One of them is a lie 007

Author's Note 237

A touching contact that takes place without meeting each other
A story of three children bound together by pictures, secrets, and sadness.

Young master Kim Ae-ran releases her first full-length novel in 13 years.

Kim Ae-ran, who has created a decisive moment in Korean literature, has published a new novel, “One of These Is a Lie,” by Munhakdongne.
This work, which had been kept under wraps except for the author's description in an interview a few years ago when asked about his next work, that it would be "a story about light, lies, and pictures," is finally being revealed after a long wait.
Kim Ae-ran, who began her career in 2002 and is now entering her 23rd year as a writer, has carefully cultivated her world of work, publishing four short story collections and one novel to date. However, all five books remain widely read, possessing a rare vitality that evokes unique scenes in each of us just from their titles.
From 『Run, Dad』(Changbi, 2005), which runs forward with lively humor and imagination, to 『Summer Outside』(Munhakdongne, 2017), which captures the time difference between ‘inside and outside’ while intently observing the conditions of life surrounding us, each book contains the result of understanding that was hard-won by moving little by little without stopping in one place.


"One of Them Is a Lie" is a story about three high school sophomores who become aware of each other through a series of coincidental events, gradually becoming closer and going through an unforgettable time.
Although the novel primarily covers a short two-month vacation, we experience the characters' struggles in the present through a unique structure in which the truth is gradually revealed as we switch between the perspectives of the three children.
This is probably why this novel, which is not long at all, feels so vast.
"One of Them Is a Lie," completed after deep thought over the question of "what to say and how to say it," movingly presents at the end how the consideration of the novel's structure is connected to the understanding of the characters.
Just as one must dip “a very small amount of white paint” (p. 196) into “the tip of the brush” to “carve light into someone’s eyes,” like “something that is small but absolutely necessary to express someone’s soul,” Kim Ae-ran portrays someone’s soul, that is, the multifaceted and multi-layered life of a person that can never be summarized in a trite way, through her characteristically concise and lingering sentences.


That year, the three of us lied to each other.
We got close for the first time
That meant one secret helped another.

The title of the book, 'One of These Is a Lie', refers to the 'self-introduction' game created by the homeroom teacher in the novel.
When a new semester begins, students are asked to introduce themselves in five sentences, one of which must be a lie, so that other students can guess what is true and what is false.
For example, if a student introduces himself/herself by saying something like, “I don’t eat the sausage inside a hot dog, I just eat the bread” or “I once climbed over the school fence to follow someone I like,” other students can guess which of these statements are true and which are false, making “the process itself a good self-introduction for the presenter” (p. 16).
Some of these lies are simply set up as traps for fun, to deceive someone, while others are subtly mixed in with the hope of achieving something impossible in reality, even if only through that sentence.
And some people spill out secrets they have had to endure alone for a long time, hoping that “everyone will laugh it off because it seems like an obvious lie” (p. 18).
The first time the three main characters in the novel become aware of each other is when they learn of each other's secrets.


First of all, erase.
After his mother recently passed away, the only person left for Jiwoo is his pet lizard, Yongsik.
Of course, there is Uncle Seonho, who is her mother's lover and has been living with her for three years, but Jiwoo, who thinks that she, who is no different from anyone else, will be a burden to Uncle Seonho, makes plans to earn money during winter vacation and become independent.
Since he cannot take Yongsik, who is sensitive to the environment, to a dangerous work site, Jiwoo decides to leave Yongsik with a friend for a while.
To a friend who once showed a romantic interest in him, and whose classmates gossiped that he was 'strange'.


And the sound.
Sori, who has been drawing since childhood, has experienced several strange experiences and has come to avoid situations where she holds hands with others as much as possible.
Since people wouldn't come near me if I held a pen or pencil in my hand, I forced myself to keep drawing.
Then, out of the blue, he receives a call from Jiwoo, a classmate he has never really talked to before.
He asked me to take care of Yongsik only during this vacation.
Ever since Sori came across Jiwoo's piece titled "Snowflake" during writing class, his eyes have been drawn to her.
“It wasn’t like I had just fallen in love or anything” (pp. 67-68), but I vividly remember Jiwoo reading his essay in a trembling voice during class that day, saying, “Poverty is when your head breaks even with a small snowflake falling from the sky” (p. 85), so after much thought, I decide to accept Jiwoo’s request.


