Novelist Running Through Time
Chapter 169

TL: KSD

Let’s say there’s a stock called ‘A’.

And let’s also say there are two bastards, ‘Gap-dol’ and ‘Eul-soon’.

Gap-dol and Eul-soon are major shareholders who hold stock ‘A’.

– Hey, Eul-soon. I think I’ve found a way to duplicate money.

– Oh my, really? Let’s do it right away.

With this mutual understanding, they carried out the following plan:

One day, Gap-dol sold 100 shares of stock A to Eul-soon for 10,000 won.

The next day, Eul-soon sold 200 shares of stock A to Gap-dol for 20,000 won.

The day after that, Gap-dol sold 300 shares of stock A to Eul-soon for 30,000 won.

The next day, Eul-soon sold 400 shares of stock A to Gap-dol for 40,000 won.

The next day, the next day, and the next day…

As this trading continued, Gap-dol and Eul-soon’s financial positions didn’t change significantly, but the trading volume and stock price of stock A skyrocketed endlessly, ignoring any limits.

The stock price graph reached as high as the moon.

Seeing this, retail investors, also known as ants, went wild, screaming, “We’re going to Mars!” as they frantically started buying up stock A.

Now, even without Gap-dol and Eul-soon’s trading, the trading volume and stock price of stock A showed an upward trend.

When the stock had ripened to perfection…

Gap-dol and Eul-soon sold off all of their stock ‘A’ and reaped their profits.

Retail investors, seeing the stock graph plummet in an instant, despaired, some even jumping into the Han River, while Gap-dol and Eul-soon promised to place a high-ranking Financial Supervisory Service official as an outside director of a major bank and escaped criminal charges.

This is called ‘collusive trading’.

It’s a malicious stock price manipulation that disrupts financial order, and without sufficient power, it’s a serious crime that can never be forgiven.

What Lim Yang-wook was doing right now was something quite similar to this.

“Proceed with it.”

“Um… Department Head… isn’t this too much exaggeration…”

“Ah! Whatever, it’s true that it hit number one on the U.S. bestseller list, right?!”

EP 10 – Starry Sky

In their home ground of Korea, Baekhak Publishing launched an all-out effort to reach number one on the bestseller list.

Then, they used the title of ‘No. 1 Bestseller in Korea’ to claim the top spot in Japan.

Finally, they leveraged the title of being number one in both Japan and Korea to achieve the same in the United States.

And then, they circled back, using the title of ‘No. 1 Bestseller in the U.S.’ to renew their position in Korea once more…

Team Leader Kim Ga-ryung couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat watching this series of events unfold.

‘T-this is madness…!’

Since his motto for office life was to keep things low-profile and steady, he had tried to avoid drawing attention. However, Kim Ga-ryung could no longer suppress his righteous anger and stood up resolutely.

If this continued, everything would really be screwed.

“Department Head!”

Team Leader Kim Ga-ryung strode toward Lim Yang-wook.

Lim Yang-wook, despite the dire situation, was engrossed in a cheesy mobile game, making “pew-pew” sounds. Hearing the Japanese voice lines emanating from the phone, Kim Ga-ryung even figured out that Lim Yang-wook was grinding a difficult raid called “Kaiten Insane” in Blue Archive.

Kim Ga-ryung raised his voice, stopping Lim Yang-wook’s mobile game in its tracks.

“Department Head – !!!”

“Ah, what the- You scared me…!”

Lim Yang-wook almost dropped his phone in panic but barely managed to catch it.

Then he replied sulkily.

“What? What is it?”

“The new work’s marketing… Are you sure about this?”

“What about it?”

“The scale has gotten way too big. There’s already all sorts of talk…”

Lim Yang-wook chuckled sinisterly and uttered something terrifying.

“You bastard, are you pulling the ‘there’s been a lot of talk about you lately’ card on me? Has Baekhak Publishing’s discipline gone completely down the drain? Has it? A team leader lecturing a department head now?”

“Ah-! No! It’s true!”

Kim Ga-ryung hadn’t brought up “there’s been a lot of talk lately” to reprimand Lim Yang-wook.

The truth was, there really was a lot of talk.

To prove his innocence, Kim Ga-ryung provided specific examples.

Several critics posted public criticisms on SNS, a few literary elders lamented to the company’s editors, asking, “Can this really be allowed?” and even the opinions of hardcore readers weighed in heavily…

They weren’t fools.

