The purpose of this study was to examine the behavior and awareness of `Gongbu` in the novels written in the enlightenment period in a bid to shed light on the meaning and characteristics of it during that period. The word `Gongbu` was not a new term that emerged in the enlightenment period. That was mentioned in the teaching of saints in the medieval times. But the `Gongbu` of the enlightenment period was especially noteworthy not only because that served to stir up the spread of new education to create a new intellectual hegemony, but because that made a contribution to nurturing those who took the initiative in early modern times. There were various circumstances that were different from those of medieval education and stepped up `Gongbu` among contemporary people. First, practice and pragmatism were emphasized. `Gongbu` was created in a backlash to medieval education that was just ideal and a far cry from reality. Second, the logic of competition was implicitly stressed. Confucian education of the past merely focused on character building of individuals without paying attention to `competition,` but the concept of competition came into spotlight. Third, contemporary individuals were stimulated to seek after their own desire and lead an individual life instead of just sticking to the ideology of the nation. One of the leading new novels titled `Hyeoleui Noo` described the modern nature of `Gongbu` on that theoretical basis, but that wasn`t exactly portrayed as the author intended, who originally planned to write an enlightening narrative. As the new paradigm `Gongbu` was created in and after the enlightenment period, the author unconsciously unveiled his personal desire of being a modern individual while he was ostensibly in pursuit of an enlightening narrative.