Episode 45: A Special Adventure
Kang Lim returned to his room and began thinking about the core of the story he needed to write.
While Shin Tae-min served as the inspiration, the story wasn’t necessarily about him.
Many people hate themselves.
‘Well, in my previous life, I felt the same way…’
This damned world is an environment that makes it easy to have low self-esteem.
That’s why the endless love received during childhood seems so important.
Because even when everything falls apart, it gives you the strength to rise again.
Kang Lim was immensely grateful to his parents for this reason.
‘That’s why a fairy tale should teach children living in such a world that they are the most precious.’
Having set the most important theme, Kang Lim opened up Photoshop instead of a Hangul file this time.
He thought it would be easier to come up with ideas while drawing illustrations directly.
Connecting his tablet, he recalled the conversation he had with his mother a moment ago.
‘It’s always easiest to start by writing the latter part of an existing story… Let’s begin with a story familiar to children. There’s nothing more fun than expressing something cliché in a different way.’
Kang Lim began to draw a scene from the story of the tortoise and the hare.
The difference from the original story was that the tortoise lost the race.
The tortoise ran diligently without a single rest.
But he lost to the hare, who slept, ate carrots, and played around.
From the beginning, the hare was too special.
The hare was like Usain Bolt, who could run 100 meters in 9 seconds.
This race was decided from the start.
‘It might be too reflective of reality, but… Haha. This is quite amusing.’
Kang Lim started to enjoy constructing the story.
‘The protagonist should be unique and eye-catching.’
Kang Lim decided to distort the tortoise character even more.
He didn’t draw a cute tortoise that you might see by a stream.
Instead, he drew it with a huge shell, so large it looked like it was carrying a mountain.
‘Emphasize the character’s disappointment after losing the race, feeling that no matter what they do, it’s never enough.’
He drew the tortoise standing in front of a mirror.
After losing the race, the tortoise lamented over its shell.
An empty and useless shell, grotesque in appearance.
‘If only I hadn’t been born with this shell, if this hadn’t weighed down my life…’ it thought, hating itself.
Swish, swish.
With a few more strokes, he completed the fatigued tortoise, weighed down by overwhelming fatigue.
The tortoise had particularly large eyes, but they were covered by thick, rough eyelids.
Its eyes, half-closed, were filled with disappointment, thinking it was nothing.
‘The tortoise, who chuckled bitterly at his self-loathing, begins to wish to be as special as the lightning-fast hare. And thus, the adventure begins.’
Usually, when beginning an adventure, the first step is to find the wisest advisor.
Kang Lim decided to create an ancient fox rumored to know all the secrets.
The tortoise would seek out this fox to ask how it could become special.
‘Since the fox character is special, let’s make its place of residence mysterious.’
Kang Lim chose a brush that could evoke an oriental painting feel and brushed the screen widely.
As the ink spread, black trees began to grow on the screen.
‘A forest filled with tall black trees… No light enters here, and the branches are as sharp as blades. So, just getting to the ancient fox is a trial.’
Kang Lim added more scars to the low-crawling tortoise’s skin with a sharp pen.
The tortoise was depicted as being scratched and pricked by branches and thorns.
Only the desire to become special kept the tortoise moving forward.
‘As it pushes through the forest, it comes across an enchanting house where the night sky becomes as bright as day.’
Kang Lim switched to a white brush and adjusted the transparency.
He began to draw a house that looked like it belonged to an angel on the darkened screen.
‘The ancient fox stands there, flaunting its silver fur, with a long beard flowing.’
Overwhelmed by the sight before its eyes, the tortoise joyfully rushed into the fox’s house.
Kang Lim depicted the tortoise’s eyes filled with anticipation, slightly lifting the eyelids to let in light.
‘But, upon entering the fox’s house, the fox doesn’t know the answer.’
Kang Lim drew the scene where the fox and the tortoise sit at a table made of logs, talking.
To give a warm feeling, he added circular red hues around the scene.
He also drew steaming tea and acorns.
The tortoise asked the fox to tell him how to become special.
It pointed out that the fox was rumored to be a wise god who knew everything.
However, the fox said that the rumors were exaggerated.
It explained that the stories were made up by the forest animals because it lived in such a place.
Also, being wise doesn’t mean knowing all the answers…
Kang Lim drew the fox character with small eyes, raising a hand and stroking its beard as if troubled.
‘Then, let’s give the next trial.’
The ancient fox suggested another idea to the tortoise.
It knew the most special animal in the world and told the tortoise to ask it.
Perhaps that animal would know how the tortoise could become special.
Kang Lim drew the map given by the ancient fox.
It was a map drawn on parchment.
The fox said that the X marked on the map was where a pink dolphin that swims in a flower field lived.
Swimming in a flower field? Is that even possible?
Anyone would agree it was a special animal.
Filled with hope, the tortoise set off on the journey again.
‘Since it’s good to draw beautiful scenery, let’s create a background reminiscent of the Alps’ First.’
Kang Lim first drew a winding river and rugged mountain range.
This was another trial given to the tortoise.
