“Doyoung, what about you?” “Me? But I really don’t read books. If I had to buy one even though I don’t read, I think I’d choose based on the title.” “Right, exactly. That’s why publishers really focus on titles. And there are trends, you know? ‘I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Chicken Drumsticks’—huh? No, ‘I Want to Eat Chicken Drumsticks but I Want to Die’? I got them mixed up: ‘I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki’ and ‘If You Can Smile Even When the Chicken Has Only One Leg.’ These days, the title is also one of the very important criteria. Johnny, have you ever written on Instagram? Writing is literature too, after all. Can you think of any literary activities you’ve done recently?” “I’m a very simple person, so I don’t write at length in that kind of situation. For example, if I take a photo and post it today, I just write, [coolly] ‘Reading a poem,’ and that’s it.” “So you write briefly when you post on social media.” “Actually, I’m like that on social media too. I do a lot of things to try to be funny, and honestly, writing at length just to be funny is pretty hard... It’s nice to just write a few words, or write like this.” “Right, exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly.” “I put a lot of thought into what I write on Instagram or in messages to fans on Bubble, and I often send long messages. For example, [source: Johnny’s Instagram] if there’s a message I want to get across, I post something really elaborate like this. But this time, too, there was something I wanted to write at length. The funny thing is, my previous post and the one before it were both like this. It makes me worry about that.” “[A cringeworthy old post in the making] So I thought, ‘Isn’t this a bit much?’ and there have been quite a few times when I decided not to post it.” “[Good / I like it. Since you say it’s good, I like it too.]” “[Source: Na Tae-joo, *Selected Representative Poems*] At the beginning today, I read Na Tae-joo’s poem ‘Wildflower.’ I’d like to ask both of you to recite it too. Johnny, you first.” “You are pretty when looked at closely. Lovely when looked at for a long time. You are like that too.” “What do you think that means?” “Hmm... Maybe beauty is fleeting, but love is eternal.” “That’s right. It depends on how you interpret it. In literature and art, there are no wrong answers.” “Yes. Doyoung, what do you think ‘Wildflower’ means?” “Isn’t it just something like, ‘Don’t judge by appearances alone’? Maybe it means something like that.”
