The Path That Held You: A Record of 1,400 km Traveled Alone and Returned Together

Author Jeong Ki-wook · Publisher Human Cube · Published 2026-07-22 · ISBN 9791165384999

About the Book

The road always offers answers to everyone.

The Camino de Santiago is a world-renowned pilgrimage route leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Not only people of faith but also countless individuals at life's turning points seek this path, each with their own questions. Though their reasons may differ, they all walk in search of happiness.
The author, too, stood on this path with questions like, "How can I exist fully as myself?" and "When am I happiest?" To focus on himself, he distanced himself from people, especially Koreans. Walking alone at his own pace, the author realized that while maintaining one's own speed, it's possible to share happiness with someone else. Then, an encounter with a particular person, and a single question from her, completely transformed the meaning of the path.
They were the same age and shared the common experience of having broken up with a long-term partner, quit their jobs, and embarked on the pilgrimage. The attraction that began with their similarities turned into excitement with her question, "Why are you walking so slowly?" and deepened into love during the time they walked together at his pace.
Soon, they found themselves looking at each other more often than at the path. At the end of the 800km pilgrimage, she canceled her flight back to Korea and chose to continue walking with him.
After much thought, the author realized. What he had been following was no longer the pilgrimage route, but her. The clearest single character on the path was not 'I' or 'the path,' but 'you.' He chose her over the rest of his journey, and they became a married couple, still walking the path of life together.

From a world of single characters to a world of two characters

The author states that the world is composed of countless 'single characters' and that we live as single characters. Sun and moon, water and light, earth, and on it, we live with hands and feet, eyes, nose, and mouth, through work, sleep, and dreams. Life and path, even God, cannot escape the world of single characters.
The author realizes that the world of single characters, which he had not previously perceived, becomes clearer on the path. Above all, walking the path made him look at his own existence, 'I,' anew. As he began to understand himself, the author met someone, a love, who would change his life. The single characters 'I' and 'you' met on the path and became the two-character world of 'love' and 'we.'
『The Path That Holds You』 is one person's record of finding the two-character answer of love at the end of a question that penetrates the single character of life. Following his cinematic journey, readers will reflect on their own paths. And they will close the book with anticipation, hoping to someday meet someone who understands their pace, someone to walk the path of life with, and live in a world of two characters.

Table of Contents

Prologue - A World of Single Characters

Part 1 - In Search of the Path
Path - A Path Never Seen Before
Door - Second Adolescence
Words and Books - A Path Met in Words
Eyes - To Truly See What You See
Time - The Beginning of a Long Journey

Part 2 - My Path
Feet - The First Morning on the Pilgrimage
Words - Buen Camino
Why - Competition on the Camino
Baggage - The Weight of Life
Work - Freedom from Constraint
Feelings - Between Comfort and Discomfort

Part 3 - Encounters on the Path
Rest - Time and Speed
Light - Luz en tu Camino
Connection - That's Love
Friend - Six Roads
Day - Why Are You Walking So Slowly?
Time2 - She Passed By
Life - The Choice of a Path

Part 4 - At the Crossroads
Blessing - The Secret of Happiness
Poem - Lost Emotions
Side - Foolish Question, Wise Answer
Answer - With the Most Comfortable Heart, In the Most Comfortable State
Fire - Clash of Two Worldviews
Flower - Rose of Betrayal
End - Here It Is, Finally
River - A New World

Part 5 - Our Path
Number - Numbers Are an Illusion
Fear and Hand - Blue Arrow
Dance - Her World
Soul - A New Name
Boat and Alcohol - On a Shortcut
God - 1000 Kilometers
End2 - The Last City
Dream - Jesse's Path

Part 6 - At the End of the Path
Fullness - Time of Solitude
One - Saudade
Path2 - Love and Travel
Sun and Moon - Daily Records
I - Camino de Minseo
You and I - Camino Christmas

Epilogue - A World of Two Characters