Katsuhiro Nagano

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

Lucius Modestus, ancient Roman bath architect, has lost his job. The one way he can win it back is by creating a bath that nobody has seen before, and, by pure chance, ends up slipping through time to Japan in 2012. There, he discovers the wonders of Japanese bath technology, incorporating it into his own designs, but must face the challenges of the succession of the emperor, his home life, and his new hot spring-based friends, including manga artist meet-cute Mami.

A novelist receives a letter from a female university student named Kubo about strange sounds that emanate from a room in her apartment. They begin to investigate incidents involving former residents, and eventually discover the shocking truths lurking inside the building.

Absolutely terrified of the sea, an American lawyer reluctantly goes on an ocean cruise to be near the wife of a client, with no idea of the grim situation that awaits them all.

This sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive.