hue of seoul: mystery and suspense in today’s korea

Collection of Short Stories by Charles T. Mitchell

Hues of Seoul: Mystery and Suspense in Today’s Korea is a series of evocative short stories linked together by a running tale of a life and death battle of wits between a malcontent, hermit-like native of central Seoul and an accidental visitor lured into a terror-laced den of no return on the deceptively tranquil slopes of Mount Namsan at the heart of the Korean peninsula. Like some horrific alley cat toying with its helpless prey, the denizen of old Korea lives to tease, destroy, and devour, while lamenting the demise of the old ways. Like a Korea-based Tales of the Arabian Nights, the trapped visitor, using his gift of gab, strives to delay the hermit’s murderous intent by weaving tales of those very fading traditions and dying myths that the hermit longs for.

The visitor reveals to his deadly host war’s tragic remnants feeding on the fringes of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); hikes an eerie trail on Mount Bukhansan with a young Kpop star (with a bow to inspiration from Lee Ji-eun (IU, Uaena), and others) searching for redemption; dines in old Hongdae with an unlikely pair confronting stark reminders of a bygone era; watches Incheon’s fading fishing culture besieged by dark forces collecting souls like unpaid taxes; haunts timeworn Insa-dong alleys to witness an artist’s spirited rebirth; shadows a confused young man pursuing a troubled lover by the Han River’s dark waters; fights ancient evil with a Korean-American cleric in the Korean diaspora enclave of New York City’s vanishing Koreatown; and, finally,  eavesdrops on a mournful tale of tragic loss on Jeju Island’s misty, rocky shores. 

Join the two chance foes as the demented hermit’s menacing threats drive the visitor to spin timeless tales of the Korean peninsula. Who will triumph? Who will perish? Will the guardian slopes of Seoul’s Mount Namsan protect one over the other? Read on…