(스크롤이 긴 이유는 아래에 알라사 번역 조공이 첨부되어 있어서 그렇습니다.
추천글은 길지 않으니 안심하고 읽어주세요. ㅇㅅㅇ;;)
북극곰씨 님의 ‘뉴 라이프’.
올해의 첫 추천글입니다. (실은 정초에 알라사의 대영주를 추천했었지만 재추천글이었기 때문에 제외)
저는 사실 현대판타지를 읽지 않고, 회귀나 환생이라는 소재도 별로 좋아하지 않습니다.
그럼에도 이 글을 읽게 된 계기는 (처음에는) 순전히 작가의 이름 때문이었습니다.
북극곰씨 님의 ‘알라사의 대영주’는 제가 문피아에서 연재 초기부터 완결까지 따라갔던 첫 작품이었고
팬조공까지 바칠 정도로 좋아했던 작품인지라 당연히 팬으로서의 충성심으로 다음 작품도 따라가게 되었지요.
프롤로그를 읽을 때만 해도 (역시나 회귀물이 대부분 그렇듯) 자살하려던 주인공이 과거로 돌아간다는 설정에는 마음이 끌리지 않았습니다만, 문학교수를 꿈꾸던 시간강사라는 설정에서 호기심이 동했습니다. 일단 현판에서는 보기 드문 지식인 유형의 캐릭터에, 설정 상으로만 천재인 인물이 아니라 현실감 넘치는 노력형 학자 캐릭터라는 점에도 눈길이 갔지요.
(전작 알라사를 읽으신 분들은 아시겠지만 곰님의 지식인 캐릭터는 굉장히 현실적이면서 매력적입니다. 또한 독자에게 지적 만족감을 줄 만한 실제 지식정보가 고명으로 들어갑니다. 학술적인 내용을 굉장히 쉽게, 전개에 잘 버무려서 엮어내는 게 이 작가분의 또다른 특징입니다. 알라사에서는 자연과학사적 지식이, 뉴 라이프에서는 문학적 지식의 전달이 돋보입니다.)
독자로서의 제가 ‘알라사의 대영주’에 이은 후속작이라는 안경을 벗고 ‘뉴 라이프’라는 작품 자체에 확신을 가지게 된 것은 6화부터였습니다. 6화에서 주인공을 과거로 회귀시켰던 장본인, 신인지 악마인지 알 수 없는 존재가 다시 나타나 주인공을 ‘시험’합니다. 이 시험의 결과가 주인공의 성격과 캐릭터성을 확연히 드러내는 동시에 이 작품이 단순한 ‘회귀하면 짱짱맨’ 식의 전개로 흘러가지 않을 것임을 암시합니다. 산뜻한 문체로 가볍지 않은 주제를 읽기 쉽게 술술 풀어내는 곰님의 역량이 돋보이는 대목입니다.
현재 골베리스트에 오르신 만큼 이미 많은 분들이 읽어보셨으리라 생각하지만, 아직 안 읽어보신 분들이 있다면 일독을 권하고 싶습니다. 십인십색이니 취향에는 안 맞을 순 있어도, 적어도 읽고 시간 낭비라 생각하시는 분은 없으리라 생각됩니다.
포털:
아래는 뒤늦은 ‘알라사의 대영주’ 완결 기념 조공.
팬아트를 그릴 수 없는 저주받은 손재주를 가진 관계로 에필로그 번역 조공으로 대신합니다.
아무도 안 읽으시겠지만, 작가님께 드리는 조공이니 상관 없겠죠. ㅇㅅㅇ;;
--------------------
Epilogue
A pretty little girl was drawing something on the board- her silver hair in two braids; her eyes shining brightly like Polaris. She was concentrating so hard to move her chalk that she could not notice a boy just entering the room.
"Irine."
The boy called the girl, but no answer had come. Irine stopped drawing and started to write complex equations next to it.
"Hey, Iriiiine!"
"Huh?"
Irine turned at last. The boy wearing thick-framed glasses was staring at her.
"What are you doing? Don't you remember we are to go to Biernes today? We might miss the train. You still don't get how intimidating my grandfather is."
The boy's name was Ramos, son of Monela and Devianne. His grandfather was none other than Earl Garten.
Earl Garten was famous for his fastidious character. But Irine shook her head in easy manner.
"Well, I'm not going there."
"What? dear me, you always change your mind too easily. You were pleased when he invited you to his castle!"
“I just got a really, really interesting idea."
Irine's eyes were twinkling. Her old friend Ramos sighed and stood beside her. Judging by that bright eyes, it is impossible to persuade her any further.
No doubt that the writings on the board was all about that 'interesting idea', as she always did so.
Ramos scanned the equations, straightening his glasses. He could not grip the meaning of majority of the text.
“What on earth does it mean."
Ramos was way smarter than the others in his age. It is not too much to call him a genius. Compared to Irine, however, who had inherited intelligence of Aubrey and beauty of Ionia, Ramos was rather ordinary level.
Irine grinned and said confidently, putting up her index finger.
"I might be able to calculate the speed of light."
"What? The speed of light? Hey, Irine. Let me give you an advice. What we are supposed to do, is to forget about useless experiment and to prepare for heading to Biernes immediately."
"How can you call it useless? Every phenomenon has its reason. What we are supposed to do, is to reveal that reason." said Irine.
She turned her back and started to scribble something on the board. It was the solar system. Irine drew the huge sun in the middle, and finished drawing with satellites of Jupiter.
Irine circled around a satellite of Jupiter, and tapped margin with a chalk.
"I discovered an interesting fact while observing Jupiter. Under certain circumstances, orbital period of the satellite changes."
"Certain circumstances?"
Irine pointed at the Earth.
