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Upon hearing a forecast predicting a rainstorm, Kim goes night-fishing on an island in the South Sea, where he meets another fisherman surnamed Kang. 

The two men talk about their friends while fishing on a rock in the midst of a rainstorm. 

Kang’s friend, who lost a sister there on the island, suspects her male friend who had gone fishing with her. Kim also relates a story about his friend who had a bad experience in the night sea while defending the surviving friend of Kang’s friend’s sister.

“사실, 친구 녀석은 작년 이맘때도 그 놈 뒤를 캐보았다고 해요.

그 놈이 가입한 낚시 동호회 활동도 주시하고, 직장도 살펴보고...

어쩌면 여동생과 똑같은 사고가 그놈한테도 일어나길 기대하고 있었는지 모르죠.

여동생이 그랬던 것처럼 갯바위라면 금상첨화겠지만 꼭 그렇지 않더라도 

막 진입하는 전철을 기다리는 플랫폼 같은 곳이라도요.

현대사회라는 게 한 발자국만 안전선에서 벗어나면 위태로운 게 아니던가요.

친구 녀석은 언젠가부터 그런 상상이 

참기 힘든 유혹으로 솟구쳤다고 하더라구요.

“My friend asked around about the guy. He kept an eye on what the guy did in a fishing club he had joined and even watched him at work. Maybe he was hoping that he would get into an accident just like the one that had happened to his sister. It would have been great if he had fallen from a rock near the sea, but it would have been just as well if it happened on a platform as a train approached. In today’s society, taking one step outside the safety line would put you at risk. My friend said that he would be drawn irresistibly to such imagination. 

김형은 그런 적 없나요? 

등이 미치도록 간지러운데도 몸을 움직일 수 없는 사정이 있어

시원하게 긁지 못하는 상황 같은 거 말이예요.  

Haven’t you ever felt that way? Like you can’t reach an itchy spot no matter how hard you try?” 

# Interview with literary critic Jeon So-yeong

Just as a fisherman sometimes spend half his life to figure out what he had caught or lost, a man who survived an accident keeps fishing at night to lick his wound. Nobody knows who said such a thing, but Kang and Kim both fit this description. They were deeply hurt by something that happened in the past and kept fishing to find the reason for them to go on living. Now that the two men faced the truth, they will be able to live differently than before. Kang will be able to let go of his sister and Kim would learn to live with his feeling of guilt. 

우리는 인생의 많은 것에 낚싯대를 드리운다.

때로 잡기도 하고 잡히기도 한다.

그리고 때로는 놓치기도 하고, 놓아주기도 한다.

그러나 낚시가 끝나면 포인트에서의 희로애락은 

그대로 세월의 물살에 흘려보내는 것이 좋다.

꾼의 경지에 오른 사람들은 

바둑이나 다도, 혹은 등산이나 하다못해 꽃꽂이에서도 인생을 배운다고 한다.

그렇다면 그런 교훈은 낚시에서도 가능할 테다.

We cast fishing rods for many things in our lives. Sometimes we catch something and sometimes we get caught. And sometimes we catch something and sometimes we free something. When the fishing ends, all the emotions we felt at the fishing point should better be released into the currents of time. Those who have become experts claim that they learn about life from the game of go, tea ceremony, mountain climbing or even from arranging flowers. If so, it would also be possible to learn life’s lesson from fishing.

이번 조행은 강이 낚은 감성돔으로 족하다.

비록 내가 잡지는 못했지만 은빛으로 번쩍이는 이 물고기는

언젠가 꿈의 전령으로 되살아날지도 모르겠다.

The latest fishing trip was satisfying enough with the black porgy that Kang had caught. Although I wasn’t the one who caught it, the silvery fish may come back as a messenger in my dream. 

그리고 누구나의 마음속을 어슬렁거리며 돌아다닐 것이다.

It may even wander into the hearts of other people. 

각자가 간직하고 있는 사연들이 바다풀처럼 흔들리는 곳.

그 곳은, 누구나 살아오면서 잡기도 하고 놓치기도 한

모든 것들이 모여 있는 곳이다.

A place where the stories kept deep in their hearts sway like seaweeds. It is a place where everything that people ever caught or lost is gathered.

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Jo Hyeon (Born in Damyang, Jeollanam-do Prov., 1969~ )

Debuted by winning the Dong-a Ilbo’s spring writing contenst with “An Elegant Philosophy about Paper Napkins” in 2008