A young romance and horror from Cho Yeeun, the author of Cocktail, Love, Zombies and The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre!

A girl who dreams of revenge and covets money, and a boy who wanders in search of the reason for his existence—a true story of revenge told by two youths united by their iron will to never give up

In 2025, an extensive redevelopment project completely transforms the city of Yamu. Three years before, nine people died after consuming poisoned rice cakes in a terrorist attack at “Cedar View Park Yamu,” the city’s largest and most luxurious apartment complex. Hwayeong has lost her mother in the incident and sunk into deep despair and grief, with no family to turn to and no purpose in life. To the girl, salvation came in the form of words: “Money is sometimes salvation, and it makes the impossible possible.” Twenty million won is the amount she needs to get revenge and redemption, to find out the truth, and to achieve her goal efficiently. Hwayeong has been living in a dreary “Rainbow Apartment,” better known by its nickname of “Yamu’s drain hole.” She has been renting a cheap house and even lying her way out, for the sole purpose of raising 20 million won.

One day, after losing all her jobs at once, Hwayeong decides to go “fishing” after being told she can make a fortune and, more importantly, being threatened with a rent increase if she doesn’t cooperate. Fishing refers to using young people as bait to lure people out of anonymous online second-hand marketplaces or random chat rooms to threaten and extort cash from them. Hwayeong has always refused to go fishing for fear of being caught in a crime and ruining her chance at revenge, but in her predicament, she has no other choice.

That is when a Happy Smile Bear appears in front of her. When the brand teddy bear was at the height of its popularity, Hwayeong spent hours glueing their eyes when her mother brought the side job home. It was the plastic eyes of the Happy Smile Bear that greeted her when she returned to her empty room after her mother’s death. She couldn’t possibly turn away from the old, tattered teddy bear abandoned under a streetlight.

But who would have imagined that the teddy bear would turn out to be her lifesaver? When she goes out on her first fishing, Hwayeong realizes that she is not bait for a robbery but a victim of human trafficking. As she scrambles to escape her predicament, Happy Smile Bear, her eternal friend, swings a hatchet at the man, knocking him to the ground. A talking and moving teddy bear, an armed teddy bear—is this a dream? To dumbfounded Hwayeong, the teddy bear says: “This is not a dream.”