The Great Storyteller

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

“Hey, it’s Juho!”

When Juho looked up, Sun Hwa and Bom locked eyes with him. He was on his way up the stairs while the two were on their way down. Having met in the middle of the stairway, they stopped and greeted one another.

“What brings you here so early?” Juho asked.

“We’re on our way to the library.”

“We felt like reading your story again.”

“That’s flattering.”

At that moment, Sun Hwa suddenly furrowed her brows.

“Your story was so well-written… Why aren’t more people reading it?”

Though she had hesitated having her work on display, she became one of the most actively involved club members since the exhibition. Once she started something, she had to see it to the end.

Remembering the students gathered around the books in the library, Juho said, “There was a good number of people.”

“No, no! I want more people!”

“Well, let’s give it time. It definitely seems like more and more people are visiting the library.”

Bom added to Juho’s laid-back response, “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll have more people visiting to read our stories. Besides, Seo Kwang’s been going around telling everyone in school.”

“I can’t trust that guy.”

Unfortunately, Bom’s words fell short in comforting Sun Hwa.

“He was distracted with another book even just a moment ago. He barely scanned through our stories and hardly made any comments on them. Besides, he was mostly focused on Juho’s work. I swear, he needs to get off his high horse.”

“Seo Kwang does tend to be level-headed when it comes to books, even with his own story,” while smiling awkwardly, Bom defended Seo Kwang.

Sun Hwa pouted at that.

Having listened quietly, Juho asked Sun Hwa, “What was the title of the book?”

“Huh?”

“What was Seo Kwang reading?”

“Uh… What was it called?”

While Sun Hwa was busy trying to remember, Bom answered on her behalf, “The Language of God.” She sounded rather confident.

“Hey, it’s almost time! Gotta go!”

After patting Juho’s back lightly, Sun Hwa walked down the stairs with vigor. Juho watched them go for a moment, and then made his way up the stairs.

“Hi,” Juho greeted Seo Kwang from behind. Instead of an answer, he waved his hand in response. He had a sophisticated looking book in his hand. ‘The Language of God, Volume 1, written by Won Yi Young.’ He didn’t move a muscle all the way up to the beginning of class.

Recess came after the first period ended.

“What you up to?”

Like he had done earlier, Seo Kwang simply waved his hand. Only that time, he was asking Juho not to bother him. Just like that, the second period started. At that time, Seo Kwang moved in order to hide his book behind the textbook.

Time passed, and lunchtime came.

“Hey, let’s go eat.”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to eat today. You go ahead.”

“Why not?”

“I want to read my book.”

Seo Kwang gave him a series of brief answers. He had to be quite fond of the book.

“Well, I’m going now.”

“Bye.”

On his way to the cafeteria, Juho bought a loaf of bread from the canteen and handed it Seo Kwang. Even as he took the break from his friend, his eyes remained completely fixed on the book. Seo Kwang had always been a serious print addict. Just like that, he remained in his seat, staring at the book for the entire day.

“Hey.”

With a book in his hand, he looked in Juho’s direction.

“Long time no see,” said Juho. “Are you done?”

“No, I just skimmed through it,” Seo Kwang said as he shook his head.

“I see.”

‘I suppose that explains the innocent look on his face,” Juho thought.

“This book is just amazing.” As usual, he began to share his book experience without anyone asking him to. “This book reeks of success. I can just smell it. It’s still the first volume, but I have a good feeling about this series. As long as the author pays attention to the direction of the series, I know this going to be a hit.”

“The author, huh.”

“Yeah, Won Yi Young,” Seo kwang said sadly as he brushed his hand down the book. “I underestimated him because he’s a rookie. I almost missed out! Oh, gosh! I don’t even want to think about it. Now that I’ve read the book, I’ll never be the same.”

“Ah, right.”

“I’m serious!” he raised his voice. “I’m in love with his work, especially with those languages. They’re created by the author. I almost screamed when I saw the language chart at the end of the book! It’s so, so detailed. It’s so real!”

Because Juho didn’t have much else to say, he listened quietly.

“Look here. The description of the village. It just paints a picture on its own, doesn’t it? It’s so simple, yet clear. This is the part that sold me. Might I remind you that this author is a rookie?”

“Impressive.”

“It’s incredible, isn’t it!?”

“Yeah, exactly what you said.”

Juho smiled. Seo Kwang went on with his exposition for quite some time, then, suddenly, he lowered his voice.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“So, I have a feeling…”

“What feeling?”

“That I saw that style of writing elsewhere. It seems familiar for some reason,” Seo Kwang said with excitement and certainty.

“Familiar how?”

“I can’t really back it up with anything, and this is strictly my intuition, but I’m still confident in what I’m feeling.”

Seo Kwang lowered himself and covered his mouth.

“I think Yun Woo wrote this book,” he whispered.

‘Of course.’ Juho knew that Seo Kwang would catch on. A sense of excitement washed over him.

“As an avid fan of Yun Woo, and someone who owns all three of his books, I predict a new article coming out. ‘Won Yi Young – Yun Woo’s new alias.'”

It was a rather exaggerated title for an article.

“I’m telling you, this book couldn’t have been written by a rookie! The progression is similar to Yun Woo’s, as well as the style that it’s written in. I can’t really picture Yun Woo writing a fantasy novel, but he’s the only viable candidate. No one can mimic his style of writing, yet there are traces of his style throughout the book. I don’t think Yun Woo intended on being thorough about hiding himself either.”

“Hm.”

