Work Text:
“Are you afraid?
You probably know by now too, awakened ones can suffer a fatal injury or even die in a match.”
“No, I’m not.”
The headmaster glances at Jiwoo as they walk side by side on the sidewalk, the clear surface of the water reflecting the beautiful sky.
“I’m just worried I might disappoint everyone.”
Kayden reads the paragraph again, again and again. It seems familiar somehow, he knows he has heard it somewhere before. Perhaps in an early scrabble? He shelves the page, reading the next one with blatant disinterest. Kayden already edited the pages last week, but he felt compelled to read them again now that they've been published. The first book was quite lengthy but the public seemed to like it, immediately demanding a second book, far faster than a reasonable author would be able to write. Kayden had to talk to Jiwoo about the speed he was writing new chapters at, for now the quality was still good but if Jiwoo kept this up he might get burnout later down the lane. The books are best sellers due to the excellent quality and compelling characters, and Kayden and Jiwoo have to be careful with keeping up the quality.
Which reminds him, although the plot has thickened in a believable way and the new characters are great additions, Kayden has been noticing an increase in grammatical errors in the newer chapters. Nothing too big, just some wrongly written words and sentences that don’t quite make sense, all things that Kayden can fix within minutes while editing. What is concerning however, is the rapid increase of errors occurring in the texts. Just three months ago, Kayden hardly had any job with editing with how much of a perfectionist Jiwoo was with his books. Now, he always has to take at least two hours per chapter to read, correct, and then reread. He has to ask Jiwoo about it, but It won't do good to come to Jiwoo with just criticism, he has to remember to compliment Jiwoo on his great character writing. Originally, Kayden was worried that introducing new characters this late to the story would make it messy and complicated, but Jiwoo has managed to write them in naturally. Kayden taught him well, Jiwoo has become a true author.
Really, there was not even a need for Kayden to be his editor anymore, with Jiwoo’s high level writing, “Eleceed” would do well with even a less experienced editor. However, this was Jiwoo’s first big book on the market, and Kayden wants to make sure Jiwoo does it well.
At least that is what Kayden tells himself, but he knows that the real reason he insisted on being Jiwoo’s editor even when Kayden has ”better things to do'' is because he is worried.
Jiwoo is strong, he has been since Kayden decided to give him private lessons on writing. Kayden has instructed other people on writing in the past, of course, but they’ve never gotten the hang of his teaching methods. They always said his ways of teaching were confusing and didn’t make any sense, only making their own writing more confusing. Jiwoo, however, never had that problem. From the first lesson with Kayden, they were on the same wavelength and Jiwoo’s writing has gotten better with every text due to Kayden’s instruction.
And look where that got him. Now, just a few years after writing the first chapters, Jiwoo’s book is a bestseller, translated into hundreds of languages and millions of eager readers waiting for the publishing of the third book. The first hard-cover of “Eleceed” sold out within hours after release, the second book selling out even faster.
Kayden spares a glance at the latest chapters, scheduled to be published as a book in a week. The chapters will make up the third arc of Eleceed. The last chapter of the third arc, chapter 156, is the one Kayden has been stuck with for a few hours now. There is nothing inherently wrong with the chapter, the writing is as good as ever and correcting the small mistakes was not difficult.
There is something else bothering him about the text, it’s the lines of the main character that are causing him gray hairs. As he stated, there is nothing wrong with them. They are typical lines you’d expect to hear from the main character, all inspiring and strongly worded. There is something strange about the words, however. The words seem…
Familiar. Kayden has not heard them anywhere, but he knows there is a deeper meaning behind them. “Are you scared?” Why is it emphasized so much, why does it feel like there is something deeper in there? The first half of the chapter as well, words from Cartein that strike a chord within him. He knows the average reader will not find anything strange in the dialogue, probably just reading them as a normal part of the usual chatter between the main character and the reluctant healer-turned-cat.
It’s not just this chapter, even earlier chapters sometimes had dialog that somehow reminded Kayden of something he has heard somewhere before. Which is the problem, Kayden has absolutely no idea where he has heard any of this before. He knows it is not another book, he would remember that, nor has he heard it at face value. It has to be something hidden, baked between lines that have been repeated to him. But where?
Clearly, it has something to do with Jiwoo.
Kayden sighs, putting down the last page of chapter 156. New chapters should be sent to him tomorrow, and then he will have to read them and send an email to the artist they’ve been working with. Jiwoo has been hiding what the next arc holds, he has not explained what is coming after the world-academy arc. Kayden thinks it may be something bigger, but that’s just a guess. Jiwoo is very creative, who knows what he will have come up with. It will have to be something big to top the earlier arcs, but Kayden has faith in him.
