If we adopt the late 20th-century rationalist attitude of trying to make sense of foolish problems, there’s a reason behind every bit of stupidity.

Most people aren’t as dumb as we imagine.

Every value we can’t seem to understand “common sense”-wise, every ridiculous prejudice has a reason behind it. It’s just that those reasons are formed in localized and personal contexts, which is why we can’t recognize them.

For example.

If the ordinary folks who see reading as a “noble and academic hobby” are considered “common sense” people, then those who regard reading as an “addictive and harmful pastime” might seem like foolish ones.

Yep, that’s me.

I was an utterly stupid person with no excuses.

– “Cheers, senior!”
– “Yeah, cheers.”
– “You don’t read while at the butcher shop either, do you?”
– “The grease doesn’t come off, and the paper will smell like it too.”
– “I figured that’s why…. Ah, but I was surprised earlier!”
– “Surprised? About what?”
– “I didn’t expect you to call reading a harmful hobby. You absolutely hate the book naysayers!”
– “Well, if it’s harmful, doesn’t that also suggest some usefulness? You know what they say, every medicine is poison when overdosed, and if it doesn’t do a thing, it’s neither harmful nor helpful.”
– “Oh, I see your point.”
– “Reading is like a drug. It’s all about how you use it. Storytelling is the most effective way to shove thoughts, values, empathy, and disgust into someone’s mind. Do it enough times, and most end up being either extreme optimists or pessimists. Your argument is valid, and so is theirs. So what?”
– “You seem really cynical today…”
– “Not really. I rambled and got a bit rough around the edges, but anyway, the point is people live outside of books. Don’t waste your precious time in life by getting too absorbed in reading.”
– “That sounded kinda old-man-ish.”
– “Well, I am an old man, aren’t I? That’s just solid advice! Back in my day, huh?”
– “Are you tipsy?”
– “Just a tad?”

In that sense, “book lovers” who waste valuable time reading and “book haters” who haven’t cracked open a book share a common social context.

Both recognize that reading is useless.

Reading is a hobby that provides no real, direct benefits. You might learn something, sure, but there are plenty who end up more biased and prejudiced due to reading. So the benefits of reading are rather niche and depend solely on one’s personal and social context.

If one were to simplistically declare ‘reading is beneficial.’

Now, that would pretty much be justifying the ego of someone who’s read a book, wouldn’t it? So, despite being an avid reader and shuddering at the theory of reading being pointless… it is a futile hobby.

And.

A book addict claims that such futility is valuable because it’s “eternal.”

While a book hater argues such uselessness is just “old” and thus worthless.

So how does the “dumb” reader react?

– “Honestly… I can’t wrap my head around the shorts and reels that these young folks are into these days. I mean, what good can come from a 30-second video? What’s there to even contemplate?”
– “Senior, there’s not that much of an age gap between us.”
– “Hey! When I got out of the army, you were in middle school!”
– “Saying it like that, it’s hard to feel the difference…”
– “When you were cramming for the SATs, I was a senior returning to school.”
– “Wow, now that hits home…”

To dismiss someone’s logic, you’d cast their cherished values aside as invalid.

In this instance, it would focus on “newness.”

Efficiency, speed, videos, shorts, reels, YouTube, influencers, social media, mukbangs, memes, modern philosophers masquerading as influencers selling books online—no, that’s just my personal pet peeve.

Anyway.

After winning a little mental victory, you scorn the values others uphold, and suddenly, bingo! You fall into self-loathing. Clearly, that’s not the right mindset for someone who enjoys “thoughtful hobbies.” There’s no contemplation in mental nearly-pats-on-the-back and confirmation bias. What’s lurking there is just an anxiety to find affirmation and bias against deeper thoughts.

