It was a dream of a day I spent with her.
We were lovers who knew more about each other than we didn’t, stripped of the vague romance and prejudices that came from ignorance, a dry couple.
Even when we sat across from each other in a café, complaints came out before smiles, and our faces were more haggard than before since we didn’t bother to dress up.
But whenever I imagined my appearance decades later, you were always by my side. At some point, it just became natural. I was just too embarrassed to say it.
But in my dream, I could muster up the courage.
Even though I didn’t realize it was a dream, driven by a strong impulse from somewhere, I told you this story.
That at some point, imagining myself decades later, it felt natural to have you by my side. That I couldn’t accept a future where that wasn’t the case.
Her poems often appeared in college entrance exams.
The more terrifying fact was that they did so even during the time Shim Yeon-ho himself was taking those exams.
PD Shim Yeon-ho, suddenly understanding the CEO’s hard work deeply, squirmed in a respectful posture.
Seeing Shim Yeon-ho respect his elders , Cheong In-ha also asked in a softer tone.
“Wasn’t Moon In supposed to be at the shoot?”
The reason Moon In wasn’t at the shoot was simple. He wasn’t a regular member.
Moon In was initially cast in a teacher role, and with too many teachers now, he was more of a hint fairy who occasionally showed up to give advice and left.
Given that the show was now halfway through filming, the main stage of the broadcast had shifted from the studio to the cast’s daily lives, so it was doable.
But today, even though Shim Yeon-ho urgently sent an SOS upon hearing that writer Cheong In-ha was coming, Moon In ignored it.
What could possibly have happened that he would refuse a request from a PD as high as the heavens?
PD Shim Yeon-ho had no way of knowing the reason, but if he had the chance to ask the teachers at New Light Spring Orphanage or Baekhak Arts Middle School, he would have quickly found out.
If Moon In-seop suddenly disappeared somewhere, the reason was usually “writing.”
Meanwhile, there was a lonely ascetic walking the path of unworldly endeavors at this very moment.
Isolating herself from the world and herself, trapped in the cave of her own making, and writing lonely words on paper was none other than Gu Yubin.
A person who had given up being human.
-Daughter! How can you do this to me?
-I prepared everything for you! Everything!
Even in front of her own mother’s soul-crushingly sorrowful cries, Gu Yubin walked the path of heresy without wavering.
Casting off all the shackles one must bear as a human being, she walked solely on her own path.
She had given up on the ‘college entrance exam.’
-Daughter, someday you will regret this. You will forever regret this moment of deviating from the path your mother prepared for you in a moment of childish folly!
-Even after I say this, you won’t look at me! Why! What has made you ! My daughter! What on earth has made you turn away from business!
Her mother’s sharp, cold cry like a knife and snowstorm lingered in her mind.
Gu Yubin never gave an answer to her mother until the end.
Because the answer was already firmly engraved in her heart.
She staked her entire life on a single brush!
What was there to explain?
There was a world she wanted to make her name known to, and a literary name she wanted to make known.
There were stories she wanted to write, and there were stories that wanted to be written.
There were people who willingly acknowledged her, and there were people she wanted recognition from.
Thus, Gu Yubin willingly gave up being human and walked the path of the Asura.
So the writing of Gu Yubin, who shut herself in her room and began writing, was not just writing but could be called the Infernal Asura Writing of the Unworldly Path.
Gu Yubin was that serious about her writing.
Even when Min Chae-won, renowned across the world, personally peeled an apple and knocked on her door, she didn’t open it.
It wasn’t because she was sulking at her mother, but because she had sealed herself in her room to confine the demon she had become.
But then, shocking news came that shook Gu Yubin’s firm resolve…
That Gu Yu-na was writing a novel with Moon In-seop!
Ripples spread across Gu Yubin’s mind, which had been like a calm lake. An irresistible curiosity and a subtle sense of regret for some unknown reason.
Even more so, Gu Yu-na had brought Moon In-seop home, leaving no room for Gu Yubin to do anything about it. Consumed by curiosity, Gu Yubin eventually unsealed her room and stepped out.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t left her room for months, as she still attended school and had dinner.
Maintaining her neat appearance even at home, Gu Yubin simply washed her face and went down to the first floor of the house.
She could already hear voices of Gu Yu-na and Moon In-seop from somewhere.
With a smile of anticipation, Gu Yubin followed the voices to Gu Yu-na’s room.
And she swung the door open without knocking.
“Hello~ Long time no see?”
Gu Yubin’s face went blank with shock.
It was the first time she had seen her younger sister curse.
And it was the first time she had seen those two arguing.
“I can’t accept that kind of ending! Others would think so too! How can the story be going well and then end like that……!”
“It’s not others, it’s you, Yu-na, who can’t accept it. People will like it, probably.”
“Really? People who don’t even read one book a year? People who mindlessly agree when critics spout nonsense? Is being acknowledged by those people everything to you?”
“I don’t want to be acknowledged by the public or the critics. I just need to acknowledge it myself. That’s why I write.”
“Fine. Now that it’s come to this, let’s settle it with a final debate-”
Gu Yubin quietly closed the door. She closed it so carefully that it didn’t make a sound.
Then she leaned against the door, covering her mouth, eyes wide open, rolling them as she tried to process her thoughts.
‘What was that just now……?’