100% youth choice!
The first Wisdom House Fantasy Literature Award, Youth Category Grand Prize Winner
“A warm book that confirms your presence.”

Kim Seon-mi's "Biscuit" was selected as the grand prize winner in the youth category of the first Wisdom House Fantasy Literature Award, which is 100% determined by readers' choice.
"Biscuit" is a story of a boy's struggle to help "Biscuit," an invisible being who has lost the power to protect himself, and the growing pains of a teenager struggling to maintain his self-esteem.
After a two-week judging process, the youth judges overwhelmingly supported Biscuit, saying, “It is a warm book that confirms one’s presence” and “It is a work that brings a sparkle to those who have become faint.”
Beyond the desire to not be left out, this work, which makes us think again about the marginalized beings around us, will become a new signal for fantasy English adults.

There are people in the world who have lost the power to protect themselves and have become invisible.
A person who has lost his presence and is alienated from everyone for various reasons.
I call them 'biscuits'.

Like baked goods like biscuits, they tend to break easily.
The biscuits break easily, fall into pieces easily, and crumble with even a slight impact.
Biscuit, isolated in his own world, becomes an invisible being.
Because biscuits are so inconspicuous, they are sometimes treated as ghosts or supernatural phenomena.
It's not that there are no ghosts or supernatural phenomena in the wide world.
However, in my opinion, when people are fussing over a faint shape in a photo or when they feel creepy in an empty place, there are usually biscuits around.

I recognize the biscuit by sound.
I know they are around when I hear their faint breathing, their feeble footsteps, the light rustling of fabric.
Once you recognize the sound, you can immediately see the image.

Biscuits are generally vague in shape.
The degree of dimness depends on the attitude with which the biscuit perceives itself.
I divide the state of biscuits into three stages.

--- p.7~8

The bonobo chuckled and went out the door without even apologizing.
The owner of the desk was left in a daze.
The classroom was bustling again as if nothing had happened.
The desk owner took out a handkerchief with a flushed face and wiped his pants and the floor with it.
I stared at him with a frown.
It was definitely cloudy.

"what's the matter?"
“There are biscuits.”
Deok-hwan adjusted his glasses, squinted his eyes, and looked in the direction the child was.

“Who? That guy? Is that Biscuit?”
"huh."
“It’s strange.
You know that too.
“We went to the same middle school.”
“I have no idea.
“Are you still at the same school as us?”
“High school is different.
I guess they probably went somewhere a bit further away.
He suffered a lot from school bullying in middle school.
But it’s surprising that it’s become a biscuit now.”
I could understand why Deok-hwan was puzzled.
Even though he was bullied in middle school and his self-esteem was as low as it could get, he didn't become a biscuit.
Maybe you're experiencing more severe bullying in high school.
“What level is it?”
“Step 1.”
Biscuits mostly stay at stage 1.
It seems that if at least one person at home, school, or in society gives you continuous attention, you can maintain the power to protect yourself through bonds.
Even if you are bullied at school or at an academy, if you receive support and strength at home, it won't go as far as stage 2 or 3.
Therefore, the important thing in step 1 of the biscuit is how to rekindle the spark of self-esteem that has not yet been extinguished.
--- p.16~17

The man said he had no children at home.
He said he lives alone after his wife ran away from home.
His voice was trembling and he seemed somewhat anxious.
When the police tried to go inside to take a quick look, the man panicked and tried to close the front door.
There was a brief scuffle.
While the police officer who sensed something suspicious was stopping the man, another officer went inside.
The man was standing awkwardly next to the front door, his head tilted askew and his eyes looking down at the floor.
But it really felt like I'd seen it somewhere before.
I looked at the man's sweat-soaked T-shirt and made eye contact with him.
The man who made eye contact with me averted his gaze.
Wait, I've seen that scar on your chin somewhere.
Where was it? The scar on my chin… … .
Scar! Ah! I remembered.
This is the man who made a fool of himself at Hyojin's cafe.
Oh my goodness! The octopus kid is the one whose voice I heard.

“Are there any other entrances to this house?”
“Oh, there isn’t any.”
The man denied it, waving his hand.

"All right.
“I’m sorry for being rude.”
As the police were about to finish their investigation after looking around the house, my aunt blocked their way.
"wait a minute.
“What about the child?”
“I think you misheard.
“There are no children in this house.”
The man looked more surprised than we were by the police's words.
--- p.124~125

Jose thinks that it doesn't matter if he loses all sense of presence and no one recognizes him.
As he has no attachment to the world, he is also distant from other people.
Because of that kind of thinking, Joseon may not understand Hyojin's willingness to take risks for biscuits.
After all, it's a man.
I didn't even reach out to ask for help first.
Even if you help me, it might disappear.
You may be wondering why you are going through all the trouble.

I thought I knew that the feelings of Hyojin, who was trembling, and Joje, who had turned his back, were actually the same.
Jose himself didn't realize it yet, but he added it to let us know that our desire to save someone is no different from ours.
“Biscuit is a part of my heart that has been trampled on and has lost its sense of existence.
“Just as you replant withered flowers in the ground, we just want to help Biscuit get his feet firmly planted in the world.”
Jose's confident expression disappeared, and for the first time, his face changed to one of confusion.
Biscuits and withered flowers.
And the marginalized.
Maybe we were each holding on to something in our own different ways.
--- p.144~145

Since the video was released, there has been no solution to the Biscuit issue.
The world began to debate whether to acknowledge the existence of biscuits.
A being that cannot be believed even if seen with one's own eyes.
An entity that cannot be ignored even if it is invisible.
The debate continued endlessly, as if forgetting that these beings were all human and our neighbors.
But one thing everyone agrees on is that no one should be a biscuit.

Biscuits are first created by those who marginalize themselves.
When people are marginalized in the world, they lose their self-esteem and even the courage to show up in the world.
In this way, you choose to isolate yourself and go through stages while losing the power to protect yourself.

We try our best to protect ourselves every day, but there are days when the loneliness we've been suppressing inevitably spills out.
On days like that, even the strongest person's appearance flickers faintly.
What you need at that time is someone who can hold your hand and look at the vastness of not knowing where to go together.
Anyone can be a biscuit.
Also, anyone can help with the biscuits.
If you don't forget that premise, even if you disappear, you can trust and respect each other and slowly recover healthily.
That's half the battle.

--- p.217~218