Kayden looks up at the wall. The clock is nearing two, midnight has passed long ago and soon he has spent three hours contemplating the familiarity of Eleceed. He sighs, getting up from his messy desk and looking at his phone. Five new emails from different companies, most of them interested in Eleceed one way or another.
He scrolls through them with half a mind, some game company wants to make a game, a famous film company wants to make a movie adaption of “Eleceed” and lastly a company is interested in creating a comic around the world of Eleceed. Kayden can see the appeal of creating something else out of Eleceed. Jiwoo spent a lot of time building the world of Eleceed, thousands of notebooks with nothing but scrabbles and small doodles. Kayden has some of them stored away in his bookshelf, Jiwoo wanted to throw them away but Kayden insisted on keeping them. They are an important part of the creative progress, after all.
About half an hour later, Kayden is laying in his bed. It’s warm, and his bed is soft. He wonders what Jiwoo is doing, alone in his own white bed. Tomorrow he has a meeting with a few co-editors and publishing managers, Jiwoo was supposed to go to the meeting but something else came up. He sighs, ignoring the weird feeling he has in his stomach about the whole thing. The strange familiarity of the dialogue in Eleceed, Jiwoo’s strange increasing errors where perfection used to be, abstinences with unexplainable excuses…
Kayden sighs. He is going to have to meet up with Jiwoo some time soon. He hasn’t seen him in a while, and Jiwoo is bound to be missing him. Plus, they have a lot to discuss concerning the book, and Kayden has to confront Jiwoo about the deja-vu. Tomorrow his schedule is full, but he might be able to squeeze in a meeting in the afternoon or the day after tomorrow. Kayden feels the sounds around him quieting and his head sinks deeper into his pillow. Tomorrow he is finally going to find out what’s going on.
Kayden sits at the round table, listening as people discuss around him. Someone thinks the author should hurry up with the writing so that they can finish publishing the series and then sell the rights to anyone interested in creating other media around Eleceed. Another one thinks they should take their time with the series, hyping up the public with commercials and other media. Soon, it breaks out into an argument with multiple people shouting at each other and talking over each other.
If Jiwoo was at the meeting, he and Kayden would make eye contact and Jiwoo would giggle as Kayden would silently mimic the arguing managers around the table. It used to be his and Jiwoo’s thing, silently judging others as they said their opinions, each one more shitty than the other. Jiwoo and Kayden have already talked it out after all, and Kayden knows exactly how Jiwoo wants to publish his books. Each book is to be published exactly two months after the other, so they can hype up readers but not keep so much distance that readers forget what happened in previous books. Kayden had expressed concern when Jiwoo first told him his plan, since no author no matter how talented would be able to write a book in just two months. Jiwoo had laughed it off, saying that he had already planned the whole series, he just needed to write it.
Jiwoo kept his promise and everything has worked great. New chapters are sent Kayden’s way nearly every other day and Kayden compiles them into reasonably sized books that are on their way to be released two months apart.
Kayden is broken out of his daydreaming by an executive throwing some maps across the room, trying to hit the publishing director. This is usually when Jiwoo decides that they have had their fun and interrupts them, clearing out whatever misunderstanding they had.
Today, Jiwoo is not here. Kayden is tired, despite getting a good amount of sleep the night before. So, instead of peacefully sitting the arguers down and explaining how things work around here, Kayden slams his fist on the high quality wooden table.
Immediately, the room quietens. Not a sound can be heard, everyone sitting or standing frozen, staring at Kayden where he still has his fist planted on the table. If it was glass, it would no doubt have shattered under Kaydens fist. Kayden knows why they are afraid, after all, he doesn’t say much in most meetings. Kayden always just kind of sits next to Jiwoo and looks all brooding, intimidating everyone into treating Jiwoo with respect. Jiwoo is kind of a pushover, he needs someone to back him up. Kayden is happy to play that role.
Kayden gets up and walks to the front, grabbing a whiteboard marker on his way to the empty white board in the front of the table.
“Since you are all too stupid to understand this, I’m going to explain this again. I am, however, going to tell you all that you better not take this up again, as we have already discussed this multiple times in earlier meetings.”
Kayden lifts the red marker up to the board, writing “Two months'' on it with clear letters. The room remains quiet, some people even looking confused at what Kayden has written on the board.
“See this? This is the time period between us releasing the books. Every two months we are going to release a book, until every single chapter has been published.”
Still, no one says anything, too scared to argue with Kayden. They all know him as Jiwoo’s right hand man, the direct voice of the author.
