IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__OCTOBER__

October ; 2017

When the event planners of the book festival asked JungMi to read an excerpt of her book out loud for the audience, she was dismayed at having to decide what exactly to read.

It's hard to think of a section of the book that can be understood without context. She could read the first chapter as an excerpt, but she feels as though that would just spoil the beginning for everyone who has yet to start reading her book. She still wants to read to them something that is vital to the story, but not something that gives it all away. Maybe something that is interpretive without giving all the answers to the audience. Something that will intrigue her audience and make them think over it even when she's done reading. She wants to read an excerpt that can be read as a stand-alone from the book, but only starts to make sense when put into the context of the book.

After much consideration, JungMi decides on an excerpt. She is almost hesitant to read it for an audience since it contains some of her most private thoughts that were meant for only one person, but its her story to tell...

"The poem I am about to read is an excerpt taken from my novel, IQ148," JungMi announces to the crowd from atop the elevated stage. She stands under the glare of the spotlight that accentuates the details of the pattern of her gray pantsuit. Her hair is pulled back so that the audience can see her face more clearly. She holds in her hands a copy of her book with her thumb holding it open to the page holding the excerpt she had decided on her own to read out loud. She beams at the people sitting anxiously in the audience as they shuffle in the auditorium seats; the spotlight shining on her reflects off of her teeth, making her smile glow even brighter for the audience members at the very back.

JungMi tries to keep her voice level and calm, knowing that the wireless headset mic she put on before walking onstage is positioned rather closely to her mouth, "I don't want to spoil the book, but a little context behind this poem... I had finished writing this poem way before I even started writing the actual book, so in a way, the whole novel revolves around the poem I am about to read for you," JungMi smiles as she explains the context of the poem before glancing down at the open page of her book, "The poem is called... 'To the Boy with an IQ of 148'..."

The audience claps after JungMi finishes her introduction to the excerpt. She waits until the clapping dies down to lift the book up to her eye level. In the beat of silence after the clapping dies out, JungMi takes a deep breath.

All eyes are on her glowing figure.

All ears are attentive to her every syllable.

The audience falls silent as her words fill the auditorium.

To the boy with an IQ of 148:
Your mind is too intricate for this dull world,
Is that why you've built your own?
The palace in your mind, where you are king
and sovereign over your wishful thinking.

JungMi's eyes flicker across the page to the next stanza. Her lips are already shaped to pronounce the next words of the poem she knows by heart...

The boy with an IQ of 148,
This world is too dull for your brilliant mind.
And your capacity for concrete thought
makes you the highest percentile of mankind.

The audience sits back in their seats.
Their bodies relax but their mind is actively intaking all of her words...

You are concrete, while I am abstract.
I see potential, while you see the facts.

JungMi pauses in her reading to flip to the next page.
This gives the audience a chance to think.
A chance to reflect on what they've heard so far.
The first half of the poem hangs in the air before JungMi finds her place and starts to read again...