NOVEL WEB Chapter 39
Let’s briefly talk about sexual minorities, specifically about homosexuals.
It may sound surprising, but I don’t have any major prejudices against homosexuals. Of course, there are half of them that I dislike. But that’s not because they’re homosexuals. To begin with, I disliked about half of those who are not homosexuals as well.
Of course, I’m not a woman-hating woman who blindly dislikes people just because they are women. My hatred, after all, does not stem from the fact that the other person is a woman, but because they are inherently the type of beings deserving of hatred.
Most women tended to be such beings. Therefore, my hatred towards most women was a coincidence, not a product of misogyny.
Women were just born that way.
That’s all there is to it.
I veered off on a tangent for a moment.
In any case, I don’t have any particular thoughts about homosexuals. The time I outed Kang Seong-hye was merely for revenge, not because of any homophobia.
Of course, I disliked homosexuals who harm others. But it wasn’t because they were homosexuals that I disliked them; it was because they caused harm to others.
So, my perspective on homosexuals wasn’t notably different from that of the general public.
I don’t have any particular prejudices, but when it comes to those related to me, I can’t exactly welcome them, just that much. The same goes for homophobia.
So when Professor Seo is labeled as a homophobe, I don’t think much of it from my side. I just thought it would be a little troublesome if it got found out.
Hwa-won’s statement was more surprising than I expected. I don’t know how Hwa-won feels about homosexuality, but personally, I didn’t think he would have a particularly positive view about it. There wasn’t any logical reasoning behind this; it was simply a gut feeling.
“That’s a bit unexpected.”
“What is?”
“I thought even if you’re not a homophobe, your tendencies would lean that way.”
“Well, that’s not entirely wrong. I don’t have a phobia, but I found Professor Seo amusing.”
The relationship between Hwa-won and Professor Seo isn’t particularly good. It’s not to say it’s bad, but during their time at school, Hwa-won probably never received a compliment from Professor Seo. The writing Hwa-won produces is grotesque. It is gory, disgusting, and cruel. It relentlessly digs into the ugliness of humanity and the malice of human nature.
If you think of pulling out and displaying internal organs, in a sense, it could be said to resemble my writing.
Does Professor Seo hate such writing? Not at all.
On the contrary, Professor Seo enjoyed such writings. His representative work was also evaluated as shockingly brutal.
So their mutual dislike wasn’t because of their writings not appealing to each other.
It was a case of self-hatred.
“It’s amusing, you know. Seeing that mess. Yet, they can’t even care about what’s in front of them.”
“Do you know something about it?”
“I’ll refrain from commenting on that. It would be troublesome if you expose it like before.”
“That was only because you did it first.”
“In any case, you’re the one who spread the story I told you.”
It seems that in this regard, I lost trust years ago. Anyway, since someone ended up dying because of it, I understood why Hwa-won was being cautious.
“Well, if you don’t want to talk, don’t.”
“There’s nothing good for you to find out anyway.”
“Indeed.”
I returned Hwa-won’s earlier statement verbatim. Hwa-won was chuckling as he said that.
“By the way, don’t you think about getting a TV or something? Just sitting here glued to your phone is a bit strange.”
“I fixed my computer. I might as well play games like earlier with it. But hey, aren’t you writing?”
“Writing is something you do when inspiration strikes. If I don’t feel motivated, what writing can I do?”
“You’re just making excuses.”
“Though I’ve gotten cuter, why does it seem like my mouth has gotten worse?”
“Shut it.”
Though Hwa-won says that, he’s probably still writing. If he’s not writing now, it must mean he really needs time to recharge. I don’t know what would cause him to need a recharge, though.
What’s more important is my writing.
I had to write somehow, no matter what.
If I was blocked, I had to break through, and if a wall stood, I had to jump over it.
“How’s the new work coming along?”
“Still the same. Not much getting done.”
“Was it called ‘Womb’? Nice title. It’s perfect for climbing to first place in search rankings. But is it another womb? Isn’t the theme too overlapping?”
“If a boy has a womb, then a girl should naturally have to have a womb. It’s a natural progression.”
“That’s superficial. Are you thinking of making it a series?”
“It’s merely the name that overlaps. It has nothing to do with the boy’s womb.”
“Considering how hot it is right now, connecting them doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“There’s no reason for it.”
“That’s true. The previous work had such a tidy and closed structure.”
“Well, back then I never thought I would conceive such a story.”
“Didn’t you originally have something you wanted to write separately?”
“The fisherman’s story? That’s a bit ambiguous, so I’m maturing it. I might drop it altogether. It was originally intended as a short story, anyway.”
