By the time the bus turned a corner in the mountain,

I saw a sign that read “Mujin 10km.” 

The sign protruded out of the weeds on the roadside,

just like it had in the past.

interview by SNU Korean Literature Professor Bang Min-ho

“A Journey to Mujin” was published in literary journal Sasanggye in 1964. The protagonist marries the widowed daughter of a pharmaceutical company founder and enjoys high social standing. He made compromises with the world to gain that status and live affluently. In the process, he lost the innocence and beauty of youth. The story is more about depression and cold-heartedness rather than about passion. 

The protagonist bowed in front of his mother’s grave and plucked out overgrown weeds from the grassy mound. Then, he was suddenly reminded of his father-in-law, who would be currying favor with people so as to make him the pharmaceutical company’s top executive. That thought made him want to crawl into the grave. As he walked on the embankment on his way home, he witnessed the body of a woman who took her own life.

Mujin does have a local specialty. I know what it is. It is fog. 

No human could clear away the fog unless the sun rose and the wind blew in a different direction from the sea.

Fog, Mujin’s fog, the fog that people see in the morning in Mujin,

the fog that makes people yearn desperately for the sun and the wind. How could this not be a specialty of Mujin?

“I suddenly thought that I might have tossed and turned last night to witness this woman’s death.

The curfew siren rang out and the woman took pills and that’s when I think I gradually fell asleep.”

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Kim Seung-ok (Born on Dec. 23, 1941 in Japan)

: 1962 Won Hankook Ilbo Literature Contest with short story “Practice for Life”

: 2014 Won Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit