The Man Who Saved a Suicide Attempt and Then Died

...Back when I was an inspector, on a spring night, I had decided to commit suicide. After drinking alone, I walked out toward the pier. Because I did not want to see a floating corpse, I intended to throw myself into the gap between a moored ship and the pier, hoping to be caught in the propeller beneath the vessel. Without hesitation, I approached a large cargo ship and plunged into the sea. I swallowed water twice, waiting for my body to sink quickly, but on the third attempt, I floated back to the surface. Just as water fails to freeze because it is missing that final degree before the freezing point, I found myself unable to descend any further into the depths.
As I was flailing with both arms, something caught hold of my arm, and I gripped it tightly. When I regained my senses, I realized that a Japanese second officer, Hashida Kojin, had rescued me. Hashida happened to be feeling homesick at that moment; while standing on the deck, he saw someone plunge into the water and threw a rope to pull him up. The ship was a Japanese-flagged coal carrier. After providing emergency treatment, Hashida gave me medicine and a book titled [The Law of Success], comforting me by saying, "Please, live a good life." [The Law of Success] was a book that began with the story of "The Blue Bird" featuring Tirchi and Michir, conveying the message that the blue bird of happiness is not found in far-off places, but close by.
The irony, however, is that later, after Hashida Kojin returned to Japan, he encountered a storm while passing through the Seto Inland Sea and died. When I heard the story from another sailor much later, my poet's heart was heavy. To think that the man who saved a suicide and even gave him [The Law of Success] to encourage him to live well, ended up sinking and dying with a ship caught in a storm!...
-Ko Un Literary Album, pages 76-77