5
ch 5## Kimchi Stew
202.
The subway on the way to work.
For other office workers, it was a boring stretch of time spent getting to the company, but for Kim Woo-hyun, the
youngest member of the Fantasy and Martial Arts Team, it was a chance to sit comfortably and read novels.
‘Ah, so this is why the title is Still my No.1...’
Writer Min Seong-yoon's return chapter. The moment he read it, a shiver ran through him.
That was why he had binge-read the entire novel again from the beginning over the past few days.
And the questions that had been piling up all this time were finally answered.
He had thought there wasn't much of a connection between the title and the story, but now he understood.
All the buildup had been for this.
‘Could he have disappeared for three years just for this?’
He already knew the reason the serialization had stopped, but it was enough to make him wonder that.
After reading quite a lot of novels over the years, he had started to develop an eye for them, but the author's writing
went beyond that level.
And Kim Woo-hyun had this thought.
He wanted to be by the author's side. He wanted to see his writing from the closest possible distance.
---
Team Leader Ji Hyun-woong was having a busy time.
Whenever he arrived at work early, he checked Writer Min's latest chapters.
Yesterday, the latest serialized chapter had been 203, but there were already scheduled chapters up to 210.
He had written ten chapters in three days. It was an incredible pace.
He had always written quickly in the past. But he had never scheduled chapters this far ahead.
One chapter a day. That had been the principle the author had always stuck to.
But that author had changed. He was churning out chapters like a madman.
They needed to keep pace with this change.
Ji Hyun-woong had significantly revised the promotional schedule that had already been planned.
He had put a booster on the author who was stepping on the accelerator.
As a result, the author's work had risen to first place in the paid bestseller rankings.
It was hard to believe those were the results of a work whose serialization had stopped three years ago.
But this wasn't the end.
Writer Min Seong-yoon's novels also sold well on other platforms.
Starting next week, they would probably enter promotional campaigns on those platforms as well.
Maximizing profits.
There was a reason they were doing all this, but some executives were uneasy about the sudden outflow of excess funds.
A full 2 billion won.
It was money that would bring in quite a decent amount of interest even if they simply left it sitting there.
But next month, that money would go to the author.
It had never been his money in the first place, but it was still money that had been comfortably padding the company's
pockets.
There was some discomfort in seeing it leave.
But this was a matter concerning the company. Ji Hyun-woong's salary remained the same.
And after reading Min Seong-yoon's recently serialized work, Ji Hyun-woong became convinced.
This author would make even more money for the company in the future.
So he actively advocated for him to the distribution team.
This was the role of the head of the Fantasy and Martial Arts Team.
All he could do was give that role his best.
Just then, someone knocked on the team leader's office door.
“Team Leader, it's Kim Woo-hyun.”
“Yeah, come in.”
The youngest member had come to see him unexpectedly.
“I came because there's something I'd like to tell you.”
“Sit down.”
The youngest employee sat down awkwardly.
What could it be?
Usually, one-on-one meetings like this never felt good.
There was a high probability that it was about resigning.
As the web novel market expanded, the number of new employees joining the company had increased.
But so had the number of employees leaving.
They had joined because they loved novels, but this was a company.
Once they started working, there were more often than not times when they couldn't read the novels they liked.
They also had to force themselves to read boring writing.
The gap between ideals and reality.
In severe cases, they could even lose interest in novels altogether.
A hobby was fun when you enjoyed it as a hobby.
Once a hobby became work, the interest faded.
There had also been many writers who loved novels but eventually stopped writing because of things like this.
“What is it?”
“Um... Writer Min Seong-yoon. Are you going to continue being his editor?”
“Writer Min Seong-yoon? Why?”
“I want to become his editor.”
Was it the confidence of a newcomer? Or ignorance?
Ji Hyun-woong was dumbfounded by his bold statement.
Normally, unless something special happened, the editor who handled a contract would stay with the author until the end.
And when a work did well, there was also a small performance bonus.
Of course, the problem was that the bonus wasn't large enough to make anyone work particularly hard.
Instead, if you picked a lot of good works, you could earn recognition within the company.
Because it meant you had a good eye for choosing works.
That was also how he had managed to become a team leader.
But this bold new employee was saying he wanted to take charge of Writer Min.
Then Ji Hyun-woong remembered the new employee interview.
An applicant who had said he wanted to join because he was a fan of Writer Min.
When told to ask anything he was curious about at the end, that applicant had asked why Min's serialization had stopped.
That crazy look in his eyes reminded Ji Hyun-woong of his younger self.
These days, there weren't many employees who stepped forward like this.
The first thing senior employees taught new hires after they joined was to stay still.
If you stayed still, you would at least remain somewhere in the middle.
But Ji Hyun-woong believed that wasn't how you succeeded.
You had to walk a different path from everyone else.
A herbivore that constantly remained alert and never lowered its guard had a higher chance of surviving against
predators than a herbivore that stood still and grazed.
The tension and fear of death actually prolonged life.
That was the law of nature.
Humans were animals too.
Rather than settling comfortably into reality, people who constantly developed themselves and agonized over things had a
higher chance of surviving and succeeding in society.
And this new employee had taken that first step.
His courage was admirable.
But could he do it? Could he succeed at something Ji Hyun-woong himself had failed at before?
In the past, he had tried as well, but he hadn't been able to prevent Writer Min from stopping his serialization.
The author had returned now, but he couldn't say there was zero chance he would stop again and disappear.
After thinking for a moment, Ji Hyun-woong made his decision.
“All right. But if Writer Min doesn't like it, there's nothing we can do.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He decided to put his faith in the newcomer's passion.
