Novelist Running Through Time

Chapter 133

TL: KSD

「One day, Jonathan’s sister handed me a brown envelope. I took the envelope politely and asked.

– What is this, miss?

– I told you not to call me that.

In response to her cold correction, I lowered my eyes but still had no intention of changing the way I addressed her.

It was a title I was expected to use as someone who served Jonathan, and she was the only one who treated me the way I deserved.

Knowing this, she continued the conversation rather than trying harder to correct me.

– It’s the address of the woman you raised birds with. That damn bluebird that was so precious it made my brother willing to die for it.

A shock that felt like my heart had stopped washed over me.

Something I longed for every day in the juvenile detention center where I ended up instead of prison, the angel that would save me from the filthy world and lead me to the blue sky.

The bluebird I missed every time I saw the blue sky through the bars, my friend crushed into a cruel white more brutal than red, now forever out of reach.

As I heard about her, it felt like a stream of blue water flowed into my blackened heart, which had dried up like sticky tar.

Jonathan’s sister handed me the envelope with an expectant look, like a child about to open a well-wrapped gift box.

– Go, meet her.」

EP 8 – Dark Adaptation

The atmosphere on the set of a drama confirmed to be a hit is like a festive celebration. The emotions of ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’, which should not be visible, float around like soap bubbles.

If you’re wondering how they can already confirm a hit while still ‘filming’ the drama, it’s because you don’t understand the Korean drama industry.

The reason K-dramas lead the world is because of their ‘freshness’. The cliched Western writers who resort to undressing characters when they hit a story block can never match the freshness of K-dramas.

The secret to K-drama’s leading edge lies in the fresh, lively scripts the writer finishes and sends straight to the set for filming, which are then broadcast a few days later, like a direct delivery of fresh goods.

Therefore, the trinity of writing, filming, and broadcasting happening simultaneously is nothing out of the ordinary.

Naturally, the set of the much-talked-about drama, <Rosarium: In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen>, was proudly upholding this Korean tradition.

They were currently airing episode 11 on TV while filming episode 14.

By the way, the writer had not yet completed the script for episode 14 yet.

So how was the filming progressing? As each ‘page’ of the script was completed, it was sent to the set, and the actors had to perform impromptu without any time to study their roles.

This is referred to as ‘page-by-page’ filming, where they shoot as each page is completed.

The current situation was just like this.

Indeed.

It’s fucked.

When things reach this stage, usually the director and the writer become as cold as a couple in a marital slump, and the actors start biting their nails in anxiety, caught between them like children.

Then the actors, who tremble like obedient children in front of the director and writer, vent their stress through childish violence on the staff and managers, who are considered below them.

This makes the staff feel like crap, leads to several minor accidents, and the filming process starts to unravel, quickly ruining the drama.

However, the set of <Rosarium> was an exception.

“I’m so sorry about this….”

“Oh, take your time, writer-nim. Your health is much more important than the shoot being delayed. You can just send the script via KakaoTalk-”

The producer and the writer were still dripping with sweetness.

“Oh…! I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

“No, it’s okay~”

The notoriously ill-tempered actress smiled sweetly even when someone spilled coffee on her clothes.

“Hyung! Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”

“Ah, I’m fine, dongsaeng. It’s nothing to worry about, haha….”

The two lead actors, who had made everyone tired with their power struggles since the drama script reading, had somehow become good brothers.

The reason was obvious.

The ratings for the drama they were filming were skyrocketing, heading not just through the clouds but beyond the stratosphere, into Andromeda. Such trivial human emotions like resentment and envy couldn’t take hold in their hearts.

The drama <Rosarium> had already established itself as the most successful drama in recent years. With the gates of paradise shimmering before them, everyone had already attained a state of nirvana, free from worldly worries. Living Buddhas walked around the set.

This was not the principle of ‘having nothing’, but of having ‘everything’.

They had already obtained everything.

<Rosarium> wasn’t just a drama with good ratings, but one that has swept across Korea. Following the principle of the internationalization of K-content, it soon dominated Japan and China, and was expected to conquer the Western world through Netflix.

Naturally, the value of the key players who hit this kind of home run increased. The PD and writer would be elevated from A-grade to S-grade, and the actors, too, would rise an invisible rank higher.

Additionally, they couldn’t leave out CFs. It was almost certain that every actor in this drama would earn additional income ranging from tens of millions to tens of billions of won.

Everyone was happy, except for the Korean Catholic Central Association, who shed tears of blood over the unholy and lustful ‘priest costume fetish’ craze stirred up by the drama.

Therefore, actress Choi Yu-rim (not her real name), who used to grumble to her manager, “What fucking year is this to still be using page-by-page scripts, goddammit, this is bullshit”, had a change in her attitude towards life.

No matter how shitty her agency’s CEO acted, she would look in the mirror in the morning and tell herself –

‘Who am I?’

‘I’m the main female lead of Rosarium.’

– This self-question and answer left her no time to feel bad. These days, she would find herself smiling for no reason. It was clear why people say that positions make people.

Thus, Choi Yu-rim greeted her uncomfortable junior, who was younger but had a much longer career, with a bright smile.

“Kim Byul sunbae-nim! Hello?”

“Oh, unnie, you’re here?”

Kim Byul, in her nun’s outfit, didn’t close the book she was reading or get up from her seat to greet her.

‘Oh, calling me sunbae now, huh.’

However, Choi Yu-rim, whose life was full of joy these days, exuded a friendly atmosphere as she sat next to Kim Byul.

Kim Byul held a somewhat unique position among actors.

