The mysterious island of Jeju, old stories from China and Japan
Born as a wonderful science fiction!
Korean-Chinese-Japanese Asian Tale SF Project

Jeju, the mysterious island known as the "Home of the Gods," where over 18,000 oral epics live and breathe, and the anthology "Seventh Moon, Seventh Night," which retells Chinese and Japanese folktales in a wondrous SF world.
Ken Liu, a Chinese-American and world-renowned science fiction writer, has completely rewritten the story of Qixi Festival into a modern version.
This work, set on a midsummer night in a small city in modern China, is a new work of astonishing imagination that connects the love of teenage lovers on the verge of separation with old tales.
Seven Korean science fiction writers drew inspiration from the world's most abundant and diverse Jeju folktales, while Wang Kuan Yew (China) and Fujii Taiyo (Japan) drew inspiration from the Chinese Lunar New Year monsters and 17th-century Japanese Amami Island folktales, respectively.

The ancient tales that have accumulated, transformed, and survived over thousands of years leap from a quiet small Asian village to a world that transcends the galaxy, through the imagination of the science fiction writers who participated in this book, to a time in the distant future.
The breadth of time and space that writers have transcended is greater than ever, but what is surprising is that the world that people have dreamed of since ancient times is no different.
As long as humanity exists, the ancient stories will be constantly rewritten with new and different words, but the human values ​​hidden within them will be safely preserved and passed down for generations to come.
The authors of this book send them far away in capsules bound for another world.
From ancient tales to futuristic science fiction.

Yuan rode his bike down the street, dodging the endless line of honking cars.
She loves the sensation she feels all over her body when she rides a bike.
At times like that, my whole body wakes up and I feel alive.
She passed by sidewalks teeming with people browsing the shops and stalls filled with everything imaginable.
Cheap electronics, toys, clothes, fancy European soaps and cakes, mouthwatering sweet potatoes wrapped in foil, and fragrant fried tofu.
It was hot, and my shirt clung to my body from all the effort from riding the bike, and I had to wipe the sweat running down my forehead from time to time to keep it from getting into my eyes.
So we arrived at the coffee shop.
Jing was wearing an elegant white one-piece dress with a plain pattern and a thin jacket (due to the air conditioning) on ​​her slender body.
As always, when I approached her and smelled it, a faint floral scent wafted out, making my head spin. As always, she greeted Yu-an with a dazzlingly bright smile.
As if tonight wasn't the end of the world.
--- pp.17~18, "Seventh Night of the Seventh Moon"

“Hey, has the New Year arrived?”
As I turned the corner, a small human appeared.
A human boy! New Year's rushed over to the boy and quickly knocked him to the ground, pinning him to the ground with two large forepaws and then baring its sharp teeth against his neck.
“Wait a minute!” the boy shouted.
The new year ignored his words and straightened the curled toes.
Now the saliva that had been pooling in his mouth was on the verge of dripping down onto the boy's face.
I was hungry on New Year's Day.
I needed food.
“I called you here, and you would be ungrateful if you ate me,” said the boy.
“What do you mean, ‘you called me’?” New Year slightly relaxed the pressure on the boy’s foot.
“You’ve been gone for years, so people have forgotten you.
I read about you and tried to call you back.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have come here.”
The new year let the boy go.
“So you’re not afraid of me.”
“Of course I’m not scared.”
The new year sighed.
There's nothing to eat here.
--- pp.55~56, "New Year's Story"

The Galaxy Port Mosulpo Terminal is one of the centers of the photon corridor connecting numerous constellations.
I felt a strange excitement as I watched the huge beam of light flow quietly.
It is a sight that looks like countless snakes coiling over a thousand years, or like the roots of a tree growing over a thousand years spinning at high speed.
The photons of the Galactic Port are still carrying countless pieces of information to distant corners of the universe today.
Inspiration moves the ship and moors it in port, whether I look out the window and admire it or not.
For a twenty-year veteran hunter, hunting in the Galactic Port seems like no big deal.
“Iron head.
“When you arrive, just grab one drink.”
At the inspiration's command, he swept one hand over his forehead, which was covered with iron plates, and then quietly raised his fist.
Inspiration glares at me with an expression that says he is not praying.
But even his predatory gaze cannot subdue me.
In the end, even inspiration raised a fist at me.
"scissors."
“Rock.”
"paper."
--- pp.83~84, "When the Ninety-Nine Beasts Die"

They left.
Leaving us in the water.
They put us in a big soap bubble and threw us into the sea.
We struggled inside the transparent membrane and lost consciousness.
It was after they had completely left the atmosphere that we emerged above the water.
Dudududu, I opened my eyes in surprise at the sound of a machine gun.
It was the sound of a helicopter's propeller turning.
The curtain surrounding us had disappeared.
We, the four children who were kidnapped with me, were floating naked on the sea.
There was no time to feel shame.
As the motorboat approached, the strong smell of gasoline made my stomach turn.
People in wetsuits jumped out of the boat and swam toward us.
I heard a siren from somewhere and I lost consciousness again.
--- pp.133~134, "Giant Girl"

