In December of 1997, when Sung-hyun moves into the newly built house-on-stilts above the
tidal sand, he names it
Il Mare from the Italian for “the sea”—and via a
letter in the mailbox, he learns that Eun-joo wants him to forward any mail that may arrive
for her, since she has just moved out
. . . in
December of 1999.
— Michael Main