The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

“I guess this is it,” Juho said, putting the pen down, brushing his hair up, and massaging his wrist. Despite spending his entire morning on it, Juho had only written four sentences in total, which brought him a sense of crisis. The situation was a lot worse than he had thought. Realizing how restless and uneasy he was becoming, Juho chuckled.

“Was it this bad back then too?”

Juho rose from his seat and stretched. He hadn’t been able to write in his past life either, and when he had been around his current age, holding a pen had been the only thing he had been able to do. The author looked toward the window, which was blocked by the stacks of manuscripts. He recalled being able to see a tree from his room, where the crow would rest while looking down at Juho.

“Hindered by my own legacy,” Juho murmured, tapping against one of the stacks of paper, which looked as if it would topple over at any moment.

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

Rubbing his face, Juho picked up his pen, erased everything and started over. The room was anything but peaceful, making it impossible for the author to concentrate. To make matters worse, Juho was feeling very uneasy. He wanted to be able to concentrate on his work. He desperately wanted something so tangible that he could almost touch it, something that would make him forget all about his current struggle. However, the room was filled by a cruel silence. The battle against the unseen tended to feel empty and futile. Then, checking the time, Juho rose from his seat.

“They should be here any minute now.”

Closing the door on the way out of his room, Juho went to the kitchen and took some meat out of the refrigerator in order to cook it before his guests arrived. Then, a series of knocking sounds came from the front door just in the nick of time.

“Hey,” Juho said, greeting his guest.

“Mm, I smell meat,” Seo Kwang murmured as he took his shoes off. “I need to lose weight, though…”

“More for me, then.”

“Well, I can’t let you eat alone,” Seo Kwang said, putting his bag down and sitting down. At the sight of the books peaking through the opening in his bag, Juho chuckled.

“Isn’t it heavy?” Juho asked.

“Not at all.”

“You’ve been working with Coin, right? How’s that been?”

As if he had been waiting for Juho to ask, Seo Kwang unfastened the top button of his shirt.

“I am DYING. I just can’t seem to figure out a way to preserve the unique feel in his writing. I’ve been using your old work as reference, but I don’t know. How the heck did you do it?! Let alone twenty years ago?!”

“Maybe you’re stuck because you’re using my work as reference,” Juho said, trying to laugh it off.

“You translated six of his books! Help me out here!”

When Juho brought out the meat, Seo Kwang started eating voraciously and unhesitantly.

“Did you forget to eat?” Juho asked.

“I did today.”

“But you still have plenty of time until your deadline, don’t you?”

“I have two projects stacked on top of each other, so there’s barely enough time. I’m telling you, having a successful career is exhausting.”

“Are you gonna be OK?”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Looking at Seo Kwang, who was busy eating with his head down, Juho said, “You’re getting old.”

“Are you tryin’ to start a fight?”

“Your hair’s thinning.”

To that, Seo Kwang replied defensively, “Hey man, I don’t need you to remind me of any of that! My dad’s already been bugging me about getting married!”

Then, waving his chopsticks, the translator added, “He just will NOT give up! I’ve already dedicated my life to books. I’m gonna live the rest of my life surrounded by them. I don’t know why he keeps pestering me so much when he already knows all that.”

“Reminds me of your first love,” Juho said.

“… Bring out some sauce, will ya? I need something to cut through the grease.”

At that moment, even more guests arrived: Sun Hwa, Bom and Baron. With her nostrils flaring, Sun Hwa walked in unhesitantly and said, “You started without us!?”

While Bom greeted Juho and Seo Kwang gladly, Baron handed Juho a gift.

“What is this?”

“It’s a painting. It came out nicely this time, and I figured it would suit your taste.”

When Juho tore the wrapping paper, he saw the painting. From time to time, Baron would send Juho a painting as a gift. After looking at the oil painting for a little while, Juho put it in his room.

“I don’t get it. These kids are terrified of me.”

