episode_0018

Romanticism is the soul of literature.

Poetic imagination, personal insight, pain—these elements, which are considered symbols of art even in modern times, were a paradigm completed through Romanticism.

And, this is the work that breathed the breath of romanticism into literature.

“This—is so, so painful… ? But it’s very beautiful… . Also, I feel like my soul is being stolen… .”

It was the sorrow of young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

After reading the manuscript, President Dorling had a blank expression as if his soul had been drained, but then he was filled with ecstasy and shouted with a flushed face.

“This novel will definitely be a success!”

“Yes. I guess so.”

“… Writer? You look a little unwell… .”

“If this work is successful, there is a high possibility that trouble will arise.”

“It’s a pain in the ass… ?”

Werther effect.

Young Werther’s sorrow ends when the protagonist commits suicide with a pistol.

There is an anecdote that after The Sorrows of Young Werther was published, many young people who read the book committed suicide following Werther’s death.

It is unclear whether ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ actually led young people to commit suicide.

It is difficult to find meaningful statistics, and simply imitating Werther when someone was trying to commit suicide and committing suicide by imitating Werther are completely different stories.

“If I’m not careful, this book could be criticized as advocating suicide or desecrating it.”

But its impact is clear.

This novel will become a bible for suicidal young people. It is highly likely that the church will freak out and try to control this novel.

“Maybe it could be designated as a banned book.”

“Ah, it’s a great masterpiece, but… This is just literature, right?”

“It is literature that shakes the soul.”

“That’s right─ definitely, um, I think that could be the case… . In particular, the Vatican is very sensitive to young people’s suicide.”

Of course, I think I made my own preparations.

For example, ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ was also a novel that ended with the main character committing suicide. The protagonist, torn between sin and reason, ends his life by suicide.

However, this can also be said to be the martyrdom that Jekyll sacrificed to kill Hyde.

In other words, it is an ambiguous ending that is suicide but not suicide.

The experience of reading this novel will lessen the shock you feel at the ending of ‘the protagonist’s suicide.’

“But wouldn’t it be okay if it was the author’s book? There is even talk that the writer Homer should be beatified thanks to the Little Prince!”

“The author and the work are separate things. There is a possibility that this book is the only book designated as banned.”

“That’s right… .”

And ‘The Little Prince’ was a mirror that made readers reflect on themselves.

It forces you to break away from the craving that blinds you and take a look at your surroundings.

This allows people at risk of suicide to escape the blindness and narrow vision that condemns them to death.

“Ugh… It’s difficult! But that doesn’t mean you can’t publish it, right? It would be a sin for countless bibliophiles to be the only one looking at this masterpiece! Ugh… .”

“Would you like to publish it yourself?”

“Of course! You can’t leave it to another publisher! I will publish it no matter what! Hehe.”

In addition, through the pulp fiction Conan Saga, fantasy, a drug called dopamine, was released into the world to help escape reality.

A cheap drug that helps tired people endure a difficult day.

That was the role of pulp fiction in lower culture. It could also be said to be an opium without side effects.

“That’s why the role of CEO Dorling is important.”

“What can I do… ?”

I did everything I could to prepare.

Now was the time to infuse the soul of ‘romanticism’ into literature.

“First, please collect the addresses of all readers who sent fan letters.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s do an event for our fans.”

With this, literature will take another step forward.

“Uh, everything? I think there are thousands, no, more than 10,000 people… ?”

“Do you think it would be difficult?”

“Of course, you can! Just leave it to me!”

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‘Invitations’ arrived to readers who sent fan letters.

[You are invited to ‘Meeting with the Author of Homer.’]

It was a kind of fan meeting.

A fan meeting where you can meet Homer, the most influential writer in the empire. It was a golden opportunity that any citizen of the empire could not help but envy.

“Hwaaa! Second, an invitation. Hey, isn’t this a dream?! Can I really see Homer?! Thank you, God!”

“The author of Homer is a god!”

Naturally, the news of the fan meeting spread quickly and caused a stir throughout the empire.

“Princess Isolet! Well, is that really that?”

“Hehe, yes. This is an invitation from the author Homer. I already met the author once at the last contest, but… Since I was invited, I can’t not go. Hehehe… .”

“Okay, well, then what you’re selling to me is─.”

“Oh my? Selling invitations, how can you do such a vulgar thing?”

