The third collection of plays by Walking People Publishing, titled "Reporting Guidelines" by playwright Oh Se-hyeok, has been published.
『Reporting Guidelines』 is the second collection of plays by writer Oh Se-hyeok, and contains five works: 『Reporting Guidelines』, 『The Last Joke on Earth』, 『Goebbels Theater』, 『Hometown of the Front』, and 『Cleaning the Dressing Room』.


The distinctive feature of the works included in this collection is that they reconstruct events from the times we have lived through, rather than motifs based on imagination.
The works shed new light on major events, such as “Reporting Guidelines,” a court drama that portrays the incident in 1986 during the Fifth Republic in which a Hankook Ilbo reporter exposed the government’s reporting guidelines in the monthly magazine Mal; “Goebbels Theater,” a political satire that explores the relationship between mass propaganda and power by telling the story of Paul Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of the Nazi regime; and “The Last Joke on Earth,” which is said to have been inspired by a photograph of soldiers of the 14th Regiment in Yeosu who refused to suppress the Jeju “April 3 Incident” and were executed, making us think about the absurdities we face today.


“It has to have meaning.
The 『Reporting Guidelines』 contains works that represent writer Oh Se-hyeok, who says, “I am finding my own meaning in terms of why I should write this in this day and age, rather than in a grand or broad sense.”

“The people who read the truth will be angry at the power that hid the truth.
“Those in power who hid the truth will be furious at those who revealed the truth.”
--- From the “Reporting Guidelines”

Ki-pyeong, what are your final words?
Shoot the Eulsik quickly.
Let's have a drink together.
This is ridiculous.
If I shoot you, you'll close your eyes, so how can we have a drink together?
Eulsik, this is a joke.
Ki-pyeong Ah, so that's what farming is.
It's so funny.
By the way, I'm a little sorry.
I have to shoot this funny guy.
But why are you laughing?
The kids are growing up very quickly.
My daughter will still be growing up until the moment your bullet reaches my body.
I was about to call my daughter just before I closed my eyes, but I was having trouble deciding whether to call her "baby" or "daughter."
It makes me laugh to think about it.
Ki-pyeong, what a happy worry.
But I probably won't be able to call you.
Look.

A gunshot is heard.

The bullet is faster than you think.

I can hear Gi-pyeong's laughter.
--- From "The Last Joke on Earth"

Truth is the mortal enemy of lies.
Therefore, truth is the greatest enemy of the state.
--- From "Goebbels Theater"

It shouldn't be tense and tight.
It's ambiguous.
It would be easier for us if one side wins.
How much trouble did we have during the last war when these things were tense?
We went in and out of the village, taking turns pushing and pushing.
This side treats it as taking the other side's side, and that side treats it as taking this side's side.
Those guys who deserve to be killed.
--- From "Hometown of the Frontline"

Yongyeok 1 It's a play, what is a play?
Yongyeok 2 I know.
When you say, 'This kid! He's sitting there acting!', that's the act.
To fake something is to deceive.
Actor: Yes, on stage it's fake.
But, we're telling the truth.
Yongyeok 2 What the hell, how can you say the truth over a fake?
Actor: Maybe there are more fake things happening in the real world.

--- From "Cleaning the Dressing Room"