The TS Memoir of a Misogynistic Novelist

The barbecue party was enjoyable. Most of the grilling was done by Gong Hyeok-jin, who is almost Ji Kang-hyeon’s manager, and Hwa-won, while the others were just eating. I had offered to help, but was refused in a manner similar to earlier.

Maybe it was because the boss had three sons, or perhaps it was because Hwa-won wasn’t involved in the trip preparations, but there was certainly an abundance of food. As mentioned before, there were various types of meat, shellfish, shrimp, vegetables, corn, and everything else that could be grilled.

That said, the girls at this party seemed to have small appetites, or maybe just because they were women, they quickly fell behind. The pace of eating started to slow down from the middle of the party, and after that, it was mostly the boys who were indulging. However, since Hwa-won and Gong Hyeok-jin were actively grilling, it was natural that their pace would be slower than the others.

It couldn’t be helped. I placed some grilled meat and freshly shelled shrimp on a plate and sat next to Hwa-won.

“What are you doing? It’s hot. Get away.”

I had no intention of using the clumsy method of feeding Hwa-won directly. I was just enjoying tasty food next to Hwa-won, who was sweating profusely.

“Want some?”

“…Did you come here to tease me?”

“Ah, it’s delicious. You grilled it well.”

“Do you want to get scolded?”

“Doesn’t it look delicious?”

As I chewed on the shrimp, it was clear Hwa-won was getting worked up. But since Hwa-won was busy grilling meat, she was not in a playful mood, so I didn’t have any way to tease her back.

“Hehe. Grill the meat, slave.”

“You only grill this, okay?”

Ah, this is why people enjoy teasing others. Hwa-won usually took the initiative to tease me, but now everything felt so much more fun. Well, this was enough for now.

“Alright, say ‘ah~.'”

I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and brought it near Hwa-won’s mouth. In this situation, she couldn’t refuse, so Hwa-won had no choice but to open her mouth and eat the meat.

“…It’s good.”

“Who grilled it?”

“I grilled it, so why pretend you did?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s well-done. I commend you.”

Hwa-won gave a bewildered laugh but soon relaxed.

“Okay then, peel the shrimp.”

“Do you want shrimp? It’s a hassle.”

“What about what you ate earlier?”

“That was for me.”

“I grilled it, you know?”

“Fine, just wait.”

I dragged a chair over and diligently peeled the shrimp. The freshly grilled shrimp was extremely hot, so I only took the ones that had cooled down a bit. My hands were small, making it a little hard to peel, but I managed to get through it.

“Ah~”

“Ah.”

As Hwa-won finished a small shrimp, her expression softened a bit. Hmm, did she like shrimp? I should remember that.

“Here’s another one.”

“Wait, how many did you peel?”

“Five.”

“I wasn’t planning to eat five.”

“I guess I’ll just eat the rest.”

So, after Hwa-won ate two more, I devoured the last two. For some reason, this situation was unexpectedly entertaining and made me laugh.

“Is it good?”

“It is.”

“See, sometimes you need to get out and enjoy the breeze.”

“I’m pretty much out often.”

“Yeah, I heard your neighborhood has become a tourist spot lately. They say a lucky white cow is supposed to appear or something.”

“…Really?”

“I’m serious. Didn’t I tell you before?”

“No, well… honestly, I didn’t believe about half of it.”

How could I believe such nonsense? Does it even make sense?

“I heard you got a fan cafe now?”

“…Why? Isn’t that kind of strange?”

Well, I am a writer after all. A fan cafe is…

“It’s not just any fan cafe, it’s Seol-jjuk’s fan cafe.”

…Wasn’t it?

“How do I shut that down?”

“How would I know?”

Why does such a thing even exist? I’m not a celebrity; I’ve only been on a show once, and I’ve never been on something like YouTube.

“Did they ever ask you to appear on YouTube or something?”

“Sure, a lot. But I declined them all. It just feels unpleasant.”

“What feels unpleasant?”

“It didn’t exist before, but once I became like this, it feels a bit strange to be invited because of how I’ve changed, not because I’m a writer.”

“That’s why you didn’t become popular.”

“If what you say is true, doesn’t that mean I’ve become popular enough to have a fan cafe?”

“You’re just saying that; you actually seem to like it, don’t you, Seol-jjuk?”

“I’m going to die.”

Hwa-won chuckled. It seemed like I had the upper hand at first, but as soon as Hwa-won brought up such topics, the roles reversed. Where did she learn all this?

“But how do you know all of this?”

“….”

Suddenly, Hwa-won became quiet. Ah, no way?

“Do you search for my name or something? Did you join my fan cafe?”

“Why would I join your fan cafe? Just one phone call and I can see you in real life.”

“So you do search.”

“Yeah, I was curious.”

“Uh, okay.”

Upon being caught, Hwa-won started to act nonchalant. Her confidence left me with nothing to say.

