The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

Feeling thirsty for more, Juho licked his lips while wondering if he was allowed to read the book in his hand. However, despite his desperation to read the next sentence and find out the next segment of the story, he simply couldn’t get his hands to flip to the next page. ‘Mr. Kang’s unreleased novel…’ It was as though Wol had come back from the dead. At that moment, as Juho slowly brought his hand to the page of the book with a racing heart, a loud thud came out of nowhere. At which point, Juho jumped and looked behind himself. A book had fallen on the floor.

“Did I not put push it all the way in?”

Trying to calm down, Juho picked up the book and placed it back on the shelf, feeling as though he was doing something wrong. Then, staring at the dimly-lit hallway, Juho put Wol’s book down reluctantly and backed away from the shelf quietly. There was no way he could have an enjoyable reading experience in a setting like that. That night, the young author stayed up nearly the entire night, unable to fall asleep.

“Which book are you reading these days?” Hyun Do asked as Juho walked down to the living room early in the morning.

“The Village,” Juho replied, showing Hyun Do the cover of the book that had been written by Wol.

Hyun Do stared at the book for slightly longer than usual and said, “Seems like you’ve gone into the inner room.”

“Yes, I have. Lots of interesting reads there,” Juho said, chuckling.

“When are you planning on heading back to Seoul?” Hyun Do asked. Having just finished the first draft, his story was still far from completion, and Juho still wasn’t sure about how his presence had helped Hyun Do in his writing process. Although Juho was well aware that the duration of his stay depended on the host, the young author had a reason to stay longer. Fiddling with the book in his hand, Juho asked, “Do you want me to leave?”

“A little bit,” Hyun Do replied.

“That’s cold.”

“It’s just that there’s nothing to do around here.”

“What do you mean? I’m learning so much from you.”

Hyun Do stared intently at the young author. Juho didn’t look away.

“I’m not asking you to leave. Rather, I’m saying that you don’t have to force yourself to stay here.”

“Of course.”

With that, Hyun Do turned around and went back to his writing space. Having lost his chance to ask Hyun Do a question, Juho murmured, “How should I do it?”

As his mind started to become cluttered with thoughts, Juho went into the study. ‘The Village,’ had been one of Wol’s flagship books. Although it had been quite polarizing when it had first come out, ‘The Village’ was one of the books that would always come up when discussing Wol Kang now. Whenever Juho would read that book, he always found himself thinking, ‘What I wouldn’t do to meet him…’

“… Even if it was in my dreams,” Juho said. Reminding himself that there was no way to reunite with the dead, Juho made his way to his room upstairs in order to go to bed early.

“Hey.”

Despite standing in the snow, Juho didn’t feel cold at all. It wasn’t long before the young author realized that he was dreaming. The people around him were all dressed in thick winter clothes.

“Hey.”

Although Juho had never been to the place, it felt all too familiar. ‘I wonder if it’s because I’m imagining it,’ Juho wondered. Being in a dream was a different experience from that of being in his fantasy world while writing.

“I wanna fly,” Juho said. From what he had heard, it was possible to fly in dreams.

“Hey! Hyun Do!”

When Juho looked in the direction of the voice, he saw a person sporting a long, untidy hairdo facing away from the young author and calling for Hyun Do.

“Would you look up from that book for one second and look at me!?”

Then, over the man’s shoulders, a familiar face came into Juho’s view.

“I’m reading your new short story. Shouldn’t you be thanking me instead of interrupting my reading experience?” Hyun Do fired back, his black hair blowing in the wind.

At that, the man with long hair shook his head and said frivolously, “What’s that have to do with anything? I’m me, and a novel’s a novel. So, you can get all the thanks you want from my book.”

Juho stared intently at Hyun Do, whose brow furrowed with his friend’s remark.

“The critics seemed to think that you can do better. You probably shouldn’t be dilly-dallying.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself now. I’m me, and a novel’s a novel. It’s the novel that’s getting a bad rap, not me.”

