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SF 드라마 스타트렉의 작가 겸 프로듀서, 제작자인 ‘조 메노스키’가 〈킹세종 더 그레이트〉 이후 두 번째로 집필한 공상과학 스토리
한국의 역사를 탐구하고 한국의 신화에 감동해 창조한 세계 유일의 한국 슈퍼 히어로물
Joe Menosky, author of Star Trek, creating Korean new hero Hae-tae!
A spectacular reimagining of a vital icon of Korean mythology.

세계적으로 성공한 미국 드라마 ‘스타트렉’의 작가인 조 메노스키는 첫 소설인 〈킹세종 더 그레이트〉의 초고를 완성한 날 〈해태〉 이야기를 쓰기 시작했다고 한다. 한국의 역사를 탐구한 작가는 한국 신화 속의 ‘해태’의 매력에 빠졌고, 세계 유일의 슈퍼 히어로 〈해태〉를 창조했다.

과학적으로 정립된 이론이 아닌 가설이지만, ‘분자 유산 이론’이나 ‘기억의 공기 이론’을 들어 본 적이 있는가. 과거 우리 선조들의 숨결이 현재의 공기 속에 작은 분자로 남아 있다는 것이다. 숨결에는 기억이 담겨있기에, 현재를 사는 우리가 숨을 쉴 때마다 공기 속에 존재하는 기억도 함께 마시게 된다는 것이다. 태곳적부터 지금까지 긴 세월 이어져 내려온 우리 조상들의 숨결을 통해 전달된 언어와 문화의 흔적, 우리 민족이 겪었던 역사적 사건과 자연재해의 기억, 정신과 영혼의 흔적까지 우리의 핏줄 속에 문신처럼 남았다. 어쩌면 신화 속 영물들의 숨결도 오랜 세월을 거쳐 우리 안에 남아있지 않을까? 작가 조메노스키는 이 가설을 해태로 발현시키고, 그리스 신화의 신들을 등장시켜 ‘인간’을 이야기한다.

한국형 슈퍼 히어로 ‘해태’의 주요 무대는 서울이다. 신이 창조한 자연의 순리를 거스르려는 인간의 욕망이 서울 한복판을 화마로 물들이고, 거대한 불길과 함께 다른 시공간에 머물던 해태가 등장해 불을 먹어치운다. 잇따라 그리스 신화 속의 신들까지 등장하며 인간의 공간인 서울은 신들의 전쟁터로 변한다. 전쟁이 벌어지자 평화를 사랑하고 정의를 수호하는 해태가 현 세계를 지켜낸다. 해태는 누구보다 먼저 나서고, 서로를 지키는 가족이 되어 함께 어려움을 극복한다. 작가는 해태를 통해 가족과 사랑의 의미를 돌아보게 만든다. 꼭 혈연관계여야만 가족인가. 목숨을 걸고 서로를 지켜내고 사랑으로 위한다면 피를 나눈 가족보다 더 진한 관계가 아닐까.

소설 ‘해태’에는 작가의 페르소나 ‘할코’가 등장한다. 핀란드의 민속학자인 ‘할코’를 통해 작가의 생각을 구체적으로 표현하는데 막걸리에서 한민족의 강한 내면의 힘을 발견하고, 만신 ‘매화’를 통해 ‘정신세계와의 연결’의 의미를 탐구한다. 어쩌면 ‘할코’는 현실 속의 작가 조 메노스키의 또 다른 모습인지도 모르겠다.

소설에서는 한민족 신화 속의 영물인 해태뿐만 아니라 그리스 신화 속의 신들이 동시에 등장해, 인간의 끝없는 욕망이 야기할 수 있는 무서운 결과를 경고하며, 모두가 힘을 합쳐 해결한다.
이 작품을 통해 작가는 이렇게 말하는 것 같다.
“신은 인간의 모습과 행동으로 뜻하는 바를 드러내는데 그것은 결국 사랑과 죽음으로 귀결된다고.”

"The gods and monsters of world mythology have become all too real. As vastly different as they are, their contact with human beings have the same result: love and death

정명섭Myung Seob CHUNG(Author)
The Star Trek writer has created new stories based on our mythology. The world he has crafted is so enchanting that it feels like we could just step into the pages of the story. Additionally, we are excited to see how it will be brought to life on screen.

김이환Ewhan KIM(Author)
The writer reimagines familiar Korean mythology, adding new layers to create a spectacular blockbuster with dazzling imagery. Readers will be fascinated to witness the exciting process of Hae-tae, a familiar figure from mythology and also a mascot, coming to life in reality.