Kayden exits the meeting without another word, his long black hair fluttering behind him as he slams the door shut. Kayden really does not have the energy for this, plus, after this meeting he has to meet up with some people from the cover design company and some critics with “reasonable opinions”.
Originally, Kayden did not see the point in meeting up with critics on a regular basis, but Jiwoo had explained to him that it was important for Jiwoo to get opinions from the general public. Jiwoo always cared so much, tried to do his best to appeal to everyone despite that being impossible. Kayden had reluctantly agreed with him, meeting up with some renewed critics every third month, listening to what they had to say. Usually Jiwoo also took care of these meetings, since Kayden “took things too personal”. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t just sit there and listen to some bullshit critics sprout shit about his apprentice’s book. Especially when most of the time, their feedback was not constructive and they just complained about nitpicky things such as small details and meaningless grammar.
Before that, however, he is supposed to meet up with Iseul from the art department. They have a cover drawn out for the world academy arc, also known at the third book of ELeceed, and although Kayden has already seen it over email he wants to see it in person before approving it as an official design.
Twenty minutes pass, and soon Kayden is sitting at the company’s office as Iseul enters through the glass door with a few papers in hand. Her dog, Duri, follows her, as a service dog would. She nods at Kayden, obviously nervous as she always is when they meet and then she sits down. Kayden can tell she is confused over the fact that Jiwoo is not here to approve the cover, but doesn’t ask Kayden about it. Duri sits by her, visibly calming her down as Kayden flips through the concept art before getting to the cover.
It is a wonderful piece, beautiful lighting covering the sides of the book and the darkly intimidating cover fitting the theme of the world-academy arc perfectly. In the front, there is a beautifully drawn hand with lighting coming out of it, eyes glowing in the distance and an almost purplish shine hiding within the book's darkest hues. It is beautiful, truly.
It would have been easier to just go cheap and draw the main character on the cover, or something simpler, but Jiwoo had personally requested that they refrain from depicting the main character anywhere in the book.
“There are descriptions in the book, of course, but I think that it’s a lot more lovely for the reader to imagine the main character as they want him to look!” Kayden remembers Jiwoo excitedly telling him about it at one of their meetings. First, Kayden had needed a bit of convincing, but inevitably he agreed. Damn Jiwoo and his puppy eyes.
Now, as Kayden looks at the cover, he can’t help but to agree with Jiwoo. The book is a lot more mysterious this way, and doesn’t restrict anyone if they want to imagine the main character as someone else.
“It’s acceptable. You did a good job.” Kayden nods as he hands the art back to Iseul, watching her visibly relax at Kayden’s approval.
“Thank you, sir. Some artists wanted to make art with the main character, but personally I prefer this kind of cover. The author is really amazing, to have written such a good book, and it is truly an honor to be a part of the making of it.” Kayden nods at her words, getting up from his seat. This meeting has gone by pleasantly enough, but the next meeting he has is with a few co-editors who tend to be annoying. Jiwoo is good friends with them, but Kayden never saw the appeal of hanging out around loud people with no sense of manners.
Just as Kayden is about to walk out of the office, he remembers something he wanted to ask before leaving.
“Oh Iseul, how do you find the dialogue in the last chapters of the second book?” He would have asked her about the third book's chapters, but naturally she hasn’t seen them.
“The last chapters? Well, I don’t remember anything peculiar about them, they were well written and absolutely fantastic of course but that’s not out of the ordinary with Eleceed.” She scratches Duri on the head, deep in thought. Kayden nods and is almost out of the door when Iseul interrupts him.
“Oh! Actually, now that I think about it, some of the lines in that book seemed… Deeper. Somber, almost as if the characters sometimes sobered up to something bigger than the reality they were in. I didn’t think of it as strange though, since things seemed very serious with the main character’s injury and all that.” Kayden nods, Iseul bows her head and he walks out of the office.
Next, Kayden is headed to a meeting with some co-writers and last minute editors. They reside at the publishing company, and Kayden has met them all before. They are Jiwoo’s good friends, often visiting him about things that are not work related. Kayden was annoyed by their presence at first, but as they started visiting more frequently and Jiwoo seemed to be happier with them around, he buried his dislike for them deep in his chest. With time, they grew on him, and now it doesn’t even feel like too much of a bother to see them. Most of the time anyway, but today has been strangely irritating. It might be because Jiwoo is not around to calm his irritation, but he refuses to acknowledge that as a valid reason for his discomfort.
