The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

“I’m sorry?” Juho asked, caught off guard by Hyun Do’s remark.

“You didn’t really want to go in the water, did you?” Hyun Do asked.

“…”

“When I saw you dropping the clams in your hands to jump in that water, you reminded me of Wol. I remember him doing just that.”

Blinking awkwardly, Juho stared at Hyun Do.

“That’s why I suggested it to you.”

Then, the sound of fireworks rang in the distance and a musty whiff of gunpowder followed. As Juho remained silent, Hyun Do made the suggestion once again, “Give it a try,” just like when they had been at the beach. Resisting the urge to say yes, Juho gathered his breath and said, “Frankly, I want to say yes. As soon as I started reading that book, I felt that I needed to finish it.”

However, the young author hadn’t acted on his impulse.

“… But, something told me that it isn’t that simple.”

“Well, if that’s what you think, then so be it. So, have you made up your mind?”

“Yes, I have,” Juho said, brushing his hair up. There were no certainties. His mind was still in disarray, even when he opened his mouth speak. Nevertheless, the young author forced himself to give the answer.

“I’ll do it.”

“Your reason being?”

“Because I want to.”

Hyun Do chuckled at the young author’s rather unremarkable answer. The next day, Hyun Do packed his bag and made his way to Seoul for the first time in a long time. Looking at the road filled with cars, Juho walked with Hyun Do, who whispered to him, “You might wanna look forward when you walk.”

“They’re selling steamed corn over there,” Juho said, looking toward an old lady who was setting up her cart. Remaining unfazed, Hyun Do went ahead. When Juho walked past the old lady, he realized that the pile of steaming corn smelled somewhat different from the one in front of the grocery store near Hyun Do’s house.

“I’m getting nervous.”

“About?”

“You know, Mr. Lim.”

After Hyun Do had promised the young author that he would show Juho the handwritten manuscript of the white book, Juho headed to Hyun Do’s office in Seoul in order to receive the manuscript from him. Although Juho was carrying a large bag along, the thought of seeing Wol’s handwritten manuscript made Juho forget all about the inconvenience of having to drag it around.

“You might not wanna get your hopes up.”

“How can I not?”

As Hyun Do walked with his hands behind his back, Juho asked while following him quietly, “Can I really go there, though?”

“Do you not want the manuscript?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that.”

Juho remembered Hyun Do’s phone call with his editor prior to coming up to Seoul. They had made plans, which meant that the young author would most likely run into the editor if he were to go with Hyun Do.

“I hope I’m not intruding on anyone,” Juho said.

“You’re not. Besides, you won’t be staying for that long.”

“That is true.”

“It’ll be fine. My editor wants to meet you too.”

“Is that right?”

Hyun Do’s editor was the editor-in-chief of one of Zelkova’s competitors. Juho still remembered the disappointed look on Nam Kyung’s face after losing a contract to a competing company. For the time being, as Hyun Do calmly led Juho through the building, Juho followed him without question.

“Is it here?”

The office looked quite different from his residence at the beach. However, the atmosphere was nearly identical: achromatic. At that moment…

“Pleasure to meet you!”

… A voice greeted the young author as Juho stepped into the office. When he looked toward the voice greeting him, he saw a man sporting a peculiar-looking mustache. As the editor handed the young author a business card, Juho glanced at it and put it in his pocket. With a big smile on his face, the editor said, “I’ve tried to get a hold of you a number of times, even when I didn’t know what you looked like.”

“Yes, I remember turning down all manuscript requests back then,” Juho said. He still recalled being bombarded with manuscript requests when he had just debuted as an author. Of course, he had had various reasons to turn them all down.

“It was like going through a breakup,” the editor said.

“Come grab a seat, you two.”

It wasn’t until Hyun Do offered the two a sit that Juho was able to set his luggage aside. Puzzled by the luggage, the editor asked, “Are you coming back from a trip?”

“Yes,” Juho said, trying to be deliberate with his words.

