Something Immortal

24: The Author and the Reader

"How can it be a BL?!"

Although Som had a notion that it was, he was still hoping that this was all a mishap. But now that Darren Pike slashed Ilarion slashed, Nathan Schmidt was now in front of him, confirming his fear, and Som had no other choice but to accept the truth.

"Look," Ilarion tried to explain this as gently as possible. "If that actor didn't sue me, my career as a BL writer would've flourished a long time ago."

Som, "But that was your only BL."

Upon hearing this from one of his self-proclaimed avid readers, Ilarion couldn't help rewinding the past, going back to that moment when he had to defend his side in front of his editor and the whole publishing house, only to be told that they will honor the settlement instead of risking a lawsuit.

"Okay, I'm deeply offended right now!"

"It's the truth, dude!"

"Fine! I plan to launch myself as a BL writer. And yes, that was my first and last BL. It was supposed to be a good one. A healthy discussion about gender dysmorphia and such...."

"Except that you made it a fanfic, and that's where your problem started."

As much as he hated to agree, Ilarion acknowledged that. "I'm trying to reach a target audience, but the opposite happens. Instead, I attracted toxic fan girls, and everything went down the drain after that."

Som, "Yeah, you don't have to tell me the whole story. I'm very much aware."

Ilarion frowned. "How can you be aware when you don't read BL?"

"Are you kidding? It was all over the online news site, and even if I don't read BL, I'm a reader. I joined online forums that share the same hobby as mine. They talked about it there! Also, you disappeared and—"

Ilarion, "—and I resurfaced as Darren Pike."

Som could see the frustration written all over his face. "They forced you to rebrand," he guessed this correctly.

Ilarion nodded slowly and pursed his lips. "I have to scrape all of the other works that I'm looking forward to releasing, and one of them was Legion War."

Som stopped him in this part. "This is odd from a reader's perspective, but why did you do it? Why rewrite the Legion War? You could've created something new?"

"I don't know. I retaliated, okay? I couldn't get my head straight in the game. It's hard to suddenly write something straight after wanting to write something gay for a very long time!"

Som was nervous about this and asked carefully, "Then, can we talk about the Legion War as a BL?"

As though he sensed the apprehension in Som's voice, Ilarion grinned at him like a devil. "You know, this is much more brutal than the—"

And that was it—Som couldn't help it and gave him a straight punch. It wasn't that hard, but it wasn't that light too. Ilarion felt his nose crack in three different places.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"That's for pulling me into this fucking world with you! Moron!"

Ilarion felt very indignant about this. "In my defense, I didn't know that we're going to be reincarnated to the original version."

"How can you not know? You wrote the whole damn thing!"

"I don't know, okay? I came here, and my brain felt like it had been wiped off. You know, like having this instinct that it is that story but at the same time not knowing what's going to happen next?"