Kayden walks into another office, this one a lot less clean and organized. As it is a multi-publishing company, this company works with many works and not just Eleceed, but Kayden can see that Eleceed still takes up quite a big part of the company. He sits down in one of the many bright red chairs, and waits for his business partners to show up.
“This is your fucking fault! We were gonna make it on time but, nooooo you just had to get your fucking coffee huh?” Kayden sighs as he hears arguing on the other side of the door, already feeling irritation bubble up.
“It’s not my fucking fault, if you weren’t so fucking slow then maybe we wouldn’t be late, Subin!”
“It’s not my fault, right Wooin?”
Kayden looks out of the window as he hears the three troublemakers enter the room, wreaking havoc, as god knows what papers fly around the office from their wild flailing.
“Sorry Jiwoo we totally were gonna come early but… Hey, where is Jiwoo?” Kayden looks up at Subin Lee, Jisuk Yoo and Wooin, where they stand in the entrance of the office.
“Sit down and maybe I can tell you”. Kayden doesn’t bother softening his tone, irritated with the sudden increase of energy from the trio. Subin and Jisuk flinch and start whispering after hearing him, seeingly not wanting to be alone in the room with Kayden, without Jiwoo to calm him down. Wooin, always the calm one, sits down. He seems to have realized he will only make things worse if he starts second guessing the meeting. Soon, even Subin and Jisuk sit down, albeit very nervously and Kayden thinks he can see Jisuk almost spill the coffee in his shaking hand. Kayden sighs and decides that he needs to get this done as fast as possible.
“So, what do you think of the new chapters? I got the last ones a week ago and sent them here a few days ago. The third book should be published in a week, how is that coming along?”
Subin and Jisuk glance at each other, as if silently communicating which one of them is going to talk to the scary Kayden Break. Wooin sighs, clearly done with his friends and hands Kayden a map with some documents as he starts talking.
“Everything is going as planned. The new chapters are great, especially with all the emotional stuff. We got everything sorted, and the book is going to be ready to publish in about five days. That gives us two days to prepare shipments and secure copyright.”
Kayden nods, they are not behind in schedule. Jisuk and Subin nod vigorously, Jisuk getting up and dragging a whiteboard to the front from the side of the office.
“So, anyway, like Wooin said we have everything under control but there is something us here at the company were wondering about.” Jisuk takes a blue marker as Subin gets up and grabs a green one. They start outlining some things, making up a list of characters and a few plot lines that Kayden easily recognizes from Eleceed.
“After talking things over with the rest of the team and sending some messages to Jiwoo to confirm some stuff, we thought that we would pinpoint some things.” Jisuk says with confidence, stretching coolly as if he wasn’t shaking just a few minutes ago. Subin grabs a stick and whacks Jisuk with it before starting on the list.
“So, everything is going great and we got the last chapter of arc three a few days ago, but there were some things we wanted to ask about. We were gonna ask Jiwoo, but he is not here today so I guess we'll just go over this list with you.”
“Yeah!” Jisuk, annoyed by Subin taking control of the presentation, butts in.
“We were wondering if Jiwoo is ever gonna write anything about the main character’s parents, stop that Jisuk I’m actually gonna kill you, they just kinda disappear after the beginning of the first arc. We would like to know if Jiwoo is planning to bring them back at some point?”
Kayden nods, struggling to keep himself from snapping as he watches Subin and Jisuk bicker whenever they’re not explaining the list.
“Jiwoo has not completely cleared that up with me, and quite frankly I’m not planning on asking him. If he does bring back the parents as a part of the cast, I’m sure he will be able to do it smoothly.” Kayden explains curtly, Subin and Jisuk nodding their heads as Wooin seems to ponder it for a while before agreeing as well.
After that, they go over some more things that the company requires, mostly legal stuff and a possible spin-off series later. Kayden answers accordingly and soon, the meeting is over. Subin and Jisuk seem beyond relieved the second the clock strikes six p.m, immediately running out of the office. Wooin, who at least has a bit of manners, bows to Kayden before exiting the office and going to join Subin and Jisuk for a coffee break. Before he leaves, he turns around and asks Kayden a question.
“How is Jiwoo?” It’s simple, it’s professional. It makes Kayden’s stomach turn.
“He is surviving.”
Wooin nods before heading out of the door without another word.
Kayden sighs, popping his knuckles before getting up and leaving the company via the coffee machine. He would like nothing more than to just go visit Jiwoo already, but he still has one last meeting before that. The damn critics.
Today, Kayden sees two people in the office when he walks in. They are having an intense conversation about something, pointing and keeping their eyes hooked on a few papers that Kayden recognizes as Eleceed’s pages when he takes a closer look. The critics don’t notice Kayden when he walks in, so he takes a few strides and sits down to see how long it takes for them to notice him.
