Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 162

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 162

 

In the darkness, Johann stares intently at the monitor screen.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Click!

 

128.

 

The number on the screen goes up.

 

Click!

 

He hits refresh and the number goes up again.

 

Johann brings his hand to his chest.

 

“It’s been a while…”

 

Since he first uploaded a song to SoundCloud.

 

Since he first uploaded a video to YouTube.

 

Since he first charted on Billboard.

 

For the first time in years, his heart beats anxiously again.

 

The slowly rising numbers make him feel wistful.

 

Will people really find this writing entertaining?

 

Will the memoir that ‘Casanova, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova’ wrote with sincere honesty be interesting?

 

How are these people even finding and reading my writing?

 

Did someone recommend it?

 

All sorts of thoughts swirl through his head.

 

‘A comment!’

 

It’s the first comment on a total of 3 episodes with a combined 379 views.

 

‘What did they write?’

 

Johann moves his trembling hand to click on the comment section.

 

-The first 3 chapters feel good so far. I’ll keep reading.

 

“Oh…”

 

Simple words, but they make his heart flutter.

 

As he stares blankly at the screen, moved by this long-awaited excitement, another comment appears.

 

-Give us the next chapter!

 

“Haha…!”

 

‘Fortunately, it seems interesting.’

 

With this, he can feel somewhat at ease.

 

Just as Johann lets out a long sigh and is about to close the site.

 

“Huh? A message?”

 

The message box is lit up.

 

Johann clicks on it curiously and his eyes widen.

 

-Hello, Writer. This is Buckston Publishing. Our Buckston Publishing is a publishing house located in LA…

 

“Publishing… proposal?”

 

‘I got recognized this quickly? Why?’

 

Flustered, Johann first searches for information about Buckston Publishing on the internet.

 

“They have quite a few published works… What?”

 

Established in 1986, they had published quite a few works, and Johann had read some of them at the Elementary School library.

 

Thump thump thump!

 

“Ha… Whew.”

 

‘They must have contacted me because they saw potential for success, right? What should I do.’

 

After thinking for a moment, Johann picks up his mobile phone.

 

‘Let’s just dive in.’

 

He’ll listen to what they have to say and evaluate it.

 

The value of his writing.

 

-Yes, hello?

 

“Hello. I’m calling after seeing the message you just sent.”

 

-Are you by any chance the writer of Casanova?

 

“Yes.”

 

-Oh! Thank you for contacting us! As we already introduced in the message, our publishing house is quite well-known in LA…

 

The publishing house’s history, published works, and contracted writers are quickly introduced.

 

“Haha. It really sounds like an amazing place. So what are the contract terms?”

 

-Wow, you sound quite young. How old are you?

 

‘Huh?’

 

“I’m 26.”

 

-Do you have any publishing experience?

 

“Not yet.”

 

-Perfect! Then our publishing house will be just right for you! Our Buckston is well-known for taking care of new writers! Oh right. You asked about contract terms, didn’t you? Since you’re a newcomer, JJS Writer, we can guarantee up to 6 percent.

 

6 percent of the list price based on sales volume.

 

-If you compare with other publishing houses’ terms, you’ll see that no one offers as much as we do.

 

Confident words that nowhere else would offer as much as they do.

 

-And if sales reach 10,000 copies, we’ll add 1 percent. If you achieve 100,000 copies, we’ll increase it up to 10 percent!

 

Generally, novels are priced between $15 and $30 depending on the publishing format, so if the list price is set at $30 and 100,000 copies are sold, he could earn a whopping $300,000 in royalties.

 

-It’s a life reversal! Buying a sports car and driving down the road! Right?

 

“Oh…”

 

‘What if this writing sells like Fifty Shades of Grey?’

 

The Fifty Shades of Grey series, which surpassed 100 million copies in combined series sales this year. That would be about $300 million.

 

Johann’s mind, which had been thinking big like anyone else, turns cold at the following words.

 

-But to do this, you need to pay something called initial publishing funds…

 

Gasp!

 

“I have to pay money?”

 

‘A scam?’

 

Johann’s expression turns cold.

 

-Ah, this isn’t something you need to think about so sensitively. You’re signing a contract with our publishing house, right? What is a contract? It’s a transaction that benefits both parties. Since JJS Writer is too unknown, we need to manage our risk…

 

‘It is a scam.’

