Bab 2: Life of an Editor 1

[CloverNine: Thank you for being my editor for almost three years. (Grinning Squinting Face Emoji.) I know you hate this work, and I always discarded your suggestions, but without you, the quality of every chapter might be a mess.

Readers would not have reached this far without your contribution. So thank you for staying with me and for the story to maintain the same quality! (Loudly Crying Face Emoji.)]

I rolled my eyes, breaking the reading for a moment.

I accidentally landed my gaze on the clock on the wall. It's three o'clock a.m. right now.

I didn't know I spent this much time. I usually only stay at eleven p.m. as I'm afraid to break my sleeping schedule, so I always avoid it at all costs.

But now… here I am. I'm not even aware of the passage of time, still not intending to sleep, desiring to finish reading the wall of text my employer sent to me.

I focused on the screen of my laptop again and continued to read.

[CloverNine: 2 million words, and three years of constantly uploading it every day. Although I am now rich from a novel you deem rubbish, I don't intend to finish it.]

My eyes widened, and I was frozen for a moment. My mind seemed to stop working for a while, and when I finally understood what he messaged, I muttered in disbelief:

"Is he crazy?! It should end that way! The main character has finally become the new Emperor after killing the last villain that almost killed humanity.

Now, he is intending to continue it? If I'm not wrong, it should be the same Main Character, so who will be the villain? What about the WorldBuilding? Don't tell me he wants to travel the Main Character to the universe, fighting celestials and alike? Or a sci-fi world-building?"

When I contemplated the possibility, I was amused and suddenly changed my mind. It was indeed interesting if his plot would proceed the way I wanted, but then again…

Just a single suggestion of mine, he would not listen at all!

He always acted like a child.

So even if I suggest it, I'm confident he would remain stubborn to the already pre-existing plan he had.

As expected, when I read the further context.

[CloverNine: I want to introduce the possible enemy I foreshadowed. They still live in the same world together with Arthur. If you don't even have any idea about their existence, does that mean you finally approve of my writing talent?]

I knitted my eyebrows, ignoring the last part of the second sentence, and focused on the existence he said that he foreshadowed in the story.

I fell into deep contemplation and halted to read for a while.

From what I recall, regarding his world-building, the highest existence he mentioned was a magus and nothing else. They were at the peak of existence, and that's exactly what the Main Character attained, worthy of being an Emperor acknowledged even by other magus.

But…

Hmm…

He, indeed, mentioned the other name of magus, Transcendent. Transcendent…

My eyes widened and twinkled.

That's right! He mentioned that the reclusive but powerful people consisted of Major yet hidden figures.

It was interesting when their existence was revealed at first, but after a thousand chapters, they were forgotten and remained a mystery to readers and even me.

I frowned again. The main character did not join them, though, does that mean he would join them eventually, and then conflict arises in the circle? That's unlikely since it would be bland and uninteresting, even if they would become his enemy.

But the author was what I'm talking about. Just what he messaged earlier about his novel I deemed as rubbish was already being kind of me.

In my perspective, it was a fact. The plot was simple and felt like it lacked creativity, but it strangely gained popularity and even ascended to the Top 3 ranking.

What's worse! It remained in the Top 1 for a month straight!

But then again, who am I to judge?

In web novels, the golden three chapters are extremely important.

I don't know if it was luck or not, but the three chapters of his novel captured the reader's desire to read more. It gained sympathy and empathy from the readers.

If I'm, to be honest, with hundreds of works I edited, I felt his novel was not worth its current position.

Among the hundreds of works I worked with, with most of them being dropped from the lack of popularity, I would confidently judge it was not the best, while some of the dropped ones must be the gems the readers neglected.

Still, when I read the last chapter, I admit that the novel was fine for me. At least better than those novels being dropped.

But if he wants to proceed with the same generic plot again, relying on his talent in drawing the reader's emotion, I may not accept the invitation to remain as an editor.

But before I would declare it to him, and I don't know his plan yet, I decided to continue reading the message.

[CloverNine: I know you are already tired of being my editor. From what I heard, editors usually suggested many ideas aside from editing the writing. They also gave criticism… harsh ones like you. But I want to hire you as an editor to continue the novel.

Wait!