– “Whatever. People live outside of books. They go for walks, watch trendy TV shows, comment on shorts— isn’t that a more human experience? If I say, ‘Yesterday, I read Jiang Kang-ming’s work, “Gummi, or How You Remember the World,”’ how many would even get that? Most wouldn’t even know who Jiang Kang-ming is. If I envy Japanese folks living during Haruki’s time, what do you think they’ll say? They’ll call me a Japanophile. Ha ha…”
– “You really are drunk.”
– “Oh, my dear junior… I’m terrified. That no one reads… that people consider it normal… that literature isn’t going to be timeless anymore… that Don Quixote will just be remembered as a madman chasing windmills, and the Bible becoming merely a tool for religion… it scares me to think we’re heading toward a time when nobody reads at all…”
– “Senior…?”
– “If I’m more worried about the fact that 6 out of 10 adults read zero books compared to South Korea’s fertility dropping to 0.7, does that make me not a proper human being?”
– “…….”
– “Literature isn’t ‘pop culture’ anymore…”

Yeah.

In a past life, I probably wished for something.

I wished for a world where classics weren’t treated as “old.” I wished for timeless, universal literature to be acknowledged by people.

But that was a dream too far-fetched.

People were outside the books, and no matter how hard I tried to wish otherwise, people—like me, who loathe people outside the books—would insistently work hard to do what they considered ‘beneficial.’

Humans can carry on without literature.

Even without fairy tale books, they can groom creativity with Pinkfong, Pororo, and Secret Juju. Without delving into classics, they find useful knowledge from YouTube, shorts, and Wikipedia. You don’t need to read “A Christmas Carol” to enjoy Christmas. You don’t need to read “The Sorrows of Young Werther” to contemplate suicide. You don’t need to indulge in “The Little Prince” to reminisce about childhood. You don’t need “Alice in Wonderland” to dream.

Literature makes ignorance scandalous. Social media, shorts, influencers, internet communities, Naver News comments, hate groups, human rights organizations… everything in today’s perplexingly intertwined reality becomes scandalous.

Thus, literature truly ended up being pointless.

I was terrified of that reality. Living in such a world scared me. Accepting the truth that literature is useless was hard to handle, so I sought refuge in literature.

Like the drunk in “The Little Prince” who drinks to forget his own drinking.

Like a drug addict, I plunged deeper into literature.

– “Ugh…. damn all of Korea’s literature…. f* the fixed book price system….”
– “Senior.”
– “Ugh.”
– “So, are you content?”
– “What?”
– “You’re living in the world you longed for so much right now.”
– “What do you mean…?”

And.

I woke up from a dream.

“—Ugh! Uh, where did the dream start from?”

“Young Master, are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. Sion, there you are. …What were you doing?”

“You were sweating in your sleep, so I was watching over you to make sure you didn’t get worse. It seems you had a nightmare.”

“Uh-huh. Yeah, that happens.”

Nightmares. I often have them. I frequently relive those childhood nightmares of being reincarnated into this world, where I couldn’t do anything but cry.

However, the nightmare I had just now felt different from my usual ones.

It related to a past that seemed longer ago, and at the same time, it hinted at a future that might eventually arrive in this world.

My head felt heavy. I tried to read a book, but I couldn’t even turn a single page before I put it down again.

“…Sion.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“I think I need to take a walk. Get ready.”

“Yes.”

In the end, there was only one remedy for my heavy head.

I needed to step outside and get some fresh air.

.

.

.

The nighttime streets of the imperial capital were peaceful. Lanterns kept lit by magic and incandescent bulbs illuminated the streets, and despite the late hour, a few people rushed off somewhere.

Even in an era where knives and guns posed threats at any moment.

It’s not that the people here are inherently better than those from past lives. Of course, there’s some reason for that, but—

Rather.

There was a clearer reason.

“Zion.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Isn’t the capital eerily quiet?”

“…….”

If there were hardly any beggars in a society, a positive person might think, “Ah! Our society is healthy and splendid; we don’t have a single beggar!”

Someone with a twisted mindset might think otherwise.

“Oh no! We live in an oppressive society that either drives beggars away or locks them up! How come we see not a single beggar on the streets when the statistics show that poverty is on the rise every year?”

And.

I was someone with a thoroughly tangled thought process.

.

.

.

[“I could have been crucified for the sake of humanity if needed. However, I’m the kind of person who can’t live for two days in the same room as someone else. Just having another person nearby makes me uncomfortable. After one day, I start hating them. One person takes too long at dinner, while another has a cold and keeps sniffling. But the more I personally despise humans, the more I tend to love humanity.”]

[“I love humanity, but I often find myself in the contradiction that loving humanity as a whole makes me love individual humans less.”]