Amid the fierce winds that sweep through Jinburyeong year-round, the Hwangtae drying field rests quietly in Yongdaeri village, Gangwon Province. (Hwangtae is pollack, transformed by the winter’s cold embrace, frozen and thawed into a dried state). Underneath the racks, they lie in wait for the rare blessing of rain, mouths open wide. In the knife-like wind, frozen solid, they clatter together, a symphony of survival. One, with its jaw cut by a sharp rope, shrinks away, struggling desperately to remain with its kin. This was its final winter. Daepung, the protagonist, envisions a life intertwined with these resilient beings.