A Med Student Wrote It the Night Before an Exam. Kim Kwang-seok Made It Last.

Part 2 of 16 in Kim Kwang-seok: The Dead Singer K-pop Can't Let Go

No. 15, “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky,” was written by a Yonsei University medical student the night before an exam and sung by a 24-year-old Kim Kwang-seok as the lead singer of the band Dongmulwon. It was also the signature song of the last album he made with his friends’ band.

Kim Kwang-seok – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (Official Audio) — 450,000 views

Its combined YouTube views come to about 7.2 million. Band member Kim Chang-ki wrote the words and music, and it came out on Dongmulwon’s second album in September 1988. In 1993 Kim sang it again alone on his remake album Dasi Bureugi I (“Singing Again I”) (Melon).

A song from the night before an exam

Kim Chang-ki wrote the song while studying medicine at Yonsei, on the night before an exam (Kyunghyang Shinmun, Sept. 19, 2022). He closed the book he was studying and opened the window, and that night became the lyric.

흐린 가을 하늘에 편지를 써 / 잊혀져 간 꿈들을 다시 만나고파

I write a letter on the cloudy autumn sky. / I want to meet the dreams I’ve forgotten again.

— Lyrics and music by Kim Chang-ki (1988), excerpt

The young man in the song asks whether the rain, or the wind, could shake off the heavy thoughts around him and the part of him that wants to settle for comfort. Then he shuts the book he was reading, opens the window, and writes a letter with no address on the gray sky. It isn’t addressed to a person. It’s addressed to the dreams he has forgotten.

This college band had made its name in January 1988 with “On the Street” on its first album, and it put out a second album that September. Several songs caught on, but the one that hit hardest was this one, with Kim on vocals (Busan Ilbo, July 1, 2015). It runs past four minutes, long for radio pop, and in the back half the chorus bursts open and Kim’s voice soars over it (OhmyNews, Jan. 6, 2016).

Kim Chang-ki is a psychiatrist today (Korea Economic Daily, Dec. 30, 2020). Four of the 15 songs in this countdown are his: “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky,” “Please Wait for Me,” “On the Street” and “Those Days.” No one gave Kim Kwang-seok more of his signature songs than this medical student.

Also read: The No. 1 Korea Doesn't Want to Believe: Why Fans Doubt A2O

He left the band and kept the song

After the second album, Dongmulwon split over what to do with their lives. His friends graduated and took jobs, and Kim left the band to sing for a living (Busan Ilbo, July 1, 2015; “Answer Me, Dongmulwon” interview, Dec. 22, 2015). Kim Chang-ki later laughed about it: “If I’d been handsome, a good singer and a showman, of course I’d have kept going too.”

Kim never let go of this song after he went solo. He sang it again on KBS’s Lee Moon-sae Show on Oct. 28, 1995, a little over two months before he died.

Kim Kwang-seok – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (Lee Moon-sae Show, KBS, 1995) — 490,000 views

Lim Young-woong’s 2.54 million, and the idols of The Days

Once again, the biggest number on this song belongs to Lim Young-woong. His performance on TV Chosun’s Love Call Center has 2.54 million views on his official channel.

Lim Young-woong – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (Love Call Center, TV Chosun) — 2.54 million views

On KBS’s Immortal Songs special on Dongmulwon in 2012, singer Lee Jung won the whole episode with this song. Ha Dong-kyun sang it on KBS’s You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook in 2020, and a contestant’s version on JTBC’s Sing Again 4 last year passed 230,000 views.

Lee Jung – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (Immortal Songs 2, KBS, 2012) — 190,000 views

Ha Dong-kyun – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook, KBS, 2020) — 50,000 views

The musical The Days, built entirely from Kim’s songs, uses this one as a number (Part 10). Plenty of idols have sung it on that stage. Highlight’s Yang Yo-seob sang it at a The Days curtain call in 2017, and B1A4’s Sandeul did the same this year.

Musical The Days – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (highlight, Insight Entertainment) — 135,000 views

The band Kim left still sings this song. When Dongmulwon performed it on KBS’s Open Concert in 2019, the only thing missing was the original voice.

Dongmulwon – “Writing a Letter on a Cloudy Autumn Sky” (Open Concert, KBS, 2019) — 57,000 views

The medical student who closed his book and opened the window became a doctor, and the friend who sang his song stopped at 32. A song about wanting to meet forgotten dreams again is now sung by people who want to meet that friend again.

Previous: Part 1 — IU and BTS’s Suga Both Sang Him. Who Was Kim Kwang-seok?

Next, No. 14: “The Night Alone,” the favorite song of a 22-year-old student who rode a bus to his 30th-anniversary concert.

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Sources: Melon album pages (Dongmulwon 2, Sept. 30, 1988; Kim Kwang-seok, Dasi Bureugi I, 1993); Kyunghyang Shinmun (Sept. 19, 2022); Busan Ilbo (July 1, 2015); Korea Economic Daily (Dec. 30, 2020); “Answer Me, Dongmulwon” interview (Dec. 22, 2015); OhmyNews (Jan. 6, 2016). Yang Yo-seob (Mar. 1, 2017) and Sandeul (May 25 and June 21, 2026) curtain calls: titles of fan-filmed YouTube performance videos. View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.