Love Monster
Author's Note

Love and crime at the village hall swimming pool
No one can be sane in the face of love.

My mother disappeared.
He left only a text message saying, 'I'm recuperating, so don't come see me for a while.'
Unlike my mother's usual habit of not using periods, the text has clear periods at the end.
Jimin, who had been living in a goshiwon after fighting with his mother a few months ago, returns home, drawn by the period in the text message.
But the house is empty, and the milk in the fridge is long past its expiration date.
In the mailbox filled with various notices, Jimin finds a statement of disability assessment decision and a refund notice.
My mother fell ill.

Jimin registers at the swimming pool that his mother, Yeom Bo-ra, regularly goes to and waits for Bora.
But as days pass, Bora is nowhere to be seen.
Eventually, Jimin sneaks into the reception desk and finds Bora's name on the membership list.
However, the record of Yeom Bo-ra was cut off a few months ago.
While I was looking for my mom, I kept getting calls from unknown numbers.
I got a call asking me to contribute to the money I was saving for a swimming instructor.
When Jimin doesn't respond to her texts and phone calls, a middle-aged woman finally comes to find him.
The woman is Heo In-hoe, the wife of Oh Jin-hong, the lover of Yeom Bo-ra.
Eight years ago, Heo In-hoe kidnapped Jimin, who was still a student, in order to cause pain to Oh Jin-hong and Yeom Bo-ra.
Jimin thought they might meet again someday, but he was flustered, not knowing that it would be like this, and Heo In-hoe also recognized Jimin and ran away in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Heo In-hoe works harder than anyone else to collect bribes for swimming instructor Jo Woo-kyung.
Heo In-hoe falls in love with Jo Woo-kyung, who is popular for his good looks, and is willing to do anything for him.
While Heo In-hoe followed Jo Woo-kyung with a twisted heart of love, Ji-min investigates Jo Woo-kyung's past activities after hearing from a swimming pool member that he saw his mother going somewhere with Jo Woo-kyung.
Then, I discovered something strange.
Jo Woo-kyung has no connection to Yeon-o City, where the welfare center is located.
It's not like I've been swimming consistently.
He quit his job at the IT company he was working for and suddenly went to Cancun, Mexico to work as a diving instructor. However, after the diving death of a newlywed couple there, he returned to Korea and settled in Yeon-o City.
This isn't the only suspicious thing about the pool.
There are a lot of old women who are particularly territorial at the swimming pool.
Jimin, who was watching Jo Woo-kyung, who was staying late at the pool instead of leaving work, witnesses women arriving in a van with the words 'Oreum Church' written on it and heading to the pool in the dark of the night.
Now, Jimin, who was searching for his mother by following the traces of the Orom Church, finds out that the Orom Church is a pseudo-religious group that gathers people by claiming the rapture and even runs a multi-level marketing business... ... Where on earth did his sick mother go?


Have you seen the face of true love?
An intense love story that you won't be able to stop reading once you start.

The bizarre beauty of "Love Monster" emanates from the "love" of the women in the novel.
Eom Ji-min, Heo In-hoe, Yeom Bo-ra, and the church women are all people who have passionately loved something.
Whether the object is a person or a belief, the female characters in "Love Monster" love what they hold in their hands until the end.
But women's love is a little different.
There is no love that will take you to a warm and cozy place, no love that will take you to a better place.
Their love is twisted, destroyed, betrayed and left behind.
So the red-faced women have no choice but to shout.
“Love can’t be like that.”

The novel makes us ask ourselves what ‘true love’ is.
Is it love to make someone cry and beg for patience? Is it truly love to sometimes beg someone to die, to kill you? Yeom Bo-ra, who longs to build a perfect family even as she dies, Uhm Ji-min, who hates Bora yet fears she'll leave him forever, and Heo In-hoe, who loathes Oh Jin-hong and Yeom Bo-ra yet cherishes "their love."
When we run towards love and see their faces turned red, even burning, and distorted, we are struck by the fundamental question of whether our love is truly love.
It would be no exaggeration to say that this work, which weaves together the vast yet universal theme of love with overwhelming tension and meticulous detail, has brought a fresh sense of tension to the field of Korean literature while broadening its horizons.
Readers will have different impressions of this crazy, epic love story, but one thing is certain: "Love Monster" will be an unforgettable work.

Author's Note (excerpt)

And then I had this crazy thought, 'Yeah, someone wants to tear someone apart.'
That's when this novel began.
It was later that I thought I should put some love into it, but that was the beginning.
I said I wanted to write about women who go to swimming pools and want to rip someone apart.
I wanted to talk about people who, whether they're on good terms or bad terms, all splash around in their swimsuits, sometimes being territorial with each other, sometimes showing unexpected affection.
Even so, it took me quite a while to pick up this novel again.
Anyway, this is the beginning of the story as I remember it.
The reason I only say the beginning and stop is because it is not my job to finish.
I trust you will tell me the story behind this.

(…)

I would also like to thank the readers who gave me their hearts and time.
All I can wish for is your health, so I hope you all stay healthy and strong.

February 2023
Lee Du-on