And on the next page, he drew a spectacular scene where an ice mountain and a flower field unfolded simultaneously.
So shocking that the person turning the page would be amazed.
Using various color wheels, he dotted the field with wildflowers.
The field was so vast that a gentle breeze from afar could blow in like a whirlwind.
An endless, splendid field unfolded.
The tortoise walked, smelling the flowers that were taller than itself.
And splash, splash.
He began to hear the sound of swimming.
‘Swallowing saliva and anticipating, the scene cuts off as he slowly enters between the flowers. To the next page.’
The tortoise shouted to the dolphin.
Asking if it was the pink dolphin that swims in the flower field.
He said he had come to meet the special dolphin.
However, the dolphin, with an annoyed expression, splashed water at the tortoise.
It asked if this looked like a flower field to him.
Looking more closely, it was not a flower field.
It was just a small pond densely filled with lotus flowers.
The dolphin, whom the tortoise had envied as the most special, sighed instead.
It said it also wanted to swim in the sea like other dolphins.
‘In the end, the tortoise gets disappointed and returns home, thinking there’s no way to become special anywhere in the world…’
Kang Lim hid a twist at the end of the story.
According to his mother’s advice, a fairy tale should bring happiness after trials.
‘Returning home and feeling dejected… Ding dong. The sound of the doorbell rings. Here, let’s create a very lovable character.’
Kang Lim drew a small mouse ringing the doorbell of the tortoise’s house, stacked with cheese.
It was a tiny baby mouse living underground.
As soon as the tortoise came out, the mouse asked.
[Is this the house where the most special tortoise in the world lives?]
The tortoise was startled to hear that it was special.
‘A perspective from the tortoise looking down. The mouse looking up at the tortoise with sparkling eyes should be drawn cutely. The mouse’s ears should be round and big.’
The baby mouse said there was no other tortoise with such a large and magnificent shell in the world and made a proposal.
It wanted to carve out the shell and install windows so it could ride inside.
[I have lived underground all my life, and my dream is to travel the sea.]
Hearing that, the tortoise readily agreed.
After all, carving the useless shell didn’t even hurt.
‘The final scene is the mouse riding inside the tortoise’s shell, traveling the sea like a submarine.’
Entrusted to the cool waves, the tortoise entered the sea.
Kang Lim used a splattering tool to make the seawater sparkle.
He made it shimmer with a dazzling peacock blue light.
The tortoise’s eyes, submerged in the water, began to widen.
The thick eyelids that covered its eyes filled with fatigue gradually disappeared.
It was amazed that the shell it thought was useless and burdensome actually made it special.
‘In the end, the message is that you yourself are precious. Okay. Story complete.’
Kang Lim converted the completed storyboard to PDF and sent it to his mother.
He wanted to show her the drawn scenes and get feedback.
In a picture book, not only the story but also the page cut composition is important.
Buzz-
A reply soon came on the messenger.
[Lim Yoo-jin: …Did you make this right after I gave you advice? It hasn’t even been a few hours?]
[Kang Lim: Yes. How is it? I gave three trials as you said. The first was losing the race. The second was visiting the ancient fox and failing. The third was meeting the dolphin and failing. In the end, the final answer was within oneself. I used the cliché that the final boss is closest. The message is that happiness is nearby?]
[Lim Yoo-jin: …Why did you even ask me?]
[Kang Lim: Because I asked, I could write this much.]
[Lim Yoo-jin: Why are you trying to take away my job…]
[Kang Lim: Haha, no way. This is just a short story.]
[Lim Yoo-jin: Writing a fairy tale is difficult, just like a novel.]
[Kang Lim: Come on…]
[Lim Yoo-jin: I think it’s going to be great. People will really love it. The drawings are so pretty. How can a storyboard be this perfect.]
[Kang Lim: Oh, the drawings need a lot more work. This is just rough.]
[Lim Yoo-jin: Well, I don’t know much about art, so I couldn’t give you any advice, but this was definitely good. Son… it’s not just because you’re my son, but you have talent.]
[Kang Lim: Oh. Thank you… Hearing that from a novelist makes me believe it.]
[Lim Yoo-jin: Yes. I should write more too. I need to strive harder.]
[Kang Lim: Don’t write for too long and go to bed early.]
[Lim Yoo-jin: Okay. You sleep well too.]
Kang Lim turned off the messenger and returned to the Photoshop screen.
Since it was an adventure where the tortoise sets out to become special, he saved the file as “Special Adventure.”
But there was something his mother had said that lingered in his mind.
[I don’t know much about art, so I couldn’t give you any advice, but this was definitely good.]
[People will really love it.]
For some reason, these two remarks made his heart race.
Kang Lim suddenly came up with an unexpected idea.
‘Contemporary art can use anything as a material. What if you used a story as a material? Story and sculpture. Story and painting… What if they could interact with each other? If profound content could be symbolically unraveled through a story, it could meet the audience at a much closer distance…’
The sudden thought made his heart drop.
Just like when he rode a Viking ship for the first time in a long while.
