The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

“Most likely,” Juho said. It was unrealistic to publish a book while serving in the military. That meant that Juho had to go on an unintended hiatus, and he had been preparing himself for it.

“Was it at least two years? This is gonna take some adjustment,” Jenkins said as if putting himself in the young author’s shoes. Then, he asked, “Aren’t you nervous?”

“What is there to be nervous about?” Juho asked, shrugging.

“This is your first hiatus, ever,” the director replied, looking straight at Juho as though he was well aware of how fiercely the young author had been working.

“Hard to say,” Juho said, thinking about the even longer hiatus he had had in the past, which the director knew nothing about. Then, Jenkins came closer to Juho and said, “I read in some column that authors lose their self-esteem almost instantly as soon as they finish a book.”

“Is that right?” Juho asked nonchalantly, turning at Coin to pass the question on to him. At which point, Coin waved his hands irritably, as he would against a fly, and said, “Who gives? I would never stop writing if I were you. Two years? I’ll make sure that you get forgotten from the face of the Earth.”

“That’s disconcerting. But you see, I’m not exactly going on a vacation, either.”

“You know what? This one actor I worked with ended up with the role of a ballerino, so he spent four months with an actual professional ballet group, living with them and getting trained by them. He definitely learned a lot by the time we started filming. And now, there’s an author in front of me who’s about to go serve in the military just so he can write.”

“I’m kind of obligated to, actually.”

“You should delay it as much as possible,” Jenkins said, clinging to the young author desperately. With a swallowed sigh, Juho asked, “Aren’t you hungry?”

That day, the three spoke well into the night about various subjects.

—

“You’re going into the military?!”

At three in the morning, or ten in the morning in Korea, Juho received a call. Because he’d been reading well into the night, he was able to answer the phone without trouble. It was Seo Kwang checking in with the young author as his stay in Germany went longer than expected. Seo Kwang’s voice shook at the unexpected news.

“Yep. The military,” Juho said, repeating himself for the sake of his friend.

“What the heck…”

Juho explained his situation to his friend. Meanwhile, Seo Kwang sounded as though he was facing the reality that he had been avoiding thus far.

“What about you? When are YOU planning on going?”

“Let’s not go there,” Seo Kwang said anxiously.

To which, Juho replied light-heartedly, saying, “You’re gonna be fine! They let you read in the military, you know.”

“If they didn’t, I’d have come up with some sort of plan not to go.”

For some reason, Seo Kwang’s joke sounded more like the truth. Then, sighing deeply, he added, “Baron told me that he’s been thinking about it too. And now, you.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah, we met up yesterday to have a drink, actually. I think he’s planning on taking some time off from school.”

“I see.”

“Maybe I should just go with you,” Seo Kwang said, clearly out of impulse.

“I’m fine with that, but you gotta think about what you’re gonna do about school too.”

“I don’t know, man. I just don’t wanna think about it. I heard March is the best time to go. You’re not gonna volunteer to the Marines or something, are you? Wait… knowing you, you might,” Seo Kwang said, frightened by the possibility of ending up at the most intense branch of the military.

“Should I? You wanna join me? Although, they say that the Marines are at the frontline when war breaks out.”

“I’m gonna take some time to think about this, actually. Can’t hurt to be careful, you know?”

“C’mon, let’s do it.”

“No, thanks,” Seo Kwang said emphatically, grumbling. “Man, when is this whole spiel with North Korea gonna end? Do you think it’ll be soon? I thought they’d have shaken hands and made up before I finished elementary school.”

Hearing Seo Kwang’s complaint through the receiver, Juho redirected his attention to the book he had been reading, which was a compilation of records of battles that had taken place across the globe. He had been finding himself going back to it whenever he wanted to take a breather.

“Oh! I liked that book you told me about,” Juho said, referring to a book he had come across while visiting Seo Kwang’s blog.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”

When Juho asked the blog’s owner for more details on it, he proceeded to rave about its informative nature for an hour straight.

