LGHTNOVELBOOK 33
On the Matter of Misunderstanding the Creator’s Intent
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WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r
Anyone wanna ship Satin??
5:31 PM · October 4, 20XX · Twitter for Web App
♡ 1 Like
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
Replying to @notwa_t_e_r
Anyone wanna ship Satin with me in Dark Age???
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
Seriously, no one???
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
No one AT ALL?????
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
Is this even a country???
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WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r
Yesss, off work!!!!11!
6:02 PM · October 4, 20XX · Twitter for Web App
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r
My little sibling’s making sundubu-jjigae for dinner tonight.
Freaking love it.
6:07 PM · October 4, 20XX · Twitter for Android
♡ 1 Like
***
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 4
Replying to @notwa_t_e_r
Lucky you. Your sibling always cooks for you.
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
Yeah, my sibling’s seriously the sweetest.
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 4
If it was a little sister, think she’d be into Satin too? LOL
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
Doubt it ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
He says Dark Age is boring ㅜㅜㅠㅠ
He’s a total cider-pass** type ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Says life’s already hard enough, why suffer through a drama-fest show like that ㅠㅠ
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 4
LOLOLOLOL
Cider-pass folks should all perish!!!
WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r · October 4
If I can get him to ship Satin, I’ll spare all the cider-pass people…
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WaterIsCarbs @notwa_t_e_r
My bus is almost here.
Gotta grab some ice cream.
6:43 PM · October 4, 20XX · Twitter for Android
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JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 8
Has WaterSam been super busy lately?
11:03 PM · October 8, 20XX · Twitter for iPhone
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HappyCanOpener (Currently Watching Dark Age) @unhappyopener · October 8
Replying to @human_or_hurom
They’re not even responding to DMs.
No new posts on Portal either.
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 8
Living that peak salaryman life, maybe.
HappyCanOpener (Currently Watching Dark Age) @unhappyopener · October 8
LOLololol TT
I actually stopped reading that fic on Portal.
Sigh… WaterSam is just so damn good…
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 8
Which one?
HappyCanOpener (Currently Watching Dark Age) @unhappyopener · October 8
The Cain x Satin past-AU one.
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 8
Oh I think I read that too! What was the plot again?
HappyCanOpener (Currently Watching Dark Age) @unhappyopener · October 8
It’s set in the past—Satin saves Cain, dies, and Cain goes dark from grief.
JuicedLife @human_or_hurom · October 8
YES, I totally read that one LOL
Wasn’t it the one where everyone thought Satin was dead but he’d actually survived with memory loss, then he reunites with Cain?
HappyCanOpener (Currently Watching Dark Age) @unhappyopener · October 8
Yup, that’s the one.
WaterSam swore they were gonna slap on the NSFW tag, but now they’ve ghosted us ㅜㅜㅜㅜ
♡ 1 Like
***
“Satin, are you inside?”
Satin heard someone calling from outside as he was rinsing a dishcloth. He dried his hands and stepped out to find a villager holding a pot. When he asked what brought them here, the villager held out the pot.
“Your grandfather’s been sick and hasn’t been able to work, right? I brought you something so you won’t go hungry.”
“You didn’t have to… Thank you.”
“You really are something else.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Living with an old man suffering from dementia isn’t easy. It’s admirable, really.”
“Haha…”
Satin gave an awkward laugh at the praise. It felt strange being complimented for something he wasn’t doing out of kindness.
‘So this is the kind of story I’m in, huh.’
Of course, there was no way the villager could know what he was really thinking.
“Anyway, just boil this down thoroughly and it’ll be good to eat. Is your grandfather doing any better?”
“Yes, I think it was just a cold.”
“That’s a relief. You take care of your health too.”
“I will.”
After the kind neighbor left, Satin returned inside. He set the pot beside the fireplace and was about to finish rinsing the dishcloth when his grandfather, lying down, suddenly called out to him.
“Sa…tin…”
Satin wiped his hands on his apron and left the kitchen, approaching his grandfather’s bed.
“What is it, Grandpa? Are you feeling unwell?”
“Satin…”
His grandfather’s cloudy gaze wasn’t even directed at him. He seemed to be staring into space, not really calling Satin so much as muttering to himself. It was the only thing he could say anymore.
Satin returned to the kitchen and continued washing the cloth.
‘Maybe it’s not dementia—what if it’s brain damage?’
