Shredding
Mayumi
Grandma's Tteokbokki Recipe
Bustling but Secretive
The Visitor on Christmas Eve

The most diverse aspects and newest stories of Korean literature today
Expanding narrative possibilities by breaking down genres and boundaries

Wisdom House's new short story series, 'WEFIC,' takes its first steps into the world.
Starting with the first five stories on March 8th, four stories will be published every second Wednesday of the month, for a total of 50 story festivals throughout the year.
This unusual attempt to compose a book with only one short story provides readers with a special experience of breathing deeply into each story.
Additionally, it focuses solely on the completeness of ‘a single story’ without being bound by any criteria or distinctions such as material or format.
Through novels by a variety of authors, including novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, and youth literature writers, we break down genres and boundaries, expanding the possibilities and enjoyment of stories.

50 stories in 50 books in one year
A special experience that allows you to breathe deeply into 'a single story'

Beginning in November 2022, Wisdom House will be introducing the most diverse and newest stories of Korean literature, one per week, through its short story serial project, "Weekly Fiction."
The series is released every Wednesday through the Wisdom House website and newsletter 'We Pick'.
Beginning with author Koo Byeong-mo's "Shred," 50 stories will be released to readers over the course of a year.
The Wepick series publishes novels that have finished serialization in this way sequentially.
The first five stories will be released on March 8th, and four stories will be published every second Wednesday of the month thereafter, creating a festival of 50 stories throughout the year.
This time, rather than the conventional method of binding together several short stories, the book is composed of only one short story, an unusual attempt that provides readers with a special experience of breathing deeply into each story.
Wepick is not bound by any criteria or distinctions such as material or format, and focuses solely on the completeness of a single story.
Through novels by a variety of authors, including novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, and youth literature writers, we break down genres and boundaries, expanding the possibilities and enjoyment of stories.

There is also a special gift inside the book.
This is a supplementary poster titled 'One Novel', which contains an entire novel on one poster.
A single novel offers readers the special experience of encountering a story in a new way.

Wepick 01 Gu Byeong-mo's "Shred"

The name most strongly engraved in Korean novels, ‘Jogak.’
Author Koo Byung-mo, through the protagonist of his masterpiece, Breakthrough, has created a new female narrative with the unique character of a “female killer in her 60s,” an unprecedented character in Korean novels.
The character, an 'elderly person' and a 'woman' who has been discriminated against as the weakest in society, fights against an oppressive and violent society with the strong name of 'killer'.
How did this unprecedented character sculpture, which has captivated readers around the world and been translated and published in 12 countries, come to be?
The answer is here.
Koo Byung-mo's new novel, "Shatter," is a spin-off of "Breakthrough," and depicts the beginning of how a character named "Jogak" became a killer.
Chogak, a teenage girl who has stepped into a harsh world where “you can’t get out of here alive until you kill that person” and “you can’t leave that room until you eliminate the person you’re facing,” cultivates an “orchard of death” by “constantly instilling in her the body she must become and the body she must achieve in order to do her future work.”
The story of the birth of a piece that, through harsh training that bordered on the brink of death, learned how to destroy others and ultimately chose to shatter its own life, is vividly brought to life through the overwhelming prose of author Koo Byung-mo.


Wepick 02 Lee Hee-joo's "Mayumi"

Starting her career with 『Fantasy Pain』, which won the 5th Munhakdongne University Novel Award, Lee Hee-ju, who has willingly thrown herself into the midst of unrequited love through the serial novel 『World of Love』 and the full-length novel 『Sex Boy』, has published her short story 『Mayumi』 as part of the Wepick series.

"Mayumi" begins at the coastal cliff "Heegudae", also known as Suicide Rock, a famous landmark in the fictional place "Eungrang."
Heegudae was a famous suicide spot, attracting a steady stream of tourists, but it was forgotten long ago when the hiking trail was closed due to the 'suicide bus incident'.
But Heegudae lives off the stories of people who jumped off cliffs.
Hyun-ju, who runs the virtual human account 'Mayumi', and 'I' climb this abandoned fortress.


