Novelist Running Through Time
Chapter 173

TL: KSD

The phrase Gu Yuna heard the most after coming to America wasn’t “Hello.”

It was “Just stay quiet.”

“Um… Yu-na? Could you do your uncle one favor?”

Gu Yuna responded with a disinterested gaze that practically said, Hmph, let’s hear it first.

Lim Yang-wook bowed as much as he could to this sharp-tongued, brash little kid.

Partly because she was the daughter of Author Gu Hak-jun, but mostly because, over the past few years with Moon In, he had heard bits and pieces about Gu Yuna’s madness and eccentricities.

“Never! Ever! EVER! Answer reporters’ questions on your own!”

“Hmm…”

Gu Yuna answered with her eyes, Hmph, fine, I’ll do you this special favor, and gave a nod.

To Lim Yang-wook, the same impudent attitude he had seen in Moon In now exuded from Gu Yuna.

In truth, Moon In had learned (or perhaps absorbed) his cheekiness from Gu Yuna, making her the original source.

That also meant Moon In understood Gu Yuna’s “danger” far better than Lim Yang-wook did.

Because Moon In had a decade of firsthand experience that no one else knew about.

“Yu-na, just stay quiet.”

“…?”

“Don’t speak. At all.”

Moon In was well aware that one of his nicknames was “The Mouth of Hell.”

It had stuck ever since his infamous remark: ‘during unannounced inspections of high school students, they seize condoms as if catching mice, but then treat you like a whore if you get pregnant and become a single mother.’

But Moon In knew what a real “Mouth of Hell” was.

Compared to Gu Yuna, he was heaven.

His mind flashed with memories—ones that felt like the tortured screams of countless sinners falling into the depths of hell.

-A man who almost went to prison for touching a girl young enough to be his daughter is really in no position to lecture about morality, don’t you think?

-No, I don’t particularly respect him. Too many of his old works were blatant plagiarisms…

-It’s fine. It’s obvious that losing to someone who didn’t even go to an arts high school shattered your self-esteem, so now you’re taking it out on his girlfriend. No need to apologize. This is just for show anyway, isn’t it? How shallow.

“Ugh…!”

Just recalling it felt like his psyche was being torn apart.

It was as if his brain was eroding. Moon In took a deep breath, forcing out the creeping darkness that seeped into his core.

Once he finished steadying himself, he spoke.

“Got it, Yuna? Do not slip up in front of reporters. If you absolutely have to answer, whisper to the interpreter, and they’ll find a way to smooth things over.”

Gu Yuna, feeling a bit offended by the excessive warning, pouted slightly.

“…Do you really not trust me that much?”

Moon In answered immediately.

“Yeah.”

Gu Yuna accepted it.

If Moon In said so, then that was that.

“Fine. I’ll be careful.”

It wasn’t a promise that would last long.

EP 10 – Starry Sky

Lim Yang-wook and Moon In had brought Gu Yuna to America despite feeling like they were strapping a ticking time bomb to their bodies.

This decision was largely due to Rachel Surface, a California native, whose ability to read public sentiment was spot on.

And public sentiment wanted Gu Yuna.

-I really hope Gu Yuna joins the schedule as well.

Since the 1990s, California had been a stronghold of the Democratic Party.

It was the first gateway on the West Coast for Asian immigrants arriving from across the Pacific and the primary settlement area for Hispanic immigrants coming up from the south.

It was, in short, the region that best embodied America’s so-called melting pot.

It was also the most populous state.

As a result, public opinion in California was largely shaped by the Democratic Party, and the general political leaning of its citizens followed suit. The Democratic Party’s platform emphasized political correctness—values rooted in multiculturalism, environmentalism, and feminism.

This meant that, to attract the attention of Democratic politicians, a woman was a far more appealing figurehead than a man.

At this point, leaving Gu Yuna out was the real problem.

Unlike in Korea and Japan, where Moon In was perceived as the main author and Gu Yuna as a supporting writer due to his established fame, in America, both Moon In and Gu Yuna were seen as equal new faces.

This meant that if Gu Yuna were excluded from the U.S. tour, it could easily escalate into a serious gender discrimination controversy.

And there were plenty of companies eager to stir up such controversy just to screw over Collins Press.

So when Rachel Surface heard about the “Gu Yuna risk” from Lim Yang-wook, the solution she came up with was simple.

-If she’s that problematic… can’t we just remove her as a co-author? Let’s just promote Moon In alone. It would make the focus much easier…

Lim Yang-wook immediately shot that down.

-If you do that, Moon In will become the bomb instead.

-Ah.

* * *

Thus began Gu Yuna’s U.S. tour, which turned out to be far more difficult than expected.

In fact, it was downright disappointing.

Gu Yuna hadn’t come to America expecting exotic sightseeing. Being a privileged child, she had already visited the U.S. three or four times despite only being a middle schooler.

Rather, she had hoped that by engaging in literary discussions, she could escape from the dull, ordinary students of Baekhak Arts Middle School, who made her want to die of boredom, and instead spend some meaningful time with Moon In.

After all, she had learned more from Moon In than from school.

