What makes a captivating story?
Back in my college days, I used to sustain myself by tutoring students.
Even when I poured all my tips out to boost their scores in Korean, English, and Math, I often found myself being dropped by students after the exams ended.
I helped them raise their scores, so why was I getting fired? In the early days of tutoring, it was always a mystery, and eventually, I directly asked one of my students’ mothers, “Why are you stopping even after their scores improved?”
“Our child says it’s not fun anymore. They’re tired of just studying, and it’s been a hassle. I’m really sorry about that.”
Although the parents paid me, I realized then that the students were the ones evaluating my tutoring.
After that, I focused not just on grades but also on the students’ interests. If I used examples from their studies or shared interesting stories during breaks, they couldn’t get enough. Thanks to that, I managed to survive on tutoring until I enlisted.
In the end, a captivating story is one that aligns with the interests of the listeners.
Even now, when there are only middle-aged men around, it’s best to pick a story that suits their interests.
“What kind of interesting story could a barbarian like him have…”
“Does the barbarian even have any shame?”
“Who does he think he is?”
Once I announced I would tell a story, there wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic reaction. The murmurs from the nearby older gents could be heard here and there.
“Everyone, quiet down.”
As the Master Carpenter spoke, the room went silent.
“You said your name was Kang Yoon-ho, right? Step forward.”
He gestured for me, and I carefully squeezed my way past the older gentlemen to sit in front of him. As soon as I sat down, the Master Carpenter wasted no time.
“The title was ‘Winning the Lottery After Divorce’? That’s quite the unique name.”
“Yes. To be precise, it’s about my wife running away and winning the top lottery prize afterward, but in Joseon, it’s sometimes referred to as ‘Winning the Lottery After Divorce.’”
In this world, divorce wasn’t just seen as the end of a marital relationship; it was treated as a man failing to keep one woman, so a different title was needed.
“Winning the Lottery After Divorce?”
“What’s a lottery?”
“You clueless country bumpkin. It’s that thing where you put sticks into a pot and draw.”
“Oh! You buy sticks and give them to someone, right?”
Loot boxes did exist in Joseon. While it wasn’t on a nationwide scale like today’s lotteries, it did happen with dozens or hundreds of participants.
“Just hearing the title makes it sound interesting. Everyone, gather in a circle. Let’s listen to this kid’s story.”
The Master Carpenter stroked his beard with interest and motioned for the older gents. Well, since we’re doing this, might as well make sure everyone can hear clearly.
“Everyone, if you gather in a circle, I’ll tell you an amazing story.”
It’s important to catch the Master Carpenter’s eye, but it’s equally important to get on the good side of these older gents.
Since I’d be working for ten days, wouldn’t it be better to be a cool Nguyen instead of a nameless barbarian?
“Why do we have to sit in a circle like that?”
“Hey! The Master Carpenter said so, so who are you to talk back?”
“Let’s listen to a foreign story.”
The older gents started whispering to each other and quickly formed a circle.
I took a look around at the faces before me. Tiredness, disbelief, anticipation. Various expressions were mixed together.
This was like an open mic night.
Suddenly, memories of that first year’s awkward talent show popped into my head.
“Hey, I don’t have a talent. I’m a freshman. I have to do something, right? Well, I don’t know what to do. Just go out there. No, I’m not going out! Hello, I’m Kang Yoon-ho, a freshman. I’ll sing a song.”
Ughh. The cold reactions from back then flooded back.
I had to do well to avoid ruining the atmosphere.
A divorce story.
There are several clichés about husbands being betrayed by their wives and succeeding after divorce. However, since this wasn’t a long-running series and was only a midnight tale, I needed to keep it short.
I decided to extract only the essence.
Let’s keep the main characters to just three.
Taking a small breath, I started my performance.
“Honey! I’ve been working outside for a week, and this is how the house looks?”
Our protagonist—a kind and diligent husband. Even while sounding angry, I pitched my voice slightly higher to show he’s a genuinely nice guy. Then I tilted my body to the left to start playing the role of his wife.
“What’s wrong with how the house looks? I just had some fun outside. Now hand over the money. Ugh. Is this all you brought home?”
The wicked wife. Her line was meant to make anyone think, “Is there really such a rude person?”
“Whoa! Sounds just like the ex-wife!”
“Your wife ran away, right?”
“Exactly! My ex-wife!!”
“Shut up! Just shut it!”
