The TS Memoir of a Misogynistic Novelist

The publisher has filed a lawsuit against me.

The reason is a violation of the duty to maintain dignity.

They claim that my actions have damaged the publisher’s brand value, and they want compensation for the losses incurred. While I couldn’t ascertain the exact figures, there were reports that the publisher’s profits have significantly decreased since I gained media attention.

I simply could not understand this.

It is not impossible for brand value to decline. My book gained fame which led to a surge in sales, but the overall profits could indeed have dropped.

Yet, even so, I couldn’t comprehend it. I may not be an expert in the publishing industry, but I know the basics.

People in this country do not read books. As I mentioned, selling 30,000 copies was enough to become a bestseller author. With a population of 50 million, if just 0.1% of them buy a book, that’s enough to achieve bestseller status. In such a country, it is impossible for people to distinguish between publishers.

Even if my case influenced the situation, it couldn’t have caused significant damage to their profits.

People are simply not interested in publishers.

Even if, by some hundred or thousand concessions, damage had indeed occurred, there would be no way to clearly prove it was related to the incident I caused. On the contrary, my book’s sales have increased, and if this went to court, this would be a fairly favorable indicator for me.

Of course, I know that legal battles are not easy at all. Even if it isn’t a large publisher, it is still a corporate entity. A fight between an individual and a corporation is never easy to win, and even if I did win, it would likely be a Pyrrhic victory.

When a corporation takes on an individual, it simply means they are engaging in a fight that is overwhelmingly advantageous for them.

But why?

Why me?

Why now?

Just before this, the former editor Kim Sung-kyu had told me that there were no plans to sue me. Why suddenly reverse that statement and file a lawsuit? Did he change his mind all of a sudden? Or was he lying from the start?

Since a statement was made previously by the former editor saying they wouldn’t sue, perhaps this could be used as leverage, but ultimately it was not an official statement from the publisher, so it probably wouldn’t have much effect.

If the legal battle drags on, it will only result in losses for me. It was overwhelmingly an unfavorable fight.

That much was clear.

Even so, what I could not understand was,

“Why?”

I had not caused any particular problems while working with this publisher over the past few years, and my relationship with them was not particularly bad. Although I was ultimately terminated from my contract due to recent events, I never thought I would be sued as a result.

In the publishing industry, it is generally not common for publishers to sue authors unless the author has caused considerable problems. No matter how severe the issue, it usually ends with the termination of the contract.

No matter how advantageous a corporation is in relation to an individual, suing an author would ultimately limit that publisher’s standing in the industry.

Authors are not fools. No author wants to sign a contract with a publisher that would sue them over a minor offense. No matter how advantageous the fight is and how likely they might be to win, such lawsuits end up being detrimental to both sides.

It was difficult to understand why a publisher that is not a major player would take such a reckless step.

Moreover, the fact that they spread this information to the media made it even more perplexing.

The first article sent to me by Gu Ji-ye reflected this. It was not an article from the publisher, and the sources of the information were not properly disclosed, but if it wasn’t directly released by the publisher, there’s no way the article would exist.

I found out about my lawsuit not through legal papers, but rather through a news article. It was something that simply did not make sense logically. The compensation amount mentioned in the article was absurd.

Naturally, the publisher is aware of my financial situation. There’s no way I could pay such a sum. It was evident that such outrageous demands would be rejected in court. Was this a tactic to intimidate me? I wasn’t well-versed in the law, so I could not discern their intentions.

Even if the publisher wins, the actual amount they could claim would likely be negligible.

They were initiating a lawsuit that would only result in losses for both sides and made it public for all to see.

Unless the publisher harbored a serious grudge against me or anticipated some enormous benefit from this lawsuit, I could not comprehend their actions. And no matter how I thought about it, that “benefit” could not be substantial enough to justify merely trying to squeeze some pocket change out of me.

After reading the article, I left a message for Kim Sung-kyu, but he didn’t read it. He also didn’t answer my calls.

I felt a wave of hopelessness. I still couldn’t grasp the reality of the situation. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I hire a lawyer? But, as I mentioned, I simply didn’t have the resources for that. Though this was my first experience with such a situation, I was aware of how utterly draining a legal battle could be for an individual. I wished I had only known about it as a mere conceptual idea.