Then, the editor said in a friendly manner, “You must like to travel! I was in Siberia, getting a train tour of the place. It was amazing!”

“You don’t say?”

“Where did you go, Mr. Woo?”

Juho looked toward Hyun Do as though seeking advice on how to answer that question. However, Hyun Do looked at the young author as though it didn’t matter.

“I stayed with Mr. Lim for a little while,” Juho said hesitantly.

“…”

Juho noticed the editor’s mustache changing shape.

“You mean at Mr. Lim’s residence?” the editor asked.

“Yes…?” Juho said, hoping that they were thinking of the same place. Then, looking betrayed, the editor called out to Hyun Do, “Mr. Lim! I thought you didn’t take visitors?”

“I can’t concentrate when you’re around.”

“I told you! I make a great assistant!”

“I don’t need an assistant.”

As Juho chuckled quietly, the editor asked as his eyes sparkled with interest, “What made you go all the way there, Mr. Woo?”

“Just because.”

“Just because?”

“That’s right,” Juho said confidently, and the editor rubbed his mustache, puzzled. He didn’t seem to buy the young author’s answer entirely.

“Seeing as you even took luggage, you seem to have stayed with Mr. Lim for quite a while.”

“I wrote a book while I was there.”

“May I ask what it is about?”

“So, I saw this crow when I went to the beach with Mr. Lim.”

Then, Juho proceeded to give the editor a brief summary of the story, and the editor listened intently to the young author, maintaining a straight face throughout. Every time he nodded, Juho was able to imagine what he would looked like when reading a manuscript.

“I’d love to see it,” the editor said, and Juho chuckled it off. However, the editor seemed serious.

“You know, Mr. Woo, we’ve been meaning to have you here for a while now.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Do you happen to have the manuscript on you?”

“I was under the impression that you were here to meet with Mr. Lim?”

“Well, I was hoping to meet you too.”

“Have some tea, you two,” Hyun Do said as he poured some tea for the editor and the young author. Of course, it had been brewed quite strong. Sitting on a tilted chair, Hyun Do said, “Don’t mind me. Take your time.”

“Mr. Lim.”

“It might not be such a terrible idea to get all the discussion out of the way today.”

Looking embarrassed, the editor scratched his head. However, before long, he looked at Juho with greedy eyes and asked, “The crow wasn’t the only thing you saw there, was it?

As the editor added once again that he wanted see the manuscript, Juho replied after some brief hesitation, “I can show it to you, but I have no intention of publishing it.”

“Understood,” the editor said briefly. Then, Juho took manuscript out of his bag and handed it over to the editor, who started reading without hesitation. Having an editor, let alone the editor-in-chief of a publishing company, read their manuscript was a nerve-racking experience to which no author was immune. Rubbing the back of his neck, Juho said to Hyun Do, “I guess I’m going first.”

“It’s fine. I have all day,” Hyun Do said, drinking his tea unhurriedly. In order to mask his anxiety, Juho also drank his tea, trying to remain as quiet as possible as the editor read through the manuscript. The silence continued for quite some time, and the editor’s mustache stayed hidden behind his hand. Then, looking up from the manuscript, the editor asked, “Have you ever considered working with…”

“I’m sorry. I have no interest in releasing that story.”

“May I ask why?”

“I have another story to write.”

“Well, that’s a good news! Could you tell me what it’s going to be about?”

Again, Juho looked toward Hyun Do, and he gave the young author the same look he had given him a moment before, as if saying he trusted Juho.

“So…” Juho hesitated, struggling to get the words out of his mouth.

“So?”

Taking a deep breath, Juho mustered up the courage to speak.

“I took on the task of finishing Mr. Kang’s manuscript. His last book before he passed away.”

At the young author’s unexpected response, the editor’s jaw dropped open, and his eyes widened. Getting uncomfortably close to Juho, he said, “His last book? Incomplete?”

The editor’s cluelessness was fully justified because the white book had never seen the light of day. At that moment, the editor reached over to Juho and grabbed his arm with a look of determination, “We… We have to talk.”

