The Birth of Author K
I guess you really never know what life has in store for you. I picked up the few sheets of paper lying on the desk. The documents, written in this world’s language, stated that the head of the Holpert family had personally removed me from the family register. From now on, I was simply the commoner Milene. The prison guard uncle had given them to me. It seemed they had already taken care of everything while I was locked up. For now, at least, I was in a workspace provided by the publishing house.
“So my name is just Milene now, huh.”
In this world, not having a surname usually meant you were a commoner. Either way, I was a commoner from here on out. It looked like the king had handled all the annoying paperwork himself. Honestly, I never expected him to read that novel with his hands literally trembling. Maybe he had gone out of his way to make sure I could work as a novelist. My name was Milene. Hmm.
The real Milene… Ah, no. I’m Milene now. That damn author had turned me into Milene inside the world she created. But still. If I really am Milene, shouldn’t I get some proper revenge on those two lovebirds as Milene?
“Yeah. No matter what, I’m not letting you two have your happy ending.”
Even if it’s just to screw over the author, I have to crush those two somehow.
“But.”
There was nothing I could do about it right now. Schwald himself wasn’t much of a concern. From what I could tell, he seemed content as long as he had Sophia by his side, and he was already getting an earful from the royal family. With both the king and the queen around, he’d get beaten into shape on his own. So that left Sophia?
Sophia was actually harder to deal with than the prince. Unfortunately. She was still a member of the Holpert family. And since she had the family firmly in her grasp, there was nothing I could do even if I tried. Not that I planned to anyway. But there were other ways.
“They say the greatest revenge is living well.”
Of course, I had no intention of taking that bullshit at face value. Sure, people call it revenge, but isn’t it really just self-satisfaction? Besides, the opponents were a prince and a fairly powerful family in Glacia Kingdom. Me living a good life by myself wouldn’t exactly count as much revenge if they were doing just fine too. So for now, I decided to focus on building my own name first.
A hunting dog gets eaten after the hunt is over. Since those two useless idiots happened to be the protagonists, I’d keep an eye on things at least until the Demon King—the biggest threat—was dealt with. After that, I could gather material and drop it like a bomb.
“Um… what have you been muttering about for a while now?”
Come to think of it, I wasn’t alone. Jerry, who had been dispatched from Fortmus, was still here.
“Ah, I sometimes talk to myself when I’m trying to get inspiration.”
“I see. That makes sense. What will you be using as your pen name?”
Right. It was time to finalize the contract. A pen name. An author’s name. I had to decide on one now, but nothing particularly came to mind. Well, if nothing came to mind, I could just pick something suitable. I was Milene, but I wasn’t really Milene. How could a Korean like me possibly live as Milene in such a short time? So. Since I was a Korean who inherited the kimchi gene… how about something simple and concise?
Using a feminine-sounding name just because I was Milene felt a bit off too.
“K.”
That was what popped into my head. K, taken from Korean. I’d go with Kay.
“Kay? Does it have any special meaning?”
“Not really. It just sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“It does. It has a rather mysterious feel to it. And it doesn’t reveal your gender either.”
“Does gender matter?”
I hadn’t known that.
“Well, sort of. Think about it. Romance is dominating the market right now, and most of the authors are women, right?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Exactly. So people might just brush it off thinking, ‘It’s just another romance author trying to write a hero story.’ That’s what I mean.”
“Ah, I think I get the vibe. In other words, the hero story might be loaded with romance elements?”
I’d hesitate to read it too. A hero story written by a female author—honestly, it makes you pause. You start wondering if it’s going to be less about classic hero party fantasy and more about romance and flirting within the party. Not that I’m comparing, but if that plagiarist author suddenly wrote a school story, I’d probably want to ignore it completely.
“Exactly. That’s why the pen name is quite important. Especially now, when romance is ruling everything, the pen name matters a lot.”
“Then… what about the royalty rate?”
If there was one thing that mattered most right now, it was this. I needed money more desperately than anyone else. The original Milene might not have, or rather, that Milene might not have before the judgment. But right now, I didn’t have a single coin to my name. I was only temporarily using this workspace. Eventually, I’d need to earn enough to get my own place.
“How about 6:4?”
“Six to four?”
“Yes. We’ll give you forty percent of the revenue. After subtracting printing costs, editing fees, and so on, forty percent is what you receive.”
I had never published anything before, but after subtracting printing and editing costs, that was it? Was it not that different from my original world? I wasn’t sure. I’d only ever written web novels. I knew a bit about the publishing industry, management, and profitability there, but printing was a whole different matter.
“But do you usually print right away?”
“Of course. The boss gave special instructions.”
“Still, printing usually costs a lot of money, doesn’t it? You’re saying you’ll just cover that?”
This was a fantasy world, but it gave off a medieval vibe. Printing should take quite a bit of time and labor. Labor costs alone would be no joke. And yet they were doing this?
“Hahaha, well, we don’t carve it onto plates or anything. That’s not how it usually works. If we did, Fortmus wouldn’t have grown this big. These days, we use magic for everything. All we need to do is hire mages and supply them with mana potions. If there’s any real expense, it would be the editing fees. But the editors handle that themselves.”
