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[Alexandr Korol]

who are crooks — are sitting, eating junk food, watching a dumb TV show and telling her: “Books? Why do you want to read books? Are you stupid?” It’s shown really well there. Well, that’s the kind of society we live in. Not everyone, of course. But there are people like that, with that kind of reaction. But I wouldn’t say that my relatives rejected me in any way. On the contrary, without judgment, without reproach — maybe once or twice in my whole life someone said something like: “Why are you listening to classical music? Did someone die?” That’s all — just because the melody was sad. But to me, it resonated. And that’s it. So what? Well yes, you see, people react that way — they always want that agitated rhythm, “ha-ha, hee-hee,” everything superficial. That’s natural for people, nobody wants to go into depth. And I’m a deep person — that’s why I write books, I’m a writer, how else could it be? It would probably be more surprising if I were partying and joking around every day and still called myself a writer. That would be strange. Writers really are like that — introverted, deep. They can step into the world of people, sure. Many writers do that intentionally — if you pay attention, there are many films about writers. If you watch them, you’ll see: some are looking for inspiration, some plunge into the thick of events. But still, when it comes time to write, you have to step out of that whirlwind and retreat, return to your little world and write. I’m the same. Sometimes I enter the world of people for a while, then return. Yes, in that world of people, that’s the kind of reaction you get. Why? Why do they act like that? Well, they just do. That’s how they react.

But I’ll say this: I never had anyone outright criticize me or forbid me from writing books. No. Only when I started writing did my relatives begin to wonder why I even got interested in this. Interested in what? The Matrix, Masons, keys to paradise. They asked where I got that from. But no one had told me anything. I figured it all out myself. That’s just how life unfolded. But they just thought maybe I had read something or someone told me. I said, “No, no one.” And yes, that was the first time they asked about it. And back then, a couple of my friends laughed and said, “Well, if you’re meeting messengers and talking about keys to paradise, then your roof has definitely blown off.” Yeah, that was their reaction. They laughed. Two out of three of those guys laughed the most. So what?