“Jenkins seems to find it interesting. He was looking for an English copy for himself too.”

“Yeah… Wait, Jenkins? As in Zara Jenkins!?” Seo Kwang asked, his voice shaking for a different reason that time. Then, he asked, “Did you tell him about me at all?”

“Nope. He was drunk out of his mind and just happened to reach for that book.”

“… So, it was just a drinking habit?”

“Not necessarily. He still had it together, somewhat.”

“Man, you got my hopes up!”

Then, Seo Kwang asked Juho further questions about Jenkins, which Juho answered using only the pieces of information he knew for sure.

“What if you have to attend an audition for a role or something? Why don’t you delay it? The movie would turn out so much better if you were there.”

“We don’t know that. Having too many chefs in the kitchen could spoil the soup. They might be better off without me.”

Then, rising from his seat, Juho picked up the cup of water on the desk, revealing the sunglasses Jenkins had left behind. It was common for the young author to find the director’s belongings in his hotel room, such as his jacket and the lid of his pen, which made Juho worried that the director might show up at his door with all of his belongings, looking to move in.

“Besides, I wanna see his movie as just a member of the audience.”

“I didn’t know you were a fan!”

“I watched every single one of his movies. Think that means something.”

“Huh, what do you know! Well, when are you coming back to Korea?” Seo Kwang asked. Looking at his research data scattered about on the desk, the young author replied, “It won’t be for a while,” feeling the need to dig deeper into his research.

—

“Whew,” Juho let out, sitting on the bench nearby as he slowed down. The trail that ran alongside the river was the perfect place for a run. On top of that, there were hardly any people around that time. Feeling his body cooling from the sweat, Juho rose from his seat and started stretching. At that moment…

“Came out for a run, I see?” an older man, who appeared with the ducks, asked, sitting where Juho had been sitting up to a moment ago. “Lucky for that gelato shop lady. She even gets to go on a trip because of you,” the man said playfully.

At which, Juho snorted and asked, “It’s the autograph, isn’t it? Tellin’ you, that name Yun Woo sure carries a lot of power.”

“Heard getting that mango flavor is near impossible these days,” the man said exaggeratedly.

Juho had heard him say that multiple times by that point. Having noticed the look of disgust on the young author’s face when he brought up that subject the first time, the man had been bringing up the mango gelato and its rarity every time they met since.

“Bread?” the man said, offering a bag with a loaf of rye bread from a bakery he had also introduced Juho to. Their bread was exceptionally tasty. Since he was starting to get hungry, Juho took the bread from the man’s hand willingly and gratefully. At that moment, realizing that there was food, the ducks started surrounding the young author and the man, and Juho took a big bite off the bread, as if showing off to the ducks.

“Could you translate this for me?” the man asked, pulling out a Latin Bible as the price for the bread. Since they first met, the man’s goal had been to read the entire Bible written in Latin.

“When I was young and learning Latin, that was the happiest time of my life,” he had said. But now, he had forgotten nearly all of it, from the vocabulary to the grammar. Reading with a dictionary was hardly efficient or convenient. It was then that the man came across a translator who made his life significantly easier. Telling the young author about the geography of the place, the stores in the area and any other information pertaining to the city as payment for Juho’s service, the man had been leaving the translation to the young author. Since their meetings were never planned, their every encounter up to that point had been by coincidence, which enabled them to talk to each other candidly and in an unforced manner. The information the man provided Juho was not only useful, but it was also technical. Having lived in the city for years on end, the man had acquired his copious knowledge through experience.

“Didn’t you learn this word last time?”

“You just wait till you’re my age. You forget what you had for breakfast as soon as the Sun sets.”

All Juho had to do was read the Bible to the man, one page at a time. Although the man’s memory could definitely be better, he was quick to understand. Besides, Juho had been finding it quite fun to explain the text to him. His translation experience was definitely proving itself useful.

