The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

Juho swallowed nervously upon seeing Hyun Do, who was sitting with a straight back and relaxed shoulders, from the side. He was intensely focused. Then, lightning flashed, dying his white hair black. Despite the intimidating roar, Hyun Do remained unfazed. ‘So, this is what it’s like to watch another person write,’ Juho murmured under the sound of the thunder. The young author simply couldn’t take his eyes off of Hyun Do. Feeling stifled, Juho bit down on his lip.

Then, as Hyun Do’s hand moved over to one side, parts of the sentences on the manuscript paper became visible.

‘The student valued his time. Setting aside a certain amount of time to go out and look for their teacher, they didn’t let the missing teacher eat away at their private life. It was a strict routine. Despite being devastated to discover their teacher’s disappearance, the student never went out to look for the teacher outside of their appointed time.’

Then, lightning flashed yet again, and Juho plugged his ears in preparation for the thunder. A bolt of lightning had fallen not too far from where the house was. Unsurprisingly, it did so with an intimidating roar.

Still, Hyun Do remained unfazed. Juho remembered looking at his hair and thinking that it had looked like snow falling silently from the sky, covering the world without making a sound. However, Juho realized that had been far from the truth. Hyun Do was closer to being a light, the silent flash of lightning that made everyone tense up moments before the thunder. The lightning flashed again, followed by another heart-piercing roar of thunder. Even with the tip of his pencil broken, Hyun Do didn’t stop writing.

‘The student was left alone, baffled by the teacher who had left without warning. They felt like a victim who had been wronged.’

Looking at the sentences on the manuscript paper, Juho resonated with the student’s state of mind. At least, that was the illusion the story gave. Then, as a series of lightning bolts flashed, Hyun Do looked back. By that point, there was nobody in the hallway.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, sir,” Juho replied with a smile, and Hyun Do nodded calmly. As usual, upon finishing their meal, Hyun Do asked, “Would you like to go see the beach?”

“Sure.”

There was no reason to say no. Then, Hyun Do asked cautiously, “Are you still not going into the water?”

“Maybe if the weather’s right,” Juho said, remembering the thunderstorm the night before. Hyun Do chuckled quietly. Like the young author had expected, the weather wasn’t all that pleasant that day. Not only was it cloudy out, but it was also rather windy.

“Seems like people are still having fun.”

Just as Hyun Do had said, there were people in the water despite the high waves. One family in particular, who was playing with a small flotation tube, seemed to enjoy being in the water very much. Appearing to be a married couple, they were holding their child by its arms from either side, dipping it into the water and pulling it back up. The child laughed as if it were having the time of its life.

“The waves seem bigger than usual,” Hyun Do said.

Whenever a wave broke, the adults in the water also wavered. Having made a legitimate excuse not to go into the water, Juho smiled proudly. Looking at the lively beach, Juho breathed in deeply. Then, seeing an old lady walking around the beach umbrellas, Juho asked Hyun Do, “I think I’d like some boiled clams more than a life vest. Is that OK?”

Quietly reaching into his pocket, Hyun Do took out a bill and handed it to the young author. Taking the money, Juho walked toward the old lady, who seemed to be hard of hearing. No matter how many times he called to her, she didn’t slow down. In the end, Juho had to run up to her. At which point, she finally stopped.

“I’ll give you some extra, young man,” the old lady said, scooping out the boiled clams. The shells made a series of clicking sound as they bumped into each other. Thanking her, Juho rose from his seat and ate one of the clams. The meat popped out of the shell and into his mouth, filling it with a fresh, briny flavor. It was rather delectable.

“Ugh. So much sand,” Juho said, shaking the sand out of his shoes, which had somehow been filled with sand as he ran back. Then, Hyun Do’s back came into view, with wind blowing against his white hair. Remember what he had seen the night before, Juho found himself slowing down inadvertently. When he looked around in search of the crow, Juho realized that there were no birds around, not even seagulls. Nevertheless, the stone statue was still covered in bird droppings. There were people taking pictures in front of it.

“Here you go, Mr. Lim,” Juho said, handing the bag of clams to Hyun Do.

“Mr. Lim?”

Looking out into the distant water, Hyun Do remained silent. Seeing that, Juho also looked out into the horizon. Something didn’t feel right.

“Isn’t that person too far out in the water?”

There was a white duck-shaped flotation tube in the distance. However, it wasn’t just a random object drifting in the water. Not too far from it, was a person precariously holding on to the tube.

“There’s another person.”

Visible between the waves, the person seemed to be struggling to come up to the surface of the water. However, the distance made it hard to distinguish the situation. Juho took a step forward. The waves were quite strong by that point. At that moment, the person in the water disappeared.

“What’s happening?” Juho murmured inadvertently. Judging from the distance, there was no way that the person could swim back to the shore on their own.

“There’s no time to waste,” Hyun Do said, making a phone call to make a report. What was once a joy-filled place was now overtaken by fear. Then, a voice called for Juho from behind, and he bolted. As he stepped into the water, Juho realized that the water wasn’t as cold as he had thought. The blue tinge in the water gave off the impression that it would be ice cold. Then, Juho noticed that he was slowing down the further he ran. ‘I’m faster than this.’ The young author was growing frustrated, realizing that there was something keeping him from running faster. An unpleasant sensation brushed past his ankles. At that moment…

“Stop!”

… Juho felt somebody grab him by the shoulder. The water was already up to his waist by that point. It was hard to stand still against the wave as it kept sweeping the sand toward the shore. It was as though he was standing on ice. No matter which direction Juho wanted to take, he found himself getting pushed back against his will. Eventually, he could no longer tell where he was standing.

“We have to do something!”

“Look.”