“Well, it’s probably because you’re in charge of an entire grade. Remember how scared we were of those teachers?”

“I thought the Chinese teacher was the scariest,” Sun Hwa said, chewing her food. Then, she proceeded to grumble about her work, “I tried to get some advice from Mr. Moon, but he’s anything but helpful. He keeps telling me things like how to write a good resignation letter… ”

“Mr. Moon… I thought he’d retired from teaching.”

“He did look a lot happier after he stopped teaching.”

Juho nodded in agreement. After years of reluctantly continuing his teaching career, Mr. Moon had finally called it quits, and among the number of jobs he had tried after that, writing had been one of them. In the end, the teacher had debuted as an author fairly late.

“His debut title was pretty good. Though, I wasn’t all that impressed after that.”

“I guess he was the talented type after all,” Seo Kwang said nonchalantly, drinking the beer Bom had brought. If Mr. Moon had been there, the translator would’ve quickly found himself in trouble. As Juho stared intently at him, Seo Kwang asked, “Are you gonna have some?”

At that moment, silence took over the room.

“No thanks. It tastes terrible,” Juho replied, shaking his head.”

“Right. That’s the Juho Woo I know.”

“I thought you had lost your mind back then.”

At one point, Juho had taken up alcohol, smoking, and gambling, and all of that had started with a thought: ‘… Maybe I’ll be able to come up with something after a drink or two.”

“It’s just a drink. What’s the big deal?”

“The fact that you were acting like you were still a teenager.”

“Seriously! Do you know what it means to do things in moderation?”

“There was definitely a lot going on for all of us back then. That’s the year you got divorced, right Sun Hwa?” Seo Kwang asked Sun Hwa, pointing toward her.

At which point, she bent his finger and replied proudly, “Single life is the way to go,” guzzling down on her beer.

“You don’t say,” Baron replied.

“I wasn’t talking to you, you know,” Sun Hwa replied to the father of two, who was drinking quietly. There was a gold ring on his left ring finger.

“How’s your younger child doing?” Juho asked.

“He’s doing well. Too well if you ask me. I’m telling you, nothing makes me prouder than looking at him.”

“Is he a troublemaker?”

“I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t.”

“Why didn’t you bring your wife?”

“She’s over at her parents’.”

Baron no longer had any personal time. However, as if he wasn’t bothered by that reality, Baron ate with a look of satisfaction on his face. Pouring himself a cup of juice, Juho said to Bom, “I rewatched that drama you wrote.”

“Did you now?”

“It was just as good the second time around.”

“It already feels outdated. I don’t know what to do with myself whenever I see it on the TV,” Bom said, shaking her head. “Good times,” she added, staring into the air.

It had already been a decade since the drama she had written had come out. Now, Bom was working as an accountant, and seeing as she hadn’t switched jobs, she seemed happy with it.

“It was so popular back then.”

“I thought you’d become a star screenwriter.”

“It wasn’t sustainable to say the least. I couldn’t handle it, so I just dropped it. I felt like I was taking a leap of faith, but I guess it’s all in the past now,” Bom said, chuckling as if she had already moved on.

“Man, I wish I could quit,” Sun Hwa said, dropping her head. In an attempt to comfort her, Bom patted her on the back. When Bom had decided to quit screenwriting, the decision had called for tremendous courage and determination.

“We have a Mr. Moon 2.0 here.”

“Shut up, Seo Kwang.”

While quietly listening to his friends talk, Juho swished the liquid around in his cup. Having been friends with them for decades, the author was able to tell what his friends were thinking about just by looking at their faces.

“What about you? How’s writing?” Seo Kwang asked.

“I recently asked for an extension,” Juho said, rubbing his nose.

“Ha! Serves you right,” Seo Kwang said, seemingly delighted by the author’s struggle, and Sun Hwa responded by kicking him.

“What seems to be the issue?” Baron asked calmly.

