prolog

A reclusive loner? Voluntarily!
After Nok-Hyeon entered the room, his mother wrote on her laptop
Lock up your mother
Thoughts of a mother who became a zombie
A baby held by its mother
A long smartphone text message that Dad tried to send to Nok-Hyeon but failed.
Missing Mother
Cat Shami's gaze
Yeah, I wasn't alone
What Nokhyeon, who hung up the phone, didn't know
Premonitions are never wrong
The situation when dad was bitten by mom
remedy
The story of how John Chasefield and Christian Bale recovered from the infection.
J's alternative
My mother, sitting on the windowsill, looked up at the sky and thought
Mom's Secret
Sundam's lunch
Goodbye, Mom

Epilogue

"Is she really my mother? Should I kill her now?"
For those of you who sometimes imagine a world without mothers,
A heart-pounding comic horror story from rising Gen Z thriller writer Cha Mu-jin.

The School of Thought publishes a collection of books that focus on the real-life issues faced by the 1318 generation.
Kkul Kkulmunko was started with the aim of helping people develop self-love and see a wider world through stories of various genres.
Kkul Kkul Mungo, which explores the concerns of teenagers through the eyes of young writers loved by teenagers, has published a novel titled "Mom is a Zombie," which uses a fun and lively imagination to imagine what would happen if a beloved mother suddenly turned into a zombie.


This work depicts the commotion between family and friends surrounding a zombie incident from the perspective of Nok-Hyeon, a third-year middle school student.
Sixteen-year-old Nok-Hyeon, who is neither too young nor too grown-up, learns through the zombie incident that 'love' is not an abstract feeling, but rather the will and action to care for and understand someone.
As readers turn each page of this book, they encounter questions without answers: what should I do and what should I do?
Through Nok-Hyeon, who constantly searches for ways to save his mother, readers will naturally think about what it means to be a 'parent', 'caregiver', and 'growth' as ​​a person.


“What would you do if your mom turned into a zombie?”

Adolescence is a time when we contemplate living with others in a world where only we exist.
Most of us know that we can no longer live solely for ourselves, but it's difficult to know specifically how to live with others.
To solve such ambiguous problems, you need to be able to translate the problem you face into a context you can understand.
This book unravels the story of a zombie who treats her like prey and tries to kill her, and a mother who gives her endless love.
Cha Mu-jin, a thriller writer beloved by Generation Z, asks the abstract question of what we would do if our mothers' love that supported us disappeared, and asks what we would do if our mothers turned into zombies, offsetting the weight of the question with comic horror.


In this book, Nok-Hyeon's reality is not easy.
First of all, Mom and Dad are not as affectionate as they were when Nokhyeon was young.
Although there are many issues between Mom and Dad, Nok-Hyeon's psychological stability is important right now.
Also, parents want their children to keep their conflicts to themselves and be true to themselves.
But as much as Nokhyeon's life shines with growth, his parents' lives are bound to be filled with loss.
Mom struggles to survive in a world without Dad, and Dad struggles with the loss and confusion that comes with aging.
Teenagers are well aware of their own inner conflicts, but they often do not know the inner workings of their parents who live with them.
The various psychological problems and worries that Nok-Hyeon experiences in the beginning touch the deep hearts of teenagers who share a similar age to the protagonist, and help them understand what kind of difficult times their parents are currently going through in life.
Author Cha Mu-jin draws the attention of young people into the minds of their parents by incorporating tight settings and sentences into a refreshing narrative that keeps the readers turning the pages endlessly.
As we look into the lives of our parents, who are closest to us but whom we don't really know, readers, like Nok-Hyeon, ask themselves questions.
'Do mom and dad exist simply to provide me with the material and emotional needs?' The moment we confront this question, we can sense that the events that frame this work are not mere devices for entertainment.


“It’s all your fault, Mom!”

