It's okay to drive slowly | Anjina
The snake is chasing | Kim Bon
Forest Experience | Oh Han-gi
Transformation | Yun Hae-seo

Stories can't tell us directly how others feel, but they can help us imagine how we might feel in their situations.
That is the power of empathy that stories possess.
Abstract arguments can provide some background, but stories are what get to the point directly and poignantly.


The novel magazine 『Gutnit』 believes in the power of such stories.
The story connects the world we live in with the world that is clearly there but is not easily visible and that we try to avoid seeing.
『Gutnit』 presents readers with one thematic essay and three short stories centered on specific topics and keywords that cannot be overlooked in our time.

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In the spring of 2021, it was revealed to the world that a son in his twenties neglected his father in his fifties for eight days, ultimately causing his death from pneumonia and other causes of severe malnutrition.
My father, who was hospitalized in September of the previous year with symptoms of deep cerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage, received treatment for seven months, but was discharged on April 23rd due to financial burden.
After being discharged, my father was unable to move on his own due to paralysis of his left arm and leg, and was unable to eat normal food. However, the young son did not provide his father with any prescribed medication after being discharged, and only provided him with ten therapeutic meals for a week, instead of the three he needed a day to provide nutrition.
From May 1st onwards, for eight days, they stopped providing therapeutic food and water and did not enter the victim's room at all. Eventually, the young man's father died from pneumonia and other causes while suffering from severe malnutrition.
But that wasn't the entire story of the 'unfilial son' who starved his father to death.


The young man had lived alone with his father for over ten years after his mother left home, and he had to bear the arduous burden of caring for her alone.
In addition, it was revealed that he ran out of money to pay the 20 million won in surgery and hospital bills, and was behind on all his payments, including rent, gas, electricity, and phone bills. He even sent messages to people around him asking for 20,000 won to borrow because he had no money to buy rice.

He tried to find a job somehow, and to save money, he even ate 'discarded' food from convenience stores that was nearing its expiration date, but the financial difficulties continued, and it is said that his father eventually called his son and said, "I'm sorry. Live happily doing what you want from now on," and "Don't come into the room until then."
While my son spent his time crying in my room, my father eventually passed away.

This incident has caused much concern in our society.
But this is not the only extreme case.
We have seen news of husbands and mothers taking extreme measures while caring for their wives with dementia, or their children with intellectual disabilities.
Most children spend a lot of time with caregivers, such as nannies and daycare centers, rather than with their parents, and there are many problems that arise in various care facilities.

『Gutnit』 No. 6 talks about the ‘care society.’
The days when caregiving issues were a family affair are long gone.
With the aging population, the elderly population, and the increase in single-person households, various types of care are already issues that society and the nation must address together, and one day, or soon, they may become my own problem.
『Gutnit』 No. 6 presents three unique and problematic stories surrounding the issue of 'care,' which has already become a problem for every individual.


Associate Professor An Jin-a, who teaches comparative culture and comparative literature at Okinawa International University and focuses on issues such as generational conflict, disease and death, and gender that appear in Korean and Japanese geriatric literature, points out various problems of care that emerge in a society that is changing at a rapid pace through her essay, “It’s Okay to Drive Slowly,” and suggests that we might be able to slow down our society a little, recalling the slow buses in Japan.
The author asks us whether we can slow down a bit and talk about care and consideration for people, not just on an individual level but also on a social and national level.


Kim Bon's novel "The Snake Is Chasing" makes us think about various issues of care through the diverse stories of three generations of the young narrator's family.
From my father who passed away in an unexpected accident, to my mother who suddenly ended up living with her in-laws, to my grandmother who was suddenly diagnosed with dementia, to my uncle and aunt who still live with their parents, each of these stories represents the stories of many generations in our society.
After a time when I was young, my story of meeting my grandmother and her husband who grew up with her enters another era.

Yoon Hae-seo's novel "Transformation" is a work that stands out for its unique poetic style and original writing style.
As another voice interrupts the ordinary routine of 'him', a cemetery caretaker, readers are transported to another dimension, going back and forth between 'him's' present and the voice's time and space.