40 Chapter 40 - Pollen in the Air 3 (1/2)

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

Chapter 40 - Pollen in the Air (3)

The chat regarding work was slowly coming to an end. The three rose from their seats and stood in front of the elevator that brought them to the restaurant. Nam Kyung and Juho waited for the elevator.

At that moment, Nabi said in passing, ”Then, I'll be waiting for the documents from your company, Nam Kyung. I'll give you a call as soon as I get them.”

”Sounds good.”

”Like I said, introducing a book overseas requires a lot of time and effort. It's a completely different process from domestic distribution.”

”Of course.”

”So, working with us exclusively is necessary to a certain extent.”

Juho looked at her, and she smiled.

”It sounds complicated, but think of it as a way to work more efficiently. You should be able to find the details in the documents I gave you earlier.”

Juho thought back to the past. There had been no deceit in her explanations. She wasn't trying to trick him, and Nam Kyung also listened to her quietly.

'Still, there's no way around the sense of burden that comes from the word 'exclusive,'' Juho thought. 'What would happen if the agency did something wrong? What if it went bankrupt overnight? What if they treated their authors like tools? What if they didn't treat him with proper respect? What if he didn't find out until it was too late? Of course, those were extreme scenarios that weren't likely to happen, but it was proper to take everything into account when signing a contract. The other party was asking for an exclusive partnership as an insurance because they were also under similar assumptions.'

It was about his own work. It was going to be made into a book that would end up in the readers' hands. That was what the contract was about. There was a weight to the matter that he hadn't been aware of in the past. He had to be cautious. In the past, he had done exactly as Nabi said, and there had been no loss. Yet, he'd never gotten to have a lengthier conversation with her. He hadn't discussed it in too much detail. He wanted to take a slightly different approach, so Juho looked at her briefly and said, ”I'm not sure about that.”

Nabi asked quickly, ”What are you not sure about?”

”Oh, I don't mean that I can't trust you. It's just that I prefer to be cautious. I'll take some time to think about this more on my own.”

Nam Kyung didn't say anything about Juho's decision. The choice was solely up to the author. An editor or agent was essential to exporting a book, but more than anything else, what really mattered was the author's viewpoint. Nam Kyung didn't want to be an editor who interfered with his author's decision making process, no matter the age of the author. Besides, he had been realizing that Juho was a person who shouldn't be judged by his age. He looked at Nabi and thought, 'She probably knows by now.'

Her lips tightened, but she soon regained her composure.

”... Of course. I understand. That's unfortunate.”

Despite her words, she didn't seem like she was giving up.

*

It was his first vacation in a long time. Juho went to the park to see the woman with the guitar perform. She didn't perform on a set schedule, so he had to rely on luck to catch her concert. Yet, neither Juho nor the woman demanded each other's time. It must have been that their encounter had always been spontaneous by nature. After all, it wasn't like they had agreed to meet on a certain day.

”La, la, lalala.”

There were still no lyrics. She was just an ordinary person who was too shy to speak her mind.

”La, la, la, lala.”

From her voice to her playing, she was average. Her clumsy playing was a plus. Still, Juho wandered about the park just in hopes of hearing her singing.

He gently moved his body to the rhythm as he cheered for her. The woman glanced at his direction, but that was it. She didn't even wave her hand or smile. 'Yep, that's like her, as shy as ever,' he thought.

---

”Hello, Mr. Woo.”

At that moment, a ”nabi” (butterfly in Korean) flew towards him.

”Hi, you're here.”

”Yes, I am. I've never had a meeting in a place like this.”

She looked around. They were at the inner part of the park, so it wasn't all that crowded. Even the people who were there were mostly elderly. A woman was singing among them.

”I could've gone to you.”

”Oh no, I should be coming to you.”

Not too long after the meal, Juho received a call from her. As she gave him an update on the current progress, she asked, 'When are you available?' out of the blue as they were figuring out a meeting place.

”Anytime you want,” Juho answered. As a student, he didn't have that many places he went to frequently. Then, he added, ”How about a park? There's a cafe, a restaurant, a zoo and a botanical garden. I think it's a good place for a meeting.”

Nabi willingly accepted his suggestion.

”Well, this is a first.”

Juho felt anxious whenever a pattern from the past repeated itself. He felt like he would be walking the same path, repeating every mistake he had made. To him, it was possibly even more scary than death. He wasn't afraid of failure. He simply wanted to be different from his old self.

He didn't understand how he had been able to come back to the past. It was a miracle and impossible to understand. However, there were countless unseen things in the world. Many things existed without an explanation or without being discovered. For that reason, people had the privilege of imagination.