A masterpiece
 |
Description
Book Introduction
- A word from MD
-
Love, a text read with mistranslations and distortionsA new work by author Koo Byeong-mo.
It sharply portrays the relationship between a woman who can read others' minds through their wounds and her reading teacher and boss.
It delicately reveals the desire to read others completely, and at the same time, the desire to be read by others without any distortion.
As the title suggests, this work gives a sharp feeling as if cut with a knife.
September 19, 2025. Novel/Poetry PD Kim Yu-ri
“Wounds are the leaven of love.”
Today's Writer Award, Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award, and Kim Hyun Literary Award winner
Koo Byung-mo's new novel
A woman who reads others through their wounds,
And the eternal text called Other
The new novel 『Jeolchang』 by Gu Byeong-mo, a writer whose name has become a brand and who needs no further description, has been published by Munhakdongne.
Koo Byung-mo has demonstrated a solid narrative command with his novel 『Breakthrough』, a keen eye for the times with 『Your Neighbor's Table』, a profound literary imagination with 『Through the Ivory Gate』, and a boundless spectrum of thought with his short story collections 『A Single Sentence』 and 『Everything That Could Be』.
He is a writer who holds the Kim Hyun Literary Award, which values "an experimental spirit that presents a new perspective on Korean literature" as its most important criterion. He is a writer who enjoys enthusiastic and solid support from both the literary world and the public. He is a bestseller whose works have been translated and published in over ten countries around the world, selected by the New York Times as one of the "100 Notable Books," and made into films, and has received the love of countless readers.
His new full-length novel, 『Jeolchang』, is a work that will satisfy any reader who likes any of Gu Byeong-mo's works, as his literary territory is wider than anyone else's.
The title, 'Jeolchang', means 'a cut wound', and it tells the story of a woman who reads the minds of others by touching their wounds.
This novel, which is also a strange love story that defies easy definition in words, moves toward a deep reflection on the act of reading the eternal text of the other, which cannot be read without presupposing misreading, and the possibility and impossibility of such an act.
Today's Writer Award, Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award, and Kim Hyun Literary Award winner
Koo Byung-mo's new novel
A woman who reads others through their wounds,
And the eternal text called Other
The new novel 『Jeolchang』 by Gu Byeong-mo, a writer whose name has become a brand and who needs no further description, has been published by Munhakdongne.
Koo Byung-mo has demonstrated a solid narrative command with his novel 『Breakthrough』, a keen eye for the times with 『Your Neighbor's Table』, a profound literary imagination with 『Through the Ivory Gate』, and a boundless spectrum of thought with his short story collections 『A Single Sentence』 and 『Everything That Could Be』.
He is a writer who holds the Kim Hyun Literary Award, which values "an experimental spirit that presents a new perspective on Korean literature" as its most important criterion. He is a writer who enjoys enthusiastic and solid support from both the literary world and the public. He is a bestseller whose works have been translated and published in over ten countries around the world, selected by the New York Times as one of the "100 Notable Books," and made into films, and has received the love of countless readers.
His new full-length novel, 『Jeolchang』, is a work that will satisfy any reader who likes any of Gu Byeong-mo's works, as his literary territory is wider than anyone else's.
The title, 'Jeolchang', means 'a cut wound', and it tells the story of a woman who reads the minds of others by touching their wounds.
This novel, which is also a strange love story that defies easy definition in words, moves toward a deep reflection on the act of reading the eternal text of the other, which cannot be read without presupposing misreading, and the possibility and impossibility of such an act.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Song 9
Quoted passage source 347
Quoted passage source 347
Into the book
It is important to understand that attempting to read the thoughts of others, which lie deep within the waters, is usually fraught with error due to the complexity and volatility of their minds.
No, we must start with the premise that everything can be wrong and right at the same time.
--- p.15
“Do I really have to say something so obvious?”
“What is obvious?”
In your world.
In common sense.
In the line of social consensus.
Yeah, what kind of obvious thing is that?
Whatever it is, it will work within what it has gazed upon and passed through.
I sighed as I felt the details inside this house peel away the shell of common sense I had held onto for so long.
--- pp.53-54
It felt like specific, clear words and sentences were mixed in a single breath and condensed in the air, and as images with no context expanded, it felt like the gospel of a religion that no longer exists in this world was being preached.
The feeling of cells capturing sounds and smells rising up, things I don't know if they are the past or imagination of the person I'm touching randomly borrowing all my senses through the wound to declare their existence.
--- p.90
If there's one thing we must never forget when opening a book, it's that the core of the world isn't necessarily hope or love, and that human life, and the tragedy that was destined from the beginning, is inevitably intertwined with or coexisting with people we can never reconcile with, or with ourselves, whom we can never bear.
And enduring that tragedy is pretty much what life is all about.
--- p.302
But as you work, you will know that for something terrible to be revealed to the world, it takes the help of hell and the night.
--- p.323
I don't know if there ever was such a thing as a relationship without scars.
Wounds are the leaven of love, and now I no longer know what love is without its wounds as a backdrop.
Wounds are inevitable and forgiveness is a choice, but perhaps there are objects in the world that can only be approached through wounds, by looking closely at the wounds, by touching the wounds.
