[Finding the Shape of My Place] Epilogue
I wrote my first piece titled "Finding the Shape of My Place" in January 2019. It began as a way to organize my thoughts during new employee training, reflecting on the time that had passed. I still vividly recall those times after training ended, tapping away at my laptop in a cafe near the office. Little did I know that piece I started then would finally be completed in August 2025. And here I am, finishing it now, still in Pangyo. Life is truly unpredictable.
After about seven years have passed, have I finally found the shape of my place?
In one sense, I suppose I can say yes. When I gave a lecture under the same title at Remuse in 2021, I explained the path I'd walked and said that the 'shape of my place' wasn't something forced into some pre-existing mold. It was simply something like the 'Kim Min-seok constellation'. Whatever path I branched out into in the future, it wouldn't be some predetermined shape set by someone else, but simply my own shape.
I still think the same way. As of August 2025, I work at the corporate foundation of a major domestic IT company, leading projects that create technology to change and help society. Under the name 'Technology Planning,' I weave together technical expertise and imagination. Under the name 'TPM,' I build and operate the solid foundations and systems for various technology projects. All of this is work I've long wanted to do, and above all, it's what I'm best at.
But looking back on the path that led me here, I realize my perspective on 'fences' has completely changed.
In 2016, I once thought I wanted to work in the media industry. It was when I attended the Next Journalism School and, along with friends who graduated together, started a small new media venture and plotted our plans. Around that time, there was the tragic death of a rookie producer working at CJ ENM. That incident shocked me deeply. I wrote that rather than thinking about which fence to climb over, I would instead ponder what shape the fence I entered should take.
Later, at the company I ended up joining, I unexpectedly found a fence I cherished above all else. But before long, that fence crumbled without me even noticing, and I eventually walked out through the gap it left behind.
Now, my perspective has shifted slightly. I no longer think about which fence I will enter, but rather, what kind of person I am within that fence, and how I will fill that space. I ponder what plants to sow within it, and what beings to share it with.
Perhaps now, I can live in the wider plains beyond that gap I walked through. I might put up a fence here for a while, then move it to another spot when the season changes. Inside that fence, I might spread a mat and lie down alone, gazing at the sky. Or someone might come to visit and sit beside me. Or I might just exist. That is the shape of the place I have found for myself. A mat laid out on the vast plain, and me, simply existing in that moment.
Now I no longer dwell on questions like whether it's a dream, a career path, or a job. Perhaps because I've achieved my dream. And perhaps because the time has come to ask myself different questions. To K's question about what comes next after the next, I think I can finally answer.
I hope I can always lie down on a mat, gaze at the sky, and smile.
When I first thought at 19, "I want to create something," was this what I meant? Pondering and acting on how technology can transform society, how to solve societal problems with technology. That dream I had at twenty, wanting to pose questions to the world, is now being realized under the name of technology and social impact.
But now, I don't think this is something complete. Just like spreading out a mat and gazing at the sky, this place too is one I can fold up and move elsewhere at any time. What matters is that no matter where I am, I can fully accept myself in that moment and smile.
The shape of my place will keep changing, and that's okay.