He is best known for his composite novel Taweo (타워 Tower) and short story collection Anyeong, ingongjonjae (안녕, 인공존재 Hello, The Artificial Being!).
Yet Bae is a notable exception, attracting the attention of literary critics and publishers since the publication of his first full-length book Taweo (타워 Tower) in 2009.
[6] The short story won the 2010 Munhakdongne Young Writers’ Award, receiving the following comment from a judge: “Based on his impressive knowledge of space science, Bae Myung-hoon successfully portrays the pent-up frustrations of human existence erupting in the vast universe.”[7] Bae expanded “Anyoung, ingongjonjae” into a collection of short stories and published it in 2010.
In the same afterword quoted above, Shin Hyeong-cheol notes that “Bae’s stories are delightfully clear, but that clarity seems to come at an inevitable price.
rather than having a palpable presence, they are there to serve a function; once you finish reading, the story leaves a vivid impression but the people fade away.”[8]