The Origin of Species: A Novel by Jung Yu-jeong

Author Jeong You-jeong · Publisher Eunhaengnamu · Published 2016-05-18 · ISBN 9788956609959

About the Book

"I finally met the greatest enemy of my life.
And that enemy is me!"
The protagonist, Yu-jin, wakes up to the smell of blood. Before an attack begins, he is always met with the smell of blood. Yu-jin had stopped taking his daily 'medication' for several days, and as always, stopping the medication filled him with energy, which led him to go out the previous night during a 'dog fit.' As Yu-jin lies there, waiting for the impending attack, a call comes in from Hae-jin. Hae-jin, who had been adopted into their home ten years ago, taking the place of his brother, asks if everything is alright at home, as he hasn't been able to reach their mother since last night. Yu-jin gets up and discovers his blood-splattered room and his own blood-soaked self. Following the bloodstains, Yu-jin exits his room on the apartment's duplex level, descends the stairs, and enters the living room, where he finds his mother's horribly murdered body.

Finally, he seemed to understand what had gone wrong. It was something he understood intellectually but had never experienced in reality, a disaster he had brought upon himself, a prodromal symptom of an attack. Fate never forgets its duty. It might turn a blind eye once, but only once. What is bound to come will come, and what is bound to happen will happen. As if executing a sentence without warning, fate had sent an assassin for me. And in the most crucial moment of my life, in the cruelest way. _ From page 139 of the main text

Sixteen years ago, ten-year-old Yu-jin lost his father and his older brother, who was one year his senior, in an accident during a family trip. A few months later, he began taking an unknown medication prescribed by his psychiatrist aunt, never missing a day. At sixteen, Yu-jin, a promising swimmer, stopped taking his medication to compete in a match. As a result, he suffered his first seizure during the competition, and despite Yu-jin's pleas, his mother put an end to his swimming career.
Unable to live a free life under the debilitating effects of his medication, his mother's strict rules that always kept him subdued, and the unsettling surveillance of his aunt, who seemed to manipulate him at will, Yu-jin occasionally found solace in secretly going out at night after stopping his medication. However, after his outing last night, he couldn't remember how he got home. Nor could he recall what had happened with his mother after he returned home.
As Yu-jin follows the clues that emerge one by one in the face of his mother's death, trying to piece together the memories of the previous night, a terrible truth, hidden by oblivion, slowly begins to surface, reaching back in time.

My body began to silence itself. The throbbing at the back of my head, which had been constant like breathing, found peace. My breathing subsided below my throat, and my heart beat slowly within my ribs. The tension that had rolled like a ball in my stomach disappeared. My five senses sharpened. Even at several meters' distance, I could clearly hear the damp, ragged breathing of something scared. It felt as if the world was bowing down. Everything seemed to clear a path and wait.
_ From page 283 of the main text

"Fate never forgets its duty…
What is bound to come will come, and what is bound to happen will happen."
Jeong You-jeong begins her 'Author's Note' with a quote from evolutionary psychologist David Buss. She states that 'murder' was the most efficient way for humans to eliminate rivals and solve problems, and that our ancestors were those who survived within this ruthless 'adaptive structure.' David Buss's argument that 'evil is a dark nature inherent in our genes, and an evildoer is not someone special but anyone, including myself' becomes a key to understanding the author's work, which examines murder, evil, and ultimately, humanity.
We often encounter horrific incidents committed by those classified as psychopaths through the news. The author captures and unflinchingly portrays the darkness of human nature in these individuals, whom we consider to be entirely different from ourselves. By thoroughly shattering the morals, education, and ethical worldview learned since childhood, she completes 'The Birth of a Villain,' a story depicting how an ordinary young man becomes a murderer.

There is no harbor to escape the storm. There is nothing to do but wait for its arrival. The time of the storm is a time of darkness, and I am thrown into it defenseless. As is widely known, I do not remember the process. I fall into a long, deep sleep until my consciousness awakens on its own. _ From page 283 of the main text

The author states that we must directly confront and understand the 'dark forest' hidden within our nature. "If we cannot do so, we cannot properly deal with the evil within us, the evil of others, and furthermore, the evil of predators that threaten our lives."
This is why the story of "The Origin of Species," stranger than any other unfamiliar world, irresistibly draws us in and offers various layers of interpretation, presenting different food for thought to each reader.

Table of Contents

Prologue · 7
Part 1 Call in the Darkness · 13
Part 2 Who Am I · 101
Part 3 The Predator · 219
Part 4 The Origin of Species · 289
Epilogue · 373

Author's Note · 379