There is a man once called "Daedu," or "Big Head," mocked for his unusually large head and plain appearance. Dismissed as a nobody as a child, he begins to awaken a sealed consciousness as he lives through a series of events.
The fantasy novel "The Lover and the Great Task" depicts a new philosophy of life and freedom in the age of artificial intelligence. It follows an ordinary, humble man who expands his own consciousness through encounters with money, love, betrayal and conspiracy.
Running through the work is a distinctive philosophy built on two ideas: "yeonin," written with characters meaning to accept things as they are, and "the great task." Everything that happens in the world has its own structure that makes it inevitable, the philosophy holds, but one should acknowledge that without surrendering to fate, pressing on instead toward the great task one is meant to carry out. Daedu, the protagonist, races ahead by following this teaching.
Daedu takes his company public on the KOSDAQ but loses 20 billion won when an acquaintance betrays him. He plunges into the stock market to recover the heavy investment losses suffered by Eun-hee, his first love, and is drawn into another set of events after meeting Grace, a lawyer for the World Happiness Foundation. As his love for Eun-hee and Grace's dangerous temptation intersect, the story widens from a "war over money" into a "war over consciousness" against a vast force seeking to control human desire and awareness.
In the latter half, he confronts a transcendent being that has ruled the Earth from behind the scenes in league with an artificial general intelligence in the consciousness realm of capitalism. Along the way, the secret of his birth, the history of his ancestors and the hidden presence of extraterrestrial beings behind human civilization all come to light.
The author, Lee Chul-hoon, worked as a certified public accountant for about 30 years. He has continued writing with the life goal of offering new perspectives on life and the world so that readers can view modern society more broadly and flexibly. After publishing "There Is No Love (There Is Only My Light)" in 2019, he spent six years on this latest work.
