Work: The First Woman (From the short story collection *When This Rain Stops*)

Author: Lee Young-cheol

Publisher: Cheong-eo

Author's Note

I once thought that writing, writing novels, might be (a mask for a lonely festival).

We always look for happiness from afar. However, if we look from afar, we might always only show our backs.

To that bastard called happiness who is right behind me.

I write novels to be happy. However, the moment of writing is the happiest time, and at the same time,

the most painful. If only it were only happy...

What a damn irony this is.

Those countless sleepless nights spent under a single candlelight, strong coffee, and chain-smoking. And thus, the nine works that

came into the light of day. Now, I let them leave my embrace.

Could the expression "bittersweet" be any more fitting?

There was a time when leaving was an unspoken promise to return.

But I do not know if that promise is still valid today. In this moment, when I feel both sorry and grateful for being alive, I am packing my suitcase again.

The feeling of loneliness or solitude must be because the days gone by were beautiful and happy in their own way.

Yes, I will be happy in the future as well.

Because I will continue to enjoy a solitary festival.

A bird flies not because it is happy, but to avoid falling.

Perhaps my literature is like that. Just like a bird!

(Lee Young-chul, by the window of his studio in Seocho-dong amidst a torrential downpour)

*Thank you to Author Lee Young-chul for agreeing to read this wonderful work so that it can be shared and resonated with by many people.

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