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“How about writing about a desert?” 

The first time Father mentioned a desert was after he returned from Saudi Arabia. 

The reason I bring up my father in endless outer space is because those words of his were what led me to be on Hope Spacecraft. 

“사막에 대해 글을 써보는 건 어떠니?”

아버지가 사막에 대해 처음 이야기했던 것은

1년간 사우디아라비아로 출장을 갔을 때였다.

내가 우주의 망망대공에서 아버지의 이야기를 꺼내는 것은

이 호프호에 승선하게 된 시초가 

아버지의 말로부터 뻗어 나왔기 때문이다.

Cheon Seon-ran’s “To the Desert” is a science fiction novel published in 2020. While traveling to an unknown planet, the protagonist looks back her life and reflects on the events that led her to this moment.

Interview by SNU Korean literature professor Bang Min-ho

The desert represents an unknown world. The narrator’s father traveled far and wide but didn’t actually go into the desert. People just longed to experience it. So, the father was telling his daughter to fulfill a dream he couldn’t achieve himself. The story is trying to tell that people need to long for something and to experience something completely new. 

I had told Father that I couldn’t write about something I hadn’t seen, but I ended up dreaming about outer space that I hadn’t seen. 

I was headed toward a place where nobody had gone before and Father, who completed his long run, settled down in a world where only reality existed. 

We would be able to complete our mission after a long, long time. We would probably strive to recreate fresh air that was no longer available on Earth. I would head toward the new planet, throwing away loneliness out into space so that I wouldn’t be dragged down by it. 

Would there be a desert with a starry night there? Would you still be dreaming of a desert?

나는 아버지에게 보지 않은 것은 쓸 수 없다고 말했지만

결국 보지 않은 우주를 꿈꿨다.

나는 아무도 가보지 않은 곳을 향해 가고 있고,

긴 주행을 마친 아버지는 현재만이 존재하는 세계에 정착했다.

우리가 갈 수 있도록 그 행성에 텔레포트 설계도를 보냈고,

아주 오랜 시간이 걸린 끝에야 

그 행성에서 우리의 숙제를 완수했다.

우리는 그곳에서 지구가 잃은 공기를 다시 찾기 위해 노력하겠지.

내 메시지가 닿는 속도만큼 

나는 그 행성으로 나아갈 것이다.

침전되지 않도록 우주 밖으로 외로움을 내던지면서.

그것에 아직 별이 뜬 사막이 있을까.

당신은 여전히 사막을 꿈꿀까.

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Cheon Seon-ran (Born in 1993, Incheon)

: Debuted by publishing fiction “A Collapsed Bridge” in 2019

Won the 4th Korean Science Literature Award with “A Thousand Blues” in 2019