Ji Hyun-woong picked up his phone.
He had been planning to call Writer Min anyway because of the promotions.
“Hello. Author, do you have a moment to talk?”
---
After returning to his desk, Kim Woo-hyun still couldn't believe what had just happened.
Going to see the team leader after agonizing over it all morning had been an enormous decision.
A sasaeng fan crazy about his idol.
It wouldn't have been wrong to say that his fanboying had crossed the line.
But the team leader had given a fan who had crossed the line a chance to take a picture.
And the author had given him a hug instead of a picture.
He had been allowed to become the author's new editor.
Now Kim Woo-hyun had become the person in the entire world who could read the author's writing the fastest.
That alone made him happy.
But there was another mountain he had to climb.
He had to introduce himself.
He wondered how he should start the conversation.
Would a phone call be too burdensome? Should he contact him by text first?
No, if he just sent a short text, wouldn't the author think he was rude?
He was worrying over this when a senior employee came over and slapped him on the shoulder.
“What are you doing? Come have some coffee.”
The senior's attack made his hand move.
Without even realizing it, he pressed the call button.
He was calling Writer Min.
Brrring.
The ringing tone tightened around Kim Woo-hyun's heart.
He still wasn't mentally prepared.
‘What do I do?’
He stood up and stared at his phone, fidgeting nervously. His senior looked at him strangely.
But that wasn't important right now.
The call was still connecting.
Just when he began wishing the author would mistake it for an unknown number and not answer...
Numbers appeared on the phone.
00:01
The call connected.
Kim Woo-hyun immediately lifted the phone.
“Hello, Author! How are you? I'm Kim Woo-hyun, and I'll be your new editor from now on.”
He greeted him as brightly and energetically as possible.
[Ah, hello. Nice to meet you.]
The author said it was nice to meet him.
It was the first time he had heard his voice.
He had imagined a deep, mature voice, but it was brighter than that.
“Uh...”
He had to continue the conversation.
But his mind had gone completely blank, and he couldn't think of anything to say.
So he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Author, have you had lunch?”
[I was just about to eat.]
“I see. I had kimchi stew for lunch. There's a really good restaurant near the company.”
Wanting to keep the call going somehow, he started talking about trivial things.
[I like kimchi stew too.]
He had learned the author's preference.
A top-secret piece of information that no other reader knew.
“Oh, you like kimchi stew. What kind of kimchi stew do you like? I like tuna kimchi stew.”
Kim Woo-hyun was happy that he and the author shared a preference.
He wanted to get a little closer, but strangely, no answer came.
‘What? Did he not hear me?’
A brief silence passed before the author's voice came through.
[I like pork.]
“Oh, so you're a pork person. Kimchi stew with pork is delicious too.”
[Yes. I hadn't been able to eat pork for a while.]
The author's answer sounded a little sad.
Kim Woo-hyun remembered the reason for the author's hiatus that he had heard after joining the company.
His health had deteriorated.
He had probably been sick and unable to eat properly.
He wanted to say something comforting, but he felt sorry because it seemed like he had brought up the author's painful
past.
[I have to eat now, so please contact me again if you need anything.]
“Yes. Enjoy your lunch.”
He wanted to talk a little longer, but the call ended abruptly.
It seemed it was because he had brought up food.
‘I didn't make a mistake, did I?’
---
Sometimes in novels, there was a scene where a protagonist who had returned to reality ate kimchi stew.
The nation's food. Kimchi stew.
This stew contained not only the deep flavor of kimchi, but also a mother's love.
The protagonist would shed tears of joy while eating the kimchi stew, delighted to have returned.
I really liked kimchi stew too.
But after getting married, I had to give it up.
To be precise, I had to give up kimchi stew filled with pork.
If there are any soon-to-be newlyweds reading this, I'd like to give you one piece of advice.
Make sure you check each other's food preferences. And if they don't match, think twice.
When we were dating, there weren't many occasions when we ate at home together.
We usually ate out.
I didn't eat Korean food very often when I went on dates with my wife either.
So I didn't know.
My wife was a tuna person.
My wife was someone who was on a diet 365 days a year. She didn't eat much pork because she was afraid of gaining
weight.
I understood that she didn't eat it, but she wouldn't let me eat it either.
After getting married, I had to give up pork and flour because they made me gain weight.
“Oppa, you shouldn't eat things like this if you want to live a long time.”
My wife said she was saying it because she cared about my health.
But if I couldn't eat pork and flour, was there really any reason to live a long life?
I'm like this now, but in the past, I was a traitor.
I left the pork faction and joined the tuna faction.
Tuna was delicious too. I knew that.
But it couldn't beat pork.
Every time I ate stew, I thought about this. So I gathered up my courage and brought it up.
“Since we had tuna in it today, how about putting pork in it next time?”
“No.”
My wife rejected it immediately.
No, I was the one who cooked in the first place. The problem could easily be solved by making two different kinds.
I could cook one serving in each earthenware pot.
“Then how about we make one each next time? I want to eat pork...”
My proposed compromise.
I thought it was a fairly wise solution, but my wife put down her spoon and said,
“Oppa, don't you want to eat the same food your beloved wife likes?”
‘Is it so hard for my beloved wife to eat the food her husband likes?’
That thought kept circling around in my head, but I didn't want to have our first marital argument over kimchi stew.
So I endured it.
“No. It's fine. I like it. I like tuna.”
At my words, my wife picked up her spoon again.
I ate my tuna kimchi stew with a bitter heart, comforting myself.
‘Yeah. Tuna is meat too.’