Counterattacks at Thirty: A Novel

From the bestselling author of ALMOND, a witty, ruthless examination of office culture, wherein a group of young workers rebel against their bosses to challenge an oppression that is all too familiar.

Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary in her thirty years of life. Even her name Jihye is one of the most ordinary in Korea. And just like every ordinary person, she’s not one to make waves by pointing out the absurdities of Korean bureaucracy or the small acts of injustice around her. But when Gyuok Lee, a new intern, joins the Academy, Jihye recognizes him as the man who once publicly accused a professor there of plagiarism. But this Gyuok seems different from that angry young man Jihye once encountered. In the office, he seems to be just another hard-working employee… until he shows his true colors.

A pacifist version of V in V for Vendetta, Gyuok recruits likeminded people to carry out plans for minor revenge. All four “rebels” he’s recruited in their office have their own reasons to resent society at large.

Together, these four rebels begin to protest the older generation in the form of harmless antics: graffiti, throwing eggs, anonymous exposé, and more. But as their attacks increase, they (and the reader) will discover that even these tiny protests can make change in a world where everyone’s been too busy just getting by.