Sad Korea

Prologue · The Gates of Hell

A country that teaches you to blame yourself

An excerpt from the original Korean manuscript, with an English reading translation.

그러나 우리가 매일 통과하는 이 지옥은 그렇게 단순하지 않다.

이곳에는 반드시 악인만 있는 것이 아니다.
오히려 이 지옥을 가득 채우고 있는 것은, 죄 없는 사람들이다.

성실한 사람들.
참고 살아온 사람들.
부모를 책임진 사람들.
아이를 키운 사람들.
대출을 갚아온 사람들.
조직에서 버틴 사람들.
실패하지 않으려고 이를 악문 사람들.
남에게 폐 끼치지 않으려고 자기 삶을 한 뼘씩 줄여온 사람들.

그들은 죄인이 아니다.
그들은 길들여진 사람들이다.

The hell we pass through every day is more complicated.

It holds more than people who have done wrong. It is full of people who have done nothing wrong.

People who worked hard.
People who endured.
People who took responsibility for their parents.
People who raised children.
People who kept paying down their debts.
People who held on at work.
People who gritted their teeth to keep from failing.
People who made their own lives a little smaller, bit by bit, to keep from burdening anyone else.

They are innocent.
They have been trained to live this way.