The couple upstairs

Author Hwang Bo-reum · Publisher Clay House · Publication Date 2026-06-24 · ISBN 9791193235966

About the Book

A couple living upstairs who became each other's saviors in a difficult world,
Their lives are disrupted by the grumpy old man living downstairs.

Oh Kyung-jik, a 70-year-old man who retired completely after working various jobs following his retirement from facility management at a private high school. Thanks to his diligent wife Hwa-jeong and his unremarkable children Seon-ji and Dae-ho, his life was never particularly complicated or worrisome. It was a different life from his 55-year-old friend Hang-gu, who lived his life constantly butting heads with the world. For him, there are two most important issues now: his heart, which has caused problems again after a year, and South Korea's birth rate, which shows no sign of rebounding! Just as he is aging, so is South Korea; just as he is slowly disappearing, so many things are disappearing in South Korea. How will his two-year-old granddaughter Ru-da live in such a country?

Kyung-jik, who had never interfered in others' affairs his entire life, decides to get up and act for this country. What kind of people are we? Didn't we overcome the IMF? There's no need for more. Just one person, just one young person needs to be persuaded. But contrary to his impatient heart, all of Kyung-jik's attempts come to naught. And that's not all. With his children arguing loudly with him, and young people who pout no matter how kindly he speaks to them, Kyung-jik becomes even more displeased with an already displeasing world. After repeated disappointments, the kind-looking and somewhat less troubled couple from upstairs appear before Kyung-jik. Perhaps this bright man upstairs? Or the slightly standoffish woman upstairs might understand Kyung-jik's words!

South Korea's low birth rate is not a new issue. It is one of the most urgent problems in this country, known to everyone but easily tackled by no one. Author Hwang Bo-reum commented on bringing the low birth rate issue into her new work, saying she watched a video that stated that if South Korea's ultra-low birth rate continued for several years, it would be "irreversible," and this phrase "irreversible" resonated with her. The author focuses on examining this "irreversible" phenomenon and the individuals caught in such a situation, especially through the eyes of Oh Kyung-jik, a 70-year-old man who seems unable to understand the current low birth rate problem at all. In the early part of the work, can Oh Kyung-jik, who has decided to persuade young people to have children, understand the current situation? Can he empathize with young couples? Can Kyung-jik's struggles truly change Kyung-jik himself, who stands like a wall?

"If you think everyone has such beautiful moments,
It felt like any life could be lived."

The names of the couple living upstairs from Kyung-jik are Gaeul (Autumn) for the man and Bom (Spring) for the woman. The two met at the same company, and their romance began after Bom, who had already left due to news of company restructuring, and Gaeul, who was still holding on, shared their life stories. For both of them, life in Seoul was like hanging on by their fingertips, like doing pull-ups, or stubbornly enduring with their whole bodies, like hanging on a horizontal bar. One day, after that arduous process, they realized there was no need to live life like doing pull-ups or hanging on a horizontal bar. At Bom's suggestion, they moved to an old apartment in a small city.

After much deliberation, Bom decides to open a neighborhood Korean set meal restaurant with Gaeul. With four menu items: 'Winter Table', 'Gochujang Bulgogi Set Meal', 'Ganjang Bulgogi Set Meal', and 'Fish Set Meal', they open their small restaurant, 'Winter Restaurant'. Watching Bom and Gaeul tirelessly work at the restaurant day after day, Kyung-jik finds himself in a state of not knowing whether he can actually tell them to have children.

For many people living in apartment buildings today, neighbors are just another name for complete strangers. People they don't know at all, people they've never tried to get to know. But what would happen if one day, you accidentally met the old man downstairs and said, "Hello" first? Especially if that old man was also a little curious about the young couple upstairs. Where would this small conversation lead? Author Hwang Bo-reum said she tried to depict "universal people" in this work and "clearly reveal each individual's life." Without forcing or emphasizing, she quietly observes the relationships of the characters, which were initially fragmented, become a line and then a wide surface through their natural everyday conversations. These might be characters so ordinary that they've never been noticed, but the author gradually unravels untold stories in the continuous narrative—stories that were too painful or too ordinary, kept within themselves with a calm expression. Once you start looking at something, no matter what it is, it can never be ordinary. You can't just pass it by. Reading this naturally flowing story will be an experience that draws you, who remained a complete stranger, into me, and lets the things that stayed only within me flow into your world.