 

He’s not even an employee of Buckston Publishing.

 

Johann, who had entered the library, smiles bitterly.

 

“Keep talking. I’m forwarding this number to the police right now.”

 

…Click!

 

“Sigh. I thought so.”

 

There’s no way there would be a response to writing with only 3 episodes posted.

 

‘Still, it was exciting.’

 

It was interesting, but not a pleasant experience.

 

Johann smacks his lips, saves the recording file and phone number he just made to a USB, then calls Ada.

 

“Ada, I almost got scammed just now. This person seems pretty malicious, you know? Yeah. Oh, you’re on your way home from work? Got it. I’ll see you at the police station.”

 

Johann picks up his coat and shakes his head as he leaves the house.

 

These kinds of incidents should be reported immediately to reduce the number of victims.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you have this in other colors!”

 

“Yes. Just a moment!”

 

An H&M offline store located in LA.

 

In one corner of the busy store crowded with customers despite it not being the weekend, two people wearing pressed-down hats are rummaging through displayed clothes while glancing sideways at something.

 

A clearly suspicious sight.

 

One of the employees nervously takes a step forward.

 

“Don’t. Don’t go.”

 

“What? But…”

 

Shouldn’t they call the police?

 

“Where is the Johann collection here?”

 

Flinch!

 

The two people are greatly startled.

 

The manager smiles and points ahead.

 

“It’s right in front here.”

 

“Right. It’s here. Let’s go!”

 

The two women turn around.

 

The two people in the corner also quietly head toward the Johann collection.

 

“Wow. This is nice? Really well selected.”

 

“Right?”

 

They hadn’t expected much since it was designed by a newcomer who just gained popularity, but it was more unique yet casual than expected.

 

Not only that, but there were actual wearing shots of models displayed above the stands, making it easy to coordinate outfits.

 

“I heard Johann picked all these colors himself.”

 

“No way…”

 

Colors that were subtle yet more eye-catching.

 

“Didn’t you watch the Tonight Show? He has absolute color sense.”

 

“Singer, composer, and art too? Wow.”

 

“He’s talented in photography too. I heard the models in these photos are Johann’s friends?”

 

“Wow. Really?”

 

“He liked my friends so much that he cast them as models just like that.”

 

“Huh?”

 

At the sudden voice from behind, the two women turn around to see a man wearing a pressed-down hat.

 

“…Huh?”

 

It’s Johann. Next to him is his girlfriend Emily.

 

“Haha! Did you come to see if they’re selling well?”

 

“Will you keep quiet if we give you an autograph?”

 

Eyes folding with a beaming smile and red lips.

 

‘So, so cute!’

 

The women swallowed their bursting screams and held out pens, and Johann signed their clothes while introducing the clothing.

 

“This pattern is old Korean, and this is old Japanese. This was designed to wear comfortably at home, and this…”

 

Was it because of his sexily husky yet boyish voice?

 

Or was it because of his sparkling eyes?

 

The two women blankly picked up the clothes Johann introduced, and before they knew it, they were calculating two sets of every piece of clothing hanging on the display along with scar-covering stickers.

 

“Thank you. See you again next time.”

 

“…Sob, yes! I’ll cheer for you!”

 

Johann waved to the women and quickly headed to a corner to avoid drawing attention, while Emily pinched his side.

 

“…?!”

 

“Hey. Don’t charm just anyone.”

 

“Me, me?”

 

“No? I just saw it?”

 

“What did I… Oh.”

 

Johann, seeing his behavior from just now, runs his hand over his face.

 

‘What did I just do?’

 

He acted cute. To women he was meeting for the first time.

 

It seems to be because of fragments of ‘Casanova, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova.’

 

“…Should we leave?”

 

Once he recognized it, he could suppress it, but thinking that other people saw his cute behavior made it impossible to stay any longer.

 

As they came outside, Emily glared at Johann.

 

“Just because you’re writing a strange novel, your behavior is also, huh?”

 

“You’re saying I should only do this kind of thing to you?”

 

“…Right. So what’s the next content?”

