How to Become a Star Writer - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ How to Become a Star Writer ◈

Episode 3: Create an Incident (6)

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An emergency had been declared in Dragon Management's editorial department in broad daylight.

Editor-in-Chief Gu Yeong-hwan sat at the head of the table, with the team leaders and assistant manager-level staff from Editorial Teams One, Two, and Three gathered in the meeting room.

Every eye was fixed on one person.

Editor-in-Chief Gu Yeong-hwan.

During the heyday of martial arts fiction, Gu Yeong-hwan had been counted among Korea's four great martial arts authors. Perhaps not elsewhere, but within the genre fiction world, Gu Yeong-hwan was a legendary figure.

Even Ji Eun-yu, now in her third year at the company, had spoken with the editor-in-chief one-on-one fewer than ten times.

“Then let's begin the meeting.”

With the editor-in-chief's words, the meeting began.

Yet no one spoke first. They merely kept glancing at Ji Eun-yu.

Ji Eun-yu sighed as she looked at the three reports on the table before her.

“Comparative Analysis of View Count Changes: Lee Hak-hyeon's 99 Ways to Kill a Regressor and Yoo Chan-young's Original 99 Ways to Live as a Regressor”

“Correlation Between the Use of Anti-Clichés and View Counts”

“Trend Report: Standards for ‘Adaptation’ Across the Industry”

She had written all of them.

“It's a shame, Assistant Manager Ji. You worked so hard on them, too.”

As Team Leader Kim Myeong-hun's lips curled upward, Ji Eun-yu's expression stiffened.

The original agenda for this meeting had been to offer Lee Hak-hyeon's work a standard contract rather than an adaptation contract.

But now everything had gone wrong.

The view count, which had been running at around four thousand, had abruptly dropped into the three hundreds. No matter what they did, it was a number the work could not recover from. Rather than a standard contract, they needed to consider ending serialization.

Who could have imagined things would turn out like this just a few days ago?

‘I'm sorry, Author Lee.’

Ji Eun-yu believed it was all her fault. If she had not been so greedy, would things really have come to this?

“I read your reports carefully. The planning was good.”

The editor-in-chief's brief, concise words were like a sword striking without even being drawn.

Ji Eun-yu lowered her head in despair.

“The contents were excellent, and the evidence was sufficient. They clearly showed the qualities Lee Hak-hyeon's work had compared to Yoo Chan-young's original. It was a promising report, if only the results had measured up.”

“...I'm sorry.”

Everything in this market was decided by views. No matter how much potential something had, poor results meant it was over.

Ji Eun-yu bit her lip. She was furious. It felt unfair. Those were the feelings of someone who had done their best. She had been certain it would go well, so why had this happened?

“I'll accept whatever disciplinary action I receive.”

The editor-in-chief nodded. It was a signal that they could move on to the next agenda item.

But then.

“However, there's one thing I'd like to ask.”

“...What is it?”

“I want to know why I failed. Did I fail to communicate with the author? Or did I misjudge the trend?”

“Assistant Manager Ji! What are you talking about?”

Team Leader Kim Myeong-hun cut in with a frown.

“Even resigning and reflecting wouldn't be enough, and now you...!”

“Team Leader Kim.”

Gu Yeong-hwan lightly stopped Kim Myeong-hun, eyes gleaming.

Seeing Ji Eun-yu meet his gaze directly gave Gu Yeong-hwan a refreshing feeling for the first time in a long while.

How long had it been since he had seen eyes like that?

Like the promising young heroes of 1980s martial arts novels, Ji Eun-yu's eyes brimmed with lofty spirit.

Why not test her a little?

“It must be a matter of trends. Anti-regression has never been a premise that caught on.”

“I analyzed the trends thoroughly. There has already been enough regression fiction, and it should be about time for an anti-regression trend to emerge.”

Gu Yeong-hwan smiled faintly.

Not bad. It seemed she had not written those reports carelessly.

But what about this?

“It was a novel with an original work behind it. The author may not have been able to handle the original's setting. Perhaps the weight of the name Yoo Chan-young was too much for him.”

“Writer Lee Hak-hyeon is not that careless. And the novel he wrote this time is not a reworking of the original. It is a new creative work. Yoo Chan-young's unique setting barely affects the story's development.”

Gu Yeong-hwan nodded again.

“Then it is highly likely to be a matter of the author's writing ability. No matter how good the premise is, readers will not engage with it if the plot progression or pacing is lacking.”

“I don't think that's the problem.”

“Why not?”

“Because I raised this author.”

Gu Yeong-hwan let out a hollow laugh.

“You're digging your own grave.”

“...That doesn't matter. I only want you to read this author's manuscript yourself.”

“Why?”

“I want to confirm whether my judgment was wrong.”

“Ji Eun-yu!”

Kim Myeong-hun finally rose from their seat.

Then.

“Team Leader Kim, let me borrow your laptop.”

“...Editor-in-Chief?”

“There must be a reason this friend is speaking so strongly.”

Gu Yeong-hwan spoke with a bitter smile. Ji Eun-yu had overstepped, but courage from a junior colleague deserved an answer.

Kim Myeong-hun sighed and handed over the laptop.

‘Is this it?’

99 Ways to Kill a Regressor

It took Gu Yeong-hwan less than five minutes to read every episode published so far.

And as he read, Gu Yeong-hwan was a little surprised.

“There doesn't seem to be any particular problem with the novel.”

Surprisingly, it was entertaining.

“Heh heh. To make an incident that takes place entirely in a prison this exciting... This is an author who understands the essence of an incident.”

Gu Yeong-hwan had been admiring it without realizing, then cleared his throat and spoke.

“The slow progression is a slight flaw, but it is incredibly immersive. Of everything I've read recently, this is among the best.”

“Is that so?”

Ji Eun-yu's voice trembled.

But it was too soon for hope.

“This must be why this business is so mysterious. Even after thirty years in this field, I still don't understand readers' minds.”

Ji Eun-yu remained silent.

It was a little pathetic, but she felt this was enough.

‘Author Lee, we did our best.’

The results were poor, but they had done their best. At the very least, she had received the editor-in-chief's recognition. She had been told that her author was a good writer and that their efforts had not been in vain.

Of course, those words could not stop her tears.

“Hmm. Something's strange here...”

It was then, while Editor-in-Chief Gu Yeong-hwan was reading the work, that his expression changed.

“Team Leader Kim. Didn't you say this work had definitely failed?”

“Yes. It failed completely. The views, which had averaged four thousand, fell to one-tenth that in the latest episode...”

“Come here and look.”

Gu Yeong-hwan turned the laptop monitor toward Kim Myeong-hun, who approached with a puzzled look. Kim Myeong-hun pushed up their glasses and leaned toward the monitor.

A moment later, Team Leader Kim Myeong-hun's eyes widened rapidly.

“Th-That can't be...”

The views for the work, which had hit rock bottom only hours ago, had changed.

No, even the views on the previous episodes had risen.

[99 Ways to Kill a Regressor]

Episode 6: Create an Incident (2) (Revised) [61] / Views: 4,812

Episode 5: Create an Incident (1) (Revised) [23] / Views: 5,002

Not only had the views risen from four thousand to five thousand, they had remained steady from Episode 1 through Episode 6.

“Team Leader Kim. Isn't your standard for failure too high?”

“B-But as of this morning...!”

“People do not normally call a work with a 95% read-through rate a failure. As expected, my eye could not have been wrong.”

Gu Yeong-hwan continued.