Kim Sakkat lodged in the house of Tongji Yi. He got a chance to repay his debt when Yi’s best friend, Tongji Kim, died. Yi was disconsolate because being unskilled in letters he was unable to write a farewell message for the bier. Kim Sakkat wrote it for him, building the poem on a pun on the word tongji, translated below as comrade. The chi (ji) character in Tongji Yi is al “to know” (chi), but the chi (ji) in comrade chi is ttŭt signifying “meaning.” The poem puns on the sound in Korean. The al chi character occurs at the end of every line.
Comrades through life; twin comrades.
One comrade gone in death, one comrade left behind.
Comrade, take this comrade with you;
in the nether world we can become twin comrades again.