Lim Yang-wook’s transparent strategy had already been completely exposed.

‘Famous because it’s a famous celebrity’, ‘Famous because it’s a famous brand’, ‘Famous because it’s a famous restaurant’…

From Paris Hilton to BTS, the marketing techniques of the information age had evolved, succeeded, and become widely known as a result.

Thus, it wasn’t particularly surprising that some intellectuals frowned upon Lim Yang-wook’s behavior.

– Where is literature’s place in Baekhak Publishing’s marketing?

– Do you want to sell books so badly that you’re changing the slogans on book bands daily?

– I told you not to put those damn bands on books…

From critics who warned against the phenomenon of marketing power overshadowing literary value, to literary elders roaring, “The principles of the literary world have fallen to the ground!”…

The voices cautioning against Lim Yang-wook were far from small.

This was precisely the point Kim Ga-ryung was warning about.

How did Lim Yang-wook plan to deal with the aftermath of going so far off the rails?

Lim Yang-wook’s answer to that was simple.

“So, what can they do?”

“Pardon?”

“No, really… aside from posting complaints on SNS about aggressive marketing, what else can they actually do?”

“Well…”

What could they do?

Team Leader Kim Ga-ryung fell silent, his gaze unfocused.

He stared blankly into space, dazed.

Looking at him, Lim Yang-wook gave an affectionate smile.

“You poor, ignorant soul.”

“…Yes.”

“Do you now understand your foolishness?”

“…Yes, I do.”

“Return to your seat.”

“Yes, sir…”

* * *

When preparing for his entry into the U.S. publishing industry, the first reference point for Lim Yang-wook was, naturally, BTS, the most successful Korean content in America.

BTS created a buzz in South America, where traditional K-pop fandoms already existed, spread that fame to New York, creating a boom there, and then swept through Los Angeles using their New York fame as a foundation.

It was the ‘famous because famous’ strategy.

What Lim Yang-wook paid attention to in this process was not the stage of creating an issue, but the stage of expanding and reproducing it.

That was the core of the strategy, and at the same time, the most challenging part.

The tabloid press, desperate for views, had expanded and reproduced the issues created by Paris Hilton.

The countless global fandoms spread across the world had expanded and reproduced the issues created by BTS.

In other words, if Paris Hilton hadn’t played the tabloid press with skillful media maneuvers, or if BTS hadn’t secured a global fandom online before their U.S. debut, their “famous because famous” strategy would have failed-

-or so Lim Yang-wook’s analysis went.

The wrinkled brain hiding beneath Lim Yang-wook’s shiny scalp didn’t stop turning there.

His thoughts extended into the publishing industry.

Who could serve as the functional agents of the expand-and-reproduce model in the publishing world?

Readers? In an era when zombies infected by all sorts of glamorous cultural industries roam the world, the influence of a literary fandom is akin to that of a tiny handful of survivors in a zombie apocalypse.

Literary magazines? Literary magazines only hold authority in the East, where the beautiful tradition of literary debut exists. In the world of “foreigners” who recognize anyone as an author just for publishing a book without the judgment of literary elders, literary magazines are no different from other media outlets.

Literary prizes? Would love to win one. If only he could.

“Hmm…”

As Lim Yang-wook eliminated each of these possibilities one by one, his brain finally arrived at a brilliant conclusion…

It was that…

In the publishing industry, both the production of issues and their expansion-and-reproduction are the responsibility of the publisher itself!

Why? Because the industry is small!

Filthy narrow, filthy poor, filthy dried up, so narrow that just a handful of companies could monopolize the entire market!

Even the dissemination of information about books to readers isn’t done by authors. Authors write; they don’t advertise their work.

Thus, the publishing industry is a single, information-monopolistic market where the sole provider of information to all critics and readers is the publisher.

As a result, even if a publisher distorts and reproduces information as it pleases, no dissenting voices can organically arise in protest!

After all, critics ultimately earn their livelihood thanks to publishers!

So Lim Yang-wook’s judgment was clear and concise.

The Korean gangster ‘Baekhak Publishing’.

The Japanese yakuza ‘Kyosensha’.

And the LA… not quite American, gangster ‘Collins Press’.

If these three forces joined hands, they could conquer the U.S., and if they could conquer the U.S., they could dominate the world!

So Lim Yang-wook kick-started the engine of his train.

