[Feature] Santiago Becomes Culture: Special Essay by Author Na Sang-cheon, "A Wonderful Escape"

*This content was translated by AI.

Na Sang-cheon, a K-pop planner, playwright, and novelist who serves as CEO of Dream Engine, has published the novel "A Wonderful Escape," based on his experiences completing the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route twice, in 2023 and 2024. The novel is filled with encounters along the way and moments of self-reflection.

Na's novel "A Wonderful Escape" is set against the backdrop of the 800km Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route in Spain, depicting the journeys of four individuals with distinct stories. The protagonists include Kim, a middle-aged chef who started a new life in Los Angeles after losing his wife; Dorothy, a singer-songwriter hopeful who has just experienced the bitterness of failing an audition; Roger, a YouTuber attempting the nearly impossible mission of reaching 330,000 subscribers; and Jun-sang, a 21-year-old youth who has hidden himself on the path carrying a heavy secret. The novel captures their process of facing the wounds they have fled from over 33 days of walking the same path, leading to healing and transformation.

"An era in which someone's sweat shed on the dirt roads of Spain returns to our side as a song, a movie, a book, and a stage. The fact that those who stand most brightly before the camera, and those who have most fiercely proven results behind the music charts, most desperately long for places the camera cannot reach, may be the most honest message sent to all of us. It is okay to pause for a moment. If you walk at your own pace, you will eventually arrive. "

Through this essay, author Na Sang-cheon conveys the hope to readers that "if you walk at your own pace, you will eventually arrive."

Why is the entertainment industry now heading toward an 800km dirt road?

The brighter the spotlight, the deeper the shadow. For those who have made being evaluated their profession, the "right to disappear for a while" may be the most luxurious thing of all. Perhaps that is why the footsteps of Korean entertainers are converging on a single place: the 800km Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route in northern Spain. Some stood on this path carrying illness; others carried the sorrow of losing a friend; still others stood here to reconcile with themselves. We followed them to see what they put down on the path and what they brought back.

1. AKMU Lee Su-hyun and Lee Chan-hyuk — "I was destroying myself"

Lee Su-hyun was in such deep darkness that her slump regarding work spread to her entire life, leading her to consider retirement. "It had become so serious that I didn't even know my own state," she later recalled. Her older brother, Lee Chan-hyuk, who sensed this crisis, proposed a stay together and launched what was called a "mental restructuring project." He walked the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route with her and made her exercise, carefully looking after his younger sister. "I wanted to help Su-hyun bloom well, just like composing a song," was his brother's expression. Lee Su-hyun also said, "My brother is a savior-like figure to me."

On the Santiago route, Lee Su-hyun returned with the realization that "my feet felt like they were breaking, and the reason was ultimately me," along with plantar fasciitis. However, the greater realization was internal: "I was destroying myself." The fact that she, who always arrived last, and her brother, who always arrived first, eventually reached the same cathedral — "Even if our speeds and arrival times differ, we became people who walked the same path together." Their fourth full album "FLOWERING," released after seven years, became a report on recovery drawn from the path. The title track "Joy, Sorrow, Beautiful Heart" and the pre-released song "Paradise of Rumors" are being loved as keywords for healing and recovery, occupying the top ranks of music charts side by side.

2. Kim Bo-ra — Leaving the dirt road after a single word from a best friend post-divorce

In September 2025, shortly after announcing her divorce after 11 months of marriage, Kim Bo-ra impulsively packed her bags at the single word from her best friend Lee Su-hyun: "Sister, do you want to go too?" It was a departure without any plan or preparation.

While completing part of the Portuguese route, she celebrated her birthday on the path. "Would we have known today 10 years ago? Walking together made our laughter 157 times stronger and our steps more vigorous," she wrote on social media. Some go on the path alone, while others walk the path because they have friends. For Kim Bo-ra, that path was the most natural gesture of closing the heaviest chapter of her life and turning the next page.

3. Kim Yoo-jung — "The happiness of belonging to a part of nature"

Since childhood, her dream was to "go to Santiago and walk." She had forgotten about it due to the pandemic, but when a sudden timing to rest arose, she made an impulsive decision. Departure was just two weeks away. She bought a backpack and running shoes, trained just enough not to collapse by walking around Seoul, and then set off.

She walked alone for 33 days. In her words, "Just walking changed many things." She repeated "Let's walk" when she woke up, "Let's eat" when she was hungry, and "Let's sleep" when she met her quota for 33 days, and even after returning to Korea, that simplicity continued to work. "Just do it, enjoy it, try it." The courage to act without fear, the relief of feeling she belongs to a part of nature, and even the establishment of values — she recalled at the Busan International Film Festival that it was "a path that showed me a much bigger world."

4. Jung Il-woo — "On the border of life and death"

At age 27, he was diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm. The doctor said it could be the effect of a concussion and brain hemorrhage from a traffic accident when he was 20. Living with a time bomb in his head, he fell into deep depression, unable to leave his house for over a month. "I don't know when I will die, so let's do everything I want and enjoy the present." With that thought, he climbed to Santiago, a place he had always wanted to visit.

