Records of what remains
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Description
Book Introduction
“We will remember you” [You Quiz on the Block], [15 Minutes to Change the World], [Good Morning] Hot Topic Estate Managers to Help You Move to Heaven A record of a loving send-off written by Kim Sae-byeol Seven years after the bestseller "Things Left Behind" Kim Sae-byeol and Jeon Ae-won, estate organizers who organize the last traces left behind by the departed, have returned with the sequel, “Record of Things Left Behind,” which contains stories from seven years after the publication of “Things Left Behind.” The author, who has been organizing the final resting places of those who have passed away alone for over 25 years, still feels a sense of sadness and sorrow whenever he organizes the belongings that speak for themselves. The reason he once again tells the story of seeing off ordinary neighbors around us is clear. Like the previous installment, it addresses the meaning of life and death, and the alarm about the loneliness that can strike anyone. However, this installment, "Records of What Remains," contains a stronger hope that we can become a gentle fence that protects one another. As we live our hectic and burdensome daily lives without even having the time to look around, there are times when we find ourselves losing sight of the preciousness of life and even our will to live. For us, the new book, "Records of What Remains," will provide a poignant moment of reflection, allowing us to reflect on what truly holds value for us, the preciousness of life, and the presence of the precious people around us. |
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index
Prologue | A story that begins with the remaining stories
Chapter 1.
Things left behind
Even though our hearts are the same for each other │ The weight of the invisible heart │ A sudden separation │ I still love you, Mom │ Whose sin is greater │ A life burdened with the lives of four people │ Because I can't forgive you for being happy │ A photo I really want to throw away │ People who value money more than life │ When you love and are loved
Chapter 2.
If only I had the strength left to wait for spring to return
A parting that came too soon │ Words that are not easy to say │ The difference between usefulness and uselessness │ The reason we can't control our anger │ Two partings │ Those left behind │ If only there had been no one │ The spring after winter │ I hope you don't go out to meet death
Chapter 3.
Walking through the shadows cast over life
A life lived alone │ Remembering you │ Foolish love │ A life already erased │ Forgetting and living, things that should not be forgotten │ The last wish │ People waiting for death │ I was a mother until the end │ Each person's pain │ A house where life cannot be seen │ Chasing happiness that cannot be caught
Chapter 4.
If only we could join hands before it's too late
People living in disaster │ There is no such adult │ Another name for lonely death │ Climbing up the stairs of hell │ Locking oneself up │ Actually, I wanted to see you │ The tree that gives generously │ Before it's too late
Epilogue | Work for the Living
Appendix | 7 Commandments for Protecting Yourself, as Told by an Estate Organizer
Chapter 1.
Things left behind
Even though our hearts are the same for each other │ The weight of the invisible heart │ A sudden separation │ I still love you, Mom │ Whose sin is greater │ A life burdened with the lives of four people │ Because I can't forgive you for being happy │ A photo I really want to throw away │ People who value money more than life │ When you love and are loved
Chapter 2.
If only I had the strength left to wait for spring to return
A parting that came too soon │ Words that are not easy to say │ The difference between usefulness and uselessness │ The reason we can't control our anger │ Two partings │ Those left behind │ If only there had been no one │ The spring after winter │ I hope you don't go out to meet death
Chapter 3.
Walking through the shadows cast over life
A life lived alone │ Remembering you │ Foolish love │ A life already erased │ Forgetting and living, things that should not be forgotten │ The last wish │ People waiting for death │ I was a mother until the end │ Each person's pain │ A house where life cannot be seen │ Chasing happiness that cannot be caught
Chapter 4.
If only we could join hands before it's too late
People living in disaster │ There is no such adult │ Another name for lonely death │ Climbing up the stairs of hell │ Locking oneself up │ Actually, I wanted to see you │ The tree that gives generously │ Before it's too late
Epilogue | Work for the Living
Appendix | 7 Commandments for Protecting Yourself, as Told by an Estate Organizer
Detailed image
Into the book
Instead of saying “another life has been erased,” I wish we could say “another life has begun again.”
I hope that I can be someone who cheers on someone's new beginning, rather than someone who erases someone's life.
I hope that this book, which started from a story left behind, can become a story of beginnings.
---From the "Prologue"
People cannot all have the same thoughts about other people.
Even if you feel the same way, your actions may be completely opposite, and your consideration for others may leave you hurt or leave you with deep regret.
How much heartache must I feel for the truth that arrived too late.
I was afraid that my family might hate me, that they might feel uncomfortable or burdened by me, that I didn't want to be a burden...
It is so regrettable that we ended the relationship with that mindset and avoided each other, only to later realize that we miss each other.
