The Fated Encounter

The Cheon-eul Gwi-in (Heavenly Noble) had no specific explanation and was currently at Level 1.

I knew what it was, so I was about to raise it to Level 2… before I stopped myself.

“Let’s raise height first, since I can’t do continuous fortifications.”

I had to hit Height Growth LV4 first.

I was currently performing the fortification using my laptop in the studio.

The Saju Fortification program could be copied, so I had already moved it to my computer and a USB drive.

My ‘Hyunju Computer’ running Windows 2000 NT looked like it was going to meet its maker any day now.

“If I could move this to a smartphone, I wouldn’t even need a status window. But it won’t convert to mobile.”

A while back, I was brainstorming a novel where a status window appears.

I wondered if I could carry the Saju Fortification around on a smartphone for constant use, but when I tried to transfer it, I faced a situation where it wouldn’t even read, let alone execute.

After some searching, I realized it wouldn’t run on anything but a Windows Phone, and those were hard to find—save for something like an old Omnia.

I needed a Windows Phone, a Windows tablet, or a loader that could make Saju Fortification readable on Android or iOS.

“I’ll buy a new laptop first and move it. Height growth, go.”

I had strengthened Father Luck on my current computer, but I wondered if the effect would carry over.

The program could be duplicated, but wouldn’t the efficacy differ?

If that were the case, it meant I’d have to keep repairing and upgrading this ancient Hyunju Computer for the rest of my life.

[Spent all Wood points to raise Height Growth to Level 4.]

“Ah, it works. Copying is fine.”

The height was felt instantly. As someone who had lived with a low-angle view of the world, I could tell.

I could finally dispose of all three brothers of my height-increasing insoles.

Lastly, I invested in the Cheon-eul Gwi-in.

The Sin-sal (Spirit and Killings) tab existed separately from the five main luck tabs (Water/Bigeob, Wood/Siksang, Fire/Jaeseong, Earth/Gwanseong, Metal/Inseong).

In this tab, one could invest in negative “slaying” effects like Dohwa-sal (Peach Blossom), Yeokma-sal (Wanderlust), Baekho-dae-sal (White Tiger), Gwimun-gwan-sal (Ghost Gate), or Hwagye-sal (Artistic).

Investing in a “Sal” (Slaying) effect was off-putting because it brought misfortune along with it, though some were tempting.

On the other hand, investing in a “Gwi-in” (Noble) only brought positive effects.

There were the top-tier Nobles: 1st Tier Cheon-eul (Heavenly Noble), 2nd Tier Cheon-deok (Heavenly Virtue), and 3rd Tier Wol-deok (Monthly Virtue).

In male-oriented web novels, it’s more fun to have the protagonist be talented rather than relying on a Noble’s help.

But to compare it to a female-oriented Romance Fantasy:

If it’s Cheon-eul, at the moment the villainess corners the protagonist to slap her, a 1st Male Lead with Emperor-level power appears to save her.

If it’s Cheon-deok, a 2nd Male Lead—a Duke-level rival to the Emperor—comes to help.

If it’s Wol-deok, a 3rd Male Lead—a servant or knight—throws his body to take the slap for her.

If you have none of the three, you have to grab the villainess by the hair and duel her yourself.

My Wol-deok was already quite high at Level 7.

I had no Cheon-deok, and while I had Cheon-eul, it was only Level 1 and didn’t do much.

I just raised it.

“I wonder who my Tuxedo Mask will be.”

When writing a Saju-themed novel, there was something I wanted to try.

If the protagonist has a very strong Heavenly Noble, the heavens help them regress or open a status window.

If I could say, “It’s because their Saju is like that,” or “It’s because their Heavenly Noble is strong,” wouldn’t that provide the necessary “probability”?

That person’s life would essentially be at the level of a main character.

**************************************

“Hmm… within two A4 pages?”

On my way to the studio, I saw a banner.

Jeonbuk Region Food Culture Content Story Contest

Grand Prize: 2 million won / Gold: 1 million won / Silver: 500k won / Encouragement: 300k won

Separate manuscript fees paid after winning.

Support for film, webtoon, and game adaptation of winning works.

Open to both established and new writers.

It was a contest by the Content Agency.

They were looking for stories to turn the food culture of the Jeonbuk region into “One Source Multi-Use” (OSMU) projects like movies, webtoons, games, and novels.

According to the guidelines, the copyright remains with the writer, and the public agency would support the adaptations.

“The deadline is today? But two A4 pages is a piece of cake.”

I really liked that I only had to submit two pages. Since it was “within” two pages, writing less wasn’t an issue.

For a web novel writer, volume is king.

“It’ll be about 2,000 characters? That’s not even half an episode of a web novel. Should I try it for fun?”

