The third full-length novel by Kim Seon-woo, winner of the Contemporary Literature Award

Here, between those who destroy the river and those who try to protect it, there are those who flow “from drop to drop.”
Their story, “Lovers of Water,” is a work written with strong affection by Kim Seon-woo, a poet and novelist who won the Contemporary Literature Award and the Cheon Sang-byeong Poetry Award, and spent three years revising and revising it.

Yu-kyung, who was born and raised in the Wai River basin, her mother Han Ji-sook, Danggol's granddaughter Surin, Hae-ul, who grew up with Surin as siblings after being abandoned in the Wai River, and Yu-kyung's lover, who was adopted and raised in Sweden after being found near the Wai River.
All of those who appear in “Lovers of Water” are within the magnetic field of fate surrounding the Wai River.
They are all fascinated by the Wai River, feel the source of life in the Wai River, and live longing for the Wai River even when they are far away.
In the words of literary critic Jeong Yeo-ul, the story is a “tragic allegory” of the Waigang “losing its luster and dying,” and “a beautiful fable about the terrifying explosive power of things that cannot be calculated in monetary value.”


This passionate story of first love, which searches for the light and source of life for all of us, is sometimes heartbreakingly poignant, and at other times, it stimulates the reader's five senses with overflowing sensuality and delicate sensibilities, digging deep into the heart.
As if to prove that Kim Seon-woo's literature is reaching its peak, it is no exaggeration to say that the connection and breathing of each and every sentence in this novel is simultaneously a poem and a beautiful image unfolding before one's eyes.
"Lovers of Water" is a powerful and captivating work that makes one wonder if we will ever again encounter such a "dazzling story of first love" (literary critic Jeong Yeo-ul) or "a story of sensual love" (novelist Kim Yeon-su) in our literary world. It will become the most fatal echo of love this season, deeply moving readers' hearts.

Yu-kyung puts her finger on the sentence and reads it, dotting each letter.
The feeling of the ivy leaves on my right index finger scratching against the sentence... ... At the same time, the feeling of the ivy leaves on the sole of my right foot wriggling... ... comes vividly.
Me too.
At some point, it felt like my surroundings were filled with white noise... ... The embarrassing moment of hearing loss when you realize that sounds you couldn't hear had always been in your ears.
The boundary of invisible sounds is warped and the sadness of those wandering the boundary is like the scratching sound of old film.
Are you talking about the sadness of ghosts? I think I know something about that, too.

I may be becoming a ghost, no, I may have already become a ghost, I want to commit murder against myself, I am sick of living like a ghost for 7 years, I want to stop killing myself but I can't, so I am alive, but I can't ask anyone for help, I,

Ambiguous… … existence… … … … calculation method… … … … … … Yoo-kyung thinks.
People here think they are not human.
I like that.
His voice comes out from somewhere in Yu-gyeong's ghost-like body.
--- p.38

Anyway, you are mine.
Even if you go to hell, I will come find you.
Don't even think about leaving me.

Oh, right.
Some people believe that there is a gate to hell here.
Jules Verne is said to have thought that the entrance to Earth was here.

That's cool.
Yu-kyung responded briefly.
Was it because you wanted to end the conversation quickly?
It was a dark and quiet street, thick with a vague sense of unease.
A white night where elves, trolls, goblins, and ghosts wander through the cafeteria, eavesdropping on human conversations, on the conversations of beings who are 'still' human.

The night is so white it's strange.

As Yu-kyung muttered to herself, he took the last sip of his coffee and spoke slowly, like an ellipsis following Yu-kyung's words.

As time becomes more chaotic and violent… … the world becomes quieter… … the loneliness of the ghosts pulling at the hems of their clothes becomes clearer… … I like loneliness… … When I become lonely… … I think I can learn a little more about myself… … .
--- p.45

That's right.
Playing dead, shutting myself away, locking myself up, barely, barely existing, it took so long to close and open, and you said so, you said we'd meet, and what the heck, this! Damn it, you whose name I can't even remember! I wish everything would just go to hell.
I wish everything would be ruined, all my memories would disappear, and there would be nothing left.
I'd rather pretend nothing ever happened in the first place! I was pretending to be dead, barely trying to survive that way, but when I pretended to live, I couldn't survive.
So this is driving me crazy.
"This vicious, vicious vine that's on me, on you, on your mom—it's disgusting, it's disgusting!" Yu-kyung muttered quickly as she walked toward the bathroom.
Is there a me, an unknown me, who wants to forget your name? Is that how I survived? Damn it! If that's true, shouldn't it have come to mind when I decided, "I have to find your name to survive."
Why, why on earth! It was the moment when Yu-kyung entered the bathroom, pounding her chest with her fist.
--- pp.73-74

Past the dead ghosts, the dancing ghosts, the ghosts that turn their heads to look at Yoo-kyung, the beckoning ghosts, the bottom of memory, the end point of all memories, they all come to him and end.
He is the bottom of the world.

