Parting from Pluto
The Giant Pine Forest Essay
What's inside the white clouds
Epilogue

■People who are afraid of breakups

We are helpless in the face of separation from our loved ones.
Even the most steel-hearted person will shatter and crumble without a trace in the face of the utter despair of never meeting again.
That is why reflections on death are more precious than any story in the world.
The road to becoming a top student in the face of death may seem distant, but if previewing and reviewing can help you avoid failing, this book is the one textbook that will accompany you on that journey.
The author closely tells the story of the wounds inflicted on his heart while passing through the tunnel called ‘death of others.’
It is a great comfort to know someone who thinks the same way as you, even if only from afar.
Readers can empathize with the author's thoughts and find themselves comforted.


■ Invisible Tears, Petros Syndrome

All deaths are sad, but deaths that cannot be told to others are sometimes accompanied by a deeper sadness.
People with Petros syndrome are like that.
Pet loss syndrome refers to the depression and feelings of loss that occur when a beloved pet leaves your side forever.
Some may find it difficult to understand why people are so distressed by the death of a beast, but just like the loss of a loved one, the loss of a beloved dog is a profound and painful experience, each with its own unique characteristics.
This book is about the author's tears shed as she endured and overcame her grief after her companion dog, Toto, passed away after 16 years.
However, these tears are 'clear tears' that cleanse the soul and give a solid awakening.
What spreads through the readers' hearts while reading this book is not sadness, but rather happiness.


■ Pluto Breakup Method

The story of the 'Rainbow Bridge', now so well known that there is almost no one who does not know it, is a comforting concept that can temporarily reduce the weight of separation.
If the feeling of loss still persists, you may want to try the 'Pluto Breakup Method'.
In this book, 'Pluto' replaces death, where existence 'disappears', and refers to death, where existence 'transfers'.
It is thought that the person you love does not disappear after death, but rather exists somewhere far away, on Pluto, the furthest place imaginable to humans.
If the rainbow bridge is a space-time of the afterlife, not this world, then Pluto is in a 'space' called the universe.
The insight that helps us overcome difficult emotions, the literary expression that makes us read again and again as if possessed, and the poetic imagination vividly demonstrate what it means to train the mind through writing.


■ A universal love story

After parting ways with Senior Toto, the author, after much thought, heads to an animal shelter.
Although she is not free from the trauma of bereavement, she sets a new milestone in her life by adopting a male Shih Tzu, a brown-eyed protagonist whom she meets as if by fate.
The latter half of the book is about the process of adopting Junior Toto and taming each other.
As difficult as parting is, meeting again is also difficult.
As we look into the lonely yet warm, tragic yet humorous days of the two, we come to realize that both parting and meeting are verbs of 'love.'
Therefore, this book is a story about parting and meeting with a companion dog, and it is also a metaphor for all the encounters and partings that humans experience.


■ A painting full of warm aftertaste

The elegant writing of Lee Eung-jun and the illustrations of Ryu Eun-ji leave a poignant aftertaste.
In particular, the man with the hole in his chest metaphorically reveals the inner self of the lonely protagonist.
The process by which the hole in the man's heart is filled through his life with Toto symbolically shows the human being learning to love while enduring sadness.
To the writer, there is Toto in the clouds in the sky he looks up at, and there is Toto in the bread he comes across while walking down the street.
Our readers, too, will be able to cherish and nurture life's challenges as precious treasures with this book.
We can find our own 'Toto' wherever our eyes fall.