Dear Prof. Chung,

I’m sorry to reply to you late. I didn’t receive the notification of your reply from Gmail so I checked again yesterday before sleep and found that you replied to my email. I’m so grateful that you’ve replied to me with so many encouraging words.

I’m so glad to hear that you and Mrs. Chung are doing well and having had a nice Chuseok. Yes, I remember Songpyun, which you used to tell me that Koreans would eat it during Chuseok. I’d really like to try it someday. It must be delicious.

The quarantine for you must not be easy. When I came back to China from Korea last March, I was also required to quarantine for two weeks. I’m glad that you’re safe and sound coming back to Korea. And I’m sorry to hear that you couldn’t travel casually as you wanted due to the pandemic. I hope Korea and other countries’ corona situations will become normal as soon as possible so you can eventually go to the place you want to go. (Vaccination is important, I hope you’ve been vaccinated successfully.)

Before I received your email, I was nervous about telling you about my current situation and I felt not confident. But after seeing your words last night, I feel I’m being understood and gaining a little more faith. I’m so grateful that you support and encourage me to find the things I want to do and also remind me to think carefully. Now I think the only way to figure it out is to repeatedly scrutinize whether my thoughts and decisions are the truest and honest with myself, rather than caring too much about gain and loss. Now I understand that no matter what I experienced until today, it’s part of the life journey and there’s no absolute good or bad.

I postponed my reading for Of Human Bondage but I’ll make sure to finish it as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for recommending this book.

I think my next step is to go abroad and experience a different life — like you said, to help find and pursue the life I want to live. In retrospect, the strange and new environment always inspires me to explore more. The different environments and life experiences may really help people to grow and learn more.

Anyway, I’m truly grateful that you are willing to talk about these frankly and openly with me and give me your valuable thoughts and advice. This conversation makes me reflect more. I’ll surely keep in touch with you about my progress by email. Thanks for wishing me to take care during the corona pandemic. I sincerely hope the same for you and your family.

Best regards as always,

Yueru