The newest novel from Kkoch-nim Lee, the author of “I Will Cross Time for You” A story about shattered truth and broken belief Kkot-nim Lee, the author who has garnered enthusiastic responses from readers since the release of her novel “I Will Cross Time for You” in 2018, returns with a new powerful story that is styled quite differently from her previous works. The author continues to explore loneliness and anxiety experienced by today’s teenagers and the brutal reality they face, but this time, she approaches the readers not through words of comfort but through a cold warning. “Killing Your Friend” is a novel that revolves around the death of a high school girl and its plot is by no means ordinary. The author writes: “This book is about truth and belief. Sometimes I wonder what truth really is. Is it the fact or is it what people want to believe to be true? That’s where the story began.” - From Author’s Note “Our prime suspect is a 17-year-old girl.” A shockingly captivating story with a highly unpredictable ending Ju-yeon and Seo-eun, the protagonists of the novel, have been best friends since middle school. One day, the girls get into a big argument, and on the same day, Seo-eun’s body is found on a lot behind their school building. Pointed as the prime suspect, Ju-yeon is arrested but for some reason, she cannot remember what happened that day. ‘A 17-Year-Old Girl Found Dead at Her School’ When the case becomes known to the public through one journalist’s headline, people are outraged. Broadcasting stations go out of their way to organize a special, interviewing those who know the girls and releasing sensational news reports and articles. As time passes, more interviews are collected, and it seems apparent that Ju-yeon is indeed the culprit. Did Ju-yeon really kill Seo-eun? The story unfolds in a unique way; it alternates between interviews from seventeen different people who testify about the girls and stories of those surrounding Ju-yeon, when she becomes the suspect. The perceptions of the girls and what their relationships looked like change constantly with each interview. The author skillfully plays with the readers’ minds, sometimes satisfying their curiosity and sometimes veering off in another direction. As the interviews continue, it becomes more ambiguous what kind of a child Ju-yeon truly is, and how the story will progress is completely unpredictable. With a suspenseful plot full of twists and turns, the novel throws the readers into confusion, making it impossible for them to put down the book until the end. “Facts don’t matter. It’s what people believe that matters.” The world where truth is boundlessly edited and exhausted This novel takes the genre of psychological mystery. When each interview unveils the unknown sides of Ju-yeon, who is envied and admired by those around her, readers may be quick to think that, as the old saying goes, the truth will one day reveal itself. But when examined more closely, it doesn’t seem like the author is particularly interested in revealing the culprit or the truth behind Seo-eun’s death. Instead, she seems to focus on revealing different sides of humans and their selfish desires which emerge during the process of tracking the incident. This becomes more evident through the characterizations of Ju-yeon’s parents and her lawyer. Ju-yeon’s parents see their daughter as a means of projecting their own desire; they aren’t interested in what she actually wants. The lawyer, too, is only mindful of his career and keeps his ears shut to Ju-yeon’s desperate pleas. Ju-yeon cries that she didn’t kill Seo-eun, but the response she receives from her lawyer is cold: “Facts don’t matter. What people believe becomes the truth and that’s what matters.” The statement from the lawyer who has never lost in a trial is undeniably powerful. It’s because we know that what he said doesn’t just apply to the fictional world, but also to the world we live in today. In our world, the media no longer mirrors the truth, and the public no longer advocates for justice. Fake news, false reports, and malicious rumors spread in just a matter of seconds through multiple networks, while hateful comments, leaks of personal information, and witch-huntings that feed off of others’ misfortunes show no signs of stopping. There are rivers of groundless predictions and conjectures out there, but it seems that no one cares enough to stop them. Since it’s none of their business, people only treat these problems as a joke and become casual consumers of such entertainment. As for teenagers, the online space becomes the perfect playground for witch-hunting. In this broken world where even adults are helplessly swept around, teenagers are even more vulnerable to being manipulated and injured. “Killing Your Friend” unapologetically shows such a stark reality. It prompts the readers to confront how wild the world becomes when it’s full of people who only want to see what they want to see, listen to what they want to listen to, and believe what they want to believe. At the same time, it warns the readers that no one can find peace in a world where truth and its fragments are boundlessly edited and exhausted. “As much as I need you, you need me, too!” In the end, what sustains a brutal narrative is having a heart for each other Through a tragic incident, “Killing Your Friend” depicts how even our most trusted values can be eventually destroyed. With a wrongful cause-and-effect relationship, a damaging love of a mother, a broken family, and the truth shattered into pieces, it becomes transparent to the readers that Ju-yeon was actually a very lonely child and that Seo-eun, ironically, was the only one who truly understood and empathized with her. Ju-yeon, a lonely girl who has no place to rest her heart, spirals out of control when she feels like Seo-eun, the only person with whom she can share her feelings, has turned her back on her. In other words, her affection for Seo-eun has turned into an extreme obsession. As a teenager who is still awkward with relationships, Ju-yeon must have been scared and overwhelmed to see the abrupt changes in the behavior of her best friend. Although she was better off than Ju-yeon, Seo-eun, too, was still inexperienced in relationships. Her family had some economic hardships, but she was raised in an emotionally stable and healthy environment. Unlike Ju-yeon, she was understanding and knew how to care for others. But just like any of her peers, Seo-eun, too, was just a teenage girl with her own insecurities who could not put up with Ju-yeon’s endless tantrums and thoughtless behaviors. Friendship is a realistic and sensitive task for teenagers. Having just one friend with whom they can disclose their feelings, eases their anxieties and makes their problems more manageable. At first, Ju-yeon and Seo-eun have felt the same thing in their friendship. But friendship formed between teenage girls who are still inexperienced in relationships tends to be easily shaken and broken by the slightest disagreement. Everyone experiences separation in life. Especially for adolescents whose identities are still developing, it is a heartbreaking experience that brings them a feeling of loss. Ju-yeon’s emotional breakdown is a typical phenomenon seen in people who haven’t had a chance to fully look after such a feeling. Only those who have spent enough time grieving and crying over their loss can get back on their feet again to resume their journey to adulthood; but unfortunately, such a chance isn’t allowed for teenagers in the world today. Through its unique structure and powerful narrative, “Killing Your Friend” embeds the fundamental issues of today’s society while helping the readers to realize once again that the problems faced by teenagers aren’t just of their own but also problems shared by the entire society. Reference: Support from Woorischool