Soon, he has been sitting there for five minutes and they have not looked up from the pages even once. Kayden gets it, he really does, but this kind of devotion is a bit extreme. Not even Jiwoo could sit and write without noticing him at all, and god knows that kid is not easily distracted. Otherwise he’d find it funny, hilarious even, but he has had a long day and he just wants to go visit Jiwoo already. These people haven’t even noticed him, they’ve just sat there and analyzed a single page for five minutes. Quite frankly, Kayden is just about to pick them both up by their necks and throw them out the window, never mind that they are currently on the second floor.
Instead, he buries his irritation and coughs a bit to alert them of his presence. As if woken up from a trance, the two men flinch and seem almost scared to find Kayden there, as if he hasn’t been sitting at that table for five minutes already. It’s blatantly obvious that these are the critics Jiwoo talks about meeting when he looks at them. They are middle-aged men, maybe 40 at best, and one of them is bald. The other one has a scruffy beard and glasses, and they’re dressed as if they actually are important. Kayden scoffs, to him they are pathetic. They get their life's money off of criticizing people more creative than them, nitpicking and analyzing to a point where no human being should have to think things.
Kayden wants to do nothing more than to walk out of this office, leave them behind and just go meet Jiwoo already. Jiwoo, with his sunshine smile and chaotic rambling. So many ideas inside that tiny head, ideas that Jiwoo just cannot be fast enough to get on paper. Kayden looks up at the balding men in front of him, men that have made a living by telling his kid he wasn’t enough, and Kayden thinks he feels a bit sick. He thinks of Jiwoo, all puppy eyes and begging him to meet up with the critics.
“It’s very important to me, Mr Kayden, and professional critics know better than to sugarcoat. Please Mr Kayden!”
Kayden swallows down his irritation.
“Let’s get this over with. So, you two have gotten the third book before its initial release, correct? Good. What do you think of it?“ Kayden doesn’t bother softening his tone, speaking shortly and maybe a bit more harshly than professional. The men scuffle around for a bit, taking notes in hand and the one with the ugly beard starts talking.
“Well, I read through the third book and it’s alright. There are no glaringly big issues, no giant plot holes although there are some things which I would like to point out.”
“Alright. Start doing that then.” Kayden is aware he’s acting like a brat, but he can't help it. His stomach ache is getting worse and something feels wrong and he just wants to see Jiwoo.
The one with the ugly beard starts talking, the other critic nodding along with what he says while Kayden is fighting the instinct to get up and pace around the room.
“... So we thought that might be worth taking a look at, there’s so many unanswered questions…” Kayden loses interest about two minutes after they’ve started talking, spacing out and not bothering to listen while the critics keep explaining some bullshit about paradoxes and possible future plot holes. Kayden glances at the clock, noting that there is still half an hour left of this meeting. Seriously, how does Jiwoo ever have the energy to listen to these people?
Kayden comes back to earth when he sees from the corner of his eye that one of the critics is pulling out a notebook. It seems to be quite empty, just a few notes here and there and some cut out lines that Kayden recognizes from the third book of Eleceed.
“As we now have established, there are no major problems with Eleceed that need immediate action, there is however something I noticed that I wanted to point out.” The man flips around the sides of the notebook, stopping at a page where there is a list of things and some bigger notes and cut outs. Kayden glances at the page, and a few words stand out to him.
“As critics we are aware that Eleceed, as a fantasy book, is not going to be very realistic in terms of things like world building and society as a whole. There is however something I’ve noticed since the first page of Eleceed I ever read.”
Kayden can now see that in this particular page the man has not only cut out dialogue of the third book, but also some one liners Kayden recognizes from the second book, even some from the first one. They have been put into one big list, almost like evidence for something. The man coughs a bit before he continues to talk.
“I’ve been following Eleceed since the start. I’ve always quite liked the series, despite my critical thinking often getting in the way of enjoying it fully. I have found that of all the media and other books, some things remain classic and Eleceed is one of those things. “
The man, who had been wildly flailing his hands around, seems to notice what he is doing and stops, laughing awkwardly before he keeps talking.
“Despite that, after reading the book I got a strange feeling from it. Not necessarily a bad one, mind you, just familiar. I realized that it was probably because Eleceed, while avoiding the worst of cliches, still has one in it.”
At this, Kayden perks up. He is aware that Eleceed possesses some minor cliches, but from the man’s description this sounds like something Kayden has not noticed before.