 

The last serialized chapter ended with Casanova grasping the door handle to the room of Michele Grimani’s most cherished mistress, his guardian.

 

“Aren’t you liking it too much?”

 

“What do you mean me! It’s all because I’m worried you’ll write something strange…”

 

“Paparazzi over there. Chee-se.”

 

“Cheese…”

 

It seems like there will be an article today too about Johann and his girlfriend, lurking at the H&M store again today.

 

Emily sighs and gives up, smiling wryly.

 

“So how do you feel?”

 

Johann, who has been practically commuting to H&M offline stores as soon as school ended for the past week.

 

“…Good.”

 

His heart swells too much to be described with just the word “good.”

 

People who unhesitatingly choose clothes he designed and boast about them on the internet.

 

Every time he discovers someone on the street wearing clothes he designed, he gets startled and his lips tremble.

 

What’s more encouraging is that just four days after launch, all the designs he contracted with Ben Wood were displayed in stores nationwide.

 

That means the general public was looking for his clothes that much.

 

A situation that’s hard to believe even after seeing and hearing it. He felt like he was floating on clouds every day.

 

“Good job.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Emily’s eyes darken as she hugs and pats Johann.

 

‘This won’t do.’

 

This can’t go on any longer.

 

Johann, who becomes busier and more successful each day.

 

To become someone worthy of such a Johann, Emily herself needs to become successful too.

 

‘The problem is…’

 

She doesn’t know how to be able to stand proudly next to Johann.

 

‘Does Mother know?’

 

Sandra Sherman, the greatest woman, wife, and mother she knows. A virtuous woman who gives answers to any question thrown at her.

 

‘Johann’s aunt and CEO of Larissa Company, Lisa Jefferson, also knew about Mother.’

 

Johann’s paternal family, which seemed like a noble household.

 

What exactly is Mother’s identity?

 

She feels like she needs to ask seriously about this too tonight.

 

She’ll be an adult who needs to be independent in two years. She feels like she needs to start preparing now so she won’t lose Johann.

 

“Emily?”

 

Emily, startled back to her senses, quickly changes the subject.

 

“But in other novels and movies, the reason Casanova couldn’t leave his hometown Venice was portrayed as being because of his mother, right? But your novel has no such content at all…”

 

In the novel Johann is currently serializing, descriptions of the mother were extremely rare.

 

Even when he was left with his grandmother after his father passed away.

 

And even when his grandmother passed away and he entered Michele Grimani’s mansion.

 

“Is there a reason?”

 

“Because I hate her.”

 

He just doesn’t think about her because he hates his mother Janetta Parisi.

 

“You… hated it?”

 

“She was having an affair.”

 

With multiple men, no less.

 

That’s why after her husband’s death, she had no hesitation in leaving her children with her mother-in-law.

 

“Casanova learned about this when he was only 9 years old.”

 

And that’s when he realized it. His love for women was all because he resembled his mother.

 

It was a moment of grief on a day less than a year before his father’s death, and the moment he began to hate his own kind.

 

“He probably thought his father’s death was all his mother’s fault too.”

 

Though it wasn’t recorded in his autobiography, his father Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova died of heartbreak after learning of his wife’s infidelity.

 

“My God! What is that!”

 

No matter how precocious a child might be, hell had unfolded before his eyes.

 

Emily’s face fell as she seemed to understand why Casanova had started crossing lines at some point. The bastard Casanova suddenly seemed pitiful.

 

“I’ll mention this part separately later…”

 

“Forget it! I’m leaving!”

 

Johann and Emily’s attention, along with those around them, turns to one spot.

 

An angry woman and a flustered man trying to stop her. It’s a fight between a couple in their twenties.

 

“W-wait! What’s wrong!”

 

“Just forget it and spend your whole life on your phone. Got it, James Colin McCauley?”

 

‘Ugh.’

 

‘Oh no.’

 

When a couple calls each other by their full names, it means they’re seriously angry. The situation automatically plays out in their heads – coming out on a date only to have the boyfriend constantly looking at his phone.

 

“Have I ever complained when you don’t contact me because you’re always doing theater? This is our first date in 2 weeks! But you…!”

 

“Sigh.”

 

“Did you just sigh at me…”

 

Swoosh!

 

The man suddenly approaches and takes the woman’s hand, bringing it to his lips.

