What if my boyfriend suddenly became an alien?
This could be the intriguing premise of an 'alien romance'—a love story involving a non-human entity. In the novel 'Only One Han-A on Earth,' the protagonist Han-A has been in a relationship with her boyfriend Kyung-Min for 11 years. One day, an alien resembling Kyung-Min appears before her. While he looks just like Kyung-Min, there are subtle differences. The scar on his arm has vanished, and he now enjoys foods he previously disliked. Most notably, he is unusually affectionate towards Han-A. He confesses that he traveled 20,000 light-years to be with her.
This green-hued alien, disguised as Kyung-Min, explains that he is drawn to Han-A because she seems like a consistent person, almost as if she is fighting against entropy alone.
In physics, entropy refers to the degree to which energy spreads out and the difficulty of returning to a previous state. It suggests that everything changes gradually if left alone. In other words, the alien Kyung-Min admires Han-A for not allowing the things that wear down to simply fade away.
Indeed, Han-A runs a clothing repair shop called 'Rebirth,' where she insists on mending worn clothes so they can be worn again. However, she does not restore the clothes to their original state. Instead, she accepts their altered forms and works to extend their usefulness and meaning. This is her way of confronting entropy and preserving something.
Love may be similar. No matter whose love exists in the universe, as long as the body wears down, it cannot remain unchanged. Everything in the universe transforms and deteriorates. Therefore, even an unchanging love does not imply that nothing changes. Rather, it is about preserving something that makes a person who they are, even as everything else changes.
In essence, love is not about maintaining a static state but about continuously investing energy, knowing that change and wear are inevitable. Just as Han-A repairs and adjusts her clothes to fit their new forms while ultimately holding onto them, love requires a certain stubbornness.
By the end of the novel, the alien Kyung-Min begins to resemble Han-A's approach to love. Han-A's body will inevitably wear down and disappear one day. However, what Kyung-Min wishes to hold onto is not the physical form of Han-A as it is now, but rather the essence of 'Han-A' herself. He hopes that even as her form changes, Han-A will continue to exist.
Ultimately, Kyung-Min seeks to remain with Han-A even after her body has worn down by transferring her spirit elsewhere. Like Han-A, who continued the use and meaning of worn clothes instead of preserving their original shape, Kyung-Min aims to sustain Han-A beyond her physical form.
In 'Only One Han-A on Earth,' love is ultimately about preservation. Loving someone who is unique on Earth may be a way of resisting entropy in our own individual ways, even if forms change, appearances alter, and one day, my boyfriend appears as an alien.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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