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# Chapter 01. A Nobody
“Author selected as ‘Book of the Year’ for five consecutive years.”
“Lighting a fire under the cooling Korean literary scene.”
“《Korean Literary Press》’s 60-week bestseller, 『The Night of the Elephant』.”
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“……”
Yoo Sim-rok quietly read through the banner plastered with all sorts of extravagant phrases before casually muttering,
“Quite the grandiose embellishments.”
Without any particular expression, he murmured under his breath before lowering his gaze to the phone in his hand.
Just then, a notification had popped up on NovelDream announcing a new chapter of 『How a Genius Mercenary Lives as a Son-in-Law』.
‘……As expected, he knows exactly where to cut.’
Sim-rok scrolled all the way to the bottom, feeling disappointed by the chapter’s ending, when—
Clatter!
The auditorium doors suddenly opened, and a crowd of people poured out.
“Oh my! Author!”
“Congratulations on your award!”
“I knew you would win, Author!”
The object of their praise was not Sim-rok.
It was the man who was the subject of all the ‘grandiose embellishments’ written on the banner.
The man who had just won the Korean Literary Award, said to be the most prestigious honor in the domestic literary world.
Kim Min-jae came walking out, surrounded by people.
Both of his hands were filled with an award trophy, a certificate, and bouquets of flowers he had received as congratulatory gifts.
“Haha. Thank you.”
Kim Min-jae responded to the people around him with a good-natured smile.
Though to Sim-rok, he looked a little different.
‘What a ridiculous show.’
By now, Kim Min-jae was probably thinking of them as nothing more than ‘annoying little flies.’
Even so, the people continued showering him with flattering remarks.
“You must be so busy with your business, so how do you manage to produce a masterpiece every time you release a work?”
“Exactly. And you’re not even the director of some small or mid-sized company. You’re a director at that ‘GG Company.’”
“Isn’t the word ‘genius’ practically a word that was created for you, Author?”
“Haha. You’re praising me so much that I don’t know where to put myself.”
At a single remark from him, everyone burst into laughter.
But in Sim-rok’s eyes, not a single one of them was genuinely laughing.
A trivial glance. The slightest movement in an expression.
Sim-rok could vaguely ‘read’ such things.
They were merely wagging their tails to curry favor with Kim Min-jae.
‘It’s understandable.’
He didn’t know what it was like overseas, but the literary world in Korea was an extremely small place.
A successful author was unquestionably the best lifeline one could cling to.
And if the person in question was Kim Min-jae, who possessed all sorts of dazzling titles, such as ‘winner of the Korean Literary Award at the age of thirty-five’ and ‘second son and director of the chairman of the conglomerate GG Company’?
Calling him a golden lifeline wouldn’t be enough.
It would have to be a diamond lifeline.
“Author, could I possibly ask for a picture?”
“Ah! Me too. Me too!”
“Hahahaha. Of course. I’d be happy to take one for you. But before that—”
Kim Min-jae casually pushed through the crowd and approached Sim-rok.
“Hold these for a moment.”
Then he handed over everything he had been carrying in his arms.
His tone was gentle, but his attitude made it clear that Sim-rok’s wishes were of no importance whatsoever.
As though he were ordering around a subordinate.
“……”
Sim-rok silently accepted the items.
Meanwhile, the people who had followed Kim Min-jae looked at Sim-rok with slightly surprised expressions.
“Ah, you’re the author’s sworn brother……”
“Haha, that’s right. He’s like a friend who’s always helping me out.”
Kim Min-jae nodded with a jovial air, and Sim-rok also bowed his head in greeting.
Sim-rok was, in his own way, a somewhat recognizable face among people.
He was known to be Kim Min-jae’s sworn brother as well as his secretary.
However, that wasn’t the reason people had come to know about Sim-rok.
“Um, I know this may be rude, but something unfortunate happened recently……”
If you knew it was rude, wouldn’t it have been better not to bring it up in the first place?
