Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 212
Novelist Running Through Time Episode 213
What is love?
I don’t know.
I’ve been in a relationship for 10 years, but I still don’t know.
The love I know is like this.
Whether it stems from memory or imagination, a voice I miss echoes in my ears.
Turn on the heater. If you sleep in the cold, your mouth dries up.
Yuna, you don’t know the fear of a city gas bill.
Is the bill scary, and I’m not scared?
Creepy –
A chilling shiver penetrates to the bone, I get up hastily, push aside the blanket, and turn on the heater.
Regardless, Yuna is the one who thinks of me. I’m so grateful that sometimes tears well up even when I’m sleeping.
I belatedly realize it’s early summer now and turn off the heater, but I can’t erase the warmth that finally reached me.
Love!
The love I want to explore is not my own love, not the love in ‘Love Story,’ nor the love pursued by Anjuhee and Imsongi.
It’s the love depicted in countless dramas turned into old literature, the love pursued by numerous love songs that fill the streets.
What kind of love is it that has covered the world?
You don’t know what love is.
What you’re doing is not dating.
It’s obsession.
To find the answer, I decided to visit someone who claims not to know love.
EP 13 – Thousand Transformations
“What is love?”
“Phew – !”
I regret buying Goo Yubin a mango yogurt smoothie.
It would have been easier if it were just an iced Americano.
Sugar, yogurt, and (the finely chewed mango pieces by Goo Yubin) completely covered my face.
It feels like mango bits got into my mouth and eyes.
Tears start to flow.
“Ack! Sorry! Sorry! What should I do with this…?”
It wasn’t difficult to find Goo Yubin, who was writing ‘Rapid Boys Fighting’…
– No, he was working on ‘Marionette Season 2,’ which I rejected.
He was originally employed as a concept designer for a Bennyvis album, so it wasn’t strange.
Given the scale, it could have been a decent side job for a novelist to pursue, but it was somewhat challenging to shoo away the Rapid Boys and Management 1 Director who flocked around him, along with Director Sotaeung, whose presence I couldn’t understand. Nevertheless, it wasn’t difficult to interview Goo Yubin one-on-one.
However, wiping off the ‘Goo Yubin secretion’ stuck to my face was no easy task.
It was a struggle to wipe off the sticky sugar and fruit bits, and having employees rush over, making a fuss, and receiving strange looks from people around was no easy feat.
How did I end up getting hit in the face with the ‘juice’ of the villain Goo Yubin?
It’s lamentable… so lamentable…
“Are you… crying? Really?!”
“I’m not crying.”
While looking at Goo Yubin’s bewildered eyes spinning around, I saw a chilling aura of a chaebol’s second generation overlapping with this innocent social newbie’s
However, Goo Yubin often used a rhetoric that seemed to extract and tear apart even the darkest and stickiest parts hidden deep within my heart.
It left almost a traumatic level of wounds on me, but at the same time, it was evidence of Goo Yubin’s affection for her younger sibling, her ability to see through people, and her genius literary intelligence.
But in front of a novel, grudges are meaningless.
If that grudge disappeared into the crevices of time, then all the more so.
Thus, reaching out to Goo Yubin with a heart like that of Wolwang Gucheon, who lay licking a bowl to achieve a great cause, but…
In the end, I had to endure even the taste of the mango seed that Goo Yubin was chewing on meticulously.
“Are you… okay?”
I wasn’t okay, but having endured such a situation, I must achieve a great cause.
We tidied up the place that had turned into a mess of mangoes and hastily left the café for the 7th floor.
There are cafés on both the 1st and 7th floors because it’s like a luxury building. Frankly, I thought it was all due to Chairman Baek Seungwon’s money tantrums, but since we caused a scene on the 1st floor and ran away to the 7th floor, today we reaped the benefits.
After organizing the situation, I asked Goo Yubin again.
“Let me ask again… what is love?”
While Goo Yubin couldn’t hide her guilt towards me, she hesitated to answer, blushing.
“I- It’s… difficult…”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a difficult question to answer…”
What?
Could it be that she’s a virgin who has never been in a relationship? (Correct answer)
No way.
Just a few years ago, Goo Yubin would smirk arrogantly and mockingly say to me in a tone of disdain and contempt, “You guys don’t know anything about love.”
And now she’s saying she hasn’t been in a relationship? (Correct)
“Have you… never been in a relationship…?”
“What are you talking about! Of course, I have! There were several guys who liked me!”
“…”
I realized the truth behind Goo Yubin’s awkward bluff.
