□ A book to read alongside the film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’
The film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ is drawing strong interest, and many viewers have been moved by the death of the ill-fated King Danjong. Not shown in the movie, however, Kim Si-seup (pen name Maewoldang) is a key figure in the Danjong story.
Kim’s decision to set out on wide-ranging travels, described as “tangyu,” grew out of anger over Grand Prince Suyang’s seizure of the throne. According to Yi Geung-ik’s , Kim collected the bodies of five of the Six Martyred Ministers — including Seong Sam-mun and Bak Paeng-nyeon — buried them at Noryangjin and marked the graves with small stones. Kim also held a “chohonje,” a rite to summon Danjong’s spirit, at Donghaksa temple in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province.
The article also recounts an episode involving Han Myeong-hoe. After seeing Han’s writing at a pavilion at Apgujeong — “靑春扶社稷(young, he supports the state) 白首臥江湖(old, he rests by rivers and lakes)” — Kim rewrote it as “靑春危社稷(young, he endangers the state) 白首汚江湖(old, he sullies rivers and lakes).”
The book introduced here traces Kim’s life from birth to death in chronological, accessible prose. On-site photographs throughout aim to bring him closer to readers as a vivid, present figure.
Kim is described as a prodigy who wrote classical Chinese poetry at age 3 and read the Confucian classics from age 5. The book says his early promise was blunted by personal loss — the deaths of his mother, maternal grandmother and King Sejong in succession. His father took a stepmother, and the word “father” does not appear even once in Kim’s writings, the book says.
The coup known as the Gyeyu Jeongnan, in which Suyang seized the throne, pushed Kim’s life in a direction opposite what those around him expected. Studying at Jungheungsa temple on Bukhansan, Kim heard the news and burned all the books he had. After three days in seclusion with his door locked, he chose “tangyu” — traveling across Joseon to see the land firsthand and feel the hardships of ordinary people. The book follows where he went, what he saw and thought, and what he wrote. It says he ultimately relied on Buddhist temples and died at Muryangsa temple in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province.
□ Recasting Kim as Korea’s first travel writer and first novelist
The book also seeks to reposition Kim as Korea’s first travel writer and first novelist. He is widely known as a figure of principle, but his role as the author of , described here as Korea’s first novel, is less recognized.
The five stories in are all set in Korea, with characters and settings tied to historical events such as the Red Turban Rebellion and Japanese pirate raids, the book says. It also notes the work’s imaginative use of folk motifs — ghosts, an undersea dragon palace, the king of the underworld and a wager with the Buddha.
The book says Kim was also the first to travel widely across the country, from Sinuiju in the far north to the southern coast, a feat requiring unusual resolve in the early Joseon period. As he traveled, he recorded cultural heritage in verse, and his journeys became a creative process of empathizing with people’s lives and documenting historical sites. It adds that much of his life on the road took place in his 20s and 30s.
□ Temples, shrines, stone steles and portraits: Tracking Kim’s traces nationwide
The book’s other feature is its detailed mapping of sites linked to Kim across the country. It records, and shows in current photographs, where to find Muryangsa in Buyeo, which has a stupa said to hold his relics; 13 shrines housing his spirit tablet; 11 stone monuments engraved with his poems; and six locations with portraits of him. The author says such detail was possible through field visits, and the material is aimed at readers who want to follow Kim’s footsteps.
[Table of contents]
Table of contents
Preface─9
Chapter 1. A bold journey begins─15
The age of rightful rule ended and an age of power politics arrived. The young Kim Si-seup, unable to contain disappointment and anger, left the ruling class and walked toward the lives of ordinary people, the beauty of the land and the nation’s history. It was both healing and challenge.
Chapter 2. Travels in Gwanseo and Gwandong: Seeing Korea’s land and culture anew─49
A new view of myth and folklore deepened his love for Joseon’s land. The framework of his thought — moving across Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism — took shape then. A free spirit, bound by none. Yet even amid the beauty of Mount Geumgang, sudden sorrow was inescapable.
Chapter 3. Travels in Honam and Gyeongju: Writing the first novel─63
He lamented recurring eras of power politics and empathized with the exhausted lives of the people, expressing history in poetry. His interest in history and myth during his journeys in Gwanseo, Gwandong and Honam bore fruit in Korea’s first novel, , described as a cultural transformation and innovation.
Chapter 4. The Suraksan and Gwandong years: Big ambitions, an unchanged world─133
Power shifted, but the era did not. A last thread of hope disappeared, and days of wandering with like-minded companions continued. His resolve collapsed into endless doubt, a difficult period for Kim.
Chapter 5. Becoming legend at Muryangsa─159
Muryangsa in Buyeo is where Kim ended his life on the road. Calling himself “몽사노(夢死老: an old man who died dreaming),” he traveled the land to the end, leaving many poems and writings as an “eternal youth.”
Appendix
How to view Kim Si-seup─ 179
Kim Si-seup timeline (chronology)─ 187
Finding Kim’s traces… portraits, shrines, poem steles (詩碑)─ 189
-Portraits
• Muryangsa portrait (Treasure No. 1497)
• Buyeo Cheongilsa portrait
• Gangwon Cheongpyeongsa portrait
• Busan Sanghyeonsa portrait
• Gyeongju Girimsa portrait
• Maewoldang sisayurok portrait
• Japan Tenri University portrait
-Temples and shrines
Chungcheong Province
• Buyeo Muryangsa (無量寺)
• Buyeo Cheongilsa (淸逸祠)
• Gongju Donghaksa Sukmojeon (肅慕殿)
Gangwon Province
• Cheorwon Goeunsa (九隱祠)
• Yeongwol Changjeolsa (彰節祠)
• Gangneung Cheonggansa (淸簡祠)
• Gangneung Changdeoksa (彰德祠)
Gyeongsang Province
• Gyeongju Girimsa (祗林寺)
• Busan Geumjeong-gu Sanghyeonsa (上賢祠)
• Haman Seosanseowon (西山書院)
• Uljin Gosanseowon (孤山書院)
Jeolla Province
• Gimje Samhyeonseowon (三賢書院)
• Goheung Jaedongseowon (齋洞書院)
-Poem steles (詩碑)
Chungcheong Province
• Buyeo Muryangsa poem stele
• Cheongju Sangdangsanseong poem stele
Gangwon Province
• Baekdamsa poem stele
• Gangneung Kim Si-seup Memorial Hall poem stele
• Daegwallyeong poem stele
Gyeongsang Province
• Palgongsan poem stele
• Mungyeongsaejae poem stele
Seoul·Gyeonggi
• Junggyedong poem stele
• Yongsan poem stele
• Jongno Anguk-dong poem stele
• Yangpyeong Yongmunsan poem stele
References─221
Photo credits─222
[Author: So Jong-seop]
So Jong-seop was born in 1966 at Muryangsa temple in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province. He served as editor-in-chief at Sisa Journal and at Asia Economy. He is currently political desk chief at Asia Economy and hosts the YouTube channel ‘So Jong-seop’s Current Affairs Show.’ In 2011, he founded the Maewoldang Kim Si-seup Memorial Association and serves as its president, and he has led 60 ‘Kim Si-seup field trips’ to date. He also runs the YouTube channel ‘So Jong-seop’s Common Sense School.’ He has written several books, including , , and .
* This article has been translated by AI.
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