That thought crossed Sim-rok’s mind, but he didn’t say it aloud.
There was no need.
What they were thinking was already written all over their faces.
‘The adopted son of a chaebol family who got divorced recently.’
They wanted to turn his expression, his reaction, and everything else into gossip.
They were the sort who loved stories and enjoyed spreading them even more.
But Sim-rok had no intention of giving them what they wanted.
Just as Kim Min-jae had done.
No, he put on an even more natural ‘mask’ than Kim Min-jae.
He curved his eyebrows and gently lifted both corners of his mouth.
With what people commonly called a ‘benevolent’ smile, he answered them.
“Yes. We agreed to wish each other well and support one another in finding good people.”
There was no trace of heartache or sadness.
He simply acted the part of ‘a man who, though the woman he once loved had now become a stranger, had decided to bless her future.’
“Ah…… yes. I hope you find a good relationship, too.”
Perhaps their response was less interesting than they had expected, because the people soon lost interest in Sim-rok.
For them, getting into Kim Min-jae’s good graces was more important than some nobody who wasn’t even worth turning into gossip.
“Author. If you don’t mind, could I ask you one question?”
Suddenly, a clear, refreshing voice rang out from within the crowd.
At the familiar voice, Sim-rok’s head turned of its own accord.
It was a familiar face.
No, ‘familiar face’ didn’t even begin to describe it.
‘Shin Hae-eun.’
The people around them also seemed startled upon seeing her face, glancing nervously between Kim Min-jae and Sim-rok.
Kim Min-jae appeared to recognize her as well, and his expression stiffened for an instant.
“……What brings you here?”
“What do you mean, what brings me here? As someone who is also part of the literary world, I came to congratulate you on your award.”
Despite her remarkably polite and composed tone, the woman’s eyes were like those of a hunter stalking its prey.
Kim Min-jae glanced sideways at the people around him before letting out a sigh.
He didn’t want to cause friction at such a celebratory occasion.
“……What is this question you wanted to ask?”
“It’s about the ending of your latest work, 『The Night of the Elephant』.”
“Yes……?”
“I found it fascinating because the story seemed to suddenly stop, yet the development was still convincing enough. I never imagined you would use an open ending like that. Could you tell us what you think the protagonist decided to do in the end?”
The words came flying out like a rapid-fire barrage, and cold sweat trickled down Kim Min-jae’s forehead.
“…………Ah…… Ah…… That scene, you mean……”
Sim-rok did not miss it.
The way Kim Min-jae’s pupils had been constantly trembling during that brief moment.
After rolling his eyes back and forth for quite some time and stalling for an answer, Kim Min-jae finally managed to respond.
“I designed it so that each reader could interpret it differently. So I think it would be difficult for me to give you an exact answer. After all, writing is something that is completed by the readers.”
A familiar pattern.
Whenever someone occasionally asked a question that struck at the heart of the matter, Kim Min-jae would evade answering with an appropriate excuse.
Most of the time, the questions were merely formalities, so as long as he answered vaguely, people simply let it slide.
‘What a slippery bastard.’
But this time, it seemed his opponent had no intention of letting him off.
“Yes. Of course, I agree. But there’s something strange. Your writing style seems subtly different from your usual work. I was wondering what the reason for that might be—”
“Excuse me.”
The one who stopped Shin Hae-eun was Sim-rok, who had been standing beside Kim Min-jae.
“I think it would be better not to get too heated at a celebration like this.”
“Get heated? This is how I normally am. I only asked a question. I’m asking because I want to hear the author’s answer!”
Despite saying that, her face had reddened and her tone had risen.
“So move aside. I have something to say to him, not to—”
“Hae-eun.”
At Sim-rok’s words, Shin Hae-eun closed her mouth.
“There are a lot of eyes watching.”
She glared intensely into Sim-rok’s eyes, then muttered so quietly it was almost inaudible before turning away.
“You’re seriously so frustrating.”
As Shin Hae-eun walked farther away, Sim-rok could hear the murmurs around him.
