Author's Note

Mating 8
Conception 12
Jeans seller 15
Development 19
Her Money Making 23
26 male customers in their 20s
Fashion People 31
Resentment 35
Nineteen Nighty _ Dad's Edition 37
Nineteen Nighty _Mom's Episode 40
Nineteen Nighty _ President Kim Episode 44
Fuxi 46
Toilet 52
Loss 54
Kindergarten 64
Connection 87
Absence 84
Sports Day 89
The Dispersing Self 91
Aerobics Studio 97
Hip Hop Academy 101
Housewife 108
Siblings' Days 111
Driving Practice 119
Digital Literacy 122
Puberty 124
Fireplace 126
Home Alone 132
Dad's Back 148
151 between thighs
Blanket, Alarm 154
Independence 158
Nude Model 164
Clothes and Stage 172
Smoker 183
Magazine 186
Hard Working Days 193
Notting Hill 197
Faces that resemble each other 208
Literary Award 212
Merchants 214
Unknown number 232
Awards Ceremony and Prize Money 236
Oh My Baby 239

Nude model, journalist, writing teacher...
And finally, serial workers!
Stealing the hearts of subscribers every day
Breakthrough email series [Daily Isul-a]
Scheherazade Isla's Illustrated Essay on the World of Social Media

“Bokhee told me
nevertheless,
“The meaning of living without giving in to hardship.”

There is a 'daily newspaper' that has recently become an explosive topic of conversation among the younger generation, who rarely subscribe to a single newspaper or magazine.
Media name: [Daily Dew].


Without anyone asking or opening up a platform, a writer in his 20s started a self-publishing project, sending one essay a day to subscribers' emails, saying, "I'll pay off my 25 million won student loan by writing this."
Ten thousand won per month, 500 won per article.
Although it is as cheap as bungeoppang or oden on the street, stories that warm the hearts of those who are struggling day by day are piling up in my mailbox.
Surprises and exclamations such as, "This older sister is so energetic!" and "Isul-ah every day on my way to and from work" were expressed on social media, and the [Daily Isul-ah] project continued successfully for six months.


Who is "Human Isul-a," the publisher of [Daily Isul-a]? Why did this person, who proved that she could make a living as a writer by creating her own publications without being selected or requested, begin writing?

The illustrated essay by author Isul-a of the groundbreaking email serial [Daily Isul-a], which has stolen the hearts of subscribers every day, has been published by Munhakdongne.
This book is a short autobiography of 'Human Isul-ah' and a story about a woman named Bok-hee whose tear ducts and life are connected to him.
It is also a record of how a woman born in the 1960s who did not graduate from college and a woman born in the 1990s who had to pay for their own tuition and living expenses to attend college work, endure life, and form friendships in Korean society.


After working as a nude model, reporter, cartoonist, and writing teacher, author Lee Seul-ah finally approaches readers with a book bearing her name.
This book, which combines the penmanship of author Lee Seul-ah, who describes her ordinary yet extraordinary family history in simple sentences along with cartoons that seem to have been drawn with a pencil, heralds the birth of a new type of author in our time.


When I heard my mother's voice over the phone, I thought of the blanket she was under.
I remembered the coffee stains on the blanket, the wrinkles under my mother's belly button, and the fine hairs on her toes.
And I thought about the things that must have made my mother sick.
Every time I thought about that, I really wanted to have a lot of money.
When I had a lot of money, the thing I wanted to give my mom most was time.

Because I wanted to give my mom the gift of time off from work.
(Pages 207-208)

Born poor by default!
The story of two women's moneymaking, neither noble nor tragic.

Why do our mothers, born into poverty, have such similar histories?
Born in the 1960s into a family where poverty was the default, Bok-hee, who wanted to study and had the talent to do so, goes up to the attic and cries when the moment comes that he must give up on enrolling in college even after receiving his acceptance letter.
And three days later, with swollen eyes, he eats a large bowl of bibimbap and heads out to make money.
Bokhee tries out many jobs.
The realm of money-making that this society allows to women with no background, no power, and no education is narrow and harsh.
Parts factory bookkeeper, restaurant kitchen worker and server, insurance company employee, retail store counter… Bok-hee struggles through numerous jobs to sustain herself, get married, and finally have a child of her own.
Bokhee's daughter, Seol-ah, spends her childhood crying and laughing with her sometimes cute and sometimes touching mother, Bokhee.


