Author So Jae-won / Korea Times photo by Hong In-gie

A post titled "Searching for the person who helped me 21 years ago during my homeless days" appeared on an online community on Wednesday.

The post's author, now a celebrated writer, shared memories of a time when he was homeless and spent three days reading at a bookstore, only to be asked to leave due to complaints about his appearance. Yet, one bookstore employee had given him the book he couldn't finish, a gesture that would change his life.

The writer is So Jae-won, known for works such as "Tunnel," "That Day" and "Wish." In an interview with the Hankook Ilbo, So recalled, "It was around 2002 or 2003 when I was 20, right after high school. I had come to Seoul, fallen victim to a scam, and found myself homeless near Seoul, Yeongdeungpo or Yongsan Station, though I can't remember exactly."

With nowhere else to go, So sought refuge in a bookstore. "On the third day, one staff member finally told me, ‘People have been complaining about the smell. You need to leave,'" he remembered.

Embarrassed, he left quickly, but another employee called him back, saying, "I noticed you've been reading this book. I don't think you've finished, so please take it as a gift."

Yi Chong-jun's "Your Paradise," 1996 edition / Captured from Aladin website

The book was "Your Paradise" by Yi Chong-jun, set in Sorok Island. Deeply moved, So later published his own novel, "Story," inspired by that book. Grateful, he had promised the employee, "I'll gift you a book of mine someday."

So has searched for this employee over the years, saying in his post, "I don't know if they believed my promise or dismissed it as a homeless person's fantasy, but I have carried their kindness with me and endured."

He reflected, "Does that employee know that the homeless young man is now an established author, known for advocating for the vulnerable?"

In a message to his benefactor, he wrote, "I hope you're well. Thanks to you, I've become a decent writer. I still think of that time whenever I'm struggling."

So has visited several bookstores in the Yongsan area, even trying to locate stores that operated since 1993, but he has yet to find the person who gifted him the book.

"I was 20, and the employee was a woman in her mid-to-late twenties," So said. "I believe there's only one person in Korea who would have gifted 'Your Paradise' to a homeless person, so I'm certain I'll find her."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.