487-word version:
All around me were groves of identical trees whose shadows grew longer by the minute. At the peak of the mountain I had exclaimed, “I made it!” But that triumphant sensation had dissipated long ago when I was trekking every discernible path, some even twice...

491-word version:
All around me were groves of identical trees whose shadows grew longer each minute. At the peak of the mountain I had exclaimed, “I made it!” But that triumphant sensation had dissipated long ago, and since then I had trekked every discernible path, some even twice...

568-word version:
...Before proceeding to another stage in my life, I want to excerpt one of my essays that I wrote in my English composition class.

My Life, 명산이름 Mountain

All around me were groves of identical trees whose shadows grew longer by the minute. At the peak of the mountain I had exclaimed, “I made it!” But that triumphant sensation had dissipated long ago when I was trekking every discernible path, some even twice...