Author: Cho Yeeun
Translated by: Sung Ryu
Publisher: Run For It, expected May 2026
Original title: 테디베어는 죽지 않아, 2023
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A young girl teams up with a hatchet-wielding teddy bear to solve the mystery of her mother’s murder and get her revenge in this campy slasher from Cho Yeeun, a rising star in Korean horror.
Hwa-young never believed that her mother was murdered in a mass-cyanide attack at the luxury apartment complex where she worked. Now living in a flophouse for runaway teens, she is determined to save 20 million won to put a hit out on the suspect and engages in any odd jobs she can find.
When her unscrupulous landlord convinces her to be bait for one of his electronics scams, Hwa-young finds herself trapped in a seedy motel with a strange man. Realizing her life is in danger, Hwa-young tries to escape but finds herself overpowered until an unlikely hero saves her. A hatchet-wielding Happy Smile bear.
Hwa-young and teddy bear, who is possessed by the spirit of a murdered boy, team up for a revenge quest unlike any other.
Cho Yeeun has enthralled the Korean literary scene since her notable debut clinching the Kyobo Book Award with her first novel. Since, Cho has become known for weaving chilling, genre-bending stories set in dystopian worlds teetering on the edge of collapse. Young female readers have particularly connected with her stories, enthusiastically immersing themselves in what they’ve dubbed “Yeeun’s World” and celebrating her complex, unconventional female characters. Cho’s standout short story collection, Cocktails, Love, Zombies not only soared in sales, exceeding 100,000 copies since its 2020 release but also crossed borders, being exported to Japan, China and Taiwan. Her English-language debut, New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre (Honford Star, 2024) cemented her reputation as a bold and daring voice in horror.
Sung Ryu is a literary translator working from and into Korean. Her English translations include Shoko’s Smile by Choi Eunyoung (Penguin Books, 2021), Tower by Bae Myung-hoon (Honford Star, 2021), and I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories by Kim Bo-Young (co-translated with Sophie Bowman, Harper Voyager, 2021). Her Korean translations include Grandma Moses: My Life’s History by Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Suo Books, 2017). She grew up in South Korea, the US, and Canada, and now lives in Singapore. She is a member of the translator collective Smoking Tigers.
Source: publisher’s website