Seeing and Misseeing

This flow traces how the novel makes looking an active process shaped by distance, framing, language, and the desire for recognition.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Face Looked Through

A Face Looked Through An absent recognition Yan Kerrand looks through the narrator when he first checks in. She notices his face and manner in detail, while he seems not to register her as an individual. The asymmetry makes her attentive to his gaze from the start. Looking as relation The novel begins by separating seeing from recognizing. The narrator’s later wish to be drawn emerges against this first experience of being present but unseen.

Reflections on the Bus

Reflections on the Bus Two images in glass On the bus, the narrator watches Yan Kerrand reflected in the window and then realizes he is looking at her reflection too. She looks down when their gazes meet in the glass. The pane creates a mediated encounter rather than a direct conversation. Uncertain recognition Their reflections suggest mutual attention while preserving distance. The narrator cannot tell what Yan Kerrand sees or what his expression means.

Sokcho Through Another Eye

Sokcho Through Another Eye A changed view Yan Kerrand compares Sokcho to a brightly colored toy town, prompting the narrator to look at its roofs and ruins beside him. She admits she has never examined the city closely in this way. His perspective makes familiar scenery strange again. Seeing without understanding The new view is valuable but incomplete. The narrator knows Yan Kerrand’s outsider’s gaze cannot contain the history and lived isolation she associates with the town.

Snow in the Drawings

Snow in the Drawings Light rather than color Yan Kerrand shows the narrator monochrome drawings of places in Sokcho and says that light shapes what people see. She begins to notice the white space between his ink lines as snow and illumination. The drawings change what she thinks counts as detail. Perception revised Rather than simply recording a landscape, the images direct the eye toward what remains blank. The narrator’s attention shifts from the marks to the space those marks make visible.

The Scar Recognized

The Scar Recognized A line from the body The last image in Yan Kerrand’s sketchbook narrows toward a long, fine scar. The narrator recognizes the mark as the scar on her thigh, now rendered by a brush as a line on a fish. The drawing makes her body visible through an image she did not create. Recognition without certainty She cannot know whether the image means he truly saw her or used her as material. The ambiguity preserves the difference between being represented and being understood.

At Yan Kerrand’s arrival

After the supermarket visit

During the rooftop conversation

On Seollal in Yan Kerrand’s room

In the final pages of the novel