By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Among a slew of the books written by celebrities these days, actor Cha In-pyo's book is conspicuous for many reasons.
First of all, the book is the first novel ever penned by an actor in Korea. Secondly, it is not a vanity project or self-focused ego-fluff, but rather deals with the issue of comfort women. Comfort women refer to the sexual slavery of numerous women, mostly Korean but also including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Southeast Asian nationalities and even Europe, by the Japanese military in its imperial expansion years.
Cha's involvement in the book titled ``Goodbye Hill'' goes back to 1997, when he first heard the story of ``Grandmother Hoon.'' She had been hauled off as a comfort woman to Cambodia during the colonial period and continued living in that country for 70 years until she visited her native Korea in 1997.
The 41-year-old actor's interest was first piqued upon hearing the news reports. So for the past decade, he worked on the idea, researching, writing, and editing his manuscript.
Set in Tiger Village at the foot of Mt. Baekdu in the 1930s, a youthful hunter, Yongi comes to a village with his hunter father to capture the tiger that killed his mother, and encounters Suni, the daughter of the village chief.
While staying in the village, Yongi and Suni becomes close, but after capturing the tiger that threatens the villagers and their livestock, he has to depart along with his father, making her heart grow fonder toward him.