A world already full of suffering.
We desperately need the courage to say, “Let’s never let go of each other’s hands, whether we’re happy or sad, good times or bad.”
---「Chapter 1.
Among the things left behind
Life also has seasons.
It doesn't last just one season.
The four seasons repeat themselves over and over again.
There are times when we learn something new with enthusiasm, times when we grow dazzlingly, times when we meet good people and have a wonderful time, times when we are frustrated by failure, and times when we wait quietly for the right time.
Life is full of twists and turns, and no one can be sure what awaits them around the corner.
Even in winter, when all you can see are snow-covered mountains and frozen rivers, after that time passes, warm spring comes.
Even in the snow-covered ground, seeds are busy sprouting on their own.
After bundled up and enduring the winter, the warm spring comes quickly.
I feel so sorry for the deceased who passed away without being able to see the coming spring.
---「Chapter 2.
From "If I had the strength left to wait for the spring to return"
Yes, that's right.
Hope is not self-generating.
No matter how hard you try, you'll likely end up exhausted, feeling like you're just rolling on a wheel.
Hope is born when we share and dream together, even if it is just a small thing.
But it wasn't in the deceased's house.
Relationships, conversations, laughter.
I had already lost confidence in my home, cut off from the world, and was frustrated by the sense of loss of being deprived of opportunities in the world.
For those who have closed their hearts tightly, relationships with others have become fear itself.
I was lonely and ended up being eaten by loneliness.
I had to open the door myself and come out, but I forgot how to open the door.
That's how you turn hope into loneliness and die alone.
---「Chapter 3.
From "Walking Through the Shadows Cast on Life"
How wonderful it would be if there were a relationship or system that could briefly look into that despair and give it a breath of fresh air.
How nice it would be if we could be a little window to each other before we were tormented by the smells coming through the veranda wall.
Instead of becoming indifferent to the suffering and death of others, instead of confirming their existence through death, how much stronger it would be if we could become gentle fences for each other while we live.
I hope that the lonely and desperate scenes will be reduced even a little, and that everyone can enjoy even a small blessing at the end of life. Today, too, I quietly fold my hands.
---「Chapter 4.
From "If We Could Hold Hands Before It's Too Late"
My job is to clean the houses of the dead, but in reality, all my actions are directed towards the living.
I once again feel that the best I can do is to diligently raise awareness about lonely deaths in various ways.
What you've done so far hasn't been in vain.
I hope that I can be someone who cheers on someone's new beginning, rather than someone who erases someone's life.
I hope that this book, which started from a story left behind, can become a story of beginnings.
---From the "Prologue"
People cannot all have the same thoughts about other people.
Even if you feel the same way, your actions may be completely opposite, and your consideration for others may leave you hurt or leave you with deep regret.
How much heartache must I feel for the truth that arrived too late.
I was afraid that my family might hate me, that they might feel uncomfortable or burdened by me, that I didn't want to be a burden...
It is so regrettable that we ended the relationship with that mindset and avoided each other, only to later realize that we miss each other.
A world already full of suffering.
We desperately need the courage to say, “Let’s never let go of each other’s hands, whether we’re happy or sad, good times or bad.”
---「Chapter 1.
Among the things left behind
Life also has seasons.
It doesn't last just one season.
The four seasons repeat themselves over and over again.
There are times when we learn something new with enthusiasm, times when we grow dazzlingly, times when we meet good people and have a wonderful time, times when we are frustrated by failure, and times when we wait quietly for the right time.
Life is full of twists and turns, and no one can be sure what awaits them around the corner.
Even in winter, when all you can see are snow-covered mountains and frozen rivers, after that time passes, warm spring comes.
Even in the snow-covered ground, seeds are busy sprouting on their own.
After bundled up and enduring the winter, the warm spring comes quickly.
I feel so sorry for the deceased who passed away without being able to see the coming spring.
---「Chapter 2.
From "If I had the strength left to wait for the spring to return"
Yes, that's right.
Hope is not self-generating.
No matter how hard you try, you'll likely end up exhausted, feeling like you're just rolling on a wheel.
Hope is born when we share and dream together, even if it is just a small thing.
But it wasn't in the deceased's house.
Relationships, conversations, laughter.
I had already lost confidence in my home, cut off from the world, and was frustrated by the sense of loss of being deprived of opportunities in the world.
For those who have closed their hearts tightly, relationships with others have become fear itself.
I was lonely and ended up being eaten by loneliness.
I had to open the door myself and come out, but I forgot how to open the door.
That's how you turn hope into loneliness and die alone.
---「Chapter 3.
