
"The Time Thief"
By Sonder
Hanki
Sometimes we are too busy or having so much fun that time seems to fly. But we know we actually all have the same 24 hours in a day -- or don't we? Maybe not in this novel.
Ha-jin, heartbroken after a breakup, spends her time aimlessly drifting. To sort out her emotions, she visits her hometown, where she is drawn to her grandmother’s cuckoo clock and later brings it home. After a few days, while mindlessly staring at the clock, Ha-jin spots something strange -- the minute hand has started moving quickly.
A few days on, Ha-jin witnesses the clock’s hands flicking by quickly again. She is determined to prove that her time is disappearing.
Tae-min, who keeps running into her, seems suspicious, and so does her ex-boyfriend, Jae-hyun. But could it be that Tae-min is stealing her time? How can Ha-jin get back the time that was stolen from her?
It turns out that Tae-min works as a “keeper” at Tempus, an undercover company that manages people’s time. Keepers collect the time people waste and redistribute it to others in different zones, like in a parallel life. Time management at Tempus is done secretly, so ordinary people are simply living under an illusion.
How did Ha-jin see her time disappear? Tae-min instinctively senses a flaw in the system.