With the Heart of the Ghost is a debut collection of eight fantastical stories translated by Chi-Young Kim (Whale) that explore feelings unseen, unconveyed, unexplainable. The funny, meditative characters who inhabit this book are pulled far from their ordinary daily routines to stare straight into their own sorrows, however they manifest. Ghosts and otherworldly occurrences are folded seamlessly into author Lim Sunwoo's quiet universe with stories buoyed by humor, warmth, and empathy for the lost and hurt among us. A ghost who looks just like the narrator reflects her feelings back to her in a bun shop; mutant jellyfish take over the world and if you touch one you become one yourself; a heartbroken man becomes a tree in his ex's apartment; the ghost of a wannabe K-pop star stuck in a vacuum cleaner wants out; Jugyeong helps a man hibernate by burying him up to his neck; Huiae, in deep conflict with her husband, reconnects with her strange old friend; Jo has lost his best friend-a gecko-but won't give up the search; and Suyeong plots revenge on a wild dog that killed her cats by channeling her inner cat. For a moment, a short period of your everyday lives, each sparkling story asks you to look within, to encounter all that is desired and strange and possible in life and death.

イム・ソヌの筆致は、日常の亀裂から溢れ出す孤独を、奇想天外な変容を通して鮮やかに描き出します。幽霊や植物化といった幻想的なモチーフは、単なる趣向ではなく、言葉にできない心の痛みを可視化するための切実な装置。静謐な文体の中に潜むユーモアと慈愛が、傷ついた魂を優しく包み込みます。読者の内側に眠る「説明のつかない感情」をこれほどまでに愛おしく肯定する物語は他にありません。 本作の真髄は、非日常が日常に溶け込む瞬間の圧倒的な優しさにあります。突飛な設定に驚きつつも、登場人物の哀愁に深く共鳴してしまうのは、著者が人間の本質を鋭く捉えているからに他なりません。現実と幻想の境界で彷徨う彼らの姿は、不確かな世界を生きる私たちの鏡です。読了後、あなたの目に映る景色は、驚きと可能性に満ちた輝きを帯びるに違いありません。