< Prologue - This is Not an Announcement >
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Side Stories
Chapter 553 Prologue - This is Not an Announcement
Thank you for your enduring patience, everyone.
The side stories of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint begin at long last.
I did start writing them, but truth be told, I have no idea what all I'm going to jot down. In
the first place, this story wasn't written with side content in mind, after all.
During the hiatus, I read the comments you fans had left on the main story, and I was
blown away.
You all are geniuses.
I, on the other hand, am clueless. So clueless, in fact... that I haven't even decided on a
protagonist yet.
When I was writing the main story of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the plot just came to
me, flowing right out onto the page. But now, my head is as blank as snow is white, like
someone has smacked me hard on the back of the head.
Nevertheless, the reason I'm typing out the announcement like this is 'cause I should write
it down first before
.
.
.
I stopped typing there, then slammed down on the backspace.
Shit, what was I doing? No matter how bad the situation, this was not the sort of thing a
professional writer would write.
I bit my nail and started a new sentence.How about starting like this?
.
.
.
Come to think of it, I never introduced myself. I mean, my identity was revealed in Chapter
549 of 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』, but that must have slipped the minds of everyone
by now. In the words of Kim Dokja, I was someone like this.
Lee Hakhyun (李鶴翾).
My father gave me that name in the hopes that I would live like the soaring noble crane, for
which he paid a handsome sum of 300,000 won at the Psychic and Astrology Center.
"Hak" for "crane" (鶴), and "Hyun" for "flying" (翾).
The Psychic and Astrology Center that created my name went out of business sometime
later, and it wasn't until then that my father discovered the hidden meaning in front of the
entry of Hyun (翾) for "flying".
翾 Hyun
1. (Slightly) Flying
In short, I was someone like this.
Lee Hakhyun, 33 years old.
1. (Slightly) Popular webnovel writer.
For reference, the name of my only hit was as follows.
+
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint – 551 chapters
—Writer: Lee Hakhyun
+
An epic-length fantasy novel with 551 chapters, 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』.
Or 'ORV' for short.
I'd been working on the serialization of this novel for two years, from my late 20s to my
early 30s....
.
.
I wrote up to there, then hit backspace again.
It just became a bio. A terrible one, no less. I wasn't even the protagonist of the Side Stories,
so what was the point of introducing myself?
Bzzzzt.
That wasn't the sound of a Plausibility Spark but of my cell phone's ringtone.
With a serious face akin to Kim Dokja preparing for the Aftermath of Plausibility, I pressed
the call button. Then I heard the voice of the Dokkaebi in charge.
—Dear writer.
That was second on my list of words I was scared to hear these days.
"Yes."
—You started on the Side Stories, right?
And there was the first.
"No."
The person sighing into the other end of the line was Ji Eunyu, my personal editor.
In a nutshell, Ji Eunyu was a PD who knew the industry like the back of her hand, and it was
because of this very person that I was dragged away from writing pure literature and into
this industry. Depending on how one looked at it, she was a lifesaver.
—What would you like to do?
I replied in a downtrodden voice.
"Let me see. I do wonder what I should do."
—You couldn't possibly be playing a game right now, are you? The one that was just
released?"I only installed that one."
—Why are you logged onto Steam?
"That just comes up automatically when I turn on my computer."
—Are you sure? When I got a notification that you started the game just now?
Shutting down the game as it loaded, I spoke.
"Am I really playing a game for the sake of playing it, though? I'm just trying to come up
with ideas."
—You know, at one point, I believed those words. I really did.
There was a theory that Ji Eunyu had developed over her six years working as an editor.
Writers who play games to come up with ideas are just playing games, even if they get ideas
out of it.
Actually, I thought her theory was true.
—What about the idea you were talking about before?
"I tried to write it, but it didn't turn out right."
—What about the idea with your previous works? The crossover we discussed briefly.
I began to recall the names of my previous works one by one.
『The Orc Philosopher』
『Infinite Warden』
『System Breaker』
『Mage of the World that Wouldn't Fall』
『Method Master』
『How to Become a Star Writer』
...
No matter how much I thought about it, there was no way that those novels and ORV would
blend well together.Besides, 『How to Become a Star Writer』 was a ridiculous story about a writer, Lee Hakhyun
(yes, that was my name), who becomes a "star writer" by transmigrating into a novel, and
there was no way I could use that sort of novel for a crossover work.
And above all,
"Why do a crossover with a total flop?"
I had to stop serializing the novel before I could even convert its climax into a paid release.
—All of them were fun for me to read, though.
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
—You've said before you came up with something after getting drunk and going up on the
rooftop. Why not try that again and see if it works?
"I already tried."
—You didn't get that aching feeling in the back of your head again? Or was it something
about Han Sooyoung appearing in your dreams?
I sighed, unable to laugh or cry.
Yoo Joonghyuk smacking me on the back of the head and Han Sooyoung transmitting a
novel to me were things that only happened in the novel I wrote, and while I carried on and
all... Well, I didn't know. Nowadays, I wished it had been real instead.
