Hong Gildong jeon

Hong Gildong jeon, or The Story of Hong Gildong, is a Korean novel of the Joseon period, traditionally attributed to the statesman and writer Heo Gyun, who lived from 1569 to 1618, though modern scholarship disputes both his authorship and the traditional dating, with some researchers placing the surviving text as late as the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Written in Hangul, it tells of Hong Gildong, the illegitimate son of a nobleman who possesses supernatural powers, is barred from advancement because of his birth, and becomes a Robin-Hood-like outlaw who steals from corrupt officials to help the poor. It is considered one of the foundational works of Korean vernacular fiction, and the name Hong Gildong has passed into everyday Korean usage as a placeholder name, much as John Doe functions in English.