Best-selling South Korean author Baek Se Hee of “I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki” fame has sadly passed away after being declared brain-dead at National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital. Korean Organ Donation Agency announced the devastating news on October 17 KST. She was just 35 years old.
Although the agency didn’t highlight a cause of death, it divulged that the viral self-help memoir’s writer saved multiple lives by donating her heart, both kidneys, lungs and liver. Her sister, Baek Da Hee, also shared in a statement, “She wanted to share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope. Knowing her kind heart that loved so much and could not hate anyone, I hope she can now rest peacefully.”
Who was Baek Se Hee?
To her family, Se Hee was loved as one of three daughters.
Born in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in 1990, the Korean author studied creative writing in University before moving on to work at a publishing house for five years, according to Bloomsbury, the English publisher of her much-loved book. Known for her raw expressions, her book “I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki” heavily relies on her own experience with a ten-year-long psychiatric treatment for dysthymia (persistent mild depression).
As established by her book’s title, her favourite food is the popular Korean snack, Tteokbokki. The publishing company also noted that Baek lived with her rescue dog Jaram.
Detailing her love for the chewy rice cake snack, she told The Sunday Times in 2022, “I was thinking of planning my own death, but I got hungry and ate tteokbokki. I felt guilty thinking that I could still eat tteokbokki when I wanted to die, yet it felt like such a natural thing to do.”
About author Baek Se Hee’s cult hit memoir’s BTS link
Her popular magnum opus records her conversations with her psychiatrist. The massive hit was once even recommended by K-pop sensation BTS‘ leader Kim Namjoon aka RM. The book was even spotted in the Korean rapper’s room in an episode of BTS’ travelling reality show Bon Voyage Season 3. His indirect association with Baek’s book further helped with its internationally skyrocketing sales.
In a 2023 essay explaining why translation matters (published on aaww.org), the therapy book’s English translator, Anton Hur, disclosed that he was accorded with the opportunity to take on the responsibility by an Anglosphere editor, Emma Herdman at Bloomsbury UK. “I knew of the book, of course, and RM of BTS had already made it an international bestseller when it showed up in one of his social media posts,” he wrote at the time.
Given how the book played its part in normalising conversations surrounding mental health, Hur added, “When the English edition was announced, the loveliest messages came pouring in from ARMY, or the global BTS fanbase, saying they were eager to read the book. ARMY from all over the world, of all ages and religious persuasions and sexualities and races, embracing what is a very cosmopolitan and yet beautifully Korean work of art—you bet it wasn’t a surprise for them that Korea produced an international mental health bestseller.”
Following Baek’s passing, he extended condolences with her family on Instagram. The creative figure also noted that while her organs had saved five lives, “her readers will know she touched yet millions of lives more with her writing.”
In Bon Voyage 3 episode 1, we spot in Namjoon’s room the book “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki” by Baek Sehee 📖
— Namjoon’s Library⁷ (@JooniesLibrary) April 13, 2022
This Korean bestseller is a part memoir part self-help book dealing with mild depression and self-love#RM #namjoon #방탄소년단알엠 #김남준 @BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/fgTJDOXxkw
“I wasn’t deathly depressed, but I wasn’t happy either, floating instead in some feeling between the two,” she wrote in her 2018 cult hit, which found its follow-up in “I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki” in 2019. Its English translation was released in 2024.
With countless tributes pouring in, Baek Se Hee’s memorable book’s publisher Bloomsbury mourned her untimely demise. In a statement shared on X, their original UK division wrote, “We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of Baek Sehee. We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of Baek Sehee.”
Blackwell’s, Oxford’s Bookshop, also joined the chain. “We’re sorry to hear of the passing of Baek Se-hee today,” they wrote in a grieving statement on X.
Baek Sehee was candid in her work about her mental health journey. Please know that help is available. You can speak to Samaritans at 116 123 (free, 24 hours a day) or visit https://t.co/VPtEYMLJVX.
— Bloomsbury Books UK (@BloomsburyBooks) October 17, 2025
