Chapter 8 - Episode 2: Become the Protagonist (4)
◈ How to Become a Star Writer ◈
Episode 2: Become the Protagonist (4)
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Dragon Management's editorial department.
Since morning, new hire Cha Jin-hee had been watching Ji Eun-yu fiddle with her smartphone instead of working.
Their desks were far apart, so Cha could not make out Ji Eun-yu's expression clearly. Still, quick-witted Cha Jin-hee could not possibly miss what Ji Eun-yu's unusually anxious behavior meant.
“Team Leader Kim.”
“What?”
“Still no word from writer Gu Dae-seong?”
“Don't even bring that bastard up.”
Team Leader Kim Myeong-hun spoke irritably.
Yesterday's events must have come back to Team Leader Kim.
Cha Jin-hee sighed.
“New writers these days are unbelievable. We dish up their meals, put a spoon in their hands, even feed them, and they still don't know how to eat. Right?”
“...”
“Ms. Ji doesn't have much of an eye for talent either. Somehow, she spent a full six months chasing after a literary-fiction writer...”
Kim Myeong-hun's lips twitched.
Still, that was Cha Jin-hee for you.
She knew exactly how to scratch an itch.
There was a reason a new hire who had not even been there for a year received so much affection from her superiors.
“Enough. Get back to work.”
“Yes, sir.”
The only sound filling the office, a little over forty pyeong in size, was the steady click-clack of mice and keyboards.
Cha Jin-hee, Kim Myeong-hun, and Ji Eun-yu all silently focused on their monitors.
As a new hire, Cha Jin-hee's job mainly involved checking new works uploaded to each platform.
An hour passed in a flash.
Reading “The Archmage Who Regressed 100 Billion Times,” ranked third in Today's Best, Cha Jin-hee stretched with a groan.
“Sometimes, when I'm monitoring newly uploaded stories like this...”
“...”
“I start thinking maybe I should try writing web fiction too.”
A few editors in the office quietly snickered at Cha Jin-hee's remark.
“I mean, honestly. These stories are nothing special. The spelling is all wrong, and the structure is a mess. Yet tens of thousands of readers are reading them.”
“...”
“Instead of proofreading all day for peanuts, maybe I should become a writer too and make a big score...”
“Cha Jin-hee.”
“Yes?”
“You talk as if you've never tried it. Didn't you already secretly serialize something?”
Cha Jin-hee blinked her large eyes in shock.
“H-how did you know, Team Leader Kim?!”
“It crashed and burned, didn't it?”
“Y-you read my manuscript behind my back, didn't you?”
“Do you have to taste it to tell shit from soybean paste?”
“Pardon?”
“Who here hasn't tried something like that?”
Only then did Cha Jin-hee understand what Kim Myeong-hun meant, and her eyes went round.
“Don't tell me you secretly tried writing too, Team Leader Kim?”
“...”
“Did it go well?”
“If it had, do you think I'd be here now?”
“...I suppose not.”
Cha Jin-hee stuck out her tongue at Kim Myeong-hun, who playfully raised a fist.
“I can't do it. It might look easy, but it isn't something just anyone can do.”
Cha Jin-hee looked at the monitor.
“The Archmage Who Regressed 100 Billion Times.”
Just from the title, it looked like the sort of story anyone could write.
“Cha Jin-hee. Do you know why those stories become popular?”
“Because they're regression stories...?”
“Regression stories are good. But is that all?”
“They also mix in popular clichés well, and...”
Kim Myeong-hun snickered.
Kim Myeong-hun rummaged through the cabinet behind the chair, pulled out a thick binder, and set it on the desk with a thud.
“What is this?”
“I made it last year. It's a detailed analysis of why each type of premise became popular and why it took off.”
It was such a meticulous collection of materials that simply flipping through it inspired admiration.
It was hard to believe that Team Leader Kim Myeong-hun, who seemed so flighty, had made something of such refined quality.
Regression fiction, returner fiction, chaebol fiction, superpower fiction, sports fiction, raid fiction, overpowered-protagonist fiction, and expert fiction, ending with martial arts and traditional fantasy.
The charts organized by premise included detailed analyses of which works had succeeded during which periods and why.
“I made it on the president's orders. I've been making it since the Hatchling Project started, hoping it would help us develop writers.”
“You had something like this, and you never told me? If we just made good use of the analyses here...!”
“You think you could use it well?”
“Yes! With just this, I could quit right now and write full-time...”
“No.”
Cha Jin-hee's face crumpled at the unexpected firmness.
“Why? Do you think I couldn't write?”
“No. It would be the same no matter who wrote it.”
“What?”
“Cha Jin-hee, do you know much about economics?”
“...You know I majored in Korean literature.”
Cha Jin-hee pouted, and Kim Myeong-hun grinned.
“Whenever a major depression happens, economists always say things like this. ‘This event is perfectly explained by Keynesian theory!’ Or, ‘No, this is perfectly explained by Chicago school theory!’”
