260 The Reason That Author Never Won 1 (1/2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Following the teacher to the English cla.s.s, Sun Hwa, Bom, and Seo Kw.a.n.g saw Mr. Moon talking to James in English.
”Mr. Moon.”
”Hey there,” Mr. Moon said with an odd expression on his face. While he seemed bothered by the situation on one hand, he seemed proud on the other. On top of that, James, who was standing next to him, was quite excited.
”I'm about to have a new addition to my list of things to show off to my friends.”
”Are you now?” the teacher answered briefly.
Meanwhile, Seo Kw.a.n.g caught on to what they were talking about.
”Are we gonna be on TV?” Bom asked with a puzzled look, and Mr. Moon said, ”They already interviewed the teachers in the staffroom.”
Soon, another teacher brought the younger club members to the English cla.s.s. Although they seemed confused initially, their faces brightened up as soon as they saw the juniors in the room. At the same time, they seemed to be somewhat excited by the situation that had come out of nowhere.
”What's going on?” Gong Pal asked.
”We're being interviewed apparently,” Seo Kw.a.n.g answered.
”Interview? What interview?”
”Who knows?”
While Seo Kw.a.n.g answered Gong Pal's questions haphazardly, he heard a group approaching in the distance. The first person to come into the room was the cameraman, who started setting up all the necessary equipment throughout the cla.s.sroom. A camera with the logo of a broadcasting station was placed on top of a tripod to look down at the club members. Meanwhile, the princ.i.p.al was discussing something with someone else, the juniors' counselor, who was yelling at the other students lingering around the room to go back to their cla.s.ses. At the same time, Seo Kw.a.n.g looked attentively at everything that was taking place around him because of his personal obligation to tell his friend all about it.
Then, Sun Hwa murmured from the side, ”They're not even bothering to offer an explanation or even ask for our consensus.”
”I guess the school did it for us.”
Sun Hwa clicked her tongue, and Mr. Moon told them, ”The interview's gonna be on the air apparently, so make sure you don't have anything stuck in your teeth.”
”I don't eat breakfast.”
”I don't have a mirror on me.”
As Seo Kw.a.n.g looked for a mirror, feeling slightly anxious, Bom took a small mirror out of her pocket and handed it to him. While he was checking his teeth with his mouth gaped open, a person who introduced themselves as the producer sat across from him and explained how they could go about answering the questions in a friendly manner. While they were friendly, the producer had quite a bit to say, and it wasn't until then that Seo Kw.a.n.g realized just how nervous he was. There were cameras surrounding them from all directions.
”Don't mind the cameras. All you gotta do is answer the questions like you normally would,” the producer said in an effort to comfort the club members. Unfortunately, that proved to be less than helpful. As Seo Kw.a.n.g answered him reluctantly, another person, who introduced himself as a reporter, came and sat in the producer's place. After greeting the club members briefly, he started preparing for the interview immediately. Then, Seo Kw.a.n.g turned his head slowly toward his clubmates. With the exception of Bo Suk, who was looking around curiously, the rest of the club members didn't seem all that calm.
”All right, here we go.”
With that, the interview officially started. Seeing as though Mr. Moon was standing behind the camera along with the others, he had to be next.
”h.e.l.lo.”
At the signal, the reporter started off with an opening remark in a voice noticeably brighter than before. The club members also greeted him back, ”h.e.l.lo.”
”So, you guys are from the same Literature Club as Juho Woo, who turned out to be Yun Woo, right?”
”Yes, that's right,” the club members answered, nodding awkwardly. There wasn't a whole lot to say about the matter. The camera rolled, recording every second of it.
”Could you guys introduce yourselves briefly?”
Self-introduction. At that moment, Seo Kw.a.n.g felt the anxiety melting away. Simultaneously, his clubmates chuckled as if they had had the same experience. Resisting the urge to look at Mr. Moon, Seo Kw.a.n.g focused on the interview, and out of his mouth, came the self-introduction he had written a number of times up to that point.
”I love books and that's why I joined the Literature Club,” he said. It wasn't hard to imagine how Juho would have gone about introducing himself. 'He would've raved on about some grilled mackerel and stayed in his seat with a nonchalant look on his face, while everyone else around him was confused beyond all hope,' Seo Kw.a.n.g thought to himself while suppressing the urge to laugh. As if hoping that the club members would talk about Yun Woo more, the reporter scratched his temple and said, ”All right, great. You all seem to be good speakers. I suppose it makes sense considering you're part of the Literature Club.”
With that, the reporter got to the actual interview portion of the event.
”How was Juho Woo as a friend?”
As a camera approached Seo Kw.a.n.g, he said, ”Out of his gourd.”
Then, Sun Hwa elbowed him at his side irritably, and the princ.i.p.al burst into exaggerated laughter. Nevertheless, the junior's behavior wasn't all that different from what they saw from his peers in the other cla.s.ses. Meanwhile, the reporter had a merciful smile on his face, as if he had expected an answer like that from a teenager.
”He was a great writer. So much so that he even turned out to be Yun Woo. How do you think I felt when I read his writing before I knew he was Yun Woo?”
”It must've been unbelievable.”
Not only had it been unbelievable, but it had also been shocking. It was a shock that carried enough impact to blow the dream that was lingering in the depths of Seo Kw.a.n.g's heart away. However, Seo Kw.a.n.g decided not to go into detail. With that, the camera moved on to Sun Hwa.
”What was your first impression of Juho Woo?”
”... He was really full of himself,” she said, unable to think of any other way to answer the question. Describing Juho became much more difficult without using harsh language. And knowing that, Seo Kw.a.n.g chuckled.
”He's just too good of a writer. All the training we had gone through in the club was hardly a challenge for him.”
At that, the reporter smiled, nodding.
”How did you find out that your friend was Yun Woo all along?”
Because it was a long story, the club members gave a brief summary instead, and the reporter listened to them with a satisfactory smile on his face.
”So, you already knew?”
”Yes.”
”Didn't you wanna tell other people that your friend was Yun Woo?”
”Of course, I did, but I still kept it to myself. I mean, all h.e.l.l broke loose when Yun Woo himself revealed his ident.i.ty to the rest of the world. I don't even wanna think about what it would've looked like if we were the ones to spill the beans,” Seo Kw.a.n.g said. He wasn't confident that he would be able to handle a commotion like that. With that, the reporter moved on to Bo Suk.
”So, how does it feel to have Yun Woo as an uppercla.s.sman?”