Just as there is no heart without sorrow
Landscapes of the Field of the Heart 15
'I' to 'me' 18
Open the window 20
Open the door of your heart 26
Sorry Time 32
Evening bell 36
A single green tree on a sandy ridge 40
See Matter as Dust 44
Period and First Thought 52

If I could live by the starlight
A Drop of Rain 59
The Road to See with Your Eyes Closed 63
New age one year old 68
Thinking of the Sea 71
A Life of Desperation 74
There is no one without heartache 77
Life 82
Five Postcards 85
Bullet 91 called 'Moment'
Your stop 94

I look at you like I'm looking at a white cloud
99 Things I Love
The Unfading Fragrance 102
Grandma 105
Sleeping on a Stone 111
The soil is really good 114
Rusting of the Body 121
It's so clear 124
Love from Small Things 129
A Fragrance More Beautiful Than Flowers 134
One Star's Comfort 139

I want to stand in the middle of the green
Autumn Rain 145
Thinking of Water 149
Flowers and Silence 153
The Longing Scent of Wild Grass 156
Looking at the fallen leaves 159
Dawn Letter 162
Looking at Chae Song-hwa 164
Wildflower 167
The ground looks like a seventeen-year-old girl's face just after washing her face. 171
Watercolor of an Autumn Day 176
Open the eye within the eye 189

A book containing the essence of Jeong Chae-bong's prose, "First Heart"
He never lost his original heart until the last moment of his life.
Jeong Chae-bong's clear moment

Jeong Chae-bong believed that in the harsh and difficult reality, many people lose their original heart and purity and become obsessed with worldly desires, falling into suffering.
He wanted to comfort and console the hearts of those who were burned by life through his writing.
I hoped to bring back some of what we have lost into simple sentences, so that they would naturally seep into the hearts of readers without preaching or enlightening them.
Sister Lee Hae-in said, “Innocence is the mother of prayer, directly connected to purity, chastity, and truthfulness that transcends mere naivety and childishness,” and so “it is a value of longing that we long to regain even as adults.”
It is not unrelated that Jeong Chae-bong's will to delve into the world of innocence led to the literary achievement of 'adult fairy tales'.

In the 20th anniversary commemorative prose collection “First Heart,” we aim to shed light on his world of work across a wider spectrum, not limited to fairy tales.
We selected four themes that run through his literature: heart ('As there is no one without sorrow'), will to live ('If I could live relying on starlight'), people ('Looking at you as if looking at white clouds'), and nature ('I want to stand in full green'), and selected clear writings that do not fade with the passage of time, writings that anyone can relate to and find comfort in.

The first chapter, "No One Without Sorrow," talks about cherishing the emotional scars we experience in life and cultivating a strong yet humble heart.
In the second chapter, 'If I Could Live by the Starlight', you can see the self-reflective side of the author, who reveals his will to live even after being diagnosed with liver cancer and reflects on life in a clear handwriting even while on his sickbed.
The third chapter, 'Looking at You as if Looking at a White Cloud', delicately captures the wisdom of life gained from interacting with contemporary giants such as Cardinal Kim Su-hwan, Monk Beopjeong, Sister Lee Hae-in, and essayist Pi Cheon-deuk.
The film also contains the human heart of Jeong Chae-bong, who is moved by the ordinary moments of people around him, such as his grandmother who protected him during his childhood, Mr. Gombo, and the people of Nongbawitgol in Mungyeong.
The last chapter, 'I want to stand in the green,' contains his attitude of pursuing humility and a natural life as a mere human being before nature.
Readers will feel a warmth deep within their hearts, filled with Jeong Chae-bong's refined writing style and unique sensibility, no matter which page they turn to in this book.


In clear and transparent language
Swallowing a piece of solid sadness

“At sunset, I climbed up an apricot tree and looked at the sunset. I felt sad for some reason, and tears welled up in my eyes as I looked out at the alleyway.
“I can say that the alleyways of my hometown were the first fields where I sowed the seeds of waiting, of longing, of farawayness in my empty heart.” (p. 16)
If there is an emotion that runs consistently through his work, it would be 'sorrow'.
He lost his mother at an early age, and lost contact with his father, so he was raised by his grandmother.
A quiet, introverted personality and the deprivations of his childhood allowed him to gradually carve out his own literary world.
“The lonely environment actually allowed me to think a lot on my own, and instead of being able to hang out with friends, I was able to observe nature and make friends, which helped me become emotionally richer.
“In fact, much of what I write is indebted to fragments of childhood memories.” (From the text of “The Childlike Heart Returning to Mother’s Arms”) The keywords mother, sea, and hometown, which frequently appear in the 40 or so works he left behind, were like the roots of his creations that his language ultimately reached.


“In the womb, I heard the waves and the songs of seagulls through my mother’s ears, I breathed in the scent of the sea through my mother’s nose, and I saw the sea with the rising and setting sun, the sea with rain, and the sea with snow through my mother’s eyes.
“And so, from the moment I left my mother’s room, where there were no tears, and entered the world of tears, the real sea followed me, knowingly or unknowingly.” (p. 74)

“When I lived in a seaside village, I never knew what was lacking like the sea.
It didn't even overflow.
The sadness of that day ended that day, and the joy of that day ended that day.
“My heart was always filled with a song like the sound of waves, and even if sadness came, it would quickly disappear with a trivial laugh, like ants fighting each other.” (p. 75)

How about taking a moment to rest in the author's language, which whispers the simple truths of life in comforting words at every difficult moment in life that everyone experiences?
The simple heart of Jeong Chae-bong, who admired the simplicity of the sea, saying, “The sadness of that day ends with the sadness of that day, and the joy also ends with that day,” will resonate deeply with readers.