Hi! I'm reading a novel, but this word "활자로" it's really pissing me off because i really can't understand the meaning of the sentence because it doesn't match what it's being said. I've searched in every dictionary but i still can't get it's meaning, i don't know if the meaning changes with the context, but i'm really frustrated bc i feel like i can't understand the story full meaning. Hope anyone can help me. Thanks. 활자로 존재했던 그가 실존한다는 것을 알아챈 후, 인어는 어쩌면 그를 구하기 위해 이 기억을 갖고 태어난 게 아닐까 생각했다. 그는 인어의 사랑하는 활자, 인어가 몰래 엿본 미래의 한 조각. Here's two phrases where it appears.
활자 means "writing" or "words," so it's referring to a character who had existed in words (like a novel character) Edit: sorry, it technically means "print" as in "printed letters" but same idea
It doesn't make a lot of sense without reading the story, but either a fictional character came to life, or a real person got themselves trapped in a book and needs to be saved by a mermaid who fell in love with a fictional character.