letter
Part 1: Secrets and Luck
Part 2: Promises and Choices
Part 3: The Witch's Work
The final chapter
-First Review: Finding Adult Work in a World Without Adults_Yoon Hye-eun (Author, Bookstore Insider)
-Author's Note

“Someone has to do this - I'm looking for a new magical girl.”
The hesitation was very brief.


A story that makes you focus on 'youth' itself rather than 'me as a youth'!
We know.
That the cracks in a world always begin with individual change.
_Yoon Hye-eun (writer, bookseller)

The story begins with a powerful opening sentence: “In the distant past, concepts like race, gender, and ethnicity had power.”
Long gone are the days when “companies rejected applicants because of their appearance, and people were categorized by skin color, gender, physical condition, and place of birth.”
“The world has changed” and the old, bad habits no longer exist, moving beyond the past when “children who could change the world gave up their dreams.”


Finally! Has the "good world" we've all dreamed of finally arrived? Has a society free from discrimination, hatred, and contempt for one another been achieved? The beginning of "The Witch's Spell" is clearly a "declaration of a new world."
(It is also considered a future where the 'fair' world that some people have been passionately calling for is realized.) However, if you look closely at the following sentence, the social atmosphere that this 'new declaration' is leading seems unpredictable.
No, maybe it's a world where the fates of success and failure are determined even earlier.
In a future where “ability is evaluated more than appearance,” “failure is bad and success is good,” and “everyone must compete equally in front of the values ​​of development and innovation.”
A society where people are not divided by outdated concepts, but where everyone stands at the same starting line and runs without hesitation to achieve a clear purpose and goal.


To adapt to this world and ensure that everyone can compete equally, the 'Industry-Academic Cooperation Creative Talent Development School' opened its doors.
This is a place established by large corporations to cultivate excellent talent, and the students here must become people who live up to the slogan of 'ability, rationality, and innovation.'
If you don't find a sponsor by the time you graduate, you'll be burdened with enormous tuition and will struggle under a mountain of debt for the rest of your life. However, this is entirely your own personal misfortune, and no one at the school is responsible for it.
Because the school says it provides the best environment for students.
So, students endure their daily lives dreaming of becoming researchers at promising companies or founding members of startups.
But what if the anxiety and worry persist and the future seems bleak?

The protagonist Seo-ah's situation was not much different from that of other children.
He grew up hearing that he was a 'gifted child' and entered the Industry-Academic Cooperation Creative Talent Development School with his outstanding skills, but now he is seventeen and nearing graduation.
One day, as Seo-ah was anxiously enduring the passing of time without being able to secure a sponsor or enter the lab, nineteen-year-old 'Hyeon' approached her.
Hyun tells Seo-ah that there is a secret game server that is being run for students living in precarious circumstances.
Some people spend their time there enjoying sweet rest, some seeking comfort, and some enjoying leisure and entertainment.


Hyun asks Seo-ah to become the 'new magical girl' who will eliminate the 'monsters' that appear in the game and control the operating system.
The story of Hyun, who says that if you become a magical girl or a witch, you will belong to a lab and you won't have to worry about the future.
Seo-ah nods and accepts the offer, but then finds herself caught in an uncontrollable dilemma between the past and the present.


For example, is helping a friend who is less fortunate than me a consideration or a self-satisfaction?
Should I pretend not to see my friend who fell while running and run my race, or should I reach out to my friend and finish the race together, even if it means being late to the finish line?
Who has more courage: the one who tolerates injustice or the one who stands up to it?
How far should I go in granting a friend's request?
Will the choices and results that each person pursues to the best of their ability remain solely the responsibility of the individual?
The bare face of the world that children who have learned the 'rules of survival' early on face without reservation is either too transparent or too opaque, and cannot be expressed in any color.


“I hope you don’t become too distant like the other kids.

“I hope your world and mine aren’t too different.”

We have to do our best, and because we do our best, we become sad.
And most of them become cowards.

"The Witch's Spell" is a story about sadness and cowardice.
_From the author's note

The background of 『The Spell to Become a Witch』 will be approached differently depending on the reader.
It could be Korea in the future, or it could be another country that is not Korea.
It may feel like 20 years from now, or it may feel like 100 years from now.
Author Danyo wrote this work while depicting a future society where 'anyone can freely imagine'.
However, the fundamental elements of life that we all encounter while reading the story remind us of the universality of existence that continues across time and generations.


When and where did a future society that prioritizes only economic efficiency and the utility of valuable use, even if humanity is excluded, come about?
Although "The Witch's Spell" is a work that deals with the future, it accurately and chillingly reflects some of the deteriorating aspects of our current society.
The daily struggle of trying not to be pushed out of the group or society to which I 'belong' is a struggle in life that everyone, regardless of age or gender, faces.
As the age at which they struggle gets younger and competition among themselves becomes more intense, teenagers may live their lives precariously weighing their responsibilities, potential, and failures on the scale of "success."


As we read this brilliantly crafted science fiction, can we find a better direction within the limited choices of life: "be a witch, not be a witch, or not be a witch at all?"
Can we give each other the strength to cultivate a stronger sense of responsibility and courage than self-reproach?
The protagonist, Seo-ah, learns of the conspiracy and truth inside and outside the system, uncovers ugly corruption, and falls into endless dilemmas.
The realistic concerns surrounding beliefs are not easy for anyone, and this has been going on for a long time, even before 'Seventeen-Year-Old Seo-ah'.
A world that doesn't necessarily expect rewards or compensation, but at least makes you weigh what is right and what the best choice is within the scope of 'being responsible for myself'.
In a world where social responsibility and wrongdoing are solely transferred to individuals, there is no need to necessarily divide the past, present, and future.
This school, located somewhere in the future, must have also coexisted with suspicious deaths for over 15 years.


So today, too, the door to the secret server opens and the children begin to enter one by one.
The witch, who has finished all preparations, also enters the game.
To slay a monster that might suddenly appear from nowhere, or to meet someone for whom tragedy would be a comfort… … … .


In every moment of life, unsolvable worries are intertwined like a puzzle.
Wouldn't everyone, somehow, find some luck in life? So, perhaps it's better to live with hope, even if it's hopeless? As we read, unable to take our eyes off any page, "The Witch" will resonate with us in a unique way.
Are witches symbols of life, hope for salvation, or something else entirely?
Today, too, the witch begins to recite the 'spell to become a witch', revealing one expression of life that everyone hides.
On the precarious border of life, like “looking at the magic of another world through patterned glass,” a certain spell of hope that will never disappear is heard through the voices of teenagers.


Author's Note

I often feel that caring for one another is the most powerful truth, yet the most fleeting lie.
It is true that people live with a warm heart, but the world is so complex and everyone has their own circumstances, so it is impossible to care for everyone.
But still, we have to do our best, and because we do our best, we become sad.
And most of them become cowards.
"The Witch's Spell" is a story about sadness and cowardice.
Of course, I can't say that it's okay to be cowardly, or that being cowardly isn't something to be ashamed of.
Because everything in the world has come this far through courage overcoming cowardice.
But since even a seemingly insignificant failure can teach us something, and we cannot be courageous without knowing what cowardice is, I believe that every sentence in this article has its own meaning.