차무진Mujin CHA(Author)
The writer demonstrates the essence of 'K-World' fiction, as showcased in the previous work "King Sejong the Great," with no less brilliance in this piece. The warp narrative in the work, which combines Korean shamanism and psychoanalytic techniques based on the mythological figure of Hae-tae, is remarkable. The story of Windy and the Hae-tae team's efforts to stop the mysterious being causing fires using shamanistic symbols is as captivating as Christopher Nolan's film "Inception," if not more so.

？Daniel Martin(Associate Professor of Film Studies School of KAIST)
？“It’s a delight to see a master science-fiction screenwriter turn his unique talents to mythological fantasy. This is a dazzling storytelling form that discards conventions, blending novel and screenplay to create an engaging, wild and witty fable that grips the reader from start to finish. A spectacular reimagining of a vital icon of Korean history, and a timely reminder to celebrate the past as we look to the future.”

유지태Yoo Ji-tae(Actor)
A few years ago, when the Marvel comic "Tiger Division" was introduced to the world, I was thrilled that a Korean hero had finally emerged. To me, the novel "Hae-tae" carried a different significance. While a story featuring Korean cultural characters, or more precisely East Asian cultural characters, set in Korea might feel somewhat familiar, "Hae-tae" felt refreshingly new. Moreover, the clash between Western and Eastern mythology from the outset was thrilling.
"Hae-tae" is always around us, something we're bound to encounter, yet it feels like we haven't really seen it. Why haven't we appreciated its cultural value and entertainment until now? It's as if we've overlooked something precious right under our noses. As you continue reading the work, despite knowing it's fantasy, it begins to feel like the real world. The writer skillfully weaves a complex web around the protagonist, never letting the sympathy-inducing situations become stagnant. Witnessing the writer's prowess and approach, one can sense the vastness of the world within the story. Now is the time to put "Hae-tae" to the test on the global entertainment stage as another sensation of East Asian characters and content, to see its firepower and allure.

이명세Lee Myung-Se(Film Director)
The novel "Hae-tae" is filled with vivid imagery and dynamism, akin to watching a movie. The author blends ancient Greek mythology and Korean folklore with alchemy to create a fantasy world. It's worth looking forward to the birth of a Korean version of the Marvel series. This is a glimmer of hope raised by the Star Trek writer in dark times.

1. Beginning
2. Middle
3. Ending

？The pair of stone statues of hae’tae-mythological, fire-eating creatures on display in front of the main gates to Gyeongbokgung Palace-appeared to be on guard for the night shift.
The monstrous beasts were depicted with a muscular, thick body covered in scales, like a cross between a lion and a rhino, its signature and identifying element the subtle, Cheshire Cat-like smile always on its face, which made it simultaneously intimidating and endearing.

？Of the prehistoric landscape of ancient Korea, with rolling green hills, streams of water, and megalithic dolmens stacked like tables: two or three tall pillars of stone atop of which lay a huge horizontal boulder. The tiny “fire-bird” sparks from the pojangmacha’s burner moved through this atmosphere-but now they were flame-like butterflies, lovely and delicate.
Suddenly, shockingly, the gaping, muzzle-shaped mouth of a large creature leapt into view, snapping down on a bunch of butterflies-dispersing them.
Windy barely got a look at the fantastical animal’s face: like a combination of lion and rhino, smiling as always. It was a hae’tae.

？Windy dreamt of an old-fashioned ballroom and a masquerade ball, the kind that appear in European fairy tales, with everybody in big dresses and elegant suits and wearing Venetian-style masks. But rather than the traditional Italian Pantalone and Arlecchino, the elegant European guests wore the faces of the Hahoetal stock characters of rustic Korean folk performances. The juxtaposition was jarring. But Windy, as dreamers often do, didn’t seem to notice anything unusual. Until an elegant hand reached out to offer her the next dance, and her gaze went up the ringed fingers, the tight black sleeve, the high collar to her would-be partner’s face: the smile belonged to a hae’tae.

？ “I’m not afraid of fire,” said Windy. Suddenly, she flashed back to her earliest memory: as an infant surrounded by the flames. And saw something that she had not remembered until that moment: she had smiled and laughed in the midst of the roaring blaze. “I’ve never been afraid of fire.”

？The Titan saw Poet, as well. And for a moment, the sudden appearance of a visitor after millennia of solitary confinement made him smile. “What is it you want of me? Human being... You are, human, correct?”
“Yes,” answered Poet, both still in a trance and simultaneously entranced by this sudden encounter with a clearly superior being. “I am human.”
“They always wanted something,” said Prometheus, almost to himself.
Poet’s delicate awareness of this razor’s edge state of conscious started slipping in and out of the fugue state, and he was aware both of Prometheus in the Greek mythological world and Firestarter in the burning underground metro station.

？I hoped the flame could be seen from across the street, from across Seoul, from as far away as the stars and the next universe. A lamp that said what every lamp, placed in every window, has always said: come home.”