"When our planet becomes more distant from Jupiter, orbital period of the satellite becomes longer.
I have been thinking; it might be related to the speed of light. As light takes more time to get to us, orbital period of the satellite seems to be lengthened. I have estimated it approximately."
"then how was it?"
"227,000 kilometers per second."
"Is that a precise number?"
Irine pondered for a while, her chin resting on her hand. She smiled soon.
"I am developing a mechanism to estimate that precisely. I think some cog wheels will do the trick."
"Alright. I got it, Irine. So, let's go now."
"That's right! Oh, I have forgotten about it."
Something different came into her mind. She clapped her hands and dashed toward somewhere. It took only a split second; Ramos could not react in right time.
"Well, Who on earth can stop her……."
Ramos sighed again and came out of the room to follow her.
Aubrey and Ionia were drinking tea together in tender mood. Each of them had got some wrinkles on one's forehead, but their looks were just as it had been in their youth.
"Honey, do you think it's all right? I think we don't need to send Irine to Belmire. We can educate her in Alasa."
Ionia said tentatively. Her prim expression had been replaced by wise look of a mother of a child.
Aubrey smiled, putting down his tea cup.
"Irine stayed here long enough. I asked her before; she wants to become a scholar. Then, I think life in the capital will be an important experience."
"You are right, but……."
"Nea, you can see her as soon as you want. Now we have railway; we don't need a half-month carriage trip anymore."
"All right, I will follow your way. By the way, if Irine gets admission permission, your record as a youngest student ever will be broken."
"Forget it. That's a story only for some busybodies."
"Well. you might feel somewhat regretful that your era is now closing, don't you?"
"You are being mean."
"Just kidding. Ah, you know that Ramos is also going to enter the school?"
Aubrey nodded. Since Monela moved out to eastern part of the domain, they could not meet up everyday as before. They exchanged letters almost everyday, however.
That was a huge relief. If Irine attends school together with a close old friend, she will get accustomed to new life without too many difficulties.
"That eased me a bit. Irine is friendly and lively, but sometimes being reckless. Every time, Ramos has patched up her deeds very calmly. Their college life will be just like that. They are well-matched."
Ionia realized his intention. She frowned.
"If you want to be related in marriage with sir Monela, think over it again. Yes, I know Ramos is bright, honest kid, which is a kind of rarity these days. Still, I feel a little uneasy."
"Don't blame a son for his father's deed."
"Even so."
Sudden surge of old memories came into their minds. They laughed and smiled together. They had been through a lot; they had many laughters to share.
"Daddy!"
Door was flung open, and Irine broke into the room.
She dashed toward Aubrey and started to jabber without breathing. Ramos followed behind her; he bowed calmly.
"So daddy, I have something to show you. Right now."
"Something to show me?"
"Something interesting."
Confirmed with her bright smile, Aubrey stood up without hesitation. Aubrey, Ionia, and Ramos, all of them had to move outside forcibly by Irine.
"Wait for a second!"
She shouted and dashed toward her room to prepare something. Half an hour later, she returned, panting, with her arms full of something.
It was a cylindrical object with wings. Although it looked like a toy in one glance, Aubrey's eyes narrowed and widened with wise astonishment.
"You've built an interesting object."
"Yes, watch this!"
She lighted a wick of the object, and leaped back several steps. In a moment, winged object was shot into the air with loud banging noise, drawing diagonal line upward.
Their eyes followed the object, shaded under their hands. As the object straightened its wings, its flight became stable. Everybody was astonished by this unprecedented scene.
Chasing the scene with his eyes, Aubrey recalled what Ionia had said. Like she said, his era might be come into the end.
Irine's product aviated through the sky for a good while.
Aubrey listened to Irine's elaboration about the object. He stroked her hair once and returned to his study.
He had got a manuscript to complete. It was very important one. As Aubrey put aside a mess of documents on the table, front page of the manuscript was revealed.
'A Study on Happiness'
The manuscript contained Aubrey's hypothesis on 'can all the residents in a domain become happy?' and process of its exemplification.
Aubrey held his pen. There was a surge of old and distant memories. He had been through a lot. From the very first day at Alasa, countless people had passed by him.
In the beginning, they had been all unhappy. One cannot say all of them were miserable, but they had certainly been distant from happiness. Aubrey helped them to realize what real happiness was and what a genuine life was.
That was not a perfect solution, however. Path for others' happiness did not lead him to genuine happiness of his own. In the end his life had been threatened by infectious disease, which hurt Ionia's heart- the heart of the most precious person in the world to him.
Aubrey reached at the one and only conclusion: that happiness cannot be determined by external condition; that it is all about leading one's own life autonomously; that it can be obtained only when one is governing one's own life.
Aubrey worked gradually to synthesize all the processes toward such conclusion. As his hand moved over, passages in fluent handwriting had filled pages.
The manuscript was filled with stories of people he had met. Aubrey put down his pen and started to ponder on:
the conclusion he had to make. Now was the time to finalize his verification which had prolonged for decades.
How could he transfer his realizations into written language? And how would it affect on people who would read it? Would it be rightful to show all procedures to demonstrate his findings?
Aubrey smiled. He had made up his mind. His pen moved again to inscribe:
- Cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi
( I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem)
Aubrey's pen halted for a while, and then started to write again to add:
- Cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi hanc marginis exiguitas non caperet.
(I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this margin is too small to contain.)
Aubrey smiled. His pen was detached from his hand. Thick leather cover of the book was closed.
Happiness cannot be found in a book. One has to find his own happiness in his life. This was what he meant at the end of his manuscript.
Aubrey stood up to move near to window. He opened up the window, and cool air brushed by his cheek. As his thoughts became clear, he smiled again pleasantly.
The sky was clean and bright, as ever.
[탈퇴계정]
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