Patterns of Memory

Author Baek Hee-sung · Publisher Book Romance · Published 2026-08-05 · ISBN 9791124038604

About the Book

An amazing expansion of a worldview that only architect and novelist Baek Hee-sung could design!

A completely new narrative of mystery and emotion
that follows the traces of objects instead of montages,
and the sensations that touch the skin instead of sight.

There is a person who cannot clearly see anyone's face. Such a person chases a criminal who disappeared 19 years ago. 『The Pattern of Memories』 starts from this seemingly impossible fact. To Kami, who lives with the secret of prosopagnosia, people's faces are a ripple that never coalesces into one, but his gaze and fingertips read the world more keenly than anyone else. From the subtle wear on a shirt cuff to the biased mark on a coat hem, and even the scars engraved on old furniture, the language of objects unfolded by the protagonist transforms this novel into a mystery narrative of an entirely different dimension.
To find the third silhouette that vanished without a trace from the scene of his parents' murder, Kami requests the reopening of the case after becoming an adult and focuses on an old crib that was at the scene. Lumiere, his friend who is the only one who knows about Kami's disability and his parents' case, acts as a reliable helper, and suspicious details are discovered one by one from the unusual-looking crib. As they follow the clues by tracing the old stories carved into the furniture, the truths hidden for 19 years begin to reveal themselves one by one. They intuit that there is a connection between the tactile sensation of the silhouette Kami remembers from the day of the incident and the crib, but the truth they ultimately find is not only the "culprit" of that day.
『The Pattern of Memories』 is a story about a person trapped in past wounds discovering the deepest love, and a novel containing the traces of love that do not fade with time. In this novel, the author gropes for invisible things with his fingertips, gently bringing various hidden sensations to the surface of the story. Like the feel of a sweater folded deep in a drawer, the creak of old wooden stairs, or the scent of soap from someone's embrace, we realize that our precious memories are etched in our senses as we follow Kami's fingertips. And after closing the book, the lingering images of love that one hadn't even noticed will vividly emerge in close proximity.

From the Book

Our life's fragments are pieced together, and in that process, we may suffer sharp wounds as if pricked by a needle. But with time, we learn that new flesh grows where the needle once was, and what remains is part of our body, our flesh, a part of us. In this way, clothes that wrap around healed wounds might also be a product born from the instinct to mend the wounds in human life. _Page 7

The reason I meet Uncle Fredrik every Tuesday is because of this case file. The file is a record of an unsolved murder case that happened when I was three years old, and my parents are the victims of this incident.
That day, I clearly saw three silhouettes. Besides my parents, there was another one. And I still haven't forgotten the tactile sensation of the clothes conveyed by that silhouette. _Page 19

Amadeu stitched two pieces of fabric together with needle and thread. So meticulously were they joined that even though they were clearly silks of different textures, they felt as if they had always been one. Then, a thought suddenly struck me, holding me captive. 'The black silhouette!' I don't think I felt any stitching on his clothes. I quietly closed my eyes and delved into my three-year-old memory. And I was certain. _Page 42

For this moment, I had waited a full 19 years. I decided not to think about what would happen next. I quietly took off my gloves and closed my eyes. Concentrating all my senses on my fingertips, I slowly traced the two types of fabric. As if time itself had stopped, only the tactile sensation was guiding me. _Page 63

"This house appears to be built with commonly used or relatively inexpensive materials. The furniture is the same. (...) But this crib, however, was made of the highest quality wood. Moreover, the pattern is truly unique... It looks like it was carved a very long time ago. The crib itself isn't an old style, but the pattern carved into the wood seems like something that would have been used hundreds of years ago. (...) It's too high-end a piece of furniture to be just a crib." _Page 106

There were some people whose faces I couldn't see, but who were remembered by their clothes. Daily brushes, repeated coincidences. Their clothes slowly oxidized, saturated with sweat and body odor. Flakes of their owner's skin were embedded between the fibers, and their unique wrinkles were tattooed like habits onto sleeves rolled up. Clothes, perhaps, are the only honest witnesses that remember our bodies. _Page 118

"If you trace one of the crib legs, there's a slightly split crack. Please do not ever mend or fix that damaged crack; please leave it as it is..."
I unconsciously caressed my fingertips. That roughly gouged, split crack amidst the smooth wood grain. Strangely, the wound on that crib, which I had never touched, seemed vividly imprinted on my fingertips. _Page 250

Table of Contents

Prologue

1 Fragments of Memory
2 Pursuit
3 Home
4 Helper
5 Noel
6 Fabric Tracking
7 Ghost
8 True Owner
9 The Secret of the Furniture
10 New Facts
11 Old Memories
12 Lost Memories
13 Paris Returns
14 Noel's Heart