Sea of ​​the Dead Moon.
It is a belt of rock fragments surrounding Tamna Castle.
No, it's closer to a shell than a belt.
The numerous satellites that used to orbit Tamna in their own orbits, regardless of whether they were at the equator or the poles, have now all collided and broken up, leaving only fragments large and small that orbit the space around Tamna.
Mongra anchored herself in the jagged crevice of a satellite fragment the size of a two-story building and stared blankly at the star-studded universe passing by.
From one corner of Tamna Castle, which had been covered in black shadows, light began to slowly emerge and spread out into a large arc.
After a while, Corel, the sun of Tamna Castle, peeked out.
It was a sunrise seen from space.
Tamna is a small planet orbiting the outermost star system of the Corel star system.
The surface of the planet, which should be frozen cold, is covered with a blue ocean.
This is thanks to the geothermal heat generated by unusually active tectonic activity.
People live in clusters near volcanoes scattered across the small planet.
The same goes for Mongra.
--- pp.179~180, "In the Universe Seo Bok Passed Through"

Kuju Beach under the full moon.
Aman dragged out a boat he had made from a cut-down pine tree to where the waves were crashing and crashing.
This is a log boat left in a corner of the beach, based on the village chief's judgment that in order to counter the Satsuki? who attacked with a huge fleet of eighty ships, a wooden boat that could glide over the water as if flying was needed.
Aman, sitting on his buttocks on the wave-soaked sand, looked toward the island beyond.
The strait in the dead of night, where the wind has suddenly stopped, sways rustling and reflecting the shape of the dark island on the other side.
I opened my eyes and looked quietly. The shadows of the island, which had only been visible as a shadow, became clearer, and I could also see my destination, Nibama, shining in the moonlight.
“I hope I’m not late.”
Aman closed his right eye and looked up at the moon to confirm its position, as he had learned from his father, Uju.
If you leave at least one eye accustomed to the dark, you can avoid danger.
--- pp.251~252, "The End of the River Flowing into the Sea"

There was nothing like that in the Applied Phonon Beam Society.
The Applied Phonon Beam Society is an event that you must attend alone.
That was stipulated in the event rules.

On the day of the conference, instead of going to work, I head to the airport to refresh myself.
I go to the event venue in Jeju Island alone with a relaxed feeling.
There is no one to wait on and ask, “Team Leader, where should we eat lunch?” and no one to deliberately engage in boring conversation during break time, such as, “Manager, I’m tired. How about some clams for lunch?”
The faces of the scholars participating in the event are bright, and the content they present seems particularly rich and informative.
Besides the first slide, which was included for humor, the rest of the content is also memorable.
--- p.280, "Was I wrong?"

The elders first found a suitable place, then stirred the earth beneath the water, gathered the dragon flow, and made small volcanoes erupt underwater.
Soon a volcanic island appeared there.
The land was formed from the eruptions of small underwater volcanoes, and the elders wove the flow of these volcanoes together to form a central mountain.
As land appeared where there was none, the nearby water currents and winds became stronger.
As the fluids became rough, the beasts did not dare to approach.
The elders added a few more numbers to this, so that three dragon currents, four ocean currents, and seven air currents could be seen near the island.
In particular, as the island rose, a vortex was created, and this vortex was so unique that it was difficult to find anything similar.
This can be said to be a design that demonstrates the wisdom of our elders.
--- pp.318~319, "Barren Homeland"

It's all because of that index.
Social Collective Intelligence Quotient, a measure of one's ability to search for information about the world through a brain chip.
I was so proud when I found out my sister was in the top 0.2 percent of that index.
It felt like the sun was finally shining on my siblings and I, who had grown up relying on each other without our parents.
But it wasn't long before people with high IQs started being treated like crazy.
Those with high social collective intelligence began to receive information that was incomprehensible with current scientific knowledge.
No scientist has been able to interpret this mechanism.
Governments around the world have taken action.
All brain chips were recalled.
The replaced chip had difficulty downloading all the information as before.
But everyone was satisfied.
People were relieved that the performance was not good.
It was because I believed that it would filter out information that I didn't need to know.
--- pp.370~371, "Social Shaman Index"

“Hundreds of millions of codon fragments are carefully stacked in just one human seed, so each child has a different amount of the sixty-four temperaments, and each child has their own individuality.
The baby seed created through this process is inside this syringe.
Now that the conception in your womb is complete, the conception of a new life will begin.”
Margo slowly relaxed her body and lifted her skirt.
San opened Margo's leg and inserted a needle.
For two people who have made childbirth their life's work, this was something very familiar.

--- p.406, "Hong Jin-guk's Great and Great Scholars"