Jaehwan then stopped and looked out the window. A sudden illusion came into his vision. A giant tower swept through the sky. A tragedy that came after the tower appeared. Jaehwan spoke.

"Maybe in a parallel universe, Earth might be on the brink of destruction. Because I just imagined it happening right now."

Some students became dumbfounded. Jaehwan came back to his senses but it was too late. Sakamoto quickly resolved the confusion.

"Good work, Jaehwan. Your example surely fits you as a literature major."

Jaehwan wasn't sure what part of it had to do with being a literature major, but Jaehwan sat down anyway. It was now about time to end the cla.s.s and Sakamoto's lecture was now nearing its end.

"…The theory has not yet been proven. But it still is a theory that will make our lives more satisfying."

Sakamoto continued, "To think that every 'imagination' we have might be what is really happening in another universe. This theory will make our choices more sincere and careful. According to this theory, we are creating a new universe every second we live."

Jaehwan found himself concentrating on Sakamoto's story now.

"Maybe, an 'imagination' or a 'delusion' doesn't exist in this universe. All of those parallel universes do exist after all, in terms of imagination, a dream, metaphors, symbols, and so forth. We live once and die once, but we are living multiple parallel universes at the same time… oh, look at the time! This will wrap up today's cla.s.s!"

Students began rus.h.i.+ng out of the lecture room as Sakamoto kept going.

"H-hey! I'm not done yet! Next week's a.s.signment is…"

After that lecture, Jaehwan became a bit more interested in other cla.s.ses. He was especially interested in 'writing' cla.s.ses. He first enrolled himself in many literature cla.s.ses but found out that they weren't interesting when he found out that the literature cla.s.ses did not teach 'writing'. Yoonhwan spoke to him.

"Huh? Literature major? The only way you can make money is to become a professor. Who writes books these days? You'll starve to death before you can…"

Because of this, Jaehwan enrolled in 'Literature Writing' cla.s.ses instead. And while he attended those cla.s.ses, he wrote novels every chance he got. It was through novels that was he was determined to create a universe.

-Your story has no reality.

-You cut out too much in between, too many metaphors… and what's this? What's with these incomplete paragraphs? Do you think it looks cool to write in this way?

-I told you to write a novel, not some scribbles.

But his universe was quickly dismantled by merciless criticism. Only one thing was certain. Even within the category of 'novel', his stories were 'unrealistic' at best.

As Jaehwan kept on writing against all those criticism from professors and a.s.sistants, he despaired. The doctor laughed as he heard Jaehwan's complaints.

"But your stories are fun."

Jaehwan replied, "Shut up."

And then came the winter of 2018.