“You do realize that you’re the writer of that novel, right? Pathetic…”

“Doesn’t matter!” the man said. At that moment, Wol’s face became visible to the young author. It seemed quite similar to the description in a certain nameless book that Juho had read.

“I’m not that terrible of a person.”

“What does that even mean?” Hyun Do asked irritably.

“Life is long. I couldn’t possibly go about living my entire life as some pathetic writer. So, let’s not get too caught up in the moment! We better get going. Yun Seo’s waiting for us,” Wol said with a smile, striding ahead of Hyun Do, who sighed and said, “You need to be more mindful of the present, my friend,” and followed him unhurriedly. Although Juho was following them blatantly, the two didn’t seem to notice the young author’s presence. By the time Juho realized that, he was somewhere that appeared to be the inside of a house. Brushing the snow off of their heads, Hyun Do and Wol opened the sliding door.

“You’re late,” Yun Seo said, glaring at them.

“Sorry, honey,” Wol said. However, the look of displeasure remained unchanged on his wife’s face.

“Do you know what it means to keep a promise?”

“Of course, I do!”

“Yet, you’re late?”

“Hm, maybe I don’t, then.”

At that moment, a dull sound came out of nowhere as a fist punched Wol on the shoulder. As the author writhed in pain, Yun Seo said to Hyun Do, “Thanks.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Hyun Do replied, sighing and taking a seat, his nose slightly red from the cold. Meanwhile, Juho watched the three quietly as they sat around a small table and had a drink together. The sliding door rattled with the gusting wind outside.

“What are you looking at?” Hyun Do asked, drinking the rice wine out of his bowl. When Juho looked into it, he saw it was about half-empty.

(TL’s Note: in Korea, there are certain rice wines that are typically drunk in bowls.)

“Hm?” Yun Seo let out, looking toward Wol, who was staring intently at a certain spot in the room. Then, waving his hand, Wol said, “It’s nothing.”

“Is there a rat or something?”

At that, Wol burst into laughter, his shoulders moving up and down as he laughed.

“Definitely bigger than a rat,” he said.

Remaining unfazed, Yun Seo filled her empty bowl with rice wine. The three were quite the drinkers. Yet, they didn’t seem to rush it. ‘I guess that’s how they usually drink,’ Juho thought. At that moment, Wol sprung up from his seat and walked in the direction he had been staring, which was also where Juho was standing. Juho backed away, only to bump on to the wall behind him. ‘I definitely should’ve chosen a better spot,’ Juho thought to himself nervously.

“What is it?” Hyun Do asked, and opening the sliding door, Wol replied, “A crow.”

Then, as Yun Seo scolded him about the gust of wind that blew into the room, Wol went back to his seat, saying, “It’ll leave eventually.”

“Are you drunk already?” Yun Seo asked, stroking Wol’s face.

“No, I’m not,” Wol replied, letting his wife stroke his face. At the sight of the snow outside, Yun Seo put on a jacket instead of closing the door.

“Again?” Hyun Do asked annoyedly. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “What the heck is it, anyway?”

Emptying his bowl of rice wine, Wol replied, “Let’s just say that it’s a part of me.”

“Whatever happened to ‘I’m me, and a novel’s a novel?’” Hyun Do asked sarcastically.

“Humans are hypocritical by nature.”

“But you contradict yourself all the time.”

“We all have something that we wish weren’t true. I’m no different.”

“A genius writer like you? No different from us normal humans? How humbling.”

“No need to be sarcastic now,” Wol said, patting Hyun Do on the back forcefully. As Hyun Do moved his hand away from him irritably, Wol cackled, coughing in between.

“Did you catch a cold?” Hyun Do asked nonchalantly. To which, Wol replied, also in a nonchalant manner, “Maybe it’s because it’s cold out.”

“That’s what you get for leaving the door open in the middle of winter.”

“I just felt bad that it was stuck here.”

