Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Is the Author Omnipotent?
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In the center of the officetel used as a studio, there was a round table for holding meetings.
Two people sat there.
Min-kyeong happened to be out of the office at the time.
‘They must have timed it perfectly.’
That made it even easier to speak freely.
“I’ve read it all.”
“R-Really...?”
“Yes. To get straight to the point, it was good.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. It’s not a particularly fresh concept, but the characters are well-defined. I liked how it shows a god who was indifferent to humans gradually developing an interest in them after meeting a human woman. The heroine, Hye-in, is a common type, but her bold personality left an impression.”
‘Wow...’
Han Seong-ho was amazed inwardly.
It was astonishing that she had grasped it so thoroughly just from reading the file he sent.
“There’s something I want to ask you, Seong-ho. What genre is this story?”
“Genre? Well, obviously... it’s romance fantasy.”
“Then this story is a failure.”
“Pardon?”
Han Seong-ho’s eyes widened.
It was baffling coming from Tae-seong, who had just been praising it as enjoyable.
“This isn’t romance fantasy—it’s just fantasy.”
“But I wrote it as romance fantasy.”
“There’s definitely romance in it. But you don’t know what female readers want. And this isn’t something that can be fixed with explanations.”
“What female readers want...”
“It’s hard for a male author to write romance. That’s because people perceive romance differently. It’s a difference in emotional sensibility. No matter how hard you try, a man can imitate a woman’s emotions but never surpass them.”
Disappointment showed on Han Seong-ho’s face at Tae-seong’s words.
“But the story itself is enjoyable.”
“Pardon?”
“If you limit the target to female readers, it’ll fail. But judging it purely as a story, the quality is high. What it needs is a woman’s emotional touch.”
Han Seong-ho was confused.
Since he wasn’t a woman himself, adding that kind of sensibility seemed impossible.
That’s when Tae-seong made a suggestion.
“How about collaborating with Min-kyeong?”
“With Min-kyeong?”
“Yes. She could provide that missing spoonful of emotion.”
“But...”
“The decision is yours, Seong-ho.”
Tae-seong stopped there.
Anything beyond that wasn’t his place to interfere.
Whatever choice he made was up to Han Seong-ho.
Just then, the phone rang.
“Yes, Representative Kwon. Yes, I understand. I’ll wait at the café we always meet at.”
Tae-seong hung up and stood from his seat.
“I have a meeting with Representative Kwon, so I’ll head out first.”
“Yes. Um, Author!”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for the advice!”
Tae-seong smiled at the sight of him bowing.
“No matter what you decide, don’t leave regrets. And don’t make the decision alone without even trying. Time will only make those regrets worse.”
“Yes!”
Tae-seong said that much and left the office.
* * *
‘It was definitely an enjoyable story.’
Arriving at the café first, Tae-seong recalled God’s Love, which he had just read.
‘So this is the kind of story that comes out when a man decides to write romance.’
It was a decent concept and plot.
It just lacked emotional depth.
‘Romance fantasy, huh...’
He had never really thought about it before.
His first exposure had been modern fantasy.
So he had been planning his next work in that vein as well.
The only other genre he considered was martial arts.
‘My perspective had narrowed.’
He had been sticking only to what was familiar.
Thanks to Han Seong-ho, his view had broadened.
“Ah, Author!”
His thoughts ended there.
Familiar voice calling him—Representative Kwon entered.
He wasn’t alone.
Behind him stood a woman with a refined appearance.
Looking at her in casual clothes, Representative Kwon immediately introduced her.
“Say hello. This is Choi Eun-ha, who will translate The Return of the SSS-Class Hunter into Chinese.”
“Hello.”
“P-Please take good care of me!”
A smile formed at her nervous, stuttering words.
The three sat down.
Representative Kwon brought drinks, and the real discussion began.
“Eun-ha is currently attending Korea University of Foreign Studies, majoring in Chinese.”
“So you’re a college student?”