A fight between mom and dad, and the resulting absence of dad, causes silence in the house.
After that, mom changes.
The mother who took care of her family with love starts working part-time and gives up sleep at night to pursue her dreams.
A mother's love, which overflowed as if she could give anything, gradually dries up due to the hardship and fatigue of work.
Nok-Hyeon is unable to overcome the tension and becomes a reclusive loner.
Nokhyeon, who had been protesting his parents' conflict by not eating well and not washing on time, had a big fight with his mother one day.
He ended up blaming his mother for the fact that his father and mother were living apart, and ended up even calling her 'you'.

After that, Nok-Hyeon has conflicts not only with his mother but also with the school.
Nothing goes as he sets out.
After playing a game for a while, you and your friend have a falling out over an item, and school is no longer a place you want to go.
One day, when he was closing his ears and eyes to everything because he hated studying, his friends, and his mother, his mother suddenly became cold to him and suddenly turned into a zombie.
My mother, who loved me the most, is now trying to kill me.
So, is it a mother? Or a zombie? If I acknowledge her as a mother, what should I do? If I accept the reality of a zombie, how should I respond? Nok-Hyeon remains oblivious to the complex contradictions that arise when two seemingly incompatible states coexist.
He learns survival skills while trying to get his mother to come back without being bitten by her.
In this process, readers learn that their parents' and my lives are not the same, and that care is something that is given and received between them.
The scenes of Nok-Hyeon going to buy medicine for his mother, who is trying to overcome her zombie state, and going to the supermarket to haggle over the price of meat indirectly show that the normal daily life of teenagers is achieved through the hardships of their parents.


“Oh, stop it now! Mom, please go back to normal!”

The events that unfold after Mom becomes a zombie are not ordinary.
Also, only Nok-Hyeon can find the solution to save his mother who has become a zombie.
The struggle to stop a friend from reporting a zombie outbreak and to save a grandmother from a mother who has become a zombie is intense enough to make you sweat, but it's also lively and quirky in a sixteen-year-old way.
Nok-Hyeon, who was a reclusive loner who only knew himself, evolves to the point where he worries that his mother will spread the zombie virus and infect others.
As I went through various incidents, my concern for people I live with expanded beyond my family.
The author's unique, lively breathing and cheerfulness come together to create a smooth flow of Nok-Hyeon's growth.
Just as he defeats monsters in a game, Nok-Hyeon gradually expands the trajectory of his life.
Through this book, you will learn that growth is not achieved through heavy and serious hardships, but rather occurs naturally in everyday life.
When we care for and cherish our closest relationships, true change can happen.

Every time a character experiences a commotion due to their mother turning into a zombie, they are left asking themselves the following question:
'What on earth does it mean for a mother to become a zombie?' 'What does a zombie mean here?' It's clearly a zombie you'd see in a horror movie, but somehow it feels strangely similar to reality, giving me a sense of foreboding.
The idea of ​​a mother becoming a zombie may seem far-fetched, but in reality, we often see parents become zombies.
The instability of parents who have to leave their stable positions and find their own, the sense of duty to somehow take responsibility for their family, and above all, the helplessness that comes when things disappear in a body that is gradually weakening.
"Mom is a Zombie" shows that even parents have moments of helplessness and hardship, like being infected with a virus.
So, this book builds a ladder of understanding between parents and children, who grow apart as the children grow older.
Young readers can understand themselves through Nokhyeon, who resembles them, and at the same time, look into the worries behind the lives of their parents, who appear to be adults.
It also shows that although parents exist for me, they must also be able to love and cherish their own lives in order to coexist as a family.

This book unfolds the warm and sharp topic of 'care' through the imagination of young people.
For readers who sometimes imagine a world without mothers, I tell them about the naturalness of that feeling and the difficulties that come with it.
Of course, it also shows the maturity that comes from living a life without relying on mom and dad, broadening the readers' perspective.
While we laugh for a while and then get anxious while watching the events unfold surrounding Nok-Hyeon, we rush towards the ending.
For readers who mostly live with their mothers, but sometimes feel like they're talking to a zombie mother, this book will provide a refreshing explanation of the difficult-to-understand life of adults and the complexities of my own mind.