Chapter 124

After calming his mind for a moment, Jang Do…

Slurp~.

He sipped his tea with a peaceful expression, and Ner let out a sigh.

“Sorry for showing you such an unsightly scene.”


“It’s fine.”

Ner propped her chin on her hand, looking puzzled, and asked Jang Do.

“You say readers are precious, but then you suddenly call them pigs. Isn’t your emotional range a bit too extreme?”

A question to pass the time. For a vampire, Ner lacked both learning ability and tact.

In other words, she asked unnecessary questions, the type who brought trouble upon herself.

Well, that’s probably why Erzeveta took a liking to her and made her a servant.

“It’s ugly jealousy.”


“Huh?”

Jang Do took another sip of tea and muttered in a resigned voice.

“Readers are the ugly jealousy of an unpopular man towards a beauty.”

“Why don’t they like me? Why do they like other works more than mine?”

Jang Do’s eyes sank as he stared at the tea.

“Why won’t they look at me… Jealousy, inferiority, all these emotions drive me crazy.”

After exhaling deeply, he continued.

“It’s a selfish heart. A common mistake of a novice author who wants something from their readers.”

“…Relationship? Common mistake?”

“Let’s say you write a novel. It gets pretty good reviews.”

Jang Do’s words sped up.

“Then readers will hype you up. It’s fun, you’re a genius, you’re the best.”

…And then he cut off sharply.

“But you can’t relax. Readers aren’t your mother. There’s no unconditional love. …Well, I don’t know what unconditional love is since I never had parents, but anyway.”

Jang Do lightly tapped the teacup, spilling the remaining tea onto the table.

“Then something happens, and you fall. It’s a common mistake authors make when they want to gain popularity quickly.”

“What kind of mistake this time…?”

Ner, shrinking her neck like a turtle, asked, and Jang Do moved his index and middle fingers back and forth, mimicking climbing stairs.

“An unpopular author needs to climb the stairs step by step to gain popularity. Build it up diligently, one step at a time.”

“But human hearts aren’t that simple. They want to gain popularity quickly. Some authors think they can grab popularity as soon as they publish a book…”

Jang Do’s two fingers prepared to jump high on the wet table.

“Instead of climbing diligently, they try to leap multiple steps at once. It’s a gamble.”

“…A gamble?”

At Ner’s question, Jang Do laughed weakly, self-deprecatingly.

“They insert settings that readers might like… no, settings that are popular, that sell well.”

The two fingers bent their knuckles and pushed off the table forcefully.

“Ah, let me clarify. It’s not wrong to include popular settings in a novel. The problem is doing it harmoniously.”

They didn’t jump high.

Plop—they fell comically onto the table.

“To others, it’s a strange development that makes them wonder what the author is doing. But the author doesn’t see it. Their mind is so focused on climbing higher that their vision narrows… they can’t see.”

“The result is the gamble fails, and chaos ensues.”

A gloomy, deflated voice flowed out.

“The readers who were shouting, ‘It’s fun, you’re a genius, you’re the best,’—they pull out knives and start stabbing.”

Jang Do took out a handkerchief and wiped the wet table, cleaning up the mess.

“I understand. It’s like going to a restaurant for Dongpo pork, but the chef suddenly decides to try seafood stew and serves a failed one.”

“It’s my fault, so there’s nothing I can do… It hurts, but it’s my fault.”

Jang Do, facing the silently closed-mouth Ner, said.

“If you write a novel, don’t slip up. Don’t let the serialization get stuck.”

He stared at the empty teacup and muttered blankly.

“Before the work even takes off, readers who used to leave comments saying it’s fun leave in disappointment, and those who called me a genius now mock me as a has-been.”

“I see readers who once praised me as the best now saying the same things about other works.”

“Ah… don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I resent the readers or that my gratitude was fake.”

Jang Do poured more tea into the empty cup and sipped it.

“There are still readers who keep reading diligently, and new readers who say it’s fun. I always feel grateful and thankful.”

“Readers who leave… it’s inevitable. It’s because I couldn’t meet their expectations.”

Mid-sentence, Jang Do suddenly scratched his head and brushed it off.

“Um, so I rambled on unnecessarily. What I wanted to say is that readers are precious guests.”

“They’re not friends, not volunteers, not mothers. They’re guests who pay to read the novel.”

“No matter what circumstances the author is in, that’s not important. What’s important is whether the novel is fun enough for them to spend their time and money on.”

After circling around with disordered words, Jang Do corrected Ner’s initial question.

“You said my emotional swings are big, but it’s a bit different. I don’t suddenly get angry. I’m always angry.”

“At myself for not being able to write as fun as before… at myself for no longer being called a genius, for no longer being the best…”

He continued in a voice filled with anger.

“I’m so angry I could go crazy. I want to kill them all.”

With that, Jang Do quietly sipped his tea and fell silent.

“Uh… so… I mean… it’s not my place to meddle… I don’t know much about this field, but…”

Ner, suddenly worried this madman might jump up and start swinging a sword, nervously changed the subject.

