The bestseller that resonated with 400,000 people, Tteokbokki 2!

Published in 25 countries
Recommendation from a psychiatrist
Drama adaptation confirmed
1 million copies sold worldwide

“A remarkable perspective that looks at an individual's most vulnerable moments in a novel way.”
-Cosmopolitan

“Honest and smart.
“Using actual transcripts from months of therapy, we carefully move toward self-awareness by exploring our own depression and anxiety.”
-Chicago Tribune

“The author’s efforts to make conversation about heartache feel natural are admirable.”
-Publisher's Weekly

“Be honest.
“A genuine attempt at self-discovery for young people suffering from depression and anxiety.”
-Library Journal

“This book is personal, yet universal, and it finds a path to understanding consciousness and wisdom.”
- Kirkus Review

“There are many people who live without even knowing that they are having a hard time.
“Suffering from a sense of emptiness for no reason.”

Many people are used to showing off their cool and bright side, but try to hide their gloomy and dark side.
But one thing you must know to be happy is that you will never be happy if you ignore the sadness in your heart.
We must speak now.
About the empty space in my heart that cannot be filled even when I live without any problems, about the corner of my heart that feels gloomy even while I am laughing and chatting with friends.

“We are not people who do not cry,
You have to be someone who can cry when you want to cry.

This book is a compilation of conversations between the author, who suffers from dysthymia (a condition characterized by persistent mild depressive symptoms), and a psychiatrist.
This book is for those who appear fine on the outside but are rotten on the inside, who are neither terribly depressed nor happy, and it is the story of all of us who are imperfect, shabby, and unable to free ourselves from the gaze of others.
This book may not take all your sorrows away, but it will help you become someone who can cry when you want to, rather than someone who never cries.

I find myself constantly trying to censor the feelings I feel, even though they are my own and entirely mine.
If that's how I felt, then that's right.
Where is there such thing as objectivity in emotions and feelings?
Everyone has their own thoughts.
But I find it so hard to ignore other people's opinions in order to be happy.

--- p.27

When you're just thinking, your emotions are mixed.
It still holds the ‘feelings of that time’.
But when you put it out into words, you can evaluate yourself from an observer's perspective.
Rationally.

--- p.35

My appearance can be different for each person, but that person is a certain type, so I unconsciously try to accommodate that person, and because I care about everyone else, the person I like and who likes me may end up feeling resentful towards me because I end up draining their energy.

--- p.75

Now I don't depend on others.
I think, I decide, I handle it.
For some, it might be simple or obvious, but for me, it was the most difficult thing, and so I lived endlessly as a parasite on others, including my sister.
I feel completely sure that this is not the case anymore.

--- p.149

It's hard work, but evaluating and suppressing your own pain by the standards of society and others is a very dangerous idea.
I simply want to focus on my dark emotions without comparing them or turning away from them.
Just as I savor pleasure, I will also look into the darkness, converse with myself, and embrace it.

--- p.161

I now know how to turn the arrows against my opponent.
I don't think you'll destroy me because of something like that.
I realize that my life and myself are not so insignificant and insignificant.
I don't censor myself excessively, but I know how to observe myself leniently and rationally as if I were a third party and judge myself accurately.
--- p.177

When you say, 'I'm depressed,' you stay at home because you're depressed, you feel listless, you meet fewer people, and you become isolated.
At times like that, you can break free from the habits and behaviors you used to have when you weren't depressed.
In fact, I say I do this because I'm depressed, but if I continue to do this (the habit of withdrawing), I may become more depressed.
So, if I try to continue to behave the way I did when my serotonin was high (when I was in a good mood), and try to remember how I was then and become a little more like that, wouldn't I be able to increase the chances of having a good day?

--- p.226

Now I know that there are feelings that no one can fill.
Natural emotions that everyone has, that don't necessarily need to be filled, and that can't be filled.
So, I have no choice but to accept it as if I am living with the scars on my body.

--- p.260