Part 1: The probability of encountering a rainbow while walking down the street

1.
000 lives in our neighborhood
2.
Bobo
3.
An uneasy feeling

Part 2: The Race That Runs Away for Happiness

4.
Future Apartment
5.
The Secret of Rainbows
6.
About the promise

Part 3 Clearly, there is someone waiting for us like this.

7.
Too slow or too fast
8.
dead end
9.
9:07
10.
home

Epilogue
Author's Note

The choice of 100 youth judges!
2023 3rd Teen Story King Winner

Bobo, the alien baby left behind on Earth
A beautiful and affectionate sci-fi story about heading to a strange friend's house.

As we read, we are confronted with the classic questions of who we can be friends with and what it truly means to be a friend.
The method is gentle yet dense.

-「From the Reviewers' Comments」 Kim Ji-eun (Children's Literature Critic), Lee Hyeon (Children's Book Writer)

A truly fascinating book that twists the clichés of common alien fiction.
-Kim Tae-rim, 2nd year student at Unjung Middle School

It's a warm and engrossing book.
I was sucked into the story from the moment it began.
-Lee Se-young, first year student at Maewon High School

Our worries and occasional failures are not despair, but hope.
Bobo told me through this book.

- Wi Su-yeon, 3rd year student at Jangdang Middle School

Choi Jeong-won's novel "We Are Leaving This Planet," the winner of the 3rd Teen Story King literary award, chosen by 100 middle and high school students across the country, has been published by Biryongso.
This novel contains the one-day adventure of Wonho and Na-rae as they set out to find the home of a lost alien baby.
What started out as a simple act of goodwill turns into a secret mission to help an alien race called the "Rainbow" migrate. Won-ho, who is called a "real idiot with a good face" for having grand dreams that are disproportionate to his abilities, and Na-rae, who is treated as an alien for being too slow and clumsy, experience an adventure that will shake up their daily lives.
The story unfolds with solid, delicate descriptions and humorous prose as children who suddenly become their guardians encounter themselves deeply through the harmless gaze of an alien baby named Bobo, who loves Earth so much, and come to cheer on their friends who join them on their journey.
Moreover, the way people accept those from other planets is a reflection of how we view strangers and strangers, and makes us reflect on how we live as members of the Earth.
This is also the new work of Choi Jeong-won, who won the 3rd Changbi x Kakao Page English Adult Novel Award for “The Night the Storm Chases”.


In a fierce competition between the two finalists, the Teen Story King youth judges chose this work the most for its “beauty,” “hope,” “healing,” and “affection.”
For example, when you think of science fiction featuring aliens, such as an invasion of Earth or a future world with incredible technology, this novel presents a beautiful science fiction story of growth without any of the grandiose themes that easily come to mind.
Wonho and Na-rae, who are in the same class but have never exchanged a word with each other, come together with the human goodwill of 'bringing a lost baby home' and embark on an adventure and make choices that were not planned in advance. The process of overcoming emotional hurdles is also a journey that contains deep questions about the path to 'a friend's house' and 'my home'.
And their stories convey the intimate and affectionate warmth of knowing that even if we are slow or late, there will be someone waiting for us, who sometimes question our own pace and lose our way.

Stories of strong, brave, beautiful, and splendid heroes are great, but they are tales of 'them,' and ultimately, I believe there is a special warmth in the moment when the story of 'us,' who are close to us, holds my hand.
I wanted to write a story like that.
-From the author's note

What are the chances of seeing a rainbow while walking down the street?
“At first, it was just, I found a child.”

Finally today, Wonho plans to return home and record the genius song he wrote and composed.
I have 7 subscribers, two of which are my parents.
Although he has been laughed at by everyone, it is certain that his genius as a musician will finally be proven with this song that he will complete today.
Wonho left school feeling confident and happy.


Narae's mind is complicated as she tries to get to the academy on time.
Unplanned extra classes, unfinished academy homework, if my grades drop again this time, I don't have the confidence to face my mom.
No, this time again, as my mother always says, it's my own fault for thinking too much and being slow.
As always, Narae kept a long distance from the children standing at the school gate, and left the school with heavy steps.


The two children discover a baby with rainbow-colored eyes.
His name is Bobo, he is 1 year old in Earth years, and his species name is KMSRX-3.
After checking the address and message written on the baby's name tag, Na-rae and Won-ho decide to take the baby to the community center out of human kindness.
But no one expected it.
What started out as a simple matter of “taking a lost teddy bear to the lost and found” grew into something I couldn’t handle.


A race that runs away for happiness
vs.
People who have to break someone else's peace for their own happiness
“Our race always has to run away for happiness.
That’s why we are called ‘Rainbow’.”

