Oh no, I kept laughing even as I thought about it.

📖 What We Eat in Summer_Song Jihyun

I’m not sure if the author intended it, but the short stories in the novel are all mysteriously connected. They seem different on the surface, but if you look inside, they’re all quite similar to us. Amidst miserable sorrow and pain, I love laughter that erupts without context. I believe such out-of-context laughter sustains me and those around me. The stories told by author Song Jihyun are like that kind of laughter. Laughter that leaks out in the darkness, if such laughter accumulates, we will close and open our eyes each day a little more comfortably.

📝 Thoughts and Sentences I Loved

pg.55

Then I put a thousand won into the offering box and pressed my palms together. I bowed my head and closed my eyes for a moment, and tears welled up from behind my eyelids. When tears flow with your eyes closed, they feel even hotter. Fearing the tears would stream down my cheeks, I quickly opened my eyes, and a tear plopped onto the ground. My uncle said,

— Are you crying? See? I told you, you have a lot of karma from your past life.

He said with conviction. If it hadn’t been for ninety-nine thousand nine hundred won, I would never have come with him.

pg.145

The two of them held hands and had a brief conversation in the packed 11 AM parking lot. The man walked back towards the apartment entrance, and Jingang walked towards me. I quickly lowered my head and pretended to look at my phone.

As Jingang opened the car door, cold air rushed in. Jingang started the car and turned on the navigation. The fact that even after ten years of driving, she couldn’t go anywhere without a navigation system, was just a bit funny in that moment. I shouldn’t have laughed, but laughter kept bubbling up, so I just closed my eyes. Jingang quietly said one thing.

— You crazy thing. Is it funny?

Suddenly, at that remark, I burst into uncontrollable laughter. What to do, what to do, I kept thinking, but I just kept laughing. The car left the apartment complex and entered the highway. Jingang said,

— Actually, there was no need to come like this. Nothing changes by coming here, anyway.

— Yeah.

I wiped away a few stray tears and replied.

— Swear with me.

We complained about our parents to our heart’s content, just like when we talked on the phone at night. There was no end to complaining about parents. I truly vowed never to have children.

— She says she wants to be devoted. Now, she’s even going to lend out her life.

Just as I was wondering whether to say, ‘There are other things to lend,’ or ‘Everyone has their own reasons,’ Jingang said,

— Oh, right. When they asked who that was in the car, I said she was my girlfriend.

And even amidst all that, I felt Jingang was amazing for lying.

— Would anyone bring their girlfriend to catch their father in the act of infidelity?

To my question, Jingang replied,

— I don’t know. Just to make it look dramatic.

I was certain that neither Jingang’s life nor mine would ever involve forming the kind of family depicted in school workbooks.

pg.160

— How long did you travel?

— A month.

— Was it fun?

— I don’t know. It was a continuous movement.

— Travel is originally like a rumor.

John said, and laughed loudly. I wondered if I had misunderstood, so I tried to recall words similar to ‘rumor,’ but it didn’t seem to be the case.

pg.162

The Sagrada Familia was indeed peculiar compared to other European architectural marvels. Arriving and facing the cathedral as per the guide’s instructions, its exterior seemed too demonic to be a church. The outer walls looked as if they were perforated in places, and mud was thickly plastered on, appearing as if it would soon slide off. It was even hard to tell which statue was an angel. At the entrance of the cathedral, someone asked me to take a photo, so we took pictures of each other. A young couple, holding hands tightly, smiled brightly and went inside, saying, ‘Gaudi seems like a Gothic enthusiast.’ Once inside, I was surprised again. Unlike the dim interiors of other cathedrals, a kaleidoscope of light poured in. It was so colorful that I could only describe it as such, realizing how many colors existed in light. I sat silently on a chair, basking in the light. Then, through my earphones, I heard the guide’s voice.

— Light… isn’t it truly beautiful.

The air was distant, and dust motes floated.

— These are Gaudi’s last words before he died. Now, look up. Do you see the rounded, leaf-shaped ceiling? Gaudi designed it so that if light bulbs were connected there, light would spread. He predicted the birth of electricity in an era without it and created such a design.

pg.227

So, I asked, ‘What was it about nightclubs that we liked?’ Jun thought for a moment and then said,

— I enjoy hanging out with people who make an effort for me. I like being complimented, even if it’s not sincere. And the people here, they compliment and try to impress you, hoping for something. So, I just enjoy their compliments and efforts and then leave. In the future, I won’t sleep with anyone I meet in a place like this, nor will I meet them a second time. And that’s something I’m proud of.

pg.240

On days I don’t meet P, I mostly spend time lying down. My room has so many books I want to throw them away, and I’ve actually tried to. But throwing things away also requires energy. I haven’t even finished organizing the photos of ex-lovers I dated before meeting P. I even take them out to look at them sometimes. It’s not for any particular meaning; it’s just to see myself in them. Perhaps because I only kept the photos where I thought I looked pretty, I look better than I do now.

pg.256

I quietly held P’s right hand. It was strange that we could become a family anytime we wanted. Giving birth to an ugly child who resembles P, that child living in various cities, then meeting someone who resembles me, and someday, while riding in a car like this with someone, thinking: it’s strange that you can become a family anytime you want.

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