- Overview
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A baby without a philtrum, who remembers its previous life, is born to the happy couple Ji-young and Seok-hoon.
- Book Intro
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Reborn
*At the happiest moment, a child appears from the past**
A baby is born to Ji-young and Seok-hoon who are happy together. It is a “reborn child” who has no philtrum and remembers his previous life. The child never speaks about his memories from his previous life. On his fifth birthday, he says “our home” pointing at Jeonghoe Village on TV. Ji-young and Seok-hoon go to the village, which has been devastated, and meet Mi-yeon, who calls herself “nowhere girl” and Mi-do, who is a doctor of occupational and environmental medicine there. They hear about the tragedy that occurred in the village 20 years before.
*Perhaps it may be a seed of tragedy**
Goh Mi-do, who is nicknamed Komodo dragon because of her venomous character, reveals the truth of the incident that happened in the village. Twenty years before, Mi-do’s father and elder brother died in the incident. Mi-do senses that the incident is closely related to reborn children and plans to use a reborn child, Gi-hwan. However, around that time, Gi-hwan is kidnapped. The kidnapper, who was once Mi-do’s good neighbor, tells her about an unidentified lump of meat. Mi-do remembers the familiar smell that she’d smelled before. It was non-perishable processed meat that she heard is traded in slums. Perhaps it may be the seed of tragedy.
*What is the memory from the previous life that the child with no philtrum tries to hide?**
As the conflict between Ji-young and Seok-hoon about their son reaches its peak, Seok-hoon is deeply confused and makes a wrong decision—to extract Gi-hwan’s milk teeth. Reborn children lose their memories when they lose their milk teeth, but if their milk teeth are forcefully extracted, they cannot grow normally because their memories get all mixed up. Gi-hwan manages to escape from Seok-hoon and arrives at Jeonghwa Village. Gi-hwan enjoys a peaceful time there with Mi-do and Mi-yeon for couple of days, but Seok-hoon arrives and takes him back home. Gi-hwan loses his sense to keep silent. In order to wake up an unconscious child from the abyss, his name from the previous life should be called. The past that the child refuses to recall should be revealed and what the child wants to forget should be asked.
*All the sins of those involved in the tragedy should be disclosed**
Mi-do and Ji-young try tooth and nail to dig up the past, while those who are sinful hide the past in fear. Finally, Ji-young and Mi-do pluck up courage and reveal the truth of the incident of 20 years ago. At the center of the incident was Yun Tae-seok, the director of Reborn Child Memory Storage Bureau and Won-seok, father of Seok-hoon. They produced processed meat using pork that had been unsuccessfully genetically modified and was illegally traded. They uncover the hidden truth and unravel the entangled relationship. Gi-hwan comes to his senses by being called by his previous name, and thus loses the memories from his previous life. People slowly realize that it was not that reborn children didn’t speak of their past lives, but that the people didn’t listen to what they had to say.
- About the Author
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Kim Sian
(English) Kim Shi-an was born in Busan. During her school days, Kim usually her spent spare time in a local comics shop in the bookstore alley in Bosu-dong. Although she majored in statistics, Kim was more interested in the Korean literature class in the same building. Since Kim’s university was located in Chungmuro, the mecca of movies in Seoul, she often went to the nearby movie theaters such as Dae-han Theater, Seoul Theater, and Piccadilly Theater. After graduation, Kim worked as a full-time worker in a citizen organization for 2 years, and after that, worked as a broadcasting writer for 18 years. While working as a writer for a documentary program, Kim met people from all walks of life, which was helpful in learning about life and the world. In 2020, when the pandemic brought our ordinary lives to a halt, Kim revised a scenario she’d written while staying away from work, and with this scenario, was awarded the Megabox Award at the 22nd Seoul International Women’s Film Festival. Kim has no fear in writing, believing in that having no rules or foundation is a merit.
(Chinese) 出生于釜山,经常出入宝水洞书店胡同的漫画店,在那里度过了自己的童年和少年时代。大学读了统计学专业,但是对同一文理学院大楼里的国文系课程更感兴趣。大学位于忠武路,因此大学时代在大韩剧场、钟路的首尔剧场和皮卡迪利剧场消磨了很多时间。大学毕业后,她在市民团体全职工作了两年,之后的18年里,她以节目作家的身份从事广播电视工作维持生计。在从事通识教育纪录片作家工作的过程中,认识了各种各样的人,学到了很多关于世界和人生的内容。2020年,因新冠疫情导致日常生活停滞时,她停下工作修改的剧本在第22届首尔国际女性电影节上获得了Megabox奖。作者将天马行空的想象作为武器,毫无畏惧地进行写作。为了能通过写作维持生计,正在孤军奋战。
(Japanese) 釜山で生まれ、大学では統計学を専攻したが、同じムンリ大にあった国文科授業のほうに関心があった。大学卒業後は市民団体で2年間常勤職員として働き、その後18年間は構成作家として放送の仕事をして生計を立てた。教養ドキュメンタリー作家として、様々な人に会ったおかげで世界と人生について沢山学ぶことができた。コロナで日常が止まった2020年、仕事を休みながら書き直したシナリオで22回ソウル国際女性映画祭でメガボックス賞を受けた。