I learned about Gu Yubin’s acceptance into a prestigious university in the Popular Culture and Arts Research Club room.
Anyway, that Popular Something Club has been quite useful.
Originally, it was a hastily formed club for bullied Gu Yuna, but now it has become an indispensable space in Baekhak Arts Middle School life.
Especially in winter, when you lie on the couch with the heater turned up, you naturally fall asleep.
I was half-awake, using a blanket as a quilt, when Gu Yuna quietly approached me.
“What are you doing?”
“Just lying down because I’m sleepy.”
“Mom. The entrance is narrow, so please step aside a bit.”
Leaving behind a slightly sullen-looking Mrs. Min Chae-won, we hurried to Gu Yubin’s room.
No, to be precise, I hurried to Gu Yubin’s room, and Gu Yuna followed me expressionlessly.
Since I roughly knew the layout of the house, I quickly reached Gu Yubin’s door and knocked.
Knock, knock, knock. The door opened.
“Yuna, what brings you to knock- Eek!”
For a moment, it seemed like I saw Gu Yubin in a yellow furry character pajama.
But as always, the flow of time is mysterious, and that reality was manipulated under everyone’s tacit agreement.
The hastily closed door reopened shortly after, as if nothing had happened.
Gu Yubin, in a sophisticated casual outfit, calmly greeted us.
“Oh? In-seop, you’re here? What’s up?”
“I came to congratulate you for finishing your student years safely.”
“Really? Thanks! Come on in, guys.”
I chose a chair and sat down in Gu Yubin’s room, which was larger than the four-person room at the New Light Spring Orphanage.
On the opposite side of the room, I saw Gu Yubin holding Gu Yuna’s tiny head like a sandwich.
“Yuna…? Why didn’t you tell me we had guests coming…?”
Gu Yubin made Gu Yuna stand facing the wall. Since her sister told her to, Gu Yuna just stood there facing the wall. She probably didn’t even realize that this was supposed to be a punishment.
Since she would eventually move around as she pleased once she got bored, as usual, I stopped worrying about Gu Yuna and focused on my conversation with Gu Yubin.
“Anyway, it’s really impressive that you managed to achieve such good exam results despite focusing on writing all year.”
“Haha, why are you being so flattering?”
Unlike a biological weapon like Gu Yuna, we were civilized people, so we exchanged friendly pleasantries before getting to the main topic.
However, the looks we exchanged were cold, as neither of us had the purpose of socializing.
In that subtle chill, we both realized that our greetings were insincere.
The important thing to us wasn’t the college entrance exam scores.
Confirming that common understanding, I brought up the main topic.
“If possible… could I take a look at your novel?”
As soon as I spoke, the temperature in the room seemed to drop slightly.
It wasn’t the chill of a cold mood, but the sharp coolness created by an ice-like tension. Just like a college entrance exam room…
“…I was just about to ask you to take a look at my novel, so this is perfect.”
Gu Yubin did not back down.
She handed me the novel she had written over the past year.
It wasn’t a manuscript she had handwritten. It was a bound book that had clearly gone through a printing press. A manuscript made to show someone.
The moment I received the manuscript, I froze for a moment.
And then, without realizing it, I smiled faintly.
The title was all too familiar.
「Student Serial Killer」
I read this book around my second year of high school. It was promoted as a controversial new work by the genius novelist Gu Yubin, who was famous both as a writer and a celebrity at the time.
It depicted the tense story within the delicate triangular structure of a teacher, who is both a protector and an oppressor, a student, who is both a rebel and a ward, and a parent, who can oppress both. The novel was praised for highlighting the realities of Korean education from a humanistic perspective.
But beyond all that, it was just insanely interesting.
I remember staying up all night reading it.
Gu Yubin interpreted the unique organization of a school with such an excellent writing style, and she vividly depicted the process of all the contradictions and tensions within it giving rise to a serial killer.
I won’t deny that I, who had had some bitter experiences in school, found vicarious satisfaction in identifying with the protagonist who carried out a series of refreshing murders.
But now I could view the novel from a slightly different perspective.
Because back then, I read it as an admiring reader of Gu Yubin, but now I was reading it as an equal writer.
Reading the text not as a consumer but as a producer, I first thought that Gu Yubin was a very smart writer.
This novel represents everyone.
Which means it doesn’t create enemies.
Students, teachers, parents…
All of them have their own circumstances, their own hardships, and their own mix of good and evil.
This resemblance to reality made the main storyline of the protagonist carrying out seemingly comical yet brutal serial murders blend in so well.
In other words, it combined realism, entertainment, and social criticism.
These three elements were all exceptionally well contained in the novel.
This couldn’t be a mere coincidence. Everything from the beginning to the end of the novel was within Gu Yubin’s calculations.
Writing a piece that garners critical acclaim while also not losing the fun… I had to acknowledge that Gu Yubin was a full-fledged professional novelist.
However, a question arose.
How was Gu Yubin able to write the novel 「Student Serial Killer」 in two different timelines?
Of course, the novel I read now isn’t exactly the same as the one I read back then. There were slight changes, and even the protagonist’s gender was different.
But the core of the story was the same.
From this, I could infer one fact: Gu Yubin had been conceptualizing this story for a very long time.
“It seems like a novel you’ve been planning for a very long time.”
Gu Yubin was astonished.
In that case, the success of this novel wouldn’t differ much from the past.
I smiled contentedly and assured Gu Yubin.
“This will definitely sell well.”
“It’s that good of a story. I can guarantee it.”
At that, Gu Yubin then froze.
I could imagine the efforts of the past year flashing through her mind.
As a novelist myself, I knew how lonely and painful that journey could be.
So, I pretended not to notice when she lowered her head and hid her face with her hair.
I have no interest in watching someone cry.
I coolly stood up, taking the clingy Gu Yuna with me as she asked, ‘Is unnie crying?’