I Took a Bite of Summer

On an endlessly hot summer day, it all began with an irresistible pull toward each other. That strange someone who kept lingering in their thoughts, the one they couldn’t help but worry about. For Ha Ji-oh, that person was Yu-chan. For Yu-chan, that person was Ha Ji-oh. “The one.” That’s what they came to call each other—the one who quietly settled deep in their hearts. As they came to recognize each other’s pain, a new feeling bloomed—the desire to protect someone for the very first time. With that, the two finally faced the stories about themselves they had always avoided. Through the voices of the townspeople who had silently watched their struggles, they learned: that choosing one thing sometimes means losing another, that even so, we must still choose, that even if our choices bring us pain, we can face it not with hatred or cynicism, but with something else— and when we do, our world begins to change. With a fragile hope that perhaps they might reconcile with their own lives, Ji-oh and Yu-chan turn this summer—expected to be nothing but scorching and unbearable—into the most brilliant and overwhelming summer of their lives. Yu-chan, a boy unlike the others, lost his parents overnight in a mysterious fire. At the funeral, he suddenly began hearing people’s innermost thoughts. Since that day, he has been tormented by voices he never wished to hear, blocking them out with headphones and burying himself in study. But then he meets Ji-oh Ha, who has just transferred into his town. Strangely, when Ji-oh is near, silence comes. At first it’s only curiosity, a small hope of escaping the terrible noise. But as time passes, he realizes it isn’t just that. Ji-oh’s emotions are written plainly on her face—sometimes making him laugh, sometimes frustrating him when she worries about others instead of herself. The many emotions she stirs in him feel unfamiliar, yet precious. Ji-oh Ha, who transferred from Seoul to Beonyeong, has lived her whole life with her mother alone. She even began judo just to protect her. But when her mother falls ill, Ji-oh is forced to find the father she never knew existed. Pushed into Beonyeong against her will, every day feels unbearable: shops close by eight, strangers are cold to outsiders, and the local market lists only tractors and sprayers. Her father, the woman living with him, the villagers, the disorganized judo club, even Yu-chan—the boy she met at the train station—all feel uncomfortable and suffocating. And yet, Yu-chan keeps tugging at her heart. This boy who claims to read minds feels as though he’s silently pleading: “Save me.” A boy who hears the unwanted thoughts of others—Yu-chan. A girl who believes she should never have been born—Ji-oh. How a scorching summer becomes something refreshing. The most dazzling summer of our seventeenth year— begins now!