Guilty Club: Tiger Petting
Smooth
Honmono
Gu's House: 98 Galwol-dong
friendly feelings
gestation period
Metal

Commentary | Yang Gyeong-eon
Recommendation | Lee Ki-ho and Park Jeong-min
Author's Note
Announcement page of included works

What is real and what is fake
Asking about 'honmono' at that border

The first thing that catches the eye in 『Honmono』 is the title, which is difficult to understand at first glance.
'Honmono' is a phonetic transcription of the Japanese word '本物' (ほんもの), which means 'real'. It was once widely known as a new word used online to mock 'truth' and 'otaku'.
As the author said in an interview, he wanted to talk about the current state of affairs where even a lie becomes true if many people believe it, just as this word, which originally has a positive meaning, is being used in a distorted sense. This collection of short stories is comprised of works that explore the boundary between “real” and “fake” while simultaneously asking the fundamental question of what “real” is.

The narrator of the title piece, "Honmono," a 30-year veteran shaman named "Munsu," realizes one day that the "long-lived grandmother" he had worshipped as a spirit had left him.
At that time, a twenty-year-old girl named Shin Ae-gi, who had moved into the house across the street, came to him and said, “Grandma said you were too old” (page 145). This became an incident that shook the foundation of faith for Munsu, who had believed that his faith was ‘true.’
Munsu struggles to live as a 'fake' shaman, pretending to be 'real', but even while looking for a model shaman, he refuses to take on the 'fortune of the day' that "someone does for a shaman" (page 122), and while he despises Shin Aegi who ridicules him, saying, "What would a guy who just imitates know?" (page 120), he is concerned about the shouting coming from that house, and he keeps asking himself, "What is real, and does it really exist in a separate place from the fake?" (Commentary, Yang Gyeong-eon).

Meanwhile, the conflict between the middle-aged Munsu, who has been worshipping the grandmother in a traditional way, and the young shaman Shin Ae-gi, who appears to be “equal to the grandmother” (p. 144), clearly reveals the conflict between the old and new generations that is commonly encountered in modern society today. In this way, “Honmono” is a provocative work that does not stop at looking into the desires and worries of individuals, but also raises questions about social issues such as generational conflict and the conflict between tradition and modernity.

An overwhelming narrative that delves into you without leaving a moment to breathe.
The future of Korean literature shines with talents worthy of stealing.

Another work that deals with these issues in a timely and concrete manner is "Smooth," a black comedy that depicts the experiences of Dewey, a third-generation Korean-American and agent of world-renowned artist Jeff, during his first-ever visit to Korea.
He was so ignorant that he regarded Korea as “a sleazy place full of shops selling snake wine and dog meat” (p. 69), and he was “more American” than any “real” American (p. 69). While wandering around Korea to visit Jeff’s art exhibition, he stumbled into a procession of people “carrying the American flag and the ‘Thai flag’” (p. 84).
Encountering the warm and friendly elderly people at the “festival” (page 86), he begins to feel a sense of connection and belonging to Korea. However, the moment the elderly man who shared unconditional warmth calls Gwanghwamun Square “Syngman Rhee Square,” “anxiety and deficiency are smoothly shaved away” (page 82), and we, who were enjoying the novel, feel a chill in our hearts, just like Jeff’s spherical art piece.

The narrator of the novel "Guilty Club: Touching the Tiger", which opens the door to the collection of short stories, is a member of the "Guilty Club," a group of so-called "real" (12 pages) fans of the world-renowned film director "Kim Gon."
Kim Gon is facing public moral condemnation for an incident he committed in the past, but the members of the Guilty Club believe that covering up the incident and keeping it quiet is the role of a "true" fan.
'I' also deny the incident because of my desire to become 'real', but when Kim Gon admits his mistake and apologizes, I feel something inside me bursting.
And later, while experiencing 'touching a tiger' at a zoo in Chiang Mai, he realizes what it is.
In this way, "Guilty Club: Tiger Petting" vividly deals with the paradoxical desire called "guilty pleasure" through the fandom culture that we are familiar with, while making us think again about what truth is hidden behind the things that we easily consider "real" and what distinguishes the real from the fake.

The other works that follow are also each unique and leave a strong impression.
Based on the 'Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office', the faction "Gu's House: 98 Galwol-dong" deals with the question of who designed such a brutal building like a kind of investigative documentary; "Pregnancy Record" is a novel about a daughter-in-law and her father-in-law having a naked fight of desires before giving birth abroad; "Friendly Feelings" is about people working at a local regeneration startup meeting people who have returned to the countryside with "idealistic" (page 211) intentions and seeing each other's true colors; and "Metal" is a poignant story about three friends who were in a metal band in high school facing reality. Each of the included works is accompanied by a line from actor Park Jung-min's "Why do you watch Netflix?
As the recommendation says, “You can just read the book” (Seonghae-na), each page is vivid and clear as if it were a corner of reality, allowing the reader to fully experience the world within the novel.
The overwhelming narrative that you can't stop reading once you start will give you the thrill of reading a thick collection of novels in one sitting.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.
Neither fame, nor youth, nor envy, nor strife,
“Even the real and the fake.”

Seong Hae-na, who endlessly goes back and forth between 'real' and 'fake' and asks the question of what 'honmono' is, never comes up with a smooth and soft spherical answer.
The place where 『Honmono』 stops is on the rough and precarious edge of the boundary that divides the real from the fake.
In front of this polyhedral answer that “cannot be swallowed or spit out” (p. 240), where there is no perfect right or wrong answer, no perfect good or bad person, no grand separation or easy closure, what we can do is “to explore the ‘truth,’ but never lose strength from the task of walking forward truthfully” (commentary), and to continue to walk and re-walk that ambiguous boundary, following the trustworthy footsteps of Seong Hae-na, who will open up the future of Korean literature.

Author's Note (excerpt)

Owls don't fly in a hurry.
Before flapping your wings, look around carefully and decide on a direction before landing.
I, too, want to fish for sentences with sharp claws, capture the pain of society with a broad perspective, and listen to the stories of those far away with open ears.
Until I exhale a deeper breath than I do now.
I hope you will watch over me from near and far.

Spring 2025
Seong Hae-na