Rapids - Today's Young Writers 40 (Hardcover)

Author Jeong Dae-geon · Publisher Minumsa · Published 2022-12-22 · ISBN 9788937473401

About the Book

Days After Separation

Eighteen. They are led away by their families, parting ways while leaving the incident of that night unaddressed. They spend the time after that day with different personalities and mindsets, reliving every day the nightmarish moment when they lost loved ones all at once. Carrying a huge question mark left by their beloved family, they either become unable to believe in love, or they live like criminals, burdened by guilt, thinking they can no longer bear to lose anyone they love. Twenty-one. Time passes, and when the two accidentally reunite, Dodam and Haesol's wounds are still unhealed. Miraculously, they meet again and become lovers, but their relationship seems to limp and be precarious. They are confused whether this love is due to guilt or real love, tormented by the compulsion that they must be happy this time to forget past misfortunes, and they cannot look each other in the eye because seeing the other's face reminds them of that day in Jinpyeong. The novel depicts how Dodam and Haesol, who separated with the same trauma and then reunited, navigate the same wound differently, and how they choose each other through love once again. It is a shocking yet universal love story, a tender love story, and at the same time, a complex and deep story like water that is not merely romantic.

Until They Hold Hands Again

As time passes, the love and truths they face are not singular, flowing like water with different currents and directions, but Dodam and Haesol, living by their respective currents, repeatedly feel an attraction, pity, guilt, and love for each other. The emotions that constitute love are not singular, and thus the nature of love is also not a pure, singular thing like a diamond, but rather closer to sedimentary rock accumulated from various emotions over time. In this way, 『Rapid Current』 is a novel that suggests that the act of loving someone may not take on just one form. This novel features characters who awaken to love, are betrayed, believe in love, disbelieve in it, fear falling in love, or nonetheless try to love again. Just as the surface of the water, which always seemed calm, can suddenly become deep and fierce with unexpected depth and speed, and just as a flame that was thought to be only warm can instantly flare up so hot that one cannot approach it, how deeply can we experience the unexpected nature of love? By reading the stories of those who bravely plunged into the depths of deep water and the heart of hot fire and emerged, we will be able to gauge love a little more.

Recommendations

Baek On-yu (Novelist)
A person's quietly flowing life is suddenly changed by an unexpected rapid current. If the person we loved most leaves us with the biggest question mark in our lives, can we bear that weight and move forward? Can we fully accept our lives amidst those who see us as a 'symbol of misfortune'? Can a life filled with the desire to punish oneself truly find peace? Reading 『Rapid Current』, I vaguely understood the truth that even a rapid current that sweeps away and destroys everything will eventually subside. Some wounds seem impossible to overcome, but reading the story of recovery where those who were swept away by the current and lost each other repeatedly meet again and comfort each other, seeing the relationship where they become each other's lifebuoys, I finally learned the courage of those who confront past wounds. I want to share the comfort and courage I experienced in 『Rapid Current』 with those who are passing through an impenetrable darkness, unable to find any possibility of recovery.

Lee Ok-seop (Film Director)
Reading this novel, I thought only of love all day. Can these two love again? Facing the crumpled shape of love created by Dodam and Haesol makes me want to love as if I have little time left to live.

From the Book

Dodam kept making eye contact with a boy. Among the people who came to cool off in Jinpyeong River, there was a boy who caught Dodam's eye at first glance. An unfamiliar face. Smooth skin with no blemishes. Big, clear eyes that seemed to hold curiosity about everything in the world. Dodam stared intently at the boy. Perhaps feeling the gaze, the boy also looked back at Dodam. Embarrassed, Dodam raised an eyebrow as if to ask what he was looking at. The boy, having lost the staring contest, fled into the water.
-Page 15

Haesol followed Dodam into the water. The stream water was icy cold. He truly felt a whirlpool as if his body was being pulled down from the surface. He dove down about 3 meters to the bottom of the Yongso pool towards Dodam, who was submerged. Haesol looked at Dodam with wide eyes, as if asking if he also felt the pulling sensation. Dodam nodded and smiled. Haesol smiled too. It felt as if they were the only two people in the world. (……) Haesol wanted to kiss Dodam's lips, which he had never touched before. As Haesol drew closer, Dodam extended a hand. They clasped hands for a moment underwater.
-Page 33

"Dodam, maybe two people can fall in love."
Haesol said carefully, as if comforting Dodam. As if it were an unavoidable emotion, and thus deserving of absolution.
"So, you want me to give them my blessing?"
Dodam scoffed. Someone once said love is like a car accident. Alright, let's say one can cause a car accident. But if you don't take responsibility and don't get punished, that's a hit-and-run, isn't it? If deceiving and hurting family was love, Dodam couldn't acknowledge love. He wanted to crush it with all his might.
-Page 63

Dodam resented Changseok, who was left as a huge question mark. Did Changseok and Miyoung truly love each other, or was it just a reckless fling intoxicated by desire? How were the two different? Changseok, who should have answered, was gone. Haesol was also gone. So much great loss suddenly befell a life that seemed to have everything in place, and Dodam couldn't gather his senses.
Dodam kept waiting for Haesol's call. He had said he would call. Since Haesol didn't have a phone and he didn't know where he had moved, all he could do was wait for a call. While missing Haesol, he also didn't want to think about how Haesol, an orphan, must feel. It hurt too much. In the end, the arrow turned back on him. The terrible feeling that the anxiety he always harbored had become a reality. The guilt that all of this was due to the ominous imaginings he habitually had.
-Page 82

Contents

Part 1 7
Part 2 73
Part 3 187
Part 4 275

Author's Note 297