I owe you forever 9
Work Commentary 128
Author's Note 144

In his fifth year since debuting, he is the novelist whose future is most anticipated!

Ye So-yeon, who debuted in 2021 with 『Modern Literature』, received rave reviews for her complete narrative, vividly moving characters, universal themes and specific ways of expressing them, and sophisticated plots, heralding the birth of a major writer with the praise that she “possesses all the virtues of a novel’s characters and short stories” (Kim Mi-wol).
Since her debut, she has published the short story collection “Love and Defects” and the full-length novel “Cats and Desert Sisters,” winning the [Golden Dragon Literary Award] and the [Munji Literary Award]. She has also been selected as the author of the “Novel of the Year” by 50 Novelists in 2025, and has been developing her own solid literary world.
In particular, 『Love and Defects』, which depicts a world of love that is so realistic that it is even heterogeneous, “violent and harsh” (So Yu-jeong), received full support from contemporary readers and established Yesoyeon as a leading writer in name and reality.
"In Debt to Eternity" is another story about us, told by popular author Ye So-yeon, who honestly portrays characters who are exposed to the violence of the world and are sometimes wounded, even evoking a sense of deja vu in readers.


"Novel of the Year Chosen by 50 Novelists" by author Ye So-yeon
Sometimes what you don't forget is eternity!

Hye-ran, Na (Dong), and Seok became friends while going on an overseas volunteer program to the Paul School in Phnom Penh.
The three of them, who were busy teaching children, were enjoying a rare peaceful time on the anniversary of the opening of Paul School when they witnessed a ship sinking in Korea.
“A sense of betrayal and unspeakable shame rear their heads from time to time” (page 33). The three, who feel powerless and unable to do anything, look back on the four months of their lives that were packaged under the name of “service.”
In the process, Hye-ran tries to relieve her suffering by becoming absorbed in religion, and Seok-i tries to heal his wounds by sharing his feelings with 'Ppissat', a student at Paul School.


One day, after returning to Korea and living their own lives, Dong-i and Hye-ran neglect each other. When they hear that Seok has gone missing, they set off for Cambodia without a plan to find him.
The two, who heard an unexpected story from 'Ppisseut' whom they met while searching for clues to the disappearance, set out for Phi Phi Island in search of Seok-i's traces, and there, they realize that "we thought we were running hard toward the future, but in fact, it was just a journey caught up in the past, that we mistook it for the future" and "In other words, it was not I who came here, but this place that came to me..." (p. 111), and finally face their own wounded hearts that they thought they had forgotten.


Dong-i and Hye-ran, who were “people who easily close their eyes to things that did not directly implicate them” (p. 94), admit that they cannot live without relying on others and cannot live without being indebted to each other, and decide not to turn away from the experience and sadness of loss that has helplessly destroyed “themselves.”
It is a story of comforting each other by recalling past memories that implicated each other.


“Each sorrow has its own weight.
And it's heavy.
There is a sorrow so heavy that it is impossible to fathom its weight.
Such sadness overwhelms the sea.
So it can't sink.
That is the only truth that will not sink.
(……) So, their journey is a reenactment of the irreversible ship ‘again’ floating on the surface of the water.
The weight of sadness that must be brought up to the bedside of memory and resurrected forever, never to be forgotten, is simply heavy.
“This novel is an unforgettable resolution, an ethics of consideration that weighs the weight of sorrow, and a heart of debt.” (Hwang Yu-ji)

Loss is not something that can be overcome,
It's not something that needs to be overcome

Empathy certainly connects me with others, but its scope rarely extends beyond the limits of my own vision and mind.
This novel questions these limitations, asking how our imagination and empathy can transcend the limits of “I” or “we” and reach “eternity.”
This does not mean that we are advocating for an empty and abstract imperative that is detached from our lives.
The novel blurs the inertial distinctions between my work and others', near and far, present and past, and attempts to show that they are not distinct at all.
Present and past events, near and distant sorrows, individual anguish and collective mourning, domestic and foreign disasters are woven together like a web in the stories of friends.
- Lee Hee-woo, from “Work Commentary”

The fifty-fourth volume of "Pin Novels," published by the monthly magazine "Modern Literature"!

The "Modern Literature Pin Series" is a project that selects the most modern and cutting-edge writers of contemporary Korean literature, presents them in the monthly magazine "Modern Literature," and then publishes them in book form.
The single volumes presented here are both individual works and curated as a ‘series.’
Modern literature hopes that the seriousness of this series will be ironically combined with the delicate lightness of the word 'pin'.

The "Modern Literature Pin Series Novel Selection" is published quarterly by the monthly magazine "Modern Literature," and is designed to allow readers to encounter new works by Korea's top authors on a set date.


Books that have been published or are scheduled to be published are as follows.

