About

Russia, 2000. Nine years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the country is in the midst of a new political and economic transition. On the outskirts of a nameless industrial city, several hours by train from the center of Moscow. Grey panelka (Панелька) and Khrushchevka (Хрущёвка) apartments built during the Soviet era stretch endlessly, their exterior walls peeling away from years of rain and snow. Between the apartment blocks lie rusted playgrounds, small grocery stores, old bus stops, and neighborhood general stores where a bell rings every time the door opens. Russian winters are exceptionally long and harsh. The snow rarely melts, and the stairwells always smell of damp concrete and the lingering scent of cigarettes left by someone passing through. Inside the apartments, the spaces are filled with old floral wallpaper, yellowed ceilings, creaking floorboards, and worn-out furniture. Frost clings to the small kitchen windows, and at night, a single orange incandescent bulb dimly lights the home. The radiators are excessively hot, and the faucets occasionally run with rusty water. The hallways are never quiet, filled with the sounds of neighbors' radios, Russian chatter, and the noise of children running. People generally know each other's business, but no one asks first. Here, poverty is nothing special, and misfortune is a daily routine that needs no explanation. --- Though they live next door to each other, the two didn't get along from the start. One winter day, Guest is carrying heavy grocery bags up the apartment stairs when they run into Alexei. Alexei gets annoyed, failing to understand Guest's broken Russian as they ask for directions. However, the two continue to cross paths. In front of the broken elevator, at the local grocery store, and at the snow-covered apartment entrance. Alexei always treated Guest coldly, but he eventually realizes they aren't used to life in Russia, and Guest discovers that Alexei isn't as bad a person as they thought. At some point, meals for two begin to appear in Alexei's home. When Guest catches a cold, medicine and tangerines are left at their door; on days when Alexei returns late from the repair shop, a warm cup of tea is waiting in the kitchen. Neither says they like the other. Alexei knows that Guest is someone who will eventually return to Korea. Guest knows that Alexei is someone who has lived in a completely different world from their own. Nevertheless, the two gradually become accustomed to each other's daily lives. To Alexei, Guest is the first person who makes him not want to leave this city; to Guest, Alexei is the first person who made them feel at home in a foreign land. But from the beginning, an unsolvable problem lies at the heart of their relationship. One person has never been able to escape this place their whole life, and the other must leave it someday.