A typical rising star would receive a ‘Hmm… So you’re that one? Let’s see how good you are’ look from veteran actors, writers, and directors.

But with Kim Byul, it was more like ‘Aww, our baby, when did you get so big?’ It could be said to be an extremely unequal and biased treatment.

Choi Yu-rim had subtly avoided Kim Byul because she didn’t like this, but lately, feeling good and secretly acknowledging Kim Byul’s acting skills during the ongoing drama shoot, she wanted to get to know her a bit more.

“What are you reading, Byul?”

“A book.”

“What book?”

Instead of answering, Kim Byul showed her the cover of the book she was reading.

In the middle of the white cover, there were black letters.

Dark Adaptation.

* * *

Choi Yu-rim, who had said she would read the book alongside Kim Byul, ran away in less than 30 seconds. It wasn’t because the content was dark but simply because literature was boring.

This was the most common attitude modern people had towards books. In an age full of things <Things More Interesting Than Books>, literature had no place. There’s a reason for the publishing industry’s screams of agony.

However, if you spend a few years as friends with a popular star writer, you can’t help but experience some change in perspective.

Kim Byul had come to embrace literature.

It started as reading homework to study the movies <Cause of Death> and <Red Hunter>, but now she had gained enough expertise to be called someone who reads books.

In terms of interest rather than expertise, it can be said that Kim Byul had reached the point where, in the absence of a script to study due to page-by-page shooting, she would take out a book instead of blankly staring at her smartphone.

Such a Kim Byul could now read much more from a book.

She had become a trained reader.

“Hmm…….”

Some people say that literature is the art of eternity. As long as books, paper, and internet files remain, it is the art of continuous records.

But Moon In’s thoughts seemed a bit different.

Moon In’s novels aim for the art of the moment.

As the saying goes, ‘The only word to describe a book is its title’, he creates art that can only be explained by the title of the book itself.

Kim Byul continued her arduous reading to savor the aesthetics of that moment.

Go, meet her.

The sinner longing for the bluebird heads towards the girl from his childhood. His heart is not confident. He worries that the girl, who tried to keep him human until the end, might fear the murderer he has become.

But that worry is short-lived. The moment he sees the girl from afar, the sinner experiences extreme joy as if he were forgiven. The girl, who loved animals, had become a teacher who taught people.

Hesitating briefly, fearing he might taint her eyes that still held the purity of childhood, the girl recognized the boy fatefully.

That reunion was not fateful.

The two who met again after more than a decade were too different. It was impossible to face each other with open hearts like in their childhood.

But it was the same even in childhood. The reason they bonded was because they acknowledged each other’s differences, not because they were alike from the beginning.

Walking the path they once walked again was not difficult. They opened their hearts to each other once more. But the boy agonizes over whether he, a sinner, deserves such happiness.

So one day, the boy pleads with the girl. To please forgive him.

Of course, the girl has no right to forgive the boy. Both of them know that.

But the girl willingly forgives the boy. The boy feels the joy of true salvation.

And the two bodies intertwine…

“Wait, what…!”

Kim Byul’s concentration was momentarily broken due to an overly detailed description. Like a meerkat, she looked around cautiously, then covered her slightly reddened face with the book and continued reading.

It didn’t take long for her expression to turn serious again.

Because the fact that the girl was dating a murderer was revealed by someone.

The girl, who was teaching children, lost everything in an instant.

The highly emotional judgment of strangers, who sent the poor boy to a juvenile detention center instead of prison came rushing back.

People in reality trying to protect their children from a teacher who’s involved with a murderer, people in the system where sacrificing one makes things easier, people behind anonymity who have found a toy they can break.

In the bullying of a scale that individuals could not bear, the sinner wandered. His past sin, like a shackle, tied him up and sealed his mouth. No matter where he went, no one forgave him.

Thus, the girl hanged herself, and the boy lost his second bluebird.

And then, Jonathan’s sister approached and confessed.

Behind all these incidents was me, and this is my rightful revenge and—

* * *

– This is the fair punishment you deserve.

Her words were like a sentence.

But what could that sentence mean?

– How is it, are you still grateful?

Salvation was gone.

The bluebird was trampled again, and a pain whiter and more cruel than red washed over me once more.

The blue stream of salvation that the girl had given me drained out through my eyes, leaving only darkness within them.

I closed my eyes and looked up at the sky. But there was no one to blame there. Only darkness, and more darkness.

But in the darkness, I could see through the darkness, and things that were invisible outside the darkness finally came into my view.

There is no sin.

There was none from the beginning.

Sin and judgment are false illusions created arbitrarily by those who rule this world. They absolve the child who killed to become righteous themselves and judge the innocent who didn’t commit murder as if they were murderers to feign justice.

Bullying is like fish in a tank eating their own kind in an aquarium. There was never any need to attach ridiculous excuses like sin or judgment to it.

It is our instinct to torment others simply because we are hungry, bored, want to trample others and rise above them, or want peace of mind. There was never a standard to distinguish humans from animals from the beginning. I finally realized this.

So, there is no need to talk about ridiculous reasons like judgment, forgiveness, or revenge.

I decided to bully someone to relieve this pain.

Because this is our true nature.

I lifted one of the decorative statues lining the mansion’s hallway and struck Jonathan’s sister, who sneered at me with cold eyes until the very end.

I struck her down, struck her again, and struck her once more.

I struck her until it was impossible to tell if she was human or animal.

She and I smiled at each other until the very end.

This was my second murder.”

* * *

Kim Byul, who was in a corner of the filming set, quietly closed the book.

Perhaps it was because she was wearing a nun’s outfit that suddenly she felt like praying to someone.

*****

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