Nevertheless, Part 4
16.
A bar in Paju Book City. The place was buzzing. The after-party for the Novel N Movie shoot was in full swing. The YouTube production crew, including PD Yoo, the PR team led by Team Leader Jang, and—somehow—the entire Editorial Team 1, who had followed them here as well.
PD Yoo looked across the table at Team Leader Jang and said, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen all the guests skip the after-party. Kim Bong-woon stormed off with his feelings hurt, and Mok Hyunsun left right on the dot.”
“Come to think of it, you’re right.”
“Hey, Seo-hoon. Could you call Hyunsun for me? I really want to talk to him.”
The members of Editorial Team 1, who had been drinking among themselves, stiffened.
Yoon Seo-hoon quickly put on an expression of tragic regret. “Hyunsun? What can I do? He’s got family stuff going on lately, so he always leaves right after work.”
“He even texted us earlier. He said he was really sorry and honestly disappointed he couldn’t make it as the youngest one here.”
“That’s right. Oh, do you want to see the text?” Yang Ho-chan mimed pulling out his phone.
PD Yoo waved him off. “No, no, it’s fine. If anyone saw this, they’d think I was giving him grief for not coming to a drinking party.” The matter was more or less settled there.
The three seniors of Mok Hyunsun exchanged glances.
Nice save. Was the text actually real?
What are you talking about? Obviously fake.
But seriously, why did Hyunsun even leave? If it were me, I’d have stayed and made myself the center of attention.
He must have had a reason. He’s not the type to bail on something like this just because it’s tiring. He said he had something to do at home.
Yoon Seo-hoon grinned at PD Yoo and asked, “Is there anything you’d like me to pass along to Hyunsun? If you tell me, I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“Mm, no. This is the kind of thing I’d rather ask him directly. I’m really curious how he predicted the scenario so perfectly. Honestly, when I checked the script earlier, I got goosebumps.”
“It was a legendary scene, a total legend! We have to use it.” Team Leader Jang jumped in, excited. “From the very beginning, Kim Bong-woon pressures Mok Hyunsun. Hyunsun doesn’t react. Bong-woon turns up the pressure. Hyunsun just keeps smiling, then lands the killing blow. And the moment the script gets revealed—game over! Isn’t it like a movie?”
“Right? It’s insane. I love it, I love it. Who knew we’d catch a scene like that while filming a book promo video?”
“But Kim Bong-woon’s expression came out looking so bad. Is that going to be okay?” the main writer asked worriedly.
PD Yoo snorted. “Just release it. Bong-woon needs to get taken down a peg sometime. He’s made a living by sneering at other people, so he can deal with a little reverse treatment too.”
“True enough.” Team Leader Jang shrugged. “I felt so satisfied earlier, too. I’d been biting my tongue for ages, the way he kept subtly taking shots at the publishing house. If he weren’t even slightly popular, I’d have cut him loose already.” She grinned. “Anyway, we’re putting this video front and center on Gyeongseong Bukbuk. While we’re at it, let’s get this thing into the trending ranks too! Cheers!”
“Cheers!” With a bright clink, their glasses met.
Meanwhile, Editorial Team 1 turned slightly away and made their own little drinking circle.
Yoon Seo-hoon pulled something from his pocket and set it down on the table: Kim Bong-woon’s torn bow tie. “...I think we may have picked up a junior who’s a little too outstanding, don’t you?” The others nodded.
Yang Ho-chan said, “I couldn’t even bring myself to talk to him properly earlier. He just had this intimidating aura.” Following the shoot had been only half a joke.
But there, in that room, they had witnessed something astonishing. A level of skill that any publisher or literary professional would have had no choice but to admire.
To think they’d feel that way looking at a rookie on their own team. Kim Ji-woon thought it over.
They had to keep the team centered here.
So his conclusion was simple. “Let’s just keep doing what we’ve been doing. In the end, a junior is a junior.”
“Fair.”
“That said, if we can back him up, let’s back him up.”
“Hyunsun?”
“Yeah. Help him where we can, step back when we should, and let him lean on us when he needs to.”
“Hmm.”
“That’s how you last long in this business. For him, and for us.” It might have looked like they were acting soft and foolish, but it was the most rational path.
A way to keep petty jealousy and insubordination in check while still making sure everyone came out ahead. Then it happened. Buzz—one message landed in their group chat.
The three of them checked the chat and grinned.
“What can you do? He’s offering to buy us a meal.”
“Let’s make it an expensive one.”
“Yeah. Brace yourself, Hyunsun.”
A moment later, the beer glasses of Editorial Team 1 clinked together with a cheerful ring.
─┼
A few days later.
A new video went up on Gyeongseong Bukbuk.
The people who watched it erupted into the comments.
People shared the video and the edited clips all over various communities.
Especially the final segment, where the script was revealed.
That part was even turned into Shorts. But that wasn’t all.
Raccoon YouTubers hunting for controversy got involved.
They reproduced the video in all sorts of ways, whether to emphasize Kim Bong-woon’s defeat or Mok Hyunsun’s victory. And once all those elements came together, the video’s 24-hour view count was already approaching 300,000. It went without saying that it shot straight into the trending rankings the PR team had wanted so badly.