If I could get 2 million won for 2,000 characters, based on web novel formatting…

“Let’s see. Usually, I write 136k to 140k characters for a volume and don’t even get 2 million. This is equivalent to tens of millions of won.”

If I received 2 million for that volume, it wouldn’t be a matter of 10 million a month; it would be closer to 100 million a month.

Of course, the government wouldn’t hand out money that easily, but 2 million won is a lot.

I was tempted. Wasn’t it more than I made as a ‘water squirrel’ on Mt. Unjang all month?

And above all…

The idea of a character from my imagination gaining a physical form, moving, and being acted out by someone was truly delightful.

That was one of the reasons I knocked on the door of Light Novels after the failure of my ambitious Saju martial arts novel, The Diviner’s Sword.

Because it’s a medium that works with an illustrator, manga or anime adaptations are relatively easier, and even if that doesn’t happen, I get to work with an artist who draws my characters as beautifully as possible.

“My writing being turned into a video…”

Since it was a contest by the Content Agency, I thought it might be easy to link it to film or game adaptations.

I had achieved illustrations and merchandise with my art before, but anything beyond that was still a dream.

“But stories for film, games, and webtoons using Jeonju Bibimbap, Imsil Cheese, Namwon Loach Soup, Gochang Bokbunja, Sunchang Gochujang, and Jangsu Hanu…”

However, the themes were quite difficult.

“Well, since I have to film my own version of ‘Infinite Challenge’ just to raise my Saju Fortification anyway… let’s give it a shot.”

If I achieve a life accomplishment, I can strengthen some kind of luck.

Trying a challenge wasn’t hard.

I calmly brainstormed ideas for the food culture content story contest and jotted them down.

The first thing that came to mind was children’s content. I wrote it imagining an animation.

<Healthy Jeonbuk-Man>

“I am Jeonbuk-Man, the hero who recommends healthy food!”

“Let’s show those nasty fast foods and sodas the taste of healthy Bibimbap!”

“I won’t forgive you! Bibim Power!”

“Children who hate Gochujang are not allowed.”

“You must eat healthy Loach Soup.”

I felt a wave of self-loathing while writing it.

“Ugh, hmm… would this kind of content actually sell? What is the intention here?”

I decided children’s content wasn’t it and tried something new.

I poured in the sorrow of Jeonbuk, an underdeveloped region where agriculture is the main industry.

I felt like writing something like that might get me selected.

<Gochujang Hero, Kim Mal-seok>

“He is a hero to the farmers, resisting the indiscriminate Free Trade Agreements that weaken the competitiveness of our agricultural products.”

“He rides his Jangsu Hanu bull, ‘Jang-gun-i,’ and breaks through the police bus barricades—the henchmen of the regime.”

“The proud Jangsu Hanu Jang-gun-i actually charges through the bus wall.”

“Kim Mal-seok’s secret weapon is the ‘Spicy Taste of Koreans,’ made by grinding unsold peppers.”

“I didn’t want to use this weapon, but…”

“Take this! The Sunchang Gochujang Cannon resisting the water cannons!”

I was inspired by a friend who served as a riot policeman and swore he saw someone firing gochujang like Stone Cold Steve Austin spraying beer.

“…Crazy.”

Looking back at it, this was content that would make someone, somewhere, very uncomfortable.

This was for a public agency contest—could I really submit this crap?

I put it aside for a moment.

<Fortune-telling with Bibimbap>

The colors contained in Bibimbap represent the traditional Five Elements philosophy…

Placed in the center is the yolk, representing the Yellow Earth, and on the right is the bok choy representing Green…

“Ugh, so boring.”

Since I was using a philosophy hall as a studio and was a “two-job man” who also read Saju, I thought I should try writing something like this, but I couldn’t stand it and deleted it all.

Whatever it was, it had to be fun.

To be fun? It had to be visceral.

<The 4 Districts: Byeon Gang-soe Selection Contest>

“Cheese has been a restorative food for men since Roman times. The liquid cheese of Imsil’s loins. ‘Wang-jin-haek’.”

“The intense swimming and persistence of the loach. Namwon’s thick loach who will stir them up, ‘Yang-gi-seo’.”

“Need I say more about Bokbunja? It launches the urinal. Gochang’s purple vein, ‘Nam-geun-gang’.”

“The stimulation found in capsaicin, the red passion of Gochujang…”

“The virile men of the four districts, who have eaten only these four stamina foods, boast of their power.”

I had no choice but to reflect on myself.

“Once an erotica writer, always an erotica writer.”

Still, food promotion is very intuitive, so it seemed okay.

I heard that “stamina marketing” is an invincible legend.

Besides, wasn’t this the home of the Tale of Byeon Gang-soe?

