The Story of a Cattle Thief Growing Up
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Description
Book Introduction
“Only when I stole something was I truly safe.”
A new novel by Ham Yun, winner of the Young Writer's Award and the Munji Literary Award
The lonely coming-of-age story of a little thief beside us, filled with a void that grows emptier the more we fill it.
Born clutching a small, white piece of bone, Sami intuitively senses that it is his first theft.
After that, a kumquat at the market, a soccer cushion at the school playground, a small potted begonia by the window… … Sami, who had been stealing as if testing her limits with anything she could hold in her hands, was caught by Sung-jun for the first time while trying to steal chocolate. At that moment, when Sung-jun suddenly appeared out of nowhere whenever she was stealing something, she met the sparkling plastic eyes of a high-end ring box that he took out as if proposing.
And after a while, the author, who is Seongjun's twin, appears and asks him to steal the 'mother's eyes' that Seongjun has...
A new novel by Ham Yun, winner of the Young Writer's Award and the Munji Literary Award
The lonely coming-of-age story of a little thief beside us, filled with a void that grows emptier the more we fill it.
Born clutching a small, white piece of bone, Sami intuitively senses that it is his first theft.
After that, a kumquat at the market, a soccer cushion at the school playground, a small potted begonia by the window… … Sami, who had been stealing as if testing her limits with anything she could hold in her hands, was caught by Sung-jun for the first time while trying to steal chocolate. At that moment, when Sung-jun suddenly appeared out of nowhere whenever she was stealing something, she met the sparkling plastic eyes of a high-end ring box that he took out as if proposing.
And after a while, the author, who is Seongjun's twin, appears and asks him to steal the 'mother's eyes' that Seongjun has...
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index
The Story of a Cattle Thief Growing Up
Author's Note
Interview with author Ham Yun-i
Author's Note
Interview with author Ham Yun-i
Into the book
my
First
thievery
It was done inside someone else's body.
--- p.7
My mother felt that the piece I was carrying was not a trace of a stray cell or a teratoma, but rather her own bone, and she became convinced that I had stolen a piece of her bone when I was born.
Everyone, including the doctors and family, tried to convince her that it couldn't happen and that it was biologically impossible, but Mom was stubborn.
I don't know what you did, but these bones are mine.
He said, holding up the bone fragments the hospital had returned to him.
He took my bones.
--- p.9
What captivated me while I was stealing was a vast sense of peace and security.
Whenever I shoplifted something the size of my palm in a crowded store in the heart of Myeongdong or Gangnam, I felt like I was standing on a pristine green meadow.
The moment I put the freshly stolen goods in my pocket, I could hear the flapping of the wings of a flock of birds just taking flight.
Only when I stole was I truly safe, and only then was I truly free.
--- p.22
How did you see me stealing?
I just saw it.
So I told him to put it back.
When did you see it? When I looked at it? When I picked it up? When I put it in my pocket?
I watched it from the beginning.
I croaked and cried again.
--- p.29
I have something to show you.
Seongjun turned the black backpack he carried around every day towards the front.
He opened his pocket and took out a box with a very careless and slow gesture.
It was a lidded box, translucent like glass and bumpy like a stress ball.
The size seemed similar to a proposal ring box.
Seongjun opened the lid of the box and showed it to me, who was dumbfounded.
plastic eyes
This one met my eyes.
--- p.39
All my life, I have held in my arms the talents that I consider most precious, and have stolen nothing but worthless and worthless things.
I have never once put myself and my talents before a true judge.
I was a petty thief.
--- pp.55-56
Swallowed by mistake.
The more I think about that expression, the more I cough and gag.
The pain in my throat is so intense that I've accidentally swallowed something I've stolen for the first time, and that it's gone from my grasp forever.
And at that moment, I realized with my whole body how sad it is to lose something.
First
thievery
It was done inside someone else's body.
--- p.7
My mother felt that the piece I was carrying was not a trace of a stray cell or a teratoma, but rather her own bone, and she became convinced that I had stolen a piece of her bone when I was born.
Everyone, including the doctors and family, tried to convince her that it couldn't happen and that it was biologically impossible, but Mom was stubborn.
I don't know what you did, but these bones are mine.
He said, holding up the bone fragments the hospital had returned to him.
He took my bones.
--- p.9
What captivated me while I was stealing was a vast sense of peace and security.
Whenever I shoplifted something the size of my palm in a crowded store in the heart of Myeongdong or Gangnam, I felt like I was standing on a pristine green meadow.
The moment I put the freshly stolen goods in my pocket, I could hear the flapping of the wings of a flock of birds just taking flight.
Only when I stole was I truly safe, and only then was I truly free.
--- p.22
How did you see me stealing?
I just saw it.
So I told him to put it back.
When did you see it? When I looked at it? When I picked it up? When I put it in my pocket?
I watched it from the beginning.
I croaked and cried again.
--- p.29
I have something to show you.
Seongjun turned the black backpack he carried around every day towards the front.
He opened his pocket and took out a box with a very careless and slow gesture.
It was a lidded box, translucent like glass and bumpy like a stress ball.
The size seemed similar to a proposal ring box.
Seongjun opened the lid of the box and showed it to me, who was dumbfounded.
plastic eyes
This one met my eyes.
--- p.39
All my life, I have held in my arms the talents that I consider most precious, and have stolen nothing but worthless and worthless things.
I have never once put myself and my talents before a true judge.
I was a petty thief.
--- pp.55-56
Swallowed by mistake.
The more I think about that expression, the more I cough and gag.
The pain in my throat is so intense that I've accidentally swallowed something I've stolen for the first time, and that it's gone from my grasp forever.
And at that moment, I realized with my whole body how sad it is to lose something.
--- pp.69-70
Publisher's Review
“Only when I stole something was I truly safe.”
A new novel by Ham Yun, winner of the Young Writer's Award and the Munji Literary Award
The lonely coming-of-age story of a little thief beside us, filled with a void that grows emptier the more we fill it.
“Slyly, naturally, sometimes evasively, sometimes quickly” (literary critic Lee Hee-woo) “Delicate comfort that only literature can provide” is written with pure, hard sentences. Winner of the Young Writer’s Award and the Munji Literary Award, author Ham Yun-i’s new work “Growing Up as a Cattle Thief” is being published in the Wisdom House Wepick series.
'I' am born with a small, white bone fragment, but enough to fill a newborn's fist.
The medical team explained to Mom that it could be a calcified cell that was shed during embryonic development, or a teratoma that the fetus originally had, but Mom didn't believe them and is convinced that I stole part of your bone.
I can't remember, but hearing the story, I have a feeling that it was my first time stealing.
As a child, I would steal anything that I could hold in both hands, like a kumquat stolen from the market or a cushion that the soccer team members took turns using, as if testing my limits. As an adult, I was caught by Sungjun for the first time while trying to steal chocolate from someone who was sleeping face down in the library.
Having lived my life believing that stealing was my identity, I was completely devastated by Seongjun's arrest. And just as I was wondering why Seongjun would appear from nowhere and stop me whenever I tried to steal something, I happened to open a fancy-looking ring box that he slowly handed me.
What I encountered inside were shiny plastic eyes.
Afterwards, the author, who is Seongjun's twin brother, appears and asks me if I can steal Seongjun's 'mother's eyes'...
From "The Returning Bear," which features a bear lonelier than a lonely person, to "Latitude and Longitude," a vast love story lost in the far reaches of space, to "When Our Enemies Climb," which captures the drifting of life, uncertain of where to land, in the image of a flock of eagles gliding aimlessly.
The author persistently reminds us that we are bound to give in to loneliness, whether alone or in groups, across time and space, as well as across species.
Is that why?
The only talent given to him by God is 'stealing', but he never becomes a great thief. Instead, he steals only worthless things that can fit in a closet. It is heartbreaking to see the protagonist.
Because we come to know that each and every one of the things she stole is another name for 'loneliness', that she has poured loneliness into the gaping wound like sand, and that this is who we are.
