Kim Cho-yeop, "Following the Rain Clouds" - 007
Author's Note - 088

Cheon Seon-ran, "Do You Know Us?" - 091
Author's Note - 161

Kim Hye-yoon, "Words of the Mountain" - 165
Author's Note - 205

Cheongye, "Amo Ergo Sum" - 209
Author's Note - 265

Jo Seo-wol, "I'm Not a Robot" - 269
Author's Note - 319

“Nevertheless, Lee Yeon from the other world invited Bomin here.
I want to show you.
“I wanted to show you the worlds that held Lee Yeon and allowed her to live.”
- Kim Cho-yeop, "Following the Rain Clouds"

Kim Cho-yeop's "Following the Rain Clouds" begins with a memorial service invitation that arrived in the name of her deceased roommate, Choi Yi-yeon.
Bomin ignores it, thinking it's a prank, but he gradually becomes obsessed with strange things, such as invitations being found all over the house and dates and notations changing.
In the past, Bomin and Lee Yeon became close while imagining a virtual world with objects that do not exist in reality through a board game called 'Nova Pouch', but they later part ways indefinitely.
Then, they meet again by chance at a junkyard, and become close enough to become roommates.
At the memorial hall that the invitation mentioned, not only Bomin, but also Director Jeong and Seunghee arrive.
Director Jeong is the creator of the Nova Pouch, and says he came here because of the strange token he received from Lee Yeon.
Lee Yeon was almost the only person who liked the game made by Director Jeong, and he once mentioned 'The World Beyond the Semi-Permeable Membrane' as the reason.
It was a world beyond human perception, a concept in which trivial objects flowed through a barrier into this world.
This structure resembled the rules of the Nova Pouch, and although Director Jeong did not believe Lee Yeon's words, he was confused by the fact that the tokens she handed over at the end were ones that had not yet been produced and existed only in his work notes.
Seunghee also recalls the past when she and Lee Yeon searched for traces of the world beyond the semi-permeable membrane in lost items.
Lee Yeon talks about things and worlds that do not exist in reality, and Seunghee, who wants to escape her current life, believes this at face value.
The two explore the world together, searching for objects that have passed through the semi-permeable membrane, but Seung-hee is shocked to learn that humans cannot cross the membrane, and naturally becomes distant from Lee-yeon.
Bomin felt that Lee Yeon's words were a joke, but through Director Jeong and Seunghee's story, he begins to think that the 'world beyond the semi-permeable membrane' that Lee Yeon spoke of, especially the 'green world', may have actually existed.
They imagine that Lee Yeon may not have died but crossed over to another world, and come to the conclusion that the numerous invitations the three received may have been sent by Lee Yeon from another parallel world.
And in the warehouse, the place the invitation pointed to, Bomin, who encountered the sight of Lee Yeon's traces and the small items she had collected combined to form a single world, looks up at the sky where rain clouds and sunlight coexist, recalling Lee Yeon's heart that wanted to show him such a world rather than whether that world actually exists.

“I don’t even want heaven.
I just wish we could be together in whatever land remains of the afterlife.
Then we can make that place a paradise.”
- Cheon Seon-ran, "Do You Know Us?"

The story begins with the narrator, who was preparing for euthanasia due to a painful illness, being bitten by a nurse and infected with the zombie virus, and waking up after a long coma.
The narrator, who was a nurse, recalls the memory of reciting a medical checkup sheet at the hospital and the moment when he held hands with his wife while watching a play.
The memory of the speaker who has become a zombie is messily damaged and staged like a lighting stage, allowing him to see himself as a third person.
Next, the story of what he experienced at the motel with his wife, the comfort his wife gave him about his sensitive senses at the time, and the anxiety he felt amidst his various identities all mix together in the speaker's mind.
As he becomes a zombie, his vision turns white, leading to memories of hospital banners and preparations for a strike. In this reality where the line between life and death is blurred, he barely manages to get up.
Then he listens to his wife, who has turned into a zombie, and the recording she left behind.
The wife in the recorder explains to the narrator that the world has been destroyed by a zombie outbreak, and the contents of the recorder contain the wife's daily life as she struggles to protect the narrator who was in a coma.
The wife, who was bitten by a child zombie wandering the street, reveals that she shared a death syringe with the narrator in order to die together with him.
Then, the speaker says that he moved the turtle named 'Jangpung', which he had liked while he was alive, to the bathroom in the hospital room.
Strangely enough, the narrator, who has become a zombie, is able to communicate with Jangpung-i, and heads to the sea according to Jangpung-i's request to be sent back to the sea.
He leaves with his infected wife along the way.
The narrator heads to the sea with his wife on a cart, listening to the recorder repeatedly, and through his wife's voice on the recorder, he learns about his encounter with the old dog Chorong Chorong at the euthanasia center, the soldier his wife encountered, the story of the tteokbokki restaurant where he went with his wife and received a proposal, and the sign language exchange for "stay alive" with a mother and daughter who helped him survive.
The group of speakers arrived at the sea.
Jangpung heads to the sea without saying goodbye, and the two sit side by side on the beach.
The story ends with him wishing that he would never return to the humans who will return someday, as he is now the only being left on Earth from which everyone else has left.