“OK. Let’s stop here,” the man said, raising his hand. Then, looking at the translation written by Juho, he replayed the words in his mind, memorizing the entire thing.

“How’s research going?” he asked, and Juho shrugged. As the young author learned more about the subject, the scenes for the novel within his mind started taking shape, giving him a clearer idea as to how he should go about writing the story.

“It’s going well.”

“Does that mean you’re going back soon?”

“That, I’m not sure. Although, I’m pretty sure I won’t be here forever.”

“Well, let me know before you do. I’d like to buy you some bread if it’s the last thing I do.”

Although it felt like it hadn’t been that long since he’d first come to Germany, it felt strange knowing that there was somebody he had to inform ahead of time prior to leaving. The characters within ‘Language of God’ must have felt similarly. Juho thought about the protagonist of the new book, whom he had met before. The character had also appeared in ‘Language of God’ and played an important role in enabling One to meet the creator of the myth. It was the life of that character that Juho wanted to write about in the sequel of the series.

“Do you know anybody… weird and unusual?”

“You?” the man said light-heartedly. Then, the man rose from his seat, startling the ducks. “Well, I’m gonna get going now,” he said.

“Take care.”

Just like that, their brief meeting came to an end. Juho had no idea of where the man was headed, but it didn’t matter. Left alone by the riverbank, Juho stared at the peaceful water of the Main River and started organizing his thoughts about the new protagonist. There were bits and pieces of information about him floating around in the young author’s mind. Within ‘Language of God,’ there existed a myth written in a language that couldn’t be read by mankind, which contained the story of mankind being ostracized by animals, and of a traitor who had betrayed its fellow animals because of a favor it had received from mankind. The sequel was going to be about the person behind the recording of mankind’s entire history. At that moment…

“Meow,” a cat let out.

When Juho bent down at the waist to look under the bench, he saw a cat crouching, moving its ears with its eyes closed. Juho felt the blood rushing to his head. At one point in their history, humans in ‘Language of God’ had massacred cats, and the protagonist in the sequel was bound to hold resentment toward them for their actions. Having deified the traitor of the animals, the new protagonist was in a place of influence.

Having written the myth, which was also exceptional literature, the protagonist was an author. In that case, he had to have written something else prior to the myth, which would explain how he had been able to write such an outstanding book.

“What are you doing?”

“Agh!”

Upon feeling an impact on his back, Juho looked up, moaning inadvertently while feeling the blood rush back down from his head. Although fuzzy, Juho was able to tell that somebody was giving him a pitiful look. Then, squatting, Coin looked underneath the bench.

“You were doing that just so you could look at some cat?” he asked

“Good circulation is crucial to good health.”

“Why don’t you walk with your hands while you’re at it?”

“Should I try it?” Juho replied, rising from the bench. At that moment, the cat came out from underneath the bench and leapt onto the very spot Juho had sat on.

“It must’ve heard us.”

Although moving up and down in dull movements, the cat seemed to be quite clever. While Juho was looking intently at a spot on its snout, Coin said, “Your research must be picking up, seeing how you’re trying anything and everything.”

“That’s right.”

Once the story started taking shape, Juho often found his excitement getting out of control, making him look even more frantically for things to give the story even more shape somehow.

“What? You’re gonna write about somebody doing a handstand?”

“I’m thinking about a certain character, actually.”

“Oh. You mean the traitor?”

Juho remembered having talked to Coin about the traitor at one point. Back then, Coin had said that he’d disliked the character because of his cruelty toward cats. Coin had even gone as far as suggesting that Juho should drive mankind to extinction.

“No, the author.”

The new protagonist was going to be an incredibly influential figure in the future. It was common in epic narratives to include elements that hinted at a future like that to the readers, which involved an unusual birth.

“What do you think about having him hatch out of an egg?”

“An egg?” Coin asked, his brow furrowing. “Are you planning on making your new protagonist a helpless chick? You like birds a tad too much, don’t you think?”

“But if I really made the protagonist a chick, then it would be vulnerable to cats.”