Life in the aquarium
A time when the imagination of aliens dominated my whole body
Seo Kang-i, who raises sturgeon
An unexpected confession
He's not my style.
When you reach the age of a thousand, you will gain eternal life.
Bat-man hanging from the ceiling
The school violence trial is a battle of mercenaries
Battle of two aliens
What you remember is more precious
The power of time lived so far
Could I be an alien too?
What does it mean to live?

Author's Note

A girl who is good at everything and a boy who is good at nothing.
I risked the strength of my life to protect my family.
Face the threat of alien life!

The 129th volume of the Consonant and Vowel Youth Literature series, “Aliens Living in Our House,” has been published.
Artist Lee Sang-kwon, who finds meaning in nature, ecology, and the cycle of life, focuses on 'identity' in this work.
For young people who find it difficult to define who they are, the unfamiliar comfort of “We each come from our own stars, and we are special like alien life forms” arrives from the distant universe.

If the previous work, 『Aliens Living in Seoul』, was about a teenager who has surrounded himself with walls around him and defines himself as an ‘alien’ and heals his wounds in his own way, the new work, 『Aliens Living in Our House』, which has a similar title, unravels the confusion of identity faced by teenagers through the unique setting and context of ‘real aliens.’

Jeong Cho-yul, an excellent scholarship student who never missed out on being first in the entire school, was actually a child who suffered from a serious illness during his childhood, learned Korean late in life, and was far from studying.
But when I entered middle school, I transformed into a completely different person.
He wiped away all his previous weaknesses and became a child who was good at everything.
However, Choyul's condition often gets so bad that he has difficulty controlling his body.
One day, after finishing his midterm exams in his first year of high school, he returns home. As he is lying down in bed due to poor condition, his goldfish, Blue Star, which he has been raising for fifteen years, uses ultrasound to tell him to come into the water.
Then, he even tells the embarrassing story that Choyul is an alien creature of the same class as himself, a 'miracle star'.
Amazingly, Choyul slowly transforms into a fish at Blue Star's words and teleports into the aquarium, where he feels a sense of stability as he swims there.

“Chorul, come in here.
“It is time for you to embrace a new life.”
Choyul forces his eyes open and looks around.
There is no way anyone would be there.
If it's too hard, you're bound to hear nonsense.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes again.
"Come into the aquarium, quickly! Any further delay could be dangerous."
It was a husky, resonant voice.
Choyul raised his upper body and looked at the small aquarium on the desk.
A goldfish flutters.
“Blue Star, are you talking to me right now?”
_In the text

On the other hand, Jeong Seon-yul, the Iranian twin of Choyul, was considered a gifted child in his childhood, but his grades declined and he did not grow taller after entering middle school.
Instead, Seon-ryul has a friend named 'Seo-gang'.
Seo Kang, who is tall and handsome like an idol, became friendly with Seon-yul and the two became friends.
However, when Seon-yul finds out that Yoon-ha, whom he has a crush on, likes Seo-gang, he falls into a deep sense of self-loathing.
One day, Seon-yul was invited to Seo-gang's house.
Seon-ryul is surprised to see the sturgeon that Seo-gang is raising at home.
Seo Kang shows interest in the first melody, saying that people who raise fish in front of the melody have something in common.
Feeling alienated because the people around him only care about others and not himself, and feeling inferior because he has lost the intelligence he had as a child, Seon-ryul starts wandering aimlessly, refusing to go to school.
Then, Seon-ryul discovers a climbing center and feels the urge and excitement to do something for the first time in a long time.

Yoonha's face came to mind.
I wish it would just be erased from my brain now.
The melody tries to imagine something else, and when Seo Kang's face comes to mind, he mutters that it would be nice if he had no brain at times like this.
How great would it be if there was a switch that could control your brain?
When distracting thoughts bother you, just turn off the switch.
These days, Melody often finds herself unable to control her thoughts.
Once an idea sprouts, it continues endlessly, becoming uncontrollable.
In particular, the number of days when I find myself struggling in a state of sleep, lost in such a maze, is increasing.
Why do these vain thoughts keep multiplying?
_In the text

Meanwhile, Choyul, who has found stability while living as a fish, begins to figure out what he wants to learn and what interests him, rather than just blindly studying.
Although he studied with the goal of going to medical school, Choyul now wants to study physics and spends his time pursuing his interests regardless of his grades.

The peaceful time is fleeting, and Seo Kang appears in front of Choyul and confesses his love to her.
Seo Kang forcefully forces her to date him no matter how much she refuses.
When Choyul does not accept his feelings, he starts threatening Choyul.
Let's tell this story to Blue Star, and Blue Star tells Choyul the secret of Seogang that she found out...

“I am a secret police officer.
I specialize in chasing down vicious time-thieving criminals.
“I’m old now and can’t arrest him myself, but I’ve been keeping an eye on him.”
“Please explain it so I can understand.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
_In the text

The aliens' interstellar flight to find their 'self'
“I don’t know how to live the happiest life.
So I don't regret my choice.”

Author Lee Sang-kwon stated that he wrote this novel to show that young people have the vitality and potential to shake off the many conflicts and hardships they experience and return to their original place.
There are many people in this world who are different from me.
If there are as many personalities and identities as there are people, the story of "The Aliens Living in Our House," in which we are all aliens from different planets, feels more plausible.
In the story, the time when Choyul, who had been slow to grow, was in pain was erased and she became a genius girl, and the time when Seon-yul, who was a genius boy, became stagnant, so maybe we grow as the alien life inside us returns to its home planet and another life takes its place.
If so, then perhaps flaws are in fact my own unique ‘individuality’ and ‘identity’.


The melody looks straight up at the first note.

“You’re an alien too, right?”
Choyul's eyes shake violently.
The melody didn't miss it.

Choyul looks into the distant sky.

“Maybe so, maybe not.
“We don’t know where we came from anyway, do we? And we don’t know where we’re going when we die.”
_In the text

Like Choyul, who decided to remain as the daughter of 'Jeong-woo' and Seon-yul's older sister, rather than an 'alien life form' chosen by others to protect her family, I must decide the path I will take for myself.
Even if there are threats from other alien life forms (others) lurking along the way, if there is the 'power of time' that has survived so far and someone to rely on, then the path will not be a thorny path but a journey between stars.
In this way, 『The Aliens Living in Our House』 is a work that offers comfort to all young people by reminding them that they are all aliens and therefore have their own special and beautiful space to shine.
I hope that the youth living on this Earth will gain the confidence to affirm and love their own existence through “The Aliens Living in Our House.”

Ah, I'm a real alien! Aha, we're all aliens! Aliens aren't far away! You just have to die to find out!
Only then did I realize that countless aliens were living inside my body.
(……)
When I was a child, adults used to say this:
For you alone to grow, I care about your family, the villagers, the mountains and fields, the sky, the rain and the wind.
Inside my body are wind, sunlight, and rain, the flesh of countless lives, and the laughter of many people.

_From the author's note