“Of course… .”

An invitation from Homer was traded at a similar price to the same weight of gold.

No, it was traded at a price more expensive than gold.

“Really?! If you sell invitations… Are you paying all of my father’s medical expenses?”

“Of course. We plan to provide support not only for treatment, but also for everything you need for living. Just give me that one invitation.”

“It’s a pity that I can’t meet the author of Homer in person… there’s nothing we can do. Because my father’s treatment is more important. Instead, you must keep your promise!”

“Here, I have prepared a contract for you.”

People’s joys and sorrows varied depending on whether they got an invitation or not.

And finally, the day of the author Homer’s first official fan meeting arrived.

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The venue where fan meetings are held.

Unlike the contest awards ceremony, which had only a few hundred people at most, this time thousands of people participated.

I was sitting in the waiting room.

Next to me, the CEO of Dorling cheered me on in an extremely exaggerated tone.

“Writer! cheer up! Relax!”

“I think the boss is more nervous than me… ?”

“Hehe. If an accident happens, I have to deal with it right away, so I can’t relax!”

I looked at the mirror.

After drinking the Hyde potion, he looks like a mixture of half of his past life and half of his current life.

After taking a deep breath, I left the waiting room.

Thousands of people were looking at me.

“It is a pleasure to be here with you today.”

I began my opening speech as I had practiced beforehand.

This opening speech was the reason I held this ‘fan meeting’.

“Before we meet in earnest, there is something I would like to say to you.”

Jininsa Daecheonmyeong.

There is a saying that it is people who plan things, but it is heaven that decides whether a success will happen.

Inaecheon.

There is a saying that people are the sky.

“Dear readers─”

In other words, if you organize things and move people’s hearts, you can make things happen.

“─I have a dream.”

In order to move people’s hearts, you can plagiarize what you wrote to move people’s hearts.

So I plagiarized. The speech.

“That dream is deeply rooted in my literature and your literature. I have a dream. My dream is that children who grew up reading my books and adults who reminisce about the past while reading my books will help and understand each other through the precious ‘words’ given to us by God.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

I plagiarized.

“The greatest boast a thousand years ago was, ‘I have personally heard the words of the Savior.’ Today, when the Savior passed away to God’s side, the greatest boast in the world has become ‘I can read the Bible.’”

John F. Kennedy’s ‘I am a Berliner’ speech.

I plagiarized.

“There are people who say that our faith is an old custom that must be broken down. Let’s read the Bible to them. There are people who call people who are faithful to religion foolish. Let’s read the Bible to them. There are people who say that religion is an obstacle that blocks people’s will. Let’s read the Bible to them. Let’s read the Bible to the apathetic!”

Even though the entire content of the great speech was changed to read the Bible, the essence itself did not change.

This is an appeal.

“Life can be free and beautiful, but we have forgotten how.”

An appeal to the heart of man. An appeal that strikes at emotions rather than reason.

“I have a dream!”

The Sorrows of Young Werther is clearly a biblically profane book. It was also a book with such powerful magic that it could grab hold of people’s souls and shake them.

In that case, all we have to do is make the Bible more powerful than that.

Today, tens of thousands of Bibles are printed on printing presses every day, and although everyone has a Bible on every shelf, people are busy with their lives and turn away from their faith.

It wasn’t difficult to get people to reflect on the Bible.

“It is my dream that our children who love literature—the greatest literature created by God himself—will read old spiritual songs together, learn love and peace from His words, and realize it on this earth!”

Because the Bible was the greatest literature.

All literary works – novels, plays, poems and speeches – were ultimately nothing more than a reinterpretation of the great literature called the Bible.

So I plagiarized.

Numerous famous speeches that changed the history of the Christian world in a previous life were all plagiarized, compiled, edited, and reinterpreted into one speech.

“I have a dream!”

The speech continued for a long time. I practiced it several times, but I’m not sure if I memorized it properly.

And when the speech finally ended.

“Thank you for listening to my long speech. Now the handshake event begins─.”

◦ at

“Wow!!!”

Because of the thunderous shouts, I had to cover my ears for a while.

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“Ah, boss. Thank you for your hard work preparing for the fan meeting. Thanks to you, it ended well.”

“Writer… . That speech was just a speech made to publish a book… ?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Writer. I wasn’t going to say this… I think he’s a little crazy.”

“I hear it often.”