When the Nine Sound Trees wakes up, the ‘thing’ with your face appears! On the shoulder of a national highway entering Dodong Village, known for its traditional houses, an empty taxi with its doors wide open is discovered. With not a trace of accident or crime on site, the only thing worth noting is three imprints of something big and long tracked on the dirt ground near the vehicle. As ‘Gang-hyo’, the detective in charge of missing persons cases, tracks down the whereabouts of the missing driver, ‘Guk-su’, he realizes there is already an ongoing investigation of the disappearance of several people linked to the driver. These people were all friends from the same village. Sensing something is off, ‘Gang-hyo’ goes to Dodong Village in search of leads to the case. Meanwhile, protagonist ‘Tae-yi’ also heads to Dodong Village, his hometown. When he was in high school, at his grandfather’s study, he learned about a certain ‘ritual’ that summons a powerful being to grant any wish. He decides to carry out the ‘ritual’ in order to avenge his friend who had died from mobbing. With his friends, Tae-yi successfully awakens the ‘Nine Sound Trees’ to summon the ‘thing’. But the ritual has a strict rule: never answer the question of the summoned ‘thing’. The moment they respond, the ‘thing’ would eat them alive and vanish them off the face of the earth. Convinced that his friends’ disappearances were related to the ‘ritual’, ‘Tae-yi’ decides to end the ritual that he started. His guilt aside, the ‘thing’ was now after ‘Tae-yi’. Can ‘Tae-yi’ protect himself from the Nine Sound Trees?
Concept - Horror fantasy about a boy who summons a ‘vicious thing’ to avenge his friend’s death and pays the price for it - Detective fiction about a detective who runs into a terrifying cold case in a remote village while investigating a series of disappearances
Awards Korea Story Contest’s Award of Excellence 2015
Sun-hee Jo
Her novels include 『Phantom Signal』 『Question from the Nine Sound Trees』 『Salt Scale』 『Killing Megu』 『Eye of Bugul』 『Gori Valley』 『Laundress Friga and the Wizard 1~2』 『Adon’s Key 1~7』 『There, Fox Footprints』 『Blue Tomb No. 404』 『Tale of Luwoljewun 1~2』 and 『Switch Up』. Her story collections include 『Patjwi Retold』 『Arang Retold』 and more. 『Gori Valley』won the Korea Fantasy Literature Award and『Question from the Nine Sori Trees』won the Korean Story Contest’s award of excellence. Jo Seon-hui has been writing mystery fantasy novels that are full of bizarre themes and intense psychological descriptions that provoke primal fear.
In 1997, Jaeum and Moeum PublishingCo., Ltd. was established under the slogan of collecting all the “letters”and “sounds” of the world. It operates a number of imprint brands, including EZbook, a children’s/adolescent book brand, and Neo Fiction, a genre literature book brand, and has become a mainstay of the Korean publishing industry by launching over 10,000 volumes. The books of Jaeum and Moeum have gained attention not only from international publishers but also from film, television, theater, and musical production companies. Several books, including A Killer’s Shopping List, A Killer’s Shopping Mall, A Christmas Carol, and The Time-Selling Store, have been successfully adapted for the screen and stage, with many more currently in development.