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[Alexandr Korol]

something sincere and spiritual. That’s how it used to be for me. But then there’s another kind of world entirely. And for people with blurred boundaries, they call it by different names — some say “society,” others “material world.” There are simply people who are from this social-material world. So there are friends — let’s say three of them — who all know each other and interact. And when I’m with them, we’re all together. Sometimes I meet with one or two of them separately, while the others are busy. Then sometimes we all gather. We just know each other. That’s one kind of group. And I had many such groups. And there were simply guys who all knew each other and who, let’s just say, were especially prone to sin — as, honestly, is common for most people. Guys who, when they saw a girl, would comment on her butt, think about money, profit, who would lie to you, to me, to their friends, to their parents — just regular weak people. Pretty much all my classmates and university mates were like that, my neighbors too — just ordinary people. And with people like that, you see, I don’t discuss my books. Because they just laugh at it and say it’s drugs. Because in their world, that’s how they’re wired — they have certain associations, and that’s what they say. It’s like, imagine there are nerds building robots, and then there are these trendy buff guys with cheerleaders in short skirts going to some popular party, and they look at us and say, “Did you forget to shower?” That’s what it feels like. You see? These are different worlds. And my world of books — it’s not trendy, it’s not “cool.” It’s not vulgarized. It’s not from the social mainstream. And so the mainstream has always reacted negatively toward me and my books — just looking for a reason to mock, vulgarize, laugh at it, label it something nasty. That’s always been people’s reaction, ever since 2008. It also depends on the era we live in. Every 5- or 10-year cycle, society had a different label to throw at me. So back then — in 2008, 2009, 2010, and even 2011 — people, of course, were saying I had joined some kind of cult, like they told my parents. And they asked me: “Who are you talking to? Who’s been putting all this in your head?” And the funniest thing is — fine, maybe if I were talking about sacrifices or something, the kind of stuff people typically associate with cults. But I was just talking about what I feel, about how rich and layered music can be. About the depth of creativity, and how magical it is to take photos at sunset — that it’s the best time of day. I mean, this sensitivity, when you listen to classical music and realize that some people only think about butts