- Overview
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Kang Cheonwu is a writer in the story. Working in a place whose walls are plastered with pages from the Bible, he tries to finish writing his script.
- Book Intro
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Cheonwu is a TV drama writer whose first drama became hugely successful, and with people jealous of him, expectations have been building up for his next work. To discuss his next work, he has a meeting with a broadcasting producer at a bar, and there he sees scribbling on the wall written by an assistant writer, Sudong. The scribble is a multiple-choice question.
Q: What happens when a bar has walls plastered with pages from the Bible?
1) People will feel uncomfortable and stop coming to the bar.
2) They will drink more in order to show their disregard for the Bible.
3) They will not succumb to the influence of alcohol.
4) The bar will become a church.
5) The pages will not have any influence.With people voicing different ideas about the question, Cheonwu mocks them and says the pages wouldn’t have any impact, and he brings up the historical event of Chareungpa, a gisaeng from the Japanese occupation who had her photo taken and published in a newspaper with her wearing a crown from the Silla kingdom. The broadcasting company director is only concerned with viewer ratings and makes it clear that he is against the idea of starting another drama department. Cheonwu begins writing his dramatic script despite the director’s total indifference, and he calls his old friend, Wugeol, to look for a place that will help him concentrate. Wugeol invites him to stay in a makeshift hut next to his farm. When Wugeol hears from Cheonwu the question about papering the walls with pages from the Bible, Wugeol decides to plaster the walls of the hut with Bible pages as a joke.
While staying next to Wugeol’s farm, Cheonwu sees a brightly lit building in the middle of the mountain. Because the building resembles a crown, Cheonwu decides to think of it as Chareungpa and the crown from the Silla kingdom, which signifies his bright future. On the day he finishes his script and sends it to the broadcasting company, Wugeol shows up with Cheonwu’s older brother, Manwu, who tells him that their father left them an inheritance. Wugeol asks them a question to decide whether they should get the inheritance. Does the makeshift hut have something to do with their father’s will? Will they get their inheritance?
- About the Author
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Kim Daeun
Kim Daeun studied French Language Education at Ewha Womans University, and French Literature in the graduate school of her alma mater. She received her doctoral degree from University Paris 8 in French literature. Her first novel was The Country That Resembles You, which won the third People Literary Award sponsored by the Kukmin Ilbo in 1996. Her other novels include Treacherous Love Letters, The Secret of Huminjeongeum, Mysterious Love Letters, Lovebug, Petite Intellectuals’ Blues, Dangerous Imagination, and The Woman in a Blue Note. She has also published her essays in Attention-grabbing Neologisms and Cultural Phenomena, When Are You Happiest?, Writers’ Love Letters, Writers’ Letters to Friends, Writers’ Travel Notes, and From the Sun to People. She has also written and published her books in French: Imagination Dangereuse, and Madame, and she translated L’autre Cap, Eperons, and Modernite Modernite from French into Korean. She is a professor in the Creative Writing Department at Chugye University for the Arts.
