Author's Note 5

What is love? 11
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 28
The Correlation Between Money and Virtue: If You Want to Wear the Crown, You Must Bear the Weight 56
Guidelines for Those on the Threshold of Initiation 82
What lies between becoming a fan and leaving? 98
Hyunta 125
The Problem Called Dream 152
Everyone has a weakness 170
Lie 196
Twinkle Twinkle 223

Towards the only way to escape from reality
The story of high school 'nerds' who love the 'stars' that shine on their behalf.

For children who live each day like a hamster on a wheel in the reality of college entrance exam competition, even the relationship between friends may need a new definition.
In a world where children cannot survive without stepping on each other, they cannot truly love their rivals, their friends, or even themselves.
As the main character says, “The highest power is ultimately a report card with only a 1 in the number game from 1 to 9,” the daily lives of children who are evaluated by their “grades” are far from words like “love” or “happiness.”
Their daily lives are filled with constant comparisons and personal insults.
Not only that, but they also bear the pain of not being able to choose within the shackles of 'family'.


The only way for children to escape this terrible reality, even if only for a moment, is to love the twinkling 'stars' on my behalf.
“Being a nerd, having something you really love, is a way to escape from the harsh reality.”
The protagonist of 'Twinkle Twinkle' strives to 'be loved by finding someone he can love' in order to forget the painful reality, even if only for a moment.
It's just that I didn't know how to do it, so I became selfish, and I couldn't stop even though I knew it was hurting those around me.


The Secret World of 'Geeks'

In 『Twinkle Twinkle』, the images of children engaging in fandom are depicted so realistically and vividly.
There are many versions of fans, from those who are just beginning to love their own shining 'star', to those who live a 'sasaeng life' solely looking at the 'star', to those who have left the fandom.
Not only are the situations and events portrayed to portray such nerds described, but even the speech and slang of the main characters are so similar to those of today's children that one is amazed by the author's observation and descriptive skills.


The story of this book begins with the 'ticketing war' where all the concert seats are sold out in just 5 minutes.
Ryu Joo-yeon, who rose to fame as the 'golden hand' by securing a spot in the 'sasaeng zone', a number close to a miracle, amidst the new word 'picketing', which means bloody ticketing.
Choi Mi-ran, the 'awesome sasaeng', and Jeong Ji-won, the 'sunflower sasaeng', are growling over Ryu Joo-yeon's ticket.
However, the two are now close friends with a story behind them.
The main character, Miran, became a fangirl in search of her own happiness, and Miran's friend, Jiwon, became a sasaeng fangirl because she wanted to know more about the person she loved than other fans and show off.
The main character of Ticketing, who has nothing to do with fandom or devotion, is an observer who watches these two closely with affection, and is a character who quietly steps into the path of a fan himself, bringing 'fandom' to the readers in a friendly way.


Here, Jihye, the class president and rival of Jeong Jiwon, stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from the private schools.
The author realistically shows the reality of children who are obsessed with fandom, and at the same time, painfully shows what it is like to live as a high school student in Korea through Jihye, a character who is bound by a competitive spirit and struggles to climb even one more rung on a ladder where 'I' can only climb by stepping on 'you'.
He doesn't even hesitate to steal his friend's cell phone to get his hands on his rival's private videos for his own purposes.
The resulting mudslinging at school leaves the children in great confusion between their fandom and reality, and they have the opportunity to reflect on the world and their fandom, and gradually begin to find true friendship.


For real high school students, 'love' and 'happiness' are distant and distant.
But the road to finding your dream

Through the confrontation between Jihye, a high school student in real life, and Jiwon, a sasaeng fan, the author painfully shows the world of high school students where goodwill, trust, and even the word friendship has disappeared, through Jiwon's one word.
“The world is crazy.
“Because it makes you a monster to survive the competition.”

In this era where even 'friends' crumble before the word 'entrance exams', in this crazy world where even family becomes an object of 'management' rather than 'love', these children chose 'love' to survive and became 'nerds' without becoming monsters.
Even though it may be a one-sided, unrequited love without any 'me', the actions of children struggling to find 'love' are pitiful but beautiful.
It's heartbreaking to see children struggling to maintain their identity while moving forward on their own will from the moment they become a fan to the moment they leave, but at the same time, they grow up a little.
Even in a reality that seems like a mess, children do not rest or become lazy, but move forward step by step in search of their 'dream', finding what their heart points to, what they are good at, and what they like.


Just like the stars that were invisible on a night when 'darkness' was a given because the artificial 'light' of the city was too bright, I sincerely hope that the day will come when children who don't yet know that they are 'stars' will find their own 'light'... I sincerely hope that the day will come when children will learn that they don't have to mess with someone else's star, but just believe in their own star, like in the last sentence of 'Twinkle Twinkle'.


The two people who, unable to emit light, sought a being that could shine instead, and the children who wanted to reach the stars by breaking through the murky air and passing through the black sky, still don't know.
In an artificial world filled with the light of neon signs, the real 'star' is oneself.
The star is still small and insignificant, but one day it will shine brightly, on a different level than any satellite.