No, we must start with the premise that everything can be wrong and right at the same time.
--- p.15
“Do I really have to say something so obvious?”
“What is obvious?”
In your world.
In common sense.
In the line of social consensus.
Yeah, what kind of obvious thing is that?
Whatever it is, it will work within what it has gazed upon and passed through.
I sighed as I felt the details inside this house peel away the shell of common sense I had held onto for so long.
--- pp.53-54
It felt like specific, clear words and sentences were mixed in a single breath and condensed in the air, and as images with no context expanded, it felt like the gospel of a religion that no longer exists in this world was being preached.
The feeling of cells capturing sounds and smells rising up, things I don't know if they are the past or imagination of the person I'm touching randomly borrowing all my senses through the wound to declare their existence.
--- p.90
If there's one thing we must never forget when opening a book, it's that the core of the world isn't necessarily hope or love, and that human life, and the tragedy that was destined from the beginning, is inevitably intertwined with or coexisting with people we can never reconcile with, or with ourselves, whom we can never bear.
And enduring that tragedy is pretty much what life is all about.
--- p.302
But as you work, you will know that for something terrible to be revealed to the world, it takes the help of hell and the night.
--- p.323
I don't know if there ever was such a thing as a relationship without scars.
Wounds are the leaven of love, and now I no longer know what love is without its wounds as a backdrop.
Wounds are inevitable and forgiveness is a choice, but perhaps there are objects in the world that can only be approached through wounds, by looking closely at the wounds, by touching the wounds.
--- p.344
Publisher's Review
“He is my…… question.
“It is the most difficult question ever asked of me.”
A girl who grew up in an orphanage without knowing whether her parents were alive or dead.
One day she discovers that she has special abilities.
The idea that by touching someone else's wounds, you can literally 'read' their thoughts.
She grew up with a vague awareness of this ability, a flood of words flooding into her head when she pressed her palm against the wound of a friend injured in a childhood accident to stop the bleeding, but never thought she could harness it.
Meanwhile, businessman Moon Oh-eon, who happened to discover her abilities, is the one who knows better than anyone where she can utilize them.
Owen gives her a new name, new clothes, and a new life when she comes to him for help after living a difficult life after leaving the orphanage.
And he builds a huge mansion to hide her from the world.
She develops subtle feelings for him, who uses her and does not hesitate to be cruel to others, yet shows her kindness and consideration she has never felt in her life.
Until he did something irreversible to her.
After 'that incident' where he left her with a deep sense of betrayal, she closed her heart to him, and Owen hopes that she will read him with her 'ability' so that he can fully understand him, but she only responds with this intense hatred.
“Until I suddenly die one day, I can read every human being in the world if I need to.
But you never read.” And then a reading teacher appeared between the two.
She, who is also the narrator of this story, watches with suspicion and curiosity the relationship between the 'lady' with special abilities and Owen, who regards her as his 'ultimate question'.
“Do you like comedy better than tragedy?”
“Doesn’t it matter what?
“Because it’s all lies anyway.”
A woman with the mysterious ability to read others' minds through touch, and a man who wants to be read through that ability.
As you follow the story of 『Jeolchang』, cloaked in mystery or strange romance, you realize that it is ultimately a story about the act of 'reading.'
Reading the text of others is something that humans do from the moment they are born until the moment they die.
And that act inevitably creates distortion.
You can never read others without assuming misreading.
If this is the essential irony of reading, is there really no way to overcome it? If someone possessed a special ability to nullify such barriers to reading, could we understand each other without any misunderstandings? "The Song of Songs" seems to pose this question to its readers.
And if there's a desire to read others as they are, to be read without any distortion, then can we not call that love? So, perhaps this novel could be described as a story of profound love.
Another interesting aspect is that from beginning to end, we hear the story of two people solely through the statements and perspective of the reading teacher, the narrator 'I'.
That would mean that even this story presupposes inevitable distortion.
For example, the speaker presents two versions of the situation that the 'Miss' was in before she went to see Owen.
And he asks us:
“Which story is more plausible and suits them better?” Ultimately, we are left to listen to her story and guess the truth, which adds another layer of ‘reading with distortion’ to this novel.
And perhaps that is the fate of the story, the author seems to be saying.
☆☆☆The enthusiastic responses of those who read this book first☆☆☆
“A novel that makes you want to open the first page again the moment you turn the last one.”
“A story that will dig into your heart like a deep wound.”
“A groundbreaking novel that will overturn your senses to the point of madness.”
“A crazy novel that only Gu Byeong-mo could write.”
“Crazy (positive).
“I read it without realizing how much time had passed.”
“The sharply honed sentences stabbed deeply and left a lasting impression.”
“Fresh material, a breathless plot, and a lingering ending.”
“The truth we believe in is always a narrative that includes interpretation and misinterpretation.”
“A story about a new love that cannot be defined by existing words.”
“Once you read the first chapter, you won’t be able to stop reading.
“What is ‘reading’? As I read, I feel all kinds of emotions flooding in.”
“A story about the incomprehensible human being, for whom everything I thought could be wrong and right.”