The train roared forward, powered by the force of the Triad, and finally, at some point…

* * *

[Conflict dominates this novel. It’s a clash between the old and the new. Like many post-Blade Runner sci-fi works, ‘Starry Sky’ condemns the alienation of humanity caused by technological advancement. However, the fact that this condemnation emerges through the collision of traditional Romanticism and rational individualism is particularly noteworthy…]

[It was an incredibly cool story! I mean, an android strike! The concept was great, and so was the storyline. It didn’t try to act heavy-handed like old-school sci-fi, which made it so much fun. I think even beginners in sci-fi would find it easy to read. Oh! But that doesn’t mean it lacks depth. If you read carefully, it’s a terrifying dystopia. But you know what I mean, right? How it’s kind of sexy when the story doesn’t dwell on explaining all those details and just brushes past it as background…]

[The theme where Western rationalism leads to alienation, riots, and selfishness, while Eastern Romanticism connects to cooperation, compromise, and collectivism, serves as an unparalleled critique of the radical trends permeating contemporary American society. It reinforces the timeless lesson that what happens in fiction doesn’t always stay in fiction…]

Mission accomplished.

“Nice – !”

Collins Press editor Rachel Surface let out a cheer in the office. Her seven team members joined in with applause and satisfied smiles.

“Congratulations, Chief!”

“Wow, this actually worked…”

By the time the Korea-Japan-U.S. cycle had spun around roughly five times, ‘Starry Sky’ had made its way to the fringes of the U.S. cultural major leagues.

Famous authors, critics, and even book YouTubers were now talking about the much-hyped work, Starry Sky.

On the bestseller rankings, it was holding steady in the top 10 without dropping out. At this pace, achieving the real number one spot didn’t seem impossible…

That’s right!

Now ‘Starry Sky’ had joined the cultural mainstream without any further push from the publishers and had begun to gain momentum on its own.

Like a tiny snowball at the top of a snowy mountain!

By the time that snowball rolled down and grew bigger, it would turn into massive results and extraordinary bonuses.

Word was that Japan and Korea were already going wild, and Rachel Surface felt a bit resentful about being slightly slower to achieve results than her comrades.

Still, she felt better when she reminded herself that she’d properly earned recognition for helping the Oxford alumnus that her boss liked.

“Hehehe…”

Rachel Surface briefly grinned slyly. Her previously cheering teammates averted their eyes and subtly stepped back, but fortunately, she didn’t notice.

Alright. Time for Phase 2 of the plan.

Rachel Surface picked up the phone and called that Mr. Lim-something to check on the progress of the operation.

“Mr. Im-Yang-wook? Are you preparing for your departure?”

– Ah, of course.

“This time, you’re really coming to the U.S., right?”

– Yes, yes.

“Are you sure?”

– I’m sure, I’m sure.

“I don’t know. I’ve been fooled too many times already…”

Over the past few months, Rachel Surface’s only messages to Lim Yang-wook had been sharp prods, like “When exactly are you coming to the U.S.?” While her words might have sounded a bit cutting, both Rachel Surface and Lim Yang-wook laughed them off as humor with a cheerful “Haha!”

When business is going smoothly, there’s no reason to dwell on negativity. The piles of money growing in real-time make the world seem like a vibrant rainbow.

However, there was one unexpected variable, contrary to Rachel Surface’s expectations, the author of the work was not solely Moon In.

The author name on ‘Starry Sky’ was credited as Moon In and Gu Yu-na.

It was co-written.

Because of this, Rachel Surface had additional requests for Lim Yang-wook, all of them stemming from literary magazine inquiries connected to Collins Press.

“Oh, by the way, is that young author, Gu Yu-na, coming along too?”

– Ah, ah, um, th-that, um, that friend…

“If possible, it’d be great if you could bring her along. The team here got really intrigued when they heard it was co-written. And from our publishing company’s perspective, it’s honestly a bit more advantageous to market it as something written by a boy and a girl teaming up, rather than just a boy writing it alone… you know what I mean?”

– Oh, oh, I see! Understood…

“Would it be difficult?”

– No! Not at all. It’s fine!

“Alright then, we’ll see both Author Moon In and Author Gu Yu-na in LA. I’m looking forward to it! Talk soon!”

* * *

Beep—beep—beep—

Only the dial tone could be heard on the other end of the line.

After a long silence, a short, despairing groan escaped from Lim Yang-wook’s mouth as he finally accepted the brutal reality.

“Ah.”

Everything went dark before Lim Yang-wook’s eyes!

*****

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