The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

“Hello? Dae Soo? Sorry, I can’t really hear you because of Mideum.”

Since the article, Juho had been on the phone for nearly an entire day because of his friends and acquaintances trying to get a hold of him all at the same time as if they had made an agreement. As soon as they found out that Yun Woo and Won Yi Young were the same person, Juho had to withstand the aftershock, especially from the people around him.

“Sorry, I’m getting another call. I think you should calm Mideum down a little bit. OK, take care now.”

While the phone was still hot in his hand, he answered the next call, “Hello?”

“My, my! Mr. Young!”

A husky voice came from the receiver. It was Sang Young.

“Yes, this is he.”

“I’m at the bookstore to buy ‘Language of God,” he reported unnecessarily.

“I see.”

“Your books are selling left and right. ‘Trace of a Bird’ was at number one for a while because of the movie, but I can see that might change soon.”

“It’s still my book.”

“I’ll take that as you saying that there are no other rivals aside from yourself?”

“Take it as you will. Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

With that, he let out a hearty laughter and said, “When would I ever get to buy Won Yi Young’s book while I’m talking on the phone with Yun Woo?”

Then, Juho heard an employee’s voice asking Sang Young if he needed a bag for his book.

“No, thanks,” he said. It was like a live broadcast.

“Mind if I hang up?”

“Had a long day, huh? It makes sense, considering how big of a bomb you dropped. Maybe you understand where I was coming from a little better now?”

Similarly, Sang Young, too, had been dealing with people around him asking about Yun Woo, and things were not about to let up anytime soon.

“I always appreciate your work,” Juho said sincerely.

“As long as you write good books like this, I can keep my mouth shut as long as you need me to,” Sang Young answered.

As soon as he hung up, Juho placed his phone on his desk. His hand was burning from the heat radiating from the phone. Lying comfortably on his bed, Juho stared at the ceiling absent-mindedly, but before long, the vibration from the desk broke the silence. Another call. Having lost count of the number of calls he had been answering, Juho chuckled.

“I wasn’t aware that I knew this many people.”

He groped for his phone on the desk and checked the name on the screen. At that moment, he sprung up from his bed.

“Mr. Lim,” he said as he sat up to answer the call.

“Can you talk?”

“Yes, of course!”

WIthout hesitation, Hyun Do got straight to the point. The background was silent.

“That was refreshing,” he said briefly, and those words sank deep into Juho’s heart.

The literary giant was aware of what it took for Juho to finally be able to write a book like the ‘Language of God.’ With that, Juho remembered the scenery at the beach, where the boundless horizon and the grains of sand came together harmoniously.

“I thought you were panicking because I couldn’t get a hold of you. I should have known when Yun Seo was acting suspiciously,” Hyun Do said calmly.

“It was fun,” Juho answered briefly like Hyun Do. He had enjoyed the process of writing the ‘Language of God’ very much, as he indulged in his fantasies of creating an enormous world.

“It felt like I stretched for the first time in a long time. I feel refreshed.”

“Did you get sick at all?”

“No, as healthy as a horse.”

At the energetic response, a quiet chuckle sounded from the phone.

“I guess doing something out of my character did pay off after all.”

“… Pardon?”

“I enjoyed your book, as much as the work you put into it. Now, I’ll see you later.”

With that, he hung up the phone. While it was the shortest phone call thus far, it was also the most memorable. Hyun Do was nothing like the people who had called Juho. He was calm and composed. Juho slowly moved the phone away from his ear and felt that the emotions he had injected in his work had translated successfully to the readers.

“Well, go me…!”

He was ecstatic.

—

“The truth revealed: ‘I am my own rival.’”

“The dispute was an illusion: Fans react to the recent dispute.”

“Yun Woo shocks the country yet again. A close look at Yun Woo’s literature.”

“Dispute turned out to be neither plagiarism nor imitation, but just Yun Woo himself.”

“The true identity of Yun Woo? Should readers expect a third alias?”

“Yun Woo is here to stay. What are his limits?””

“Wow, what the heck is happening?!”

“There was a war between Yun Woo fans and Won Yi Young fans, and it turned out that they were fighting over the same person.”

“That’s insane.”

“For real! I wouldn’t be shocked if Yun Woo actually planned for all this to happen.”

“This is the first time an article gave me the chills.”

“The publishing industry is a mess currently. Nobody knew aside from his editors apparently.”

“‘Language of God’ has an amazing world and characters. It was the first time I stayed up all night reading a book, and it turns out that it was written by a seventeen-year old. It made me realize what a real genius is like.”

“I second that.”

“I mean, he created a whole new language. I think that speaks for itself.”

“Here I was, thinking that he was a professor or a doctor or something. Turns out he’s in high school.”

“What does one have to eat to be able to write like that?”

“Did Yun Woo really create that language?’

“There it is again. I can always find at least one person mentioning that! I’m kind of doubtful still. Is it even possible to do that?”

“He’s a genius so…”

“That’s what makes him a genius.”

“Is it really that hard to create a language? I’m not trying to pick a fight or anything, I’m actually curious.”

“There are countless written languages in the ‘Language of God,’ and each and every one of them is based on Old English and Hangul, so they all have solid structures. There are even regions where body language developed as a main method of communication. As if that’s not intricate enough, he goes even further and talks about vowels, consonants, word orders and vocabulary development. How can you tell? If you look at the protagonist in the book, he’s very sensitive to language, so he goes around picking up and translating languages of different regions in no time. Simply put, Yun Woo’s a genius. If you’d like to know more, here’s the link:”

“And there are the books that he wrote under his actual alias too. Isn’t he the youngest winner of the Dong Kyung Literature Award? Is that even possible to achieve as a single individual? Honestly, I’m getting a little suspicious.”

