Hexagram (3)
Chaos, you say? I went straight down to the office.
The first editorial team’s area was packed shoulder to shoulder. “What is it? What happened?”
“Mok! Where have you been? Hurry up and look at this.” Senior Kim pointed at a monitor.
On the screen was Gyeongseong Publishing’s SNS account, where the promotions team had posted a release alert for GyeongseongBook.
Gyeongseong Publishing SNS
Promotions Team Release Alert Feed for GyeongseongBook
Dozens of comments were already piling up underneath it.
“There was a problem with the webzine comments?”
“Yeah. The server team called, and they said there was an error. They were all apologies on their end. It looks like they’ve fixed it now so people can comment again. They’re also going to post an apology on SNS soon. Folks were losing their minds and asking why the comments were blocked in the first place.”
“...Senior. Let me see the webzine.”
“I was going to show you anyway.” Senior Kim opened the Gyeongseong Geul webzine, and in the fifteen or so minutes since I’d been sighing on the rooftop, my special feature had already accumulated dozens of comments.
“Huh. The reaction’s not bad at all, is it?”
Especially that one. I tapped the screen with my fingertip.
“This explanation is truly amazing. I had no interest in novels at all, but now I really want to read it, lol.” That was the kind of comment I’d wanted.
Exactly the result I’d been aiming for. Senior Yang nudged my elbow. “Hey, Mok. If this ‘editorial criticism corner’ takes off, couldn’t it become a regular feature just like this?”
“That’d be great. That was the goal from the start, too.”
“From the start?” Everyone turned to look at me.
Ah.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t told the team about that. “This was basically a pilot. They said if the response was good, they’d make it a regular feature.”
“...A regular feature in Gyeongseong Geul?”
“So that means four of your pieces go up every season?”
“...No way. So that was the deal you struck with the president?!”
“Yes. If it worked out, I was going to step away from reviews.” For a moment they were too shocked to speak, then their faces brightened all at once.
It meant they wouldn’t have to fight me over the review slot.
How transparent can you people be? Still, it was a massive relief.
My first special feature, my pilot, my first commentary—it hadn’t failed. A regular slot in Gyeongseong Geul was now within reach. Everything that followed moved at lightning speed. That afternoon, an emergency meeting was called.
Attending were Team Leader Lee, Team Leader Kim from the Korean Literature Division, Team Leader Jang from Public Relations, and the Distribution Team as well.
In other words, the people who actually got things done.
Team Leader Kim from the Korean Literature Division turned on the integrated distribution-sales system first.
Gyeongseong Publishing Integrated Distribution-Sales System
Hexagram pre-orders: 5,000+ copies
The integrated distribution-sales system was a page that reflected Gyeongseong Publishing’s book sales trends in real time, and Hexagram had already cleared five thousand pre-orders. The most excited person in the room, naturally, was Team Leader Kim, who was overseeing Hexagram.
According to what Team Leader Lee later told me about that meeting, Team Leader Kim had gone absolutely wild.
“We have to ride this momentum. Hitting this many preorders in a single day is unusual, no matter how you look at it, even if it is by Author Son. And if you look at the data, the percentage in the twenties and thirties is extremely high. Let’s push this. Team Leader Jang, Team Leader Lee, please cooperate as much as you can.”
“Team Leader Kim is going to pass out. Team Leader Jang, what do you think? I think it makes sense. Mok’s commentary has clearly landed. If we can carry that through to sales, wouldn’t that be ideal?”
“Hmm.” According to what Team Leader Lee later told me, you could practically hear Team Leader Jang’s brain turning over.
Then Team Leader Jang came up with an unusually bold proposal. “Mok Hyunsun’s commentary from the Gyeongseong Geul webzine—let’s post the full text on SNS. That way people can access it more easily even if they’re not subscribers or readers of Gyeongseong Geul.”
Not only did they decide to release the full text, but, “Our PR team will also seize on the keyword ‘silver-spoon theory’ and spread posts across every major community. It’s exactly the kind of material young people can relate to, so it’ll definitely catch on.” They even went all in on community outreach.
It was enough to make Team Leader Kim’s eyes practically sparkle. “Since this affects Gyeongseong Geul, I’ll leave persuading the editor-in-chief to Team Leader Lee.”
“Hah—now that sounds like the hardest part.”
“If this works, Hexagram could break into the twenties-and-thirties bestseller list.” Team Leader Jang’s eyes flashed sharply. “Let’s push it together with Mok Hyunsun’s commentary.”
According to Team Leader Lee, this was where his own role had been the most impressive.
He said he had convinced Editor-in-Chief Im not with sincerity, but with numbers.
He’d quickly prepared the materials and put them in front of him. When Editor-in-Chief Im saw them, he said, “If you’re going to do it, do it fast.” And that was that.
At 5:55 in the evening, the PR team published the post on SNS: The hot novel Hexagram: Mok Hyunsun’s special commentary released in full.
And then—
“Mok.” Before leaving work, Team Leader Lee called me over. Today had aged him by at least three years.
Then, in a voice drained of all life, he delivered the day’s final blow. “I just got a call from the editor-in-chief. From now on, make sure the editorial criticism corner is planned properly.”
...The regular feature had been approved.
The bus ride home was one long daze, my eyes fixed blankly on the window.
...What an unbelievable day. The special feature I’d thought had crashed had become a smash hit, and my commentary had been released in full on SNS in an unprecedented move.
In the end, I’d landed a regular slot in Gyeongseong Geul.
