This study focuses on the empathic communication ability of pre-service teachers and proposes reading of literary works as a way to enhance empathic communication ability. Empathy refers to feelings about others’ emotions, and empathic communication ability refers to the ability to communicate based on an understanding of the other’s emotional situation. Because we cannot ignore emotional interactions when communicating with others, we must be able to understand and empathize with our communication partners. Therefore, Korean language education should deal with empathic communication ability. Moreover, narrative literature is an important medium to expand empathy. In the first semester of 2017, the researcher read two children’s stories with 76 pre-service teachers and used questionnaires to confirm appreciation of their empathic elements. In this process, I examined the effect of reading assimilation on empathic communication ability, focusing on the 73 reading responses that agreed to use the questionnaire for research. Children who are marginalized in the school appear in these stories along with surrounding characters. After reading these stories, most of the pre-teachers experienced the characters empathically, especially the child, and reflected on how to communicate with students in future classroom situations. It is expected that this experience will positively affect both the empathy and empathic communication ability of the pre-teachers.