I'm telling you

Author's Note
Recommendation

"That's what I was like in the past.

He was a fool who loved even stones as long as they were treated well.
But now that I'm fourteen, things are different."

A fourteen year old who decided not to like anyone
A strange and beautiful world seen through a boy's eyes

Jeong Yong-jun's full-length novel, "I'm Talking," was published as part of Minumsa's "Today's Young Writer Series."
"I'm Talking" is a novel about a fourteen-year-old boy who goes to a language correction center and overcomes his language and psychological difficulties.
While characters who stutter have often appeared in Jeong Yong-jun's novels, this novel presents his inner landscape through the voice of a fourteen-year-old boy, thereby revealing the pain and struggles that stem from a language deficiency in a more vivid way.
Due to a psychological disaster that makes it impossible for him to express himself fluently, the boy wanders like a ghost, excluded from his family, school, friends, and other parts of his world.
Deeply hating myself, and vaguely vowing revenge on those who hurt me.

"I'm Talking About It" is a story that author Jeong Yong-jun, who has created his own unique perspective and position by winning prestigious literary awards such as the Hwang Sun-won Literary Award, Han Moo-sook Literary Award, Munji Literary Award, and Young Writer's Award over the past 10 years since his debut, has conceived, written, and refined for a long time.
“The record of delicate emotional waves that break down prejudice and misunderstanding about the lives of others makes us reflect on the ultimate meaning of truly understanding someone.” This is the evaluation of one of the judges when the Hwang Sun-won Literary Award was given out, but it is a statement that permeates Jeong Yong-jun’s literary world and is also an accurate prediction of this novel, which can be said to be its pinnacle.


The process by which a boy who had closed his heart to the world builds relationships with people he meets at a language correction center, carves a path in his heart, and creates his own door to connect with the world is a long and short journey that leads to a warm affirmation of his own life through a compassionate understanding of the lives of others.
For readers who join us on this journey, the three letters "Jeong Yong-jun" will be imprinted with an unforgettable impression.


At the end of the century we

“The last day of October 1999.
Wangsimni was deserted in the late afternoon.
“A drizzle fell, and people walked hunched over with their collars turned up.” It was a scene from a day in a novel, but at the end of the century, our society really felt like we were standing on a desolate road on a late afternoon with drizzle falling.
They said the Millennium Bug would cause elevators to stop working, the internet to freeze and computers to crash, and banks to be robbed.
There were rumors that the plane would crash, and some believed that the end would come as Nostradamus had predicted.
At a time when there was excitement over all sorts of prophecies about the year 2000, some places were showing scars on the ruins left by the IMF, and people were silent as if they were at a loss for words.
At that time, wasn't it possible that even 'I', who wished the world would just end, and the society that was speechless and silent, were all passing through an era of aphasia?
"I'm Talking About It" is a landscape of the end of the century drawn by author Yongjun Jeong as an 'IMF Kids'.

A lonely fourteen year old's life

I am a level 1 stutterer.
“Why do you live? You’re useless, you can’t speak, you have no friends, and you’re always being bullied.
“Why live?” It is a headache for me, besides the fact that I have difficulty speaking.
Not only was I a loner at school, but my Korean teacher kept telling me to get up and read books, and I couldn't help but suspect that there was an ulterior motive behind his one-sided behavior.
But it's dark under the lamp.
The real enemy is close by.
The biggest problem is my mom.
Unlike me, my mother quickly falls in love with people who treat her well, and she gets hurt a lot.
My mother, who always looks anxious and nervous, drinks alcohol when she comes home.
If I want to hear my mother's gentle voice, 'I' call 114.
Because it's the only way I can hear my mom's kind voice as a telephone operator.
These days, I'm seeing my ex again, and we even started living together in the same house.
'I' vowed to kill the author, the lover who often ignores 'I'.

A world I encountered at a language correction center

“Is this some kind of warehouse where only broken people are gathered?” The language correction center I reluctantly found, led by my mother’s hand, seemed like a strange place no matter how I looked at it.
It seems like all the weird people in the neighborhood are gathered here, but there are also some people who look so normal that you can't tell why they're there.
It's really all kinds of things.
An old woman who looked like she was about to collapse, an adult man with a red face, an adult woman with a cold expression, a female student who seemed to be around the same age as me and a short male student who always had a frustrated expression on his face, a young man who sat anxiously, his fingers constantly moving as if typing in the air, and an old man with a messy head who looked at me with strange eyes behind his black horn-rimmed glasses.
But, having been to various correctional centers, I have a feeling that this time will be different.
Practice speaking, practice telling your own story, practice changing your name, practice being confident… … It’s not just your speaking skills that change as you practice.


Barely speaking, finally writing

Everyone has their own language.
"I'm Talking" is a coming-of-age novel and a metaphor for literature about a boy who struggles to speak, who goes on to technically overcome his difficulties and find his true language.
The beautiful metaphors of friendship and poetry seen in the film "Il Postino" reappear before us in the form of a novel.
A doodle becomes a diary, and a diary becomes a novel.
The boy who used to put candy in his mouth when tears were about to fall now pours out his emotions mixed with tears onto a notebook.
When you pour your tears out on a notebook, they become stories.
The story, completed over countless days and nights, has now arrived before you.