From "Walking Through the Shadows Cast on Life"
How wonderful it would be if there were a relationship or system that could briefly look into that despair and give it a breath of fresh air.
How nice it would be if we could be a little window to each other before we were tormented by the smells coming through the veranda wall.
Instead of becoming indifferent to the suffering and death of others, instead of confirming their existence through death, how much stronger it would be if we could become gentle fences for each other while we live.
I hope that the lonely and desperate scenes will be reduced even a little, and that everyone can enjoy even a small blessing at the end of life. Today, too, I quietly fold my hands.
---「Chapter 4.
From "If We Could Hold Hands Before It's Too Late"
My job is to clean the houses of the dead, but in reality, all my actions are directed towards the living.
I once again feel that the best I can do is to diligently raise awareness about lonely deaths in various ways.
What you've done so far hasn't been in vain.
---From "Epilogue_Work for the Living"
Publisher's Review
“Looking back at what is truly precious to us”
Thinking about the meaning of being human in a room where time has stopped
Wherever author Kim Sae-byeol searches, there are people who have faced their final moments alone.
But the relics they left behind show the final moments of their lives, each colored differently.
The lonely end of a middle-aged woman who lived her life by piling up things in her house due to obsessive-compulsive disorder, the young man who wanted to live as a wonderful adult but was eventually crushed by the shadows in his heart and turned his back on the world, the moment when the burning maternal love of an elderly man with dementia who couldn't forget the son he left behind after a divorce and stayed guard in front of the front door all night fades away...
It is a sad sight of our neighbors who had to leave without a single word of farewell, and it is a sad portrait of today that may come to me and my family at any moment.
Still, the author does not just sit back and wait for a dark future.
Although the book begins with the final stories of those who have left, it paradoxically tells the story of a beginning.
Rather than a lonely ending, the book is imbued with a love for life, a hope for a better tomorrow, and a desire for solidarity that holds each other firmly together.
The video on the author's YouTube channel ends with the phrase, "I erased another life."
However, hoping that one day we will be able to use the phrase, “Another life has begun again,” the author continues to organize the final moments of those who have passed away, while also working to help isolated and marginalized neighbors reconnect with the world.
His sincerity in wanting to be someone who cheers on someone's new beginning rather than someone who erases someone's life is heavy and warm, and touches the heart.
“I’m still where you left me.”
Standing at the point where life is erased, dreaming of a better ending
“These days, there are so many people leaving this world alone and lonely.
There are cases where people leave this world suddenly, while there are also cases where people slowly approach death without even realizing it.
The likelihood of dying alone increases when you neglect yourself.
The kind of death I face in my final moments may depend on who I am today.
“I believe that just as a lonely life ends in loneliness, a loving life ends in warmth.” _Kim Sae-byeol
Although social interest in lonely deaths is growing and related policies are being established, unfortunately, lonely deaths themselves are not decreasing but rather increasing.
Looking back at the young single-person households that avoid marriage, the middle-aged and older generations who live isolated from their surroundings due to divorce or unemployment, and the world that is increasingly losing its sense of "us" and becoming more individualistic, it is not easy to be completely optimistic about the future.
But no one wants that kind of ending.
Everyone wants to reflect on the past, say goodbye to the precious relationships they've made, and make a clean break from the world.
To do this, we must not neglect our own lives, and we must become each other's safety net and support.
As the author says, if we become a little more affectionate to ourselves and those around us, wouldn't we be able to face the final moments of life that we so desperately desire, rather than a lonely and desolate end?
What remains, even without words, tells a lot about the life of the departed.
As I read the book, I earnestly hope that on a day when there are no more things left to guess at that life, there will be no tangled or frozen words in the words of those left behind.
And as we each draw our own endings, we begin to think about how we should live today.
Not too far away, not too late
If we can be together
Although there is no death that is not regrettable, in 『Record of What Remains』, I especially care about patients who neglect themselves without treatment, young people who live a normal social life on the outside but whose houses are filled with trash and teeter precariously, and reclusive young men who isolate themselves.
With just a little bit of attention and a little bit of effort, their lives could blossom into something truly brilliant. But they force themselves into a dangerous environment and just watch indifferently as their life energy fades away.
The author calls them 'those destined to die alone'.
While there is a movement in society to identify and support those at risk of dying alone, it is difficult to categorize everyone and provide support, and this is something the author can share because he has witnessed more clearly than anyone else that there are many who do not fall into that category.
Especially for those who find themselves in difficult circumstances and isolated, the appendix, "7 Commandments to Protect Yourself as Told by a Relic Organizer," will serve as a simple yet effective tool.
