On Yearning

My first book has been published. My deepest thanks to writer Bang Hyun-hee and the members of @geulroseogi. Though it is nothing to boast of—and perhaps rather embarrassing—I completed this piece through an eight-week writing course. I am filled with pride and joy that the words I wrote have come to exist not in binary, but in a medium possessing a physical substrate. Because of that immense joy, I have tucked my embarrassment deep away. I have lived with the dream of independent publishing in some corner of my mind; this became both a stepping stone for that dream, and a moment where I keenly felt my own limitations in structuring a narrative and bringing a book into the world solely through my own strength.

I will live a life of more rigorous conception and realization, to meet you once again someday. I will meet you with far more exquisite sentences. To my classmates, writer Bang Hyun-hee, and the members of Geulroseogi—thank you all for your hard work.

The attached song is the theme from my favorite film. It is the music I listened to while writing about yearning, a melody that feels as though it would naturally drift into the background during the story's final act. If you happen to read my story, please play this song when you reach the sentence, 'Several months passed,' on page 81.

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