5
## Chapter 5
### Beyond a Professional Poet
A few days later.
I was exchanging emails with the publishing company, Muse Story.
After carefully reviewing the contract they had sent over...
I replied with a satisfied smile.
[Thank you. I'd like to sign with Muse Story.
I'd also like to visit in person soon and formally sign the contract.
Please let me know a suitable date, and I'll come to the publishing house then.]
Email sent.
As I slipped my phone back into my pocket, I heard my father's voice coming from the living room.
“Ah, suddenly I'm craving that sundae soup we had a few days ago.”
Normally, he'd be out making deliveries around this time.
But a few days ago, after Mom and I kept persuading him, he'd finally agreed to quit.
Not immediately, but by gradually reducing his working hours.
Across the countless regressions I'd experienced, my father had never died.
But there had been several times when he'd been seriously injured in motorcycle accidents.
That was why I desperately wanted him to stop.
“Me too. Ah, we should've gotten some takeout that day.”
My mother, who hadn't left for her night shift yet, smacked her lips.
Then again, the sundae soup really had been delicious.
“Yeah. I'd love to have a bowl with some soju.”
“What? Hey! You're only a first-year high school student!”
“Why are you talking like an old man?”
“Come on, I'm obviously joking.”
Actually, I wasn't.
If I weren't a minor right now, I'd already be drinking a fresh bottle with it.
Seriously, why did there have to be such an amazing sundae soup restaurant near a high school?
“Let's go there often. Whenever you come pick me up, we can have dinner there together.”
“Sure. Once our Yunseong gets accepted, we'll go often.”
“Don't worry. I'll get in.”
“All right. Mom and Dad believe in you.”
The two of them firmly held my shoulders.
As if they were giving me strength.
No matter how many lives I repeated...
The warmth of my parents never faded.
“Want to go eat something nice before Mom leaves for work?”
“Something nice?”
“Yeah. The publishing company I'm signing with agreed to pay me an advance.”
“An... advance? What's that?”
“You can think of it as the publisher paying me in advance.”
“How much?”
“Fifty million won. After taxes.”
I said it as casually as if it were nothing.
But my parents reacted as though they'd just seen a shooting star.
“What?!”
“How can you casually say fifty million like it's nothing?”
“Exactly. Even five million would leave your father speechless.”
“You can really make that much money just by writing? Seriously?”
“Of course. What era do you think we're living in?”
Honestly, an advance payment wasn't a huge benefit for someone like me, who had already experienced everything
imaginable.
The only difference was whether I received the money sooner or later.
'Still, offering fifty million won to a rookie isn't an easy decision.'
My novel was currently growing at an unprecedented pace.
But no one knew how it would perform once it became paid content.
Or whether it would maintain a strong reader retention rate.
'As expected of Muse Story.'
Out of the countless web novel publishers I'd worked with...
They had the best eye for talent and treated their authors well.
Right now, I needed money immediately.
And Muse Story had offered an enormous advance.
There was no reason to refuse.
'Besides, they'll take good care of the promotions.'
Still...
From my parents' perspective, everything was going too smoothly.
“Even so, this feels suspicious. Are you sure it isn't a scam?”
“What's the publisher's name? Your mother and I should look them up.”
That was understandable.
If my son suddenly claimed he'd earned fifty million won from writing, I'd be suspicious too.
It wasn't the kind of money a first-year high school student could make overnight.
“We'll be setting a contract date soon anyway. You can both come and check everything yourselves.”
Since I was still a minor, I needed my guardian's consent.
That was another reason I intended to visit the publisher in person to sign the contract.
'As a bonus, I'll let them know I'm still a first-year high school student.'
The extraordinary rookie currently dominating Moon Story.
Once Muse Story discovered that person was only a first-year in high school, they'd be shocked.
Word would spread throughout the industry.
The genius high school novelist.
Something like that.
'Back then, titles like that only felt burdensome.'
There had even been lives where I deliberately avoided all public appearances.
I wanted people to focus on my work instead of me.
Every contract was signed electronically.
I rejected every request to reveal my face without exception.
'Looking back, it was all pointless.'
Whether I hid my face or revealed it, I still couldn't win the Nobel Prize.
The regressions never stopped.
So this time...
I intended to claim every title and every bit of fame a writer could possibly enjoy.
'And for that, I need the title of being a student at Goyoung Arts High School.'
Honestly, I could drop out right now without any problem.
Even so, there was a clear reason I insisted on attending Goyoung Arts High School.
A genius novelist who dropped out of high school.
Or...
A genius high school novelist attending Korea's most prestigious arts high school, Goyoung Arts High School.
Which one would attract more attention?
Which one would become a bigger story?
'Obviously the latter.'
At a place said to gather the top one percent of talent in Korea...
I would display talent that belonged to the top 0.0001%.
All for my reputation.
And for my family.
“Y-Yes, hello? Yunseong... It's Goyoung Arts High School.”
Just then...
My father answered the phone before hurriedly handing it to me.
“Hello. This is Jeong Yunseong speaking.”
“Hello. I'm Chae Unggi, the head of the Creative Writing Department at Goyoung Arts High School. Jeong Yunseong, I'd
like to meet and talk with you for a while. Would that be possible?”
Goyoung Arts High School was looking for me.
---
Meanwhile.
At the office of the web novel publisher Muse Story...
“We've successfully contacted author Hoegwisireo!”
“What did they say?”
“They agreed to sign with Muse Story.”
Cheers erupted throughout the office.
“Excellent! Great job!”
Lee Geunhyeong, the head of Muse Story's Fantasy and Martial Arts Division, clenched his fist in triumph.
Then he vigorously ruffled the hair of his team member, Kim Mujin.
“I knew assigning this to you was the right call!”
Kim Mujin laughed awkwardly.
“Haha. I think it helped that we moved quickly and offered a very generous advance along with strong promotional
support.”
“True. No matter how promising they are, they're still a rookie without a single published work. Offering fifty million
won as an advance must've completely shocked them.”
An advance worth tens of millions of won was usually reserved for bestselling star authors.
Muse Story had made an incredibly bold decision.
Because they believed in the potential of this rookie author, Hoegwisireo.
“But why is their pen name Hoegwisireo? It's kind of unusual.”
“Who knows? Maybe they hate regression stories.”
“But seriously, they're amazing. No rookie has released such a huge hit recently.”
“Exactly. And Moon Story's competition is fiercer than ever right now.”
“Right. There are authors like Yeonchamjini, KSU, Jeong Gyeong... It's practically as competitive as a major writing
contest.”
“Exactly. And despite all that, this rookie's novel is sitting in first place purely through word of mouth.”
There was a good reason for that.
The novel was outperforming even famous star authors.
Firmly holding the number one spot.
“The premise is interesting, but the way each episode unfolds is even more impressive.”
The web novel was titled Returning BJ's Stories After 500 Years.
The premise was simple.
One day, the protagonist was transported to another world.
After defeating the Demon King and saving that world...
He finally returned to Earth.
Five hundred years later.
Except...
Not even five hours had passed in the original world.
Up to that point, it followed the familiar formula of a return-to-Earth fantasy.
But then it began introducing fresh twists.
“It blends return fantasy and internet streaming perfectly.”
Before being transported, Kang Hajun had been an unpopular streamer.
The moment he saw the cheap streaming equipment still sitting in his room, memories came flooding back.
Soon after, he started streaming again.
-Lojun hyung, hi.
-What? You started without an announcement.
-Did you miss us? LOL.
-Perfect timing. I just ordered food.
Only a handful of viewers always came whenever he streamed.
The moment Kang Hajun saw them, his emotions overwhelmed him.
After hesitating...
He confessed that he had actually returned from another world.
The viewers' reactions were immediate.
-Hahahaha.
-That's hilarious.
-Bro's crying while saying he went to another world. LOL.
-Lojun hyung started doing roleplay now?
-Oh, so that's your new concept?
The viewers assumed it was all roleplay.
These days, many streamers—especially VTubers—performed roleplaying scenarios.
Kang Hajun was telling the truth.
But naturally...
No one believed him.
They assumed he was making everything up.
[Then let me tell you everything in detail.
Everything that happened to me in that other world.]
Kang Hajun began recounting his adventures as though he were simply telling entertaining stories.
The tales were so vivid and detailed that they rivaled the best fantasy novels.
Before long, they became incredibly popular.
Word spread rapidly.
As a result...
He became a wildly successful streamer known for his "Returned Hero" roleplay.
“Instead of losing momentum as the story progresses, it actually becomes even stronger. The adventures in the other
world and the protagonist's present-day broadcasts intertwine brilliantly.”
Manager Lee Geunhyeong spoke with admiration.
“Speaking of that, check the online communities and search for the novel.”
“Yes. One moment.”
Click.
Click.
Kim Mujin opened several web novel communities.
The first thing that caught his eye was...
[Today's Returning BJ chapter was insanely good.]
[The collaboration stream episode was absolutely hilarious LOL.]
[Everyone genuinely thinks it's RP and keeps playing along. LOL.]
[Still... I felt bad when Kang Hajun remembered his old life.]
[Wait, what novel are you guys talking about?]
└[Returning BJ. Go read it. It's insanely good, and it's still free.]
The discussions were all about the latest chapter of Returning BJ.
“Wow... The forums are practically flooded with posts about Returning BJ.”
“Once a novel gets mentioned this often in the communities, new readers will keep pouring in. Which means it hasn't even
reached its peak yet.”
The protagonist's success as a streamer.
Combined with the fascinating stories from another world.
Those two elements blended together perfectly.
Drawing in countless readers.
“He's truly a once-in-a-generation rookie. We absolutely have to keep him.”
Right now, the web novel industry revolved around two things.
Recruiting star authors.
And nurturing promising rookies.
In Lee Geunhyeong's eyes...
Hoegwisireo had every quality needed to become the industry's next star author.
“But at this point... isn't there a chance it's actually an established author using another pen name?”
In other words...
Perhaps this wasn't a real rookie at all.
“That's certainly possible.”
“Why do you say that?”
“But no matter how hard I think about it... I can't match this writing style to anyone I know.”
Lee Geunhyeong wasn't just the head of Muse Story's Fantasy and Martial Arts Division.
He'd also been an avid reader of genre fiction since the days of rental bookstores.
As both an industry insider and a devoted reader...
He knew the styles of talented writers by heart.
Yet even he had never encountered anyone who wrote like Hoegwisireo.
“Well, whether they're an established author or a newcomer doesn't really matter to us.”
Lee Geunhyeong shrugged.
“There's no real way to find out anyway. These days, everything is handled through messaging apps, and contracts are
usually signed electronically.”
In other words...
Even publishers found it difficult to discover an author's true identity.
At that moment, Kim Mujin spoke up.
“Well... this time, Hoegwisireo requested an in-person contract.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yes. The author requested it first. They said they'd like to meet and sign the contract face-to-face.”
“...Most authors don't want to reveal either their face or identity.”
If Muse Story had been some small, unreliable publisher...
Wanting a face-to-face meeting would've made sense.
But Muse Story was considered one of the top publishers in the web novel industry.
Any experienced author would know that.
So why would they willingly reveal themselves?
“...Then maybe they really are a rookie.”
Lee Geunhyeong stroked his chin thoughtfully.
His curiosity about Hoegwisireo only grew stronger.
He turned toward Kim Mujin.
“Set up the meeting as soon as possible. I'll come with you.”
---
That evening.
At a café in Seoul.
“Hello. You're Department Head Chae who called me, right?”
“Ah, yes. That's right. It's nice to finally meet you.”
Chae Unggi, who had arrived early and was waiting, immediately stood up and shook Jeong Yunseong's hand.
“Wow, this is my first time seeing you in person, Yunseong. You're quite handsome.”
“Thank you. You seem to be in excellent shape as well, Department Head.”
“Really? Haha. I work out every day, so it's nice to hear that.”
Chae Unggi quickly studied Yunseong.
'Remarkable.'
A few days after taking the transfer examination...
The head of Goyoung Arts High School's Creative Writing Department suddenly called him out for a private meeting.
An ordinary student would have been excited.
Or at least nervous.
'But I can't sense even the slightest emotional fluctuation.'
If anything...
That expressionless face almost looked indifferent.
As though he felt neither anticipation nor anxiety.
“First of all, thank you for coming on such short notice. You applied for our Creative Writing Department transfer
examination, correct?”
“Yes.”
“When did you start writing?”
Even so, his counterpart was only a first-year high school student.
He needed to ease the atmosphere first.
So Chae Unggi asked a simple icebreaker question.
Unexpectedly...
Yunseong fell into serious thought.
Then...
“Hmm... I don't remember exactly.
But it's been a very long time.”
He answered as though trying to recall a distant memory.
'Cute.'
'When he says a very long time, he probably means just a few years.'
To Chae Unggi, who had led the department for over ten years, the boy still looked incredibly young.
After exchanging a few more casual questions...
He decided it was finally time.
“I read the poem you submitted, Jeong Yunseong.”
That was the real reason he had called Yunseong here today.
The poem he'd written for the transfer examination.
“Thank you.”
“The title was Blue Marble, right? You used the exam topic itself as the title.”
“Yes, that's correct.”
After hearing his answer, Chae Unggi paused for a moment.
Then he clasped his hands together, leaned forward, and asked,
“Did you really write that poem yourself?”
Yunseong didn't look surprised.
Nor did he panic.
“Are you suspecting me of plagiarism?”
He asked immediately.
Instead...
It was Chae Unggi who flinched.
“No... it's just that... it was far beyond anything I expected.”
As he spoke...
He recalled the words of Jo Minyeong, the poetry instructor who had evaluated the exam.
“This poem, Blue Marble... isn't at the level of a high school student.”
And at the same time...
He remembered the expression of pure shock on her face.
“A professional poet...
No.
Someone beyond even that level.”
Every one of those words...
Had been spoken about the poem written by the young boy sitting before him.