“Why did you do it?”

“I just did it out of curiosity. I was a bit worried too.”

“What worries you?”

“My reputation.”

“Your reputation was trash to begin with, so you’re fine.”

“Is that supposed to be a comfort?”

“Isn’t it true?”

If you were going to think about your reputation, you shouldn’t have lived like that. You fool. But speaking of this… if she searched my name, then Seol-neun must know too, right? That thought suddenly made me feel anxious. I casually asked.

“…So you know what my novels are about, right?”

“Well, you could probably find out if you look it up. But since you don’t like it, I’ll make an effort not to see it.”

…It wouldn’t be hard to find it, after all. Maybe she was deliberately avoiding it out of consideration for me. I appreciated it, but I also had some feelings that she shouldn’t have held back. It’s paradoxical.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.”

“I also didn’t show it to you, so we’re even. You should publish yours too.”

Gradually… the day is approaching. The day when Hwa-won’s book gets published in America. Only then will I finally be able to read Hwa-won’s book. When should I show it to Seol-neun?

Wait, but American publication? Suddenly realized, if it’s published in America, of course, the book will be… in English, right?

“Hey.”

“What?”

“If it’s published in America, then it’s coming out in English, right?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“…I can’t read English.”

Hwa-won and I made eye contact. We both had silly expressions on our faces. Hwa-won looked astonished, while I was embarrassed. No, isn’t it weirder that you can read English? I don’t even need that for my job!

“Didn’t you study English?”

“How many people can read it fluently even if they studied?”

“What was your score on the exam?”

“I got into college through practical tests.”

“So you just barely passed.”

“…What about you?”

“I got top scores in every subject.”

“What the hell, if you got top scores in every subject, why did you come here to the Literature Department?”

“My dad said he’d let me go wherever I wanted if I got good grades, so I studied. But when I did well, I wondered if I really had to go there.”

“…Sorry.”

Saying that makes me the bad guy… Still, since this was genuinely my fault, I readily apologized.

“Anyway, our fool can’t read English. What are we going to do then?”

“Just give me the original manuscript as is.”

“That doesn’t have any charm… We should read it as a book, it feels more meaningful, right? Want to try studying English?”

“No. I hate English. I hate math, science, and social studies too.”

While having this conversation, I continued putting pieces of meat into Hwa-won’s mouth. She seemed to be thinking of a solution while chewing, but where on earth could she find one? It’s highly likely that they would publish it domestically too, but that isn’t happening right away.

“Are you seriously not going to study English?”

“I said I don’t like studying.”

“You work hard when searching for references.”

“That’s fun.”

Do I really have to study at this age? They say studying is something you do until you die, but I really dislike English.

“The translator was originally Korean, so they didn’t make it too difficult. If you study a bit, it should be readable.”

“Still, you can’t read it overnight.”

“You can read it while looking up words. You’re not completely illiterate, right?”

Still, it’s annoying. I want to read Hwa-won’s book…

“But there’s no one to teach me. I don’t want to go to a cram school, looking like this.”

“You’d fit in well at a place where middle schoolers go.”

“Do you want to get hit?”

“Oh, am I a bit small for that too?”

“You grill all the meat and then see.”

“I’m joking, I’m joking.”

It seems Hwa-won really wants to teach me English somehow. Does she really want to show me her book? I, of course, want to see it too. If it weren’t for the English…

Amidst all this, Hwa-won finally brought up the way to resolve this.

“How about I tutor you?”

“I’ll do it.”

…What, why?

Hwa-won is actually going to teach me. I’m not stupid enough to refuse this.

If it’s tutoring, I guess we can meet more often, right? Is Hwa-won visiting me to teach? Is she having a bit more free time? I was worried recently that I hadn’t been able to meet her often because she was busy, but I welcomed it if this was the case.

“There’s about a month left until publication, so it’ll be tough to read right away if we push hard, but at some point, you’ll be able to read it.”

“…But how will the tutoring work?”

“We can meet about once a week, right?”

“I think we should meet at least three times. I don’t have much time.”

“Why the sudden enthusiasm? Didn’t you just say you hate English?”

“It’s your book.”

“But you just said you hate it.”

“I don’t remember.”

Anyway, alright.

Hwa-won finished grilling the meat and turned off the fire. Though I systematically fed her, it was still far less than her usual amount. We filled the plate with meat and sat together. Suddenly, I turned around and saw Eun-a and Mira staring at us intently.

As I turned my head back, Seo Yeon-seo was feeding Han Si-woo with some cheesy moves, while Ji Kang-hyeon, Kang Si-on, and Gong Hyeok-jin were looking our way and laughing. The two people next to them looked a bit grim.

“What, what are you looking at?”

I yelled in embarrassment.

Soon, the response came back.

“We won’t look, so just keep doing what you were doing.”

I glared at Eun-a, but she pretended not to notice and turned her gaze away. Just you wait, you.

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