“I will swim on and on to save them, and to save myself.

I will do it over and over again, even if I fail.”

The first full-length novel by Lee Hyun-seok, the winner of the Young Writers Award

The hottest and the coolest novel on surfing you’ll read this summer!

Lee Hyun-seok, the author whose fiercely engaging and compelling works on contemporary ethics and social issues have won him the Young Writers Award, has published his first full-length novel Duck Dive. The novel is the 14th installation in Changbi Publishers’ light novel series for young adults, Novel Q. Set in a Korean surf camp in Bali at a time when COVID-19 was thought to be just a rumor, the novel is as intense as a crashing wave and as delicate as the waters that lightly embrace surfers. With vivid scenes that will make readers feel like they are on a surfboard, readers will find themselves riding the waves at the peak of the ocean, sometimes getting caught in waves much bigger than their size and choking on salt water.

The book vividly depicts the beautiful landscape of Bali, while also describing in detail its harsh realities. Along with surfing, the other major theme of workplace bullying in the medical field is given added weight through the narrative of the author, who is also a practicing doctor. As mentioned in the author's note, the novel depicts the logic of capital, which easily turns people into targets of bullying at the slightest deviation, and the pain of turning a blind eye to the suffering of others in the face of a reality that takes self-exploitation for granted. As mentioned in the author's note, the novel depicts the logic of capital, which easily turns people into targets of bullying at the slightest deviation, and the pain of turning a blind eye to the suffering of others in the face of a reality that takes self-exploitation for granted. The novel does not offer any flimsy packaging or consolation that it was inevitable. Even if it may be too late, even if it is a thing of the past, the novel forces us to confront the past again. As the novel depicts the protagonist swimming against the current towards the past “in hopes that it is not too late,” it talks about the courage and ethics most needed in our time.

Even when misunderstandings are everlasting and incomprehensible, the fact that we were together here will always remain the truth.

The novel features Tae-kyung, the main instructor at Min’s Surf which is well-renowned for its rigorous training. After hopping from one temporary job to another, Tae-kyung settles in Bali after starting by chance and falling in love with surfing. By the time Tae-kyung, who first came to the camp as a trainee, rises to the position of main instructor, Min's Surf has also steadily gained popularity and is now always packed with people. The owner of Min’s Surf recruits Minda, a wellness influencer, as a way to expand the business at the ripe time. Tae-kyung does not like Minda from the very first meeting – because of the way Minda does not focus on classes since she is too busy laughing and talking with other people, and how Minda forces her camera in others’ faces just because she is an influencer. One day Minda comes to Tae-kyung and asks if she does not recognize her. Tae-kyung is first dumbfounded since she disregards that question as a celebrity asking if she is not famous enough to be recognized; however, she soon realizes that Minda is in fact Da-young, whom she worked with previously at a checkup center of a general hospital. Back then, Da-young was a victim of so-called “taeum,” a term for workplace bullying in the nursing community. The charge nurse especially hated Da-young. Da-young was reprimanded for even the slightest mistakes, and she eventually began to arrive at work with a drunken look on her face one day. After a while Da-young began to be disliked by her colleagues and ends up collapsing in the hospital. The sight of Da-young’s body twitching and contorting as she breathes heavily is still vivid in Tae-kyung’s eyes – and Tae-kyung is greatly shocked to see Minda right in front of her.

Surfing brings Tae-kyung and Da-young closer together. However, the invisible clock between them always stops at the same spot – the memories of the hospital are always silenced, and the relationship between Tae-kyung and Da-young remains tenuous. Tae-kyung is constantly thinking about the past, and she is tormented by the memory of “the place where she and I were together, but I turned my back on her.” Then one day, a drunken Da-young sets their clock back in time endlessly.

The surfers on the waves, including Tae-kyung and Da-young, are not unlike our own existence – thrown into this world and forced to exist as "just another possibility.” The sight of huge white waves shattering is both exciting and terrifying. Once a surfer succeeds in “taking off,” the act of standing up on their board, they can experience the thrill of cutting through the waves. However, the waves will swallow them up when they look away just for the slightest moment. Even after rigorous training on land, the waves always come in unpredictable ways. The same can be said for life in these times. No one can tell you who you are or at what point in life you stand. There are questions you must ask yourself: what is it that you want, and what kind of life do you want to live? Even if you believe you've always lived your life to the fullest, you may find yourself in a place you don't want to be at some point. Sometimes the smallest decisions, made out of sheer necessity to survive, may lead us to that place. However, the novel tells us that we can take off once again to catch the wave. And that takeoff might open the door for us not just to save ourselves, but also what we could not save in the past.

The only wish that echoes in my mind: I hope I am not too late

The author draws on his own experiences as a doctor and his diligent research to elaborately capture the subtleties of the story. Surfing was also a sport that the author enjoyed every year before the pandemic. This novel is filled with fine details that will make you feel like you are watching a movie or drama, as the author captures not only the surfing but also the hospital scenes in detail.

Is surfing really just about getting on your surfboard and carving waves in style? When a wave is too big or when she is not ready to catch it, Tae-kyung often "duck dives." Duck diving is a technique that involves "going under the surface as if you are threading a needle" and letting the wave pass you by. Duck diving is a way of dealing with the waves that you cannot ride by diving under them for a sliver of a moment. Life is not that much different; there are times when you can handle the big things that come at you like a wave, but there are also times when you have to hold your breath and let them pass by. The novel vividly depicts the fluid movement of surfers against the waves, gently loosening the muscles of everyday life that are bound to grow stiff. Try reading the novel as if you are a surfer lying on your board floating in the Balinese sea, and you will begin to reflect on what you have faced and what you have let go of in your life. In doing so, the novel draws your attention to the lives of others that you might have otherwise let slide.

Once readers close the final page of Duck Dive, they will wholeheartedly realize once again that one’s life cannot be truly independent. In this era of capitalism that makes one constantly grind themselves into the system while looking the other way when they see cracks, this novel is a dazzlingly beautiful portrayal of a protagonist who duck dives underneath a gigantic wave, realizing that saving someone else can also be saving oneself.

Support from Changbi Publishers, Inc.