Finally filled.
Since 'that incident' happened a summer night a year ago, my mother is now in prison and my father is in the hospital.
However, Chae-woon becomes very anxious after hearing from his uncle not long ago, “The person in charge said that your father’s health is getting better than before” (page 28).
I'm afraid that my father will wake up and come back and tell me what happened that day.
Then, one day, I was reminded of something I said while grabbing the front paw of my dog, Mungchi, in the school playground.
At that moment, the voice spoke as if it knew the future of the bunch.
“From now on, play with Mungchi as much as possible.
“Having a good time together.” (Page 104) Can Sound really see someone’s death?
Chae-woon decides to ask So-ri if she can check 'how much time her father has left'.
In this way, "One of Them Is a Lie" unfolds the story of friendship, lies, drawings, and sin that three children develop as they show affection for each other and then suspect each other after peeking into each other's secrets.

“Why do you like stories?”
“Because there is an end…?”
“I’m against it.
I like having a beginning.
“The story always begins.”

From one to three, I left my room alone.
Into the wide embrace of sorrow made up of three
At the end of the story given to us like that
Back to the beginning of the story

What makes "One of Them Is a Lie" special is that Jiwoo's comics, written in text, are inserted here and there, which in themselves add fun and tension to the play, while closely connecting the characters in the novel and drawing out unexpected meanings.
“I am not strong enough to give myself hope or love” (page 8), so Jiwoo started to write her own story. A few years ago, she uploaded a short story, [Very Very My Situation], to a comic cafe and it gained some popularity.
Jiwoo, who received attention for his cartoon that refreshingly portrayed the confusion and alienation felt by two middle school students who became close while working part-time together, like strawberry ice cream, now feels the desire to express his own feelings, not someone else's, through a story.


A year ago, on the very summer night when 'that incident' happened to Chae-woon, Ji-woo witnesses an unexpected sight.
Chae-woon's father was carried on a stretcher to an ambulance, and soon after, Chae-woon's mother was seen walking out with empty eyes, following the police.
And Chae-woon's voice urgently calling out to her mother, who was trying to get into the police car, with a face "mixed with confusion, anxiety, sadness, and fear" (page 48).
Jiwoo is inwardly surprised as he hears the townspeople gossiping, saying, "I heard that woman said that."
This is because Jiwoo has secretly been envious of Chaewoon, who lives in the same villa complex as him and seems to be harmonious and wealthy with her family.
Whenever I saw Chae-woon going out to eat with his family at the pork rib restaurant where his mother worked, and whenever I saw Chae-woon's father acting like he was arrogant towards his mother, the feeling went beyond simple envy and left a deep stain on my heart.
Because of “some memories that were intense experiences but still difficult to interpret” (p. 82), Jiwoo decides to draw them as a cartoon.
“About a certain feeling that cannot be summarized in a word, and is less damaged when drawn than when spoken directly” (same page).
So, I started serializing [What I Saw] in the comic cafe that erases it.


And as Chae-woon, who happened to see the cartoon by chance, becomes anxious that Ji-woo might know the secret of that night, the story of "One of Them Is a Lie" moves forward with secrets and lies as its driving force.
But this novel is not interested in uncovering someone's hidden secrets per se.
Rather, Kim Ae-ran painstakingly depicts the ‘reversal of emotions’ that occurs due to the ‘reversal of events.’
This is because the process of discovering the truth of the incident is intertwined with the process in which the characters “collapse certain emotions that they had suppressed for a long time” (p. 208).


'Can I really change the conditions of life given to me, that is, the narrative of my life?
Like the vibrant lines in the often-seen "narrative graph," can my life also move forward with a bold and dramatic flow? When questions arise about the world around us, stories begin to be written.
Asking questions through stories, misunderstanding someone, and encountering unexpected scenes you didn't know about or had forgotten.
This is a change that happens to Jiwoo herself while she is serializing [What I Saw], and to Chaewoon who is watching it, and at the same time, it is a change that happens to us as we read along with “One of Them Is a Lie.”
This may also be the reason why this novel devotes a considerable amount of space to the cartoons drawn by Jiwoo and pays special attention to establishing the framework of the novel.
Just as three children, despite being far apart during their vacation, deeply influence each other and feel “a sense of contact without shaking hands” (p. 147), and as they become closer to each other through the viscosity of moisture that is steeped in sadness, Kim Ae-ran spent a long time writing, rewriting, and rewriting each word, and finally completed a story of characters who become closer to each other through not-so-beautiful or bright elements such as secrets, lies, and sadness.
So, a story that has the power to come alive and repeat itself over and over again in our lives, a story that makes us reread, reread, and re-read.

★

I struggled many times and learned a lot while writing this novel.
Although some things were lost and others were gained along the way, as a writer, my hope that these characters will all live out the rest of their lives well remains unchanged.
Life is cruel and full of unpredictable events, but it was a time when I was grateful that we still have a story.
(…)

Life is merciless and will continue to hurt us, but I hope we can all leave with a good story in the end, a meaningful story.
I will try my best too.
_From the author's note