Even the local classic, the Tale of Chunhyang, is basically erotica if you look at the original Pansori.

And Chunhyang is a minor.

The country’s sexual censorship is stricter now than it was during Neo-Confucian dogmatism.

Still, I agonized over the intensity.

Since I was used to being told to cut or edit scenes for being too explicit in my erotica, I prepared a slightly sanitized version of the story.

Just then, Kim Jong-un’s face appeared on the TV news I had left on.

“Whoa, Father Luck maxed out.”

It was just as I was looking for material related to cheese.

‘If cheese is really good for stamina, why doesn’t pizza use stamina marketing?’

That was the question I had.

“It’s probably because it’s a food targeted at the whole family. It might be a groundless claim anyway.”

I had heard somewhere that cheese was eaten as a stamina food, but it wasn’t certain.

Maybe Roman soldiers ate it that way?

But if you’re going to think like that, shouldn’t Bibimbap be good for stamina, and Hanu be even better?

In the middle of my typical “wiki-diving,” where I was looking for types of cheese, breeds, and blue cheese instead of my original goal, seeing Kim Jong-un on TV reminded me of a news piece I’d seen.

[What does the ‘Emmental Cheese’ that made Kim Jong-un gain weight taste like?]

[Kim Jong-un’s strong obsession with Emmental Cheese…]

There were actually old internet news articles about it, and seeing them sparked an idea.

“This is it.”

<The Uncomfortable Mr. Jong-un>

Mr. Jong-un misses the taste of the Emmental cheese he ate during his studies in Switzerland.

But even in Switzerland, his second home, they won’t export luxury goods due to the evil American economic sanctions.

(Human Theater BGM).

Mr. Jong-un wants a cheese comparable to Swiss Emmental.

But it’s hard to find now.

Unable to bear it, Mr. Jong-un orders his agents planted in the pro-North Korean residents’ league to steal Emmental cheese supplied to Japanese hotels.

He gets caught.

The embarrassed Mr. Jong-un loses all face.

To such a Mr. Jong-un, a telegram sent by the General Reconnaissance Bureau is unexpected.

In Imsil, Jeonbuk, South Korea…

They are making Emmental cheese.

The 1st Operation Propaganda Department of the General Reconnaissance Bureau of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces receives a strange telegram.

Go to South Korea and steal a dairy cow.

(Human Theater BGM)

I boldly wrote it with film adaptation in mind and even selected the BGM.

Since they said they’d help with a film adaptation agreement if I won…

Who knows? If nothing else, a local TV commercial seems possible.

For the narration, I’d want Lee Geum-hee’s voice.

“I should avoid such political subjects, though.”

But after writing it, I wondered how it was different from Gochujang Hero, Kim Mal-seok.

No matter how much I thought about it, it was hard to come up with a story for a movie, cartoon, webtoon, or game using Jeonju Bibimbap, Imsil Cheese, Jangsu Hanu, Sunchang Gochujang, Gochang Bokbunja, and Namwon Loach Soup.

“That’s why they’re offering money to pick one, I guess…”

I decided to just submit it.

In the end, it’s the judges who decide to give out the prize money.

It’s not my fault for writing it.

If it’s strange and unusable, they can just not pick it, right?

I planned to send Gochujang Hero Kim Mal-seok, The 4 Districts: Byeon Gang-soe Selection Contest, and The Uncomfortable Mr. Jong-un all at once.

I compressed the manuscripts and went to the website.

I could apply by uploading.

A few works were already up, though they were private posts.

I could at least see the titles, and they all seemed to have a certain dignity from the titles alone.

There was <Bibimbap, A Story of Colors>, which felt similar to the <The Five Elements Culture and Saju in Jeonju Bibimbap> I had given up on.

And <If the Taste of Jang Changes, the Household is Ruined>.

<Father Didiert’s First Hawaiian Pizza>.

I figured something with a “Pure Literature” or report-like feel like those would probably win.

The titles themselves felt solid.

“A story about a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law would be well-structured and fun.”

Looking at <If the Taste of Jang Changes, the Household is Ruined>, I felt a bit of regret about my ideas; I could have written something like that by mixing in folk superstitions with a Saju feel.

“Those titles are good… Wow, really. Should I rewrite?”

Squeezed between them were:

Gochujang Hero Kim Mal-seok, The Uncomfortable Mr. Jong-un, and The 4 Districts: Byeon Gang-soe Selection Contest.

They certainly stood out, but I was so embarrassed I couldn’t lift my head.

“It feels like only my ability to draw ‘aggro’ is improving.”

I was glad I hid both my pen name and real name.

Since I had published books under both, I’d be twice as embarrassed if I were caught.

However, I won.

Did I catch a lucky break?