“You should check it out. The book isn’t all that known, but the way I see it, it’s only a matter of time. Fans can smell out a good book. Any fantasy novel fan would go crazy over this. I’ve already made up my mind to write a review on my blog too. I was thinking of including my conjecture of Yun Woo being Won Yi’s true identity. What do you think? There would be quite a few visitors. Oh, wait. It’s not going to cause any legal issues or anything, will it?”

Juho said to his anxious friend, “No way. If anything, they would thank you. You’re essentially advertising him.”

“You think so?”

With that, Juho packed his bag and rose from his seat.

“We should get going.”

“OK, give me a second.”

Wearing a relieved look, Seo Kwang put on his backpack. ‘The Language of God’ was still in his hand.

—

As Juho climbed the stairs, footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. They were headed toward the science room at the end of the hall. Walking ahead of Juho, Seo Kwang still held the book in his hand.

He had been quiet for some time now. To be precise, he hadn’t said a word since he finished reading the book. Seo Kwang had to have read the epilogue and must’ve caught onto Juho’s phrase.

Seo Kwang was in a troubled state. ‘Yun Woo’s style and Juho’s message. If I were to connect the two… I have to get over this wall of suspicion. Could it be that Juho has been Yun Woo all along? No, no way. That’d be absurd!’

Stairs. That was where Seo Kwang had urged Juho to become a writer.

“Nobody’s here,” Juho murmured on the empty staircase.

Nobody was around for some reason. Maybe it was because he hadn’t left the classroom later than usual, like when he conversed with Seo Kwang. Seo Kwang remained silent. Having walked ahead, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, forcing Juho to stop with him. His movements were rather mechanical.

The air grew heavy with silence, and Juho looked at the window in the hallway. A cold breeze blew in from it.

“Hey,” Seo Kwang quietly opened his mouth.

“What?” Juho answered.

“What do you think the chances of other clubs having their own ‘sole artist in the club?'”

“Probably, not very high,” Juho answered calmly.

“I thought so. It can’t be very high. In fact, we’re probably the only non-art related club that has an artist as a member.”

Juho became curious about the expression on Seo Kwang’s face.

“Now, what do you think are the chances of my friend being Yun Woo himself?”

Juho thought momentarily.

“That’s probably not very high either.”

“Right…”

While still holding his book, Seo Kwang’s hand dropped weakly.

“What about me winning a lottery?”

“Not very high, I’d guess.”

“I might as well win the lottery if any of those things are not likely to happen.”

“Yun Woo would be sad to hear that.”

Seo Kwang chuckled for a good while.

“Haha! Hahaha!”

“Hey, calm down.”

It wasn’t until then that Seo Kwang barely managed to stop chuckling.

“Mr. Woo,” the name flowed right out of his slightly parted lips. Seo Kwang turned around and their eyes met.

“Yes.”

“Are you Yun Woo?”

“Yeah.”

“Really? You are?!”

“Yep.”

Seo Kwang began to chuckle once again. He seemed happy on one hand, yet dumbfounded on the other. Suddenly, he staggered and leaned against the rail. Juho looked up from the stairs.

“Have you been casting some sort of spell?”

“Nope. No spell.”

“Then how…” Seo Kwang moaned. “How are you able to write in a style that’s entirely different?”

‘It sort of just happened when I came back from the dead,’ Juho answered silently.

“There must be another me inside of me.”

“Goodness…” Seo Kwang rubbed his face at his friend’s half-hearted excuse. “You are seriously the most unique author in existence. There’s not one writer in this entire world who is like you.”

“That’s obvious.”

“That was the confession you were talking about!? Whoever said anything about wanting to hear that!?”

“I tried hard to win you over. What did you think?”

“You crazy son of a……Agh!”

He was smiling, yet tears were streaming down his cheeks. He seemed all the more crazy as he shouted at his friend, “Oh, my! Is this for r… Wow! Seriously! I would’ve never imagined that something like this would happen. My friend is Yun Woo!? This punk!? Yun Woo is crazy!”

“Relax.”

“Relax? How do you expect me to do that when you just dropped a bomb on me like that? There are fireworks going off in my head, and you want me to relax!?”

“OK, I get it.”

“No, you don’t! What do you know about what I’m feeling!?”

“Guess you have a point.”

“Aghhh!”

Twisting his body, Seo Kwang cried out like a wounded beast. The stairway echoed with his high pitched cry. Juho fought off the laughter desperately.

“Mr. Woo!”

Overcome with excitement, Seo Kwang charged at Juho, forcing him to hold on to the rail from the impact. Their eyes met.

“You owe me a hundred autographs.”

“That’s hardly a challenge.”

“Expect me to invade your house later today. Is that OK?”

“Sure. If you want, I’ll show you the manuscripts too.”

“You really are Yun Woo!”

“You’re saying that now?”

While they made a ruckus, they heard footsteps approaching their position. Holding each other, they looked up the stairway together and saw Sun Hwa, Bom and Baron. Nobody said a word.

“Yun Woo?” Baron asked.

Seo Kwang contemplated what to do for a brief moment.

“What brings you all here?” he asked.

“You guys were taking your sweet time, so we came looking for you.”

“Now, I’m seeing a couple of crazies here looking desperately for Yun Woo.”

“What happened?” the three asked taking turns.

“What are you going to do?” Seo Kwang asked Juho.

“I gotta come clean,” Juho said and put his hand out to Seo Kwang.

“What?”

“Let me borrow your book for a minute.”

With that, he opened the book to the epilogue and handed it to the three. Their jaws dropped slowly as they came to understand the situation. Juho said to the three who were hopelessly at a loss.

“Should we make our way to the science room?”