Will this small-time thief, whose luggage is stolen in a foreign land and left naked, be able to move forward, leaving behind the loneliness of being "stolen"? Will he be able to confront the sense of deprivation that "was someone else's, but now completely mine"? As the author states in the novel's note, upon reading, you'll find yourself wishing "he would move forward with all his might."
“I think it will definitely affect us too.”
A special experience of breathing deeply into a single story
Beginning in November 2022, Wisdom House will be introducing the most diverse and newest stories of Korean literature, one per week, through its short story serial project, "Weekly Fiction."
Over the past year, 50 stories have been loved by readers, including Gu Byeong-mo's "Shred," Jo Ye-eun's "Waiting for the High Tide," Ahn Dam's "The Girl Grows Alone," and Choi Jin-young's "Aurora."
The Wepick series publishes serialized novels in this way, and rather than the conventional method of binding together several short stories, it takes the unusual approach of composing a book with only one short story, giving readers the special experience of breathing deeply into each story.
Wepick is not bound by any criteria or distinctions such as material or format, and focuses solely on the completeness of a single story.
Through novels by a variety of authors, including novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, and youth literature writers, we break down genres and boundaries, expanding the possibilities and enjoyment of stories.
Following the 50 episodes of Season 1, Season 2 is filled with even newer writers and stories.
Season 2 will feature writers Kang Hwa-gil, Lim Seon-woo, Dan Yo, Jeong Bo-ra, Kim Bo-young, Lee Mi-sang, Kim Hwa-jin, Jeong I-hyeon, and Lim Sol-ah.
Additionally, Season 2 will include author interviews to tell various stories inside and outside of the work, further enriching the 50-story festival.
Introducing the Wepick Series
Wepick is a short story series from Wisdom House.
It offers a special experience of breathing deeply into ‘one story’.
I dream that this small piece will become a new piece that expands your world, that each small piece will come together to become your story, and that it will become a piece of literature that will be deeply engraved in your heart.
A Piece of Literature, Wepick
Koo Byung-mo's "Shred"
Lee Hee-joo's "Mayumi"
Yoon Ja-young's "Grandma's Tteokbokki Recipe"
Park So-yeon's "Crowded but Secretive"
Kim Ki-chang's "The Visitor on Christmas Eve"
Lee Jong-san's "Blue Marble"
Kwak Jae-sik's "The End of Space War"
Kim Dong-sik's "The Hundred Buttons"
Bae Ye-ram, "I Will Be Under the Water"
Lee So-ho's "My Crazy Neighbor"
Oh Han-gi's "My Happy Parenting Diary"
Jo Ye-eun's "Waiting for High Tide"
Dojinki 《Animation》
Park Sol-moe's "Girlfriends of the Far East"
Jeong Hye-yoon's "Workshop for People Who Want to Feel at Peace"
Hwangmogwa's "10 Seconds Forever"
Kim Hee-sun in "Samcheok, Immortal"
Choi Jeong-hwa's "Botross Report"
Jeong Hae-yeon's "Model"
Jeong I-dam's "Flower of Reincarnation"
Moon Ji-hyuk's "Christmas Carousel"
Kim Mok-in, Marcel Accordion Club
Jeon Geon-woo's "Ange"
Choi Yang-seon's "Shadow Butterfly"
Lee Ha-jin's "The Grave of Probability"
All of them are sweet and earnest
Lee Yuri, "Can You Sleep?"