“There’s a job called an editor who helps authors, right? If you’re stuck, maybe consult with them… how about it?”

As mentioned before, Ner lacks tact and often ends up at a disadvantage.

She should’ve just kept her mouth shut. Cutely nodding her head, she poked the hornet’s nest.

Jang Do, who had been quietly savoring his tea, suddenly…

“Ed…itors, you say?”

His face took on the appearance of a demonic beast.

“Eh… ehh? Why?”

Ner was flustered by the completely unexpected reaction, but it was too late.

“Yeah, there’s such a job. Strangely, I’ve never felt helped by them.”

Pure, simmering anger flowed out.

“Back then, the bookstore where I serialized held a special event.”

“Uh… I’m sorry…”

Ner, belatedly cowed, tried to cut him off, but…

“It was an event where they would draw cover illustrations for novels that reached a certain number of views.”

It was useless. Ner’s opinion no longer mattered.

“I worked hard. Readers, thankfully, read my work. As a result, I qualified for the event.”

“I applied for the event. Like an idiot!”

He trembled and spat out a nervous monologue.

“Since I didn’t have a dedicated editor, another editor from the bookstore handled my application. The first conversation was normal.”

“Since it’s through the bookstore, the illustrator can’t be chosen by the author. That’s obvious. I understand.”

Jang Do exhaled roughly and rubbed his temples.

“…Honestly, I was happier about being recognized than getting the illustration.”

“I could’ve paid for an illustration myself. I was just happy that my effort, my novel, was being recognized.”

He muttered weakly, like someone with bipolar disorder.

“I’m now one of the authors at this bookstore!—like an idiot.”

…And the illustration that came from the diligently filled application betrayed Jang Do’s expectations.

“The character’s body was tilted like a collapsing building. I didn’t mind that much.”

“But why the long hair? I clearly requested short hair in the application. I even attached example images.”

“And why are the eyes brown? I wrote in the application to draw them gray, and even from the early parts of the novel, it’s clear the character’s eyes are gray.”

Tap- tap- tap- tap- tap-.

Jang Do’s fingers nervously tapped the table rapidly.

“The illustrator might not know. They probably never read my novel. But then the editor should’ve explained properly, right?”

“You’re the ones handling the application. You said not to interfere much, but at least pay attention to what’s written in the application, right?”

“Ah~ they were too busy to pay attention.”

Finally unable to hold back, he slammed the table with a bang.

“Then it’s not my job!? It’s not my novel!!”

“You know what I learned from the illustration application? Those bastards don’t give a damn about my novel!!”

Jang Do, consumed by paranoia, shouted loudly and exhaled roughly.

“Haa… haa… I squeeze my brain to write fun stories. I work hard, cut back on food to afford illustrations.”

“I promoted to readers and crawled up from the bottom.”

Jang Do, gulping down tea to calm himself, spoke with eyes full of hatred.

“Don’t ever mention editors in front of me again. I’ve never received any help from them.”

“They’ve never helped my novel grow. They’ve never even said the common ‘Keep writing hard. I’m looking forward to it.'”

“They’ve never included me in any events, never once put me in the front row.”

Ner, shrinking as she listened to Jang Do, cautiously raised her hand to ask.

“Uh… what’s the front row?”

“It’s literally the front row of the bookstore. Books placed there get more attention from readers, so views go up.”

After hearing Jang Do’s explanation, Ner carefully looked at the serialization schedule of Jang Do’s novel she had brought to read.

“Um… isn’t the reason you’re not in the front row because your serialization schedule is irregular? You can’t recommend such a work to readers, right?”

“That’s… that’s…”

Jang Do, who had been erupting in anger, had nothing to say about the serialization schedule.

He stopped his rant and muttered with a gloomy expression.

“…Anyway, I don’t trust editors.”

“It’s not like they’ve ever helped me. They’ve never even said the usual ‘Keep writing hard. I’m looking forward to it.'”

“They’ve never included me in any events, never once put me in the front row.”

Ner, shrinking as she listened to Jang Do, cautiously raised her hand to ask.

“Uh… what’s the front row?”

“It’s literally the front row of the bookstore. Books placed there get more attention from readers, so views go up.”

After hearing Jang Do’s explanation, Ner carefully looked at the serialization schedule of Jang Do’s novel she had brought to read.

“Um… isn’t the reason you’re not in the front row because your serialization schedule is irregular? You can’t recommend such a work to readers, right?”

“That’s… that’s…”

Jang Do, who had been erupting in anger, had nothing to say about the serialization schedule.

He stopped his rant and muttered with a gloomy expression.

“…Anyway, I don’t trust editors.”

“After all, a novel is something an author writes alone.”

***

And at that moment, in the Sima Family estate…

The self-proclaimed genius editor Sima Mantian, who could even deceive the heavens, was relentlessly patting and stroking the head of the budding author Poong Ran, who had just started her journey as a writer.

“Uoooh! To write such an interesting novel! You’re a genius, author!!”

“Hehe~ really? I’m so happy you enjoyed it!!”

The flustered literary girl Poong Ran, with a dazed expression, was having a truly~ truly~ happy time.