Round Trip

Bird on the Edge — Lee Mu Jin

I made a loop animation.

Focused on loss and helplessness.

A doll walks powerlessly inside a gear.

Entangled with other gears, unable to escape,

it walks endlessly.

It feels like there’s no way out.

So it keeps walking, head down.

Then, at some point,

it feels like it’s moving forward.

It lifts its head with a flicker of hope

and walks on.

But even after all that walking,

it turns out to be inside a ferris wheel.

Back to the start again.

The ferris wheel was just another giant gear.

I thought I was making progress,

I thought it was something new-

but it was the same world all over again.

That’s when the sense of lost hope

and overwhelming helplessness

wraps around me.

Still, I keep walking.

That’s the story.

These images and feelings came to me

while listening to “Bird on the Edge” by Lee Mu Jin.

There was a structure in the music video,

a ferris-wheel-shaped steel frame-

and that made the imagery even clearer.

I followed the rhythm,

added a spoonful of my shadowed emotions,

so the scenes turned out dark and hopeless.

But no.

That’s not all.

I admire the doll that keeps walking.

Even in heartbreak, helplessness, and

frustration-

walking on matters.

In an unseen, tiny world,

if you keep walking on your own,

sometimes, just sometimes,

a faint glimmer of hope appears.

Even if that hope excites you only to fade,

even if you realize it was just a mirage and feel

crushed again-

you keep walking.

Because you have to live through today.

No matter how new something feels,

we always return to our daily life.

Even after a fresh day,

night inevitably comes,

you go to sleep,

and wake up again to walk.

Repetition is a precious thing.

It is valuable.

By building each ordinary day carefully,

we create a stable routine.

Even if we chase after something new,

in the end,

what welcomes us back is the routine

we’ve built with care.

So even when the routine feels stifling,

it also gives me deep comfort.

It’s what holds me up in the end.

Even the new,

when repeated,

becomes routine.

It’s all a loop.

So I keep walking,

protecting my daily life,

accepting all the emotions that come with it.

Even if I falter or sit down for a while,

nevertheless, I keep walking.

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The song is just.. so good.

I hope the lyrics get officially recognized someday.

A cultural treasure.

A UNESCO heritage for lyrics.

A Guinness record. for lyrical genius.

The melody and the voice?

No words needed.