Chapter 30: Chapter 30 - With All His Heart (2) (1/2)

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

”You know, more than anything, I want to read your writing to my heart's content. Without any hindrance. I felt that more than the desire to be a novelist,” Seo Kw.a.n.g said with a smile.

Juho had nothing to say to him. It was his choice. It was his decision. It must have been a difficult one at that. A novel couldn't be written simply because it had been requested. Unless the author himself was writing, the novel would not move onward even if it were being forced. Life was the same way. For that reason, he quietly listened to Seo Kw.a.n.g venting.

Once Seo Kw.a.n.g stopped talking, there was silence. He hesitated for a moment, but soon started talking again in a slightly exaggerated voice.

”Can you do me a favor? Count it as payment for the fried chicken.”

”What's the favor?” asked Juho. It was a gesture of acceptance.

”It's about the essay contest.”

The essay contest. Juho had forgotten about it. It was a contest in which there was only one winner at the end.

”Write with all your heart. Not that whack ending you wrote. I want to read the story that you write.”

Juho stared at him briefly and looked relieved. However, he wasn't happy to see such an expression, so he answered, ”I will, if you write with all your heart.”

Seo Kw.a.n.g's eyes shook, and the moment turned with his light-hearted remark, ”...you got it. It'll only cost you some fried chicken if you lose.”

Seo Kw.a.n.g left Juho's house. The sun was setting, and a faint veil of darkness covered the sky. Everything around him looked depressing. Maybe it had something to do with the sun setting. 'Where are the streetlights when you need one?' It wasn't dark enough for streetlights to come on as it was still bright enough for the people who were walking.

He thought about Juho's room as he walked back slowly. He had never been to a place like that. It was a sight that inspired awe. It wasn't the amount of paper that was in the room, it was the effort—the pa.s.sion towards something. It was something Seo Kw.a.n.g didn't have. Soon, he stopped in his tracks.

”It's OK,” he whispered.

He didn't try like Juho did. He couldn't dare to. That was the extent of him trying. It was a good thing that he had given up on wanting to be a novelist.

”Well, I'll probably lose.”

He didn't know what he had been thinking when he challenged Juho. It had been almost entertaining.

'There's a limit to a bluff,' he thought.

”It's fine. Even if I lose, it's only going to be fried chicken. Besides, I had some today.”

'It's OK. It's just fried chicken.'

”d.a.m.n it!”

He clenched his fist out of the anger welling up within. Struggling to stand still, he stood in the middle of the street for a while.

”Tomorrow.”

The time flowed even if one sat completely still. Juho was lying on his bed. If he went to sleep as he was, the next day would inevitably come, along with the essay contest. The contest was finally happening. It felt like it had been just the day before that Mr. Moon had made the bet with the club members. Since then, everyone in the club had been writing daily, excited for fried chicken. They collected words and revised, repeatedly.

Yet, all that effort wasn't necessarily equivalent to special training for the contest. As per usual, the members randomly chose a topic and wrote accordingly. That meant that the only thing they had to do was write, whether they were competing in a contest or not. If there was one thing better about the contest, it was that the contestants got to choose the topic they wanted to write about.

Juho got up and leaned against the chair. It was dark out, and his family was asleep. There were remnants of the writing he had been working on up to a moment ago.

He thought of Seo Kw.a.n.g. When he had gone over, Juho hadn't seen him out. One reason for it had been that Seo Kw.a.n.g had declined, but the main reason was the strange sensation in his hand by the time their conversation started coming to an end. It wasn't a foreign sensation. He would occasionally experience it before he started writing. When most people expressed their emotions in drawings, they often drew a heart near the chest. That was because whenever people were happy or sad, that was where it hurt. In the same way, Juho a.s.sumed the sensation in his hand to be coming from his heart.

”A feeling that I could almost touch.”

Except, from time to time, the sensation would move toward the center of his hand. The sensation would spread across his palm and make it itchy and painful at the same time. To free himself from it, Juho instinctively reached for his pen. That wasn't according to his will. Just as he had no control over his heartbeat, he had no choice but to write. That day had been no different. After Seo Kw.a.n.g left, Juho went back into his room and started writing. He grabbed whatever paper came into his grasp and began to write. It was impulsive, poorly written trash. He let out a faint sigh. Seo Kw.a.n.g had asked him a favor, to write with all his heart, and that he wished to read what he wrote.

”Can I really do this?”

When he read Juho's paper, Seo Kw.a.n.g thought Juho had intentionally ruined his ending, but that wasn't true. He had not intended on making up such an end. Unlike his personality, he was impulsive. He couldn't write anything if he wasn't in the mood. On the other hand, when he's at the peek of his inspiration, the only way to relieve the tension in his heart was to write. It was an annoying quality to have. If that tendency flared up during the contest, it would be impossible to write anything, let alone a story that his friend was dying to read.

”That's a problem.”

It was embarra.s.sing to be called out for not putting in the heart. It wasn't easy to find somebody who loved books as much as Seo Kw.a.n.g. They spoke the same language. Besides, the idea of disappointing his friend did not sit well with him.

'Can I do this?' he asked himself.

”I'll only find out tomorrow.”

'Then, I should just go to bed. It doesn't seem like I'll get much out of thinking all night. It'll only cloud my mind,' he thought to himself.