169 The Top Author 3 (1/2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Leaving the kitchen, Juho walked to the office space to look around. It was quite spacious and it felt more like a rest area than an office, maybe because of the board games. Along with a sofa, lamps, paintings, photos, books and manuscripts, there was also a desktop on top of a long desk that was facing the wall. That had to be Dae Soo's workstation. Next to it, was a wall covered by curtains, making it seem like there were windows behind it.
”What's this?”
Dae Soo and Sang's eyes followed the tip of Juho's finger.
”Oh, that.”
Then, Sang's expression grew darker, and looking at him, Dae Soo started giggling.
”It's a courtesy for guests. Are you squeamish, at all?”
”Not really.”
”Bummer. You're just too young. It's not something I can show someone underage,” Dae Soo said playfully, but she was also emphatic. She was assuming that what was hidden behind the curtains might have a negative influence on the young author. Then, setting his curiosity aside, Juho stared at the black cloth between him and the mysterious object.
Sitting down, he asked Dae Soo, ”Seems like that's where the inspiration for your book came from, right?”
”I've said this before, but you really are a sharp one.”
Along with its bizarre and violent nature, her books were defined by their grotesqueness. At the same time, there was philosophy amid the horror, as well as love and life. Her books were loved by many, and she was often the target of those who criticized her for the violent elements in her books.
”What kind of photo is it?”
”It's a picture of anguish.”
The very anguish she had peaked her head into was in the mysterious photo behind the curtains, but Juho didn't insist that she show it to him. He was more interested in Dae Soo's attitude toward the photo.
”Do you just keep the curtains open when guests aren't around?”
”Yep. I've gotten used to it, so I look at it while I'm eating, too.”
At that, Juho remembered her most recent book: 'The Finger that Rings the Bell.' The book showcased Dae Soo's distinct writing style, with its gloomy and musty plot that kept its readers on their toes, and its focus was especially provocative.
”Is there a reason for you to prefer to write about things that are over the top?”
”A reason, huh.” With that, she poked the fork thoroughly into a crisp apple slice. ”Maybe I just have a different idea of what over the top means.”
”What does that mean?”
”I write based on real life events. People always talk about how I have a bizarre imagination, but my imagination is far from realistic. If anything, I start by trimming out things that are unconventional, so that it becomes more relatable for the readers. There are those who kill other people for no apparent reason in this world, but that can't happen in novels.”
Then, she gave Juho an example that would be the easier to understand, and Juho looked intently at the completely peeled apple slice.
”So, with that out of the way, I probably won't water down my books anytime soon. This world has never been better than at the present time.”
At that, Juho asked no more. Instead, he imagined the world she might have seen through the photo behind the curtains. Irrational reality and negative emotions. An image of Dae Soo twisting those things in her writing rushed past Juho's mind.
After he heard Dae Soo's story, Juho grew curious about Sang.
”How about you, Mr. Choi?”
”Me?” he opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for the question. Having a high opinion of himself, he was quite keen on being the center of attention. ”I wanted to be God.”
His goal was just as lofty as his self-esteem.
”... God.”
”Yes, God. Then, I failed.”
It was an obvious failure, and Dae Soo stared at him as if he was beyond help.
”Before that, I wanted to be Mozart.”
It was a much more realistic goal than being God. However…
”You failed, didn't you?”
”I sure did. He had a talent for music, but I didn't. It was sad.”
”Seeing how your following goal was to be God, it seems like you didn't quite learn from the experience.”
”No. It's the opposite. I set that goal out of anger, but I still took it seriously. I read tons of books on religion and mythology and even went to the psychics, but there was no gods willing to make me one of their kind.”
”And?”
”So, I decided to be a novelist.”
Mozart, God, and now, a novelist. After a couple of failures, his dream had finally come true.
”How did you transition from being God to a novelist? Not that the transition between Mozart and God made anymore sense.”
”I heard somebody say that authors do something similar to God.”
”A-ha!”
Authors were compared with God occasionally, since they created whole new worlds, deciding the fates of the characters living within them and what they will go through in their lives.
”But it wasn't exactly like the god I had in mind,” Sang said in a serious tone.
”In what ways?”
”First of all, I needed to put in the work. I'm not an all-capable being, so creating an entirely new world within one week is impossible.”
”You have to rest on the seventh day, too.”
”I just don't have what it takes.”
In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God had created the world in one week. Sky and land, light, day and night, etc. Having finished the load of work in six days, God rested on the seventh day, looking at his creation, the world, and saying, ”Looks great.”
”And we, authors, have to do revisions as soon as we finish writing.”
”Right. The manuscripts are far from perfect before revisions and edits. It takes forever, too,” Juho said, chuckling quietly. ”If we were God, we wouldn't be able to write anything so human, don't you think? Books filled with anguish and conflict.”
”Well, the sovereign God might be able to, but I doubt he would do as good of a job as I would have.”
Juho ate his apple slice while listening to the words filling the void between himself and Sang's arrogance. Though he felt the chunks of apple getting caught in his throat slightly, they were still delicious.