…scroll! 9

Author's Note 193
Reference 196

“Even the person who made the black box
“You won’t understand the black box.”

The collapse of values, the absence of meaning, the proliferation of conspiracy theories…
Can the future be great again?

Novelist Ji-don Jeong's new full-length novel, "...Scroll!", has been published as part of Minumsa's "Today's Young Writer Series."
Ji-don Jeong, who has drawn his own impressive literary trajectory by winning the Munji Literary Award and the Young Writer Award for his unique attempt to mix up the linear development structure of a novel and to combine various genres into a single text, once again presents readers with a new pleasure in literature.
In his novel “Everything Was Forever,” published last year, Jeong Ji-don, who centered the life of “Jeong Wellington,” the son of communist Alice Hyun, and made us think about time itself by going back and forth between a past rooted in firm faith and a present steeped in skepticism, shifts his gaze to the near future in this new work.

“Scroll!” is set in the near future, some time after the pandemic of the early 21st century.
The novel unfolds in two main lines (SE and NE).
One story tells the story of the employees of Metabooks, a bookstore located in Metaplex, a complex cultural complex based on augmented and virtual reality rather than physical reality, while the other tells the story of members of the Mythbusters, a transnational organization created to destroy conspiracy theories that are rampant around the world.
Each story is presented in fragments, with the flow of time jumbled and omitted, or without causal relationships.
Author Jeong Ji-don borrowed the 'cut-up' technique and completed a book by "cutting and pasting together reality and unreality, virtuality and reality, media and metamedia."
This effectively presents a glimpse into a near future where each individual and each reality they face is differentiated to the fullest extent possible.

How much more can we, fragmented as individuals, and our realities be further divided? Is it even possible to aspire to a future that surpasses it? 『…Scroll!』 constantly poses these questions.
Instead of finding answers to questions through 『…Scroll!』, we experience the questions themselves.


■SE: The Current Situation Facing Metabooks Employees

The future depicted in 『…Scroll!』 is approaching us without us even realizing it, as we struggle with the real-world problems we face.
Fran and Jungki are clerks at Metabooks, a bookstore that is “infinitely expanding.”
Fran is an aspiring screenwriter who enrolls in a scriptwriting class and writes independently, dreaming of having her drama air on OTT.
Jungki is shocked to hear the news of his girlfriend's wedding through Instagram, but even meeting her and hearing her story is not easy.
In this way, Fran, Jungkie, and their friends are each preoccupied with extremely realistic problems, but they do not share them deeply with each other.
The only things they share are movies worth watching, novels, and ominous news about the bookstore 'Metabooks'.
Vivid personal experiences are increasingly diminished without being shared, but common realities and interests that are difficult to fully understand are actively shared and expanded, half voluntarily and half involuntarily.
This overlaps perfectly with our lives outside of the novel, where we “can never know the inside story” of “things that directly or indirectly affect our lives” and “are content to control and practice very small and superficial things in most cases.”


■NE: The present depicted by the 'myth busters'

The present, filled with fragmentary facts, has completely moved away from the realm of comprehension.
The current situation, further exacerbated by the pandemic of the early 21st century, is a fertile environment for the proliferation of conspiracy theories, stories that may seem absurd at first glance but are themselves complete.
This led to the creation of the Mythbusters, whose job it was to investigate conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists and to combat fake news, superstitions, and fanatics.
'I' decide to inject myself with 3000 milligrams of the drug Can-D to carry out my mission as a myth buster.
This is because if you inject a certain amount of Can-D, the line between reality and the virtual world will blur, and you can become an "ontological missing person" who can access a virtual server where conspiracy theories are constantly being reproduced.
Although once transformed into an 'ontological missing person', one may never return to one's original state, 'I' inject Can-D according to the organization's plan.
To do our best on practical, actionable tasks that are close at hand rather than on problems that are too big and far away.
Also, to feel the sense of “trying to understand something.”
What will become of me, who has entered the world of conspiracy theories to destroy them? Will the organization finally face the truth? Nothing can be certain.
'I' simply put into practice what I imagine.

■The only thing we can do

『…Scroll!』 captures the stories and individuals wandering the world of the near future in their true state of existence.
Fran, who has never left South Korea since birth and reads only books available through official distribution channels, has no parallel whatsoever with the life of Junki, who comes from a virtual village in Helsinki and only enjoys works obtained from the dark web.
One person's story is not linearly connected to another person's story; there is only a 'moment' where they temporarily meet and overlap.
Reality that can be grasped in the hand can only be achieved through momentary contacts or through concrete scenes imagined from contacts.
The future is something that arrives with the flow of time. So, even in a fragmented world where the continuity of time is broken, are the visions and aspirations for the future still valid? In "...Scroll!", Jeong Ji-don presents a new perspective on the future.
“When people define a situation as reality, that situation eventually becomes reality.
(……) So, you have to imagine it specifically now.
Because whatever is specific is reality.
The future is not in time, but in dreams.” We will live in our own truth.
Even if the truth is closer to a conspiracy theory.
Instead of just one story given to everyone, dozens or hundreds of stories will be given to each person differently.
The future will be revealed only through action, not through predictions and explanations.
As Jeong Ji-don said, he writes novels to “practice” “things that cannot be explained.”


■ Author's Note

Why do you say such a simple thing like this?
I don't believe in the idea that books can give you enlightenment.
All languages ​​are understood only by those who are already enlightened, or who are prepared for enlightenment (of course, even in this case, they are not truly understood). However, despite this, I still believe in the power of language.
Language does much more than convey meaning.
I can't explain what I'm doing.
Because this is something that cannot be explained.
It's just something that can be done, and that's why I wrote the novel.
I will continue to use it in the future.
- Jeong Ji-don, from “Author’s Note”