─┼
“This is hopeless.”
I turned my phone off.
My nerves were shot, and I couldn’t focus at all. Fame was far more powerful than I had expected.
My entire network of lifelong acquaintances was charging at me with reckless enthusiasm. Some of them were genuinely glad to hear from me.
The problem was the ones who were trying to seize the opportunity for themselves. Still, I understood one thing clearly.
This kind of attention would fade quickly.
Until things quieted down, I’d better stay off camera for a while.
“Hoo… so all I have left is the wrap-up.”
Over the past few days, I had written a mixed criticism piece on Nevertheless.
Since I’d analyzed the film as well, it had taken a bit longer than my other reviews. Well, taking my time wasn’t a bad thing. The more effort I put into it, the more attached I felt to it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap....
All right, I was there. Time to finish.
What lies beyond the video. To discover it is, in the end, to notice how serial language is transformed into parallel imagery. With no prejudice toward genre, and no hierarchy.
By slightly reworking the conversation I’d had with Senior Yoon, I hit the final Enter key.
“So that makes... six entries?”
The last Shinchun Moonye deadline was exactly one week away. That was a little awkward, wasn’t it?
Writing was fast enough. Choosing which work was worth writing about was the real task. Still, I’d do what I could.
There was no need to strain myself just because I was fixated on seven.
This wasn’t Dragon Ball, after all. And for now, I was still an employee, so I had to keep my private life in check. Whirr—whirr—whirr.
That was how I began printing out six criticism pieces.
─┼
The next day.
I took a half-day off in the morning and stopped by the post office.
Then I mailed all the critiques to the newspaper offices.
For some reason, I felt both refreshed and a little wistful.
It was the kind of feeling you’d get sending your child off on its first trip.
The results would be announced through the newspaper on New Year’s Day. ...Please, let me spend January 1st happily.
Just one. Even if it’s only one, that’s enough.
Until then, I should forget about it with as much composure as possible.
It was no longer in my hands.
I ate lunch outside and went in late to work.
But when I got to my desk, two people were waiting for me.
One was a woman from the PR team, and the other was a middle-aged man.
The man saw me and broke into a broad smile. “You must be editor Mok Hyunsun, right? I’m Kim Jong-woo, team leader of the Korean Literature Department.”
“Ah, yes, Team Leader Kim. I’m Mok Hyunsun.”
When I bowed in greeting, he suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Thanks to the video that went up recently, the sales for Nevertheless have jumped twelvefold. Writer Moon Geon-hyeong even called—he’s practically losing his mind, saying he wants to buy you a drink at the very least. You really worked hard.”
“Twelvefold?”
No matter how difficult an age it was for books to sell, a single video had driven sales up twelve times.
Now I understood why Team Leader Jang had been so obsessed with Gyeongseong Bukbuk. “It’s all thanks to Editor Mok Hyunsun. I don’t usually come to other teams for things like this, but I was so grateful that I waited here myself. If you’re ever having a rough time at the company—”
He slid his business card onto my desk.
“Feel free to contact me.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, Team Leader.”
Technically, he could always reach me through the office line.
And yet people still gave business cards because it meant one thing:
they wanted to keep in touch properly from then on.
“And the reason I came with the PR team is that I have a proposal for you.”
“Senior Kim—”
Lee Jae-woon, who had been listening quietly, cut in with a small smile. “Why would a team leader say something like that himself? It’s too much pressure. Let the PR staff handle the details, and come smoke a cigarette with me.”
“Hah, this team leader really does look after his youngest members, doesn’t he? And here I was taking care of you back in the day—have you already forgotten your debts?”
“Love is meant to flow downward, Team Leader. Come on, let’s go. Hyunsun, speak freely, all right? If you don’t like it, just say so.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
Lee Jae-woon dragged Kim Jong-woo away with him.
As if she had been waiting for the opening, the woman from PR quietly held out a few books to me.
“What’s this?”
“New releases from this month’s book concerts. If even one of them looks good to you, could you maybe handle the hosting?”
Book concerts.
They were basically fan meetings for authors who had just released a new book.
Lee Jae-woon had said it already.
If I didn’t want to do it, I should just say no.
Honestly, that advice had very little relevance to me.
I was really good at refusing things.
“Sorry, but I’m not interested.”
There was no need for me to become any more famous than I already was. Even this much attention was a little annoying.
“W-we’ll double the appearance fee again!”
“I wouldn’t do it even for twenty times that. I already have too much work in Editorial. I still haven’t written the winter issue review. If I don’t do that properly, our team’s in trouble.”
As soon as I brought up the review, the PR staff wilted.
That was because reviews were the flower of the editorial department.
“Ah... I suppose there’s nothing to be done. I’ll leave the books as gifts, then....” She left looking rather pitiful.
“...You can take the books too, you know.”
I tucked Kim Jong-woo’s business card away carefully, then flipped through the new releases without much thought.
But then.
“Huh?”
A familiar name caught my eye.
“Brother Seon-woong?”
It was Hong Seon-woong’s new book, Boy, Tomorrow.
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