For 25 years of my life, living in my first home, I lived without a room. People were usually surprised when I said I had no room from age one until I graduated from college. However, living without a room taught me all the difficult, sad, happy, and joyful emotions at once.

This book is the journey of someone who had no room for many years, building their own room. People who stayed, people who left, and those who could never come left deep traces in his room. Though his room was surrounded by darkness, as the traces accumulated, he didn't dwell in darkness but opened windows to let in light. So, even in darkness, he managed to find light. Ultimately, this story is a solid journey of constructing not just a physical space of 'room' but also a 'room of the heart.'

I am someone who often misses many things and consequently regrets a lot. So, at some point, the method I chose was to write, leave, and collect as much as possible. It didn't matter if it was my home or workplace, the changing scenery outside the window, or what my family and friends left behind. I accepted it all. It seems I wanted to believe that such intimate yet unfamiliar, strange yet beautiful days accumulate and make up life as it flows. Although we can't share every moment as we live, couldn't we share everything if we set our minds to it? What I saw with swollen eyes in that sunset. What I pondered while reading alone. What I felt while walking. The long and short conversations, and the times that were beautiful because they would never come again. I always dreamed that I could share even the secrets that have yet to be spoken. Suddenly, the surroundings are quiet. Even on this cold and late night as I write, someone stays and someone leaves, but I want to do things every day that are possible because I'm alive.

Jihye

Jihye was born in Seoul in 1993. In her early years, she began observing her surroundings with a camera given by her father. She has since continued her life of taking photos and videos with a smartphone and writing using it as a tool for observation. Believing in the power of documentation, she finds that ordinary daily occurrences, when accumulated, have the ability to evoke laughter and tears in people. Through her life of recording, she explores how the landscapes and people she encounters every day, along with the conversations they share, contribute to life in various ways. She worked as an editor for the editing shop Object and the postcard library Poet's Brand. She has published a book titled 'If there's anything I missed.'