What? Wasn’t that basically cheating? So they just printed comfortably with magic? That must be why the publishing system here was different from Earth’s. It saved on labor costs and made magic-related work easier.
“Hmm, that’s not bad at all.”
“Here is the contract. You just need to sign here.”
Jerry took out the contract and handed it over. The title, the synopsis, the author and publisher as parties A and B, all the usual clauses. It said revenue would be paid in cash, or there was an option to receive it through the Royal Magic Bank’s account. Had the author even inserted a banking system into this world? Anyway, cash was what mattered right now, so I chose to receive it in cash.
“Then when do you plan to start working?”
“I’ll start today.”
“Ah, as expected, you have such strong professional spirit.”
Jerry let out an impressed sigh. Strong professional spirit? I could only laugh bitterly. After all, I used to be a corporate employee. I had never planned on becoming a novelist. In truth, it wasn’t that difficult. I had already finished the entire plot in my head. I had even prepared the outline. Considering the deadline, it was better to start writing now.
“This is the plot.”
I handed over the outline I had written in advance. It seemed this man had become my editor. Considering the boss was behind him, it was practically like the boss was watching me directly.
“A plot. Excellent. Since the boss has high expectations, I’m also looking forward to what Author K will produce.”
“I’d hate to disappoint you though.”
“Hmm. Oh. The plot is really good. The protagonist isn’t just steamrolling everything. There are appropriate crises.”
“Yes. No matter how strong the protagonist is, the distant past and future are different. That’s where even a powerful protagonist struggles. It’s better than just having constant sweet victories, don’t you think?”
“Sweet victories?”
Ah, they didn’t have that expression here. Maybe I should make some cider later when I get the chance? If I really got into the food industry, I could probably make a fortune in this medieval European-style fantasy world, just like those possession stories where they make soap. But it was too early to jump to conclusions. The original story was still continuing. I had no idea how that Sophia woman would act from now on. She might throw a tantrum again because I stepped back. For now, I planned to lie low.
“Ah, I mean something refreshing. Like when something flows smoothly without any blockage?”
“Ah, I see. I understand the feeling.”
Jerry nodded.
“Yes. That kind of thing is fun at the beginning—‘Whoa, the protagonist is so strong!’—but if you have too much of it, it gets boring, just like eating too much candy. It feels cloying.”
That was something I had experienced as a reader.
“So you give them proper hurdles occasionally to extend the tension.”
“Exactly.”
“Not bad. It’s actually quite good. By the way, for someone from a noble background, you have a surprisingly good grasp of this. That’s impressive.”
“I’ve always had a deep interest in literature. I just never imagined it would come out as a novel.”
This part was actually true. I had written it because I had nothing better to do.
“Sigh. How wonderful it must be to be able to display your talents like this. Honestly, do you know how many manuscripts get submitted to Fortmus?”
Jerry’s face scrunched up so much that wrinkles formed around his eyes.
“That many?”
“Yes. Of course, most of them aren’t even worth reading. And it’s all because of that damned prince.”
“The prince? Ah.”
“Everyone read about the love story between the prince and Sophia and went crazy trying to turn it into novels. Thanks to that, our publishing house has been suffering.”
At least within that academy, there had been a lot of support for the prince and Sophia’s romance. Especially the girls who didn’t know the truth—they would squeal and praise it as a fairy tale. The boys, while envious of the prince, still cheered for their love. Of course, it was all because Sophia had manipulated everyone into liking her. Honestly, there was no reason to feel that much affection just by looking at her appearance. She needed at least some plausibility in her looks. Her figure was as flat and insignificant as a straw doll, and while her face was somewhat pretty, it was only slightly above average.
“There are a lot of low-quality novels.”
“Yes. And honestly, shouldn’t they at least change the names? They just slapped Schwald and Sophia right in there as is. Ugh.”
Why was I suddenly listening to this man’s stress? Well, whatever. There was no harm in getting along well with someone close to the boss.
“Then since I’ve received the plot, I’ll take my leave now.”
“Ah, by the way, how long can I stay here?”
“The boss gave special instructions. You may stay as long as you like since this is an employee workspace. After all, a good working environment is important for an author.”
Wasn’t this sponsorship a bit too generous? Come to think of it, if the work I wrote did well, it might reduce the flood of romance novels. Had he suffered that much from them?
“Understood. Take care.”
“If you need anything, just use this communication device to contact me directly.”
“Alright.”
Finally, I received what seemed to be this era’s version of a telephone—a communication orb. Jerry seemed busy, so he left right after that. The service here was seriously good. Wasn’t I basically a munchkin in the author world? If a novelist who would leave their name in world history actually came here, everyone would probably faint in shock. It was only because it was me that the publishing house was this excited. If a truly famous author showed up, they really might pass out.
A loud knock on the door made me frown. It couldn’t be the prince coming to visit, could it?
When I opened the door, I saw it was the prison guard uncle who had been my soulmate back when I was in jail.