*Crossing a muddy life steeped in falsehood. A step toward the most honest version of myself

In the seven stories featured in this collection, the characters face trials that drive them to make extreme choices such as fraud, betrayal, escape, silence, and complicity. They deceive the world, and in doing so, they deceive themselves. However, the author presents us with the cold fact that if we trick ourselves under the pretext that "life isn't easy," life, in turn, will begin to trick us. Rather than laboring to fabricate a better life, the collection suggests that to live is to take steps toward a life with fewer lies, as your true self.

The title piece, "Speaking of That Night," tells the story of a ten-year-old child who moves to an isolated house on a mountainside with a mother addicted to gambling. While the child's innocence is endearing, it stands in sharp contrast to the ugly secrets of the adults. When the child finally comes to understand the word "betrayal," the truth is laid bare for all to see.

"A Nameless Heart," winner of the Changbi Emerging Writer Prize, features Hyeon-gwon, a younger brother struggling with severe amblyopia, learning disabilities, and tics, and the narrator, an older sister who cannot bear to leave him behind even after marriage. Her struggle eventually leads to the realization that both siblings have harbored unknown emotions, oscillating between guilt and exhaustion.

"Lat Pull-down" and "Where the Water Flows" depict two characters who face similar crises but adapt to the circumstances in opposite ways. "That Thing You Do" features Tae-eun, who has spent over seven years preparing for an exam while working grueling shifts at a distribution center to make ends meet. She ends up living with her mother, who left her home after a conflict with Tae-eun's stepfather. One day, her mother joins her at the distribution center, but the two are assigned to the hellish heavy-goods floor. After struggling to keep up, they eventually flee through a crawl space. The intersections of dreams and reality, family and violence, and the mother-daughter bond are etched into the complicated landscape of the distribution center, vividly depicting a life caught between the desire to rise and a reality that is plummeting.

Other stories show how the justification of "doing it for a loved one" is modulated and distorted until it reveals hidden truths. In "Spitting Akebia Seeds," Chae-rim and Hyeon-woo decide to apply for a visa through the Immigrant Investor Program, to provide better opportunities for their gifted daughter, Jisoo. They set out to tend to their maternal grandparents' ancestral graves—a condition set by Chae-rim’s mother for a loan—but soon question what their family truly needs. "Married Life" follows the mysterious romance between Gu Young-su, the head of a cram school, and Oh Jin-hee, a caregiver. Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple attempts a bank robbery, showing how two characters who couldn't be more different eventually become of one mind and purpose.

Kim Yoona began her literary career in 2020 when her story "A Nameless Heart" won the Changbi Emerging Writer Prize. She is the author of the novel Tomorrow's Ending.