“After her first utterance, Heejung was surprised every time she uttered a new word and cherished the feeling.
(…) Conversation with Orim felt more comfortable than any language I had ever learned.” - Kim Hye-yoon, “Orim’s Words”

The extraterrestrial life form 'Orum' that appeared on Earth two years ago is a snail-shaped creature measuring 8 to 20 meters in size. It communicates only with electrical protrusions and does not respond to human contact.
Linguist Jeong Hee-jeong succeeds in communicating for the first time using binary and sport climbing, and names it 'Oreum'.
As time passes, research becomes stagnant, and the center is left with only about 20 people, including the biology team, the language team, and the military.
Cryptographer Lee Ryu joins to analyze the indecipherable pattern, and he is deeply impressed by the scene of Hee-jung talking to Orim on the first day.
Ryu, who attempted direct contact, is shocked and fails, but later succeeds in communicating with Orim 'Duri' by devising an emotion-based grammar and hears that he "feels for her."
While working with Hee-jung and interacting with Orum, Orum faces a crisis of commercialization and experimentation due to a change in government, and as government intervention intensifies, Orum cuts off their interaction.
The researchers leave, and the remaining meeting brings up negotiation ideas, but Hee-jung refuses to compromise.
In the end, only Ryu remains, and the two warn Orim to leave, but there is no response.
Ryu saves Hee-jung, who has collapsed from overload, and when Hee-jung wakes up, she uses Morse code to say, "It's dangerous, but I'll be with you."
That night, the two people shared their pasts and feelings, and felt that the language of the mountain was the most comfortable and beautiful form of communication.
Hee-jung climbs to the top of the mountain to deliver her final message, and Ryu decides to stay by her side until the end.

“I want to overturn all concepts of love at least once,
After burning everything, it was necessary to reflect on it in a state of complete nothingness.” - Cheongye, “Amo Ergo Sum”

Ophelia is a character with strong distrust and obsession with love, and constantly doubts whether her love with her lover, Houdini, is true.
To confirm her love for Houdini, she illegally creates a clone of herself, 'Sylvia', and sleeps with her.
Ophelia realizes that her love is true and reveals this to Houdini, but Houdini leaves, disgusted with Ophelia for sacrificing the innocent Sylvia to beg for his love.
Afterwards, Ophelia spends her days with Sylvia during the 30-day deadline for the disposal of the illegal copies, hoping that Houdini will return out of jealousy.
The clones are similar to humans, but are designed to be absolutely obedient to their owners due to the inserted canine obedience genes.
The more Ophelia sees Sylvia's affectionate care and obedience, the more she feels it is hypocritical, and she sees her as the product of a failed experiment.
Sylvia tries to comfort Ophelia without hesitation, but Ophelia ends up insulting her and repeating the physical and mental abuse she suffered in the past on Sylvia.
In the midst of all this, Sylvia tries to protect herself, and her appearance reminds Ophelia of the unconditional love she received from her past lover, Wise.
Eventually, Ofelia stops her violence against Sylvia and comes to terms with the fact that she may not be a mere clone, but another personality.
With the deadline for disposal just one day away, Sylvia leaves Ophelia a gift and a farewell message. Upon seeing this, Ophelia forges a copy disposal agreement and grants Sylvia her freedom.
Sylvia is moved and dreams of a future with Ophelia, but Ophelia keeps this a secret from Sylvia and heads to the incinerator.
Before she enters the fire, she reflects on why Wise chose such an extreme option and why he created Houdini, a clone of himself, and left it to her.
And finally, he ends his journey by facing his separation from Wise, death, and love.

"…scared."
“What do you mean?”
“I’m scared that I’ll become afraid of people again…
So I'm afraid that I won't be able to find human work this time either... - Jo Seo-wol, "I'm Not a Robot"

After completing a long-awaited mission, the robot Lancelot travels across the vast desert to the remote home of mechanic Frank to repair his broken ankle.
Frank is an old man who is left alone to maintain robots and write novels with a fountain pen. He meets Lancelot, the last remaining robot among many.
While undergoing repairs, Lancelot becomes interested in his life and writing, and Frank tells him the story of how he came to the desert, his relationship with the Mexican couple, and what inspired him to write.
After the repairs are completed, Frank reads the novel, but Lancelot, unable to express his emotions, simply nods and continues to ask questions about the writing method.
Frank says he writes by following the voices in his head, and Lancelot replies that he too follows orders. Frank laughs and says that he too can write a novel, and then falls down while heading to the bedroom.
Frank, who is coughing up bloody phlegm, is advised by Lancelot to go to the hospital, but he refuses, saying he cannot cross the desert. Frank tries to upload his novel online every day, but fails the captcha authentication that distinguishes between ambulances and fire trucks.
Lancelot, seeing Frank unable to adapt to the challenges of city life, suggests that they cross the desert together, and convinces him that his writing can connect people, and gets him to agree to set off.
But the next day, Frank burns all his manuscripts and equipment, and shouts in the flames that his story will reach beyond the heavens.
Afterwards, he gradually loses his vitality and becomes bedridden, and Lancelot, trying to show him his work, instead reads Frank's novel to him.
Frank, who had attempted suicide in the past, was saved by Lancelot's intervention, and the two formed a relationship by sharing jokes and rituals and giving each other names.
Lancelot encourages Frank, who is trembling with fear, to write, and asks him for a new mission, saying that he wants to do human work someday, and that memory closes the flashback.
When Frank dies, Lancelot buries him, reads his final manuscript, and then silently continues his assigned dismantling work on an abandoned road in the desert, unwatched.