Publishing a book 6
Prologue: 10 Cool Moments of Encountering a Stranger

Part 1: The Limitations of Being Human, The Salvation of Being Human

How People Turn Dark 21
No one took the bait 29
The trickle-down effect of evil 37
Be suspicious of the whispers that say, 'It's for your good' 45
Life is so trivial, even humans become trivial. 52
You are human when you fight for your own memories. 60
68 Things That Change Even If You Lose
Humanity is a house built of matchsticks 75
Love will take us somewhere 81
Somewhere, when my father blinked the sensor lights, 88

Part 2 In the darkness, when the light suddenly turns on

The World of Old People and Old Kids 99
108 Things They Carried
Zombie Process 115
Where Have You Been All This Time 122
What is my default value? 128
Fine Dust Called Prejudice 137
This imagination is not related to any specific facts 146
Please be quiet 155
Not being tamed by the constitution of reality 163

Part 3: Courtesy toward people

Necessary Conditions for the Triumph of Evil 171
The moment you stop wanting to live the way you used to live 179
There's a job to be had in the process of becoming a good person. 188
I'd rather be uncomfortable than insignificant 196
It's Okay to Betray 204
The Three Principles of Realism 211
220, who says, "Can't you be a little more arrogant?"
229 In the dark night when small truths flicker

Beyond the lie that each person is a survivor

Things That Make Us Goosebumps 239
Living in an Age That Tells Us to Exploit Ourselves 247
'Josef K' 254, cut and pasted with scissors and glue
Things you see when examining the path 264
272 Reasons I Hate Pledge of Allegiance
The Effects of Disillusionment 280
We will create a "Land of the Most Beautiful Moment in Life" where everyone is happy! 288
Is it okay to make a fool of a sane person? 297
My Life Story Through Reactions 305
Justice is always imperfect and creaky, but 313

Epilogue: A Pleasant Adventure 321

The illusion that "I'm different from others" creates a dangerous world.
With a clear sense of reality and deep thoughts
A book that awakens the here and now!

Here is Kwon Seok-cheon, a man who has lived a decent life so far and believed that “I am a decent person.”
In the prologue, he introduces an episode he encountered while traveling in the Himalayan highlands, showing the self-belief he had held so far and the experience of it being shattered.
In front of the local guide and the Sherpa, an ethnic minority, I encounter a sight so unfamiliar that it makes me feel cold.

He didn't use abusive language, but he expressed his emotions without filtering them. He was grateful, but he tried not to express it, saying that there was no need to go that far.
But on the flight back, I thought, 'There probably aren't many people as good as me.'
Looking back on his experiences, he asks himself:


How can we distinguish between good and bad bullying, and how dangerous is the belief that 'I am different from others'?
Humans are beings who can easily change depending on the relationship they enter.
In other words, we realize how easily and conveniently we have forgotten 'courtesy towards people'.


“What a pathetic person I am.
They become lethal for a few pennies, bend their arms inward, and show a mean face to the powerful.
In places where we don't see familiar faces, we tend to act according to the inertia of desire and our emotions.
“They mistake timidity for kindness, disguise irresponsibility as generosity, disguise indifference as consideration, and interference as kindness.”

Kwon Seok-cheon suggests throughout the book that we should reflect on ourselves, who consider others' mistakes important and our own insignificant, who react sensitively to others' harsh words and make others uncomfortable with "jokes," and who live a life of ignorance and violation of rules while holding up a stethoscope of principles to the world.


As the author says, “human tragedy begins when one begins to believe in oneself,” he neither idealizes nor exaggerates himself, but looks at and reflects on his own shame and hypocrisy here and now with an unfamiliar gaze.
Through this, it also reminds readers of their surroundings and leads them to reflect on their current position and attitude.


"We are now living on false common sense and prejudice."
A tragicomedy of Korean society as seen in movies, dramas, and novels

Kwon Seok-cheon recommends that we frequently question the 'here and now' in which we live.
“He just threw out the bait, and your daughter bit it.” Using a line from the movie [The Wailing] as a clue, it cunningly shows one of the shameful things that our society has taken for granted.
The protagonist or bystander in the story is the author or ourselves.
He calls to mind the reality of holding victims accountable for sexual assault, saying that the misfortune began because they took the bait is an old fable in this society.


“Don’t go out late at night,” “Don’t wear short skirts,” “Don’t go to deserted places.” These are things we’ve heard and probably said ourselves.
All of these statements are based on the premise that the one who took the bait is responsible.
The logic of 'responsibility falls on those who take the bait' applies to all incidents and all victims in this land.
We easily pass over the responsibility without asking precisely who is suffering and who is responsible.
Kwon Seok-cheon says that we need to correct this misconception.

“Why did you use humidifier disinfectant?” “Why did you board the Sewol?” “Why did you go to that dangerous place?” These questions may seem plausible, but they are completely untrue.
It's a blatant lie.
It is a conspiracy to shift the responsibility of the perpetrator to the victim.
It is a false accusation to place the blame on an innocent victim.
It is the fault of those who sacrificed humans for sexual desire, the fault of those who manufactured and sold disinfectants containing toxic substances, the fault of those who launched ships that should not have been allowed to float on the sea and failed to rescue them, and the fault of those who brandished weapons at people.
“The victim is not guilty.”

In his book, Kwon Seok-cheon leads us to reflect on the thoughts we took for granted, the things we overlooked, the people we neglected, and the reasons we rationalized for ourselves.
I ask myself whether I have not turned dark on my own accord and then said, “I learned a lot back then,” as if it were an afterthought, whether I have not been rude and cruel to someone under the guise of “it’s for your sake,” whether I have not become a slave to the organization under the pretense of success, whether I have not held back even when I clearly should have been angry and furious.

“Human tragedy begins when we begin to believe in ourselves.”
What we need instead of the conclusion that we 'should' do it!
An experience of asking and answering questions about 'courtesy towards people'

In a society divided into extremes, writing is difficult and scary.
Because the space where different opinions could come together has disappeared.
Kwon Seok-cheon confesses that in that gap, he wanted to write stories about the world and people with a sense of joy rather than a sense of duty, and with a feeling of playing with stories rather than focusing on the conclusion that he "must do."
Journalist Kwon Seok-cheon, known for his calm and reflective writing, expresses a desire to write differently, something he himself describes as joy, and this desire is evident between the lines.
And the many strands of the story converged into one theme.
It's just courtesy to people.


Parts 1 through 4 cover people, organizations, attitudes, and Korean society, and readers—as individuals, members of organizations, and citizens living in Korean society—will encounter stories that they have experienced, gone through, and are likely to ponder.
Each of the 37 chapters is written in a vivid tone, as if watching a scene from a movie or novel.
From Kwon Seok-cheon's most personal story to the inside story of the villains created by the world, he summons the Joker to seriously question how people become dark, and even looks back on his own time when he was a slave to reactions and addicted to social media and asks questions to Zuckerberg.
It also tells a painful yet warm story of how our society pushes individuals into a 'zombie process' and how people suffer when society remains silent in the face of tragedy.


Seok-Cheon Kwon, who himself says that he is an imperfect human being, says:
“Justice is always imperfect and creaky, but it lives and breathes in people’s hearts.”
“It is not that perfect humans pursue perfect justice, but that imperfect humans pursue imperfect justice.”
The same goes for manners towards people.
What we should aim for is the process, not the result.
This book may be a process of discussion prepared by Kwon Seok-cheon to ask about courtesy toward people.