Author Hwang Hyeon-jin, who began her career by winning the Munhakdongne Writers' Award with her novel "Not Sick Enough to Die" in 2011, has published her new work "Hojae" as the 23rd book in Minumsa's [Today's Young Writers] series.
The novel is composed of the perspectives and recollections of Ho-jae, a woman who grew up with her aunt and uncle instead of her irresponsible parents, but has now lost contact with her family, and Doo-i, Ho-jae's aunt and a woman who has sacrificed herself in a world of absent or incapacitated fathers.
The story, which begins with the sudden death of an uncle, builds to a climax with a hard-boiled plot that reveals the mystery that intuits the cause of death and the harsh fate surrounding it.


One day, Du-i hears the sad news that her husband has been stabbed to death by a robber.
His only remaining family is his missing younger brother and his nephew Hojae.
In the funeral home, where the desolate air has settled, Dui recalls the day his younger brother, Duo, was born, the day he almost died from an illness, the day he graduated from high school, and the day of his parents' funeral.
Just as she did with her grandmother, who was the perpetrator of the patriarchal violence, and her mother, who was the victim, Doo-i does not cry in the absence of her father and younger brother, who left early.
I just think about it.
When will good fortune come? Is Duo alive? Who really killed my husband?
And then you realize.
Without even time to fully mourn her husband's death, the truth that she had tried so hard to ignore slowly came flooding back to her, right before her eyes.

This was my third time serving as chief mourner at a funeral.
Doo-i's husband was stabbed to death by a robber while guarding a shabby office late into the night.
After the redevelopment project plan was announced, and brokerages big and small flocked to the area, he often stayed in the office late into the night, worried that he would miss out on the boom that was just around the corner.
That day too, I was drinking soju mixed in tea water from a thermos and writing down the list of items on A4 paper.
I was just about to move it.

The robber stabbed him once in the hunched back and twice in the sunken stomach.
The owner of the beauty salon right next door was about to leave work around 9 o'clock when he saw blood flowing out from under the glass door and hurriedly reported it, but the body had already cooled down.
“He was stabbed to death by a robber, and he never stole anything.”
When Bae Doo-yi asked the police officer who came to her house to report the accident, he gestured and told her which way to go.
“Death has nothing to do with karma.
“That’s just how life is.”
--- p.10

From the time he returned to the real estate office after dinner at home until just before the hair salon owner discovered his uncle's body, which is believed to be the time his uncle was stabbed to death by the robber, Hojae was working in a very angry state.
I'm so unlucky today.
When Hojae finished his schedule of moving from the broadcasting station in Sangam-dong to the studio in Mangwon-dong, the filming location, and then back to Sangam-dong, this was the only thought on his mind.
This is the first time I've had such an unlucky day.
--- p.53

The neighborhood was still the same.
It was once the place where Hojae lived, but after he left, it was a place that he didn't feel happy about.
Behind the main street, buildings that were being demolished were quite noticeable.
After the demolition was complete, there were quite a few houses that were still under construction with screens erected, and many stores had their shutters down and had Xs drawn on them with lacquer spray paint.
The townhouses behind the commercial building looked as if they would collapse at any moment.
The glass windows in the building's foyer were broken, and yellow curtains fluttered beyond the open windows.
The single-story houses, built close together, had their roofs tilted as if they were collapsing on their own, and fallen roof tiles and planks were scattered across the yards.
Perhaps because of the dreary scenery, a chill ran through my body.
The slope leading up to the pass was lined with old furniture and sacks full of trash.
Hojae shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets and stood there, not knowing where to go.
I stopped by my uncle's office one last time to check it out, but the neighborhood looked like it was literally in ruins.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that not only my uncle had disappeared from the neighborhood, but the entire neighborhood was disappearing.
--- p.126~127

Doo-i bent down and put her face against her husband's cold face.
Our cheeks touching each other felt cool.
The tip of my nose, which had touched slightly, was as cold as ice.
It was undoubtedly the body of a dead person.
The area around my forehead started to throbbed and felt numb.
Soon the back of my neck started to feel hot and my chin started to hurt.
Dui clenched his teeth and brought his face closer.
I couldn't hear anything.
It was quiet.
Is it possible to do this without making any sound?

Doo-i raised one hand and tapped her husband on the shoulder.
Like waking up a sleeping person, bang.
The husband didn't budge.
He spread his palm and slapped the area below his collarbone.
As if threatening that if you don't get up now, you'll be in big trouble.
There was no sound.
I hadn't expected to hear a scream, but seeing my husband remain silent and unmoving no matter how much I hit him, I knew for sure he was dead.
It was hard and cold.
--- p.160~161

Doo-i stood between the neighbor and the upstairs neighbor and walked out of the funeral hall with his arms linked.
Otherwise, I felt like I would fall over at any moment.
I saw the two people off, staggering at the entrance.
As I was turning around, I heard Hojae's voice.
"aunt."
Hojae stood under an electronic board that displayed the names of the deceased, the bereaved family, and the date of the funeral.
Hojae was looking at the names that were shining brightly and then disappearing.
I was looking up at the sight of the names of the living following the names of the dead, and the name Bae Ho-jae appearing and disappearing alongside Bae Du-i.
Doo-i came to Ho-jae's side and hugged his skinny shoulders.
“You came quickly, Hojae.”

--- p.176~177