Sim Neul's "Oh My, My Mom Kidnapped the Spaceship"
Choi Hyun-sook, "Women of Changsin-dong"
Yeonyeom 《Limited 2nd Semester Book Club》
Seo Mi-ae's "My Girlfriend"
Kim Won-young's "Our Climbing"
Jeong Ji-don, "Deaths That Cannot Be Called Modern"
Lee Seo-su's "What My First Love Left for My Sister"
Lee Kyung-hee's "Knot Organizer"
Song Kyung-ah's "Rainbow Pet Columbarium"
Hyeon Ho-jeong's "Three Colors"
Kim Hyun, Unique Form
Kim Yi-hwan, "A Better Human"
Lee Min-jin's "Muching"
Ahn Dam "Girls Grow Up Alone"
Jo Hyun-ah's "The Clown's Livelihood"
Kim Hyo-in's "Refresh"
Jeon Hye-jin's "Cutting the Gordian Knot"
Kim Cheong-gyul's "Dehumidifier Diet"
Choi Ui-taek's "Nontunneling"
Kim Yu-dam's "Space M"
Jeon Sam-hye's "The Road to Myself"
Choi Jin-young's "Aurora"
Lee Hyuk-jin's "The Most Perfect Drive"
Kang Hwa-gil's "Young-hee and James"
Lee Moon-young's "Lucas"
Hyeonchan Yang, "For Queen Inhyeon's Return to the Royal Palace"
Cha Hyun-ji's "Different Days"
Kim Seong-jung's "Mole Man"
Kim Seo-hae's "Rabiu and Ring"
Lim Seon-woo's "0000"
Dew Na 《Bari》
Han Yu-ri's "Immortal Injeolmi"
Han Jeong-hyeon, "Love and Union, Chapter 0"
Wi Su-jeong's "The Turkey is Hidden"
Cheon Hee-ran, Author's Note
Information on "Window"
Lee Ju-ran's "At That Time"
Kim Bo-young's "It's a Wild Thing"
Lee Ju-hye's "The Room with the Chinese Parrot"
Jeong Dae-geon, Buonissimo, Naples
Kim Hee-jae, "Mars and the Attempt of Creativity"
Dan Yo "Verbena Beyond the Wall"
Moon Bo-young's "The Sad You Who Knows the Name of a Bird"
Park Seo-ryeon's "Body Body"
Geum Jeong-yeon, "Everyone's Sunday"
Park Yi-kang's "Job Interview"
Kim Na-hyun's "Universe of Premonition"
Kim Hwa-jin, "I Want to Be a Frog"
Kwon Kim Hyun-young's "Neither the Recipient nor the Sender, CC"
Bae Myung's "Summer of Gyehwa"
Lee Du-on's "The Disease That Kills You If You Don't Spend Money"
Kim Ji-yeon's "New Year's Practice"
Jo Woo-ri's "The Four Books of Suffering"
Yesoyeon's "Noisy Whispers"
Lee Jang-wook's "The World of Superhumans"
Seong Hae-na, "When We Are Born and Die Ten Times"
Jang Jin-young's "Kim Yong-ho"
Lee Yeon-sook's "Dad's Novel"
Seo Yije "Let's Dance Like a Fool"
Kwon Hee-jin's "First, Believe"
Jeong I-hyeon, "The Living Person"
Ham Yun-i's "The Story of a Cattle Thief Growing Up"
Baek Se-hee's "The Testament of Barcelona"
Lee Hyun-seok's "The Age of Confession"
A new novel by Ham Yun, winner of the Young Writer's Award and the Munji Literary Award
The lonely coming-of-age story of a little thief beside us, filled with a void that grows emptier the more we fill it.
“Slyly, naturally, sometimes evasively, sometimes quickly” (literary critic Lee Hee-woo) “Delicate comfort that only literature can provide” is written with pure, hard sentences. Winner of the Young Writer’s Award and the Munji Literary Award, author Ham Yun-i’s new work “Growing Up as a Cattle Thief” is being published in the Wisdom House Wepick series.
'I' am born with a small, white bone fragment, but enough to fill a newborn's fist.
The medical team explained to Mom that it could be a calcified cell that was shed during embryonic development, or a teratoma that the fetus originally had, but Mom didn't believe them and is convinced that I stole part of your bone.
I can't remember, but hearing the story, I have a feeling that it was my first time stealing.
As a child, I would steal anything that I could hold in both hands, like a kumquat stolen from the market or a cushion that the soccer team members took turns using, as if testing my limits. As an adult, I was caught by Sungjun for the first time while trying to steal chocolate from someone who was sleeping face down in the library.