“In the end, Yun Woo gets it all. The top three current bestsellers are all Yun Woo/Won Yi Young.”

“Yun Woo forever!”

—

“Things have been so hectic lately.”

Listening to Jang Mi moaning, Juho sipped his coffee. It tasted slightly acidic and bitter.

“One downside to our readers is their insatiable curiosity. I get calls throughout the day asking when the next volume is coming out. We decided recently to slow things down too.”

“Right,” Juho agreed as he understood where she was coming from.

“It’s a sticky situation.”

Despite her complaining, her face was shining with a cheerful smile. As she grinned ear to ear, her cow-like nose piercing moved up and down. Though it took some time to get used to, Juho had eventually grown familiar with the sight. Her eccentric accessories made for an interesting contrast with her professional attire.

“The bulletin board in our website is brimming with inquiries about Yun Woo, and we didn’t even publish his books,” she said cheerfully, and there was a reason for her happiness.

“They should be asking about Won Yi Young, who recently took Yun Woo’s number one spot.”

Recently, the ‘Language of God’ had become the number one bestseller after the release of ‘The Language of God: Languages,’ which was an offshoot volume that elaborated on the rules and configurations of the languages that appeared in the book. Jang Mi had thought of an idea that Nam Kyung had also thought of in the past, and the result was a massive success.

“You know… it’s a not not the easiest book to read, if you think about it.”

It was a book entirely about a world and its languages. Then, she answered proudly, “That’s what you think. People who are curious about you can’t help but buy the book, including myself.”

“There’s no mention of me anywhere in the book, though.”

“The fact that it was written by Yun Woo is more than enough. Even if it weren’t for that fact, the readers love Won Yi Young and the ‘Language of God.’ Now that Yun Woo fans are joining in on the party, the sales are skyrocketing!”

The skyrocketing sales had successfully made the book the number one bestseller.

“I’m happy that we got to spend some time understanding the worldview better. It helped tremendously.”

Jang Mi smiled bashfully at Juho’s answer and said, “To be honest, I’m a fan of offshoot volumes and aftermaths of a story. Avid fans tend to want to know more about the details,” she added, saying that her study was filled with them.

“Of course, ‘The Language of God’ will always have a place in my study.”

As the author, such remark was an honor.

“The book is doing quite well in the international markets. Japan, China, Philippines, Taiwan, France… We’ve noticed that it’s growing especially popular in Europe.”

Thanks to Jang Mi’s efforts, the book had reached overseas, and it was being well received across the world. As the news of Yun Woo’s second alias spread, readers throughout the world responded similarly to readers in Korea.

Juho had read countless of his readers’ opinions by that point, and there were always suspicions about his creativity. When Juho quietly brought it up, Jang Mi said emphatically, “There are very, very few people who are genuinely doubting your creativity, Mr. Young.”

Juho nodded light-heartedly.

“Well, their doubts aren’t something I can help them with.”

—

“Damn it.”

A quiet swear sounded in a dark room, where a large-figured man was fiddling forcefully with a device in his hand. Suddenly, a stream of artificial light shone on his hairy face.

Then, footsteps approached him.

“Coin! Kelley Coin!”

The knocking on the door grew more and more impatient.

“Damn it,” the man said again, annoyed. The door flung open and light rushed into the room. The bed and the desk were stained by a brown liquid, and countless paper cups were scattered about the room, which reeked with the stench of caffeine.

There were two women standing by the door: one wearing an anxious look while the other was giving the man a pitiful look.

“I need your manuscript.”

“I don’t have it,” Coin said without even looking in the direction of his editor, Isabella.

“Your manuscript has been overdue for a month now. If there isn’t a manuscript, then you gotta make one. What are you doing here?” she said anxiously. Coin glared at her, but it wasn’t enough to intimidate the editor who had been working with him for the last five years. Without hesitation, she pulled out her hand.

“I SAID I DON’T HAVE THE DAMN MANUSCRIPT!” he shouted as he scratched the sides of his head annoyingly, and his mother, Susan, scoffed at the sight.

“You’re a pathetic excuse for a writer. No wonder you got pushed aside.”

Provoked by his mother’s mocking words, Coin stared into the device in his hand with bloodshot eyes, which was covered with the name, “Yun Woo.”

All three of Yun Woo’s books were listed above Coin’s.

“Your books are thing of a past now. As always, the younger ones are taking over.”

With that, Susan walked into the room and opened the window, revealing the blue sky. The darkness faded from the room, and the light came in to fill its void. The dust particles sparkled brightly in the air.

“Yun Woo, was it? He seems like quite a writer, unlike you.”

Isabella listened to Susan quietly.

“Well, don’t think that your books are completely useless. It works wonders when I can’t sleep at night. It’s much more effective than alcohol, so I’ve been putting it to use often.”

Coin remained silent as he glared maliciously at the name, “Yun Woo.”

“Judging from your silence, I assume you know what I’m talking about. You have no idea what kind of trash you’ve been writing lately, yet you’re probably thinking you’re on top of the world after winning a few awards here and there,” with those words, she left the room and walked down the stairs, adding, “If you understood the words that came out of my mouth, then move it.”

Coin’s hands flinched at those words.