 

“You are a flower, a pearl. How can you not know this heart that dares not touch you with these dirty hands.”

 

“Wh-what?!”

 

Startled!

 

Emily, who had been reaching for popcorn, urgently looks at Johann, and Johann’s eyes widen.

 

It was the line Johann had written yesterday, when Casanova conquered Michele Grimani’s most cherished mistress.

 

Even the actions were identical.

 

Meanwhile, the man who had seized the moment shows his phone.

 

“Sorry. I was trying to make restaurant reservations, but I guess it looked like I was just playing on my phone.”

 

“…What. If that’s what it was, you should have said so earlier.”

 

“How could I tell my girlfriend that her boyfriend couldn’t plan the date course until the day of? Especially to the girlfriend I cherish and love most.”

 

‘Ugh.’

 

‘Fuck!’

 

People who had stopped to watch start moving again, smacking their lips.

 

The couple, now lost in their own world, didn’t notice any of this.

 

“Tch. You’re quite the actor with your smooth talking.”

 

“Haha.”

 

“But… do I really look like a flower and a pearl to you?”

 

“If you handle them carelessly, they lose their luster.”

 

“Tch. Be honest. Where did you see that medieval way of speaking?”

 

“It was good, right? It’s from an online novel platform I read often…”

 

As the man who made a mistake at the end walks away with the woman, Emily pokes the frozen Johann’s side.

 

“Pfft! I should ask for your thoughts on this too.”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Oh, he’s broken.”

 

He’s broken again after a long time.

 

Even as Emily teased him, Johann had no time to pay attention.

 

‘Someone used the lines I wrote in real life?’

 

And it worked. It calmed his lover’s anger and rekindled their suppressed love.

 

‘How should I put it…’

 

The feeling was very strange.

 

“This is what they call the power of words…”

 

Johann stops mid-sentence and looks to the side. It’s because of two people in thick clothing staring blankly at them.

 

Two people clutching paper bags with H&M logos and bags containing daily necessities.

 

“Excuse me… are you Writer JJS?”

 

Startled!

 

“…Who?”

 

JJS is the pen name Johann uses on the online novel platform.

 

Johann’s eyes narrow.

 

“It’s so nice to meet you like this! We’re from Penguin Random House, who contacted you yesterday!”

 

‘Penguin Random House?’

 

Penguin Random House, one of the Big Five publishers in the English-speaking world.

 

A mega-publisher formed by the merger of Penguin Books, a subsidiary of British conglomerate Pearson, and Random House, a subsidiary of German conglomerate Bertelsmann.

 

Johann’s eyes widen.

 

“That… wasn’t a scam?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

Scammers trying to rip off naive new writers.

 

Actually, before Penguin Random House, over ten self-proclaimed publishers had contacted him through messages, but when he called them, they all demanded money. Saying they’d publish if he paid them.

 

Among them was even a place impersonating HarperCollins, another of the Big Five publishers.

 

“So I thought Penguin Random House was the same…”

 

That’s why he told them to come in person if they wanted to contract. He was too tired to report any more scams.

 

He knew they wouldn’t come, but just in case they did, he gave them the address of Rocky Management headquarters to have them arrested.

 

“Haha! I guess there are still places like that. Nice to meet you. I’m Colin Shaker from Penguin Random House.”

 

“I’m Michelle Cole. By the way, I was the first person to discover your writing!”

 

Johann closes and opens his eyes as he receives their business cards.

 

‘My God. They’re real?!’

 

They’re actually employees from Penguin Random House’s New York headquarters.

 

Thump! Thump! Thump!

 

His heart beats violently and his head grows hot.

 

He pinches his cheek at this unbelievable situation.

 

“Really… you really want to contract my writing? Casanova?”

 

‘The memoirs written by Casanova?’

 

“Even though I’ve only written 10 episodes?”

 

“Yes! But… excuse me, aren’t you Johann Jefferson? You look so much like him…”

 

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

 

The Penguin Random House employees freeze for a moment at Johann’s answer, then look at each other.

 

“What? So you’re really… Wow. My God.”

 

“Holy shit…”

 

Shock burst from the throats of the Penguin Random House employees.

 

Johann felt the same way.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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