But there was no learning, no deep discussions—none of that.

To be precise, there was no time for anything else.

The 200-year-old capitalist powerhouse took book-selling as seriously as anything else.

Gu Yuna had to fly across a region more than four times the size of Korea, appearing on countless radio shows, interviews, YouTube channels, dinner meetings, book launch events, charity parties, and political fundraisers.

Yet, more exhausting than the jam-packed schedule, comparable to that of an idol during promotions, was the endless, narrow-minded, and pointless debates surrounding her novel.

What did it matter who contributed more, Moon In or Gu Yuna?

Why were they meeting so many journalists, YouTubers, celebrities, and politicians?

If people wanted to believe, they could. If they didn’t, they didn’t have to. So why were so many people getting riled up and engaging in bloody verbal battles over whether she was a “real” writer?

Everything was incomprehensible.

She felt like Alice, lost in a bizarre Wonderland.

So Gu Yuna turned to the white rabbit who had dragged her into this strange “United States” and asked:

“Is it always like this?”

Wrapped in a blanket, the rabbit sputtered excuses as if caught by Alice wielding a butcher’s knife.

“Ijustaskedifyouwerecomingnotifyouwanttocometogetherjusttobeclear…” (T/N: I just asked if you were coming not if you want to come together just to be clear….)

Come to think of it, Alice in Wonderland wasn’t about a girl getting kidnapped by a white rabbit. She chased after it herself and ended up falling into a strange world.

Gu Yuna knew that too. So she didn’t blame Moon In for her disappointing American experience. Only ordinary people, those whose emotions ruled their reason, would do something like that.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m asking if publishing is always like this.”

“Well… yeah.”

“Was it like this in Korea too?”

“What do you mean?”

“People being so…”

“Rough?”

“No, acting like lunatics obsessed with money.”

“Ah.”

Moon In didn’t take long to answer.

Her mentor smacked his lips once before replying coolly.

“Well, America is a bit more extreme, but overall, Korea was the same. It just wasn’t as obvious because people there tend to be more conscious of each other.”

“…….”

“What can you do? It’s all a battle over the rice bowl.”

Gu Yuna couldn’t accept that.

To her, literature was perfection.

Her attitude toward literature wasn’t that of a student learning a subject but of an ascetic cultivating the Way to become an immortal.

Thus, literature was a path of discipline that transformed an incomplete self into a complete being.

Therefore, a novelist was a perfected human, and a novel was an art imbued with perfection, just like the brilliance her father, Gu Hak-jun, had demonstrated.

A novel had to contain something far greater than just money.

This was precisely why Gu Yuna couldn’t tolerate the absurdity unfolding before her eyes.

She might not have realized it, but her thoughts aligned exactly with the aestheticist critics who were most fiercely critical of Lim Yang-wook.

Literature was not a merchant’s commodity.

“Why aren’t we talking about the novel itself?”

* * *

It was a dry, emotionless, and outright rude question.

Rachel Surface, who had been observing the interview, was horrified by the unexpected disruption. Moon In was equally stunned, not having expected Gu Yuna to have already mastered English. Meanwhile, Lim Yang-wook, who had been in the corner discussing logistics with the staff, immediately sensed the familiar air of shit hitting the fan.

The only person in the room still thinking clearly was, naturally, the one most accustomed to handling unexpected situations.

Jamie Schneider.

A host personally recruited by Rachel Surface for this interview. A television personality with his own show, a comedian, an actor, a voice actor, and a journalist.

He had the composure to handle situations like this without breaking a sweat.

More importantly, this wasn’t the first time he had encountered something like this.

Specifically, when an interviewee veered off the agreed-upon script and started going off on their own.

So, Jamie Schneider acted according to his golden rule as a broadcaster: As long as the cameras are rolling, the show must go on.

The interview continued without the slightest pause, as naturally as if this had all been planned.

He had just asked Gu Yuna about her rising fame in America, so Jamie Schneider played along, adopting a look of exaggerated surprise.

“What do you mean by that, Miss Gu Yuna?”

“I mean it exactly as I said. It’s strange. No one has asked us about the novel itself. All they care about is sales numbers, our ages, our fame, and whether we’re real writers.”

At this point, Jamie Schneider was no longer conducting the carefully arranged interview that had been painstakingly requested by a distant acquaintance’s acquaintance’s acquaintance.

He was running an impromptu show.

And a show had to be entertaining.

So he leaned in and asked, “Then let me ask you directly, what do you think about the suspicion that you are not the author of ‘A Starry Sky’?”

As he posed the question, he thought to himself, She’s going to deny it.

As a seasoned broadcaster, Jamie Schneider had already outlined the rest of the interview in his mind. He knew exactly what the follow-up question would be, and the one after that.

Audiences don’t watch interviews for the interviewer. They watch for the guest’s responses.

But it’s not the guest who dictates those responses, it’s the interviewer.

The one who sets the questions controls the answers.

A skilled interviewer can manipulate an entire interview from start to finish, steering it exactly the way they want.

Jamie Schneider was one of those rare people with that ability.

It was a skill honed over decades in the industry.

