★Award-winning Author of the 1st K-Thiller × Safehouse Contest
★Five stories that delve deep into obsession, love, and desire.

The protagonists of Mercury Tale are all misfits, driven by irrational obsessions. Each clings to someone or something foreign and unfamiliar. These outsiders unravel the protagonist’s worlds, leaving them unable to return to their former lives and sustaining tension until the very end.

The author, Dali Kim, describes these stories as being written from the perspective of “external outsiders.” Through her characters, she explores the forms of love from anxiety and the obsessions that desire can foster, keeping readers captivated throughout.

★My Therapist
Yeong-seon, who has worked as a housekeeper in Mira’s home for over 20 years, was the only one who comforted Mira whenever her husband committed acts of domestic violence. However, due to conflicts with her husband forces Yeong-seon to leave. Discovering a tattoo of Yeong-seon’s face on her son’s arm, Mira sets out to find Yeong-seon, who has vanished without a trace.

★The Bridesmaid
Ja-yeon is troubled by the presence of a short-haired ghost that appears every time she shares a moment of love with Jiho, her fiancé. Ja-yeon is introduced to a shaman by a friend, but he remains overly sensitive to the short-haired ghost. In the end, she crosses a line and does something to Jiho that should never be done.

★Mercury Tail
One day, Yeon-ju learns that her dad committed suicide with his girlfriend. But strangely, the mistress is still alive. As Yeon-ju follows a mysterious woman named “Su-seong(Mercury),” she stumbles upon an unbelievable sight.

★Extinct Child
Amid a relentless winter where temperatures plummeted to -50°C due to climate change, researcher San-ho is tasked with raising Ari, a revived being from a species that went extinct in the early 1900s but has now been brought back through DNA restoration. But when a new regime takes power, Ari’s life is threatened, and San-ho risks everything in a desperate escape to save her.

★Tori and the Vampire
Tori, a high school girl counting down the days until her planned death, has a secret online account but her classmate Su-yeon exposes her secret account. Feeling out of place both at school and at home, Tori one day receives a mysterious anonymous message. Will Tori be able to face the death she wishes for through this mysterious presence?

Dali Kim，

Dali Kim is a novelist and film director. She initially majored in design but changed her career path due to her passion for fiction. She debuted with her novel rae, which won the grand prize in the 1st K-Thiller Writer Contest. She also won the Safehouse Story Contest “Villain” with her story Se-gyae Woo is dead. Her short films Because of Hannah and Yang-hae’s Chicken Leg were invited to multiple film festivals and received awards. Her notable works include Lovers of the Jungle and Cyber Wrecker Jae-Hee Kim.