[Kim Heeyoon's Bookshelf] The Life Story Told by a Man Whose 'Job Is CEO' in the Mountains

Kwon Daewook's Walden Story
30 Years of CEO Life After Becoming President at Age 35

At thirty-five, there was a man who, as an engineer, became the youngest president of a construction company in Korea. Since then, he has served as the CEO of construction, hotel, and education companies, living a life where his "job was being a president" for 35 years.

Kwon Dae-wook's Walden Story [Photo provided by Book Publishing Happiness Energy]

Leaving behind a fierce workaholic life, he began his second life in a mountain hut in Munmak, Wonju, Gangwon-do. In fact, this space was prepared by him for 26 years, and he confesses that he decided to live a life of "'Jariita (自利利他)', a life of benefiting oneself and others," and "a life of contribution" in this place.

Kwon Daewook's Walden Story is an essay collection containing the author's self-confession of rebirth from a workaholic in the middle of the city to a natural person in a mountain hut in Gangwon-do, much like Henry David Thoreau (1817?1862), who lived with minimal belongings in a cabin by Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

As if practicing his resolve of Jariita, he opened a school called "Sanmak School" in the mountain hut and shared time with about 1,500 visitors so far, including close acquaintances, artists, foreigners, members of the National Assembly, and ministers, sharing life’s worries and dreams together.

As the "principal of Sanmak School," the author says that after running the school for 15 years, Sanmak School is a place where anyone can become a teacher and anyone can become a student. He explained, "It became a natural school where you can learn about life by sitting around a campfire, looking at the stars and the moon, and discussing life."

People around him ask whether running that "Sanmak School" brings "rice or rice cakes," but the author bluntly says, "It brings people."

He said that for those who visit Sanmak School, it is enough to leave with just one resolution: "I have lived well so far, but I will live a little better from now on." He conveyed that this place is an "open school" and a "school of life" where anything can become a subject.

Even past his sixties, leading Sanmak School and sharing the truths of the world with more people, the author actively continues his activities as the honorary leader of the youth choir he joined through the 2011 KBS variety show Qualification of Men and as a YouTuber (Kwon Daewook TV), practicing "a happier life right now."

Kwon Daewook's Walden Story / Written by Kwon Daewook / Haengboke Energy / 22,000 KRW

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