The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

Following the teacher to the English class, Sun Hwa, Bom, and Seo Kwang saw Mr. Moon talking to James in English.

“Mr. Moon.”

“Hey there,” Mr. Moon said with an odd expression on his face. While he seemed bothered by the situation on one hand, he seemed proud on the other. On top of that, James, who was standing next to him, was quite excited.

“I’m about to have a new addition to my list of things to show off to my friends.”

“Are you now?” the teacher answered briefly.

Meanwhile, Seo Kwang caught on to what they were talking about.

“Are we gonna be on TV?” Bom asked with a puzzled look, and Mr. Moon said, “They already interviewed the teachers in the staffroom.”

Soon, another teacher brought the younger club members to the English class. Although they seemed confused initially, their faces brightened up as soon as they saw the juniors in the room. At the same time, they seemed to be somewhat excited by the situation that had come out of nowhere.

“What’s going on?” Gong Pal asked.

“We’re being interviewed apparently,” Seo Kwang answered.

“Interview? What interview?”

“Who knows?”

While Seo Kwang answered Gong Pal’s questions haphazardly, he heard a group approaching in the distance. The first person to come into the room was the cameraman, who started setting up all the necessary equipment throughout the classroom. A camera with the logo of a broadcasting station was placed on top of a tripod to look down at the club members. Meanwhile, the principal was discussing something with someone else, the juniors’ counselor, who was yelling at the other students lingering around the room to go back to their classes. At the same time, Seo Kwang looked attentively at everything that was taking place around him because of his personal obligation to tell his friend all about it.

Then, Sun Hwa murmured from the side, “They’re not even bothering to offer an explanation or even ask for our consensus.”

“I guess the school did it for us.”

Sun Hwa clicked her tongue, and Mr. Moon told them, “The interview’s gonna be on the air apparently, so make sure you don’t have anything stuck in your teeth.”

“I don’t eat breakfast.”

“I don’t have a mirror on me.”

As Seo Kwang looked for a mirror, feeling slightly anxious, Bom took a small mirror out of her pocket and handed it to him. While he was checking his teeth with his mouth gaped open, a person who introduced themselves as the producer sat across from him and explained how they could go about answering the questions in a friendly manner. While they were friendly, the producer had quite a bit to say, and it wasn’t until then that Seo Kwang realized just how nervous he was. There were cameras surrounding them from all directions.

“Don’t mind the cameras. All you gotta do is answer the questions like you normally would,” the producer said in an effort to comfort the club members. Unfortunately, that proved to be less than helpful. As Seo Kwang answered him reluctantly, another person, who introduced himself as a reporter, came and sat in the producer’s place. After greeting the club members briefly, he started preparing for the interview immediately. Then, Seo Kwang turned his head slowly toward his clubmates. With the exception of Bo Suk, who was looking around curiously, the rest of the club members didn’t seem all that calm.

“All right, here we go.”

With that, the interview officially started. Seeing as though Mr. Moon was standing behind the camera along with the others, he had to be next.

“Hello.”

At the signal, the reporter started off with an opening remark in a voice noticeably brighter than before. The club members also greeted him back, “Hello.”

“So, you guys are from the same Literature Club as Juho Woo, who turned out to be Yun Woo, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” the club members answered, nodding awkwardly. There wasn’t a whole lot to say about the matter. The camera rolled, recording every second of it.

“Could you guys introduce yourselves briefly?”

Self-introduction. At that moment, Seo Kwang felt the anxiety melting away. Simultaneously, his clubmates chuckled as if they had had the same experience. Resisting the urge to look at Mr. Moon, Seo Kwang focused on the interview, and out of his mouth, came the self-introduction he had written a number of times up to that point.

“I love books and that’s why I joined the Literature Club,” he said. It wasn’t hard to imagine how Juho would have gone about introducing himself. ‘He would’ve raved on about some grilled mackerel and stayed in his seat with a nonchalant look on his face, while everyone else around him was confused beyond all hope,’ Seo Kwang thought to himself while suppressing the urge to laugh. As if hoping that the club members would talk about Yun Woo more, the reporter scratched his temple and said, “All right, great. You all seem to be good speakers. I suppose it makes sense considering you’re part of the Literature Club.”

With that, the reporter got to the actual interview portion of the event.

“How was Juho Woo as a friend?”

As a camera approached Seo Kwang, he said, “Out of his gourd.”

Then, Sun Hwa elbowed him at his side irritably, and the principal burst into exaggerated laughter. Nevertheless, the junior’s behavior wasn’t all that different from what they saw from his peers in the other classes. Meanwhile, the reporter had a merciful smile on his face, as if he had expected an answer like that from a teenager.

“He was a great writer. So much so that he even turned out to be Yun Woo. How do you think I felt when I read his writing before I knew he was Yun Woo?”

“It must’ve been unbelievable.”

Not only had it been unbelievable, but it had also been shocking. It was a shock that carried enough impact to blow the dream that was lingering in the depths of Seo Kwang’s heart away. However, Seo Kwang decided not to go into detail. With that, the camera moved on to Sun Hwa.

“What was your first impression of Juho Woo?”

“… He was really full of himself,” she said, unable to think of any other way to answer the question. Describing Juho became much more difficult without using harsh language. And knowing that, Seo Kwang chuckled.

