Summer - Just the Right Distance 007
Midsummer - The Wallaby and the Ghost of a Sleepless Night 049
Early Autumn - Quick Forging for Blood 091
Winter - Wet Cold 131
Early Spring - The Attributes of Spring 177
Summer Again - Eternity of the Season, Eternal Season 223

Author's Note 262

People who live with different hearts and thoughts… …
Who am I connected to?

The beautiful and sharply scattered colors of love
A new novel by Son Won-pyeong, author of "Almond."

Author Son Won-pyeong's new novel, "Prism," which depicts the reality of lack of understanding and empathy for others in a sensual style, has been published.
In August, he was selected as the #1 young writer who will become the future of Korean literature in 2020 by readers of the online bookstore yes24.
Winner of the Japan Bookstore Award for Translated Novels this year, and one of the top 20 books selected by Amazon editors in the first half of the year.
Son Won-pyeong, a writer who is expected to lead Korean literature in the future, has been selected by Aladdin.
He, who has received more attention than anyone else this year, has come before us again this time, bringing out the various colors of 'love'.


The new full-length novel, "Prism," is a story about the love between four men and women, and the various colors of their "hearts" that scatter in various directions during the process of meeting and parting.
The author, who has been delving into the various growing pains that come with forming relationships with others, speaks through "Prism" about how much we can reflect on ourselves and how much we can love ourselves through adult relationships such as love and romance.
Do-won, a man whose love has faded; Jae-in, who endures pain and regret; Ye-jin, who cannot stop loving despite pain and regret; and Ho-gye, who cannot let even one person into his heart.
The story of the love between these four main characters and the individual points of their hearts that are moved by love is drawn with dense sentences and a gentle tone by author Son Won-pyeong.


If someone approaches me, can I shine like this?

The novel begins with the meeting of Yejin and Dowon, two people who work in the same building.
At lunchtime, the two of them leave their workplace and drink coffee side by side on the first floor of an empty building where there is a nice place to sit without worrying about running into anyone.
Yejin, who recently decided not to like anyone.
'Do-won', who works at a movie post-recording company.
The two sit side by side, just the right distance apart, and have a lively conversation, enjoying the street noise and warm sunlight.
We only had brief conversations, but we did take a couple of walks together.
At some point, if one of the two takes a step closer, they may become lovers.
But Do-won likes this gap as it is now.
Parallel lines that maintain the same distance as now.
That is the distance between Do-won and Ye-jin that he thinks of.

There's always steam in the coffee at Do-won.
Hairy hairy.
“Isn’t it hot?”
“It’s hot.”
“Aren’t you hot?”
"ah.
little?"
This is a really bland conversation.
If you just look at the conversation, it's not fun, it's not attractive, and there's nothing to talk about.
But when Do-won smiles, Ye-jin's heart wavers.
―Page 15 of the text

Ho-gye works part-time at Jae-in's bakery.
Assists bakers with baking, displaying, cleaning, and accounting.
Even without much conversation, the two of them get along well.
But Ho-gye has long been harboring thoughts completely different from the warm comfort of the bakery.
Every time I smell the sweet smell of bread, I think to myself, this is fake, the real thing in the world is hidden in a beautiful temptation.
Jaein also often has an unreadable expression on his face.
She recently divorced her husband.
But strangely enough, once she stopped living under the same roof as her husband, they started seeing each other more often.
It's not because of foolishness.
It's hard for Jaein to cut something off.
It is difficult to cut ties with someone on your own.

If you could go back in time, which point would be best?
To go to the previous stage of all tragedy and misfortune.
Jaein makes assumptions out of habit, but then his mind starts to spin around at the thought that he might have to go back to before he was born.
Today I thought of another possibility.
A familiar-looking profile I saw a little while ago.
If it was the person I saw earlier.

―Page 48

Yejin's feelings for Dowon grow stronger.
Yejin doesn't hate this state of affairs.
I don't hate this state of mind right before something starts, when the excitement is at its greatest.
Especially if it's a feeling of love.
But I definitely don't want to stay in the present.
My feelings for Do-won are growing stronger, but the gap between us is not narrowing any further.
Meanwhile, Yejin accidentally enters an open chat room called 'People Who Can't Sleep' and meets Hogye at a gathering there.
Yejin thought that Ho-gye was a cold and indifferent person.
I try to talk to Ho-gye out of curiosity, feeling the warmth of loneliness, but he is just cold.
Leaving the noisy gathering behind, the two head home, coincidentally on the same subway.
Yejin accidentally drops her notebook and leaves, and Hogye picks it up.
He had a premonition that he would be involved in something complicated and troublesome, but strangely, a part of Ho-gye's heart urged him not to ignore Ye-jin's notes.

I was just curious about the vibrations in the air that occur when people meet, or someone meets someone.
Ho-gye was adept at reading such emotions, but he had little experience with them.
But at some point, a bothersome worry began to haunt Ho-gye.
Since I got to know Yejin (…)

Is everyone in love except me?
―Page 124

Do-won tells Ye-jin that she can bring her friend, as there are tickets left over for the play.
Although it was an uneasy remark, Yejin gave the remaining tickets to Hogye without thinking much about it.
Yejin now regrets that.
At that time, I should have just said that it was okay for the two of us to watch it.
From that day on, everything changed.
Ho-gye tells Jae-in to watch a play with the remaining tickets, and the four of them meet in one place.
Yejin has been feeling the changes in Dowon since that day.
The subtle change in the atmosphere between Do-won and Jae-in.
After the play, Do-won extends his arm and casually taps Jae-in on the shoulder to say hello.
Jaein looks back at the peach garden and responds with a soft smile.
Yejin realized the long-standing connection felt in that brief moment when the two of them were alone, with no room for anyone to interfere.
The atmosphere between two people that can be felt naturally without having to say anything.
Yejin sensed an atmosphere of sad joy, as if the long time they had been apart had been compressed into one whole.
What on earth is their relationship? Yejin knows the answer to that question in her head, but she hates herself for pretending not to know.

We are most beautiful in the season of love

This novel does not follow the romantic relationships of four people.
Instead, it simply follows the subtle emotional changes and unravels the threads of the unconnected relationship with a stranger brought about by love, and the unexpected reunion and parting.
It is about experiencing the special feeling of love, expanding yourself, observing the small movements of reaching out to the world, and feeling that self-expansion through that.
Son Won-pyeong is saying that this is the essence and effect of love through the movements of the hearts of four people.


Love, which is a cycle of fate and coincidence, always has a beginning and an end.
It burns and then fades and goes out.
And then it starts again with a different face.
A love that goes back and forth in that endless cycle throughout life.
I wonder if adults sometimes forget that love allows them to reflect on their inner selves and becomes a stepping stone for growth.
Love is rediscovered through the beautifully or sharply scattered colors of love, and the growth that follows.
As we come to realize the pattern it leaves on our lives, the growth of yet another love that repeats itself, we will look back on that 'love' that lingers in our memories, radiating a brilliant light.