Life also has seasons.
When you're in winter, it's easy to get lost in the thought that this season will last forever, but surely, after this season passes, a warm spring will come.
It seems as if the book is giving us a voice of encouragement, hoping that we will button up our collars, share warmth with those around us, and endure until that day comes.
It reminds us that life is fragile enough to be broken by a gentle breeze, but also strong enough to endure the harsh winter.
Thinking about the meaning of being human in a room where time has stopped
Wherever author Kim Sae-byeol searches, there are people who have faced their final moments alone.
But the relics they left behind show the final moments of their lives, each colored differently.
The lonely end of a middle-aged woman who lived her life by piling up things in her house due to obsessive-compulsive disorder, the young man who wanted to live as a wonderful adult but was eventually crushed by the shadows in his heart and turned his back on the world, the moment when the burning maternal love of an elderly man with dementia who couldn't forget the son he left behind after a divorce and stayed guard in front of the front door all night fades away...
It is a sad sight of our neighbors who had to leave without a single word of farewell, and it is a sad portrait of today that may come to me and my family at any moment.
Still, the author does not just sit back and wait for a dark future.
Although the book begins with the final stories of those who have left, it paradoxically tells the story of a beginning.
Rather than a lonely ending, the book is imbued with a love for life, a hope for a better tomorrow, and a desire for solidarity that holds each other firmly together.
The video on the author's YouTube channel ends with the phrase, "I erased another life."
However, hoping that one day we will be able to use the phrase, “Another life has begun again,” the author continues to organize the final moments of those who have passed away, while also working to help isolated and marginalized neighbors reconnect with the world.
His sincerity in wanting to be someone who cheers on someone's new beginning rather than someone who erases someone's life is heavy and warm, and touches the heart.
“I’m still where you left me.”
Standing at the point where life is erased, dreaming of a better ending
“These days, there are so many people leaving this world alone and lonely.
There are cases where people leave this world suddenly, while there are also cases where people slowly approach death without even realizing it.
The likelihood of dying alone increases when you neglect yourself.
The kind of death I face in my final moments may depend on who I am today.
“I believe that just as a lonely life ends in loneliness, a loving life ends in warmth.” _Kim Sae-byeol
Although social interest in lonely deaths is growing and related policies are being established, unfortunately, lonely deaths themselves are not decreasing but rather increasing.
Looking back at the young single-person households that avoid marriage, the middle-aged and older generations who live isolated from their surroundings due to divorce or unemployment, and the world that is increasingly losing its sense of "us" and becoming more individualistic, it is not easy to be completely optimistic about the future.
But no one wants that kind of ending.
Everyone wants to reflect on the past, say goodbye to the precious relationships they've made, and make a clean break from the world.
To do this, we must not neglect our own lives, and we must become each other's safety net and support.
As the author says, if we become a little more affectionate to ourselves and those around us, wouldn't we be able to face the final moments of life that we so desperately desire, rather than a lonely and desolate end?
What remains, even without words, tells a lot about the life of the departed.
As I read the book, I earnestly hope that on a day when there are no more things left to guess at that life, there will be no tangled or frozen words in the words of those left behind.
And as we each draw our own endings, we begin to think about how we should live today.
Not too far away, not too late
If we can be together
Although there is no death that is not regrettable, in 『Record of What Remains』, I especially care about patients who neglect themselves without treatment, young people who live a normal social life on the outside but whose houses are filled with trash and teeter precariously, and reclusive young men who isolate themselves.
With just a little bit of attention and a little bit of effort, their lives could blossom into something truly brilliant. But they force themselves into a dangerous environment and just watch indifferently as their life energy fades away.
The author calls them 'those destined to die alone'.
While there is a movement in society to identify and support those at risk of dying alone, it is difficult to categorize everyone and provide support, and this is something the author can share because he has witnessed more clearly than anyone else that there are many who do not fall into that category.
Especially for those who find themselves in difficult circumstances and isolated, the appendix, "7 Commandments to Protect Yourself as Told by a Relic Organizer," will serve as a simple yet effective tool.
Life also has seasons.
When you're in winter, it's easy to get lost in the thought that this season will last forever, but surely, after this season passes, a warm spring will come.
It seems as if the book is giving us a voice of encouragement, hoping that we will button up our collars, share warmth with those around us, and endure until that day comes.
It reminds us that life is fragile enough to be broken by a gentle breeze, but also strong enough to endure the harsh winter.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: January 30, 2024
- Format: Hardcover book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 272 pages | 418g | 135*194*20mm
- ISBN13: 9788935214495
- ISBN 10: 8935214493
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