“...So what?”
“It means anyone can talk all they want after something has already happened. Some analyses sound convincing enough that you think, ‘Wow, if we just apply this theory correctly, we'll have no more problems in the future.’”
Cha Jin-hee looked down at the binder.
At a glance, it looked perfectly organized.
“But that isn't actually true?”
“No. No matter how convincingly those theories explain the past, they're almost no help in predicting the future. That's why the global economy is such a mess.”
Cha Jin-hee understood what Kim Myeong-hun meant.
“So it's the same with what we do.”
“Right. No matter how much we analyze quarterly performance and predict the next quarter, the odds of successfully planning something and making it succeed are infinitely close to zero. Was it a year ago? Do you remember when we planned anti-regression fiction for the first Hatchling Project? We told every writer to bring us an anti-regression story. Ah, was that before you joined, Cha Jin-hee?”
“No, I remember. Didn't every work except one fail back then?”
“That's right. We planned and serialized twenty works, and every single one except one flopped. Even that one was not proper anti-regression fiction. It only barely brushed against the genre. Market analysis said regression fiction had become so oversaturated that there should have been new demand pushing back against it.”
“Ah...”
“Even if the analysis says a certain premise will become popular, there is absolutely no guarantee that planning one will succeed. And if we follow the trend as latecomers, we're lucky to get even a modest hit. Most of them flop, or don't even make it to paid serialization.”
Kim Myeong-hun continued, pointing to “The Archmage Who Regressed 100 Billion Times” on Cha Jin-hee's monitor.
“Meanwhile, utterly absurd works like that climb the rankings, and the funny thing is, we'll never know why they're popular.”
“Then why did you make this analysis?”
“Because I don't feel at ease if I don't do at least this much. And doing this much occasionally lets a planned project become a huge hit. Though it's like an ogre catching a goblin while backing away.”
“...Even your metaphors are fantasy-like, Team Leader Kim.”
Cha Jin-hee looked dismayed and clicked her tongue.
“Now I suddenly feel empty. We read novels every day, but we still can't know why a particular novel gets popular.”
“That's about right.”
“...Don't you wonder why, Team Leader Kim? You have less professional pride than you look like you do.”
Kim Myeong-hun shrugged.
“Maybe certain novels get popular for reasons we'd never even consider. For example, maybe there is a god of novels who picks out the stories destined to succeed in advance.”
“...Why don't you serialize that? You already have a title. ‘The God of Novels.’ Sounds fun.”
“Fun, my ass. Now get back to work. Don't let that get-rich-quick mentality fill your head and make you think stupid things.”
“Yes, yes.”
Still chuckling, Cha Jin-hee went back to browsing the free-serialization listings.
Maybe a new work had been uploaded in the meantime.
Let's see if there are any works chosen by the god of novels.
“Huh?”
Then a certain novel caught Cha Jin-hee's eye.
About three minutes passed.
Cha Jin-hee turned to Kim Myeong-hun with a slightly excited expression.
“Team Leader Kim.”
“...What now?”
“You need to look at this for a moment.”
“What is it?”
Kim Myeong-hun grumbled while struggling to shove the binder back into the cabinet, then came over.
“Huh? Isn't that writer Lee Hak-hyeon's pen name?”
“That's right.”
“Has he already started serializing a new work?”
“It looks that way. There are already five chapters.”
Interested, Kim Myeong-hun took the mouse from Cha Jin-hee.
“What is this? Didn't this writer continue Yoo Chan-young's work? If he started serializing it without permission...”
“Look carefully. The title is different. And the content is...”
“Different?”
“Yes.”
Kim Myeong-hun frowned slightly and began reading again from the prologue, one chapter at a time.
Then...
“Regression fiction after all... Huh? Wait. This is anti-regression fiction?”
“It is.”
“You've got to hand it to literary-fiction writers for their arrogance. They all think they're something special.”
“...”
“Look at this, look at this. There's no way this garbage will succeed! Do you think readers will read this? No matter how much they complain about hating regression stories, regression fiction is still what sells. This is obviously...”
“Team Leader Kim.”
“What?”
“Maybe nobody really knows the future after all. Right?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Could you look at the views?”
“Why? It's only five chapters in.”
“Just look.”
Kim Myeong-hun clicked the list button to check the novel's view count.
A moment later, Kim Myeong-hun looked at Cha Jin-hee with a blank expression.
“Th-this...!”
Kim Myeong-hun sprang to his feet, and the chair slid back with a scrape. But something caught behind it.
“Team Leader Kim.”
Ji Eun-yu stood there with a flushed face.
She had also just read Lee Hak-hyeon's novel.
Kim Myeong-hun looked dazed for a moment, then turned serious.
Kim Myeong-hun's urgent voice burst out.
“Contact writer Lee Hak-hyeon. Hurry!”
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