Bigfoot 7
Work at Your Feet 39
75 People with Sad Hearts
111 on the Black River
The World of Crying at Will 145
Farmer's Blood 177
Let's study and take the test 215
Windy Day 259
Commentary | Jeong Ji-hye (film critic)
Hmm hmm hmm hmm, I decided to just go with it 307
Recommendation | Lim Seon-woo (novelist)
"A Person with a Sad Heart" Ingredients List 329
Author's Note 332

A little wake up from a lying state
Eight funny yet somehow sad stories

“I am getting fainter and fainter, and only my feet are in detail.”
The Strange Sorrow of Big Feet, "Bigfoot"

When Gieun was in middle school, she heard the news of her friend Sammy's disappearance.
Sammy is short but has very large feet, measuring 290 millimeters.
After seeing the huge shoes in Sammy's shoe cabinet, Gi-eun keeps thinking about Sammy.
Time to read Sammy's diary and trace the traces of his two feet.
Aren't there big footprints left somewhere? If I follow them, won't Sammy appear?

“I feel like something special has finally happened to me.
“If you make a fuss, it feels like everything will fly away.”
The moment the silence is broken: "Work at Your Feet"

The little man Sammy sneaks into Im Jun-seop's house.
I like the quietness of this house.
Sammy thinks it's okay to reveal his identity to him, even though he shouldn't be found out by humans.
"There," he calls out to him, and lets him gently squeeze his body with his hands.
For some reason, he is so calm.
As if he were glad that this silence was broken.

“Then sadness came into my heart.”
A person with a sad heart, who wants to tell a story to someone

What story lies behind the "Listen to Kim Byung-chul" graffiti found around the neighborhood? One day, while out for a walk, Gi-eun discovers the Korean Ocarina Museum. Another day, she hears stories about Kim Byung-chul from the neighborhood elders.
Every time, Gi-eun feels like telling Jun-young everything.
That's somehow sad.

“The little boar also rode Sammy on his back.
“It felt like I was being carried away on a cloud.”
A dream I had during summer vacation: "Drifting on the Black River"

Sammy goes to his grandmother's house for summer vacation.
But Grandma is busy with her own routine, and Sammy is just bored.
Then one day, Sammy discovers talking wild boars at his grandfather's grave.
The road down to the tomb riding on the back of that wild boar.
Foreign boatman Karon kissing an old woman wearing pretty clothes and makeup.
How will Sammy remember this summer in the future?

“If you do parkour when parkour is crying, you can fall into the world you want.”
Cuckoo and Parkour's Imagination: "A World of Walls Where You Can Cry at Will"

Ki-eun takes her broken cuckoo clock and goes to the park.
A group of kids doing parkour approach him and say:
“Oh, shit.
That's right.
“It’s parkour.” When the clock cries, “Parkour,” the children ask to borrow the clock, saying that if they do parkour, they can go to a good place.
Ki-eun suddenly remembers her father's great sorrow.
Well then, where should we try it?

“Delicious soil……”
Fate awaits discovery in "Farmer's Blood"

Seungju discovers fertile land while walking down an alley.
At that moment, he realizes his destiny, that he has farmer's blood in his veins.
Seung-ju, a natural born farmer, is satisfied with the way the water seeps into the soil, even while watching tears fall onto the ground.
Amazing things happen to him, an ordinary office worker… …

“Hmm… Where did this melody come from?”
I like this change, so let's study and take the test.

Seung-ju strictly measures her study time every day by keeping six stopwatches in her school uniform jacket pocket, skirt pocket, front backpack pocket, and on her desk in the school, study room, and room.
A group of children called 'Budulchi' approach him as he is aiming to become a foreign language high school student.
As the time spent with them increases, Seung-ju resolves to reduce sleep and maintain study time.
The day of the foreign language high school entrance exam has arrived!

“Walking like that is called ‘strolling.’
“I’m going to spend some time exploring the neighborhood until I can get back home.”
"A Windy Day": Missing the Friends I Met on the Sky Road

An apartment complex fenced off for reconstruction.
Instead of going around the area to work, Seungju decides to walk right into the middle of it.
Shortened commute! Seungju, who arrived at the office after passing through a windy, complex road, finds a crow dozing on his shoulder.
Another day, a minor misfortune, another vain hope… Seung-ju’s commute to work is filled with colorful events.

“I think it’s cute.
“Something seems off.”
Reading your first novel is like making a friend.

Each of the eight novels features a different character, Gi-eun, Sammy, and Seung-ju.
Because characters with the same name appear in different stories, the novels, which each unfold a unique world, are gradually connected.
Sammy, who has gone missing, becomes a dwarf and hides in Junseop Lim's house, and while Ki-eun is out for a walk looking for the 'Listen to Kim Byeong-cheol' graffiti, she gets surrounded by a group of parkour dancers and decides to try parkour.
Seung-ju, who was tasting the chocolate-colored earth, may have spent his teenage years studying with six stopwatches.
If you read each episode like that, you will soon find yourself absorbed in all eight episodes.

“I think you’re cute,” said Sammy in “Bigfoot.”
The phrase “It seems like something is off” is so natural that it could be placed in front of the world of Jeong Gi-hyeon’s novels.
The compliment that it was cute and quirky is a confession that at some point, I fell for it without even realizing it.
There was no way I could not confess to the novelist who whispered a strange but undoubtedly interesting story with a calm expression.

Reading the first novel by a new writer just beginning to tell their story is like making a friend.
The reason I listen to the trembling voice is because that moment is simply good.
Because I want to know him more and get closer to him.
So, I mean, I want to become closer.
After reading "A Person with a Sad Heart," you might find yourself quietly becoming friends with the author, Jeong Gi-hyeon.
Even after that, I will continue to wait for his next story with affection.