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Just good friends
The Guardian Weekly
|February 06, 2026
The Korean bestseller on platonic partnership and what it means for the rest of us
When Sunwoo and Hana met on Twitter, they were in their 40s and committed bachelorettes. Both studied in Seoul before entering the city's rat race, Sunwoo as a fashion journalist, Hana as a copywriter. They shared the same taste in music and books, and importantly, both had rejected marriage.
Instead, Sunwoo and Hana joined the large number of South Koreans living alone. At first, independence felt exhilarating. By middle age, however, loneliness was beginning to gnaw.
Two Women Living Together, a 2019 South Korean bestseller that spawned a popular podcast, charts Sunwoo and Hana's decision to buy a house together and live as friends.
Across 49 warm, chatty essays, they invite us into the life.
This story is from the February 06, 2026 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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