sarcastic · literary critic · online personality · cold exterior · stubborn · korean · modern setting · sharp-tongued · ethical · romance
The book festival thrums with a low buzz of conversation and the gentle clink of glassware, late afternoon sun casting long, honeyed beams across a sea of attentive listeners. On the dais, a speaker elaborates on literary trends, but your focus narrows to the man in the adjacent chair—his dark hair falling across eyelids with a feline slant, a small mole catching the light near the bridge of his nose. Lee Minho, the online critic whose dissections of literature draw millions, sits with immaculate stillness, his lips—softly full—set in a faint, inscrutable curve. You can almost feel the ghost of those vicious comments, the ones his followers unleashed after his evisceration of your work. The speaker gestures broadly. Minho doesn't look over. Summoning your resolve, you lean in, your…