불장난

The narrator is nine when Father falls for a new teacher at the narrator's primary school and marries her. Kept away from everything adult, the child listens at doors when guests come and is ashamed of it, shuttling between Father's new flat and Mother's home in the provinces without getting what is wanted from either. In fifth grade the narrator becomes fixated on Yang Woo-jeong, a cool, composed girl rumoured to meet middle-school boys in the school's night-duty room. A week before the holidays the narrator runs to that room to find out the truth, and what follows leads, alone and humiliated, to a rooftop and Father's lighter.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Short story

Length

384 pages in the original

Genres

Coming of age, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

South Korea

First published

2021 by Munhak Sasang

Author's age

41 when first published

ISBN

9788970125336 (original)