Launch Something!
Translated by Stella Kim
About
Earth has a second sun. The shining object in the sky — which either looks like Pac-Man or a pizza missing a slice, depending on who you ask — is growing larger and threatening to make the planet uninhabitable. In response, the Korean government decides to establish its own Space Force and contribute to the US-led Allied effort to deal with the crisis. What follows is less Independence Day and more Office Space. Bae Myung-hoon's science fiction is inseparable from his political satire. The Space Force bureaucracy, the inter-agency rivalries, and the absurd logistics of launching anything at all become the real story — a comedy about how institutions respond to existential threats with meetings, memos, and jurisdictional disputes. A sci-fi novel that proves the biggest obstacle to saving the world isn't technology — it's the committee that has to approve the mission.
