I want to feed you something
To the descendants of the bear who do not know what happiness is
Believe me, I'm the Pirate King
A song that gives me comfort and courage
The taste of typhoons, lightning, and scorching sun
I hope you are doing well
I'll be your dad for a day
Even if I hesitate, I'm still moving forward
Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist
Someone is imagining my future

To Wonhee

Even if you don't study hard today,
With the intention of not starving

I wake up in the morning, put on my school uniform, and go to school.
What is taken for granted by some is extremely difficult for others.
Just entering the school entrance makes me feel suffocated, classes are drowsy, the lunch doesn't seem to taste good, and it's hard to get along with friends.
Just because we wear the same uniform and sit in the same seat doesn't mean we're all the same.


Lee Won-jae, a Korean language teacher and student affairs director in charge of school violence, wonders what stories children have before judging them based on school rules or a single standard.
So, rather than looking at the group of 'students' who are all lumped together, we look at each and every one of the young people who are struggling to live their own lives and offer them kind words.
This is the story of author Wonjae Lee, who wants to be a cheerful and affectionate friend and adult who tells students that everything is okay, and the times when teachers and students meet at school and learn from each other, until he became who he is today.


Now, I have no choice but to acknowledge that my first disciples, who I wondered if they would ever become human, actually raised me well, turning me into the person I am today.
- Page 151

I hope you are doing well

On the way to school in the morning, greeting students by name when they walk listlessly, filming and uploading videos of school lunches in the hopes that children who don't eat because they think the menu won't taste good will eat something, and preparing snacks so that children can look each other in the eye and smile while eating.
Author Lee Won-jae has been doing this for several years with the hope that everyone will feel comfortable and safe within the confines of school.
The kind words and actions of one teacher spread around and spread to everyone.

Seeing Minho crying after failing his literature test, hearing Seong-gyeong's sad story about breaking up with the boyfriend she liked, reading the writing of Yeoreum who is having a hard time due to her parents' divorce, seeing Sae-in struggling to live after suffering domestic violence and child abuse, and seeing Sang-ho who dreamed of being a national wrestling team member but had to quit the sport due to an injury and transferred schools, author Won-jae Lee delivers short but powerful words.
These are affectionate words that are more sincere than any other words.


Teacher, I hope you do well.
I wish I were a little more relaxed and tolerant as I am stronger.
I believe that you are that kind of person, from what I've seen so far.
A truly strong person is someone who can accept themselves as they are.
-Page 91

As affection becomes his way of life, author Lee Won-jae looks back on his difficult past and recalls the powerful memories that shaped him into who he is today.
One day, when I was just waiting for college admission after doing well on the college entrance exam, my family went bankrupt, my parents disappeared, and I had no choice but to give up on college and make money. At that time, my homeroom teacher never gave up on me, handed me an application for admission to the Korean Language Education Department, and sent me the money for my textbooks for four years.
I have confirmed through life experience that there is someone who miraculously supports you when you feel like you are about to break.


Shouldn't those who happen to board the ship I'm sailing have at least one senior in life they can ask what to do in an emergency, or ask for real help from?
-Page 141

In some ways, school can be a cold, competitive place where students are divided into classes based on exams.
However, author Lee Won-jae shows that school is a precious space where people meet people.
At school, students meet teachers, and teachers meet students.
For some, this encounter can be a fateful encounter that changes their lives.
With the hope that they will not take chance encounters lightly, that they will be able to exchange kind words with each other, and that they will cherish the time they spend learning from each other, author Lee Won-jae greets his students first thing in the morning again today.


Introducing the Hippocampus Series
The joy of reading essays for teenagers too!

We live in an age of essay overflow, where we can encounter all sorts of stories and lives in books.
But maybe it's because it's somewhat distant from the reality of teenagers.
Essays have long been considered the preserve of adult readers.
"This is exactly my story!" Shouldn't we also provide opportunities for young readers to hear stories they can relate to, or stories from people who have had experiences different from their own?
This is the background for planning the youth essay.

The times I cried, laughed, met, broke up, got absorbed in, ignored, liked, and disliked piled up one by one to become who I am today.
So we are also the sum total of our memories.
Memory is the device that makes each of us unique, and it is also a person's identity in itself.
The place that makes this possible is the hippocampus in our heads.
A place where memories are received, stored, and reproduced.
This is where the youth essay series 'Hippocampus' was born.


As each author's past and present collide, become entangled, reconcile, and overlap, stories with different charms and individualities are created.
I hope that young readers will also discover their own stories and fully enjoy the joy of reading essays as they embark on a journey to discover the powerful memories that shaped who they are today.
Above all, I hope to experience the mystery of connecting with a book.