Noh Jaeyeol’s novel, 1980 deals with Busan-Masan Protests and the Busan student democratic movement of the 1980s. As one of the members of the student movements during that time, the author recalls the violent time of political turbulence surrounding 1980 and the spiritual journey of an anguished youth confronting violence and humiliation. Noh dramatically reconstructs the timeline, placing the earliest events of the novel, which take place on October 16, 1979, at the end. 1980 was a time of despair, escape, resistance, and overcoming. The book narrates the pilgrimage of suffering. T in the novel, time does not flow linearly. Rather, it meanders, reflecting the wandering youth living in an age of darkness. The novel begins with violent everyday life in prison 15P, where the protagonist Jeong-u is incarcerated. In October, 1979, after the Busan-Masan protests and president Park’s assassination, emergency martial law was expanded to the entire nation, including Jeju island. This went into effect on May 17, 1980. During this state of emergency, Busan Yangjung military police’s prison 15P was filled with prisoners held under martial law. As one of the inmates of 15P, Jeong-u, was being tortured in the name of investigation. Descriptions of the structure of the prison, its internal rules and torture—all based on the author’s actual experiences—are realistic and vivid. In the spring of May, 1980, Korean youths who should have been dreaming of their future, knelt down countless times and stood up again to fight for national unification, democracy and against dictatorship. Having passed those turbulent times in which Korean youths had to risk their lives for their political faith, we are urged by the novel 1980 to think over the spirit of our present time and ourselves.