Insane.
Fine, I had proposed it. But when I negotiated with Representative Mun, I’d figured the odds of success were less than fifty-fifty. If it worked, though? It was the real thing. A guaranteed outlet where I could publish criticism every time?
Then I wouldn’t have to accept commissions I didn’t want just because I needed the money. If there was something I wanted to publish, I could simply plan it myself.
Could anything be more satisfying than that?
The scenes from the editorial meeting came back to me in vivid flashes—people twenty, thirty years older than me, each of them fighting fiercely over every slot in Gyeongseong Geul.
I had planted my foot right in the middle of that space.
And done it all at once.
Responsibility and satisfaction washed over me together. I wanted to plan my next criticism piece immediately.
My fingers were practically itching.
The trouble was, the world had no intention of leaving me alone.
A week later, Hexagram wasn’t just a bestseller among readers in their twenties and thirties.
It had climbed to number three on the overall fiction bestseller list.
During all that time, Author Son Younghun kept trying to get in touch with me, saying he wanted to treat me to a meal to thank me properly.
I kept putting it off because I found it a little bothersome, but by the time I felt it would be rude to delay any longer, I finally agreed.
It was a Japanese restaurant in Gangnam. When I stepped into a secluded private room in the glittering place, Son Younghun and a stocky, scruffy-bearded man were already waiting for me.
“Hello. I’m Mok Hyunsun.” I tried to look calm, but seeing him in person was surreal.
Wasn’t this Son Younghun, the man I had only ever seen in textbooks?
But who was this other man?
“Oh my—Critic Mok. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person at last.” Son Younghun grabbed my hand before I could even sit down.
Good grief. He was so earnest he almost seemed like a father who’d found the son he’d lost in wartime.
“I really owe you a great deal, Critic Mok.”
“Not at all. It was thanks to your allowing the commentary to be released first. And the novel itself is excellent.”
“My daughter spotted it right away and said we absolutely had to do it. Honestly, I didn’t even understand why at first—I just went ahead with it. Whew. If I hadn’t, I really would have regretted it.”
So it had been his child who convinced him from the middle. Apparently it was his daughter. Still, it wasn’t all her credit.
Given his age, letting the commentary go first had been an enormous concession.
For the moment, we sat down around the table. Fresh sashimi and dishes filled the spread so completely it looked as if the table legs might snap.
“You probably can’t imagine how much it means to an old writer like me that a book can sell to readers in their twenties and thirties. Anyway, I truly owe you. Ah, and please meet him.” Only then did he introduce the man beside him to me.
“My novel Maria is about to go into film adaptation. This is Director Kim Byeongryul, who’ll be handling Maria.”
“Ah, of course. Director Kim Byeongryul. I’ve enjoyed your films very much.” He was a star director who had already made two ten-million-ticket hits.
Come to think of it, Maria was becoming a film.
Maria was Son Younghun’s best, or rather his steady classic. It was the cornerstone that had made the man what he was today.
Director Kim said, a little awkwardly, “I read Author Son’s Hexagram too. It’s a wonderful work, but it did feel a bit difficult for younger readers to approach. Still, the instant your commentary was released first... I knew it. It felt like getting hit straight in the back of the head. So when Author Son said he was meeting you today, I begged him to introduce me too. Hahaha!”
He seemed like a very easygoing person.
With the praise coming at me so openly, I felt a little embarrassed, so I just smiled and took a sip of water.
“Seven newspaper debuts, a special feature in Gyeongseong Geul... and you’re still so young. You’re truly remarkable. By any chance, are you interested in film criticism?”
His eyes were shining.
It was a little much, but I answered plainly. “That’s something professional film critics would do better than I could. Everyone has their own position and role.”
“Ah, what a shame. There are so many interesting films on this side, too.”
“However.” I picked up a piece of sashimi and ate it.
It was fresh, springy, and rich.
“If I could discuss a screenplay together with someone, the way they do in Novel & Film, I think that might be fun.”
When I had watched Nevertheless, I’d thought film criticism might be pretty interesting after all.
Novel criticism was a full sprint for me.
But how could I sprint at full speed every single time?
Sometimes you had to walk and look at the scenery, too.
For me, film criticism was that kind of space.
Strictly speaking, it was closer to screenplay criticism—but then Director Kim gave me a meaningful smile.
“Then may I ask you for a favor?”
“A favor?”
“Yes. We’re currently working on the screenplay for Maria... once it’s finished, would it be all right if I showed it to you?”
“Haha.” I laughed and took another piece of sashimi.
Apparently he trusted my judgment of work pretty highly.
But I couldn’t agree to that favor.
“I’m a critic, not someone who influences production. That’s the screenwriter’s and the director’s territory.”
There was no helping it if that sounded cold.
Hadn’t I said it already?
Everyone has their own position and territory.
Only when those boundaries are clearly drawn can each person’s authority survive intact.
“Oof... You really are sharp as a blade.”
Director Kim looked disappointed, but he quickly smoothed his expression and said to me, “Then how about this? Once the film comes out, I’ll send you tickets and the screenplay. If you review it, I’d be grateful for either praise or criticism. I’d appreciate a piece from you anywhere, really.”
He had already figured out my nature.
If I felt like it.
He understood that I would never write something I didn’t want to write.
“In that case, that works for me. Just don’t be disappointed if the review doesn’t go up.”
In the end, I accepted his persistent offer. That day, he promised me more than once that he would send the screenplay.