wonder girls

Chapter 1

[Professor Kim's POV]

The first legitimate writer I ever had the fortune of knowing went by the name Sylvia Plath. Some might recognize her name, while others may not. Sylvia Plath, a poet and novelist, graced this world on October 27, 1932, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, a place that has birthed many poets, including the reclusive Emily Dickinson. Her family had roots in Austria, with her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath, being a second-generation American, and her father, Otto Plath, hailing from Grabow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. Otto was an entomologist and a biology professor at Boston University, a seat of learning I now occupy, teaching the same subject, and perhaps even authoring books about bees someday, if inspiration strikes.

But enough about me.

I am Kim Junghwa, a professor at Boston University, the one who imparts knowledge about the wonders of biology to several eager classes. I have another passion, though, one that sets my heart ablaze: writing. There's an inexplicable magic in weaving words, and I adore it. I dabble in directing films, primarily short ones, and I have a penchant for the macabre, especially in the realm of horror. If I were to claim mastery in any field, it would undoubtedly be the art of crafting spine-tingling tales—pulp horror, in particular, holds a special place in my heart.

Returning to Sylvia Plath. As the market for "The Colossus and Other Poems" gradually withered over the years, the envelopes with the distinctive New York addresses no longer graced the Belleek tea tray on my grandmother's piano. In due time, they ceased to appear at all. In my hometown, there lived a girl named Lucy Vale, deeply influenced by Sylvia's work. She attempted, much like Plath, to recalibrate her writing, shifting toward the confessional movement and placing greater emphasis on fiction. Alas, her attempts to sell these tamer, shorter pieces bore no fruit. Lucy Vale, freshly out of high school, secured her first national publication in the Christian Science Monitor in 2000. Then, on a Monday morning when I was fourteen, the age when I began to appreciate the writings of the gentle yet self-loathing woman who had shared our town with my grandmother for the past dozen years, Lucy Vale threw herself into the swift little river coursing past the sanatorium, through our town, and down to the yellow Allegheny. Her body was never found, and the following Sunday was filled with grief.

Now, at the age of 36, I find myself teaching at both the university and part-time at a high school.

You may wonder how I've been fortunate enough to teach at such an early age. Well, it's all thanks to my grandmother, who granted me these privileges. Lucy Vale was like a daughter to her. Today, Lucy Vale is considered an icon, and those carefully preserved novels and poems of hers? My grandmother was the one who brought them to light.

That's why I consider myself exceptionally fortunate.

(Mina and Chaeyoung will make their entrances in the upcoming chapters. The story takes inspiration from "Wonder Boys," but be prepared for some intriguing twists and turns.)