- Overview
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A love story of General Wuji, a war human, portrayed in black and gold
- Book Intro
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“A grand epic before the days of mythology and a war human, Wuji”
Wuji: Before the Birth of Monsters starts in a time and space before the myths we have known and imagined. As the meaning of his name indicates, the hero Wuji (無極, endlessness) is an endless being, and at the same time he is a mute general. He is a human whose sole purpose is war and battle. A glance at his enemy on the battlefield, and he can feel his sword crying at his fingertips. In that moment, he cannot know and he does not judge what is alive or dead, what is good or evil.“A sad and affectionate one-sided love story inside dark illustrations”
Wuji, a war human, by chance, gets a glimpse of the princess at a distance. After that moment of fate, a seedling of affection is sowed in his heart, and Wuji transforms into a completely different person. He displays his fury as a war human and in this way, tries to prove his presence. His war achievements pile up and he receives the Golden Helmet, the country’s highest military decoration. At last, he comes to face the princess whom he had so adored. Yet Wuji is so nervous he can’t even look at her properly. After that day, Wuji has no way to approach the princess or express his feelings for her. All he can do is engrave his boiling heart in a small wooden tablet.
But Wuji, a war human, cannot hold onto this unfamiliar and sad one-sided love for long. He has to accept everything and turn away from a love that cannot be. For the first time in his life, Wuji suffers a great defeat due to a sudden conspiracy and betrayal, and with the complete end to his love, Wuji is put in eternal exile after losing everything he has. Not long after that, he faces another moment that he cannot deny. Wuji grabs the Golden Helmet with trembling hands and prepares to burn his everything… a resolution that even death cannot stop.“A magnificent harmony of black and blue-gold: a picture book in a new and original style of Bark UiSik”
The illustrations in this book were drawn in black and gold. The two colors seem simple yet splendid, and the coarse yet fine descriptions add to the quality illustrations. The restrained sentences that seem to represent the hero, the voiceless General Wuji, and the poetic words in the style of Chinese poetry further illuminate this book.
- About the Author
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Bark ui sik
He majored in illustration and industrial design, and for a long time painted pictures of military leaders.
He produced Korea's first creative pop-up book, "Military Leaders who have led our history for 5,000 years," and created over 200 military leader characters while drawing pictures related to military leaders at the same time as working on a picture book.
At the 2009 Bologna Children's Book Fair, he was selected as one of the 102 illustrators representing Korea.
- Recommendation
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Shinwon Agency, Recommended at the 2017 Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair