Let's do the horizontal bar _007
A Very Trivial Time _035
We have _075 every season
Facing that face _111
Love and Flaws _147
Palm _189
The Dog and the Revolution _217
Bonsai _251
Doble _283
The Place I Stayed _309

Commentary | Oh Eun-kyo (literary critic)
Scanning the Incomprehensible Love _339

Author's Note _359

Why do I always end up giving my heart so carelessly?
A heartbreaking struggle that cannot be endured without love

"Let's Do the Horizontal Bar," which opens "Love and Defects," is a work that makes us imagine the countless possibilities that can be placed in the position of "us."
Seok-ju and Maeng-ji, who met at the CrossFit center, become “exchangers of all sorts of trivial stories” (page 11) while “eating, drinking, and going to PC rooms.”
The way two people grow closer, sometimes by scratching each other's hearts and sometimes by invading each other's lives, resembles the process of practicing on the horizontal bar while standing on each other's shoulders.
Our journey of strengthening our mental muscles and fostering strong relationships is also evident in the nine novels that follow.

The coming-of-age trilogy, "A Very Trivial Time," "Us in Each Season," and "Facing That Face," delicately depicts the sensitivity and violence of teenage years, based on Hee-jo's elementary, middle, and high school years.
In “A Very Trivial Time,” fifth grader Heejo has a bite of her ice cream stolen by a passing neighborhood girl, and on her way home with a “dirty feeling” (p. 39), she witnesses the death of her friend Mijung’s father.
At that moment, Heejo realizes that life will never go the way she wants it to.
Hee-jo, who was suffering from “the fear that the life given to her would be ruined and collapsed because of something very small” (p. 71), leaks the secret he shared with Mi-jeong, which leads to the destruction of their relationship.
"We Are Every Season" depicts the process by which Heejo, a middle school student, becomes entangled in such an incomprehensible life.
The story begins with Mi-jeong returning from a transfer school after her father's death, hinting at the inevitability that a moment from the past that she tried to ignore will one day shake up her life.
The final installment of the trilogy, "Facing That Face," shows Heejo as she leaves the confines of school and steps into society.
The sight of his back reflects the sadness of someone who has discovered that the secrets he once knew were nothing more than trivial matters.
Yesoyeon's coming-of-age trilogy is a story of passing through a period of time, hoping that grace will be bestowed upon such a strange and twisted life.
The grace we blindly long for without even knowing what it is sometimes manifests as death, a friend, a sense of belonging, or violence.
It would all have been different faces of “our passionate desires” (p. 105).

The title piece, “Love and Defects,” looks into the abyss of life through the aunt, “Sunjeong,” who gave “terrible love” (p. 183) to her niece, “I.”
The innocent youth, who lost his parents at an early age and was consumed with caring for his younger brother, ends up being treated like a plaything by his younger brother's family.
The process in which 'I (Seonghye)' hates and loves her aunt at the same time and eventually reaches a certain level of understanding shows that even a small amount of love is enough to care for each other.
"Palm" and "The Dog and the Revolution" are novels that revolve around the relationship between a father and a daughter.
Daejin in "Palm" talks about preparing for the climate crisis for the sake of future generations, but is indifferent to the big and small matters of the family, and Taesu in "The Dog and the Revolution" criticizes labor issues, but is silent about housework that has become the exclusive domain of women.
The following work, "Bunjae," begins with the death of a seventy-year-old woman, "Chayeon," and examines the relationships between three generations of women, including her daughter, "Sujin," and her granddaughter, "Yunjae."
These characters, caught up in the incomprehensible world order, do not turn a blind eye to what is happening in their own lives.
Even at the age of nearly eighty, some say, “I’ve lived a long time, but I can’t seem to get used to life” (“Bunjae,” p. 254), while others remember him as “a person who ends up interfering with everything” (“The Dog and the Revolution,” p. 238).
Naming characters who are not easily compromised, even if they are at odds with life, by their true names instead of titles like "father" or "aunt" successfully replaces the conflict between them with the difference between "us" rather than a problem of generation or gender.


While the previous four works focus on relationships that are inherently or socially given, "Double" and "The Place I Stayed" in the latter half of the collection show the choices of relationships that one chooses for oneself.
The three friends of "Dobble" plan a trip to Ganghwa Island to rekindle their crumbling friendship.
Those who once gave everything to each other gradually grow apart as their lives take different directions, and 'I' spends time with strangers at the pension while waiting for two friends who never come.
In "The Place I Stayed," Siyeon goes to Gunsan to find her friend Jeongseon, who has disappeared after borrowing money from her.
Living with three people, ‘Son’, ‘Jin’, and ‘Young’, Jeong Seon’s appearance, “without excuses or explanations, affirming her current self” (literary critic Oh Eun-kyo), seems quite different from the image I knew or wanted to misunderstand.
The community they create is reminiscent of an alternative family, but the novel doesn't offer an easy solution.
There comes a time when you have to “hold and then let go” of the hand of the person you were with (“Dobble,” p. 305), and after you have all gone out to play, you have to return to reality (“The Place I Stayed”).
However, the possibility that the empty space in the fans' hearts may be given to someone else due to past relationships inevitably touches the heart.
Then, someone might stay there a little longer.


In this age where it is right not to love
A parade of love that invades at will

Yesoyeon has stated that she wrote the title piece of this collection of short stories with the thought that “I hate the person I love the most, and I love the person I hate the most” (acceptance speech for the Munji Literary Award).
This still holds true in other works.
In "Palm," Hannah hopes that her father will be as damaged as she was, and in "Where I Stayed," Siyeon hopes that Jeong-seon will be as hurt and humiliated as she was because of Jeong-seon.
Although feelings of hatred are usually magnified and exaggerated, they say that it is just “that much” (p. 319).
The emotional shackles of someone I hate loving someone, and someone I love hating someone else.
As we struggle to understand each other's circumstances, we come to the realization that life is ultimately flawed and bound to go on.

Interfering in the lives of others requires both affection and courage.
Regarding the numerous rules that must be observed in the shared housing where she lives, Siyeon thinks, “Isn’t it okay to infringe on that much? We live together” (“The Place I Stayed,” p. 334).
Seok-ju wants to “invade” Maeng-ji’s life so that “we can be happier” (“Let’s Do the Horizontal Bar,” p. 27).
Meanwhile, Jeongmi says, “Getting involved in any life is a truly frightening thing” (Bunjae, p. 277).
In Yesoyeon's novels, there are people who invade, interfere, and interfere freely.
Watching such people gives me the courage to willingly join their ranks.
It seems safe to believe that it is not only those who can bear the responsibility for a lifetime of loneliness (Love and Defects, p. 180) who can embrace others.
In this era where it is right not to love, Yesoyeon is drawing a new map of love from where she is.