“A story that is complete from the introduction.”
“Another legendary literary work has been born……”
“A beautiful, brutal, and addictive novel.”
“A new approach to understanding and interpreting humanity.”
“I too read their wounds, filled with love, hate, and revenge.”
“A surreal love story, sharp and cold as if cut by a knife.”
“The world of Gu Byeong-mo is always unfamiliar, but it can never be far away.”
“A novel that sharply dissects the isolation and connection of human existence within the illusion of mutual understanding.”
“The book is postive.”
“A feast of sharply sculpted sentences, pervasive but not trite, dry but not cold.”
“How can I write something like this?”
“It is the most difficult question ever asked of me.”
A girl who grew up in an orphanage without knowing whether her parents were alive or dead.
One day she discovers that she has special abilities.
The idea that by touching someone else's wounds, you can literally 'read' their thoughts.
She grew up with a vague awareness of this ability, a flood of words flooding into her head when she pressed her palm against the wound of a friend injured in a childhood accident to stop the bleeding, but never thought she could harness it.
Meanwhile, businessman Moon Oh-eon, who happened to discover her abilities, is the one who knows better than anyone where she can utilize them.
Owen gives her a new name, new clothes, and a new life when she comes to him for help after living a difficult life after leaving the orphanage.
And he builds a huge mansion to hide her from the world.
She develops subtle feelings for him, who uses her and does not hesitate to be cruel to others, yet shows her kindness and consideration she has never felt in her life.
Until he did something irreversible to her.
After 'that incident' where he left her with a deep sense of betrayal, she closed her heart to him, and Owen hopes that she will read him with her 'ability' so that he can fully understand him, but she only responds with this intense hatred.
“Until I suddenly die one day, I can read every human being in the world if I need to.
But you never read.” And then a reading teacher appeared between the two.
She, who is also the narrator of this story, watches with suspicion and curiosity the relationship between the 'lady' with special abilities and Owen, who regards her as his 'ultimate question'.
“Do you like comedy better than tragedy?”
“Doesn’t it matter what?
“Because it’s all lies anyway.”
A woman with the mysterious ability to read others' minds through touch, and a man who wants to be read through that ability.
As you follow the story of 『Jeolchang』, cloaked in mystery or strange romance, you realize that it is ultimately a story about the act of 'reading.'
Reading the text of others is something that humans do from the moment they are born until the moment they die.
And that act inevitably creates distortion.
You can never read others without assuming misreading.
If this is the essential irony of reading, is there really no way to overcome it? If someone possessed a special ability to nullify such barriers to reading, could we understand each other without any misunderstandings? "The Song of Songs" seems to pose this question to its readers.
And if there's a desire to read others as they are, to be read without any distortion, then can we not call that love? So, perhaps this novel could be described as a story of profound love.
Another interesting aspect is that from beginning to end, we hear the story of two people solely through the statements and perspective of the reading teacher, the narrator 'I'.
That would mean that even this story presupposes inevitable distortion.
For example, the speaker presents two versions of the situation that the 'Miss' was in before she went to see Owen.
And he asks us:
“Which story is more plausible and suits them better?” Ultimately, we are left to listen to her story and guess the truth, which adds another layer of ‘reading with distortion’ to this novel.
And perhaps that is the fate of the story, the author seems to be saying.
☆☆☆The enthusiastic responses of those who read this book first☆☆☆
“A novel that makes you want to open the first page again the moment you turn the last one.”
“A story that will dig into your heart like a deep wound.”
“A groundbreaking novel that will overturn your senses to the point of madness.”
“A crazy novel that only Gu Byeong-mo could write.”
“Crazy (positive).
“I read it without realizing how much time had passed.”
“The sharply honed sentences stabbed deeply and left a lasting impression.”
“Fresh material, a breathless plot, and a lingering ending.”
“The truth we believe in is always a narrative that includes interpretation and misinterpretation.”
“A story about a new love that cannot be defined by existing words.”
“Once you read the first chapter, you won’t be able to stop reading.
“What is ‘reading’? As I read, I feel all kinds of emotions flooding in.”
“A story about the incomprehensible human being, for whom everything I thought could be wrong and right.”
“A story that is complete from the introduction.”
“Another legendary literary work has been born……”
“A beautiful, brutal, and addictive novel.”
“A new approach to understanding and interpreting humanity.”
“I too read their wounds, filled with love, hate, and revenge.”
“A surreal love story, sharp and cold as if cut by a knife.”
“The world of Gu Byeong-mo is always unfamiliar, but it can never be far away.”
“A novel that sharply dissects the isolation and connection of human existence within the illusion of mutual understanding.”
“The book is postive.”
“A feast of sharply sculpted sentences, pervasive but not trite, dry but not cold.”
“How can I write something like this?”
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: September 17, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 352 pages | 133*200*30mm
- ISBN13: 9791141602451
- ISBN10: 1141602458
You may also like
카테고리
korean
korean
![ELLE 엘르 스페셜 에디션 A형 : 12월 [2025]](http://librairie.coreenne.fr/cdn/shop/files/b8e27a3de6c9538896439686c6b0e8fb.jpg?v=1766436872&width=3840)
