‘The Old Woman With the Knife’ author returns with dark tale of mind-reading, betrayal

"Cutting Wound" by Gu Byeong-mo (Munhakdongne Publishing)

"Cutting Wound"

By Gu Byeong-mo

Munhakdongne Publishing

Gu Byeong-mo, one of Korea’s most imaginative storytellers, returns with "Cutting Wound," a haunting tale of a woman who can “read” another’s mind by touching their wounds.

Orphaned and raised in an institution, she discovers her gift when she presses her hand to a friend’s bleeding cut and suddenly hears a flood of thoughts. Yet she grows up uncertain how to use this power.

That changes when she meets Moon O-eon, a shrewd businessman who immediately grasps its value. He takes her in, gives her a new name, fine clothes and a secluded mansion where no one can find her. At once manipulative and strangely kind, he becomes the first person to show her care.

But when O-eon commits an unforgivable act, her fragile trust shatters. He wants her to read his mind to understand him as only she can. She refuses with a fierce declaration that he will be the one person she will never read.

Part mystery, part unsettling romance, "Cutting Wound" builds its tension on this fraught relationship — a woman who can see into others’ minds, and a man desperate to have his own mind seen.

Gu’s 2013 novel "The Old Woman with the Knife" was adapted into a stage musical last year and a feature film that premiered this year at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. The novel is available in English, translated by Chi-Young Kim.