Wonangui kkum
Native title: 원앙의 꿈 현대문학 짧은 이야기 10
Translated title: The Dream of Mandarin Ducks
Author: Hoon, Sim
Genre: Social Novel / Short Stories
Year: 2026 | Pages: 220 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91648
Sim Hoon, a modern Korean novelist, is renowned for his lyrical yet realistic portrayals of human experiences of love, marriage, loss, and frustration amidst the oppressive reality of colonial Korea.
His masterpiece, 'The Dream of Mandarin Ducks', calmly depicts the gradual collapse of characters who dream of ideal love before the walls of social conditions and institutions, strikingly revealing that love cannot be sustained solely by individual emotions.
Rather than directly denouncing the grand tragedies of an era, Sim Hoon's novels naturally reveal the weight of reality through the cracks in the emotions and relationships of individuals living in that era. He unfailingly captures the social pressures and human suffering that permeate the private realms of love and marriage, and delicately depicts how everyday choices and hesitations can alter the course of life.
He also captures moments of love's excitement and frustration, hope and resignation intersecting with restrained prose, quietly conveying the vulnerability and compassion felt by humans in the face of reality
Nabi buin sarin sageon
Native title: 나비 부인 살인 사건
Translated title: The Murder of Madame Butterfly
Author: Yokomizo, Seishi
Genre: Crime
Year: 2025 | Pages: 448 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91656
Translated
An actress's body was discovered in a contrabass case ahead of a performance of the opera 'Madame Butterfly'. A meticulously planned murder unfolds behind the scenes.
After a successful performance of 'Madame Butterfly' in Tokyo, the Hara Sakura Opera Troupe splits into two groups for the Osaka performance two days later. First, the troupe's leader and leading actress, the renowned soprano Hara Sakura, will head to Osaka with the advance party, while the rest of the troupe will take an overnight train to Osaka on the day of the performance and rehearse. However, for some reason, Hara Sakura disappears after checking in and leaving the hotel. She doesn't show up until the next rehearsal.
Meanwhile, the troupe discovers a contrabass at the entrance to the dressing room. However, the unexpected weight causes them to drop it, causing the case lid to open... Inside, instead of a contrabass, they find 'Madame Butterfly' Hara Sakura, covered in roses.
A colorful narrative, ingenious tricks, Yokomizo's challenge to the Western mystery masters
Asatoho
Native title: 아사토호
Translated title: Everyone Disappears
Author: Niina, Satoshi
Genre: Horror
Year: 2026 | Pages: 340 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91642
Translated
Don't read a book by an unknown author. The story could consume you.
When Natsuhi was a child, her twin sister Aoba 'disappeared' right before her eyes. As time passed, everyone, including her parents, forgot Aoba's existence. The only people who remember her are her older sister, Natsuhi, and her childhood friend, Akito, who witnessed her disappearance.
Unable to forget her sister, Natsuhi becomes a college student, and one day, she hears that her thesis advisor has gone missing. The professor was researching a story called 'Asatoho', which existed during the Heian period but later disappeared. While tracking down the professor and the existence of the anonymous story 'Asatoho', Natsuhi reunites with her younger sister Aoba after over a decade, and together, the sisters set out to uncover the true identity of the professor and Asatoho...
This work isn't a typical Japanese horror story, evoking goosebumps with its predictable premise and poignant descriptions. Rather, it meticulously depicts the creeping dread that creeps in as one delves deeper into the truth about Asatoho, and the process of gradually approaching him despite the fear of the unknown, all while remaining unknowingly drawn to him. This work straddles the lines of mystery and horror, reality and fantasy
Neoneun eopsneunde, naui modeun gyejeoreun neo
Native title: 너는 없는데, 나의 모든 계절은 너
Translated title: You Are Not There, but All My Seasons Are with You
Author: Idagam
Genre: Romance
Year: 2025 | Pages: 54 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91653
I loved someone beyond my reach for four seasons.
You, who never existed, changed my entire life. You were never mine, but perhaps you were the reason I lived.
So she writes. To turn this impermanent love into an eternal story
Kill Your Darlings
Native title: 킬 유어 달링
Author: Swanson, Peter
Genre: Thriller
Year: 2025 | Pages: 360 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91657
Every couple has a secret. But what if that secret involves murder?
Tom and Wendy, married for over 25 years, are enjoying a wonderful marriage. But when Tom, an English professor, reveals to his acquaintances that he is writing a mystery novel that includes a murder case, their relationship begins to crack. This is because the novel is based on a crime committed by Tom and Wendy together. When the world discovers the sins of her past, committed out of love and sworn to remain buried until death, Wendy devises a way to ensure that this secret will never leak out: she kills Tom. Why did these two, who once loved each other passionately like the main characters in a movie, have to meet this ending?
Peter Swanson, author of the fast-paced plot, dramatic twists, and boldly challenging the boundaries between good and evil, has rightfully earned the title of 'master of the modern thriller'. A 'reverse thriller', it begins in the present and then moves back to the past, uncovering the reasons for their inevitable destruction. The strange relationship between a married couple and accomplices, the chilling moments when intimacy turns to distrust, and the surprising truth and unexpected conclusion are enough to captivate thriller readers who have been waiting for a unique suspense
Gongheohan sipjaga
Native title: 공허한 십자가
Translated title: Empty Cross
Author: Higashino, Keigo
Genre: Thriller / Mystery
Year: 2025 | Pages: 428 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91651
Translated
A revised edition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the debut of mystery master Keigo Higashino, a social mystery masterpiece, has been released! Keigo Higashino's 'Empty Cross' explores the sharp questions of atonement and punishment, returning to readers in a new form. With its signature overwhelming density and unpredictable plot twists, 'Empty Cross' is undeniably Higashino's masterpiece. Now, with the artwork of photographer Okto Lee, this masterpiece offers an even more immersive experience.
