Description "Maybe all along, I just wanted to be friends." A story told in three voices, about children who feel lonely even when they're together. Go Hyo-min is bright, easygoing, and loved by everyone. Lim Su-hyeon is a child who was bullied by classmates and has since hidden her feelings behind an expressionless face. Kang Ju-mok has always been the top student in class, the one with the most allowance, the one who gets the most attention—but after losing the class president position to Go Hyo-min, she's become anxious and unsettled. Though the three are in the same class, each keeps their distance from the others for their own reasons. Then, at Kang Ju-mok's birthday party, her mother's wallet disappears, and Go Hyo-min is wrongly accused of stealing it. The incident pulls the three children together in unexpected ways. "Without My Knowing" unfolds the story of the missing wallet through the perspectives of Go Hyo-min, Lim Su-hyeon, and Kang Ju-mok in turn. As readers hear each child's side of the story, the incident takes on greater depth and dimension. Ironically, the event that upends everyone's daily life becomes the catalyst for each child to look deeply into their own wounded heart. As one member of the children's review panel put it, "It feels especially relatable because it's the kind of thing that could happen to any of us"—this is a story that uses an everyday incident to look closely and tenderly at what children truly feel inside. Growth and Solidarity That Come Only From Breaking Down the Walls Around the Heart Lim Su-hyeon and Kang Ju-mok come from very different family circumstances and situations, but in many ways, they're remarkably alike. Lim Su-hyeon struggles with financial hardship after her father's business failed, as well as the pain of being suddenly bullied by classmates. She vows, "From now on, I won't let myself get close to anyone," but pushing everyone away leaves nothing behind but a hardened wall around her heart. Kang Ju-mok, meanwhile, has grown used to looking down on others from behind a high wall she's built around her own heart. She's never once made a real friend, and has never even thought she needed one. But when Go Hyo-min—who doesn't seem particularly special to her—suddenly takes the spotlight she once held, the ground beneath her feet feels shaky and uncertain. Both Lim Su-hyeon and Kang Ju-mok hide their vulnerabilities behind walls around their hearts. Staying behind those walls may protect them from getting hurt, but it also means they can never take the hand someone else reaches out to them. The stolen wallet incident becomes the turning point that pushes both girls to step beyond the walls they've built and move forward. It's Go Hyo-min's unwavering integrity—enduring hardship rather than dragging anyone else down with her, even while wrongly branded a thief—that ultimately moves their hearts. Lim Su-hyeon's willingness to face her own cowardice head-on, and Kang Ju-mok's courage in admitting her narrow-mindedness and deciding to apologize to Go Hyo-min, leave a lasting impression. "Without My Knowing" reminds us that even amid the growing pains of childhood, we must keep striving to understand others and stand together—because no one can truly live entirely alone. The Cruelty of a Distorted Majority in the Classroom—and the Hope Found Even There Once mistakenly suspected of stealing the wallet, Go Hyo-min goes in an instant from popular class president to outcast. The other children convict her based on nothing more than the shallow fact that the wallet was found in Naebyeol Village, where she lives. The fact that her family isn't well-off only feeds their prejudice further. Before transferring schools, Lim Su-hyeon was also bullied by classmates for no clear reason. She feels a sense of helplessness, believing that "the unhappiness and timidity written on my face" is what invited the bullying. In both classrooms, some children cruelly torment those they perceive as weak—while most others hide behind the mask of the crowd, distorting the truth of the situation into gossip to be consumed and idly watched. "Without My Knowing" shows just how much violence prejudice and bias toward others can cause. And yet, there is hope in the moment when Kang Ju-mok—who once helped drive Go Hyo-min into a corner as the presumed thief—comes to realize that a single side of someone can never capture the whole of who they are, and that we should never judge so easily. This is a story that believes the courage to take one step closer to another person can change both ourselves and the world. The author's ability to sustain a tense, compelling conflict all the way to the end is remarkable, and the characters—each distinct in circumstance and personality—are vividly brought to life within the story. — From the judges' review