“What? Weren’t those two divorced?”
“What is she doing here? Things are a mess because of her father’s company, too.”
“Good grief, the atmosphere is brutal.”
It was enough to cause a commotion.
After all, Shin Hae-eun was also a fairly well-known figure in the literary world.
Sensing what was happening around him, Kim Min-jae let out a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha! There was a bit of a disturbance there. How about we all take a picture together?”
Perhaps the people who had been whispering sensed the mood as well. At Kim Min-jae’s suggestion, they quickly quieted down and gathered together for photographs.
Meanwhile, Sim-rok stared in the direction where the woman who had once been his wife had disappeared.
If he hadn’t stopped her, Kim Min-jae would have been in serious trouble.
After all, there was no way Kim Min-jae could have answered properly in the first place.
The 『The Night of the Elephant』 for which he had received the award.
Kim Min-jae had not written it.
No, it wasn’t just 『The Night of the Elephant』.
Every work that had elevated Kim Min-jae to the ranks of genius authors had been created by Yoo Sim-rok.
What kind of expressions would they make if they knew the truth?
A small sense of curiosity bloomed in his mind.
But curiosity could not move Sim-rok.
He had been doing this for nearly fifteen years already.
If something happened to Kim Min-jae, his own livelihood would also be in jeopardy.
That was why he had stopped Shin Hae-eun.
She was the only person who knew that he was Kim Min-jae’s ghostwriter.
While people came and went taking pictures, Kim Min-jae subtly spoke to Sim-rok in an irritated tone.
“Sigh. She’s so strong-willed, no wonder you got divorced. You really have terrible luck.”
‘Luck’ was the biggest reason Sim-rok had none of it, yet even when Kim Min-jae said something like that, Sim-rok could not give him any answer.
#
Inside a columbarium in Seoul.
After Kim Min-jae’s award ceremony ended, Sim-rok came straight here.
“I’m here, Mom.”
He greeted the urn bearing the name ‘Jin Se-yeong’ in front of him.
The inside of the memorial niche had been cleaned neatly, and fresh flowers had also been placed there.
Judging from their condition, they hadn’t been there long.
“Cheong-a must have come by.”
There weren’t many people who would come in the first place.
Yesterday had also been his mother’s death anniversary.
More than anything, those flowers were his younger sister’s favorite flowers—the younger sister who had now cut ties with him.
That was also why Sim-rok had deliberately come today, the day after his mother’s death anniversary.
After his mother’s funeral, the last words his younger sister had left him were that they should never see each other again until death.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t bring anything in particular.”
Sim-rok raised his hand.
In it were the certificate and trophy.
Kim Min-jae had handed them to him in the car on the way here.
‘Sigh, those annoying literary people. You can have these. I’ve got plenty.’
His tone was as though he were doing Sim-rok some great favor.
Even in the face of such an attitude from the very man who had stolen someone else’s writing, Sim-rok remained silent.
He had always had to endure.
He had thought that if he endured, everything would eventually be all right.
‘By the time I realized that was a mistake, it was already too late.’
But his efforts had not been rewarded.
His mother had died, and his younger sister had left him.
The husband and wife who had been joined together by the interests of their families had failed to understand each other and eventually divorced.
All that remained were writings created for other people’s fame and the web novels he had occasionally begun reading to soothe the emptiness inside him.
As he looked down at the trophy and certificate bearing someone else’s name, he recalled his mother’s still-vivid last words.
‘Mom just wants Sim-rok to do what he wants to do.’
His mother had already known.
She knew that what Sim-rok was doing wasn’t something he did because he wanted to.
‘Something I want to do.’
He had never once thought about it.
‘What is it that I want to do?’
He was a puppet tied to strings.
More than twenty years ago, from the moment his mother remarried a chaebol and he became a member of that wealthy family, he had been thoroughly used.
‘No. Was it from that day fifteen years ago?’
April of the year Sim-rok was a first-year university student.