Bok-hee does not pass on the saddest moment of his life to Seol-ah.
After struggling to find work in Africa, Bok-hee saves young Seol-ah's life, and Seol-ah grows up safely and enters college.


However, Seol-ah, who was working various part-time jobs to earn her own tuition and living expenses, kept losing 'time'.
The daughter, Seol-ah, who thought that 'the only thing more unfortunate than not having money is not having time', chose the part-time job of 'nude model', which offers high income compared to the time spent.
Seol-ah, who was hesitating whether to tell her mother, Bok-hee, or not, calmly confesses to her mother about her plans to become a nude model, and Bok-hee gives Seol-ah, who is about to start a new job, a surprising gift...
What gift did the mother, who sells used clothes, give to her daughter, who wants to make money by taking off her clothes in front of others?


Thanks to the gifts given by Bokhee and all the moments and conversations shared with Bokhee, Seola earns money, reads and writes, and continues to live.
The description of what happened to Seol-ah as she traveled around the country from working as a server for 4,000 won an hour to working as a nude model for 30,000 won an hour is one of the most brilliant parts of this book.
After enduring the chatter of older women and the instructor's admiration of her 'butt' while working as a nude model at a department store cultural center, Seol-ah cries a little in the department store bathroom.
And just like Bok-hee from that day, I wipe my tears and go down to the department store food court to eat diligently.


When my whole body became unbearably sore.
The timer rings.
The four-hour task is finally over.
I'm so tired.
After greeting on stage, I go to the dressing room and get dressed.
I'm just now realizing how cold the locker room is.

As I leave the classroom, the embarrassment and sadness that I had been holding back while working slowly begin to surface.
I, a temperamental person, go to the department store bathroom and briefly wipe away my tears.
Because I feel like crying in a spacious and comfortable department store bathroom.
If it had been a dirty bathroom, I would never have cried.
I unfold and savor the feelings I had briefly folded away on stage earlier, pretending not to notice them.
I shed tears as I recall the pain in my pelvic bones, the stiffness in my shoulders and knees, the numbness in my legs that made me tingle, the chilling cold, the expression on the face of the woman who put down her brush as if she was bored in the middle of the lesson, and the shape of the instructor's mouth when he called my buttocks "butt."
I cry a little more because I miss my mom.

Now I'm almost done crying.
After crying, there is nothing to be sad about.
I feel a little better when I think that the money I earn today will be enough to pay this month's electricity, gas, and internet bills.
(…)
“I became a nude model for money.
And most of all, I become a nude model because of time.
“It’s also a way to save time.”
(…) We believe that the highest ranking merchants are not those who own buildings or cars, but those who own time.
Models earning 30,000 won per hour.
Merchants who can sell their naked bodies without any misery.
(Pages 227-232)

Mother Bok-hee does not interfere in her daughter Seol-ah's life, does not lie, does not nag, and does not give false hopes.
He just whispers to his daughter, who is bravely enduring life, 'I just have an eternal unrequited love.'
It is a shining blessing and a faint sadness in life to have a mother who loves you forever behind your back.
"Every Time I Cry, I Become My Mother's Face" is a book that makes me look back on my childhood, the things I had to do to earn money, and my mother who quietly stood behind me.


The last scene of the book.
Bok-hee is riding on the back of Sla, who seems to be riding a motorcycle and running out of the bookshelf into the harsh world.
Bokhee is hugging Seola's waist tightly.
Readers will quietly cheer on the lives of the mother and daughter who continue to struggle beyond the walls of the bookshelf.

My mother and each of our lives, who have lived this life making money that is neither noble nor miserable.


When I was born, there was a person named Bok-hee who was closest to me. He was so generous and kind that I laughed and cried a lot throughout my childhood.

The time I spent with Bokhee was the longest relationship I've ever had.
I grew up talking a lot with this person.
Bokhee, who became a textbook for conversation.
The small world he created was so warm that I kept writing and drawing about him.
I wanted to tell the story of the sadness and joy that came from the bond between mother and daughter, who couldn't choose each other.

I think it's a story about friendship more than anything else.
The friendship between two people who met by chance.
This is a story that made me strong, so I hope it can give strength to someone else too.

_From the author's note