Five years ago, a monumental event recorded in textbooks as the so-called “Day of Great Visit” occurred.
Those who lost their homes due to climate change on their home planet have been requesting immigration to Earth.
The Earthlings, who believed that their science and technology would be beneficial to the Earth, accepted them as immigrants, and our country also provided them with 'future apartments' as residences.
Their migration garners enormous public attention, with anti-discrimination laws being enacted and dictionaries of alien languages ​​filling bookstore shelves. However, public interest quickly wanes, perhaps due to the aliens quietly living within their own walls, mimicking human form.
However, as if mocking the earnest desire of immigrants to consider Earth as their final destination, BJ Jingga, who runs a personal broadcasting channel, visits the immigrants living in the future apartments and thrusts his camera into them in order to use them to fulfill his own desires.


The amazing power of light that the rainbow race possesses.
And the jewels made from it are of immense value.
As Jinga devises a plan to uncover the secret, his camera suddenly catches two middle school students running away with a rainbow baby.

Clearly, there is someone waiting for us like this.
“That was their speed.
“It was their rhythm.”

Wonho is a terrible tone-deaf kid who can't even keep up with the pitch or beat, but he confidently sings his own song at the school festival. In the eyes of others, he is seen as a shameless kid who doesn't care about what others think.
And Narae is known as a somewhat 'annoying' model student at school who follows the rules, wears her uniform flawlessly, doesn't talk to the kids, and focuses on her studies.
Wonho and Na-rae also looked at each other with such eyes, thinking of each other as beings who would never meet, like the head and tail of a long train.
However, due to unexpected events, the two share a common goal of protecting Bobo, and discover new sides of each other that are different from what they knew.
Wonho's brazen confidence is a gentleness that guides the timid Na-rae, and Na-rae's thoughtful and slow personality guides their adventure in a cautious direction.

The process in which Na-rae and Won-ho, who had no chance of getting to know each other as much as they had of meeting a baby from the rainbow tribe while walking down the street, come to know each other's inner selves and support each other on an unexpected journey is as beautiful as the light of the rainbow tribe.
The novel's true and affectionate message is that there is no right pace for walking, and that even though we sometimes make mistakes, fail, and stumble over our own feet, each of us is a precious person with a reason to exist.


ㆍ From the comments of the youth jury

The thrill and the tingling sensation brought about by the fresh subject of aliens cannot be expressed in words.
-Kim Yeo-jin, first year student at Gwacheon Munwon Middle School

It was a really interesting book that twisted the clichés of common alien novels.

-Kim Tae-rim, 2nd year student at Unjung Middle School

The situation was so beautiful, looking at the Earth with the loving eyes of a 'small, round, and soft' rainbow baby.
Narae's words were also impressive.
'Thank you for liking us.
Me too, I'll try to like it too.
I could feel Na-rae's eyes shining with joy at the words, 'I'll try.'
It was a truly beautiful story.
-Kim So-hyun, 2nd year, Incheon Seongri Middle School

From the moment I picked up this book until I finished it, I couldn't put it down.
The thrilling plot, outstanding imagination, and unique characters all come together to create this compelling book.
I can't wait to recommend this charming book, which is both entertaining and sometimes tear-jerking, to others.
-Kim Hee-seo, 2nd year student at Sincheon Middle School

In a society that is constantly divided, fighting, and discriminating against others due to racial discrimination, gender conflict, etc., the main characters, Na-rae and Won-ho, protect Bobo, a rainbow like a ray of light.
What was impressive was that the potentially troubling subject of 'discrimination' was incorporated into the story along with the growth of the innocent main characters.
Park Gyu-min, first year student at Boeun High School

In a society that seeks to differentiate rather than understand differences, two children with polar opposite personalities demonstrate that 'differences' are no barrier to coexistence.
We are all different.
And that's not wrong.
Their minds are wrong in not accepting differences.
-Park Ji-hye, 3rd year student at Lee Hyeon Middle School

Bobo tells us in this book that our worries and occasional failures are not despair but hope.

- Wi Su-yeon, 3rd year student at Jangdang Middle School

It's a warm and engrossing book.
I was sucked into the story from the moment it began.
I liked the vividness and warmth that permeated and spread through my heart.

-Lee Se-young, first year student at Maewon High School

As I read the book, I felt like I was following Wonho, Na-rae, and Bobo.
How can one hate those who, however clumsily, strive to be good people?
-Lee Su-bin, 2nd year, Sangam Middle School

The process of Narae's voice becoming clearer and Bobo's return came to me as if it were a realistic fantasy.
The 'difference' that feels like 'something wrong'.
It seems to convey to us through the images of Na-rae and Won-ho that such differences can become reasons to love that person if we just change our perspective a little.
On the other hand, it felt like my scars, which I didn't know I had, were healing.
-Lee Eun-yul, 2nd year student at Sunae Middle School

Through these two teenagers who live in the same world but sometimes seem to live in completely different worlds, I was able to feel that although they are lonely, they are actually not alone.

-Im Tae-rin, 2nd year student at Daewang Middle School

No matter how slow or late it is, there will definitely be someone waiting for us, so we just have to live in this world slowly but diligently at our own pace.
It was great to get the message across in an exciting and moving way that we have the courage to do so.

-Jeong Ye-rin, 3rd year, Wooseok Middle School