374 An Elusive Moon 5 (1/2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
”That's my first time hearing of it.”
”That's because I never told anyone,” Yun Seo said, swishing the whiskey around in her glass for no apparent reason, reminiscing to the time when she would drink with her husband and Hyun Do. When Wol had been alive, he had had a habit of bragging confidently as though he feared nothing, like a child who knew nothing about failure. However, life had taken a sudden turn, and he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. To that day, Yun Seo still had vivid memories of the wave of emotions from that time.
”But... I just couldn't do it.”
”Why not?”
”I miss him too much.”
Hyun Do smiled at Yun Seo's response. Then, she looked down at the original copy of her late husband's manuscript, which she had brought out for the first time in a long time. No matter how hard she had tried, she simply hadn't been able to make progress with the story. Perhaps it had something to do with the description of the protagonist and his appearance or the dark, heavy introduction that was out of Wol's character.
”I kept finding myself wanting to write a different story. Whenever I would try to work on the manuscript, I would catch myself getting distracted by another story written by another person. So, I just gave up altogether,” Yun Seo said cheerfully.
”That rascal… He had to have already known,” Hyun Do said. Then, as Yun Seo quietly drank her whiskey, he added, ”That's why he never told you how the story ended, to keep you guessing for the rest of your life.”
”What a jerk.”
”Right?”
Putting a rock of ice in her glass, Yun Seo poured herself another glass of whiskey. As she rotated the glass in her hand, the ice clattered against the wall of the glass. When Hyun Do glanced at it, Yun Seo stopped moving her hand and said, ”But, something tells me that I would've never figured it out.”
Hyun Do looked at Yun Seo while resting his temple on his fingers.
”He had to have thought that one of us would finish the story for him. He probably didn't say anything because he wanted to see another person's touch alongside his sentences.”
”Then, I suppose he failed miserably.”
”I guess so. Seems like we liked Wol a lot more than he thought,” Yun Seo said, and Hyun Do shook his head emphatically, appearing disgusted. Yun Seo laughed cheerfully. She was starting to look drunk.
”I welcome the fact that he failed, but I can't agree with you on that,” Hyun Do said.
”C'mon. Let's be honest here. We've already had a drink or two,” Yun Seo replied.
”You mean YOU had a drink.”
With that, Hyun Do relaxed his body. As his head lowered, his hair also came down.
”I wonder how Yun Woo will go about this,” Hyun Do said.
”What are you expecting from him? That's a big burden,” Yun Seo asked, bringing up the question she had been meaning to ask.
”Nothing. I did it out of impulse,” Hyun Do said nonchalantly.
”Out of impulse? You?”
Brushing his hair back, Hyun Do gave Yun Seo a brief summary of what had happened at the beach. With lips trembling and nearly blue from being soaking wet, Juho had looked quite pitiful. However, the young author hadn't hesitated for a moment to jump in the water. Watching him run toward the water in an attempt to save the drowning people, Hyun Do had thought that…
”I felt like I could forgive him, no matter what he wrote.”
That had been the same feeling Hyun Do had felt when he had met Wol as a young author. As if Hyun Do had come across old music on the street, the young author tended to provoke a sense of nostalgia within Hyun Do.
”So, I don't regret my decision. I won't have to,” Hyun Do said, looking relieved. However, sounding slightly bitter, Yun Seo replied, ”Well, this is Juho we're talking about here, so he might just figure out the answer to the riddle that we would have had to wrestle with for our entire lives.”
”I didn't think about that, but that sounds like a plus to me,” Hyun Do said, brushing his hand down the manuscript on the table. At that moment, the landline started to ring, and Yun Seo rose from her seat and answered it. At the same time, Hyun Do sat up on his chair.
”An interview?”
At that, Hyun Do looked toward Yun Seo, raising his eyebrow. Similarly, Yun Seo looked at him with a furrowed brow.
”About… Wol Kang?”
Yun Seo slowly moved her eyes at the mention of her late husband's name.
”... and his last book?”
Hyun Do rubbed his chin. He had expected interview requests to start pouring in at some point. Then, shortly after the question, Yun Seo swiftly turned down the interview. Meanwhile, Hyun Do thought of Juho, the author who would be following in Wol's footsteps.
”This won't be easy,” Hyun Do murmured as if the matter was out of his hands.
---
”Well, I didn't see this coming,” Juho said while looking down at the manuscript, which turned out to be in terrible condition. ”I can't read a single word.”
Wol Kang turned out to have atrocious handwriting. It was so bad that Juho couldn't tell if it was Hangul, which even triggered the language acquisition device. There seemed to be an urgent need for interpretation. Before he knew it, the young author found himself referring to the white book for that purpose.
'How did Mr. Lim and Mrs. Baek even read any of this?' Juho thought, sighing. ”Well, it's still worth it.”
Despite the manuscript being completely illegible, Juho had found satisfaction in the fact that he was given the chance to work with Wol's manuscript, which held the late author's concentrated feelings within it. Even the awful handwriting seemed to contribute to that idea by conveying the author's pain.
'What I wouldn't do to meet him… Even if he was on his deathbed,' Juho thought to himself once again. As time passed, his mind became filled with even more questions. Then, without hesitation, Juho closed his eyes. The house had become quite dusty during his absence, which made the air very stuffy. The clock was off, its third-hand pointing at the same spot, still ticking. It sounded very annoying.
”Where is he?” Juho said as he opened his eyes, flabbergasted. Although he had waited for Wol at the same spot in his dream, the late author had been nowhere to be found. There was only one possible explanation for that…
”You're not gonna make this any easier for me, are you, Mr. Kang?”
… Wol had to have wanted it that way. Although Juho had been wrestling with the manuscript for quite some time by that point, there had been no progress. In the end, Juho went to bed that night, still feeling confused. Then, when morning came, Juho was awakened by the sound of the doorbell. Having slept for quite a while, Juho got out of bed, feeling well rested. When he opened the door, an unexpected guest appeared on the other side of it.
”What is it?” Juho asked, still rubbing his eyes. Meanwhile, the guest was glaring fiercely at Juho, who was still half asleep after having gone to bed late the night before.
”Why didn't you answer your phone?” Seo Kwang asked.
”You called? I didn't know. Maybe it shut off,” Juho said, remembering that he hadn't charged his phone in a while. Ignoring Seo Kwang, who was facepalming at Juho's lack of awareness, Juho moved aside and said, ”Come in.”
”Hey.”
”Yeah?” Juho said with a cracked voice.
”Where is it!?” Seo Kwang asked, shaking Juho by the shoulders as if the young author owed him something.
”Cut it out! You're making my head spin! I just woke up! What are you looking for? Did you leave something here?”
”No, no,” Seo Kwang said in a suppressed voice, breathing in deeply, but appearing to have trouble calming down.
'What's with him? He wasn't this crazy when he was translating my book,' Juho asked himself.
At that moment, Seo Kwang shouted all of a sudden, ”Where are you keeping Mr. Kang's last book!?”