Was that so… was that it…
Even though it was a bit unsettling to know that a person who had never been in love had interfered in her younger sibling’s love life, it was a thing of the past, no, it had vanished, so there was nothing to be done about it.
The only thing that made me curious was why she boasted about it if she hadn’t been in a relationship. Love is not an achievement or an honor.
Anyway, that’s why virgins…
While imagining Goo Yubin twisting her neck in frustration at the thought of such a thing, I carefully observed her actions without revealing my thoughts on my face.
After clearing her throat loudly, Goo Yubin leaned on the table, glanced around, then subtly – she raised her head towards me.
“So… who do you like?”
“…?”
“Yuna? Or… Kim Byeol?”
“…”
“Ha… You’ve reached that age now. Just tell noona a little.”
* * *
“Oh, really? It was about a novel. I… misunderstood again!”
– Goo Yubin said, organizing the conversation, with a bruise-like red mark on her forehead.
Because when I mentioned that it was for a novel coverage, she let out a silent scream, twisting all her joints, which left bruises all over her body.
I watched Goo Yubin, who was dancing like a hacked android, with a scrutinizing gaze.
Finally, after making efforts by tapping her forehead on the table for software normalization
“Ah, I heard that Lim Song-i has been hanging around the writer’s studio these days.”
Episode 214 of the Time-Traveling Novelist
“I felt that there is always ‘love’ at the heart of mainstream scenarios. I’m currently brainstorming for new writing ideas, and instead of wasting time idly, I plan to study mainstream beauty for once.”
“So, did you ask me what love is?”
“Yes. It’s not about relationship advice.”
“Hmm!”
“In any case, the form of love that dominates the media, like when you asked me if I was dating Yuna or Kim Byeol…”
“Please stop that story…”
“It’s love driven by curiosity.”
“Um…”
Watching Goo Yubin’s expression gradually become serious, I couldn’t help but overlay it with past memories.
Now she looks somewhat like she used to.
Apprehensive yet…
It means she’s reliable.
“That’s how I saw it. Regardless of categories like Eros, Agape, or Philia, the love depicted in popular culture is superficial, provocative, and opportunistic. However, it almost annihilates published literature and is powerful enough to conquer the world.”
“I can see it that way too…”
“I’m curious about the beauty in that. What artistic power do ready-made love, instant love possess? Why do drama writers earn tens of billions in annual salary for it?”
Goo Yubin didn’t hesitate for long.
With a flick of her finger, she pointed me out with a relaxed smile, like a detective finding the culprit.
“Alright! Let’s start by addressing the jealousy towards drama writers.”
“You’re making it too obvious.”
“It’s not hard to understand! Both being writers, one makes an enormous amount of money, while the other… struggles a bit. Lately, I’ve been growing a dislike for web novel writers.”
“Seems like you’ve tasted the bitterness of office life.”
“Even if they look harmless, Baekhak Entertainment folks are secretly quite cunning…”
Goo Yubin jokingly pretended to cry, then earnestly began giving me advice.
“First, consider the perspective that views the ‘love’ dominating the media, not just drama writers’ love, as something different from ordinary love.”
“But?”
“Exactly. But? The decline of that love and published literature isn’t related. After all, we also started from scribbling cheap romance stories on paper.”
“Ah.”
“So, let’s set aside the differences between books and visual media for now and focus on why people are so enthusiastic about the topic of ‘love’ you mentioned…”
Goo Yubin chuckled mischievously.
“It’s all about lust.”
* * *
“I see love as a chemical reaction triggered by hormones, nothing more or less.”
Park Chang-woon’s thoughts seemed to align with Goo Yubin’s at first glance, but he had a corner that went a step further.
“In fact, everything is like that. There’s no romance in the world! It’s all just mechanical and structural clanking, isn’t it, my friend?”
Playfully, Park Chang-woon smiled and made a ‘clank clank’ sound with his fingers.
Not quite sure what he meant, I assumed his actions were derived from internet memes, so I let it slide.
Seeing no reaction from me, Park Chang-woon made a dissatisfied expression, then leaned back on his chair.
“As you know… my novels, and my literary worldview, are somewhat structured, hierarchical…”
“Marxist, right?”
“Thanks for not calling me a radical leftist.”
With an expression that clearly showed he wasn’t thankful at all, Park Chang-woon continued.
“I used to be involved in anti-dictatorship democratization movements, and I read some useless books when I was young. So, I consider myself… not exactly a materialist but more like someone who has a bit of