“There’s nothing there. We’re the only ones ‘stuck’ here, freezing.”

Then, looking concerned, Yun Seo said, “Maybe, you haven’t been eating well?”

“Should I eat something?”

“Just drink some more and sleep it off,” Hyun Do said, and Wol brushed it off.

“So, I heard something interesting while I was at the village.”

“The village?” Juho murmured inadvertently,

“That’s right, the village,” Wol replied. Juho looked at him with a furrowed brow. Wol had been giving off the impression that he could see Juho. Then, he started telling the story of what he had heard, and Hyun Do listened to him with eyes filled with interest.

“So, there’s this dog that belongs to a certain family that killed a horse that belonged to another family. You know horses aren’t exactly cheap, so the dog’s owner played coy, saying that it wasn’t their dog that had killed the horse. It seemed like reimbursement was already out of the picture.”

“That’s too bad for the horse’s owner.”

“Instead, they chose to do something about the dog.”

“What happened?”

“They decided to kill it.”

Upon killing the dog, the situation had come to an end. Rubbing his chin, Wol added, “A dog kills a horse, and a person kills that same dog. Who do you think is the worst in this scenario?”

“The dog’s owner,” Yun Seo said without hesitation. Smiling with satisfaction, Wol said, “That goes without saying. That guy was cowardly and irresponsible. He was below an animal.”

“I get that the horse is the real victim here,” Hyun Do said, raising his eyebrows, and Wol nodded in agreement.

“What do you think?” Yun Seo asked.

“I think it’s the horse’s owner.”

“The reason being?”

“He killed with clear intent,” Wol replied and added, “The dog’s owner is, so to speak, a bystander. Dogs and horses are animals, so we can understand their actions to that extent, but the horse’s owner? They killed a living being out of anger. I don’t know about you two, but in my book, the horse’s owner is the evil one.”

Then, as Yun Seo was about to speak up, Wol raised his hand gently and kept on, “But when I heard the horse’s owner’s side of the story, things kind of changed.”

“Did you go talk to them?”

“I sure did.”

“What did they tell you?”

“Apparently, the horse had been like their child. Now, think about it this way: the horse’s owner lost their child in an unfortunate incident.”

Then, Wol proceeded to explain the dramatic encounter between the horse and its owner in great length, which turned out to be a heart-achingly beautiful story. Juho actually applauded it.

“Think about it. Losing your child overnight. Dead. Wouldn’t you go crazy after something like that?”

“I’m sure killing a dog won’t do,” Juho and Hyun Do said.

“Exactly. What do you think will happen next?” Wol said, snapping his fingers. Raising her bowl, Yun Seo said, “Is that the plot of your new book?”

“Was it obvious?” Wol asked, his eyes filled with innocent curiosity. The two friends were staring at him.

“I’m curious about how the dog came to kill that horse. I’m sure it had a reason, but how could I find out when the dog is already dead?”

Scoffing, Hyun Do asked, “Is it people or animals that you wanna write about?”

“The horse’s owner is pretty much like an animal. Their child walks on four limbs. Wouldn’t that mean its parents would do the same?”

“Humans walk on four limbs in the morning too, you know.”

“Which is exactly what makes us animals.”

“So, it is about humans, then?”

“That’s what a novelist does,” Juho added. At that moment, Wol suddenly turned his head toward the young author, making Juho flinch. However, Wol simply stared at him without doing anything.

“What came in this time?” Yun Seo asked, looking entertained. Shaking his head, Wol replied, “It just doesn’t seem like it wants to leave. I guess I left the door open for no reason. I’m tellin ya’, this one’s kind of slow.”

Smacking his lips, Juho sat down.

“It’s persistent too. I wonder what it’s looking for.”

“You,” Juho said.

Then, emptying his bowl, Wol said, “Well, life is long. I’m sure it won’t stay there forever.”

With that, the young author opened his eyes. His room was well lit. Realizing that he had slept in, Juho rushed out of his room.