Editor 101

Towards a reprint! (3)

On Arc Street, downstream on the east bank of the Tempus River, printing, bookbinding, and book finishing businesses were densely clustered together.

Cleio, who got off the carriage first, stood by the door and helped Dione get down. Since the alley was narrow and the ground was rutted, Cleio had to focus all her attention on supporting Dione.

The street, whose ground was worn into wheel shapes due to the ceaseless passage of carts and carriages, now even felt familiar to Cleio.

‘It also feels like Euljiro’s printing alley before all the print shops moved to Paju and Ilsan.’

Even after coming to another world, becoming quite wealthy, and making connections with royalty, Cleio could not shed the nature of the commoner “Kim Jeong-jin” that sat within her.

For her, a place where a dozen or so gold-plated cutlery were laid out, and where noble conversations were exchanged under long candlesticks and chandeliers, was far less comfortable than a place like this.

Cleio skillfully opened the creaking back door and entered the office of Bartleby & Bouvard Printing.

The noise of the printing press was loud through the thin wall separating the factory and the office.

In the office, a middle-aged man sat alone. He was John Bartleby, the representative of the print shop.

“Hello, Mr. Bartleby.”

“Ah, Student Aser, you’re here.”

Bartleby, who still had a sturdy build and neatly slicked back his slightly thinning hair, was dressed not in his usual work clothes but in a black suit he would only wear to church on weekends.

He had leaned his cane, used only when going out, against the bookshelf and sat weakly in his chair, clutching his head.

As the branch manager of the People’s Flag Schola Branch and the capital’s print workers’ union president, it was uncharacteristic behavior for the usually lively and brisk Bartleby.

“Is something wrong? You don’t look well.”

“Sigh… It’s something unrelated to you, student… Just have a seat for now.”

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me what’s going on?”

“Well, you see….”

Bartleby looked out the window once, looked down at his hand once, and sighed after sigh, unable to open his mouth easily.

So far, Cleio had become quite friendly with Bartleby while coming and going to the print shop exchanging news with Fran.

Perhaps because he had already accepted Fran, as soon as Cleio revealed that she was Fran’s only school friend, he treated her kindly like a young niece.

Cleio bowed and lightly patted Bartleby’s shoulder, speaking earnestly.

“Although I am a young student, perhaps if we put our heads together, we might find a way.”

“This is a long story… By the way, who is the young lady I’m seeing for the first time?”

Cleio and Dione exchanged glances silently. It seemed Bartleby’s difficult situation was not something to be discussed openly in front of others.

Cleio quickly introduced Dione.

“This is Ms. Dione Greyer of the Greyer Trading Company. As she was looking for a print shop that could work quickly, I thought I’d introduce you and brought her here.”

The two of them had already worked together in all sorts of places for over half a year. They had even signed an ether contract binding their hearts and danced together countless times.

They could read each other perfectly by now.

As if she understood Cleio’s intention, Dione matched her rhythm smoothly.

“Sorry for the late introduction. I’m Dione Greyer, assisting the Greyer Trading Company. Nice to meet you.”

Emphasizing only her status as the heir to the Greyer Trading Company instead of a noble title, Dione naturally extended her hand to Mr. Bartleby for a handshake.

.

.

.

Thanks to Dione, who quickly melted Bartleby’s wariness, they were able to learn the full story.

“The businesses we always dealt with said they’d cancel all calendar and daily planner printing starting next year. Even the bankers of the Beatus Autonomous District said they’d stop ordering paper products.”

“All at once?”

“That’s right. It was a one-sided notice, so I tried meeting the people in charge, but without any explanation, they just insisted it couldn’t be done, no contract renewal.”

“How can that be?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Our print shop has many skilled workers, so the work is fast and accurate, and the wages are high. From children to nephews and cousins, all the attached families are many, so I worry about what to do.”

If just one client had stopped business, that would be understandable, but it was strange that all clients would suspend business just before the new year.

‘I heard Mr. Bartleby is very diligent and that Bartleby & Bouvard Printing has a good reputation. It probably isn’t a problem with their work.’

“Do you know the reason for the business suspension, Mr. Bartleby?”

Bartleby wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and sighed as if the ground would collapse.

Cleio waited a bit longer without pressing him.

Creak.

Bartleby, rising from his chair, opened the lowest drawer of the paper rack in the corner of the office.

“I think there’s only one reason. The fact that we printed this got out.”

What Bartleby took out was a thin pamphlet. It was a 16-page booklet, including the cover, folded twice from a folio printout.*

Cleio quickly skimmed through the pamphlet.

It was written in simple language, urging workers to join the union to secure their rights.

But just because the language was simple didn’t mean the content was shallow.

It was a well-written piece that carefully explained how workers could exercise political influence under the representative system, in a way easy to understand even for those with little education.

Even if it lacked dazzling logic or sharp analysis, Cleio thought she could recognize the author of this text.

‘Yeah. Even if he quit being the branch manager of the Flag, there’s no way he’d just quietly play detective.’

“Mr. Bartleby, was this pamphlet written by Gibril Blanche?”

“…Yes.”

At the same time, the promise sparkled with a faint light. Above the characteristic relief of letterpress printing, a message from the promise appeared.

It was a very faint light, but it was still light.

Even in pamphlets that must have been printed in the tens of thousands, the efficacy of Fran’s stigmata ‘Propaganda’ was still maintained.