I felt dizzy.

If this was the end of the articles, I might have been able to endure it somehow.

But there was another article.

It was from an internet news outlet that typically dealt with celebrity gossip. In normal circumstances, I would have had no connection to such a place.

The content of the article was even more shocking than the previous one.

[“Actor Ji Kang-hyeon Spotted on a Mysterious Date with a Woman on His Birthday at an Aquarium”]

Actor Ji Kang-hyeon previously faced a scandal regarding a romantic relationship with Kang Chae-eun, an idol from the girl group Clarice, but both parties actively denied the rumors, and the dating speculation seemed to have faded following Ji Kang-hyeon’s departure from a star talk show.

However, he was spotted meeting a mysterious woman, with whom he was seen dating at an aquarium in Seoul while covering his face. The woman met him while concealing her face with a large hat…]

I couldn’t muster the strength to read any further.

The article included photos of Ji Kang-hyeon and me visiting the aquarium together. There was even a photo of Ji Kang-hyeon leaning in toward me, taken from a perfectly angled position that made it seem like we were about to kiss.

It didn’t stop there; there were pictures of Ji Kang-hyeon holding a whale shark plushie, entering an internet café, and even a shot of me returning home with that plushie. Beneath the photos, it read that these were gifts from Ji Kang-hyeon to the woman he was presumed to be dating.

Although my face was obscured by a crude mosaic, it held little significance. The article was outright referring to the presumed identity.

[“It is presumed to be novelist S, who gained fame for appearing on TV due to a rare disease.”]

It was a blatant attempt at misdirection that even an elementary school student could see through.

Scrolling down the article, I noticed dozens of comments already piled up. Although it had been some time since it was posted, there were far more comments than I had expected.

With this number of comments, I could assume that the news had already spread across the internet, and it was way too late to do anything. It was an incredibly rapid propagation of information, as though someone had intervened intentionally.

I steadied my dizzy mind and began to read the comments, and it appeared that many had easily guessed my identity. Naturally, there was no chance of any positive reactions regarding my identity.

There were many comments criticizing Ji Kang-hyeon and many more attacking me. Some expressed disbelief, while a few recounted experiences of seeing Ji Kang-hyeon and me together with the whale shark plushie. Others brought up the time Ji Kang-hyeon jokingly asked me to date him during a previous talk show.

While some questioned the credibility of the article or suggested waiting a little longer, naturally, those numbers were not numerous.

I had expected to draw attention because of the plushie, but I never thought it would escalate to this level. The photos had been taken even before I bought the plushie. Had the reporter been following me the entire time? Since when? From the beginning? Did I not even notice someone following me while I was captivated by the fish?

It wasn’t strange. Who would think about being chased by paparazzi while simply going about their daily business? Still, I felt terrible for not realizing that I had been followed.

At the same time, my stress regarding Ji Kang-hyeon was rising. I had gone out with the thought of rewarding him, and now this was happening. I knew he wasn’t at fault, but he must have been the one who brought the paparazzi with him. I felt irrationally angry at him for not being able to shake off the tail that follows him, as an entertainer.

Ji Kang-hyeon was a famous actor, but he was still a young kid, and he was not the kind of entertainer who draws as much attention as idols do.

If that’s the case, then this paparazzi was probably drawn in by the dating rumors between Ji Kang-hyeon and Kang Chae-eun. Although some time had passed, the controversy had not completely settled, and the paparazzi must have seen an opportunity to capture something. It was a different fish than what they were looking for.

A significant incident that was disorienting enough on its own was now compounded with another massive event. My mental state, which had begun to stabilize, was slipping out of control.

Unlike the publisher’s lawsuit, this was clearly a mistake stemming from my own carelessness. If I hadn’t met Ji Kang-hyeon on his birthday, such an article would never have come out in the first place.

Yet still, the coincidence of both articles being published on the same day felt excessively unnatural. While the article about the lawsuit filed by the publisher hadn’t spread much online, it was only a matter of time before the article about Ji Kang-hyeon gained traction.

Holding my churning stomach, I called Gu Ji-ye. It was a situation where calling seemed nearly impossible, but I made the choice because I wanted to know more about what was happening.

Unlike Kim Sung-kyu, Gu Ji-ye picked up the phone immediately.

---