Right from the start, the performance seemed to resonate with the older gents, and they began reacting.
“Honey, you’ve been going out a lot lately. I saw you with some guy while passing through the market. Who was he?”
A voice filled with anxiety from the husband. He looked suspicious but didn’t want to be.
“Huh? Just a guy I met outside. He’s been helping me with my work lately.”
“What kind of work? I’m the one bringing in the money, remember?”
“There’s all sorts of things. Why? Are you trying to accuse me?”
Playing the wicked wife with a victim mentality. The anxious husband. Anyone could figure out the situation.
“What kind of bastard is messing around with that woman?”
Suddenly, a voice popped out from somewhere.
It lit the seed of suspicion among the audience while moving the story forward.
A husband working hard in a construction site.
Even when scolded by the foreman, he only thought about his wife. He went around boasting about her every chance he got. He hurt his back but came out to work instead of resting to make some money.
“……”
The surrounding became suddenly quiet. It was exactly their situation. A scenario that was all too relatable.
Now, time to move to the key scene.
I held the small pillow made for the older gents to rest against in my right hand.
“Today ended early for some reason. I should enjoy a nice beef dinner with my wife!”
Pretending the pillow was a delicious piece of meat I prepared for my wife, I cheerfully imagined coming home.
“Honey, I’m back! Were you sleeping? Huh? Why are there four feet under the blanket?”
As the protagonist, I smiled, imagining enjoying a lovely dinner with my wife, but as soon as I entered the room, my expression hardened as I dropped the “meat.”
“Damn it.”
“I know that feeling. That bitch!!”
“Wait, do you think he must have gone through this for real? Why does he look like he’s been through it?”
Looks like we have a real-life survivor of this kind of trauma in the audience. Sorry for your PTSD.
And just like that, the wife’s affair was revealed.
“You can’t even bring home proper money, what do you have to show for it? Have you ever given her a gift like that guy? You can’t even keep up with your nightly duties!”
With a slightly raised chin, the wicked wife spoke, flipping the narrative.
“Get that! That bastard!”
“Hey, where does she live?”
The older gents were really getting into it.
Thus, the wife runs away with another man, and the husband falls into despair.
“Oppa, why are you living like this?”
Then, the 12-year-old girl whom the protagonist had looked after as a child appeared, with a determined expression and voice, announcing her character.
After a brief act of cleaning up the protagonist’s disheveled home, she handed over something.
“It’s a lottery ticket. I bought it for you. If you keep hiding inside, you’ll drive yourself crazy; you should get out and see some people.”
Encouraged by the schoolgirl, the protagonist goes to the place where they pull lottery numbers.
“Look! The grand prize is a whopping 1,000 gold coins!!”
Since a family of four would survive a month on 1 gold, that’s enough money to live on for a lifetime. Once the amount was revealed, the eyes of the older gents widened.
Of course, you have to express these things in numbers! When I said 1,000 gold coins, the older gents leaned forward.
“My number is 54, and all the people in the town are here. How could I possibly win?”
I acted out holding the wooden ticket with the number and mimicking someone drawing a number.
“Who will take the coveted first prize?! 54!”
“No way! I’m the winner!”
The protagonist wins a whopping 1,000 gold coins. He tries to give some money to the schoolgirl for helping him but she refuses, saying it’s a reward for taking care of her when she was little.
“Wow, isn’t she much better wife material than the one who ran away?”
“Her heart is like that of a fairy.”
The man, intending to give money to the girl, eventually confirms their feelings for each other and they get married.
Now, with numerous flaunting scenes, I sparked a sense of vicarious satisfaction among the older gents. I showed the protagonist buying silk clothes for his wife, riding luxurious horses, and even taking expensive ginseng to boost his vitality.
The older gents seemed to be thoroughly satisfied, wearing pleased expressions at the ending. But doesn’t that leave the ending a bit bland?
A sudden twist will be thrown in.
“Honey, I’m back!”
The ex-wife appears.
“Get that bitch out of here!”
“Who the hell is she?!”
“No! If she ran away, she shouldn’t be showing her face again!”
Even here, the reappearance of the ex-wife triggers the same reactions. But I pressed on, unbothered by their reactions.
“Honey, that man took all the money you saved and ran off with a younger woman. I was deceived. Can’t you take me back?”
She kneeled and begged her husband as she surveyed the older gentlemen’s faces.
