The tragic and sad truth behind the events that push away our peaceful daily lives.
A Man's Quiet Tragedy as Seen by Kim Hye-jin in "About My Daughter"

Kim Hye-jin's novel, "Nine Times," was published by Hankyoreh Publishing.
"Nine Days" is a story about 'work'.
It is also a story about 'working people'.
Through the story of an ordinary protagonist who works as an installation technician for a telecommunications company, the author calmly yet tenaciously examines the reality of 'work' that eats away at the foundation of a peaceful life.
What the author points out, somewhere between the working mind and the work-suffering mind, is the countless emotions of work that ultimately remain until the end and continue to push us towards a worse direction.

Hey there.
I don't know what I'm doing.
There's no need to know.
I don't care how many more communication towers we have to put up, a hundred, a thousand, or whether they're high frequency or low frequency.
I am an employee of this company and I do what the company tells me to do.
I'll do anything.
Is that wrong? _From the text

If Bartleby, the main character of 『Bartleby the Scrivener』, cried out, “I don’t want to do that,” and held on and held on until he was eventually forgotten by us, then Number Nine, the main character of 『Nine Jobs』, keeps doing things with the attitude of “I’ll do anything,” and ends up ruining himself.
We, who are constantly forced to do this work, can we become anything other than "Bartleby" or "Number 9"? The novel asks these very questions, over and over again.

Why is it that we only see, hear, and know something after it has happened to us?
--- p.18

If we all die together, we'll all die together, right?
--- p.32

What can't you do?
They do everything.
I'll try to do it as far as I can.
He said that to Number 3 late one night after returning from an assault investigation at the town police station.
Work meant learning skills, acquiring know-how, and improving one's abilities by repeating the same tasks over and over again, terribly every day.
That's enough.
There was no need to think about what it was or what it was about.
He decided not to think about anything more than that.
--- p.198

Is this what you're doing? Good, right.
Is that your job? How much do you get paid? A lot? It's nice to be able to live off of whatever you're paid.
Thank you, it's great, I've heard compliments too.
--- p.203

Hey there.
I don't know what I'm doing.
There's no need to know.
I don't care how many more communication towers we have to put up, a hundred, a thousand, or whether they're high frequency or low frequency.
I am an employee of this company and I do what the company tells me to do.
I'll do anything.
Is that wrong?
--- p.203~204

But he was waiting.
How long can I continue doing this?
So I wanted to see where it finally ended and what was at the end.
--- p.242

As he climbed the dark mountain path, he thought of the child.
10 years later, 15 years later.
Jun-oh would also have his own job.
So, you will discover something that draws you in without you even knowing it.
But the moment it became a real thing, the child would realize how much things would change.
In order to continue doing that, you would realize that by continuing to do things you neither wanted nor desired, you would change into the kind of person you were becoming.

--- p.249~250