총 36페이지

Cover Story
Future Monologue
An article predicting the future, 20 years from now
ByJoHe-rim,KimJi-hyeock
AssociateEditor
Mar. 20, 2033
“Inresponsetotherapidincreaseofsingle-personhouseholds,thenewadministrationhascomeup
withahousingpolicythatwillofferfinancialaidforflat-sharinguniversitystudents.Thepolicyalso
aims to make use of the increasing number of available houses in the suburban area,” the anchor’s
clear voice from the morning news rang in my head. 20 years ago, I was a reporter for a magazine
andIrememberwritingabouttherapidincreaseofsingle-personhouseholdsinKoreaasmyveryfirst
feature item for the news. Only in the year 2013 had media and research institutions actually begun
to point out the increasing number of people living alone, their percentage estimated to be almost 25
percentofentireKoreanhouseholds.
AlthoughIhavehadmyshareofexperiencelivingalonewhenIwasinthe20s,neveratthemoment
hadIimaginedmyfuturefamilytobedispersedalloverthecountry.Asaresult,after20yearsIamstill
living alone, with my child away in university and me, divorced. Yes, as of today, 2033, single person
householdstakeupmorethan50percentoftheentireKoreanhouseholds.Thenumbersaregreaterand
largerinothercountries.
20yearsago,ImovedtoSeoulallthewayfromDaejeonafterIhadgraduateduniversitywithhopesand
dreams.Ihadtostruggleandworkhardforfourmoreyearstobecomeemployedinthenewspaperagency,
allthewhilelivingaloneinatinystudionearSinchon.Thathadbeenmyfirstexperiencelivingbymyself.
Mypreviousdreamsoffreedomandtheimagesofmoderncareerwomanwerebrutallyshatteredandwere
instead replaced with loneliness and pressures of job-hunting. While writing the feature article, I realized
that all the Hollywood imageries of independent single business women and men were merely the cases of
thoseontopoftheglassceiling.
As if my feature on single-households had initiated it, products aimed at those living alone began to pour
outintothemarketacoupleofyearslaterandImyselffounditprettyconvenientaswell.Forexample,evena
specialbowlforinstantnoodleswasinventedforthoseeatingalonesothatonecouldfixtheircellphoneabove
thebowlandwatchmoviesorvideoclipsonitwhileeating.Ithoughtitwasovertheboardatthetimebeingbut
now I own a couple in my kitchen as well. It was a world where doing something alone did not deserve curious
looksfromothers.Eatingaloneinarestaurantwasnotabigdeal.Icouldevengowatchmoviesinaspecialtheater
designedforasingleaudience.
Assomanypeoplewerelivingaloneaswell,itwasevenconsideredtrendytohostpartiesforsinglepeoplelivingin
thesamebuilding,asmostofthehouseswereone-roomapartmentsandhouses.ThatiswhereIhadmetmynowex-
husband.Bothjustemployedandeagertomakesomesavings,wedatedforalongtime.Wejustlikedbeingtogether
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