He walked the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route three times. On the last day, it is said he burst into uncontrollable sobbing during the pilgrim's mass at Santiago Cathedral. "When the doctor said 'you are in a treatable state,' I already felt saved," he said, and after the pilgrimage, he gained the mindset that "I must live enjoying reality and being grateful." The validity period of that gratitude is six months to one year. That is why he leaves again.

5. Jung Kyung-ho — A path walked alone with his father

Jung Kyung-ho's father is PD Jung Eul-young, who created works such as "Men of the Bathhouse" and "Mom Has Horns" over 40 years. The profession of a drama director was a lonely one that inevitably kept the family away for long periods. "When I was young, I couldn't understand that," said Jung Kyung-ho, who only came to understand his father's time after acting for nearly 20 years himself. Thus, father and son walked the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage path alone together.

At some point on the path, the father told his son, "Stand here." Then, climbing up, he said, "Think of me as your dad you haven't seen in a very long time, and run toward me." Flustered, Jung Kyung-ho ran and hugged his father. The time that had never been filled because he was always tied up with work was finally filled again on that dirt road. Instead of a flashy talk show, simply walking with the same stride — that simple act broke the longest silence between father and son.

6. Kim Jong-jin (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) — Walking 800km to wish for a friend's recovery

In March 2015, while his 30-year music partner, the late Jeon Tae-kwan, was battling kidney cancer, Kim Jong-jin boarded a flight to Spain alone. For about a month, 800km. It was the most desperate form of prayer for his friend's recovery.

In December 2018, Jeon Tae-kwan passed away. Kim Jong-jin completed 30 solo performances at his 30th-anniversary small theater concert and then distanced himself from music for a while. However, he returned to the stage. The reason was "for the fans who stayed with the late Jeon Tae-kwan." What the 800km of Santiago gave him may not have been his friend's recovery, but the muscle of endurance to continue music even after losing his friend.

7. Insooni — Reviewing her 47-year singing career

In 2023, she completed the 800km pilgrimage route. There was only one reason: "I wanted to look back on whether I had lived my singing career, which I ran without rest, well." For 67 years, she stood on stage born as a mixed-race Black person, facing discrimination and prejudice. She wanted to once in a while release that weight on the dirt road.

After completing the pilgrimage, she passed the high school equivalency exam at age 67. She finally filled in the education she had given up in childhood to support her family with her own hands. Then, she embarked on a new challenge as part of "Golden Girls" under producer Park Jin-young, alongside Park Mi-kyung, Shin Hyo-beom, and Lee Eun-mi. In her words, "When I want to be comforted, it seems people need me." The 800km dirt road was the path that taught her the fact that "even those who comfort others need to be comforted."

8. Son Mi-na — At the end of the pandemic, meeting herself again

Broadcaster Son Mi-na headed to Santiago in the spring of 2022, at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and released the documentary film "El Camino" (2023), which she produced and directed herself. The film, featuring stories such as a British elderly man trying to celebrate his 80th birthday in front of Santiago Cathedral and a Belgian youth who set out on the path carrying the sorrow of losing his mother, ends with her confession that "life before and after walking that path was completely different." The reason Spanish King Felipe VI awarded her the Cross of Civil Merit was also because this documentary played a bridging role between the two countries.

9. Na Sang-cheon — "After escaping, I finally saw myself"

Na Sang-cheon, who has overseen planning and marketing for top-tier K-pop artists such as Girl's Day, Momo Land, and Kyungseo, was in a position where he had to constantly prove results in the infinitely competitive entertainment industry. Sales graphs, music charts, album sales — everything surrounding him was numbers. Then, one day, he decided to put down all that burden. He completed the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route over two years, 2023 and 2024. In his words, it was an "escape." An escape he willingly chose.

If the first pilgrimage was a time to empty himself, the second pilgrimage was a time to ask what to fill himself with. The answer he found on the path was "creation." That is where the great coordinate shift from K-pop planner to novelist and musical producer began. The crystallization of that realization is the full-length novel "A Wonderful Escape," published in April 2026 on Millie's Library. Kim, Dorothy, Roger, and Jun-sang — four characters carrying their own burdens meet on the Camino, comfort each other, and grow. This novel became a hot topic, with a second printing decided just one day after publication.

This narrative drawn from his two pilgrimages is scheduled to be reborn as a large-scale musical "Caminante" next year and take the stage.

Why are they all heading down the same path?

Their stories are different, but they share one common conclusion. For those in professions where they must constantly prove results in infinite competition, this path teaches them through their bodies for about a month the simple truth that if they walk one step at a time at their own pace, they will definitely reach their destination.

An era in which someone's sweat shed on the dirt roads of Spain returns to our side as a song, a movie, a book, and a stage. The fact that those who

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.