Description How Did I Become Who I Am "I have a responsibility to see this life through to its completion." Until now, Kim Young-ha's essays have stayed close to the present moment. From The Reason for Travel, which gathered together all of his journeys, to The Long-Prepared Answer, which traced his humanistic journey through Sicily, to Da Da Da, which showcased his boundary-breaking thought and incisive perception—Kim Young-ha has consistently communicated with readers by recording and sharing what he has seen, experienced, and felt. While episodes from his own life would occasionally surface naturally as he built his reflections around diligently accumulated experiences, he rarely brought his own life directly into the spotlight. In this new essay collection, "life" itself takes center stage. If we consider that each of us is given only one chance at life, then the only life anyone can truly speak of with authority is their own. The title, originally "How to Use a Life" during its newsletter serialization, was revised to its current form based on the author's realization that it is difficult to make confident pronouncements about life. Befitting the weight of a story that can only be told once in a lifetime, not just the title but the content and structure were carefully refined and revised after the serialization ended last August. The story begins at his mother's funeral. A secret his mother—who passed away after suffering from Alzheimer's—had kept hidden during her life comes to light. The author also looks back on the early expectations and disappointments he held toward his father. He carefully and steadily traces back through his past life, examining what meaning the memories he had simply carried in a corner of his heart might hold. His relationship with his parents, memories of childhood, the warm hostility and ordinary hospitality of school days, the way of life he chose for himself as an adult... With his signature plain, intuitive prose, Kim Young-ha shares small but meaningful everyday moments while looking squarely at the anxiety and uncertainty that come with life being "single-use." Having just rounded the midpoint of his life, the "human being Kim Young-ha," born in 1968, seeks his own answer to the question, "Why did I become who I am now?" And How Shall We Live A record of today, looking back at yesterday while heading toward tomorrow The story naturally extends into the reader's own life. Just as Kim Young-ha looked back on the time he had lived while organizing his memories, readers too will find themselves reflecting on their own "only life" as they read this book. He calmly recalls the choices he has made amid the relationships he has encountered and the roles society has demanded of him. But this reflection is not mere reminiscence of the past—it evokes the questions each of us carries within. At what moments do we hope, feel disappointed, and find our way again? Why did we make certain choices and not others, and how have those choices shaped who we are today? The stories in this book create a space where readers can project their own lives. The emotions he felt while witnessing his mother's aging and death recall the moment of parting that each of us will eventually face. His honest confessions about family history and memories from different periods of his life prompt us to reconsider the meaning of days we once passed by without a second thought. In doing so, we come to realize that moments once dismissed as insignificant were, in fact, part of the process that shaped our lives. Each day, we make the one and only choice available to us in life, sometimes with regret, sometimes with relief. That is why Only One Life is not merely a novelist's memoir. Rather than offering advice or definitive answers about life, it passes on to readers the very questions that life posed to the author. Have I had moments like these too? What have I let go of, and what have I held onto as I've lived? Reading almost like an autobiographical novel, Only One Life offers readers a narrative experience in which the author's own life episodes naturally transform into the reader's own story. Though we each live differently, in the end we all stand before the same question: "How did I become who I am?" And "How will I live this one and only life?" Through this book, Kim Young-ha has written down his own answer. Now it's the reader's turn. After closing the book, why not leave behind a record of your own? We all need time to search our memories, sort through our emotions, and be honest with ourselves.