Preface to the Revised Edition: Dreaming of Restoring Life and Existence
Recommended Article: Eco CEO Kim Yong-gyu Asks the Forest for Directions
I invite you to the Forest of Hope in the West Gate.

Act 1: Birth
A Life You Can't Choose_What Does It Mean to Be Born?

·Life All living things are born with the power to live in their own way.
In the Forest of Destiny, there is no living being that feels wronged by the place where they were born.
Will you live as a slave to fate or as its master?
·Let's start accepting! Like a maple tree, like a honeysuckle vine!

Act 2: Growing Up
Life that Shapes Me_What Does It Mean to Grow?

Light for the dream tree, dreams for people
·Don't be afraid of loss! There is no flower that blooms without being abandoned.
·The scars he carries so calmly are his own unique fragrance.
· Competition We too may fight like the creatures of the forest
·A Beautiful Web of Life for Relationship Growth
·Border, border, there is someone's path there
·Blooming one's own flowers on the abandoned land of revolution

Act 3: Living as Me
A Life That Realizes Me_What Does It Mean to Live as Me?

·The allure of communication flowers? The most beautiful consideration on earth!
·Love separately and together, to love, like a marriage tree and a love tree
·Should I keep my child in my arms or send him far away?
If you can't work the way a plant works, it's not real work.
· Energy and creative power for the fruition of rest
· No tree can form a forest alone.
·Affluence resembling a forest of contribution: the path to true wealth.

Act 4 Return
Rebirth_What does it mean to return?

There is nothing that does not flow in the cycle of heaven and earth.
·Leaving the world with the beautiful and the ugly
·Let go and return to the source
·The thing to fear about death is not death itself.

Later, you finally form a forest
Acknowledgements

10th Anniversary Color Revised Edition Released!
Beyond the wasteful competition, let's refocus on the forest's way.

Kim Yong-gyu's "Asking the Forest for Directions," which has been greatly loved by readers since its publication in 2009, has returned in a new, color edition to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Not only have we restored the black and white photos of forests, trees, and flowers that many readers have been missing in full color, but we have also added new photos and redesigned the book to make it even more enjoyable to see.
Additionally, over the course of ten years, we have removed outdated stories and added more current ones, allowing readers to fully savor the author's thoughts that have deepened over time.

Waiting for the fox to return someday
A Forest Philosopher's Guide to Existence for the Lost

‘Fox Forest’, located in Saorang, Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do, is a name given by the author himself.
It contains the meaning of ‘the forest waiting for the fox.’
As civilization developed and human territory expanded, the destruction of habitats for plants and animals accelerated, and many animals have already left us.
Foxes have also long since disappeared from the Korean Peninsula.
The name 'Fox Forest' contains the author's wish for the return of countless extinct creatures, represented by foxes.


The author, who suddenly resigned from his position as CEO of a venture company at a young age, builds a cabin in the forest and lives there, exploring the source of life force.
He focuses on the diverse survival methods of forest creatures.
They realized that the survival order that allowed them to live for a long time was composed of mechanisms that were completely different from those of human society.

Korean society, which has entered an era of 'everyone for themselves' since the global financial crisis, is in turmoil.
Individual anxiety and suffering are worsening day by day due to issues such as irregular employment, intergenerational conflict caused by an aging population and youth unemployment, fairness issues arising from class disparities, human alienation due to technological advancements, and signs of deflation.
The author finds a new paradigm in the forest that can overcome this.
From the forest's birth to its death, as you read this book, you will not only reflect on life, but also sense the author's keen insight into the chronic illnesses of human society.


In a sick society where the winner-takes-all principle and the defeatist mentality are deeply rooted, individuals are bound to lose their way and wander.
The author urges such people to break away from the toxic competition and market logic that dominates human society and look into the forest.
It tells us to take the forest, which exists quietly yet fiercely with the laws of coexistence and circulation, moderation and rest, as our teacher.
In that sense, this book is also a 'guide to existence' for weary readers.
At the beginning of the book, the author opens the way to the forest with the following words:
“I dedicate this book to all those who believe they are on the path but are actually lost.”

From the birth of the forest to its death
The amazing survival strategies and secrets of coexistence of forest creatures that have survived for ages

Act 1: Birth
This book is full of survival messages about the forest that we were not aware of, from its birth to growth, fruition, and death.
The author follows the process of a forest growing, maturing, and dying, and points out the order and values ​​that make up the forest one by one.
Every living being is born with the power to live in its own way.
However, the plants in the forest do not covet places that are not theirs, and do not try to dominate the entire forest.
Therein lies the virtue of those who live their given lives to the fullest.

Act 2: Growing Up
The tree's unhesitating shedding of old branches and its roots in barren soil is the result of its own search for a path to growth.
These also compete.
But the competition in the forest is a fight for one's own world to be completed.
It is quite different from human competition, which eats away at each other and ultimately destroys itself.
This is the reason why we hope that ‘we too can fight like the creatures of the forest.’

Act 3: Living as Me
Among the various metaphors and wisdom forests offer humans, what are the crucial values ​​that distinguish the survival paradigm of forest life from that of human society? The author unequivocally states that it is "reflection" and "coexistence."
From beans and root nodules to ants and violets, and even the companionship of flowers and the wind, no one lives alone in the forest.
The reason why fully grown trees are round is because they evolved to receive sunlight evenly along with other trees.
By intertwining with each other, they create their own world.

Act 4 Return
The fallen leaves from trees become fertilizer for the next year, and the dead body becomes a place where new life sprouts.
That's how the forest circulates.
In a society where limitless competition and winner-take-all have become the norm, countless people become frustrated, blaming themselves and complaining that they cannot see the way forward.
This book shows the forest, which maintains an order completely different from that of human society, and provides comfort to those who live in it.
And says:
“You, finally, form a forest.”