Buttermilk Way published in South Korea in memory of Baek Se-hee — Korea Herald

Last week, the essay collection Buttermilk Way, dedicated to writer Baek Se-hee, who died on October 16, 2025, at the age of 35, was published in South Korea. The book was prepared by Kim Kang-to, Baek Se-hee’s partner of seven years, Lee Su-hyeon, her friend of 20 years, and her younger sister Baek Da-hee, Korea Herald reports.

Texts about the year after the loss

During the year after the author’s death, the three editors met monthly to read each other the texts they had written about experiencing loss and living without her. These texts later became the basis of the collection, which was published with the consent of the writer’s family.

According to her younger sister, the idea for the project stemmed from a wish Baek Se-hee expressed during her lifetime: she wanted someone to write something for her. The editors did not seek to speak on her behalf or draw conclusions about her life, instead focusing on their own experience of the year after losing a loved one.

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A contribution to suicide prevention

Five percent of the cover price of every sold copy of Buttermilk Way will be donated to the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Baek Se-hee debuted in 2018 with I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, a book built on the author’s conversations with a psychiatrist while being treated for dysthymia, a persistent depressive disorder. Together with its sequel, published in 2019, the two books have sold more than 1 million copies in South Korea and abroad and have been translated into about 25 languages.