Having lived my life believing that stealing was my identity, I was completely devastated by Seongjun's arrest. And just as I was wondering why Seongjun would appear from nowhere and stop me whenever I tried to steal something, I happened to open a fancy-looking ring box that he slowly handed me.
What I encountered inside were shiny plastic eyes.
Afterwards, the author, who is Seongjun's twin brother, appears and asks me if I can steal Seongjun's 'mother's eyes'...
From "The Returning Bear," which features a bear lonelier than a lonely person, to "Latitude and Longitude," a vast love story lost in the far reaches of space, to "When Our Enemies Climb," which captures the drifting of life, uncertain of where to land, in the image of a flock of eagles gliding aimlessly.
The author persistently reminds us that we are bound to give in to loneliness, whether alone or in groups, across time and space, as well as across species.
Is that why?
The only talent given to him by God is 'stealing', but he never becomes a great thief. Instead, he steals only worthless things that can fit in a closet. It is heartbreaking to see the protagonist.
Because we come to know that each and every one of the things she stole is another name for 'loneliness', that she has poured loneliness into the gaping wound like sand, and that this is who we are.
Will this small-time thief, whose luggage is stolen in a foreign land and left naked, be able to move forward, leaving behind the loneliness of being "stolen"? Will he be able to confront the sense of deprivation that "was someone else's, but now completely mine"? As the author states in the novel's note, upon reading, you'll find yourself wishing "he would move forward with all his might."
“I think it will definitely affect us too.”
A special experience of breathing deeply into a single story
Beginning in November 2022, Wisdom House will be introducing the most diverse and newest stories of Korean literature, one per week, through its short story serial project, "Weekly Fiction."
Over the past year, 50 stories have been loved by readers, including Gu Byeong-mo's "Shred," Jo Ye-eun's "Waiting for the High Tide," Ahn Dam's "The Girl Grows Alone," and Choi Jin-young's "Aurora."
The Wepick series publishes serialized novels in this way, and rather than the conventional method of binding together several short stories, it takes the unusual approach of composing a book with only one short story, giving readers the special experience of breathing deeply into each story.
Wepick is not bound by any criteria or distinctions such as material or format, and focuses solely on the completeness of a single story.
Through novels by a variety of authors, including novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, and youth literature writers, we break down genres and boundaries, expanding the possibilities and enjoyment of stories.
Following the 50 episodes of Season 1, Season 2 is filled with even newer writers and stories.
Season 2 will feature writers Kang Hwa-gil, Lim Seon-woo, Dan Yo, Jeong Bo-ra, Kim Bo-young, Lee Mi-sang, Kim Hwa-jin, Jeong I-hyeon, and Lim Sol-ah.
Additionally, Season 2 will include author interviews to tell various stories inside and outside of the work, further enriching the 50-story festival.
Introducing the Wepick Series
Wepick is a short story series from Wisdom House.
It offers a special experience of breathing deeply into ‘one story’.
I dream that this small piece will become a new piece that expands your world, that each small piece will come together to become your story, and that it will become a piece of literature that will be deeply engraved in your heart.
A Piece of Literature, Wepick
Koo Byung-mo's "Shred"
Lee Hee-joo's "Mayumi"
Yoon Ja-young's "Grandma's Tteokbokki Recipe"
Park So-yeon's "Crowded but Secretive"
Kim Ki-chang's "The Visitor on Christmas Eve"
Lee Jong-san's "Blue Marble"
Kwak Jae-sik's "The End of Space War"
Kim Dong-sik's "The Hundred Buttons"
Bae Ye-ram, "I Will Be Under the Water"
Lee So-ho's "My Crazy Neighbor"
Oh Han-gi's "My Happy Parenting Diary"
Jo Ye-eun's "Waiting for High Tide"
Dojinki 《Animation》
Park Sol-moe's "Girlfriends of the Far East"
Jeong Hye-yoon's "Workshop for People Who Want to Feel at Peace"
Hwangmogwa's "10 Seconds Forever"
Kim Hee-sun in "Samcheok, Immortal"
Choi Jeong-hwa's "Botross Report"
Jeong Hae-yeon's "Model"
Jeong I-dam's "Flower of Reincarnation"
Moon Ji-hyuk's "Christmas Carousel"
Kim Mok-in, Marcel Accordion Club
Jeon Geon-woo's "Ange"
Choi Yang-seon's "Shadow Butterfly"
Lee Ha-jin's "The Grave of Probability"
All of them are sweet and earnest
Lee Yuri, "Can You Sleep?"
