It wasn’t impossible just because the genres were different.

So maybe here I could find new ideas or directions. That was all I hoped for. That reaction might inspire me.

I decided to wait leisurely without worrying about comments or views.

After all, I didn’t have high hopes.

~

After that, I uploaded three episodes of Seol-guk every day. The views were dismal, and it was a relief if even one or two comments were posted, but I didn’t mind much.

Then one day, when I woke up and checked, there were dozens of comments on Seol-guk. What was happening? Before checking the comments, I looked at the message Han-bom sent.

[Did you see this?]

The message from Han-bom contained a link to a community site I knew well. When I clicked the link, I found a post with this title.

[Isn’t this perhaps written by Seol-guk?]

The specific spelling mistakes and the frequent use of inversion were pretty obvious, right?

The expressions I usually use are similar, and the writing style was just like that person’s short stories.

It was different from long pieces, but not too different.

The writing habits were the same, and there’s a strong hint of pure literature.

And what’s more, the nickname is Kim Seol-guk.

A pure literature author is boldly using their name in a web novel, lol.

[Comments]

‘That f***ing guy.’

‘Whatever it is, isn’t this a pure literature fan that’s just snooping around saying web novels make money?’

‘It’s free, though?’

‘Pure literature fans should just go die.’

‘This person hasn’t hidden their profile, so if you check, lol.’

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve read a ton of web novels.’

‘But why does the writing only reek of pure literature?’

‘You read tons of web novels, but you can’t write, can you?’

‘Why should I write a novel? You’re a loser.’

‘So who is Seol-guk then?’

‘Isn’t it that person from “White Farmer”?’

‘What is that?’

‘Has this guy been offline for a few months?’

‘Hey, but “Farmer” is supposedly filing lawsuits, be careful, lol. They’ve filed lawsuits against every creep that did something to them.’

‘Is this some TS fan? I’m really fed up.’

‘Where’s the TS feminine beauty writing us a TS story?’

‘Who reads female-lead stories, “Farmer”?’

‘LOL.’

‘When do they even start a stream, damn it?’

‘“Farmer” has been waiting for 10 years for a stream.’

’10 years? That’s stale…’

‘They wrote a novel well; it seems they matched the web novel format well.’

‘But it does reek of pure literature a lot; though it’s entertaining.’

‘Always three-part consecutive comments.’

‘It’s probably something they wrote ahead of time.’

‘Nowadays, there are crazy people doing ten consecutive comments live, so who knows.’

‘By the way, why is this person’s taste like that? Their favorite works are all traditional print, things like fantasy, and martial arts—are they an old man?’

‘Fact: “Farmer” is 28 this year, so yes, they are an old man.’

‘There are truly no TS stories—what a damn shame.’

‘Why should their life, being a TS story, watch another TS story?’

‘There’s one TS story I’ve read, though. TS “Idol” (on hiatus), lol.’

‘That’s a complete failure.’

~

It was dizzying. First, I turned on the comment notification for my novel. The status of the comments…

What do I do now?

[What should I do about this?]

[Well… we can sue those who cross the line][But it’s good that more people are reading the novel, right?] [Anyway, the views went up!]

[But there are comments calling me “White Farmer”?]

[It’s destiny] [Accept it]

[Hell no.]

[Didn’t you just say it’s okay to use fame?]

[I didn’t want the comment section to be filled with “White Farmer.”]

[I thought you anticipated that when you said it.]

When I checked another message, there was Eun-a’s message filled with ‘hahaha.’ I sent a message back to Eun-a.

If it had been in the past, more people would have sent similar messages. Not now. Nowadays, the only people I messaged were Han-bom, Eun-a, and Hwa-won.

Let’s put aside the feelings for now. What do I do about this? Is saying “White Farmer” a grounds for a lawsuit? I probably wouldn’t be able to sue over something like that. I’ve only sent lawsuits to those who crossed the line, and I hadn’t sent any to those who used that expression. It wouldn’t work anyway.

And it felt weird to think about resolving it. The views had significantly increased, and the number of favorites had surged. That meant there was an influx. Even if it was free serialization, it was a pleasant occurrence for someone who writes. If it weren’t for those comments.

What’s more, if I resolve this, wouldn’t the views go back to what they were before? Honestly, I didn’t want that.

There were indeed many people reading the text seriously. That was fortunate. Some even wrote long feedback, and I didn’t want to go back to how things were. And… there were people like Han-bom.

“So when will Seol-guk and Ivan connect?”

… That’s not the kind of novel this is.

Anyway, a reader is a reader. They are the ones boosting my novel’s views, not just those who make sexual harassment comments in the community.

Readers aren’t sacred inviolable beings. But authors and readers both exist because of each other, so we needed each other.

I respected my readers, so I didn’t know how to deal with this situation.

What should I do?

[Just accept it.]

I sent a message to Han-bom.