“Since the first major plot of Eleceed, I have always felt like the main character has had an easy way out. While he often gets into different kinds of trouble, most of the time he gets out of them easily enough and doesn’t have to suffer too much for his choices. Even in the major injury he suffered in the second book, the main character only has to suffer for a while before getting help.” Kayden nods, understanding the sentiment. He did worry about that in the beginning, but after a while he just accepted that if Jiwoo wanted to write a feel-good book then Kayden wasn’t going to protest.
“This doesn’t bother me much as it makes sense, but it has reminded me of some cliches that I've seen in quite a lot of works in my time. The main one being, that the main character…” The man takes a deep breath, preparing himself for a long explanation.
“... Doesn’t face many long term consequences. Although, I guess I am talking more about the first and second book when I say this. Obviously, he has to go through trouble and even torture to survive, but on the end he always survives and finds a way out. Again, I understand this since killing off a main character this early in a long series is pretty stupid. “ The critic closes his notebook, making eye contact with Kayden before continuing his monologue.
“ I guess what I’m trying to say is that the series can sometimes come off as wish fulfillment. The way the main character befriends people just like that and always gets better, and keeps smiling through the pain. I can appreciate a happy go-lucky character, but it seems strange considering how the rest of the world in Eleceed works. Don’t you think so?”
Kayden sits in his seat, not saying anything. The critics glance at the clock, noticing that their hour is up and leaving with deep bows to Kayden. Kayden doesn’t move for a while, he just sits in the chair and thinks about what he just heard. After a while, he jumps up from his seat and starts running towards the exit. If he rushes, he can make it in time for the last train to the hospital.
If he misses it, he will order a taxi. He needs to confront Jiwoo immediately. He needs to disprove the theory that has formed itself in his mind, he has to make sure that Eleceed is not hinting at what he thinks it is.
When Kayden bursts through the hospital entrance, it’s quiet and calm inside. It’s late and visiting hours are over, and additionally the ER is on the other side of the building. That means that the main entrance is devoid of patients. The only sign that the hospital is still open is the nurse typing away at the info counter and the yellow hospital lights lighting up the waiting room. There are only two people sitting in the waiting chairs. Kayden rushes to the counter.
“Oh! Hello Kayden! What brings you here so late, may I ask?” The nice lady who Kayden recognizes as one of the regular night-shift nurses smiles up at him from where she is seated at the desk.
”I need to see Jiwoo right now, it’s very urgent.” The lady at the desk shakes her head, seemingly lost in thought as she thinks it over.
“I understand that you want to see him, but visiting hours are over… Then again, I guess a businessman like you doesn’t have time to come in the middle of the day.” She looks down at the counter and starts quickly tapping away at her laptop, probably checking some documents and the latest updates on Jiwoo.
“I tried to arrive earlier, but I was originally supposed to meet him tomorrow. Please, this is very urgent, I beg you to let me see him.” Kayden is not the type of person to ask nicely, but his stomach is hurting and his head is aching and he misses Jiwoo and the weird dialogue is making sense now and Kayden hates it.
“Well, I guess I can let you pass. Jiwoo has been quite lonely lately, despite his friends checking in at times. Plus, I understand that you want to see him as much as possible.” The nurse looks up at Kayden pityingly, looking very sad. Kayden nods and starts heading to the hall on the right, not sparing the nurse another thought. He doesn’t need instructions, he has been in the hospital enough times to know his way there, even if he was blind. The fourth door on the third floor, next to the lobby where Jiwoo likes to eat his lunch whenever he is feeling well enough. None of the other lights in the halls are on, letting other patients sleep. Kayden already knows Jiwoo will not be sleeping.
As Kayden finally reaches the third floor, he nearly runs into someone in his hurry to see Jiwoo as fast as possible. Doctor Kartein, a renewed doctor who has been treating Jiwoo among many other patients, nearly drops the papers he is holding when Kayden hurls by him. Kartein scoffs, and abandons his documents in favor of grabbing Kayden’s shoulder tight and scolding him.
“ Just because you’re a regular visitor here doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want- my patients are sleeping, you better keep it down before I kick you out! And no running in the halls either, and-” Kartein is about to continue his monologue about safety when Kayden rudely pries off the hand from his shoulder and turns to Kartein, interrupting him.
“How is Jiwoo doing?” Kartein, in the middle of being offended, freezes as he registers Kayden’s question.
“Jiwoo is… Surviving. He still has energy to be a stubborn brat, so I’d say he’s doing alright.” Despite Kartein’s confident words, his right hand goes up to scratch his head, a nervous habit Kayden nowadays recognizes as a sign of lying. He hardens his gaze.