'Empty Cross' begins with Nakahara, the protagonist who has just lost his daughter, receiving news of his ex-wife's death from a detective. Twenty years ago, the two went their separate ways after their daughter's murder. Years later, Nakahara, who has lost a family member in a murder, delves into the tangled web of secrets woven within the case. Keigo Higashino delivers a profound message of guilt, punishment, and forgiveness in this captivating and captivating story.
Keigo Higashino - Japan's bestselling and multi-prize winning author
The Housemaid's Secret
Native title: 하우스메이드 2 하우스메이드의 비밀
Series: Book 2
Author: McFadden, Freida
Genre: Thriller
Year: 2025 | Pages: 400 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91640
Translated
'Never enter the guest room'. Millie, the protagonist of the best-selling book 'Housemaid', is back!
Her criminal record still makes it difficult for her to find a job. Her babysitting job, barely covering her rent, has been cut short by an unexpected incident. Just when she's lost track of how to live, a savior appears. She's hired as a housekeeper in a penthouse in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan, New York. Douglas, the CEO of Coinstock, lives there and seems like the perfect man. At least, he seems so at first.
His wife, Wendy, never leaves the guest room on the second floor, and Millie is forbidden from entering it. Strange noises emanating from the guest room, dark red stains on the laundry, a bloody handprint on the sink. Feeling suspicious at home, Millie receives a call from a recruiting agency informing her that her job ad hasn't been posted yet due to credit card issues. A chill runs down her spine. How did Douglas know to contact her? It was clear that this couple was hiding something. And Millie is the type of person who can't let something like that pass her by. Absolutely not.
An intense psychological thriller with twists and turns!
Gaseumeuro uneun sae
Native title: 가슴으로 우는 새
Translated title: A Bird Crying with Its Heart
Author: Mun-geun, Jeon
Genre: Family Saga
Year: 2026 | Pages: 338 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91664
Silence was a choice for survival, and memory was a resistance to staying alive. Leaving behind the layers of scars, she never gave up, moving forward, step by step!
Misuk, who lived in a rural village near Baekun Mountain, grew up and exchanged marriage promises with her love. Dreaming of a bright future, she was suddenly visited by Dalsu, a former guerrilla fighter, who told her the shocking story of her birth and tragic fate...
Some cries are silent. They are choked in the throat, lost in the lips, and ultimately resonate only within the heart. This novel is the story of those unspoken cries.
The times demanded silence, and silence became a condition of survival. Only those who remained silent survived, and only those who forgot could move on. But everyone knew: forgetting was not the end, but the beginning of a deeper wound. The characters in this novel endured by remaining silent, surviving by persevering, but ultimately, their lives begin to falter again in the face of the weeping that builds within their hearts.
'The Bird That Cries with Its Heart' is not the narrative of an individual, but a record of emotions that have transcended an era. Faces unorganized by history, lives relegated to statistics and chronology, and deaths never fully mourned by anyone. This novel cautiously poses questions atop the rubble: did we truly deserve to cry, or do we still live without it?
Busannamja namgimuk
Native title: 부산남자 남기묵
Translated title: Busan Man, Nam Gi-muk
Author: Yoon-gil, Lee
Genre: Family Saga / Social Novel
Year: 2026 | Pages: 304 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91650
'Busan Man, Nam Gi-muk' is a maritime novel that follows the life of a Busan native who has lived alongside the sea. Nam Gi-muk, who grew up in the docks, breakwaters, and narrow alleys permeated by the salty wind, abandons a stable job on land and chooses the sea.
He is not a hero who braves the waves, but a worker on a deep-sea fishing boat, silently enduring the wear and tear of his body during repeated voyages. His days are a simple repetition of departure, fishing, and anchoring, but within that simplicity lies a layer of ineffable emotions and the remnants of choices.
Life on the sea is always a fraction of a second from death, and even survival is less a choice and more a coincidence. This novel portrays the sea not as a romantic but as a living reality, not as a memory but as a weight of the present tense. The sea becomes a question, not a consolation, and silence becomes a means of survival, not an avoidance
Yeonhui iyagi
Native title: 연희 이야기
Translated title: Yeonhee's Story
Author: Hye-jin, Jeon
Genre: Horror
Year: 2026 | Pages: 328 | Origin: KOR | BA Seq Num: 91643
'A fate where you must embrace God to survive!' The story of women who, shunned and resentful, writhe in their grief, become vengeful ghosts!
Abandoned by her family, Yeonhee has moved to the island to worship God. She receives an unexpected phone call from her brother, Won-il, from whom she has been estranged for thirty years, followed by an urgent voice. Her niece, Yeon-ah, suffers from a mysterious illness of unknown origin. Heading to Seoul, Yeon-hee encounters the shadow of her own fate in her niece's suffering.
Once abandoned by her family, can Yeon-hee now risk everything for her niece, who finds herself in the same predicament? Or will she choose the ordinary life she's so precariously maintained? Will she willingly shoulder her karma and undo the disaster that has befallen Yeon-ah? Through the ghosts Yeon-hee and Yeon-ah encounter and the repercussions of their choices, 'Yeon-hee's Story' poses a chilling and profound question about the truth we've so desperately tried to ignore
