Author's Note_5
Introduction to the characters in the previous episode_9
Character Relationship Chart_13
Strong Views_15

Selected for the 2022 Seoul International Book Fair's "First Book of Summer"
A strange transaction unfolds at Pension Eternal, 16 years after the last day of the college entrance exam.

The sequel and final installment of the apocalyptic "Red Mask," which depicts what happens after the majority of the Korean population loses their noses and mouths and mutates into red masks during the English listening test on the day of the college entrance exam in the COVID-19 era! Following the previous work, which received the review of author Cheon Seon-ran, "It was the most enjoyable disaster novel I've read recently," this work reveals the figure of "Kang Han," born in the midst of a disaster, now sixteen years old, based on an even broader and more detailed worldview.
How can Kang-han overcome this distorted world, grow, and regain his lost humanity?


It's been three years since I quit my successful job as a math teacher at a foreign language high school to write a novel, and this is already my eighth solo book.
He has published two short story collections, five novels, and one essay collection.
Even for a full-time writer, the publishing speed is difficult, and even for a non-full-time writer, it is difficult.
Since last year, he has also been working as an editor for the science fiction literary magazine <Ascension Tales>.
The response is as enthusiastic as the pace of release. Not only science fiction/fantasy publishers but also general literary publishers are rushing to contact us.


"Strong Opinion" is the fifth novel by the rising new writer Seol Jae-in, and is a book that allows one to fully experience the author's charm.
This is the sequel and final installment of “Red Mask,” published last year.
Author Cheon Seon-ran, who read “Red Mask,” said:

“Apocalypse itself, one you can hold in one hand. It's the most entertaining disaster novel I've read in a while.”
Meanwhile, author Kim Chang-gyu commented in his review, “The stage that the author wants to show to the readers is reality.”
It is a story about people who lose their noses and mouths, grow gills, and become like zombies who do not die even when shot, but readers discover not a fantasy that does not exist in the novel, but rather a reality that is so cruel that it seems more fictional than fiction.
The charm of author Seol Jae-in comes from his fantasy that is more real than reality.

It's hard to imagine how long the pandemic will last or what life will be like after it, but this novel may offer a glimpse into that future.
In his previous work, "Red Mask," the author depicted the present as a case of "slow extinction," but in his follow-up work, "Strong Opinion," he even deals with the reality of humankind reaching "degeneration."
Evolution may not always have the face of ‘development’.
For that reason, or rather, despite all that, it is also the power of author Seol Jae-in to find a reason to live today.
You may take a half step back, but you won't collapse completely.
No matter what happens, I will definitely take another step forward.
That is Seol Jae-in's strong opinion.


Author's Note

"Strong Views" is the sequel to "The Red Mask," published in 2021.
At the time I wrote "Red Mask" and submitted it to Azak, I was an unemployed person, humming a tune of resignation as I wondered when my savings would run out and I would starve to death. I was also a severe alcoholic (I'm no longer unemployed, but my addiction shows no signs of improving).
The day I went to take profile pictures for the book, that was exactly what the editor-in-chief of Ajak overlooked.
The editor asked me without much thought if I wanted to write a sequel, and I, desperate for money, wrote the sequel in two months with trembling hands and took it with me.
I bet the editor-in-chief had no idea that “Red Mask” would sell this poorly that day.
How can you make a sequel if it doesn't sell?
But surprisingly, I suddenly started working under him as a publishing worker (oh my god…) so I couldn’t not give it to him.
What if I say I won't pay and then get upset and run away? (I'm a person whose hobby is quitting my job.)
So, in Ajak, we waited a year after the publication of “Red Mask” to film a sequel, crying and eating mustard.
I'm a bit worried about the company's financial loss since no one knows about the prequel, so I wonder how much less they will know about the sequel, but since my salary won't change anyway, I'm going to be shameless.
Selected for the 2022 Seoul International Book Fair's "First Book of Summer"
A strange transaction unfolds at Pension Eternal, 16 years after the last day of the college entrance exam.

The sequel and final installment of the apocalyptic "Red Mask," which depicts what happens after the majority of the Korean population loses their noses and mouths and mutates into red masks during the English listening test on the day of the college entrance exam in the COVID-19 era! Following the previous work, which received the review of author Cheon Seon-ran, "It was the most enjoyable disaster novel I've read recently," this work reveals the figure of "Kang Han," born in the midst of a disaster, now sixteen years old, based on an even broader and more detailed worldview.
How can Kang-han overcome this distorted world, grow, and regain his lost humanity?

"Red Mask" is set on the day of the college entrance exam, when the world was in turmoil due to the coronavirus.
During the English listening test, people are divided into 'mutants', whose masks suddenly turn into skin and they can no longer be removed, and 'non-mutants', who have not mutated.
The mutants have lost their noses and mouths, instead breathing through gills and communicating with each other through a kind of telepathy.
The military shot the mutants, but they didn't die.
Even some people have even greater abilities.
In the midst of the shock and confusion, some people do good deeds, others act in a very mean manner, but surprisingly, most people desperately try to survive.
The epilogue of "Red Mask" takes place six years after the events.
And this book, "Strong Views," begins its story ten years after the epilogue.
So, 16 years have passed since the last college entrance exam.
The mutant is named 'Anpiryu', and the non-mutant is named 'Biguryu'.

The editor wanted me to write a prologue so that even people who haven't read "Red Mask" can read "Strong Views," but how could I possibly do that?
I am an ignorant person who used to write notes until my fingers were swollen because I couldn't summarize them even when I was studying for the college entrance exam.
But if I had to pick a reason why you absolutely must read this book, it would probably be that "Strong Views" is filled with the most heterogeneous sentences and content among all of Seol Jae-in's works.
Even after 30 years, I won't be able to write something like this.
The reason is self-evident.
This is because this novel was written not by Seol Jae-in but by Su-se-mi, who was deeply intoxicated.

In the author's note in "Red Mask," I wrote that this might be a slow extinction.
In writing "Strong Views," Susemi sought to blur the lines between evolution, degeneration, and extinction.
Isn't that boundary actually something that is arbitrarily determined based on human perspectives and standards?
Who can arbitrarily discuss species, superiority and inferiority, survival and extinction?
To those in the higher realms, even death might be just another form of mutation.
That's roughly what Mr. Susemi was trying to say, after he spent the next morning drunkenly tapping away at his keyboard in the dark, erasing 80% of his work and restoring 20%.
And let me warn you in advance that the ending of "Strong Views" is very tight.

Early summer 2022
Seol Jae-in