I Said Hello - Kim Ae-ran · 007
Above the Water - Kim Yeon-su · 049
Lullaby - Yoon Seong-hee · 095
Weathering - Eun Hee-kyung · 129
Green Sweater - Hye-young Pyeon · 167

Interview
Between silence and noise, between music and story
Interviews with Five Writers and Editors · 199

Five songs, five stories, five lives

“I don’t usually express my pain to others.
“It’s like a breakup song sung by a person.”
―Kim Ae-ran, "I Said Hello"

'Eunmi' has experienced two breakups in a row in recent years.
One is the breakup with her long-time boyfriend, Heon-su.
Another is the separation from my mother who passed away after suffering from an illness.
What Eun-mi chooses in the midst of sadness and isolation is to learn a foreign language.
Eun-mi, who had to quit her job to care for her mother and had a break in her career, knows full well that it will not be easy for her to find work again as a woman in her forties, but she decides to “start learning English right away,” and signs up for the video English site “Ecos.”
And one day while taking a class, I received this question from a native English teacher named Robert.
“But how do you say ‘hello’ in Korean?” That reminds Eunmi of a day seven years ago.
At that time, when she had naturally imagined a future with Heon-su, Eun-mi had a peaceful morning listening to "Love Hurts" that Heon-su had played.
At the time Eunmi heard that song, she had a lover and a family.
It was possible to securely envision a distant future rather than worrying about the immediate future.
But now that she no longer has a lover or family by her side and “the pressure of life is rising to her chin,” Eun-mi begins to reckon with what she can and cannot do, what she can and cannot say, what was possible and what never came to pass, in a situation where she cannot easily express her sorrow, like “Love Hearts,” which sounded like “a breakup song sung by someone who doesn’t express their pain well to others.”


“A summer night where light and darkness, silence and noise intersect
“It was a perfect orchestra in itself.”
―Kim Yeon-su, "Above the Water"

After her lover, Ki-jin, dies, Eun-hee loses her will to live. One day, when she finds it difficult to breathe, she searches for "how to breathe" on YouTube and comes across a video uploaded by a person named Yu-ju.
In the video, titled "Look at a Tree Whenever You Have Trouble Breathing," Yuju explains that when you have trouble breathing, you should go to a tree and look at it.
If you look at a tree quietly, you can find its swaying parts, and through that quiet immersion, you can forget that you are even breathing.
Eun-hee, who was unexpectedly impressed by Yu-ju's breathing technique, was watching another video uploaded by Yu-ju when she saw a familiar face appear on the screen and heard a familiar voice say this.
“Can we talk?” It was definitely Kijin’s voice.
And after the video edited with highlights quickly passed by, the title of the video appeared.
'A time traveler I met while eating omelet rice in Yeongcheon.'
Time traveler, what on earth does that mean? But Eun-hee knows something about 'Yeongcheon's Omelet Rice.'
It was a summer night a few years ago, when I was taking a walk with Kijin after seeing a concert, and Kijin, who had many secrets, rarely brought up a story about his past, and it was about 'Yeongcheon's Omelet Rice'.
The story of how he moved to Yeongcheon while living with his mother who was suffering from depression, and his life changed after eating an omelet rice at a famous Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood.
Why did Kijin go to Yeongcheon that day?
Were you going through enough difficulties to need a change in life?
Eun-hee looks back on her time with Ki-jin as she watches each of the videos uploaded by Yu-ju.


“I sang softly.

“It seemed like my mother was smiling while she was sleeping.”
―Yoon Seong-hee, "Lullaby"

Today is the fourth 'Matching Socks Day' since I entered high school.
The event of wearing matching socks to school after midterms and finals was created by the principal who was shocked by the incident where a student committed suicide by jumping from the rooftop after the finals.
Why mismatched socks? The principal couldn't forget the mismatched socks a friend had given him as a gift during his school days.
Then my friend gave me a gift and said this.
“Wear these socks on gloomy days.” With an excited heart, I put on black and white socks and headed to school. I spent the day laughing and chatting with my friends as usual.
But this ordinary daily life is shaken up when an accident occurs on the way home.
Because I was quickly crossing the crosswalk with only a few seconds left until the traffic light turned green, and was hit by a truck approaching from the right.
But the amazing thing happens next.
'I' am dead, but not completely dead.
So you can see the people around you and sing along.
Only, no one can see him or hear his voice.
After my own funeral, I follow my mother home.
Because I'm worried that my mother might be unable to sleep because she's sad about my death.


“The music that penetrated my ears was like the music of the forest, the rain, and the wind.

“I felt like a little kid being invited there for the first time.”
Eun Hee-kyung, "Weathering"

In July, when rain falls relentlessly, four people are sitting facing each other in a four-person train seat.
First of all, ‘Giuk’.
Ki-wook, who is in charge of hosting and providing music commentary for a classical music event held in City G, must arrive safely at the venue in four hours. However, he realizes that he has reserved the reservation for the next day, not the same day, and is forced to sit in the one remaining four-person seat.
The person sitting next to Ki-wook is an old man with graying hair.
He unfolds a large sheet of music paper, as if to block out any conversation with other people.
But the title of the song written on the staff catches Gi-wook's attention. It's a song that his eccentric and neurotic music teacher taught him in middle school.
Thinking about it, the old man's face somehow seemed to resemble the music teacher, so Ki-wook continued to look at him out of the corner of his eye.
There were also people who were surprised to see the sheet music the old man had spread out.
'Inseon' sitting right in front.
That song is the one that made it possible for me to start a love affair with my ex-lover.
Inseon, sitting on the train with a glimmer of hope that she might reunite with that person, begins to feel her heart pounding as she thinks that seeing the title of the song right before her eyes might be a kind of revelation.
And finally, the person sitting next to Inseon is his coworker, 'Junhee'.
When I heard the news of the death of a coworker's father, I went to pay my respects with my senior colleague, Inseon.
What will happen to Jun-hee and the other three people on this train ride, which they boarded not long after hearing the advice from their doctor to “think bright thoughts and go to happy places often”?


“That’s a song my mother sang a long time ago on this old cassette tape.
It meant that it might remain.”
―Pyeon Hye-young, "Green Sweater"

My mother's friend, Aunt Youngju, suddenly calls me after several years and asks me out of the blue to go to Ganghwa Island.
After my mother passed away, I lived with my aunt for a while, but as time passed, we lost contact for a long time.
Aunt Yeongju must have noticed my reluctance to go to Ganghwa Island, and she said, “I have money to give you,” and “It’s your mother’s money.”
He gives a practical reason, saying, “Naju didn’t pay.”
So, the person in Ganghwado is none other than Naju Imo, who borrowed money from my mother and never paid it back.
My mother, Aunt Yeongju, and Aunt Naju met and became friends in middle school, and they have been hanging out together for a long time and have strengthened their friendship.
But debt?
Before I could even figure out whether Aunt Naju had any pressing circumstances that would have made her need to borrow money from Mom, I concluded that that must be why Aunt Naju didn't come to Mom's funeral.
When you think about it that way, it seems like a natural progression to get the money back from your aunt.
Besides, I have a green sweater that my mother knitted before she died.
When I first saw that unfinished sweater, I naturally assumed that it was something my mother had started knitting for me.
But it was too big for that.
I wondered if my aunt knew who the owner of this sweater was, so I packed the sweater and headed to Ganghwa Island with my aunt.
But maybe I should have noticed when I saw Aunt Yeongju looking a bit nervous when I entered the restaurant where Aunt Naju worked.
That the purpose of this visit might not be to get the money back.