Sim Neul's "Oh My, My Mom Kidnapped the Spaceship"
Choi Hyun-sook, "Women of Changsin-dong"
Yeonyeom 《Limited 2nd Semester Book Club》
Seo Mi-ae's "My Girlfriend"
Kim Won-young's "Our Climbing"
Jeong Ji-don, "Deaths That Cannot Be Called Modern"
Lee Seo-su's "What My First Love Left for My Sister"
Lee Kyung-hee's "Knot Organizer"
Song Kyung-ah's "Rainbow Pet Columbarium"
Hyeon Ho-jeong's "Three Colors"
Kim Hyun, Unique Form
Kim Yi-hwan, "A Better Human"
Lee Min-jin's "Muching"
Ahn Dam "Girls Grow Up Alone"
Jo Hyun-ah's "The Clown's Livelihood"
Kim Hyo-in's "Refresh"
Jeon Hye-jin's "Cutting the Gordian Knot"
Kim Cheong-gyul's "Dehumidifier Diet"
Choi Ui-taek's "Nontunneling"
Kim Yu-dam's "Space M"
Jeon Sam-hye's "The Road to Myself"
Choi Jin-young's "Aurora"
Lee Hyuk-jin's "The Most Perfect Drive"
Kang Hwa-gil's "Young-hee and James"
Lee Moon-young's "Lucas"
Hyeonchan Yang, "For Queen Inhyeon's Return to the Royal Palace"
Cha Hyun-ji's "Different Days"
Kim Seong-jung's "Mole Man"
Kim Seo-hae's "Rabiu and Ring"
Lim Seon-woo's "0000"
Dew Na 《Bari》
Han Yu-ri's "Immortal Injeolmi"
Han Jeong-hyeon, "Love and Union, Chapter 0"
Wi Su-jeong's "The Turkey is Hidden"
Cheon Hee-ran, Author's Note
Information on "Window"
Lee Ju-ran's "At That Time"
Kim Bo-young's "It's a Wild Thing"
Lee Ju-hye's "The Room with the Chinese Parrot"
Jeong Dae-geon, Buonissimo, Naples
Kim Hee-jae, "Mars and the Attempt of Creativity"
Dan Yo "Verbena Beyond the Wall"
Moon Bo-young's "The Sad You Who Knows the Name of a Bird"
Park Seo-ryeon's "Body Body"
Geum Jeong-yeon, "Everyone's Sunday"
Park Yi-kang's "Job Interview"
Kim Na-hyun's "Universe of Premonition"
Kim Hwa-jin, "I Want to Be a Frog"
Kwon Kim Hyun-young's "Neither the Recipient nor the Sender, CC"
Bae Myung's "Summer of Gyehwa"
Lee Du-on's "The Disease That Kills You If You Don't Spend Money"
Kim Ji-yeon's "New Year's Practice"
Jo Woo-ri's "The Four Books of Suffering"
Yesoyeon's "Noisy Whispers"
Lee Jang-wook's "The World of Superhumans"
Seong Hae-na, "When We Are Born and Die Ten Times"
Jang Jin-young's "Kim Yong-ho"
Lee Yeon-sook's "Dad's Novel"
Seo Yije "Let's Dance Like a Fool"
Kwon Hee-jin's "First, Believe"
Jeong I-hyeon, "The Living Person"
Ham Yun-i's "The Story of a Cattle Thief Growing Up"
Baek Se-hee's "The Testament of Barcelona"
Lee Hyun-seok's "The Age of Confession"
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: June 18, 2025
- Format: Hardcover book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 112 pages | 188g | 100*180*14mm
- ISBN13: 9791171714377
- ISBN10: 1171714378
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