Beyond the Milky Way

The first Milky Way

My name is Ji Eun-ha, and I'm 23 this year. I'm majoring in creative writing, and my hobby is writing, I guess. I don't have anything special to brag about. I'm not pretty, smart, or particularly talented. The only thing I can boast about is that I have a dream.

My dream is to become a famous writer. It's a dream I've had since middle school. My parents were worried about how I could make a living as a writer, but that shouldn't be an obstacle for a young person in their 20s, just beginning the spring of their lives.

The only way I, a naive 22-year-old, could achieve my dream was through online contest preparation sites. By serializing my work on these sites, I could connect with other aspiring writers, and in the rare event that I caught the administrator's eye, I could even make my debut.

A year later, at the age of 23, I've published seven short stories, two novels and five short stories. The response from other aspiring writers has been quite positive, but unfortunately, they haven't caught the attention of the administrators.

I thought long and hard about why that might be, and one possibility came to mind: my writing was simply too unfamiliar. The worldview I'd created in my writing, even from my own perspective, seemed quite difficult and complex.

So, I prepared this new work as a typical romance novel. It's the story of a rookie singer and a composer/producer. Armed with sweet scenes and lines, I just uploaded the first chapter yesterday.

???

'Author, this is also a masterpiece, right? ㅠㅠㅠ What genre can't you write about? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ'

I received a lot of comments like this. Most of them were from people who had enjoyed my previous work. "Thank you, even though it's still lacking," I replied. And today, a day later, I turned on my laptop and went to the site as usual.

Just as I was about to log in and open the writing window, I saw a message notification pop up at the edge of my profile. It was sent early yesterday morning, and the sender's name was "Minhyun."

민현

"Sorry for the late hour. I'm Hwang Min-hyun, the site's administrator and editor. I'm contacting you after seeing Eun-ha's new work. Not only this one, but all of your previous works have shown outstanding literary quality, so I'd like to cautiously ask if you'd be interested in working together."

I'm not sure, but I guess it's something like this: catching the manager's eye. I was so surprised I couldn't help but gasp. It was because I thought maybe my dream would come true a little sooner than I expected.

Without hesitation, I quickly replied with a thank you note expressing my acceptance. My heart was pounding like crazy. I was grateful to him for valuing my abilities, and it felt like all the hard work I'd put in was finally being rewarded.

"I didn't know back then that our relationship would continue like this." I never dreamed that I would be saying those words a few years from now.

That was the beginning for me and him.

The first Milky Way, the end.