First Moment [ENG Version]

Chapter 2 : Fictional Ferst

Chapter 2

Fictional Ferst

"The ultimate weapon in writing a compelling novel

is the cliffhanger."

- Mo (Momentum) -

Ever since I met Ferst in real life — the Ferst who strongly resembled the protagonist in my stories — I had been feeling utterly confused. I still remember how many readers used to tell me that my protagonist resembled this Ferst. At the time, I didn' t think much of it, but now I understand.

"Mo, what's wrong? Why are you daydreaming like that?" P' Praew asked, looking puzzled.

After the book signing event at the book fair, I invited P'Praew to dinner as a gesture of appreciation for being my editor. Honestly, I wasn' t sure if this was a tradition, but P'Aek, a senior writer whom I respected, often treated the editors he was close with. He once told me that, at the very least, it was a way to show gratitude for their dedication to managing our manuscripts. P'Aek believed that if the relationship between the writer and the editor were good, the work would flow much more smoothly.

"P'Praew, do you think Ferst, my protagonist, and the Ferst on stage are the same?"

I decided to ask P'Praew, curious to know what my editor would think.

P'Praew deeply understands my novels. Every time she reviewed my manuscript, she constantly asked questions like, "Is this the message you' re aiming to convey?" or "What does this sentence mean?" Even though she had the authority to make changes as an editor, she always strived to keep the work aligned with the writer' s vision. That' s why I highly respected and trusted P'Praew.

"Well, I only know Ferst the hero," P'Praew chuckled softly. "As for that other Ferst, aside from being handsome, I don' t know much about him. You might have to ask someone else for that."

"Oh..." I could only nod in surrender as I twirled the spaghetti on my plate.

"But I do think..." P'Praew continued, "that if you use that Ferst as the image for Ferst the hero, it could work. There are a lot of characteristics that fit the character perfectly."

Wow, even P'Praew agreed.

"But speaking of this, I' m really happy. I never expected Ferst Tri-God to be a fan of your books, Mo! Maybe you' ll start gaining some female fans now," P'Praew said, looking dreamily hopeful, probably wishing my novels would sell more.

"But I think most of my readers are middle school boys," I replied, not sure if I was crushing her hopes. My novels didn' t have many female readers. The ones I did have were usually women who enjoy shonen manga or action games. But the type of women who were idol fans? I thought they were pretty rare.

"Right, N' Mo. There's something I' d like to ask," P'Praew said, seemingly just recalling something.

"What is it?" I blinked at her curiously.

"Can you make HSH reach the first ranking on the website?"

Her request made me pause.

My novel High School Hero currently has a lot of readers and decent sales. Sure, it was ranked on the front page, but it had never hit first in ranking. The main reason was probably because I didn' t update new chapters daily.

Compared to my novel Genesis Online, which once reached the first ranking, because I was super motivated back then. It felt exhilarating, after writing for so many years, to finally make it to the top for the first time. I went all out, uploading every single day — sometimes more than one chapter a day. I was really pushing it, and eventually, it hit number one.