But Gu Yuna was an even rarer case.

“That’s a meaningless question.”

Common sense doesn’t apply to beings who exist outside the bounds of human understanding.

“I would clearly answer ‘no’, but even that would be a meaningless answer. When Collins Press shouts the truth and Simon Publisher shouts lies, who wants the ‘truth’? What people look for in the Colosseum is entertainment and blood. So both the question asking to clarify suspicions and the answer are futile.”

Gu Yuna’s words were razor-sharp.

Jamie Schneider hadn’t expected to see this level of intellect from someone so young.

His expertise came from experience, so he had no immunity against things that defied conventional wisdom.

And in the brief moment he was caught off guard, Gu Yuna seized control of the interview.

“I have a question, too.”

Rachel Surface had arranged for this to be a recorded broadcast, not a live taping of the Schneider Show, precisely so she could intervene and shut things down if necessary.

But Lim Yang-wook stopped her.

He had more guts than Rachel Surface.

Because in Gu Yuna, he caught glimpses of the same genius that Moon In occasionally displayed.

And the nature of that genius was astonishingly similar.

So he decided to take a gamble on it.

Thus, Gu Yuna’s questioning continued without hesitation.

“Why do people talk about everything except literature when they buy books?”

“Well…”

Because of their vulgar and blatant nature. Jamie Schneider already knew the answer. But to say it aloud, he needed to choose safer wording.

Gu Yuna, however, had no such hesitation. So while Jamie Schneider wavered, she answered the question herself.

“Because they don’t actually care about difficult things like literature, but they do want to flaunt their intelligence by pretending to discuss it. And because the idea of kids writing books is as amusing to them as a circus monkey performing tricks.”

Even with Moon In’s limited grasp of English, he understood circus monkey just fine.

Realizing what Gu Yuna had just said, he squeezed his eyes shut.

That was a thought he had once planted in her mind.

And now, she was laying out her opinion with no filter.

“I think it’s really strange. My whole life, people have called me an odd child, but for once, I think the world is what’s strange. The people selling books by emphasizing that they were written by children, the people eagerly opening their wallets for that same reason, the people criticizing them just because they were written by children…”

“Uh…”

“And it’s also sad. Because it means literature can no longer even gain attention without such shallow gimmicks. I get that many people rely on this industry to make a living, but… it feels far removed from what I believe literature should be.”

* * *

Among humanity, there exist those who are born without human emotions.

People who lack the feelings that should be inherent to mankind.

They charge into storms of arrows without hesitation, plunge into tasks deemed impossible by all, and, even when faced with an army of hundreds of thousands, charge forth alone on horseback.

The ancients did not call such inhuman bravery foolishness. They called it heroism.

That was exactly what Jamie Schneider felt as he watched Gu Yuna. It was the same awe a Greek might have felt toward Alexander the Great, the same reverence a man of Chu might have held for Xiang Yu.

How fearless!

Gu Yuna was unafraid of the millions watching beyond the camera.

She did not care what they whispered, shouted, or accused her of.

In an era where words, whether spoken or typed, killed more people than swords, what she was doing was no different from charging straight into a phalanx formation with nothing but a spear.

Of course, it was possible that she was simply too young to know fear.

But Jamie Schneider’s keen insight told him otherwise.

Gu Yuna was a child who understood the world.

Courage born of ignorance is recklessness, but courage that comes from awareness is a virtue.

So, in response to that honesty, Jamie Schneider decided to grant her the one thing she had been hoping for.

“Then… shall we talk about literature?”

“Yes.”

Gu Yuna nodded.

Her face remained expressionless, but Jamie Schneider’s sharp instincts picked up on something, she was happy. Like a child beaming with joy.

Looking at her now, he even found her a little cute

It had been a long time since an interviewee had managed to pull him in like this. Not since his rookie days had something like this happened…

Now, instead of an interview, it felt like a genuinely enjoyable conversation.

So, with that mood, Jamie Schneider asked his next question.

“What inspired you to write this book?”

“…….”

“…?”

Gu Yuna fell silent. Then, she hesitated.

Jamie Schneider was taken aback. Is this question really that difficult to answer? He hadn’t even thrown a tricky jab to trip her up…

Yet, Gu Yuna couldn’t respond. She fidgeted anxiously, fiddling with the hem of her skirt, unable to say a word.

For someone who had just told the entire world through the camera to “just talk about literature, you damn idiots!”, this was quite an ironic scene.

Moon In was even more shocked than Jamie Schneider.

Unlike others, he understood Gu Yuna’s expressions.

And the look on her face right now was…

Embarrassment.

Fortunately, Gu Yuna, who had the courage to say “You shallow bastards” in front of countless viewers, managed to overcome her embarrassment and answer.

She fidgeted with her fingers, looked at the ground, then up at the ceiling, and then… she stared at the boy beside her for a little longer than necessary.

“I just… had something I wanted to say to someone.”

After saying that, she sharply turned her head away, feigning indifference.

Jamie Schneider raised an eyebrow at the display and smirked knowingly.

Guessing who that someone was wasn’t difficult at all.

And most likely, the audience had figured it out too.

*****

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