Everyone in the village insisted it was dementia, but Satin had his doubts. Though he’d never met anyone with dementia in person, he knew enough about it from TV.
Acting out of character, throwing tantrums over nonsense, forgetting recent events—dementia made people seem like shadows of their former selves. Then, as if nothing had happened, they’d snap back to normal.
But his grandfather didn’t show any of that. All he ever did was drool blankly all day or call Satin’s name in that muddled voice. He wasn’t getting worse, but he wasn’t improving either.
‘No matter how I look at it, this isn’t dementia.’
***
It had been almost four years since Satin arrived here—this world. The memory of that moment was still vivid.
Back then, ㅇㅇ had been sunk deep in grief when a feathered being that called itself an angel appeared out of nowhere. It claimed ㅇㅇ’s older sister had accumulated so much virtue that it had come to pass on her merits.
ㅇㅇ had begged to be taken into the story his sister had written. The feathered being granted his wish. Whether it was a real angel or not, it was undeniably a powerful being.
When ㅇㅇ opened his eyes again, he was in a dimly lit cave. Since it was a novel written by his sister, he’d expected something beautiful and hopeful—so the shock was jarring. Where am I? But there was no answer to that question.
He squinted into the darkness, searching his surroundings, and spotted an old man. “Spotted” wasn’t quite right—he tripped over something and, upon feeling it, realized it was a person.
At the time, he hadn’t even known it was an old man. He just thought it was someone unconscious. He tried to wake him by slapping his cheeks, and only then realized the person was elderly.
He had no idea what was going on, but he couldn’t just leave an unconscious old man behind. His sister would’ve been horrified if he did.
She was already gone, of course—but her teachings still lived deep in his heart.
ㅇㅇ hoisted the old man onto his back and walked. More than once during that day-long trek, he was tempted to just drop him and move on. But he grit his teeth and endured with a patience he hadn’t known he had.
He didn’t know how to navigate in the pitch-dark cave. Whenever a faint breeze stirred, he followed its direction.
He walked like that for what felt like forever. Just when he began to wonder if this was all a dream and not a journey into a novel at all, he saw light.
The cave connected to a dried-up channel. The exit was blocked by rusted iron bars, but they were so brittle that they crumbled with just a touch.
When he stepped outside, he realized he hadn’t been in a cave—it had been an old aqueduct. Judging by the broken bars and the dry floor, it hadn’t been used in a long time. It reminded him of scenes from post-apocalyptic films.
He rested for a bit at the exit, then started walking again. He figured if he kept moving, he’d eventually find a village or something.
If there was an aqueduct, that meant people had lived nearby. Unless the area had been completely wiped out by some massive natural disaster, there was a good chance people still lived here.
Sure enough, before long, ㅇㅇ stumbled upon a small cabin. It didn’t have a fence and was pretty shabby, but it wasn’t falling apart.
“Hello?”
His voice was hoarse from exhaustion as he knocked on the door. No one answered. He tried the handle just in case, and it turned. He figured the owner might come back and be surprised, but he was too tired to care—it didn’t even register that he was trespassing.
The old man on his back mumbled in a slurred voice.
“Sa…tin…”
By then, ㅇㅇ had already suspected the old man wasn’t in his right mind.
During the trip, the man had occasionally muttered nonsense, and when ㅇㅇ tried to talk to him, he didn’t respond. His gaze was unfocused and his movements sluggish.
“Just lie down for a bit.”
ㅇㅇ gently laid the unresponsive old man on the bed and explored the cabin. The kitchen, like the rest of the place, was run-down, but there was an old-style water pump.
He pressed the pump a few times with his palm, and water trickled out. He gulped it down and then cupped his hands to feed the old man. The man drank quietly, without protest—he was probably parched.
“I don’t think anyone’s living here anymore, Grandpa.”
“Sa…tin…”
Leaving the mumbling man be, ㅇㅇ searched the cabin more thoroughly.
There were no blankets or pillows on the bed, and nothing in the kitchen either. It was clearly abandoned. But the lack of cobwebs or heavy dust suggested the place hadn’t been deserted for long.
“I should go out and try to find a village.”
Note:
**Cider-pass type refers to someone who prefers only “cider”-type stories (where characters get swift, cathartic justice or revenge, and the story is fast-paced and clear-cut). Cider-pass types will “pass” or skip on stories that aren’t satisfying enough, and refuse to read stressful or drawn-out angst stories.