—Whew, I'm sorry.
I knew she was. Ji Eunyu must have said it out of her own frustration, too.
News day after day about the market in recession. I heard that Ji Eunyu's management
team was also having financial difficulties. Many of the workers they had hired were getting
out, and their writers were moving companies or leaving the market altogether.
With all that going on, I had to wonder if writing the Side Stories would be of any help at all.
—Either way, there are a lot of readers out there waiting for your story.
"Where out there?"
It was an embarrassing story, but 'ORV' once hit and cruised along as first place in Best Free
Novels on the platform.I was able to garner readers who liked my novel, and I got some reviews from various
communities.
I even used to secretly search up 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' after muscling my way
through the series, getting giddy over the readers' reactions.
That was the story of what once was.
Now, no one spared a thought for my novel anymore.
—Quit twisting my words around. They exist.
Sure, but where?
The urge to question her bubbled up, and I swallowed it down.
"I'll do my best."
I replied sullenly and hung up the phone, suddenly realizing that today required a drink.
I closed my laptop and headed to the local convenience store to pick up a can of beer and
some snacks. I grabbed a bag of potato chips, then put them back down and grabbed a
protein biscuit.
I supposed I was old enough to care about these things.
As I was finishing up checking out and taking a swig of my beer, Ji Eunyu's words came to
mind.
「"There are a lot of readers out there waiting for your story."」
By the way, the corner brackets(「」) above were a punctuation mark used when I had a
special thought.
I was having a special thought at this very moment.
I wondered if there were still readers left waiting for my story.
I drained my beer and logged back onto the webnovel platform.
The next thing I knew, a bunch of messages were filling up my inbox. System messages
asking me to continue the series, and messages from fellow writers announcing the start of
their own series.
And then.
—It was a fun read, writer.Messages from the readers.
—I'm a 14-year-old middle schooler and this is the first webnovel I've ever read T^T...
Some were cute, and some were earnest.
—Reading this novel is the only joy of my military life...
They were all fragments of the Fable that the readers had left behind for me.
Then three years passed.
That reader in middle school would be in high school now. A reader in high school would be
in college, a reader in the military would have been discharged, and a reader who had been
job hunting would be employed... hopefully.
In any case, the readers would have made something of themselves and moved on from this
story, and I was left here just as I was before—a boring human being who would choose
protein biscuits over potato chips.
—That was fun, writer.
Suddenly, I choked on my beer, spilling some from the can.
Seeing as how my alarm went off, it was a message that had just arrived via the platform.
—Sender: CEOKimDokja
When I checked the sender's ID, I immediately recalled something.
CEOKimDokja.
Back when my serialization was at its peak, I had a reader with such a nickname.
—It's been three long years since ORV concluded. Every year around this time, I go on a
nostalgic binge-read, and I enjoyed it this year as well. This bizarre feeling crops up
whenever I read again, like I'm reading this other novel.
A memory from three years ago abruptly struck me. A memory of when I was reading the
serialization and really enjoying myself, even back then.
This was something I wanted to say.
This reader used to comment every single day and send me good reviews all the time, too.
To keep it short and sweet, the nickname 'CEOKimDokja' was well deserved.
—I don't know if you still remember it, though.Of course I remembered. I often looked back on those messages even now.
Memories of writing like crazy up until the daily deadline, and staying up exhausted to read
the messages and comments sent in by the readers.
If it weren't for the people who stuck with me through those times, I wouldn't have been
able to endure the solitude or write that final sentence.
I hesitated, then grabbed the keyboard. Just this once, I wanted to reply to a reader, not
through me in a novel but in my own words.
But then.
—There is a small fan event going on tomorrow at 7PM. If you're free, I'd be honored if you
would come and enjoy it yourself. I would like to give you a special gift as a thank you.
A gift?
—I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll need to pay for tickets to the event. I have to make a living,
too, you know.
At that moment, I recalled the prologue of ORV.
In the prologue, Kim Dokja received a message from the writer, tls123.
A message that the epilogue could be unveiled for a fee.
In other words, this message seemed to be a little joke prepared by a longtime reader.
I started to write a reply.
—Thank you so much, dear reader. However, when it comes to gifts, it's the thought that
counts. And if the ticket to the event isn't free... That's a purchase, not a gift, is it not?
(Ahaha)
Could they have actually prepared a separate gift for me?
But even if they had, it wasn't something I could just accept offhand. How could I accept a
gift with this shameless mug of mine when I wasn't even able to write Side Stories in these
three years?
Anyway, shouldn't I have left out the (Ahaha)? Did people even use stuff like that in this day
and age?
Those were the sort of naïve thoughts I had back then while sipping my beer.
I knew nothing about what would happen to my life the next day.
< Prologue - This is not an announcement > EndAuthor's Notes
This story is a side story of 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint', but it does not stand alone
from the main story.
This story is the story of Kim Dokja just as before, but it is not intended for the Kim Dokja
as read by one person.
Thank you for your enduring patience. Once again, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' begins.
February 2023. Sincerely, SingShong.