LOUD | NAMJIN

Chapter 4: A Trip Down Memory Lane ~ Seokjin

Who is Seokjin?

He himself didn't know the real answer. Actions label a person, but Seokjin's nature today was completely opposite from how he regularly behaves, leaving him to be labeled as an unknown.

Most days he kept to himself, editing manuscripts, compiling millions of notes their margins and using stamps to either approve the piece or send it to its death, and more likely than not, the decline stamp was always in need of a new ink pad.

And that was all, a never ending cycle of stamps and scribbles. He had little-to-no social life, and he preferred it that way. The less communication he had with others, the better. He hated hated attention, hated interactions, and most of all, he hated noise. Any kind of noise....

All kinds of noise.

And he wasn't a fool, he knew that noise is a untamed beast. But he hated it nonetheless. To effectively keep away from noise, he isolated himself. Although, it wasn't as if people wanted to truly be in his company. People only saw him as the cold, heartless editor-in-chief who's "decline" ink pad was always in need of a refill. And to top it off, no one could hold a word with him. Not because of all of the obstacles he intently placed around him, but because he couldn't converse at all.

He's mute.

And why is the cold, silent man mute? No one knows. No one at the company has a close relationship with him... Well, make that one person.

Seokjin

"Jinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn," Jimin sung out as he popped into my office, obviously not heeding the "knock before entering" sign. Then again, can I be surprised he didn't read it? He is Jimin after all.

Jimin must've caught my face before I had the time to change it because a slight pout clouds his face.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! If you didn't want to see me as many times as you do, why did you give me this job?" Jimin whines as he puts his hands on his hips and turns his head away from me. He always does this- comes in, causes a ruckus, and always complains about me hiring him. Despite throwing this pity party, I'm not gonna act as if I don't pay him well, and he won't act as if he isn't stellar at his job, so I shoot him a face of disbelief.

Jimin holds back for a moment in a pitiful attempt not to crack up, only to start laughing at an unbelievably loud volume. My head begins to pulse at the deafen sound, so I grab the closest paper on my desk and crumple it into a ball to hurl at Jimin which evidently hits the target, bouncing off of his shoulder. At first, I dismissed the paper, until Jimin picked it up and unraveled it. The laugh disappeared and I couldn't help but feel panicked as he looked up at me, slightly ticked. In his hand was the cover to the latest manuscript I had just declined.

"Jin, how many manuscripts are you going to decline? This is the 11th submission today!!! How do you get through so many in a day, but find none that you deem worthy?" Jimin exclaimed.

The manuscripts weren't hard to get through at all, due to my intense reading abilities. Being mute meant reading was an ultimate mean of contact. So deciphering meanings, tones, and concepts in emails and letters became second nature to me, which is why these completely amateur manuscripts that somehow ended up on my desk never stood a chance. Before I could scribble down a response, he walked towards me and placed his hand lightly on my shoulder, dropping his head in the process with a bittersweet smile in his face.

"Hyung, I know you're incredibly particular about the pieces you go through, but do you have to be so brutal? The messages I keep receiving from these authors after receiving feedback is atrocious. Not even to mention all the backlash it gives the company." Jimin admitted. He wasn't wrong, many authors did tend to be very upset at the harsh effects of editors' reviews in my company, as well my own. But I know I'm profiting from it as well. Due to the lack of pieces I actually deem acceptable, it draws the literary world at my beck and call, instantly shining a spotlight on whatever work we push out, as it is seen to be a piece above all others... Or, at least till a new book is released(which was incredibly rare in most cases).