“He’s just too good of a writer. All the training we had gone through in the club was hardly a challenge for him.”

At that, the reporter smiled, nodding.

“How did you find out that your friend was Yun Woo all along?”

Because it was a long story, the club members gave a brief summary instead, and the reporter listened to them with a satisfactory smile on his face.

“So, you already knew?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you wanna tell other people that your friend was Yun Woo?”

“Of course, I did, but I still kept it to myself. I mean, all hell broke loose when Yun Woo himself revealed his identity to the rest of the world. I don’t even wanna think about what it would’ve looked like if we were the ones to spill the beans,” Seo Kwang said. He wasn’t confident that he would be able to handle a commotion like that. With that, the reporter moved on to Bo Suk.

“So, how does it feel to have Yun Woo as an upperclassman?”

“Very good,” she said briefly and without hesitation, and the reporter moved on to the next person.

“… Hm, how about you?”

“Us too.”

“We joined the Literature Club because of him from the get-go.”

“What do you mean?” the reporter asked, blatantly wanting to hear more about Yun Woo. “What kind of activities did you mostly do in the club?”

“There’s writing, first of all. And we’d compete in essay contests here and there.”

“Does that mean there are still pieces written by Juho Woo around in school?”

“Yes. His short stories are being exhibited in the library actually.”

Although the reporter pretended to be astonished by Seo Kwang’s answer, he already seemed to know.

“Everyone must have read it without even knowing that it was written by Yun Woo.”

“Right.”

“Well, was he popular before everyone knew who he was?”

Then, Seo Kwang answered with a shrug, “He was popular as Won Yi Young, too.”

Although the exhibition itself had never really taken off, those who visited the library would always read Juho’s writing. At the mention of Won Yi Young, the reporter nodded as if he caught on to what the junior was getting at.

“You mentioned something about competing in essay contests. What kind of contests did Juho Woo compete in?”

Nobody remembered what kind of contests Juho had competed in detail since he had intentionally chosen contests that were more obscure. On top of that, he had never brought back an award. While everyone was struggling to answer, the reporter asked, “Did he ever bring back an award?”

“No. Bom here is the only person who’s ever won an award in the entire club.”

“… You mean, Yun Woo never won an award in an essay contest?” the reporter said, looking toward Bom with narrowed eyes, as if he had caught on to something.

Simultaneously, realizing that, Bom explained in a hurry, “He forfeited most of them. Not going up to the stage to receive his award, for example.”

Then, with an affirmative answer, the reporter asked no further, much unlike his attitude of viciously trying to dig up information about Yun Woo up to that point. Just as Sun Hwa, whose brow was furrowed, was about to speak up, the reporter beat her to it.

“What’s it like to write alongside Yun Woo?”

The cameras were still rolling. The role of the club members was to answer the questions they were being asked. They didn’t have the option to revisit the question that the reporter had moved on from. Nevertheless, the club members participated in the interview with slightly anxious hearts. Then, two or three questions later, their interview came to an end.

“All right. Now, can we interview the teacher?”

“Sure.”

The club members looked at the reporter with displeasure, but he seemed to pay no attention to them. Mr. Moon and the principal waved at them, gesturing for them to get off their seats, and the club members dawdled out of the room.

“Good job. You may go back to your classes now,” the counselor said in a much gentler tone of voice than usual. Meanwhile, other students on the same floor kept watch from afar.

“Sun Hwa?” Bo Suk called to the junior quietly and said, “I think I’ve thought of what to write next.”

At that, Sun Hwa patted the sophomore on the back, as if encouraging her to keep writing even after she and the other juniors had graduated. Meanwhile, Seo Kwang sighed deeply while looking at the two. ‘I’m sure he’ll be fine. Besides, he has a mouth now.’

—

Juho was watching the interview on the TV in the living room. The crew was going back and forth between the staffroom and different classrooms, asking about Yun Woo. The students in the hallway were busy complimenting the young author.

“He’s the best.”

“I’m so proud that we went to school together.”

“I had no clue that Juho Woo was Yun Woo.”

“I always thought that he was a good writer.”

“He was always writing during recess, too.”

While he had vague memories of their faces, Juho didn’t recognize any of them. They all sounded noticeably more rigid and excited than usual, as though saying what they had been told. Then, the screen transitioned to a classroom in the middle of a lesson. Although it was obvious that the students knew they were being filmed, they were looking straight at the chalkboard. Even as the camera went into the classroom, not a single person was startled by it.

“Do you know Yun Woo?” the reporter asked and every single student answered, “Yes, I do.”

Juho couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, it’s him,” he let out as he saw the boy who had sat next to him in class.

“You used to sit next to Yun Woo, right?”

“Yes.”

“Did you read any of his books?”

“Yes, I read ’em quite often.”

“Are you a fan?”

“Yes, I am.”

There was something awkward about the way he spoke, and it was obvious that he wasn’t being genuine. Neither was he in the habit of reading, nor did he like the young author, and the fact that he was only blurting out shallow answers was further proof of that.

“Were you close to him?”

“We were OK,” the boy let out after some contemplation. He seemed to have lost the courage to be honest in front of the camera.