Farewell Museum
Author's Note

A place where the goodbyes I left behind are displayed
Five Farewell Exhibition Halls: A Walk with a Curator

As I was wandering around the subway station after my plans with friends were canceled, I received a text message from my mom telling me to come to an unfamiliar place called the "Museum of Farewell."
The weather was bad and I was so tired that I just wanted to rest, but today, my mom was especially persistent in calling me.
At the Museum of Farewell, which I reluctantly visited, a curator in a black suit greets me instead of my mother, who has gone nowhere to be seen.

I am intrigued by the explanation that a customized exhibition can be viewed through a system that understands the individual breakup experience of the visitor.
Passing by wedding dresses, firefighter uniforms, photographs, diaries, and other items related to other people's breakups on display in the museum lobby, you will enter five exhibition rooms created based on the breakups that 'I' have experienced.

In the first exhibition room, there was a keychain shaped like a stag beetle that my homeroom teacher gave me as a gift when I was in elementary school, and in the second exhibition room, there was a pizza with arugula that my aunt often made for me when I was young, with its sweet and salty smell.
Recalling the memories that had faded from my mind, 'I' slowly recalled the warm memories and longing embedded in the experience of separation.


For us who have to face a breakup we are not prepared for
A Time of Mourning from the Farewell Museum

In the third exhibition hall, I, who was reminded of the moment when my relationship with my favorite friend went awry, hesitate to head to the next exhibition hall.
I'm becoming increasingly anxious about what kind of farewells I'll encounter in the remaining two exhibition halls.
Why do people deliberately revisit painful memories? The curator's claim that reflecting on the experience of a breakup can actually help heal the wounds and foster a love for life is puzzling.

“Why do people come here and bring up difficult memories?”
“Usually, it’s to love your life more by looking at the experience of separation.
Also, if there is any pain from the breakup, it is to heal that pain.”
I didn't understand what the curator said.
Rather, I felt like it was bringing back forgotten memories and making the wound worse.
(p.43-44)

The cushion of the lost dog, 'Gureumi', that I encountered in the fourth exhibition room, which I was pushed into, touched my memories more painfully than I expected.
The emotions of that time, stained with regret, guilt, sadness, and worry, come flooding back and tears flow.
Wiping away tears, ‘I’ asks, “Do I really need to know about my breakup?” (p.51).
To me, who is afraid of facing a breakup, the curator gives an ambiguous answer: “Sometimes there are things that absolutely cannot be changed.” (p.52)
Still harboring lingering doubts and concerns, I head to the final exhibition hall, trying to believe that nothing will happen.


“I won’t forget.
forever."
How to Remember the Love That Reached Beyond Sorrow

In the last exhibition hall, 'I' am confronted with a sudden and unfamiliar memory that I had not expected at all.
Faced with a separation that I can neither accept nor change, 'I' finally realizes the real reason why I came to this museum.


The first floor lobby of the Museum of Parting, where the partings of various people are displayed, is filled with traces of love exchanged between people, such as text messages and photos, so much so that at first glance it could be considered a "love museum."
What my mother wanted to convey to me when she invited me to the Museum of Farewell was that she loved me.
As you read "The Museum of Parting," you will naturally come to realize that love and parting are intertwined, and that the pain of parting is ultimately proof that you loved someone with all your heart.
This is a book that will calmly stay by our side when separation comes unexpectedly and unprepared.