Prologue: It's because of the walking club
Part 1: The Clumsy Walking Club
Part 2: A Walk on a Summer Day
Part 3 Marathon Walking Competition
Epilogue: Goodbye, Last Child
Author's Note

A boy who wanted to be alone becomes the club president.

The classroom is abuzz with the news that a new club activity, the 'Sports Club', is being formed.
People are scrambling to get into popular clubs, and friends are fighting over who should join the same club, but Yoonseo is not interested in any of that.
Even after reluctantly joining the walking club, Yunseo's attitude remains lukewarm.
He feels burdened by Kang Eun-i, who is active in club activities, and he doesn't even know the names of Jae-hee and Hye-yoon, who are in the same class.
Was it because, as her homeroom teacher said, she'd only been here for a month? Or was it because she was going through puberty, as her mother said? But the truth is, Yunseo harbors a guilt she hasn't told anyone.

I don't have any friends.
We don't exchange messages or meet up after school.
I don't deserve to have friends.
I betrayed my best friend, so I'm lonely.
(Page 28)

Before transferring, Yunseo found out that her best friend Chaemin was suffering from domestic violence.
Chaemin asked her to keep it a secret, but Yunseo told the adults about it.
I thought it was for Chaemin.
In the end, Chaemin was separated from her family, and even when she transferred schools, she resented Yoonseo.
From that day on, Yunseo decided not to be friends with anyone.

"The Thirteen-Year-Old's Walking Club" centers on Yunseo's transformation.
Yunseo begins to look around her little by little as she participates in a walking club.
I learned that the unfamiliar school clock is a little slow, that the apartment I always pass by on my way home from school has a dog that knows how to find its way home on its own, and that it takes 30 minutes to walk around the lake park. These are all facts I learned while walking.
The biggest change for Yunseo, who chose walking because it was an exercise she could do alone, is that she now has friends to walk with.

Healing and comfort that only peers can provide

What was once thought to be just a two-hour walk every Thursday is taking up an increasingly larger part of Yunseo's daily life.
Without realizing it, Yunseo observes how her walking club friends are doing in the classroom, at school, and outside of school, not on the playground.
Around that time, all the children in Class 1, Grade 6 found out that the children who were originally close friends had created a chat room, except for Hye-yoon.
Because your messenger profile picture has changed.
The homeroom teacher warned me, but since he wasn't blatantly ostracizing me, there was no way to do anything.
But Yoonseo can't just watch Hyeyoon suffer.
There is no grand reason.


“But isn’t it a bit cruel to match bracelets to everyone except one person and eat in a place with only four chairs?” (page 54)

Sometimes, when I see Hye-yoon, who is so straightforward, I feel uneasy.
Some people might feel uncomfortable.
But isn't it a bit much to unilaterally ignore her without even telling her what she did wrong? Yoonseo and Kang Eun-i come up with a natural excuse to get Hye-yoon, who had moved to the Pilates club, to return to the walking club.


Starting with Hye-yoon, the worries of the children in the walking club are revealed one by one.
Jaehee, who seems to be able to do anything, is worried that he might seem unattractive when he recently starts liking a girl.
The righteous Kang Eun-i confesses that she was falsely accused of school violence while trying to help a friend.


From the worries that every teenager experiences at least once to unique wounds, the children of the walking club listen to each other's stories.
We truly empathize, we get angry on their behalf, and we put our heads together and seriously think about solutions.
Even Yunseo reveals to her friends the pain she has never told her parents or counselor.
Adults always want to give the right answer, saying that it's just because it's puberty, that it will be solved when you grow up, and that there is something right or wrong.
But children need someone who will truly empathize with them and wait for them to understand and accept themselves.
Peers earnestly perform roles that adults do not understand or know but cannot take on.
If there is one 'magic' that is always present in the works of author Kim Hye-jeong, who crosses genres from fairy tales to fantasy and thrillers, it is 'peers.'
"The Thirteen-Year-Old's Walking Club" is a heartwarming story that fully demonstrates its magic.


Walking together, not alone

When Kang Eun-i appears in the news for helping a grandmother who was almost scammed, people who don't even know Kang Eun-i well start spreading fake news online about her past school violence and her family circumstances.
Kang Eun-i, who had a more positive influence on those around her than anyone else, does not show up at the walking club or at school.
Kang Eun-i, who got hurt while helping her friend but said, "If I could go back in time, I would do the same thing," is the person who gives the most strength to Yun-seo, who always regrets helping Chae-min.
Yunseo encourages her friends for the first time and writes letters to Kang Eun-i every day.
We're here, so come back anytime.

"The Thirteen-Year-Old's Walking Club" is a fairy tale that captures the spring, summer, fall, and winter that the children of the walking club walk together.
Children change as clearly and naturally as the seasons change.
On days when I want to walk quickly, I walk ahead, on days when I don't want to walk, I look around, whisper a secret and move a little further away, then hurry up when I hear a friend's voice, and as if it were natural, I hold the hand of the person next to me.
Even children who are afraid of being left alone, or children who want to be alone because they don't want to get hurt, find it natural to distance themselves for a while and then get closer.
If you keep walking, you will meet him.