“No. Stop saying that, it’s not an answer. Tell me, how is Jiwoo doing? I don’t want to hear he’s doing ‘alright’, I want to hear facts.” Kayden had thought Kartein would be offended at Kayden’s tone, but instead of Kartein telling him to shut up with a shrill voice, Kayden is faced with silence. Kartein looks at him, gaze unsure for a while before he lets the mask drop and an expression of anguish and sadness falls upon Kartein’s face.
“I’m sorry, Kayden. I have tried hard, we all have, but I cannot figure out what is wrong with him. I’ve looked into every single possible illness, ruled out all cancers, and read every single article about mysterious diseases that are yet to be official but I just can’t find anything wrong. It’s not in his brain, it’s not in his cells and I have no idea where else it could be.”
Despite Kayden having expected those exact words, he still feels his heart crumble and his chest tighten at Kartein’s hopeless words. Jiwoo has suffered for so long, so many years and if not even one of the best doctors in the world can help him then who can? Who can make him better, can anyone even do that anymore? Kayden shakes his head, momentarily pushing away his thoughts.
“That still doesn’t answer the question. Kartein, Jiwoo has been affected by this disease for five years, how is his body holding up?”
“Kayden, you may have to consider that Jiwoo might never recover.”
“And I really think you should shut the fuck up and answer my question.”
Kartein looks at Kayden for a while, seemingly lost in thought. Kartein looks sad, white jacket hanging off of his shoulders. It’s clean, wiped free from blood but Kayden knows better than to be fooled by the clean fabric. A lot of blood has stained that jacket, and he knows that at least a part of that blood has been Jiwoo’s.
“His body is giving up. His brain is still working but other organs, such as his kidneys and even heart, have started weakening. Last week, he had a seizure and his left lung stopped working completely. We got it somewhat fixed, but it’s gotten to the point where he needs constant monitoring and machines to keep his organs working. “
Kayden thinks he can feel the world crumble around him, crashing into rumbles, taking a hold of him from the inside and pulling him down. He feels sick, like he needs to throw up but Kartein just keeps talking.
“His organs were going strong until last year. The first time his kidney stopped working was 14 months ago, and after that it’s just been getting worse. No medication is working, we considered chemotherapy but since we have confirmed he doesn’t have cancer it most likely would not even work. I’m sorry, I really thought I could help your friend but he keeps getting worse and there is absolutely nothing I can do. I’m sorry, Kayden. I’ve done my best, the rest is out of my hands.”
Kayden can feel that uncomfortable feeling in his stomach growing, making a bottomless pit inside him. A hole, slowly sucking up everything in him. He pushes it away and forces himself to keep working for just a while longer. Just a few minutes, and he can go see Jiwoo and feel it all drain away. Just a little bit longer.
“This started a year ago? A year! Why in god’s name would you not have told me about this, Jiwoo’s fucking life has been on the line for a fucking year and I’m finding out about it now?” Kayden can’t help it, his feelings bottle up and he shouts in Kartein’s face. Fourteen months, fourteen months ago his friend, his kid, has been slowly dying and no one thought it was important to tell him. Kartein seems to hesitate for a minute before sighing and looking into Kayden’s empty, furious eyes.
“Jiwoo requested that we not tell you. He knows you have a lot on your plate right now and did not want you to waste your time worrying about him. I wanted to tell you because as much as you annoy me, you deserve to know. However, Jiwoo insisted we keep it secret, he said he’d refuse treatment if I told you. “
Kayden doesn’t know what to think. He is confused, he is furious and he feels betrayed and devastated and worried and his stomach is hurting and he thinks he might throw up and he needs to see Jiwoo.
“Kayden, I don’t think he’s going to make it through this month.”
He needs to see Jiwoo.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
He needs to see Jiwoo.
Kayden can hear Kartein calling out to him, but he keeps walking. He is so close, just a few more steps and he can see Jiwoo. He feels like his legs are spaghetti and the floor is moving underneath his feet but the only way to go is forward. He feels the doorknob underneath his hand-
Jiwoo is sitting on his bed, admiring the world outside of his window. It’s been awhile since he was outside, his heavy medication preventing him from leaving his room most days. He looks at the pages spread out on his bed, hundreds of chapters in a messy pile. He admires his work, considers how long it took for him to get here and now it’s finally done. The last chapter of Eleceed lays neatly on the top of the pile on his bed. After about ten years of writing, his life's work is finished. He can’t wait to show it all to Kayden-
Kayden bursts through the door, accidentally knocking over a small table next to it. He slams the door behind him, not bothering to lift the table from the ground before stumbling over to where Jiwoo is sitting on his bed. Jiwoo looks up from where he was checking some papers on his bed, bewildered to find a distressed looking Kayden tumble over to him. Before a word can be said, Jiwoo can feel himself getting hugged, Kayden’s arms wrapping around him tight. He panics for a second, worried about how Kayden is going to feel how malnourished he has become due to his disease but all of his thoughts evaporate when he notices just tightly Kayden is holding him. Jiwoo opens his arms and holds Kayden back, as tightly as he can in his weakened state.
