“Let day be day, let night be night, insufficient but not lacking.”
A form of daily life that I finally learned through enduring discomfort
A story about a house and its people, where the seasons, people, and the fabric of life in the countryside intertwine.

"I just found out about this wonderful country house" is an essay about the author's life as an editor at a publishing company, who left the city and lived while renovating an old country house.
This is the seventh book in Goopik's compact essay series, 'I just found out this good thing', and the second essay by author Seo Ju-hee, following 'Ttukbaegi, I just found out this good thing', and presents a new perspective on virtue and practice.

The author discovers for the first time what he 'really wants' after turning forty.
It wasn't a life of fancy interiors or a stable career, but a life of an old house and a garden.
The country house I found after six months was a 50-year-old house with a warped ceiling and cracked walls.
The sweat and tears I shed while repairing things myself made me realize that another name for 'discomfort' is 'self-reliance'.
Through the daily labor of pouring concrete, pulling weeds, and replacing electrical wires, the author learns that “a country house is not a house that is finished, but something that must be continuously maintained.”
This book is not a simple memoir of returning to the countryside or a celebration of rural life.
The author said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s an escape or an elimination.
“There was a life there that made my heart beat,” he says honestly.
The story calmly depicts everyday scenes such as the relationship with the husband who left work, time spent with the in-laws, and the child's school life, but it also contains the sincerity of a person struggling between 'belonging' and 'freedom'.

The inconveniences of the countryside become another richness for the author.
There is no dawn delivery or convenience store, but a handful of garlic shoots offered by a neighbor and a fire in the evening fill my heart.
Relationships and a sense of seasons that had been forgotten in the city are revived, and we learn how to live “without much, but without any shortcomings.”

The first half focuses on a step-by-step checklist for choosing and renovating a home.
From setting up the region and budget to the conditions for exclusion (livestock sheds, mountainside, waterside), and checking for unregistered children, factors such as the actual variables of moving with school-age children (commuting, number of students, bus routes) reduce mistakes made by those preparing to return to the countryside.
The middle part deals with the reorganization of relationships.
As in the chapter titled “The Front Door is Optional,” the author, who was unfamiliar with the intimacy of the countryside, shares food with neighbors and sets daily rules instead of boundaries, and scenes of learning that the child fills with after-school activities and experiential learning follow.
The second half is a report on speed control.
The point where time can replace money, the structure of consumption has been reduced, the amount of labor is adjusted to the rhythm of the seasons, and as you read, the 'how' rather than the 'why' becomes clear.

"I just found out about this wonderful country house" offers realistic comfort to those who long for country life and those who are tired of city life.
It reminds us that a 'good home' is not something that is large or new, but a place where we can comfortably begin and end our day.

One thing is certain: the country house, the yard, and the garden thrilled me to no end.
It was okay if it was an escape, and it didn't matter if it was elimination.
The life that made my heart beat was definitely there.
I believed in that heart and came to the countryside.


I hated anyone who forced sacrifices on other family members or, conversely, demanded compensation for their sacrifices.
Everyone says they live for you and not for themselves, but in reality, no one is happy, and that kind of ending was the worst.


It's okay if it's a little uncomfortable.
I just want to work, earn, and spend enough to not feel unhappy.
I wish I could go out to eat once in a while like I do now, see a good performance or exhibition once a year, and take a short trip every so often.

In the end, what matters is not 'how much money do I have' but 'how much do I need'.
I'm still struggling with who I am, what my life is like, and how to live it.
I hope that living in the countryside will help you find the answer.


The countryside teaches you to take what you are given.
Here I learn to live with what I have and without what I don't have.
Let the day be day, let the night be night, let summer be summer, and let winter be winter.
I hope to continue living like this, lacking but not lacking anything.


It was a space and time where I could relax in Jeju.
I spent two weeks in a house that was not very bright.
It was an old house, but it was a beautiful house with a small forest path in the backyard.
It was hard to believe that he had found it in just one month.
When I asked her how she was able to find a country house she liked so quickly, even after years of searching, her answer was simple.
“That’s because you’re too greedy.”
For a moment, I felt like my mind was being caught off guard by the slight regret that there was no window in the kitchen.
If it were me, I would have definitely missed that house.
Tips for finding a home sounded like life hints.
It was perhaps a simple truth that if you reduce your desires, everything will become much easier.


I have no desire to work less and earn more.
Just earn less and spend less.
Still, if possible, I would like to earn money doing something I like.
If things continue like this, he might suddenly start talking about farming, opening a reading class, or opening a one-table restaurant.
Coming to the countryside and living like this was something I never expected in the past.
There is no way to know how the future will unfold.


Nature gives us so much without us having to pay for it.
It grows countless wildflowers by carrying flower seeds with the wind and providing nutrients with sunlight.
People like to rank things, so even flowers are ranked and valued, but that doesn't mean that wild flowers are any less beautiful.


“I think this is inefficient.
“It would be better to make money doing something else at this time and then leave it to the experts.”
“We don’t have money right now, but we have a lot of time.”
My husband, who had been talking about efficiency, immediately agreed with what I said.
We had no money and lots of time, so we grabbed scrapers and scraped the wall until our shoulders broke.
The six characters came out on their own.

--- From the text