Baek Se-hee: Between Despair and Small Joys

Baek Se-Hee walked the balance of talking about taboo conversations with tenderness. The South Korean author who wrote I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki changed how a generation talks about mental health.

Photograph: @_baeksehee/Instagram

Before her words traveled the world, Baek Se-hee spent nearly a decade navigating therapy for dysthymia—a persistent form of depression that dulled the edges of her life but not her curiosity. While working in publishing, she began recording her therapy sessions and reflections, weaving them into what became her debut book in 2018.

That book, part transcript and part diary, didn’t sound like traditional literature, and that’s exactly why it found homes in many people’s hearts. Readers saw themselves in her contradictions: the craving for comfort while carrying pain, the need to function while they are quietly unraveling. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki became a phenomenon in South Korea and beyond, proving that vulnerability can be both literature and lifeline.

Writing the Unspoken

Baek Se-hee’s storytelling thrives in tension, hanging in the balance of serenity and chaos. Her writing feels like a conversation between friends at a café; it’s intimate and deeply poignant. Mental illness is handled with care and tenderness, which lessens the message from being sensationalized. 

Her use of tteokbokki—a spicy, ordinary street food—as a recurring symbol grounds her abstract pain in something tactile. It’s a reminder that even in despair, small pleasures tether us to the world. Where most self-help books promise healing, Baek Se-hee offers companionship: a voice that says, “I’m here, too. I have suffered too.” 

She also wrote about social expectations, loneliness, and the exhaustion of appearing fine. Her voice opened a door in a society still hesitant to speak about depression.

The Meaning She Left Behind

On October 16, 2025, Baek Se-hee passed away at 35, leaving behind a legacy that feels both fragile and fierce. Reports say her organs were donated, saving five lives—an act that extends her message of empathy beyond the page.

Her books continue to circulate in translation, often shared between friends the way one might offer reassurance: You’re not alone in this. Baek Se-hee’s work reminds writers and readers alike that stories don’t always have to conquer darkness. Sometimes, they just have to sit beside it and keep breathing.

At The Manuscript Editor, we believe writing can heal when it’s honest. Like Baek Se-hee, every author has a story that wavers between shadow and light, and every sentence is a small act of survival. Find your voice, and let it reach the people who need it most.

Start your edit today at themanuscripteditor.com.

Sources:

• The Guardian, “Baek Se-hee, author of I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, dies aged 35.”

• The Straits Times, “Revealing what I want to hide allows me to break free.”

• Baek Sehee: Bloomsbury Publishing (US) 

• Times of India, “Understanding dysthymia: The depression Baek Se-hee battled.”

• UPI, “Baek Se-hee donates organs, saves five lives after death.”