“Kayden! I was just about to go to bed, I didn’t think you’d visit me today. How are you?” Jiwoo speaks happily, trying to remain positive despite Kayden’s strange behavior keeping him on his toes. Kayden stays silent and holds Jiwoo tighter.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kayden doesn’t explain further, he doesn’t need to. Jiwoo knows exactly what he’s talking about. Jiwoo pushes away from the hug and places his hands on Kayden’s shoulders while looking straight into his eyes. Jiwoo smiles, sadly, as he watches a lone tear drop down Kayden’s cheek. He raises his hand, wiping away the tear with the white sleeve of his hospital gown.
“I didn’t want you to worry, Mr Kayden. I know you have a lot to do, not only with Eleceed but your own books as well. I guess fame doesn’t come easily, huh?” Jiwoo chuckles, unaware of Kayden’s inner turmoil.
“I could have… Done something! Jiwoo, how long would you have kept this from me, until you were dead?” Jiwoo just shakes his head sadly, keeping his eyes trained on Kayden’s face.
“None of that matters. Plus, you know now, don’t you? And I’m not dead.”
“Just dying, is that what you’re saying?”
“I guess.”
They sit there, embracing on Jiwoo’s small hospital bed as Kayden tries to muffle his sobs. Jiwoo doesn’t say anything, just keeps holding Kayden. After a while, they settle down, Kayden grabbing a chair and sitting down next to the bed, so he can still remain close to Jiwoo. Jiwoo takes all the pages on the bed, now spread out from Kayden’s little outburst, and sorts through them. He checks their order before giving them to Kayden. Kayden takes them, not knowing what they are until he starts reading through them, noticing these are all pages from Eleceed. He browses through them, stopping bewildered at the last page. It’s half filled, final sentences and goodbyes and Kayden notices a small text at the bottom of the page. Fin. The end.
“Jiwoo- What is this? I thought you said finishing Eleceed would take you years but you’ve already written all of it.” He looks up at Jiwoo, confused as he browses through them again. He’ll take closer looks at them later, for now he’s just confused over how quickly Jiwoo got them all done.
“I thought it would take me years. However, when I got my results and my organs stopped working last year…I decided I would work harder than ever and finish Eleceed faster than anticipated. It can have some small mistakes due to the speed I was writing at, but it’s all there. I expect you to be able to edit it to make it just right.” Jiwoo laughs, as if he didn’t just expose just how bad the situation was.
Kayden feels empty, he looks at the pages and thinks about the fear Jiwoo must have felt to write so much within so little time. The poor kid must have been terrified, working his ass off in a hurry to finish writing before his expiration date arrived.
“The latest chapter I sent you is actually the one I wrote immediately after my liver failed the first time, heh.”
Ah.
The dialogue makes sense then.
“Kartein says it's impossible even for him.”
“My friends put everything into it,
I want to do the same just like them.”
Huh. So that’s why there was something familiar about it then.
“Jiwoo, the critics I met up with today said something about your book.”’
“Well yes, Kayden, that is kind of what I hired them for.”
“Don’t snark me now, kid. They said that while it’s minor, there is a cliche in it.”
“Oh? I tried my best to avoid cliches, just like you said. I guess one must have slipped my mind. Anyway, which cliche was it?”
“They called Eleceed wish fulfillment.”
“Ah. I understand. I guess they’re right.” Jiwoo looks out the window wistfully.
“ I must unconsciously have made it too easy for the main character, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say it like that, Jiwoo, he faces plenty of troubles, he just gets out of them easily.”
“Hmm. You know, I think I know why I did it.”
“Why?”
“My own life is quite difficult at the moment, perhaps I self reflected on how I wished things could have been. Do you remember the first line of dialogue in one of the latest chapters I sent you?”
“Are you afraid?”
“The one about fear? Yes, I remember it.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I lied. I’m scared, Mr Kayden.”
Kayden looks at Jiwoo, finds tears streaming down his pale cheeks.
“I know, kid. I know. But maybe, someday, things are going to be okay again.”
It is a lie, a pretty one at that. They choose to believe it all the same.