From the Book

Somehow, I felt drained and sat powerlessly on the sofa. To avoid the silence, I turned on the television. For several years now, I had come to detest silence terribly. It was a sudden change. It was after a year, no, two years, since I had retired, worked as an apartment guard after cleaning, and then quit. The young father who used to scold his young children not to be noisy was gone, and only the old father remained, at a loss when left alone in silence.
--- p.14

If old men believed they were truly the center of the world and showed such an attitude, then young people didn't seem to have such a preposterous belief. "Then why are they like that?" Kyung-jik asked, and Hang-gu replied. He thought it was because they knew that the center of the world would always be taken by others. He felt that knowing their place too early made them feisty.
--- p.49

One day, as they met, building on their camaraderie, Gaeul compared life in Seoul to pull-ups.
"I felt like I was living my life doing pull-ups. My arm strength was gradually fading, my body was trembling, but I kept holding on, to the very end. I actually think I'm still doing pull-ups now. Because I'm trying to hold on no matter what."

Bom imagined herself falling without even being able to hook her chin over the bar. Pull-ups weren't the right analogy for her. So she looked for another analogy. Yes, hanging on a horizontal bar. Unlike pull-ups, hanging on a horizontal bar offered some leeway. If it was too hard to hold on with just grip strength and arm strength, she could hook her legs to hold on. If necessary, she could even gather her last remaining strength and hook her armpits. But both pull-ups and hanging on a horizontal bar ultimately resulted in a fall. Bom thought that when she was subject to restructuring, she fell after barely holding on for a few seconds after grabbing the bar. But then she soon realized that wasn't it. She had been holding on, hooking her legs and armpits, for a long time before falling. That's how she had been living.
--- p.96

Bom decided to open a restaurant somewhere on this street. A small Korean set meal restaurant at a time when even large corporations and mid-sized companies were struggling. Watching Gaeul collapse while continuing her company life, which was the source of her wounds, Bom began to make plans. She thought that when a person can no longer go down a certain path, they find another one, and although there's no guarantee that path will be successful, they still start anew. Bom repeated to herself throughout the past year that life just happens, but it's also something you have to actively direct and push forward.
--- p.116

There are things that can only be known with age. Wisdom revealed by life experience, for instance. Of course, there are not a few elders whose life experience goes awry and becomes a symbol of senile greed, but Kyung-jik wanted to think of it only in a positive light at this moment. If he could say something to the upstairs couple, it was because Kyung-jik was someone who had lived a long time. Because when a person lives long enough, there are times when they hear what time has to say.
--- p.149

Bom felt a small thrill. Sometimes, life seemed like a movie. Not when seeing grand scenes or majestic landscapes that stir emotions, but at moments like this. Such trivial and ordinary moments that no one would pay attention to. Yet, this brief moment encompassed all the time the two had spent living their lives. Such discoveries gave Bom great strength. Because if she thought everyone had such beautiful moments, it felt like any life could be lived.
--- pp.170-171

After Gaeul returned home, Kyung-jik watched the silent television and wondered what he was seeing. He was looking but not truly seeing, he thought, and he would never know what was inside. The news showed the back of an old man staring blankly at almost a meter of snow piled in front of his house. Unsure how to comprehend the world before him, he simply stood there.
--- p.237

"I lived with all my heart." This remark, once made by Hang-gu, became a driving force in her life. It sounded like life is given for free, but nothing in life is given for free. It also sounded like if you try to easily obtain something that can only be earned with all your heart, you'll be in for a rude awakening. The attitude towards life that Hang-gu had learned over a long time had now become the attitude Bom should pursue.
--- p.242

Table of Contents

The Upstairs Couple