Don't stop reading this yet. I'm so confident you will like the benefits I'm about to offer if you decide to continue working for me. The four hundred U.S. dollars perhaps not sufficient to buy your wants, right? Why don't I increase it to two… no, three times!]

My eyes reflected money… no, the last two words. Of course, there was still another context, but I don't want to proceed yet. I'm tempted by his offer right now.

After all, he was correct. If it was not because I don't have responsibility aside from meeting my needs, I would have to work extra time editing other web novels right now.

I always spent my time in this little room: eating, sleeping, editing, and even barely cleansing my fatty body.

I'm already thirty years old, yet I'm still single.

Who cares about marrying a woman anyway? With the dog as my best friend, giving him extra of what I ate, my emotions would remain stable.

Hence, why I'm drooling right now, tempted to accept the offer, but it was strange. Why would he increase my earnings three times just to be his editor?

Even though I'm a bit skeptical, it's money anyway, so I will accept it as long as it's not illegal. Well, even if he writes smut, with how popular and dominant the lewd genre was, I'm fine with it.

But there would be no involvement of smut, right? I wonder how he would fight against them If his previous novel was not into that.

Hell, it was not even a romance aside from romance interest, except for bluntly giving the Emperor thousands of concubines.

Therefore, it would be natural for me to be doubtful.

I wanted to reply, but there was still another context. It seemed like the author messaged everything and was taking no for an answer.

[CloverNine: Of course, there's a twist, but it will be no fun if I say it, right? I want you to find it out by becoming my editor, so do you agree?]

Then the wall of text ended. I furrowed my eyebrows at his question.

What does he mean by a twist? Was there even a twist in being an editor? Don't tell me I'm not only editing his new work but others as well, like essays or for educational purposes.

I always felt like the author was still a kid, so it made me think that way.

Well, never mind. It's not like I don't know how to edit anyway. On the contrary, I'm editing his paragraph, fixing grammatical errors, etcetera.

I moved my eyes and glanced at his profile.

He is online.

I read his message that he sent half an hour ago and only read it now since I was busy editing the epilogue, yet it seemed he was still waiting for my reply.

So I placed both of my hands on the keyboard and was then in a daze, contemplating my response.

Should I be direct and say yes? Or should I clarify things first?

But from the looks of it, he might not answer my question anyway.

So I pressed different keys on my keyboard, resonating as the only noise in my quiet, dim room.

[Eddie Hamilton: Sure, why not? But don't expect me to give suggestions. Well… this will be the last time. Stop using the generic plot, okay? I don't care how talented you are in character design, but the plot is also important, so stop making it simple and predictable!]

I pressed the enter with a scowling face. I expressed what I wanted to convey, so it's up to him if he will listen to me.

The three bubbles appeared, indicating the other was replying. Now, I'm intrigued by his response.

[CloverNine: Umm… Actually. Hmm… should I say the twist now? I guess you only have to know you will not regret this decision. Well, I hope so.]

It was a strange response, and I was so curious about the twist that it irritated me.

For some reason, a sense of foreboding appears.

Was my decision wrong?

I doubted myself and regretted it. I feel like I fell into the trap.

But the temptation of money was so strong, so it was difficult to fight against it, to begin with.

Well, there's no use regretting it now. As long as I can live and maybe… find the best woman for me even if I reach sixty, it will be fine.

It will be fine…

These were the words I regretted…

[CloverNine: Well, before we start our collaboration, can you click on this image?

Magicricle.jpeg.]

Without hesitation, I clicked on it.

Then, a massive convoluted runic circle appeared.

I recognized it, well, all of us would be, as avid readers of fiction stories.

It was a magic circle, no doubt.

But why, as I continue staring at it, my mind wobbles?

Before I knew it, my vision turned black, my head collided with the laptop, and I passed out.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a different place…

A/N: Welcome aboard. I'm pretty sure that most of you have read entrail's story, The Author's POV. However, this project had been commenced less than a year ago and has been slowly shaped into a novel where I wanted it to proceed. In fact, this novel had been inspired by the Novel's Extra Author's other work. I can't remember it, but there was a Villain about it. Only now I read entrail's works and it's good. Though, don't expect a similarity. This is only a clarification, XD.

Thank you for wasting your time about my babbling, and now to continue... Unto the next chapter!