South Korean author Jang Ryujin's bestselling novel "To the Moon" offers readers a tantalizing glimpse into the fantasy of sudden wealth, bringing an impossible dream grounded in modern reality to life. The slice-of-life novel explores what might happen if someone unexpectedly found themselves with enough money to escape their mundane existence and finally start living.

The story centers on three ordinary women trapped in dead-end office jobs in downtown Seoul. Despite being casual work friends who maintain emotional distance, they gather during lunch breaks and whenever workplace gossip circulates. Eun-sang, the eldest and most ambitious of the trio, dedicates her free time to searching for ways to earn additional income outside her regular job. Jisong, the youngest member, chooses to bury her head in the sand and pour all her energy into a long-distance relationship that clearly has no future. Dahae, who serves as the middle-of-the-road protagonist, maintains a low profile and only dares to dream of small, achievable things. All three women trudge through their daily grind, endlessly pushing paperwork in what feels like an inescapable loop.

This monotonous routine is dramatically disrupted when Eun-sang discovers her latest money-making opportunity: cryptocurrency investment. After pouring her entire savings into Ethereum, she watches with growing excitement as her wealth climbs to almost surreal heights. Completely convinced that cryptocurrency represents their way out of their current situation, Eun-sang desperately begs her two friends to join her investment venture. Following some internal debate, Dahae decides to participate in the scheme, but Jisong flat-out refuses and even bans the other two from mentioning the topic in her presence. As the three friends become swept up in the intoxicating exhilaration of their financial adventure, their relationship undergoes significant changes and transformations, leaving all three women irrevocably altered by the experience.

The true brilliance of Jang's storytelling lies in her decision to avoid offering readers an escape into a magical fantasy land far removed from reality. Instead, she dangles a much more tantalizing and believable fantasy directly in front of them. This particular dream feels so clearly imaginable and deceptively within reach that readers cannot help but ask themselves the crucial question: if they took the same leap of faith, could this incredible transformation happen to them as well?

During an interview at the 56th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards, Jang openly confessed that her own personal daydreams served as the primary inspiration behind the book's concept. For many years, she lived from paycheck to paycheck despite working full-time at a respectable IT company. The week leading up to payday was consistently the most financially harrowing period, and whenever life's pressures became overwhelming, she would think to herself: "If only someone would give me a million won out of the blue!" By providing her fictional characters with a genuine chance at achieving what she had always wished for and more, Jang aimed to satisfy her own long-held fantasies while simultaneously indulging anyone who has ever looked jealously at newspaper headlines featuring people who hit the investment jackpot overnight through lucky financial decisions.

However, the age-old principle that what goes up must eventually come down creates mounting tension throughout the narrative. This fundamental question loomed increasingly larger as the story progressed: Is this the moment where the characters crash and burn spectacularly? Will they be brought back down to harsh reality, stripped completely bare of whatever meager financial means they originally possessed, with nothing substantial to show for their efforts except a jaded pat on the back? Like a hapless passenger forced to occupy the front row of a terrifying roller-coaster ride, readers find themselves flinching with each flip of the page, terrified that the next chapter will mark the beginning of the inevitable financial drop.

Beyond the intense emotional turmoil and surreal plot developments, what leaves the most lasting impression is Jang's shrewd and insightful depiction of the shifting dynamics between the three friends as their respective financial situations undergo dramatic changes. The novel carefully and methodically picks apart exactly what happens when three people begin at the same starting point, but two decide to strap financial boosters onto their situations while one continues moving forward at the same steady pace. As the wealth gap between the coworkers steadily widened, subtle friction began slipping into their formerly pure and uncomplicated friendship, bringing festering feelings and hidden resentments to the surface, while words that would have been better left unsaid were sharpened into devastating weapons, propelled by mounting frustration and consuming jealousy.

Equal parts genuinely heartfelt and laugh-out-loud comedic, "To the Moon" delivers the perfect dose of what modern readers might call "delulu" - a delightful delusion that feels almost achievable. The novel sweeps readers straight up toward the sky in a giddy, exhilarating spiral, but never so far that they completely lose sight of what remains real and grounded. Instead, it brings them just close enough to see that high above the dust and grime of ordinary daily life, the moon glimmers bright and beautiful with the promise of a transformative dream. The book is currently available for purchase online through dbBOOKS, offering readers their own chance to explore this compelling fantasy of financial freedom and friendship tested by sudden wealth.