[Lee Geun-hyung's Odok Odok] Why Did the Author's Pen Pal Have to Be 'B'?

Author Oh Han-gi's Second Short Story Collection 'Baguette Boy Soldier'

Breaking through real-world problems with bold and unpredictable imagination

The inexplicable sense of liberation felt after closing the book is the work's strength

Why was it former President Lee Myung-bak (MB)? Among all past presidents from Syngman Rhee to Moon Jae-in, why was it Lee Myung-bak? I heard former President Park Geun-hye also replied to letters, so why did it have to be Lee Myung-bak? The story "Penpal" from Oh Han-gi's second short story collection Baguette Boy Soldier is about Oh Han-gi exchanging letters with former President Lee Myung-bak. If you only read this one work, you might think it was because among living former presidents, Lee Myung-bak is the only one in prison, making him the least risky subject. And he is indeed a very interesting character.

However, after reading works like Baguette Boy Soldier, Master Paeng and the Turtle Jinjin, and To My Beloved Rabbit Head, I came to the conclusion that it had to be MB. (Writing after reading Oh Han-gi’s novels, my writing seems to flow like his stream of consciousness.) In Oh Han-gi’s world, it can only be MB. MB is someone who perfectly believes lies as truth, saying things like "You know this is all a lie, right?", "I have never lived such a life," and "My family motto is honesty." Only such a person can fully absorb Oh Han-gi’s indiscriminately expanding imagination. Others are unsuitable platforms for his imagination. Former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in are too heavy figures. Only he is very honest, even if it is a lie he alone believes.

Oh Han-gi’s novels contain many fantasy elements. Ghosts exist inside cell phones, turtles suddenly appear with the character ‘Paeng’ engraved on them, and a boy with a baguette lives in a cabinet. Yet his writing is realism?very petit-bourgeois realism. He resolves the anger and awareness of problems he has felt in life through imagination. In reality, even after struggling hard, he ultimately loses, but he brings these situations into an indiscriminate world of imagination and breaks through. In fact, nothing changes. The protagonist’s situation at the start and end of the novel is almost the same. Ultimately, it’s a return to the starting point. But in the process of returning, we travel through an unpredictably expanding world. We keep turning pages while thinking, "What is this?" And we feel an inexplicable sense of liberation, as if we have finally said something long held back. That sense of liberation is probably what willingly makes us spend time traveling through Oh Han-gi’s world.

PS?A pointless brag. I have seen the short film Attack of the Human Rat introduced in "Penpal." Come to think of it, this writer has been like this from the start.

Baguette Boy Soldier / Oh Han-gi / Munhakdongne / 14,500 KRW

Reporter Lee Geun-hyung ghlee@

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.