At Hyun Do’s simple command, Juho looked around inadvertently. The child who had been playing with its parents was still laughing, as if completely oblivious to the situation. Meanwhile, the parents and those who had been taking pictures were all looking at a certain direction from where they were. There was a jet ski in the water with a logo that read: ‘Rescue Team.’

“They’re already on it.”

Relieved, Juho gazed intently at the jet ski in the distance.

“Let’s go,” Hyun Do said firmly. Catching his breath, Juho backed away slowly toward the beach. His shoes were filled with sand, and his clothes soaking wet, weighing him down. The duck-shaped tube was drifting further away into the ocean.

“Is that person OK?” Juho asked. However, similarly as on the beach, Hyun Do remained silent. Juho looked out into the distance and observed the situation. The jet ski was on hold, wavering in the water because of the waves. The white duck-shaped tube was floating in the ocean all on its own.

“You must be cold. Let’s get you inside,” Hyun Do said. Juho bit down on his trembling lips. Although the Sun was high up, it didn’t feel warm at all. Looking down at his empty hand, the young author followed Hyun Do out of the water.

“They didn’t make it.”

That evening, Juho heard the unfortunate conclusion to the incident from a local corn vendor.

“It was on the news. They were so young…”

Clicking their tongue, the vendor picked up a bag of steaming corn that wafted a pleasant smell. Holding the bag of steamed corn in his arms, Juho returned to the house.

“This is good,” Juho said, eating the corn with Hyun Do. After Sunset, Hyun Do went into his room without fail, and Juho went into his room in order to write. The young author looked down at the manuscript of the story, which he simply wasn’t satisfied with no matter how many revisions he made. He had yet to come up with an ending to the story. Checking the time, Juho went down to Hyun Do’s writing space. A stream of light lit the hallway. However, unlike the day before, the door to the room was open halfway. Aside from that, everything else seemed to be the same, including the author in the room writing with the same posture as the night before.

“Mr. Lim,” Juho called to Hyun Do when he realized that Hyun Do was already aware of his presence.

“I was waiting for you,” Hyun Do said calmly.

“I would’ve come sooner if you had told me,” Juho replied.

“I would have if that had been part of the story.”

Hyun Do seemed to have found what he had been looking for.

“You’ve been of great help,” Hyun Do said, which lifted the young author’s spirit.

“What if I had stayed in my room instead of wandering around?”

“That would’ve been unfortunate, but I’d have gotten over it.”

“You must be feeling pretty greedy this time, Mr. Lim.”

“I am. Enough to have you here.”

At that, Juho clenched his hands into tight fists, his knuckles turning pale.

“They died, apparently. The two that were drowning earlier.”

“How tragic,” Hyun Do said without putting his pencil down, unfazed as if he had already known or expected that.

“Who do you think about when you write?” Juho asked. As Hyun Do remained silent, Juho kept on, “You’re the student, right?”

“I’m me.”

“Isn’t the teacher Mr. Kang?”

Juho remembered having read Hyun Do’s current work-in-progress in his past life. The image of the teacher leaving their student behind lingered before the young author’s eyes. Then, Hyun Do moved from his position. Having been in the water that day, Juho was feeling quite chilly.

“Is the teacher dead?”

“He is.”

“How did he die?”

“In a way worse than an animal’s death,” Hyun Do replied. Then, brushing his hand down the manuscript paper, he asked, “When you think of water, is death the first thing that comes to mind?”

“Why do you ask?” Juho replied after some time.

“I had a feeling.”

Although Juho wanted to avoid answering the question, it seemed like there was no way around it that time. Hyun Do was giving him the impression that he wasn’t going to force the young author to give him an answer. After some contemplation, Juho answered, struggling to get the words out of his mouth, “I drowned once.”

“When?” Hyun Do asked, which was a rather difficult question for Juho. Looking around for some time while thinking, Juho replied, “A while ago.”

“When you were young?”

Rather, Juho had been middle-aged.

“Something like that…” Juho said, mumbling.

“I see.”

“Anyway, I still have a vivid memory of what it was like. Suffocating, the temperature dropping, the impact when I sank to the bottom, everything. It somehow finds a way into my writing, and I can’t seem to prevent it.”

Without asking further, Hyun Do nodded.

“Did you have a similar experience?” Juho asked.

“I did,” Hyun Do answered nonchalantly. Juho remembered Hyun Do’s depiction of death. It had been quite debilitating, to the point of leaving the young author completely incapable of writing.

“Does it have anything to do with Mr. Kang’s death?”

Wol Kang’s death had impacted many people in the literary world. Being one of the people who had been closest to the late author, along with Yun Seo, Wol’s death had to have had an impact on Hyun Do in some way. Back then, the three had been the rising stars of the literary world.

“Mrs. Baek killed him off in one of her books. A horse kicks him to death, to be more specific.”

“I remember that. Do you know what he said? ‘I’d rather get kicked to death by a horse than suffer through tuberculosis.’ Pathetic,” Hyun Do said, chuckling.

Then, rising from his seat, Hyun Do opened the window in order to ventilate the room. As he stared out the window, Juho looked intently at his white hair. The two didn’t say a word to each other for a while.

“It’s getting late.”

“When do you usually sleep, Mr. Lim?”

“It’s always different.” Then, Hyun Do added in a slight delay, “I try to be consistent about my bedtime. I have trouble sleeping, but I try anyway.”

Looking through his manuscript, Hyun Do said, “There’s a scene in my story where the teacher has a conversation similar to ours with their student before disappearing. I may need to make some changes.”

“So, it seems like your story is about fading away.”

“That’s right.”

Looking down at where he had once sat, Juho replied, “I think I’m just now starting to get an idea for my story.”