At that, Juho realized that it would be a while longer before he got his hands on Wol’s manuscript.

—

“All done?” Hyun Do asked as he came in through the door.

Leaning back on his chair at the same time, Juho said, “Well, I guess that’s it, then.”

Judging from the editor’s rolled up sleeves, the conversation between him and the young author seemed to have been quite fierce. As Juho wrapped his warm neck with his hands, the editor wore a big smile on his face.

“We’ll settle for ‘The Crow.’”

In the end, the editor couldn’t convince the young author to work with the company. But, only for the project of finishing Wol’s work. Impressed by the editor’s go-getter attitude, Juho had given up on another point.

“Thank you, Mr. Woo,” the editor said, smiling while frowning slightly as though he had hoped for a better result.

“Thank you,” Juho replied. The company was more than willing to work with the young author and make tempting offers. Although Juho had had no intention of releasing ‘The Crow’ initially, as they talked, he eventually came to realize that he wanted to work with the editor. Since Juho already had enough on his plate, he agreed to publish ‘The Crow’ instead of the white book through the company. After making plans to meet again in the near future, Juho left the office.

“Thank you for waiting, Mr. Lim,” the editor said with a big smile, bowing to Hyun Do.

“Seems like you two had a lot to discuss,” Hyun Do said, nodding. Then, he called to Juho, and the young author sprung up from his seat, realizing that he was about to finally get his hands on a certain manuscript. After going into another room, Hyun Do brought out the document envelope that contained Wol Kang’s handwritten manuscript of the white book.

“It’s actually a copy. Yun Seo has the original.”

“That’s more than I could ask for, Mr. Lim.”

“It’s yours.”

Using both of his hands, Juho took the envelope from Hyun Do politely. Meanwhile, the editor looked at the envelope as though he had an idea of what was in it. With the envelope in his hands, Juho became anxious to get out of the office, itching to read the manuscript.

“Well, I’m gonna get going now.”

“Take care.”

“I’ll let you know when I get back.”

As Hyun Do nodded haphazardly, the editor reached out for a handshake and said, “We’ll meet again, Mr. Woo.”

After shaking hands with the editor, Juho left the office without hesitation.

—

“So, you gave it to Juho, huh?”

“Yes.”

For the first time in a long time, Yun Seo brought out a bottle of whiskey. Although she picked up the bottle up herself initially, she handed it over to Hyun Do instead and picked up her glass.

“I had already handed that manuscript over to you, so I don’t have anything to say.”

“I’m aware,” Hyun Do replied, adding, “… but, I thought you should know.”

After rolling the whiskey around in her mouth, Yun Seo swallowed it.

“So, Juho’s taking over it, huh,” Yun Seo said, almost as if murmuring. Her late husband hadn’t been able to finish the book he had started writing, and reminiscing to the time when he had been alive, Yun Seo drank her whiskey. “He never told me how that story ended. I asked him so desperately.”

“He was one of a kind.”

“That’s why I loved him.”

“Well, what can I say?”

Yun Seo cackled at Hyun Do’s response. Then, she stared intently at Hyun Do. They had become used to seeing each other’s old, wrinkled faces, and their white hairs were proof of how much time had passed since Wol’s death.

“I thought you would take over that manuscript,” Yun Seo said.

“I told you I wasn’t going to,” Hyun Do replied.

“I thought you were just playing hard to get.”

Yun Seo was well aware that Hyun Do had mixed feelings for Wol. While Wol had been alive, the three had always competed against each other. However, none of them had been able to win, and in the end, they had all grown from that.

“I wanted to be great,” Hyun Do said. The friend who had been walking ahead had suddenly stopped in his tracks. Now, Wol’s books were not only great, but permanently branded as being the works of a genius. More specifically, of a genius who had passed away much too early. That was how the late author was remembered by the world.

“Honestly…” Yun Seo started off, and Hyun Do looked at her, who was looking out the window.

“I’ve tried a number of times,” she said as the image of Yun Woo’s face rushed past her mind.