That day had determined his life.
He ghostwrote for Kim Min-jae and married according to the wishes of the chaebol family.
Even the divorce had been at the behest of his former wife, Shin Hae-in.
When he finally came to his senses, there was nothing left around him.
Throughout the entire process, there had not been a single thing he had chosen for himself.
A nobody.
That was what Yoo Sim-rok was.
‘If I could go back to that time, would I be able to choose?’
He soon shook his head.
“……What would be the point?”
A futile, meaningless fantasy.
Time could not be turned back.
Realizing reality, he pushed the fantasy out of his consciousness.
“Mom. I’ll come see you often.”
After saying goodbye to his mother’s photograph, Sim-rok went outside.
He looked down at the things in his hands before throwing them into a nearby trash can.
It happened immediately afterward.
Drip.
“Huh?”
Something suddenly began flowing from his nose.
When he touched it, a bright red liquid stained his hand.
“Why am I suddenly getting a nosebleed—”
He couldn’t finish the sentence properly.
Bzzz—
His head suddenly rang, and the world began spinning.
As though a string had suddenly been cut, all the strength left his body and he collapsed.
Only when he felt the coldness of the floor did he realize that he had fallen.
He couldn’t even move his fingers.
It felt as though someone were slowly squeezing his heart, tightening around it.
When he could no longer even breathe properly, one thought suddenly came to mind.
‘Am I dying?’
A puppet’s life, always used by others.
He had written for others, married against his will, and eventually divorced.
His mother had died, and his younger sister had left him.
And now, was his life going to end in such a miserable way?
Was this the end of the story called ‘Yoo Sim-rok’?
A tragedy and farce that would never sell anywhere.
When his thoughts reached that point, the emotions he had suppressed for more than twenty years finally burst out.
‘It’s unfair.’
He still hadn’t accomplished anything.
And his life was ending with him merely playing the role of a puppet.
Even for a single moment, he wanted to do something he wanted to do.
‘I don’t want…… to die…….’
He wanted to scream, but no voice came out.
Even then, everything in his field of vision was gradually being dyed in darkness—
#
He opened his eyes.
“……Huh?”
What?
His body was fine.
He could think clearly. He could move.
And that wasn’t the only strange thing.
Right now, he should have been standing inside the columbarium.
Yet he was lying face-down on something that looked like a desk.
No, it wasn’t something that merely looked like one.
It was an actual desk.
And not just any desk, but one of those strange desks that were joined together with a chair, making you wonder who had thought of making such a thing.
‘What happened?’
In a situation where he had no idea what was going on, Sim-rok calmly raised himself.
Handling his emotions was his specialty, so he immediately began assessing the situation.
Now that he looked closely, even the clothes he was wearing were strange.
He had definitely been dressed in a suit, but now he was wearing a knit sweater over a shirt.
“Student Yoo Sim-rok?”
A voice came from right beside him.
“……”
Sim-rok calmly raised his head.
Standing right beside him was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.
“……Huh?”
A familiar face.
No, it wasn’t merely familiar.
He knew this man.
“Professor Lee Hyo-seok?”
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
He was definitely a professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Hyeon University, where Sim-rok had attended.
But he hadn’t seen the professor even once since graduating from university.
“…………Huh?”
Sim-rok once again looked down at his clothes.
‘Right. This is the knit sweater I wore that day.’
At that thought, a powerful sense of déjà vu washed over his mind.
At the same time, one utterly absurd possibility occurred to him.
‘Is this a dream?’
No.
Everything was far too vivid.
And the scenery was far too familiar.
The faces and clothes of the other people looking at him and the professor.
The words written in large letters across the blackboard:
‘Midterm Exam: Theory of Novel Writing.’
It was exactly the same as a scene from his memories.
His instincts were screaming.
This was neither a dream nor anything else.
It was a reality he had no choice but to believe.
He had opened his eyes fifteen years in the past, when he was twenty years old.
April, the month that had determined his life.
He had returned to that very day.
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