novel

Village of Sewn Eyes
Hino's Pie
lamb

Essay

Shining models

Commentary: The Never-ending World of Jo Ye-eun's Wonderland - Da-hye Lee

The world seen through closed eyes
A story of the real world that rejects 'the one and only'

“I am the same as you.
“We are not monsters.”

On June 6, 2066, humanity was destroyed.
Polar glaciers have melted by up to 80 percent, causing sea levels to rise, flooding cities and destroying entire countries.
Many things that should not have collapsed have collapsed.
After countless deaths and a wave of refugees, the 'Curse' appeared.
The disease was called the curse of God.
Not only was the route and method of infection completely unknown, but the symptoms were so bizarre and horrific that they felt like a punishment from God.
The curse was a disease that took away humanity's original form.
Humans were given a third arm, a second head, and a fifth eye.
Those who were lucky enough to escape the curse built their own bunkers, or 'towns'.
The town was a new world for the chosen ones, an 'ark'.
The ark seemed sturdy, but old things always have cracks in them.
The gap in the town was the cursed disease.
A virus that flowed in from somewhere also infected people within the town.
The townspeople created rules to protect the town and for the “preservation of humanity.”
The first rule of the town is, “If you see a facial feature that isn’t on the face, report it.”

"The Village of Sewn Eyes" is the story of the protagonist, 'Igyo', after he loses his friend, 'Ram'.
'Ram' was banished from town for having a second mouth in the back of his neck.
After losing Ram, the pagans were overcome with grief over the loss of their friend, helplessness over not being able to do anything, and fear.
Actually, pagans have a secret.
That there is a third eye behind the back.
The eyes of paganism have been with paganism since birth.
However, the closed eyes are very small and look like wrinkles, which is why they were able to survive the process of distinguishing 'normal humans'.
The pagan's parents protected him by sewing up his third eye and regulating his clothing.
The heretic was born with a curse, but 'still' did not become a monster.
While confused by Ram's thoughts, Igyo goes swimming alone in the valley at the edge of the village where he used to play with Ram, and meets Ram, who has come down on a parachute.
Ram is said to have come to town after crashing a light aircraft while driving alone from outside the town.
The pagan is surprised to see Ram.
An airplane that is said to be a trace of the old humanity before the destruction, and Ram, a girl with five eyes.
Igyo hears about the town's incredible secrets from Ram, and soon decides to leave the town with Ram.


“It was such a trivial thing.”
Ram faced the pagan.
A beautiful third eye, once mistaken for a curse, looked down benevolently upon the pagans.
The pagans looked into each of Ram's five eyes.
Ram said.
“Now let’s go to where the plane is.”
The pagan nodded.
Two men with eight eyes began to walk through the wilderness.
(Page 61)

Hope found in despair
Don't give up even when facing pessimism
The world of 'nevertheless'

“When the time comes that you can no longer bear it,
“Make a pie.”

The second story, "Hino's Pie," takes place before the pagans leave town and before Lamb is banished.
The pagan's uncle, Baek-woo, is the gatekeeper who expels those infected with the curse disease out of town.
He has a lover named 'Hino'.
Hino is a chef who makes meat pies for the cursed outcasts.
According to the townspeople, the meat pies were poisoned as a final consideration to allow the outcasts to choose their own fate, allowing them to choose a dignified death before becoming monsters.
Hino was abandoned under a town fence when he was a baby and was raised by the old woman who was a cook.
The titles of a gatekeeper who banishes someone who was once someone's family and a cook who makes poisoned food for them brought Baekwoo and Hino together.
It was in the wilderness that a change occurred for those who had been growing their love peacefully.
As the only outsider in town, Hino was curious about what was outside of town, so Baekwoo secretly took him out into the wilderness.
However, Hino sees an outcast dying after eating the meat pie he made that day, and is soon overcome with shock and locks himself in his room.
Hino, who appeared in front of Baekwoo, who was blaming himself, had several arms growing out of his shoulders that looked like wings.
Baek-woo blames himself, saying it's because of him, and Hino leaves Baek-woo with his pie recipe and leaves town on his own.
Baekwoo resents Hino and cannot forget him.
On the day he finally brings his nephew, Igyo, out of town, Baek-woo makes a decision.
I decided to make Hino's pie, which I had been putting off.


Hino, I think of the people I left behind as many as the countless stars.
Think of the blood on our hands, the people whose pies we ate, the time we took from them, and all they could have had.
About what we have believed so far.
I feel like I've come too far down the road of no return.
So I really want to finish the pie today.
Can you do it? (pp. 127-128)

From a mirage in the wilderness to a shining reality
When you finally open your closed eyes, you see
Jo Ye-eun Wonderland

Ram, driven out of town, wanders the wilderness and decides to eat pie.
But strangely, even after eating the pie, Lamb didn't die.
Ram now moves to survive.
Then something falls in front of Ram.
It was an airplane, like a small star had fallen off.
The airplane, a product of the old human race.
Ram survives on the water and food he finds in the crashed plane.
And then I find a picture.
By normal human standards, too few arms and too many legs, organs in places they shouldn't be, yet a family photo filled with laughter.
Then a hissing sound begins to be heard from the control panel.
A sound to save the owner of the plane, and also Ram.

He continued to dream of paganism, ruminating on the town and the wilderness, the broken bridge and the crossing.
What we were afraid of.
What we believed, what we did, events that are now irreversible.
When you cross the bridge of memory and enter the world of dreams, paganism awaits you.
He told the pagan in his dream everything.
The truth about the town and the wilderness that you will only encounter after leaving there.
After passing through the wilderness, a bridge appears.
There is a new world when you cross that bridge.
therefore.
“Let’s go together.” (pp. 164-165)

"The Town of Sewn Eyes" is a series of novels that depicts the secrets of a town surrounded by an unidentified curse and the growth of its characters.
Humanity's long-standing problems of environmental destruction and climate crisis have destroyed the world and itself.
As the glaciers melted, ancient viruses that had been frozen deep within the earth swept over the world.
I thought it was a curse from God, but it was actually the result of clear cause and effect, and it was evolution, not mythology.
The town could not have been an ark in the first place, as it was not a curse from God.
The townspeople regarded the cursed bottle as a crack in the ark, but if it had been God's ark, it would not have been a crack.
Everything was a human choice, and it was their stubbornness not to accept their 'differences' that blinded me.

Perhaps we think we are looking at the world with our eyes sewn shut.
You may be blinded by your own arbitrary standards and prejudices, yet you believe that the world before you is real.
When you open your tightly closed eyes, there is a new world.
Now is the time to open your closed eyes and see the real world.
"The Village of Sewn Eyes" is Jo Ye-eun's poignant message about all the 'differences' in the world.
You can see it when you open your eyes.
“Jo Ye-eun’s Wonderland”.

Author's Note

Most of the stories are fake.
Fiction sometimes tries to hide itself as much as possible, and sometimes reveals itself with all its might, but the fact that it is fiction itself does not disappear.
Moreover, most of the stories I write feature surreal or fantastical elements, so if I were to compare them to food, it would be like making a model of tonkatsu sauce that is yellow or purple.
I want to create something that looks as appetizing as possible, that looks real, but is somehow strange, something that makes you keep looking at it because it's strange, but in the end, you want to believe it's real.
I like models.
I love all the stories that pretend to be real on paper and screen.
So for now, we have no choice but to continue.
_From the essay “Shining Models”