The one who moves Mayumi's arms and legs with her young and pretty face is Hyunju, and the one who writes Mayumi's story is 'me', but Mayumi is no one else.
However, “those who know what true love is” and “people of dignity” all love and cherish Mayumi on screen.
The women who created Mayumi, who is pure, pitiful, and unbearably lovely, will forever hover around her as “a gloomy person, ugly, sick, old, with shit on their fingernails” (p. 66).
The sticky and unsettling love of the abandoned women for Mayumi quietly shines on the windswept Heegudae.
“The glory is not ours.
“If anything, it all belongs to Mayumi.” (Page 13)

Wepick 03 Yoon Ja-young's "Grandma's Tteokbokki Recipe"

Author Jayoung Yoon, who began her career by winning the Rookie Award from the Mystery Quarterly in 2015 for her short story “Practice Novel,” and who has been actively working across science mystery novels and youth literature, winning the Grand Prize at the Korean Mystery Literature Award in 2021 for “Sambi Detective, a Traffic Accident Specialist,” has joined the Wepick series with “Grandma’s Tteokbokki Recipe.”


Come in for a moment.
'Then this organization is yours.' I thought that the moment I left prison, I would be driving a luxury car, wearing fancy clothes, and being greeted by subordinates, but after 16 years, the organization disappeared.
Ki-cheol, who has lost his home and starts helping out at his mother's 40-year-old traditional restaurant, 'Halmae Tteokbokki', meets Sang-hyeok, a middle school student who visits the restaurant at the same time every day.
Sang-hyeok was a 'strange guy' who stared blankly at the light bulb, wiggling his fingers, and occasionally repeating high-pitched, incomprehensible sounds. But he was the 'strange guy' the world called him, having spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn't even commit, and not even knowing how to use a kiosk.
Sanghyuk, seen up close, was a child who could clearly say, "I'm on the autism spectrum, but I'm not sick," and was surprisingly good at putting puzzle pieces together.


The two, who are not strange but have become 'strange guys', quickly become close after Sang-hyuk helps Ki-cheol's mother who collapsed while Ki-cheol was away for a while.
Then one day, when Sang-hyeok is supposed to come home, his mother doesn't come for a long time and collapses, clutching her chest once again. Will Gi-cheol be able to protect Sang-hyeok and the 40-year-old tradition of 'Grandma's Tteokbokki'?
In a rapidly changing world, Ki-cheol, who has been left behind, and Sang-hyeok, who has been excluded for being different, save each other and confirm their warm friendship.

Wipick 04 Park So-yeon's "Bustling, but Secretive"

Starting with the series 『People who are good at their jobs do it simply』, author Park So-yeon has served as a guide for countless office workers who dream of becoming 'good workers', and her new novel 『Bustling but Secretly』 has been published as part of the Wepick series.
In his previous short story collection, Crash Landing on You, the author portrayed office life in a way that was more realistic than reality, thereby gaining the sympathy and support of ordinary office workers who work diligently every day.

"Bustling but Secretly" begins when Do-yoon, who works at an event planning agency, is faced with an outrageous request from J Public Institution.
His colleagues are busy teasing him by calling this project the Hot Ice Americano, aka the 'Ttaa Project'.
Do-yoon, a seven-year veteran project manager who has experienced all sorts of strange things, is dizzy by the absurd demands of Organization J.
Will Do-yoon, who is facing the biggest crisis of his career, be able to overcome this difficulty?
Author Park So-yeon delicately portrays the difficulties of corporate life that any office worker would have experienced at least once, and the complex emotions that arise from those difficulties, delivering strong support and comfort to all workers.

Wepick 05 Kim Ki-chang's "The Visitor on Christmas Eve"

Author Kim Ki-chang's new work, "The Visitor on Christmas Eve," which confronts various problems of modern society, such as "death from loneliness" and "climate change," and tenaciously explores human dignity and the ethics of the times within the crisis, has been published in the Wepick series.
In this work, the author addresses the biggest concern of modern people living in apartment complexes: 'noise between floors', and asks what the ethics of a community really are.

Yeju and her classmate 'Song' receive an apartment.
Yeju dreams of a comfortable life in a new town apartment where two women can live their entire lives without any trouble, but her dream is shattered by the thumping noise from upstairs.
“Thump, thump” (page 12).
The noise that would have been expected from Cossacks dancing under the bright moonlight as they rode across the Crimean Peninsula echoed through the ceiling of Yeju's house...
Yeju's mind, sharpened by the noise between floors, fills with thoughts of Cossacks and Cossack dances.
In this work, the effort to compare the pain of reality to imagination seems closer to creating a space for understanding by briefly widening the distance between one's neighbors who are too close.
For city dwellers who find it difficult to give up their apartments, why not use your imagination to embrace one another?
Isn't this the form in which the grace of Christmas comes to us in our time?

Introducing the Wepick Series

WEFIC is a short story series from Wisdom House.
It offers a special experience of breathing deeply into ‘one story’.
I dream that this small piece will become a new piece that expands your world, that each small piece will come together to become your story, and that it will become a piece of literature that will be deeply engraved in your heart.