001 Hye-young Pyeon, "Let the Dead Be" (published April 25, 2018)
002 Park Hyung-seo's "Your Old Age" (published May 25, 2018)
003 Kim Kyung-wook, "The Man Looking in the Mirror" (published June 25, 2018)
004 Yoon Seong-hee's "First Sentence" (published July 25, 2018)
005 Lee Ki-ho, "The Mokyang-myeon Arson Incident: The Full Story" (published August 25, 2018)
006 Jeong Yi-hyeon, "To All the Unknown Gods" (published September 25, 2018)
007 Jeong Yong-jun's "Ghost" (published October 25, 2018)
008 Kim Geum-hee's "My Love, Maggie" (published November 25, 2018)
009 Kim Seong-jung's "Isla" (published December 25, 2018)
010 Son Bo-mi, "The God of Coincidence" (Published January 25, 2019)
011 Baek Su-rin, "Dear, Dear" (Published February 25, 2019)
012 Eunmi Choi, "Yesterday was Spring" (published March 25, 2019)
013 Kim In-sook's "Cherry Blossom Universe" (published April 25, 2019)
014 Lee Hye-kyung, "Wetlands of Memory" (published May 25, 2019)
015 Lim Cheol-woo, "Whispering to the Stone Wall" (published June 25, 2019)
016 Choi Yun, "Blue Gate" (published July 25, 2019)
017 Lee Seung-woo's "Cantan" (published August 25, 2019)
018 Ha Seong-ran's "A Christmas Carol" (published September 25, 2019)
019 Lim Hyeon, "You and I Are Different" (Published October 25, 2019)
020 Jeong Ji-don's "Diary of a Night Watchman" (published November 25, 2019)
Park Min-jeong, "West German Aunt" (December 25, 2019)
022 Choi Jeong-hwa, "Memory Exchange" (January 25, 2020)
023 Kim Eom-ji, "Firecracker Grave" (February 25, 2020)
024 Kim Hye-jin, "Fire and My Autobiography" (March 25, 2020)
025 Lee Young-do's "Mart Story: Siha and Kanta's Chapter" (April 25, 2020)
026 Dew Na "I Was in Arcadia Too" (May 25, 2020)
027 Jo Hyun, "I, the Guardian of Ephemera" (June 25, 2020)
028 Baek Min-seok's "Plastic Man" (July 25, 2020)
029 Kim Hee-sun, "Until Death Do Us Part" (August 25, 2020)
030 Choi Je-hoon, "Just a Murderer" (September 25, 2020)
031 Jeong So-hyeon, "The Perpetrators" (October 25, 2020)
032 Seo Yu-mi, "What We Lost" (December 25, 2020)
033 Choi Jin-young's "The Dream I Become" (February 25, 2021)
034 Gu Byeong-mo, "Poetry of Needles and Leather" (April 25, 2021)
035 Kim Mi-wol, "A Week in the World" (June 25, 2021)
036 Yoon Go-eun's "Library Runway" (August 25, 2021)
037 Woo Da-young, "In the North Sea" (October 25, 2021)
038 Kim Cho-yeop, "Mremosa" (December 25, 2021)
039 Oh Han-gi, "A Good Day for a Walk" (February 25, 2022)
040 Seo Su-jin's "Eugene and Dave" (April 25, 2022)
041 Han Jeong-hyeon's "Mago: Three Female Suspects Implicated in the Murder of Professor Yoon Park During the US Military Government" (June 25, 2022)
042 Lee Ju-ran, "Me on a Certain Day" (August 25, 2022)
043 Cheon Seon-ran, "Rang and My Desert" (October 25, 2022)
044 Lee Seo-su, "Body and Women" (December 25, 2022)
045 Cheon Hee-ran's "K's Funeral" (February 25, 2023)
046 Moon Jin-young's "Ding" (April 25, 2023)
047 Im Sol-ah, "Like a Beast" (June 25, 2023)
048 Kang Hwa-gil's "Pull-Up" (August 25, 2023)
049 Kim Ji-yeon, "The Smell of the Beginning" (October 25, 2023)
050 Lee Jang-wook's "The Hot Sea and Addicts of June" (January 25, 2024)
051 Kim Sol, "Walking Between the Lines" (April 25, 2024)
052 Kim Mela's "Book of Joy" (July 25, 2024)
053 An Bo-yoon, "Jeon Soo-mi of Everywhere in the World" (October 25, 2024)
054 Yesoyeon, "In Debt to Eternity" (January 25, 2025)
055 Park Ji-young (Geun-gan)
056 Above correction (basic)

Modern Literature × Artist Seoknam Yoon

The "Modern Literature Pin Series" has become an original novel collection, an art anthology, reconstructed as a special work of art with a cover work imbued with the artist's soul.
The reason each novel possesses its own unique fragrance and profound artistic fascination is probably because of the spiritual harmony created by the meeting of the two worlds of novels and art.

Author's Note

"In Debt to Eternity" is the story of a group of people who set out to find a missing friend.
It's a story about how people realize that they are connected to each other only after leaving behind the traces of the person who disappeared.
Although involvement is inevitable, I believe it is our duty to look into all the beings involved without losing sight of them.

I hope that you will continue to mourn the dead, even if only for a little while.
When I look out the car window at the clear sky, when the birds fly high, when I make a promise to myself that I will become a strong person in the future… … I call out the name of the dead person in my heart.
I believe that only then can the living live and the dead live.
But as time goes by, memories will gradually fade.
Still, I will try to hold on to it till the end.
I think I can do that much.