‘Unbelievable. At this point, well… you could almost call it a miracle.’

As much as the heart-moving sentences Fran wrote had a positive effect, they must have also stirred the feelings of readers in the opposite direction.

‘That kid’s stigmata draws deeper support from sympathizers, but elicits fierce resistance from opponents. Two sides of the same coin. Ugh.’

Because of that, the livelihood of Mr. Bartleby’s print shop and the people in the print workers’ union was now at risk, so if Fran found out, she would surely be crushed by a tremendous sense of guilt and responsibility.

‘No. She has a lot to investigate right now, so it would be a problem if she said she’d come back to the capital. With Melchior’s stigmata blocked right now, it’s the perfect time for her to act.’

“It must not have been easy, but it’s impressive. The dandelion seeds spread from Arc Street.”

“Student Aser, you sure know how to say nice things. Yes, like dandelion seeds, it spread far and wide. Even in our print workers’ union, inquiries about joining have definitely increased. But to face such threats just for that much.”

Bartleby was the most moderate member within the ‘Flag’.

Even during the last election, the Flag’s radicals boycotted the commoner’s assembly election itself, but he supported Representative Gaston Pallach of the November Party.

“I don’t want a bloody revolution. And yet they retaliate like this. Cowards, damned bastards.”

“What about the contract period specified in the agreement?”

“I managed to get the penalty fee. I tried to return it, but they had the guards drive me out. Even the bank refused to transfer the money.”

Dione, who had been listening to the conversation between Bartleby and Cleio, suddenly interjected between them.

“The second sons of noble families who don’t inherit titles become those slick-mustached bankers and stockbrokers. It seems this thin pamphlet was quite threatening to those pretentious types.”

“These sixteen pages must have moved the hearts of lower-level clerks and errand boys more powerfully than any radical book.”

After hearing Cleio’s answer, Dione wiped the public expression off her face. Her eyes turned cold, as if they would freeze water.

Dione had no reason to care about the circumstances of the stockbrokers.

If anything, she was someone in manufacturing and retail, and didn’t have good feelings toward those who moved vast sums of money just by sitting and wielding a pen.

“Mr. Bartleby, you did a great thing. You did the right thing. It’s always those with nothing to show who are the most arrogant, and the more threatened the beast, the more fiercely it claws.”

“But because of those claws, I’m about to go under. I have to pay for paper right now, repair two printing presses, buy new type, and pay the staff. The penalty fee will last a few months, but with the biggest job gone….”

Worry deepened on Bartleby’s face. If work was withheld through such collusion, it would be hard to get new contracts in the capital right away.

Cleio, conscious of the checkbook in her jacket pocket, asked Bartleby.

“May I ask which payment is the most urgent?”

“The paper payment. The promissory note’s due, and if I don’t deposit the amount in time, my ranking for the next paper supply will drop.”

When Cleio blinked in confusion, Dione helpfully added an explanation.

“Oh, all printing paper comes from the royal paper mill. If you can’t get paper, even if you get jobs, you can’t make the printed materials, so that’s a big problem.”

“Miss Greyer, you know this business well. Exactly.”

“But your printing license itself hasn’t been revoked, right?”

“That’s right, Miss Greyer. I’ve never skimmed a single koruna from taxes or wages. Seems they couldn’t touch my printing license, either. There’s nothing to find even if they dig.”

“Mr. Bartleby, then, may I talk business? Ms. Greyer came here for that.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

The three of them continued the conversation standing.

“I’d like to print a book.”

“Miss Greyer. What kind of book, and how many?”

In fact, Dione still hadn’t heard the exact format or print run of the book. The process was being handled completely on the fly.

“Aser will explain that in detail.”

Only Cleio could notice, but there was a faint tremor in Dione’s voice as she called him ‘Aser’ instead of ‘Sir Cleio’, ‘young master’, or ‘you’.

She was clearly doing her best not to laugh in this serious situation.

‘How much interest is she going to tack on to tease me later… No, let’s not think about that.’

Cleio quickly caught the ball Dione tossed.

“We’re planning to produce a hardcover quarto of about 300 pages, and two types of cheaper octavo softcover editions with smaller type and fewer illustrations.”

“Huh… I mean, bringing me work in the middle of all this, I can only be grateful. It’s like a gift from God. How many copies are you thinking?”

“For the hardcover, an initial print of one thousand. For the cheap edition, we’ll decide the number after seeing the response three months after the hardcover’s release.”

“What about bookbinding and finishing?”

“I was going to ask about that. I heard there are people in the printing union who handle not just printing but also binding and finishing, so could you introduce them?”

“I can. A couple of businesses have been shaken by this incident.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you. We’ll finalize the detailed production schedule after the manuscript arrives. Before that, how much is the paper payment that needs to be settled?”

“It’s eight thousand dinars, but why….”

“Then we’ll make the deposit eight thousand dinars and pay it in advance in cash.”

“!!!”

“That’s alright with you, Ms. Greyer?”

“Yes, please proceed that way.”

Cleio lightly took out an Aurel Bank checkbook from her pocket.

The boy’s white, long fingers held the pen and wrote the amount and signed without hesitation.

John Bartleby’s eyes grew as wide as they could as he accepted the check.

?

Printing paper size. 210×330mm.

To be continued