Hmmm… If I forgive her, I might end up facing serious consequences.
“Honey, you must have gone through a lot of mental suffering…”
I stood again and turned, speaking in a kind tone to my imaginary wife in the air.
“What! No! You can’t be serious!”
“Hey! Just stop it!”
The older gents exclaimed, still not finished with this drama.
You there, Mr. Ju, prepare your pillow to throw. Mr. Jang, why do you have your fists clenched? And why is Mr. Hwang’s face turning red?
I needed to develop the story quickly.
“But I have no intention of taking you back. You’ll have to keep suffering from now on. Ha-ha!”
I needed to add a twist to my lines.
“Oppa! Let’s eat that ginseng and spend a cozy night together. What’s that old lady doing? Please beg somewhere else.”
“Right. Right. It’s cold out; let’s head inside.”
I pretended to wrap my arm around the new wife’s waist, turning back to go home. But then I immediately stepped back and knelt.
“Honey! Honey!!”
Crying out, the wife eventually gets kicked out, and the husband lives happily ever after with his young wife.
A perfect ending! The older gents seemed to have enjoyed it, smiling happily.
So, what do you think?
Commander, I mean Master Carpenter, will you give me a reward?
Speaking of which, I hadn’t gauged the Master Carpenter’s reaction. Looking at him, he was staring at me with slightly parted lips.
“Well, well.”
He spoke in a shocked voice.
“Are you perhaps a storyteller?”
“Huh?”
“With so many voices and such graceful gestures, storytelling like that is something only famous storytellers in the marketplace can do, isn’t it?”
What is he saying now?
Is he referring to a storyteller?
A storyteller is someone who amusingly narrates tales from books or famous folklore and gets paid for it.
Kind of like streaming nowadays.
“No, not at all. Back in Joseon, when I taught children, I got used to acting out stories so they could pay attention.”
That’s right. I used to tutor college and teach at a study room! Did it all! Of course, I had never done it while kneeling like this.
“Were you a teacher?! Oh no! I didn’t realize I was talking to someone from a foreign land.”
“I was just an assistant at a school in Joseon.”
There’s a main teacher in charge! Why are you doing this?
Still, to avoid any misunderstandings, I feigned modesty.
“No wonder I thought you looked kind of young. Anyway, teaching children, huh? That must be the education style of Joseon.”
No, not really. What school would teach “winning the lottery after getting divorced”?
“Were you a teacher?”
“No wonder you looked a bit naive for a barbarian working on construction.”
“Are you a storyteller? I’ve seen many of them, and you’re doing a far better job.”
“Right? Those storytellers’ tales were pretty boring, but that one was really fun.”
As I said I was a teacher, the whispers surrounded me.
“Anyway, that’s impressive. So that was the story from Joseon? It was really entertaining.”
Clap clap clap.
The Master Carpenter applauded, seemingly in admiration for my story.
“Barbarian! That was more fun than I expected!”
“After work, I should try this lottery thing!”
“Listening to that made me think of my wife, and I almost wanted to trade her in!”
If your relationship with your wife is good, there’s no need for that. The older gents were all clapping together.
I felt a bit embarrassed. But since it was a somewhat successful performance, I was content.
“Thank you. Now I’ll head back to my place.”
As for the reward, they’d figure it out themselves.
“Wait.”
As I was about to return to my corner, the Master Carpenter called me.
“Hmm?”
“I’ve never seen a storyteller who can articulate like you. Since it’s getting late, how about you stay for the night and tell those stories every night? It could be such a joy.”
I said I wasn’t a storyteller, didn’t I?
“Oh, well…”
That sounded a bit tiresome. I tilted my head to one side, showing a troubled expression.
“Are you not interested?”
“With the material transportation, I’m often tired after work. I thought you seemed bored, so I shared a story, but doing it every night might be difficult.”
Why would I need to volunteer my time at night?
You know, if someone lets you go on like this, you might think you’re being treated like a pet.
I absolutely don’t want to do that! Why would I take that tedious role!
“Hmm, then I have a proposal for you.”
The Master Carpenter stroked his beard, appearing to ponder for a moment. Then he spoke unexpectedly.
“Since that last story was enjoyable, I propose that you stop the material transport and work as my assistant starting tomorrow. It’ll be far more comfortable. And I’ll even negotiate for a pay raise. But in exchange, you’ll continue to tell those stories every night. What do you think?”
Well, might as well give it a shot.
