1 Book, Carrier, and Angels

To the 'None' Planet / That Summer, Buddy Line / Are You Okay? / I'm a Non-Penguin Human

2 The World of Little Snowmen

Penguins of Summer Hill / The Strange Observer / Don't Tread on That Carpet / Plant Lesson

3 Rivers of Atmosphere

Antarctic Autodidact / Sister's "Air Field" / No Plastic / Golden Moss Forest / Happy New Year

4 The World of Naming

Those Who Leave First / Walking the Antarctic Ocean / Ghosts / Warmly, Warmer

5 Into My Polar

Even Angels Lie Sometimes / The Whale's First Breath / The Upside-Down Face of the Moon / Hello, Penguin

Epilogue The Best Thing I've Ever Done
Appendix My Antarctic Photo Journal

“I feel like I’ve become the warmest person on this continent.”
Antarctic autodidacts armed with intense curiosity and a sense of adventure

Part 1, “Books, Carriers, and Angels,” contains the arduous preparations and journey to the South Pole before the long-awaited dream of visiting the Antarctic base comes true.
Thorough preparations began in the summer to go to Antarctica, a place that exists as if it were a non-existent planet, not part of the national system.
While waiting in Punta Arenas via Santiago, I met with the scientists who would be joining me and received a warm offer to become part of the 'Vegetation Team'.
Entering Antarctica, where ice replaces stakes, you begin to read the base and its people as a 'non-penguin human'.


Part 2, “The World of Little Snowmen,” introduces a visit to the Aspine Penguin Village, the first Antarctic Special Protection Area established by Korea.
At the base, where only two people can move, you and Buddy encounter the penguins and seals you've been wanting to see so badly.
As a 'vegetation team', the plant class continues in a fluffy moss plant field that looks like a carpet.
I am amazed by the outstanding appearance of Usnea, one of the lichens of Antarctica.
We also learn about the senses of symbiosis through lichens, which are living organisms that have survived in extreme regions such as polar regions and deserts, as well as in space.


In Part 3, "The River of Atmosphere," we witness the peaceful daily life of a chef at the Sejong Base cafeteria, who accumulates fat day by day thanks to his outstanding cooking skills, as well as the tension flowing before a seminar where each person presents their research.
We meet several team members full of mission and passion, including Camilla, who observes the atmosphere, Researcher Ahn, who is obsessed with shrimp, Cloudy, aka Mr. Cloud, an atmospheric scientist, and Vector, who is looking for new business items in the field of science.
You can also find golden moss at the Haepyo Village shelter.
Soon, on the Lunar New Year in Antarctica, everyone gathers to eat tteokguk (rice cake soup) and play yutnori (Korean traditional game) to truly celebrate the new year.
'Atmospheric rivers' that form in mid-latitude regions are phenomena that influence Earth's climate system, carrying moisture and heat and flowing for thousands of kilometers.
To understand this, large weather observation balloons called 'radiosondes' are launched every day to observe atmospheric conditions.
In our country, we also launch balloons, and the fact that all these tasks are connected feels like a sign of optimism for humanity.


Part 4, “The World of Naming,” emphasizes the nobility of the act of recognizing existence by naming it.
After touring the base history museum, I was overwhelmed by the 'humanity' of the first members.
On Sunday, I will celebrate my first ever Antarctic Mass with my sister Camilla.
The 'bones' frequently seen throughout the base played a major role in helping me, who had been afraid of witnessing the cruel and ruthless deaths of nature in the polar regions, to accept life and death with peace.
I learned a sense of equanimity that was neither cold nor indifferent from the traces of death, such as whales and penguins.
I will never forget the experience of walking on foot in the Antarctic Ocean in summer with Researcher Ahn to collect the 'unreported species' of shrimp.


In Part 5, "Into My Polar," the journey to the observatory known as the scenic restaurant and then up to Baekdubong Peak is featured.
Will he go down as the first writer (and perhaps the one who took the longest) to reach the highest peak?
We also witness the first breath of a whale, the very essence of life, alongside researchers diving underwater to observe and collect the birds.
Visit the Chinese Great Wall base to see research facilities in other countries and build camaraderie.
I imagine that this friendship in Antarctica, where the 'naturalness' of the continent itself takes precedence over 'humanity' and where all humans are no different species, might be a new hint for the future.
Before leaving Sejong Station, I stop by Penguin Village for the last time and say goodbye to the guy.
As I descend through the village, I think I understand why I wanted to come to Antarctica so badly.
“It was because I wanted to live in the world with a different mindset.”

Antarctica sounds like a faraway place, but when I actually came here, I realized that everything in Antarctica was governing life.
The North and South Poles, the two extremes of the Earth, are huge hands that move the world's atmosphere and ocean currents.
The changes here have shaken the Earth and shaped our daily lives.
Amidst the countless uncertainties surrounding the word "climate"—change, crisis, and sometimes war and invasion—the fact that scientists around the world were sending up balloons at the same time every day to scan the sky felt like a small ray of optimism.
_In the text

“We are all connected.”
A beautiful journey to understand the order of nature

What does Antarctica mean to us?
Antarctica is not simply a distant continent, but a closely connected part of the Earth, an important space we must carefully observe, and ultimately a record of the future we will write together.
Only a keen awareness of the changes our daily choices will bring about, and a close connection to the planet and to humanity as a species, will provide the strategies to navigate the crises that lie ahead.


“My time in Antarctica was not about traveling, reporting, or research, but about ‘living.’
The author says, “It was about creating relationships, having conversations, and living each day with fleeting emotions such as kindness, joy, excitement, wonder, tension, and sometimes anxiety and discomfort.”
As you read this heartwarming account of a man who becomes a "strange observer" in Antarctica, where the moon's pattern is exactly the opposite, and who fully experiences and enjoys the everyday life he has never experienced before, you will ultimately come to realize the self-evident truth that no being is separate from the universe.
Just as the moss, which grows using its own dead body as seed, and the new body that grows becomes the foundation for another stem, even the most common and insignificant existence is an important element in the survival of Antarctica.
This book affectionately states that the natural order is one in which beings with different strengths and speeds, each witnessing and providing evidence for the other, struggle and coexist.


Why am I so grateful that, like humans, there are some penguins who are a bit late bloomers?
The fact that the natural order is that not only the strongest survive, but beings with different strengths and speeds coexist. _From the text

Author's Note

“I guess the good thing about coming to Korea is that even if there are no seals, there are dogs,” I said cynically, but I managed to overcome the difficulties quite well.
Maybe I thought that going to Antarctica was the best thing I ever did.
That good work will continue to be another form of 'good work' in the future.
The white and blue of the continent that can be called upon at any time without closing your eyes, the sleek black of living penguins and whales, and the light of people walking in step with you in red uniforms.
As I walk with all of that in my heart, I can always step into my Polar Journal and take a step forward with a new heart.
To tell us about that regeneration and cycle, there is an Antarctic point on this planet called Earth.