“What was it about?”
The story Hwa-won mentioned had been paused for several months because progress had been slower than expected. Since it’s a short story, you can think of it as only the core material being left.
For a fisherman, the boat was a forbidden area. One day, the fisherman’s daughter secretly snuck aboard, and the boat faced a storm. The only survivor was the fisherman. Losing his only family, the fisherman lived as if his soul had departed. One day, he caught a mermaid. Strangely enough, she resembled his daughter. Treating the mermaid, who couldn’t even speak properly, like his daughter made it seem like his soul had returned to him. However, rumors spread that he had caught a mermaid. And there was a legend that eating mermaid flesh would grant immortality. To save the mermaid resembling his daughter, he set sail again and released her.
That was the story. The written piece had probably progressed to that point, but I had ultimately given up because I couldn’t decide on a proper ending. It was the limit of my imagination.
“The ending could simply involve a form of incest. After all, it’s not participatory literature, so let’s create a beautiful ending.”
It seemed that Hwa-won’s imaginative story didn’t sit well with me.
“Are you saying to sleep with a fish?”
“Half of it is human, right?”
“Is it just a matter of having a hole to penetrate?”
When I looked at Hwa-won with a tired expression, he nonchalantly changed the topic.
“Or how about cannibalism? Whether the father eats the daughter or the daughter eats the father. That could work. If you’re incorporating the legendary immortality, a scene of eating should definitely appear.”
It was an extremely Hwa-won-like story, but it wasn’t to my taste.
“No, you put a seppuku scene in your debut work; who are you to talk?”
“No, that has significance in holding an unreal womb!”
“This also has the meaning of two fallen beings becoming one. Honestly, my sense of this part seems better. It would be more entertaining for me to write it.”
“Well, if that were the case, you would have debuted, right?”
Hwa-won raised his hand in a gesture of stop. I raised mine in agreement and replied.
“If you want to write it that way, just take it and write.”
“Really? Then can I also use the age topic?”
It seemed he genuinely liked it, since Hwa-won even mentioned this. For me, since I had already given up on that material, passing it to Hwa-won wasn’t particularly difficult. But what was he going to do about what he was already planning to write?
“What were you planning?”
“Well, I’m just taking the motif. The story I’m thinking of is also a cannibalism one.”
“Is that why you can’t debut?…”
This time, it wasn’t teasing; it was a truly serious statement. Hwa-won frowned as if frustrated and replied.
“Seriously annoying today. Just wait. I will definitely debut within a year.”
“So what’s the story about?”
“A story about a prep student wanting to enter medical school who consumes medical students. Doesn’t it sound decent?”
“Wow, that’s just ridiculous.”
“I can’t even give you a beatdown for that.”
“Go ahead and try.”
“Seriously, I might get caught for child abuse?”
“Am I a child?”
“I feel like my level of conversation is similar to that of my little brother.”
“How would you know about that if your relationship is so bad?”
“You’re just being a pain in the ass to me like you do.”
As we spoke, Hwa-won had already devoured all the chicken. It isn’t that the brand has such a large quantity in the first place, but still, saying he finished an entire chicken by himself was impressive. I left the cleaning up to Hwa-won and went into the room with the computer.
The online game Hwa-won had been playing earlier was still on, and it was a famous game I knew. It was ‘League of Eternity,’ which also appeared in Jae-Ah’s novel. Hwa-won, who had finished tidying up, approached me and said,
“Ah, I guess I didn’t turn it off.”
“Is this fun?”
“Huh? What’s up with you? Interested in this?”
“I saw it in the novel I read last time.”
“Do you read web novels too?”
“A bit because of Jae-Ah.”
Hwa-won didn’t answer my question and wore a puzzled expression. It was clear he was having some pointless weird thoughts.
“Should I say this is fun?”
“If the game’s not fun, why play?”
“Damn, is it about enjoying the game? I just play it.”
“What nonsense is that?”
“Anyway, if you’re interested, you should try it. It’s good for clearing your head occasionally, though there are times it can get heated too.”
Well, I don’t know if I will really do it. I only felt a bit curious.
“Are you good at this game?”
“I’m at Diamond.”
“Is that high?”
“About the top 1%.”
“If you had spent that time playing games writing instead, you might have debuted by now.”
I guess he lost his patience eventually. Hwa-won lightly hit my head. It hurt more than I expected, but more than the pain, I felt offended by the form of the attack, which was merely a tap on the head.
“Ow!”
“I hit you to make it hurt, you idiot.”
I held my head and felt a bit foolish.