Crossing his arms, Juho replied after some contemplation, “Let’s just say that I wanna do better, but I’m not sure of which direction to take?”

As Baron crossed his arms quietly, Juho said light-heartedly, “My editor thinks the intro isn’t too bad.”

“So, it’s the ending of the story that’s giving you trouble.”

“I just can’t seem to make any progress,” Juho said and looked toward Bom, who, after some contemplation, asked, “What if you talk to Mr. Lim about it? Isn’t he your go-to person for advice?”

“I don’t know…”

“You know plenty of other authors too, don’t you?”

“I don’t wanna bother them for something like this.”

“See? That’s the issue!” Sun Hwa said, clicking her tongue.

To which, Juho tilted his head and asked, “What is?”

“You just don’t know yourself!”

“What do you mean?”

With that, Sun Hwa started preaching to Juho. After listening to her intently, Juho glanced toward Seo Kwang, who was resting his chin on his hand and murmuring, “No wonder the kids don’t like you.”

“Who!? Who doesn’t like me!?”

From then on, the atmosphere rose quickly.

“You know, it’s been really nice out lately!” Bom said excitedly.

“Let go see the flowers!” Sun Hwa said.

To which, Seo Kwang scoffed and said, “Isn’t it a little soon for that?”

“Last year was pretty fun, though,” Baron said, wiping his mouth while reminiscing about the past. However, taking in consideration how dry the air felt, Juho had a feeling that they wouldn’t be seeing any flowers any time soon that year.

—

“What now?”

Juho had gone out for a morning walk. If it hadn’t been for the crow blocking the way, his day would’ve been off to a refreshing start. As Juho gave it a disgruntled look, the crow cawed all the more. Lately, the bird had been appearing more frequently.

“I don’t even drink anymore. Why are you still here?”

Instead of giving him an answer, the crow hopped in place.

‘OK, then. I don’t have to tell you anything either,’ Juho thought to himself, walking right past the bird. At that moment…

“Juho!”

… The author heard two voices call for him simultaneously. After looking around briefly, Juho saw the twins on the other side of the street waving at him. Their eyes were just as long and thin as they had been in high school. Standing in place, Juho waited for them to cross over to him.

“What a coincidence!”

“Is that a pun?” Juho asked, and Gong Pal grinned. There was a thin scar running down his cheek.

“My brother clearly thinks he’s funnier than he really is,” Gong Il murmured. Although the two had looked nearly identical at one point, they were noticeably different now, and the scar on Gong Pal’s face definitely contributed to that.

“I think your scar’s fading,” Juho said.

“Is it? I can’t really tell. I never really pay attention to it.”

The scar on Gong Pal’s face had come from a business trip sixteen years prior. Having been near the scene of a bombing, Gong Pal had been seriously wounded by the debris from the explosion.

“Remember what happened back then? It was so weird!” Gong Il said, chuckling light-heartedly. Although she had had no clue that her brother had been injured, Gong Il had felt a sharp pain on her left cheek around the time of Gong Pal’s accident. Thinking that her teeth were hurting, she had gone to a dentist recommended by Sun Hwa. Although the dentist had suggested that Gong Il get her wisdom teeth removed, the actual source of the pain remained a mystery to that day, and Juho remembered having written a full-length novel about terrorism after that.

“What brings you guys here? I can’t remember the last time I ran into you two together.”

“I was visiting my sister-in-law. She packed us some food,” Gong Il said, waving the bag in her hand.

“I see.”

“Would you like some? Our family makes really good kimchi.”

“It’s fine. I have plenty of the food my parents sent me at home.”

“Then… Would you mind sharing some with us?”

While cracking jokes with the twins, Juho looked around. The crow was sitting on a tree nearby while looking down at him. Upon locking eyes with the author, the bird started moving around.

“What are you looking at?” Gong Pal asked.

Shaking his head, Juho replied, “Nothing.”