"Lost Property Returns"

By Kim Hye-jung

Originals Books

YA writer Kim Hye-jung returns with her first work for adult readers, "Lost Property Returns."

The novel, which has been serialized on Millie's Library, one of South Korea's largest e-book subscription platforms, since November, received favorable reviews and was released as an e-book in January. It rose to the top of the platform's bestseller list just a month after its release. In response to readers’ requests, it has also been published as a physical book.

The novel tells the story of Hye-won, a 27-year-old who, by chance, time travels back and forth between the past and the present.

Working on the management team of a college entrance exam prep academy, Hye-won receives an unexpected phone call from an anonymous person who claims to have Hye-won's lost belongings and tells her to come and collect them.

She reluctantly goes to retrieve the lost items and finds her pencil case from when she was nine years old.

Excited to find the pencil case she thought she had lost forever, Hye-won soon realizes something unbelievable: She has somehow returned to being a second-grader.

She does not let this opportunity slip by and rebuilds lost relationships while trying to identify the caller.