“Yes! I graduate next year. But I’ve done several Chinese translations before! Here’s a list of the works I’ve translated so far!”
She became quite proactive once the work talk started.
The number of novels listed was substantial.
Ten in total.
“You translated all of these?”
“Yes!”
Considering she was a college student, it was an impressive amount.
You had to be pretty diligent to pull that off.
‘And she seems skilled too.’
He checked the translated books.
They were well done.
She read the story’s flow and translated accordingly.
“Nice. The translation is clean, and above all, your understanding of Chinese is excellent.”
“Huh? You know Chinese?”
“Yes, well enough for conversation without issues.”
“Wow... that’s impressive.”
“But do you read fantasy novels much?”
“Fantasy novels...”
The answer didn’t come right away.
“I’m sorry! Honestly, I only started reading fantasy novels recently!”
“Recently meaning...”
“The request came a week ago. That’s when I read my first one.”
This was a bit tricky.
Low understanding of fantasy novels could lead to translation errors.
That was the biggest concern.
“Even if my understanding is low, I can work hard and do well!”
Was she reading his mind?
She shouted in a desperate voice.
Her tone carried a strong determination to do it no matter what, which piqued his curiosity.
Representative Kwon, sitting beside her, added,
“Actually, Eun-ha said she initially considered declining because her understanding of fantasy novels was low.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes... With novels, if you lack knowledge of the genre, the translation quality suffers...”
Young, but she seemed capable.
Above all, he liked that she knew what her job required.
That made him curious.
“Then why did you want to translate my novel?”
“Well...”
Just as he felt puzzled by her hesitation.
She mustered her courage and answered.
“The novel was so much fun!”
“Pardon?”
“After getting the request, I got curious and read it. I often use Grape Books, so I knew the title already.”
It was a work that always topped Grape Books’ main page and fantasy genre rankings.
She got curious.
Wondering what kind of story could be exported to China.
So she read it.
And for three days straight, she couldn’t do anything else.
“Three days?”
“Yes... I’m the type who gets completely immersed once I start something...”
“You mean you read the novel for three whole days?”
“Yes...”
Impressive concentration.
“I know it’s not very professional, but... I really want to do it! I want to translate your work with my own hands! I’ll work really hard!”
Her voice carried a sense of desperation.
* * *
Choi Eun-ha went home first.
It wasn’t something to decide on the spot at their first meeting.
With just him and Representative Kwon left, Tae-seong asked his opinion.
“What do you think, Representative?”
“Your opinion matters most, Author, but honestly, isn’t a translator this immersed in the work a good choice?”
Representative Kwon was positive.
“On the way here, we talked a lot about the work, and she knew it in detail. Her genre understanding might be lacking, but her grasp of The Return of the SSS-Class Hunter is exceptionally high.”
“Hmm.”
Certainly, understanding the specific work took precedence over genre knowledge.
Knowing that made him hesitate.
But the hesitation didn’t last long.
“A lack of genre knowledge is a slight concern, but if she understands the work deeply, she should be fine. Let’s entrust it to her.”
“Understood. Then, as you mentioned before, should we have you review it?”
“Yes, please do that.”
“Got it.”
* * *
One month later.
Choi Eun-ha sent the first manuscript.
[The draft translation of Volume 1 is complete, sending it over.]
She had translated one volume of the novel in a month.
An incredible speed.
Writing was tough, but translation was even harder.
There were so many things to pay attention to.
Especially with Chinese, even the same hanja could translate differently depending on context.
Plus, words that meant the same in Korean might use different hanja.
That’s why translation took so much time.
‘I expected at least three months minimum.’
The time was cut to a third.
Of course, speed alone didn’t guarantee quality.
‘The quality of the translation determines how readers receive it.’
Translations had levels.
The lowest was failing to convey the original meaning properly.
This happened all too often.
When importing foreign novels, poor translations often led to low sales.
‘As long as it’s not that bad.’
If it was, he was even considering replacing her.
Tae-seong downloaded the file and began reading it slowly.