People say.
Only love heals everything.
But we were not healed at all.
I am from my wounds.
You from your wounds.
So what was our love?
Even though I loved you so much! I loved only you and wanted only you, but because of sin?
Insects fly in front of Kali's fast-moving headlights and burst with a pop, pop, pop.
Leaving sticky juice marks on the windshield.

We entered Waieup.
The stars are so bright that it looks like they're going to pour down.
It is said that the light of stars that died long ago can only now barely reach here.
For example, some of the stars we see here are already the afterlife of that star.
Yu-kyung looks up at the sky and frowns.
After my death, no eyes will look up at distant stars and sigh with guilt because of me.
The ivy in our family tree disappears cleanly as soon as its leaves fall.
--- pp.104-105

Yu-kyung hugs her knees next to the rock and listens to the sound in her ear.
The tinnitus in the ears can only be felt by the person himself.
Could it be that even what we believed to be love has a part like tinnitus?
Just as no one else can feel the tinnitus that rings inside your body, does someone you love with all your heart have their own room like tinnitus?
He occasionally talked about polar bears and foxes, but he never once mentioned to Yu-gyeong that he would go to the North Pole himself.
The North Pole! Why on earth? Was the North Pole his private room, like a nickname?
--- p.112

“Mom… I want to share this with you,” Yu-kyung thought.

When accepting him, Yu-kyung wanted to become her mother's, Han Ji-sook's naked body.
As if there was a mother inside his body.
Han Ji-sook had never heard the heartbeat of a man who held her dearly and slowly moved her to bed.
Yu-kyung desperately hoped that it would be her.

Move it gently.
Don't get sick.
Because there are many wounds.
So that it can flow like water.
Come here.
Leave my clothes behind.
He was looking around wondering where to put Yu-kyung's clothes, and before the river water that had soaked Yu-kyung's instep had dried, he passed his soft and delicate tongue between her toes.
It tickles… … .
Yu-kyung laughs, twisting her waist.
On the sandbar, Mom twists her waist and laughs.
My mother had large breasts compared to her slim waist.
I put my tongue on my mother's breasts, where the areolas are widely spread.
Cook, Mom laughs.
I bite my mother's nipple with my mouth full.
A sweet and sour milk smell flows out.
I had severe breast tenderness after giving birth to you.
The front part of my skirt always got wet.
You sucked the milk really hard.
He was like a baby who learned in advance that he had to eat to live.
His tongue, licking her ankles, calves, and thighs, is licking her vagina.
--- pp.138-139

When it rains, the world moves slowly.
If you move slowly, you can see other things better.
Rain has many mouths.
Rain speaks many different languages.
The rain that flows across several continents and falls here today.
There are countless languages ​​dissolved in raindrops.
I mean, Mom, next time I'm born, I want to be born as rain.

Yu-kyung raises her head with wet eyes.
A man is seen walking through the rain outside the window of the cafe.
The man wearing a military-colored jumper has an aged yet solemn look from behind.

In these transparent raindrops, there will be water droplets that have sprung from someone's corpse.
There may also be droplets of water that come from things like swarms of flies, maggots, and dug up intestines.
Clouds fall into raindrops, which go to rivers and then to the sea… … It was said that the water droplets on Earth circle the Earth once in a week.
There may be times when you have a long journey with traffic jams.
Raindrops that sink to the bottom of a lake and stay there for years.
A drop of water that flows deep underground and remains motionless for 1000 years.
It is said that some water droplets ride the ocean currents and go down to the ocean floor, resting for about 3,000 years before coming out.
It is said that some become snowflakes and fall onto the polar ice caps, then go deep into the ice caps and wait for hundreds of thousands of years before coming out as water.
The journey of all those water drops… … .

In the midst of Yu-gyeong's tinnitus, his voice, now his own, is as vivid as a drop of water that has just arrived.

--- pp.149-150