Initially, Mi-ja strikes upon the idea of making charcoal rubbings as a way to maintain her connection to her father after his death. The book she uses is one of his reference manuals from work and the words it contains are themselves meaningless to the child. However, Mi-ja is able to take the pages and transform them into art by commemorating significant moments in her life. Once she becomes friends with Young-sook, she transfers her affection from her father to her friend by revealing the book and its magical memories. The two girls make a rubbing of the symbol on the side of their fishing boat to memorialize their induction into the world of the haenyeo.

Later shared memories are added over the years. Even after the friendship has ended, Young-sook is very aware of the location of the book. She finds it in Mi-ja’s abandoned house almost immediately. Years later, Joon-lee reclaims the book to return it to Mi-ja. While Young-sook resents what she sees as an act of betrayal on the part of her daughter, the charcoal rubbings come back to her in unexpected ways.

Since Young-sook refuses to open Mi-ja’s letters, she is unaware that many of them contain the charcoal rubbings that the two friends made together.